grenades filled with black powder and gas containers around to amplify the fire after these things went off. all set to a srs of trip wires. one set to go off when the first person who goes in opens the door. it took them almost two days to come up with a strategy to eliminate them. ultimately they used water to disrupt the control box. these things were so volatile, they had to carry each one out in a bucket of sand to a dump truck, take them out into the country and explode them. it made a huge fireball, even out in the middle of the field. you can imagine what it would have done if it would have gone off in the suspect's apartment. jim? >> one thing that everyone is talking about in the demeanor of james holmes in the courtroom. on front page of every paper. his red hair, his big eyes. you were inside the court, jim, what did it seem like to you? >> we didn't know what to expect. the first question on everybody's mind is would his hair be red. we had heard that from law

enforcement sources. all the witnesses who were in the theater say he was wearing a helmet and mask. so that was the first thing was seeing his red hair after he described himself as the joker. this guy just looked dazed, he looked weak. he looked small to me and after initially scanning the crowd when he walked in, the rest of the time he more or less just looked straight ahead. meantime back in the seats of the courtroom. family members could not take their eyes off him. i saw parents of people who had died just staring at him the whole time. and you could tell it was a very emotional time for them. and they're there in the courtroom where they can't show any kind of emotional all. they have to be quiet. very typical for this family to get to look at him. and you just know that they're asking the question that all of us are asking -- why. and you know they're possibly never going to get a satisfactory answer to that. >> jim spelman in aurora, it was

a strange, eerie scene yesterday, thanks very much. it's three minutes past the hour. the world got its first look at james holmes yesterday. and as he just mentioned, 0 so did his eledged victims and the first sight of holmes evoked a lot of anger. because of his demeanor in court. >> has no right to come into court looking like he has a sad face. the look that he has right now is not something that's going to be believable by anyone. >> you think it's masked? >> yeah. he had this thought out very well. >> do you think the hair and the face, this is all part of this act? >> it's an act. >> this guy is nothing, he's a coward and a genius. he knows what he's doing. he's playing the system. i don't believe for a second that he's sitting there, his wide eyes and pretending to be incoherent. he knows what he's doing. >> holmes will be back in court on monday. that's when prosecutors are expected to formally file charges against him.

now the family of james holmes in san diego is standing by him. yesterday their attorney, lisa demijani told reporters they're doing as well as they can under the circumstances. but when it comes to details about their son, they're not ready to speak. >> the family wants to reiterate that their hearts go out to the victims and their families. the holmes family would like to maintain their privacy. so at this time we will not be discussing james or his relationship to the family. >> demiani said everyone at home's family is concerned about the possibility of their son facing the death penalty. coming up at 5:30, we'll be speaking with former fbi special agent steve moore about more insight. five minutes past the hour here. penn state's football future hanging in the balance this morning after the ncaa slapped the program with devastating

penalties for turning a blind eye to jerry sandusky's abuse of young boys. $60 million in fines, this is over five years. a postseason ban from bowl games for four years. a reduced number of scholarships for four seasons. and the team has been stripped of all wins going back to 1998. that drops joe paterno from first in all-time wins to eighth now. susan candiotti is live from state college. susan, you spoke with penn state's president and athletic director, how are they reacting? >> well certainly this morning, penn state is knows that it faces what could be a crippling situation for years to come. these ncaa sanctions were not negotiable. and certainly penn state is not saying that it deserved what it got. however, the president tells me, the school will survive. >> we certainly had an unprecedented situation here.

we had an unprecedented set of sanctions. penn state is a very resilient university. and i'm always struck by the sense of resolve that people have here. when confronted with a situation like this. >> and of course they do know that they'll need a lot of resolve to try to rebuild its football program. the athletic program as well. because how do you attract players, good players here when they know that there won't be scholarships, there won't be any postseason games and there will be a terrific loss of revenues to this university for years to come. it will be a challenge. zoraida? >> you know what, john berman will be talking to an ex-pro football player who is going to speak specifically about that. a lot of people are saying that the sanctions were really hard against penn state. what are you hearing? >> well of course, as we've been saying, it's going to be very tough for them to try too

overcome this. and the ncaa said the thing about what happened here, is that schools around the country will have to learn a lesson, face what happened here and make sure it doesn't happen again. here's the head of the ncaa. >> our goal is not to be just punitive, but to make sure the university establishes an athletic culture and daily mindset in which football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people. >> and along with the $60 million in fines, remember, what still lies ahead for this university. all those expected civil lawsuits that they're also going to have to pay out to all the victims in this case. the child abuse victims, zoraida. >> you are absolutely right so we'll be hearing much more. susan candiotti, live for us, thank you very much. moving on.

