[Velshi:] A lot happening overnight. Let's get you caught up. Our first look at the fighting between rebels and Gadhafi forces in the streets of Misrata. Some incredible pictures we've got to show you. And is Gadhafi working on an exit strategy from Libya? We're live in Tripoli just ahead.
[Chetry:] And I'm Kiran Chetry. It's April 1st, but it's not an April Fools' joke. There's snow in the northeast today, up to a foot on the ground in some areas. And this is the same system that spawned tornadoes in Florida. We've got some amazing pictures for you. And Rob is watching the weather. We'll check in with him.
[Romans:] I'm Christine Romans. She has 200,000 Twitter followers and people want her to host "Saturday Night Live." Now the zoo keepers have found that deadly Egyptian cobra. What's her next move? We'll ask the director of the Bronx Zoo live on this
[American Morning. Velshi:] Good morning, and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Great to be back with both of you guys.
[Chetry:] Where were you? On the hunt for the snake?
[Velshi:] I left town. As you know, I left town until we found out. I got back on. I heard that the snake was back yesterday evening. Got back on a plane and I'm back here.
[Romans:] And meanwhile, the hunt for Gadhafi is on too. And there may be reports this morning that he's trying to negotiate some sort of departure. We're going to keep a very close eye on that. But Libya really tops the news today.
[Chetry:] Yes, and this is so interesting. One of our reporters got a first-hand look at what it's like in one of the rebel-held areas, Misrata. They're still trying to stall the advance of Gadhafi forces in Brega. His rebel fighters as we've been reporting have been on the retreat for days. And now we're getting our first look at the devastation inside the city of Misrata after weeks of fighting. Our CNN's Frederik Pleitgen had remarkable access to rebel fighters on the front lines. Here's a look.
[Frederik Pleitgen, Cnn International Correspondent:] Weeks of urban combat have taken their toll on Misrata. Badly damaged buildings, streets littered with wreckage. Libya's third largest city, the fight is a stronghold in the west is under siege by pro- Gadhafi forces. [on camera]: We're extremely close to the front line right now. We're with a couple of the fighters from the opposition forces. And this is in downtown Misrata. There's a lot of destruction everywhere. Most of the buildings here have some sort of damage to them, pock marks. There's a lot of destroyed cars in the streets, as well. And we can also see that the people that we're with, the fighters that we're with are very, very tense at this moment. [voice-over]: A celebration on a destroyed armored vehicle, a step too far for pro-Gadhafi forces nearby. And the scene turns ugly.
[Unidentified Male:] As you see, that all is destroyed by Gadhafi's forces. Building, gas stations, schools, restaurants, police station, even fire station, they're destroyed.
[Pleitgen:] Most residents have fled downtown Misrata as pro- Gadhafi forces have positioned snipers on tall buildings and used tanks and artillery in the city center. The anti-Gadhafi fighters badly outgunned fight back with the few weapons they have. They provided us with this video saying it shows a man disabling a battle tank with a rocket-propelled grenade.
[Chetry:] Amazing pictures. And that's Fred Pleitgen on the front lines in Misrata. He is now safely out of there, and that's why we're able to show the video this morning. But meantime, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates reassuring Congress that no U.S. troops will be used on the ground in Libya. He also said that supplying arms to the rebels is putting the cart before the horse. And we'll play a little bit more of that for you later. But very interesting words from our defense secretary when it comes to exactly what we may do strategically in Libya. Meantime, Moammar Gadhafi remains publicly defiant. But there are some signs that his inner circle may be crumbling. Two top lieutenants have defected amid signs that the regime may be looking for an exit strategy. "The Guardian" newspaper is reporting today that an envoy is reportedly in Britain for secret talks. Mohammed Ismail is a top aide to Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, who's shown there. Ismail reportedly visited Britain within the past couple of days.
[Romans:] Americans being warned, don't travel to Syria unless you really have to. The U.S. now telling citizens to put off non- essential travel to Syria. It also urged people in the country to think about leaving because of violence that has reportedly killed more than 70 people there. This comes as protesters called for marches across the country today dubbing this a day of martyrs.
[Velshi:] Well, March, out like a lion with severe weather from Florida all the way to Maine. Storms causing significant damage down south. A tornado ripped through Lakeland, Florida, flipping over small planes at an air show. And the northeast gets some April Fools' snowstorm, up to a foot in some places. In Cleveland, Progressive Field was a sea of white yesterday. Workers have been busy getting it clear in time for the Indian season opening game today. The northeast getting some of that snow right now. Rob Marciano is here with us in New York tracking the storm. Hey, Rob.
[Rob Marciano, Ams Meteorologist:] Hey, Ali. Good to see you guys again. Yes. How about that first day of baseball?
[Velshi:] Yes.
[Marciano:] We've got some snow to talk about. We said it might happen, but you know, when you see the pictures of them actually shoveling snow off a baseball field, that's a little bit surreal. A little bit of snow across the northeast right now. Here are some of the totals. Sterling, Massachusetts, 5.1. Still snowing in places like Worcester, Massachusetts. Five inches there. Yes, it is April 1st and this is not an April Fools' joke. We do anticipate a little bit more in the way of snow as we go through the next few hours. Radar showing just that. Winter storm warnings are still posted from Albany to Boston. We might have a live shot from Boston. Let's check it out there. Probably some snow falling out of the skies there. There you go. All right. WHDH, thanks for that shot there. A little snow on the ground. Not snowing down but commute will be hard for New Englanders. But nonetheless, a little bit of a slick go out there so just be careful. This thing is not over. As a matter of fact, where it's been raining in New York and parts of I-95, the back side of this will bring in a little bit of cold air and we'll probably see a little bit of snow flurries. As a matter of fact, snow showers, at least, still for the Cleveland's second game and maybe some wrap around for Philly as well. But here's where the most significant snowfall is expected later on today. Northern New England and parts of New Hampshire could see up and over a foot of snow. So April 1st, yes. Feeling like, I don't know, January, February 1st, as well. And we had that severe weather down across parts of Florida. Rough weather for them the past two days, but looks to be a little bit more calm today. See, when Ali shows up, everything gets starts to calm down.
