lester?> atia abawi in kabul tonight, thanks. >>> we want to bring in andrea mitchell, our chief foreign affairs correspondent. what is the level of worry over this in washington about the u.s. mission going forward? >> it is extreme because the eruption of this violence is really alarming. it undercuts the whole rationale for the u.s. mission in afghanistan, lester. suggesting that after all these years, the lives lost, the money spent, we still have not forged a real partnership of trust with the afghans who are supposed to be training them so they can carry on without us. now the prospect that an afghan intelligence officer could have murdered those two american officers, if that is proved, that will make it even worse. our ambassador to afghanistan ryan crocker who you just saw in atia's report has also withdrawn embedded u.s. civilians. from afghan ministries, so it isn't just the military relationship with afghanistan that is being curtailed. there now is also going to be pressure on th

>> reporter: lester, this is fascinating. we're about to find out in eight days whether or not mitt romney can use superior resources and negative ads to stop rick santorum's surge as he stopped newt gingrich's earlier. if he can't do that in his native state, we'll know that he is a badly weakened candidate and rick santorum has a real shot at this republican nomination. >> we heard rick santorum and a question of whether he misspoke on the issue of theology. clearly he has strong conservative social viewpoints. that plays well with the base right now. how does that play, though, later on with moderates and independents? >> reporter: well, that's exactly what the white house was trying to call attention to, to hitting back. first they're trying to protect themselves against any questioning of his faith, just as they did on his birth certificate earlier. but they want to try to cast rick santorum as out of the mainstream, somebody whose views on contraception and a range of social issues are things that independent voters, es

>> reporter: good evening, lester. it was an attack that happened under the cover of darkness, but by daylight, the human toll was apparent for the world to see. because it's hard for journalists to report from inside syria, we have been relying on footage from activists inside the country to tell the story. so we have to warn our viewers that some of the images are disturbing. activists are describing it as the single deadliest day in the 11-month syrian uprising. a barrage of mortars raining down on the city of homs, killing more than 200 people. amateur footage which we couldn't independently verify captured the devastation and the horror of the nighttime attack, as some are calling a massacre. >> we're trying to remove the bodies from the middle of the street and we get shot at. last night, we tried to get medication and doctors the area and they started shooting at us. >> reporter: homs has seen the most intense fighting. the syrian government blamed the violence on the armed gangs. it also blamed foreign media fo

lester, tomorrow the sun is back out. back to you. >> mike seidel, thanks. >>> tonight whitney houston has been laid to rest next to her father, john houston, in new jersey. fans and onlookers paid their respects today by lining the route to the cemetery. houston's family gathered at her gravesite for a private burial a day after an emotional memorial at the church where she sang in the choir as a child. >>> when "nightly news" continues, replacement parts. the explosion in new knees as baby boomers fight the toll of time. >>> and a man who defined the right stuff 50 years after an historic flight. imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressa

>> lester, this is shocking. we may be seeing a watershed event after a decade and hundreds of billions of dollars and 16,000 u.s. casualties. we see how shallow the impact we have on this primitive society is. yeah, we'll take it in context. these are thousands of demonstrators in a country of 30 million people, but this is really outrageous. we have had dozens of u.s. and nato forces killed by afghan uniformed people. and karzai is clearly not standing for and leading on this effort. >> but the cornerstone of the u.s. strategy, you know, is this partnership with the afghan government, the training of afghan troops and working alongside them. is all of that now potentially in jeopardy? >> i have been skeptical about this from the start. once we get u.s. combat forces out of afghanistan, it was going to be 2014. secretary panetta said it's 2013. we need to re-evaluate the notion of having thousands of americans isolated all over afghanistan. it's about time for us to step forward and take a new look at our securi