growing concern in israel and the u.s. this morning about chemical weapons coming into play in syria. fierce fighting between rebel forces and government troops continuing overnight in the city of aleppo. the acid regime desperately clinging to power. this is the development that's getting everyone's attention. a spokesman for syria's government foreign ministry publicly threatening to deploy chemical weapons against any foreign intervention. senator john mccain says he's taking that threat seriously. >> there is a danger of chemical weapons that presently under bashar al assad's control, from flowing to hezbollah, presenting a grave threat to the security of israel. >> president obama warns the assad regime it would be a tragic mistake to use chemical weapons and syria will be held accountable. well remembering a true pioneer, isn't this just an incredible story. we just heard this overnight. sally ride, the first american woman in space has died after a long battle with ban caratic

cancer. a lot of people didn't even know she was sick. that is the same cancer that claimed the lives of steve jobs and patrick swayze. after leaving nasa, sally ride founded an organization that encouraged young women to pursue careers in science. president obama called her a national hero. and a powerful role model. sally ride was just 61 years old. she is survived by her parents of 27 years. and her partner, her partner of 27 years. yesterday when they did release this, they talked about everybody who had survived, her nieces, nephews and her partner. >> that was the first word that many people had in this country was gay. sally ride, one of the coolest. >> don't you remember? >> i remember that moment in time. just very sad, because nobody, it seemed nobody knew she was

sick, either. >> they didn't, she kept it secret. politics now, mitt romney preparing for a big speech on foreign policy, when he addresses a vfw gathering in reno. after romney lays out his foreign policy vision today, he'll travel to england, israel and poland. the white house is challenging him to offer americans clear policy ideas during this trip. she disobeyed a direct order from a judge. for that, a kentucky teenager has drawn praise now from around the world, folks. find out what she did, coming up. at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane.

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welcome back to "early start," everyone, it is now 15 minutes past the hour. i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. we're getting an early read on your local news that's making national headlines. this one, a legal reprieve for a 17-year-old sexual assault victim who faced jail time. she faced jail time for revealing the names of her attackers. this comes us from the louisville "courier-journal." 17-year-old savannah dietrich. the girl had given her written permission to talk to a newspaper. she tweeted out the names of her attackers, but that was defiance of a court order because she was not allowed to do that. the attorneys for the two boys

have now filed a motion or had filed a motion to hold her in contempt of court. they have now lifted that. they say that this law is designed really to protect the victim. so they say they were shocked that she decided to go ahead and tweet the names of the victims. she said i needed to talk about this and i needed to get my story out there. at the end of the day i've got a lot of support and that's helped her get through this. >> there was a huge outcry online. some 70,000 signaturings on change.org supporting her saying don't hold her in contempt of court. here in new york city, maybe less serious issue -- soda. mayor michael bloomberg in his war against soda. >> very serious to some people. >> if you love soda. he wants to ban sodas of more than 16 ounces from places like movie theaters and the like. there's a public hearing. if you love your soda, i would say get to the hearing. the decision will be made by a board that is all appointed by

michael bloomberg. so barring some unforeseen event this thing is going to happen here. >> a lot of people are angry, because they're saying i can decide whatever it is i want to drink. you can't tell me what to do. i'm just dying to see how this all plays out. >> you can still have your big sugary drink in the comfort of your own home. for an expanded look at all of our top stories, head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. maine police releasing a video that looks like it was ripped from an action movie. a state trooper chasing down an elderly driver. it looks like a video game. going down the wrong way on the interstate. the trooper got the call during a traffic stop. and instead of chasing the car the wrong way down the highway, the officer floored it to the next exit to get ahead of the guy. he went exit ramp and bumped him. he bumped him with his own car at about 50 miles per hour. the trooper said he made the decision because if he had kept going and chasing the wrong way, people would have died. >> he risked his own life for

that he's okay. 17 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date with this morning's top stories. >> good morning, exclusive new details this morning about the rigged explosives discovered in the apartment of suspected movie theater gunman, james holmes. a law enforcement official describing video taken from inside that apartment. he says it was set up like something you would find in afghanistan or iraq. the suspect's living room, littered with 30 improvised grenades, rigged to a control box in the kitchen. and there were glass containers filled with ten gallons of gasoline to enhance the quote thermal effect of an explosion. the violence is escalating in iraq. at least a dozen attacks in the form of car bombs and roadside explosives killing at least 282 people and wounding 180 more across the country yesterday. this was one of the bloodiest days in iraq since the departure of u.s. troops in december. the country is facing a political crisis with shiite,

sunni and kurdish political blocs all at odds. a civilian shipyard worker now charged with setting a fire that sent a navy nuclear submarine up in flames while it was in dry dock in maine. that fire you recall back in may did $400 million in damage to the "uss miami." naval investigators say 24-year-old casey james fury has confessed. he told them he did it, he started the fire because he was having an anxiety attack. and he wanted to get off work early. >> wow. >> $400 million nuclear. airport security will soon be a breeze for airline flight attendants, they're being added to the tsa's known crew member program. this is used by pilots. the program is designed to speed up screening for low-risk travelers. and the tsa plans to expand the program to include flight attendants at 31 airports across the country. by the end of the year. >> they're going to like this. they didn't like waiting at all.