[Velshi:] There you go. The snake's back.
[Marciano:] Snake's back where it should be.
[Romans:] That's what you were doing yesterday. On assignment. He's actually a snake charmer.
[Velshi:] I was a snake charmer. Hey, it's interesting, though, because a lot of opening days including yesterday's a lot of opening days are going to be wet, windy and rainy.
[Marciano:] Yes. And then, Yankees' opening day yesterday was cold and damp. I got to spend the day with an amazing hardcore Yankee fan. We're going to have that story for you in about 10 minutes.
[Chetry:] All right.
[Velshi:] Thanks, Rob.
[Chetry:] Thank you. We'll turn to the nuclear crisis in Japan right now. Alarming radiation levels are now being detected in the beef in Fukushima Prefecture. This is triggering a ban on sales of beef now. Workers, meantime, cannot seem to get the upper hand on the deteriorating conditions at the Daiichi power plant. You're looking at pictures now from a mounted camera on a concrete pump that's being used to spray water on the damaged reactors. The remote-controlled crane is typically used to pour cement into high-rise buildings. And the U.S. is sending Marines in now to help with the efforts in Japan. A 155-member response force could arrive in Japan today. And these Marines are specifically trained to operate in chemical, biological and nuclear environments. The Defense Department says that the unit is bringing equipment for agent detection and also identification, casualty search, rescue and personnel decontamination and emergency medical care to stabilize contaminated personnel. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people who've evacuated that 12- mile zone surrounding the plant are now being told that it will not be days or weeks, but months before they can return to their homes.
[Romans:] New this morning. Gas prices are up by more than a penny. The average for a gallon of regular gasoline now $3.62. Can't talk gas without talking oil, of course. And this morning, oil prices are at a 2 12 year high, you guys. Carmen Wong Ulrich is here "Minding Your Business."
[Carmen Wong Ulrich, Cnn Business Correspondent:] Yes, it is. And rising. Now we have two-and-a-half year highs for oil at $107 a barrel today. Let's look at how this uptick happened for this quarter. Oil most recently passed $100 a barrel in February with protests and unrest in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, of course. Then it dipped mid-March after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But now, with continued fighting in Libya, which has shut down an output of 1.6 million barrels of crude a day combined with the decline of the dollar, oil is up 16 percent for this quarter. Now in other big business news today, later this morning, U.S. Department of Labor is set to release the job report. This is private job growth for the month of March and it's expected to continue growth of an additional 180,000 jobs. This according to a CNN Money report and it's going to keep unemployment at about 8.9 percent.
[Velshi:] And we're going to hope that it's mostly private sector growth, but it's actually the net of the government jobs
[Romans:] Right.
[Velshi:] what will be the government jobs lost.
[Romans:] Right.
[Ulrich:] Well, that's the thing
[Velshi:] And the private sector jobs.
[Ulrich:] And that's what's in danger.
[Velshi:] Yes.
[Ulrich:] We've seen growth in the private sector.
[Velshi:] Yes.
[Ulrich:] But government jobs, a lot of them on the line.
[Velshi:] That's what we've seen most of the losses. And in a good economy, you want more private sector jobs and government jobs, but the reality is we continue
[Romans:] I know.
[Velshi:] It just hurts when you continue to see right.
[Ulrich:] We can use both. We really can use both.
[Romans:] I love to see high hopes for the jobs reports. And it is high hopes. High hopes that it's only 8.9 percent.
[Velshi:] That's right.
[Romans:] When you think about that, even 10 years
[Ulrich:] After what we've had, let's just keep it going and growing.
[Romans:] I know. It's all relative. All right.
[Velshi:] Thank you, Carmen.
[Ulrich:] Thank you.
[Velshi:] Also new this morning, she tried to throw them off with her tweets, but they got her. After searching for days, for four days, zoo keepers found a potentially deadly Egyptian cobra in the reptile house exactly where they said she would be at the famous Bronx Zoo in New York.
[Jim Breheny, Director, Bronx Zoo:] We wanted to create an environment where the snake felt comfortable coming out. So we kept the lights dim and we tried to keep as much noise and commotion down so she would feel comfortable coming out. And as I said, we were fairly confident that she would come out and she did.
[Velshi:] Coming up at 6:50, we're going to speak to the Bronx Zoo director. He has has all this fame gone to this cobra's large head? We'll find out about that a little later.
[Chetry:] Large head, the poor thing is three ounces. After she's safe and sound, people are like, oh, yes, the size of a pencil.
[Velshi:] I thought this thing was huge.
[Chetry:] Me too. With a huge hood ready to strike at any moment. Deadly.
[Velshi:] How big is it?
[Chetry:] Three ounces.
[Romans:] Just a little baby.
[Chetry:] She's about the size of a pencil.
[Velshi:] All right. Well, we'll be on top this morning.
[Chetry:] Now I'm wondering if this whole thing was a ruse to get people to the Bronx Zoo.
[Velshi:] Most famous Egyptian cobra in history.
[Chetry:] Well, up next on AMERICAN MORNING, you've probably seen drivers speeding past you. Did it make you nervous? Well, actually the roads are a lot safer. In fact, safer than we've seen in decades. We'll tell you why.
[Romans:] And a candy bar in a dream. How a craving helped a group of I.T. workers win the mega millions jackpot. This is a story of karma, boys and girls. It's really interesting. Eleven minutes after the hour.