lester? >> lisa myers, thanks. >>> big news on the economy tonight. the jobs report for january out this morning blew past everyone's expectations with 243,000 jobs added for the month, and the unemployment rate dropping 0.2% to 8.3%. wall street responded with a surge of its own, the dow up 156 points to its highest close since may 2008. before the economic meltdown. the nasdaq hit an 11-year high. a lot of those jobs added today were in manufacturing. cnbc's phil lebeau reports. >> reporter: at chrysler's plant in illinois, a reason to cheer. >> it's completely, totally proudly made here in the united states. >> reporter: 1,800 people will be hired as the once-bankrupt automaker adds a third shift to start building the new dodge dart. >> we just added 4,000 since we came out of bankruptcy. let's add more. >> reporter: chrysler is not the only manufacturing hiring. boeing, ge and caterpillar added 25,000 jobs last year. e hiring. boeing, ge and caterpillar added 25,000 jobs last year. debbie

amy and lester? >> all right, bill. thank you. >>> indianapolis is getting ready for football in a big way. >> jenna is there as the patriots and giants and thousands of fans are preparing for tomorrow's showdown. hi, jenna. >> hi, guys. eli manning and tom brady are a little busy right now, otherwise i'm sure they would be joining this superb crowd behind me. i did find someone who knows bothet of those quarterbacks quite well. someone who's been in their cleats. that's drew brees. he led the saints to a super bowl victory two years ago you might recall. i talked to him about his quarterback buddies and the to talk about a bad romance. >> a little bit of rooivry going between the two quarterbacks. there has to be a little more. talk to me about eli and tom. >> you know, i feel like the patriots have this aura about them. i mean they're one of the winningest franchises over the last decade, tom brady, bill belichick. all those guys around them. but i would say the giants are not intimidated by these

i'm lester holt reporting from new york.morrow morning on "today" and right back here tomorrow evening. have a great night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good evening. i am diane dwyer. there is word that w o

lester?kristen dahlgren in beverly hills, thanks. >>> whitney houston's death at only 48 years old did come as a shock to many, but sadly not as a complete surprise either. she had spent more than a decade battling substance abuse and survived a stumultuous marriage and divorce, all the while to recapture the musical magic that once took her all the way to the top. with more, here's nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: whitney elizabeth houston was the soloist in a newark, new jersey, baptist church choir at age 11. but while the word star is overused and a lot of r&b singers got their start singing gospel, she was a star, right away. a prodigy nurtured by her mother cissy, her cousin dionne warwick and her godmother, aretha franklin. on her national debut on "the merv griffin show," her gift of a voice was in full flower. ♪ but it wasn't just her voice that made her a star. she was as beautiful as a model, a crossover dream girl who was among the first african-americans to grace the cover of "sev

lester, back to you. >> ron allen, thanks. now to washington, where romney won the majority of votes in a straw poll at the conservative political action conference. it's an important nod from the right for romney whose conservative credentials have been repeatedly challenged throughout the campaign. but the big attention getter at this week's gathering was sarah palin, who emerged with a fiery rallying cry to voters. >> reporter: sarah palin late today before a raucous crowd and back on center stage. >> it is about one country united under god. we're not red americans. we're not blue americans. we're red, white and blue and president obama, we are through with you. >> reporter: palin brought conservatives to their feet, mocking the president and dishing up plenty of red meat. >> he says he has a jobs plan to win the future. wtf, i know. [ applause ] and i'm the idiot. >> reporter: though she didn't endorse a candidate as some had hoped an energized palin rallied the base at cpac, an influential annual meeting of activists on

i'm lester holt. >> and i'm amy robach. although whitney houston's funeral is a private one, i'm sure people will be flooding the streets. >> today in newark, new jersey, just across the river, her inner circle remember her as a daughter, mother, sister, and a friend. many in the top names in the entertainment will be at the funeral service. >> but as the funeral takes place authoritieses in california are still trying to determine her cause of death. while there's no evidence of foul play, officials are trying to piece together her medical and prescription drug history in order to solve this miss try. >>> also coming up a dramatic trial. a husband is accused of cutting off his wife's air supply while they were scuba diving on their honeymoon, but some witnesses pants a different picture of what happened when that i were under water. we'll have that story coming up as well. >>> then george clooney. he's rich, famous, handsome, successful, and might i say the list goes on and on. so why is one of hollywood's leading men lone