>> and you know, a lot of people who have been waiting with all their bags open don't like it when 15 flight attendants come right in front of them, too. >> this person right here doesn't like it. >> i want one of those. but i'm worried about going through the screening process, it's very invasive, i hear. >> i hear you have a pretty clean record. so i wouldn't be too worried. >> i'm not hiding anything for the record. but you know, then they know everything about you and it's on somebody's record. so i don't know about that. there's nothing to hide. thank you, christine, thank you. >> thanks for the news. but don't go far because coming up, christine will be back with news about our credit rating, could the u.s. credit rating be cut again this summer? sometimes, i feel like it's me against my hair. [ female announcer ] weak, damaged hair needs new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. active naturals wheat formulas restore strength for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. the wife. hey, babe.

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lot like last summer. last summer we took a little dive into august and september and spent the year climbing back up. now, now we have this feeling again of unease in the markets, we've got europe, that's a big problem. we've got the fiscal cliff that is staring us in the face, that's another big problem. we have another debt ceiling drama probably to play out by the end of the year, that's another big problem and there's a lot of concern in the markets really that you know, this congress hasn't seen a deadline that it could handle in a meaningful way, ever. so there's a lot of concerns that we don't think that congress is going to be able to handle these things well and that's all, all more reasons for people to be nervous about stocks. >> a lot of people watching this libor scandal. the rate-setting issue. and an investigation going on and people want to know what's going to happen. >> this is another way that the very foundation of the financial system has been shaken. hundreds of trillions of dollar of financial transactions are based on this london libor inter-bank rate. big investigation into banks

actually manipulating that number during the financial crisis to make money. and to make themselves look bet anywhere the heat of the financial crisis. "reuters" reporting earlier this week that there will be arrests. that this is, there's a fuller picture prosecutors, prosecutors have a fuller picture of this. there are a lot of emails that show traders actually talking about, talking about this. and we know there's a lot of public desire for someone to go to jail. so big, big criminal investigations in this. so we'll be looking for it. i would say that any day or week now. in the days and weeks ahead we'll be seeing more about the libor scandal. >> that will be big news when it happens. >> there have not been very many prosecutions of financial misdeeds during a period of huge financial misdeeds in the financial system almost coming to its knees. >> a lot of "i'm sorry" but no consequences. >> "i'm sorry" doesn't punch your 401(k). dozens of ieds ready to explode, not in iraq or

afghanistan. this was a colorado apartment building. exclusive details, we have about what bomb experts found in the aurora shooting suspect's home. that's coming up. and if you're leaving the house, you can watch us any time on your mobile phone, desk top. go to cnn.com/tv. for their "destination wedding." double miles you can "actually" use. but with those single mile travel cards... [ bridesmaid ] blacked out... but i'm a bridesmaid. oh! "x" marks the spot she'll never sit. but i bought a dress! a toast... ...to the capital one venture card. fly any airline, any flight, anytime. double miles you can actually use. what a coincidence? what's in your wallet? [ all screaming ] watch the elbows ladies.

living room death trap. cnn with exclusive details of what was found inside the aurora shooting suspect's apartment. deadly propaganda. taliban video of what is believed to be a bombing attack that took two american lives. foreign policy focus, mitt

romney heads overseas today. but not before making a big address in the race for the white house. welcome back to "early start," everyone, glad you're here, i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. the top story, the colorado shooting suspect in court. new details about the booby trap that he left behind. everyone remarking on his odd facial expressions as james holmes had his first day in front of the judge. at the same time, cnn has new details this morning from inside that apartment. aurora police discovered over 30 improvised explosive devices rigged to a control box and surrounded by glass containers of gasoline. which investigators say were meant to enhance the effects of the blast. the mess of wires we're told, looked like spaghetti and was compared to something that you would see in iraq or afghanistan, not here at home. the explosives have been dismantled and sent to the fbi lab for nurt analysis. but the law enforcement official

who viewed video from inside the apartment tells cnn that the set-up was rigged right and would have likely been burned down or would have burned down most of the building had it gone off. with me is steve moore, a former fbi special agent and author of the book "special agent man." thank you for joining us and you're an expert on iraq and afghanistan. so i want to start with that the list that we have of what they found inside of the apartment. how complicated is it to rig that together, into a bomb? >> well it's extremely complicated. my experience is mainly in pakistan and indonesia. but it's when you get into that kind of complicated device, you're really having to know what you're doing. you really have to put a lot of thought into it. you don't just come up with this kind of thing. >> so we have a quote here from that law enforcement official. that says that that flame would have consumed the entire third

floor of the apartment complex. by the time a fire truck would have arrived they would have arrived into a building that would have been completely consumed in flames. do you agree with that, based on what you read? >> from what, i would have to take their word for the amount of accelerant and the amount of explosives they had in there. but it seems like a very conservative estimate, really. much more than that, and it would take the entire building down. the gasoline was meant both as an accelerant and as a dramatic effect, really. mine that's what movie-makers use in their explosives is raw gasoline. >> let's talk about a lot of folks are saying his demeanor yesterday in court and you know perhaps that there would be an insanity plea here. when you look at what he was capable of doing and over the period of time that he planned this, how do you feel about that and what you saw in the courtroom yesterday? and his disposition? >> what i saw in the courtroom

yesterday was really interesting, because for the last 60 days, from what we've heard he's been very methodical, careful. incontrol and he's been buying weapons, training on weapons. coming up with a plan. and intricate plan, building an intricate explosive device. and then he comes into court and all of a sudden is catatonic. i don't believe it. the night before this guy was completely in control of everything he was doing. and following an intricate plan. and yet he comes in here with, with us trying to, wanting us to believe that all of a sudden, he's catatonic? i don't buy it and i don't think a jury is going to buy it. 60 days speak a lot louder than 60 seconds in that courtroom. >> what we don't know is whether or not he was on any medication during that time. i do, i want to show you some footage of holmes from six years ago. at a science camp. i think we have, do we have a

little bit of sound on this as well? let's listen in. >> well i'm james. i've been working with the temporal illusion. it's an illusion that allows you to change the past. >> his goals are to become a researcher and to make scientific discoveries. >> gamers might feel like they have a superpower and i might let them have more fun. so -- >> so in that video he looks like a pretty average, pretty normal guy. very different from what we saw in court. do you think it's possible -- again we do not know in he was on any medication before he appeared in court yesterday. so do you think that it's possible that you know, perhaps he snapped. and still was able to create what he created in that apartment and into do what he did. inside that movie theater. >> if you allow for a "snap," that would have had to have happened before he started shooting people. the snap didn't happen after he shot the people.

or it has nothing to do with a shooting. he methodically decided on how to kill a great many people. and then the day after he's caught, boom, all of a sudden he's catatonic. and they wouldn't bring him into court if he was on some type of drug. because frankly, then he can't make decisions in court and everything he says and everything he agrees to is now subject to, to retraction. so they will not bring him into court if he's medicated. >> all right. steve moore, fbi, former fbi special agent and author of "special agent man" thank you for joining us this morning. we want to give you an update on the wounded right now. some of the wounded in the aurora massacre. as of last night, 15 shooting victims remain hospitalized, five in critical condition. one listed as serious, and the rest right now, thank goodness in good or fair condition. from aurora to capitol hill, the senate led by majority leader, harry reid, observing a

moment of silence yesterday for the colorado shooting victims. >> may we pause to mourn the dead and also honor how they lived. we pledge our support to the people of aurora, colorado, both as they grieve and as they begin to heal. from this terrible tragedy. >> senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell read the names of the 12 people who died in the colorado movie theater massacre and asked for prayers for those who were injured as they continue their recovery. the massacre in aurora is fueling the debate over gun control this morning. new york mayor michael bloomberg continuing his push for tighter laws while governor mitt romney in, and new jersey governor chris christie insists existing laws can get the job done. >> i think that we've got enough gun laws now, and it's time for us to aggressively enforce the gun laws we have. >> i still believe the second amendment is the right course to preserve and defend and don't believe that new laws are going to make a difference in this

type of tragedy. >> someday there will be a shooting which you would think would trigger in the american psyche this, i'm not going to take it any more. i don't know what it is. we obviously haven't gotten there yet. but we just, this cannot continue. >> by the way, mitt romney's position seems to have shift over the years, as governor of massachusetts he signed a ban on assault weapons. here's president obama, he's been laying low on the issue of gun control, too. during his visit to aurora over the weekend, he didn't bring up the subject and gun control advocates are expressing their disappointment with him. we just got an article this morning that there's a 40% increase in people applying for licenses for guns in colorado. so a lot of people are scared and they want to try to protect themselves. the debate will continue. 38 minutes past the hour. the united states donating $150 million. that is to help poor nations stop the spread of aids. the announcement coming at an

international aids conference in washington. the money to be used to get life-saving drugs to struggling countries hardest hit by the disease. secretary of state hillary clinton said the goal is an aids-free generation where no babies are born with the infection. it is a big week in politics. mitt romney on the world stage today. coming up, the candidate makes his big foreign policy speech before heading overseas. we're going to have a preview. of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites.