i'm lester holt. reporting from new york. tomorrow morning on "today" and right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

lester? >>> thanks. a dutch prince is recovering from serious injuries this morning after being buried under and avalanche. as nbc's duncan golasta anyi reports he was taking part in a popular royal pastime. >> reporter: it's long been the winter playground for european royalty from charles and dinah and william and indicate. the british areas of in switzerland. each year queen buy trix vacations there. he's in the hospital after being buried in an avalanche. his condition described as stable but not out of danger. the result was on hiort was on . the prince well knows the area since having vacationed there since childhood. he was skiing on irregular trails and unmarked paths. he was quickly buried in 100 feet of snow. this rescuer says the prince was dug out 20 minutes after he was cover and given first aid. he said that was a good size. there's his wife mabel. their wedding failed tradition because they failed to ask parliament for permission to marry. i >> it turns out mabel had a rocky time in school

. >> reporter: good evening, lester. well, the defense minister called leon panetta offering his apologizes after the killing of two u.s. army officers as anti-american protests continued. police and demonstrators clashing again today in northern afghanistan. the protesters attacked shops, government buildings and a united nations come pound. they shouted death to america, a scene that's been repeated here for the past five days. and for the second time this week, a deadly attack on u.s. service members. in kabul, two american advisers to the afghan interior ministry, an army colonel and a major, were shot and killed by a gunman inside their offices. the building had some of the heaviest security in the country. in a statement after the attack, the pentagon said the u.s. condemns it in the strongest possible terms, and said defense secretary secretary leon panetta urged the government to take action to protect the forces. the taliban said it was in response to the burning of the korans by the u.s. soldiers earlier this w

lester?uston and her family for 30 years and chaka khan, thank you both for coming on. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> reverend, you've known whitney and her family for years. have you spoken to her mother or dionne warwick, her aunt? >> no. we've reached out to them. i spent a lot of time last night talking to people who knew her well, was working with her, including the one who directed the movie she just finished "sparkles," that's coming out. everyone is numb and in shock because she seemingly had recaptured her whole grip on life. they say that we will be amazed at how well she will come off in this movie. she even sang. i know i saw her a couple of times last year and she kept saying to me, reverend, thank you for praying for me. we all knew and stood by her mother, cissy houston, who showed an incomparable strength to stand by her daughter, because whitney was our star. she was the one that was the diva that brought our music and culture to a whole other level. for this to happen is bey

i'm lester holt. >> and i'm jenna wolfe.s safe to say the music industry lost a titanic voice last night. >> i was just hit with an overwhelming sense of sadness when i heard the news. i loved her music and i think we all felt the horrible struggle she went through in the last few years of her life. >> it was hard for us as fans to watch her go through it. she called herself her own worst enemy. we sort of felt her pain, as well. >> we've been reminded just how many hits she produced over her career. she dominated the pop music charts for really the most of two decades from 1984 to 1999. she had eleven number one hits and an additional eleven top ten hits. on thursday whitney houston had been seened briefly with her longtime mentor clive davis and her daughter bobbi. >> later that night she attended grammy parties in and around the los angeles area and in these photos houston seems to be needing some help walking, leaving those clubs. the images are a far cry from the kwlamglamorous whitney hous that had become such a music