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do you like the music? wake up. it's like tuesday techno. well, good morning to you, washington, d.c., it is 75 degrees, a little, look how beautiful. all lit up. that's a little cloudy now, later, 96 and thunderstorms are headed your way. welcome back to "early start," 43 minutes past the hour. we're very happy you're with us this morning, i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman. we're talking about politics. washington loves techno music. mitt romney is preparing for a big step in his candidacy. he heads overseas, visiting the uk, israel and poland. before he goes, he's giving a policy speech to the vfw convention in reno. voters will get a chance to size up his foreign policy chops here in the u.s. and on the world

stage. our cnn political expert joins us live from washington. peter as of now, foreign policy seems to be listed as a strength for the president, an advantage for the white house here. >> absolutely. as sagging as the president's poll numbers are generally speaking, we had a cnn poll recently that showed the president leading mitt romney 53-41 when asked who would better handle foreign policy. he's gotten a lot of plaud its about how he's handled national security and foreign policy, this president. he's used this as an opportunity at the veterans of foreign wars speech in reno yesterday. it didn't take long for the sort of detente from campaigning to break. but obama sort of preputting romney's overseas trip and firing back at romney without mentioning him by nay for criticizing the president's timetable for withdrawal from afghanistan. president obama said when you're commander-in-chief you owe the troops a plan, you owe the country a plan. he accused romney of sort of

rooting for america's decline by going around the campaign trail and saying, you know, that the president sort of ruining the economy and making the country a worse place. romney has a chance to rebut that today. it will be his sort of big foreign policy national security speech here in this country. before going overseas for this three-country tour that we're all going to be following closely. >> the president didn't mention mitt romney on stage yesterday, but he is mentioning him by name in what i think is one of the most remarkable ads so far of this campaign. the president stares right to camera here, you have to take a look at this. >> over the next four months, you have a choice to make. not just between two political parties, or even two people. it's a choice between two very different plans for our country. governor romney's plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top. roll back regulations on big banks, and he says that if we do, our economy will grow and

everyone will benefit. but you know what? we tried that top-down approach. it's what caused the mess in the first place. sometimes politics can seem very small. but the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger. >> in the political business, we call this is a straight-to-camera ad. peter, a few things about this ad i found unusual. number one, we have this straight-to-camera testimonial, and it's july. and the second thing is you have the sitting president of the united states mentioning his candidate by name in this ad in july, i thought it was unusual. >> it is unusual, john. this is sort of reminiscent you would think a closing argument ad would be at the end of a campaign. the sort of minute-long straight-to-camera testimonial. but what you see here is the campaign realizing that the president is probably their best asset. you know, a lot of campaigns don't have candidates who voters like and trust. and polls show that voters like and trust barack obama, even though they might not think he's doing a good job on the economy,

they think he's a nice guy. they're putting him in froth of voters while the olympics are on tv to remind people -- okay, this is a guy we think we can trust and we think he's taking the country in the right direction. but again, july really early for an ad like this. again you usually see these things in october and november. >> and also the kind of message he's delivering on the stump every day, and maybe they don't think it's getting through, so they have to pay for it. let's get you up to date with christine romans and the morning's top stories. >> exclusive details about the rigged explosives discovered in the apartment of suspected movie theater gunman james holmes. a law enforcement official describing video taken from inside that apartment. he says it was set up like something you'd find in afghanistan or iraq. the suspect's living room littered with 30 improvised grenades rigged to a control box in the kitchen. and then there were glass

containers filled with ten gallons of gasoline all to enhance the thermal effect of an explosion. and take a look at this -- that is shocking taliban propaganda video posted online taking us behind the scenes of a suicide attack on a u.s. base back in june. that blast was so powerful it damaged homes two miles away and flattened a dining hall. now cnn cannot verify any information in the video. the taliban claims 20 coalition troops were in that attack. officials said two americans were killed in that particular blast. opening statements could be heard next week in the murder trial of drew peterson. jury selection started yesterday. the former illinois police officer is accused of killing his third wife, kathleen savio, who was found dead in a bathtub in 2004. he became a suspect in her murder after his fourth wife,

stacy peterson, disappeared. stacy's body has never been found. more than 50 people were sent to the hospital after a food poisoning outbreak at a homeless shelter sunday night. many were found vomiting violently on the side of the street after eating a turkey dinner made from meat donated to the denver rescue mission. the "denver post" reports up to 350 people ate at the homeless shelter that night. crews are searching downtown denver for more people who may have become ill. and a new study says 38% of americans live paycheck to paycheck. that is up from a decade ago. less than a third of those surveys said they felt comfortable financially. and only about one-third think they can afford to retire by age 65. you guys, we still feel the effects of that huge financial crisis, and so many, so many american families can not make the money last as long as the month. >> does that number surprise you, christine. >> i always try to flip those

upside-down and say two-thirds say they'll be able to retire by 65. to me says i'm surprised that two-thirds think they can retire by 65. >> glass two-thirds full in this case. 50 minutes past the hour. the entire world will be watching when the 2012 games kick off next week in london. >> i will. >> isn't it exciting? look at this, a live picture of the olympic stadium. we have a live report on what you can expect. that is headed your way next. and listen to thissing if you're leaving the house, do not fret you can watch us any time on your mobile phone, in case you don't know what that looks like, john berman is holding one up for you. you can also use your desk top to vee us. go to cnn.com/tv. ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch?

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we're liking the music here. the olympic torch will take a ride on the tube today as the flame makes its way to the opening ceremonies in london on friday already. excitement is building despite fears that traffic and weather will dampen the mood there. details of the $42 million show are leaking out. jim bolden is live at cnn's olympic site in london. i hear they had a rehearsal. you were there. can you share some of the details that are leaking? >> well they don't want anyone to tell what happened last night. they had 60,000 people in the stadium overnight, last night to have the practice of the opening ceremony and there's a hashtag it says, #savethesurprise. >> there's going to be nurses from the national health service and then there's going to be things about james bond. we know the queen is involved somehow. the big question of course is the torch, who is going to light the cauldron?

we don't know that one yet, that still hasn't leaked out. there's expected to be fireworks up and down this area when the opening ceremonies kick off on friday. the torch is going to go on the tube. it will be on the part of the district line through cue garden asnd into richmond. the part that's above ground. it's going to be the first time the torch is going to be seen going on the underground. the hope for organizers is to get people in london excited about this. they think getting the torch around london will get people ready for friday night. the weather is absolutely gorgeous, the rain is gone for now and i think it will help people's mood as we get ready for the opening ceremony. >> it looks like there's a ton of excitement there. so more to come. gym boulden, thank you very much. >> nurses, farm animals and the queen. that's a party. >> how do you think that's going to fit in there? can't wait to see. coming up after the break,

the day's top stories, including the one that's everyone talking about, the face of aurora, colorado shooting suspect, james holmes. we hear from family members of victims who say they're angry about this whole spectacle. restore strength acts for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. the wife. hey, babe. got the jetta. i wiped the floor with the guy! not really. i would've been fine with 0% for 36 months, but i demanded 60. no...i didn't do that. it was like taking candy from a baby. you're a grown man. alright, see you at home. [ male announcer ] the volkswagen autobahn for all event. we good? we're good. [ male announcer ] at 0% apr for 60 months, no one needs to know how easy it was to get your new volkswagen. that's the power of german engineering.

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rigged to explode -- cnn with exclusive details of the arsenal of home-made bombs found inside the aurora shooting suspect's apartment. the fight for syria. new fears about chemical weapons as the assad regime struggles for control. river rescue. take a look at this. the rush to save people from a wedding party after a bridge

washes out. >> a wedding? >> yup. one guy was trapped in his car, we've got the details for you. good morning to morning, to you the way you want to start a wedding, right? i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. penn state sacked by crippling penalties, a live report just minutes away. the housing market may have finally hit rock bottom, what that might mean for the value of your home coming up. brand-new exclusive details about the explosive rigged apartment of james holmes, the suspected colorado shooter. a law enforcement official described to cnn video taken from inside that apartment. he says it was set up like something out of iraq or afghanistan. living room scattered with 30 i am pro mized grenades and glass containers filled with ten gallons of gas for the purpose of adding more fuel to the fire

in an explosion. jim spellman is in aurora. this exclusive video, the details of it exclusive to cnn. what else can you tell us about it? >> reporter: that's right, the police tell us this apartment was designed to kill with a trip wire right at the front door, designed to set off the explosives to when the door was open. now, it took two days for police here to be able to figure out an approach to rendering this safe. they had to use essentially a water charge to take out the control panel, which then rendered the rest of them inoperable. these are filled with black powder, senly a series of grenades used to something similar to fireworks. when they were able to extract these things from the apartment and take them out into a rural area and explode them in a field, it was a huge fire ball, unbelievable the damage that would have done to the apartment

if it gone on, especially if it was designed to do when police and first responders entered that apartment. >> perhaps tragically, james holmes' face all over the newspaper, o on the cover of every newspaper, talking about his disposition in the courtroom, his eyes and hair. you were inside that room. how did he seem to you? >> reporter: to me he seemed small and petty and lost. and nothing like this sort of super villain that he tried to occupy during this event. for the family members, it's hard as it is to see this guy's face plastered everywhere, the family members couldn't take their eyes off of him. they were staring at him the entire 15 minutes or so. he didn't look towards the family members at all. he blankly looked forward with this expression that we've seen so many times in pictures and

video, looking more or less at the judge and looking out of it. hard to know what to read into it, express like that, but also hard to attach someone who seems o so weak to such a horrific act. >> inside look at what's going on there, thanks. jim spellman in aurora, colorado. the world got its first look at james holmes yesterday as well and the victims. the suspected gunman made his first court appearance and it was quite a spectacle. holmes' hair died orange, expression alternating from blank to be wildered. evoked anger not because of what he was doing but his demeanor in court. >> he has no right to come in court looking like he has a sad face. it is not something that's going to be believable. >> you think it's an act? >> yeah.

he had this thought out very well. >> do you think the hair and face -- >> it's an act. >> this guy is nothing, a coward and genius, he's playing the system. i don't believe for a second he's sitting there wide eyes and perfect tending to be incoherent, he knows what he's doing. >> holmes will be back in court on monday when prosecutors are expected to file charges against him. the family of james holmes is standing by him. their attorney told reporters they are doing as well as they can under the circumstances and getting a lot of support from their church. when it comes to details about their son, they are not ready to speak. >> the family wants to reiterate that the hearts go out to the victims and their families. the holmes family would like to maintain their privacy. so at this time we will not be discussing james or his relationship to the family.