welcome to "today" oop pym lester holt. >> and i'm jenna wolfe. i turned on the ceremony yesterday, it was televised, and at first i felt uncomfortable, whether i should be watching it. but it was a really, touching, beautiful, service. >> it was sad at times but also was a celebration. joyous and rousing. it was amazing. >> it was. and it was filled with memories of houston and also the music that she loved. friends including tyler perry and kevin costner all spoke warmly about houston and her deep religious beliefs. while stevie wonder, alicia keys song touching tributes. we're going to talk with two people who were actually there, including famed song writer dionne warwick who wrote several songs for houston. >> plus life as a deadly sharp shooter. a navy s.e.a.l. talks to us and takes us into his fighting world and details of what went through his mind during some of the most ferocious combat in iraq. >>> and then, i recently spent some time with a couple of fellow speed demons. unlike myself. the three hosts of top gear usa. they will try alm

lester? >> al, thanks. it's happened again according to the cdc for the fifth time this year a cruise ship has returned to port early because so many passengers became violently ill. kerry sanders is in ft. lauderdale this morning for us. good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning, lester. the crown princess has returned to port everglades here two days early. this is the second time now it has had to return to port with passengers on board complaining about their symptoms. authorities believe they were hit with something called the norovirus. the symptoms are painful stomachaches and the inability to keep anything down. it was supposed to be an escape from the rat race, but ill passengers say it was nothing close to paradise. >> it's been a nightmare. we lost two full days of our cruise. we spent thousands of dollars for this cruise to stay in my room vomiting, diarrhea. >> reporter: the crown princess was sanitized six days ago after the cdc alerted what they called a code red. 289 passengers and crew

>> reporter: good morning, lester. well, the one thing we do know is that former president nelson mandela is in the military hospital in pretoria about 45 minutes from here. we don't know his condition, but contrary to the way this information was passed when president mandela was last hospitalized, we are being told that the only people who will speak on this are the president's spokes people. at this point the president's spokesman says that president mandela is in hospital and that under the circumstances, given his age, he is doing well. we do have conflicting information about whether or not there was indeed abdominal surgery. most of the information i've gotten suggests that there was surgery this morning although recently one of the other spokesmen told one of the television stations here that there was no surgery. we'll just have to wait and see. >> we had also heard a report that this was a preplanned hospital admission. do we know if this was an emergency or something that was planned? >> reporter: well, base

lester?y in athens for us tonight, thank you. >>> there is late word tonight that the arab league is calling on the united nations to create a peacekeeping force to help end the violent government crackdown in syria. at a meeting today in cairo, arab league ministers agreed to cut off diplomatic ties to the syrian regime at international conferences. today white house chief of staff jack lew said there is no question the assad regime will come to an end, the only question is when. >>> after nearly two weeks of weather delays, tonight crews have begun to pump half a million gallons of fuel out of that capsized cruise ship off the coast of italy. officials say it will take 28 days to complete the operation. also today, a memorial in rome for the victims of the costa concordia disaster. 17 bodies have been recovered and another 15 people are missing and presumed dead. >>> to presidential politics now. a day after mitt romney's victory in the maine caucuses, his rivals are sharpening their attack

i'm amy robach along with lester holt.our, the secrets of a las vegas casino. >> you talk about your reality tv, they've got more cameras anded monitors than we do in our studio, watching every move the gamblers do and trying to make sure everybody plays by the rules. >> if you walk into any casino in las vegas, know that you're being recorded. >> just smile. >> yes, exactly. >>> and then the call of the wild. we're getting you don't know too much about these. look aet this colorful bird. he's giving a little flying demonstration. he ooh going to fly on your head later on, right, lester? >> i hope he isn't going to do what he did in the studio a few moments ago. >> he should be wearing a diaper, let's say that. and a kangaroo with a pouch. >>> first mike bettes is with us outside. he's got another check of the weather. >> good morning out here. we've got faithful out here. enjoy the lid. that's a nice warm lid. >> have you been expecting the snow? >> quite cold. we've been expecting it since 5:00 this morning. >> you've go