>> she says everyone in holmes family is concerned about the possibility of their son facing the death penalty. >> four minutes past the hour, penn state's football future hanging in the balance after the ncaa slapped the program with devastating penalties for turning a blind eye to jerry sandusky's abuse of young boys. $60 million in fines, that's over five years, a postseason ban from bowl games for four years, reduced number of scholarships for four seasons. and the team has been stripped of all wins, this is going back to 1998. that drops joe paterno from first in all time wins to eighth. susan candiotti is live from state college. susan, you sat down with the university's top brass after the devastating sanctions. this is something they have inherited. what did they tell you? >> reporter: well, they said they are going to survive and they are counting on support from alumni, from fans and from

donors but they know they are going to have a tough job ahead of them trying to rebuild, especially their football program. i spoke with the athletic director on how he plans to recruit players. >> this certainly is a challenge. we've been placed in an unprecedented situation and coach bill o brian is a person firmly committed to this program and his football players. there have been some comments made today by a couple of football players, one said that out of the hottest fire comes the strongest steel and that's the kind of attitude and players that will want to come here. >> but rebuilding will take time, zoraida. >> a few critics are accusing the ncaa of piling it on. they want to know why did they come down so hard on penn state. >> reporter: really the ncaa said this was just a tremendous amount of failure of leadership

that led to horrific child abuse. they wanted to send a very clear message to everyone in college sports, that things will have to change. >> our goal is not to be just punitive but to make sure the university establishes an athletic culture and daily mindset in which football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people. >> reporter: as you know, penn state will have to pay millions in fines, a loss of scholarship, a tremendous loss of prestige, and of course, they are also expected to pay millions of dollars to victims of child abuse and those pending civil lawsuits. zoraida? >> there's far more to come. i was watching the press conference as it was happening live yesterday. we were covering it and culture was mentioned so many times, a change of culture. so no doubt that is going to happen. susan candiotti, thank you. john, you'll be talking to a

former football player. the big question you were asking, would you go? >> i asked tiki barber, i'll ask him, would you stay at penn state if you were a player there right now. i don't know what his answer is yet. growing concern in israel and the u.s. about chemical weapons coming into play in syria. fierce fighting continuing overnight in the city. the assad regime clinging to power there. a spokesman for the foreign ministry threatening to deploy chemical weapons against any foreign intervention. john mccain says he is taking that threat seriously. >> the stocks of this weapon that the syrian public army possess are monitored and guard bid the syrian army, used

strictly in aggression against the syrian republic. >> there is a danger of chemical weapons that presently under bashar assad's control from flowing to hezbollah, presenting a grave threat to the future. >> it would be a tragic mistake to use chemical weapons and syria will be held accountable. nine minutes past the hour. happy day of celebration turns into a fight to survive. look at this. coming up, a dramatic rescue caught on camera after a wedding caravan plunges into raging rapids. >> crazy. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs g of ice anti-freeze

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it is 12 minutes past the hour. thanks for being with us, we are minding your business this morning. is the housing market finally bottoming out? >> christine romans has new data on the recovery in housing and what this can mean for you and the value of your home. do we want to hear this? >> yes. you've been hearing me say that the worst has got to be behind us and zil low and saying yes, there's a bottoming happening here and we're right there at it. i can show you graphically what they are say egg, the way they calculate home prices and they strip out for closures, people buying and selling homes, they are seeing home prices up a little bit. this is the first time that i have seen them rise in five years. home values rose two-tenths of a

percent, median price, $149,300, this is down 25%. but then a little bit of a bounce, stability there. that's why they are saying it's a bottom. this is the housing markets that have hit bottom already and it's the green you want to focus in on. california, arizona, one of the biggest gainers over the past year or so has been the phoenix metropolitan area by the way. some of these spots that really got hammered in the speculative bubble are now starting to come back. look at the green, anywhere on this map on green, this is bottomed. the housing market has bottomed in these places, look how much different places, parts of florida and i've been hearing that a lot. there's been a recovery under way of sorts in florida. parts of north carolina, south carolina, right here. let's talk about where it's going to go from here. these are the forecast for home value, where do you live? if you live in minneapolis, they

are saying you'll see home values increase three tenths of a percent. chicago, stable there, down a little bit more. washington, d.c., that's been actually a decent market in part because there is so much money for lobbying that comes into washington, d.c., new york, this area, maybe down a little bit more. hartford down 1.2%, miami, look up 6%. miami. atlanta, down 1.6%, let me pull you up, there's the phoenix market, and san jose and portland, seeing stability as well. this is the biggest investment, probably your biggest asset and biggest debt, really, really important what happens going from here in home prices. >> i'm happy to see that in flo florida. >> arizona too. >> in some cases maybe they'll never get back to the speculative heights but as least it's still not dropping like a rock. >> good news this morning.