now here's lester. >> all right, jenna, thanks. now to politics. it's down to the wire for michigan's primary. and it's shaping up to be a two-man race with mitt romney and rick santorum neck and neck. both candidates are stepping up their game. with us now is david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." good morning to you. we've seen, especially in the last couple of days, these two santorum and romney really going after each other. we've talked about the huge risk if romney can't carry his home state. what about the risk to santorum? how big a risk is this for him? >> it's certainly important. santorum has this momentum and he's in the spotlight because of the contests that he won, because he's made michigan such a close contest now with mitt romney. but he's pledging to stay in the fight, and there's every reason that he will. he will go on to super tuesday, can go on beyond that rom romney's telling supporters, fund-raisers and others that they've got to brace themselves for a fight that goes well into may because of the rules for how that qu

i'm lester holt. >> and i'm jenna wolfe. how are you doing? >> i'm great. it's your birthday. >> how did you know? it's crazy. i didn't tell anybody. >> you gave me that look, please mention it. >> i went 365 days to give thaw look. >> and you were so quiet. >> i didn't mention a word this month at all. >> a little surprise later on. can you wait? >> only one? one surprise? >> two surprises? >> for the amount of advertising, i expect one and a half. >> this is your day. >> let me guess, you're going to start? >> i'll start. >> all right. it's really his day. >> we have a lot of news to get to. we're following the violence in afghanistan. authorities searching for an afghan police officer tied to saturday's deadly shooting of two nato officers. we'll goat a live report from kabul in a moment. >>> the race to the white house is getting down to the wire for gop candidates with two days to go until the crucial michigan primary. mitt romney and rick santorum are hitting hard. we'll have analysis of both. >>> then an update on nelson mandela, former south african

e to lester. >> mike, thanks.ators have found new evidence against josh powell who killed himself and his two young sons on sunday. >>> a bloody comforter was found. mickell almaguer, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. a large crowd's expected here in a few hours. family, friends, strangers grieving together for charlie and braden, this as we learn more about their father who murdered them and the evidence police have collected against him. >> reporter: in the days following josh powell's double murder-suicide, police continue to make shocking discoveries. just yesterday, they announced they found a blood-soaked comforter in the storage shed rented by josh powell. foen potential evidence that will undergo further testing too early to tell if it could belong to his missing wife susan who me may have murdered in 2009. also this week, police released this picture, josh powell withdrawing $7,000 from a bank, 24 hours before he set his home on fire with boys inside. the mounting evidence which including dis-turk

. >> i'm ann curry along with al roker and lester holt in for matt this morning. al will be talking about refinancing mortgages. >> with news yesterday that five of the largest banks agreed to a mortgage settlement to help strugglinging homeowners, now may be the time to think about refinancing. we'll look at whether it's right for you. it could save you tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. rates are at historic lows. now the perfect time for homeowners to refinance. we'll get great advice. >> good information fm more people are trying gluten-free diets hoping it will improve their health, make them lose a few pounds. some doctors warn against gluten-free diets unnecessarily. dr. nancy snyderman will answer your questions about it. >> okay. also we'll talk about lingerie. >> lester and i are wearing some now. >> that got a reaction here. we have lingerie in the house. great looks for all body types. >> sometimes a guy wants to feel pretty. >> just in time for valentine's day. that's right. meantime, let's make a little turn to go inside. >> people will be

i'm lester holt. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. >>> this morning on "early today," on the defensive. presidential hopeful rick santorum back pedals on comments about the president's faith. >>> killer snow. tragedy strikes when a fast-moving avalanche catches skiers off guard in washington state. >>> and solar twister. nasa releases stunning video of tornadoes on the surface of the sun. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello, and a very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with politics and theology. the campaign is criticizing rick santorum. the former pennsylvania senator says obama believes in a, quote, phony theology but then he said he wasn't talking about the president's christianity. nbc's brian mooar has the details from washington. >> reporter: rick santorum was talking about president obama's agenda. >> it's not about you or quality of life or your jobs. it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. >> reporter: that phony theology line has the obama campa