thanks. exclusive new information about the explosives recovered in the apartment of james holmes. a law enforcement official describing video taken from inside that apartment. he says it was set up like something you would find in afghanistan or iraq. the suspect's living room littered with 30 improvised grenades and glass containers filled with 10 gallons of gas to enhance the thermal effect of an explosion. this just in out of the u.k. charges will be brought against key figures arrested as part of the "news of the world" phone hacking scandal. andy coalson and rebecca brookz will be charged. he was former aid to david cameron and close con fidant of rupert murdoch. a total of 24 people, including 15 current and former journalists have been arrested since the investigation was

launched 18 months ago. most of the arrests happened after a shocking revelation that they hacked into the phone. it resulted in the closure of the "news of the world" last year. >> big development there. we've been taking a look at the video we've been talking about this morning. a dramatic rescue in flood-ravaged china. dozens have been killed. but one victim lived to tell about his ordeal. you have to look at these two cars in a wedding caravan that plunged 30 feet into a river after a bridge collapse. harrowing. rescuers lowering themselves down with ropes and breaking the sunroof. the victim suffered from head trauma and broken bones, but is he lucky it is not worse. he is expected to be okay. >> what a horrible ordeal. a wedding day. >> but they are going to be

okay. >> good news. hope the marriage is better. the economy takes a back seat for just a moment in the race for the white house. today mitt romney with a big address on foreign policy. we're going to have a little bit of a preview for you coming up. for an expanded look at all of our top stories, head to our blog, cnn.com/early start.

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welcome back, mitt romney getting ready for what could be the biggest challenge of his candidacy, visiting the uk and israel and poland. first he delivers a big foreign

policy speech to a convention in reno. getting their first real chance to size up the presidential candidate's foreign policy credentials on a world stage. cnn political reporter peter hamby live from washington. nice to see you. based on the latest polls, romney has ground to make up against the president on foreign policy matters. what do you have for us? >> that's correct, zoraida. we did a poll here at cnn at couple of weeks ago on the question of which candidate would do better on foreign policy, president obama, 5 3% said him, 41% said governor romney. this does represent a challenge for romney and his strength is seen to be the economy. and this is his first chance to sort of make an impression, the obama campaign had a chance yesterday. obama spoke to the vfw convention in reno and accused romney of not offering enough specifics on foreign policy on afghanistan, for instance. romney faced criticism for not

being specific enough on health care, immigration, foreign policy, a range of issues. and the obama campaign is really pressing that message ahead of romney's speech today. but again, the topic will turn to foreign policy because romney is leaving tonight to go to england, israel and poland. we're going to be talking a lot about foreign policy in the next couple of weeks which is good for romney, we're not talking about bain capital and his tax returns. >> this is an opportunity for romney to change that perception. i want to talk about an obama ad that's out. it's pretty remarkable in its simplicity. let's watch it and tell me how you feel about it. >> over the next four months, you have a choice to make, not just between two political parties or even two people, it's a choice between two very different plans for our country. governor romney's plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top, roll back regulations on big banks and he says if we do, our economy will grow and everyone will benefit.

but you know what, we tried that top-down approach, it's what caused the mess in the first place, sometimes politics can seem very small, but the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger. >> peter, as we're watching and everybody is saying, i can't believe he said his name. are you surprised? >> yes and no, from a tactical perspective it is surprising to see a campaign this early in the campaign go with a straight to camera ad, a sort of closing argument kind of ad with nice soaring music and clear contrast laid out in the message. but this is in keeping with the obama campaign's strategy of trying to define the choice early in the campaign, as much as george w. bush did can john kerriy 2004. in june they spent $38 million in tv ads criticizing mitt romney. this is a gentler message they say during the olympics.

aggressive strategy from the obama campaign and definitely an interesting one. >> he appeals to folks so it is probably really good strategy. peter hamby, thank you very much. >> it is 24 minutes past the hour. nothing can turn your stomach or maybe make you bite your fingernails more than a bumpy plane ride. >> or pray. >> you need to hear about in recent story of severe turbulence aboard a miami-bound flight that sent five people to the hospital. >> never fear, christine romans is here with ideas to ease your anxiety in the road warriors segment. >> business travellers and famgly travelers get concerned about when you have kids on a plane, you're like a project i'll if you're on a plane. it's more disruptive than dangerous and did you know fewer than 60 people every year get hit by turbulence while not wearing seat belts. so the best way to protect

yourself, you have to buckle up, even when the fasten seat belt light is off. travel in the morning, thunderstorms usually strike in the afternoon. pick a morning flight. pick a seat by the wings because you'll likely have a smoother ride because you're sitting in the center of gravity. >> that's interesting. >> check out turbulence forecast.com to see maps forecasting the potential for turbulence across the world and that is the pilot's job and they do a good job since only 60 people get hurt. if you do hit a rough patch, breathe easy, take slow, deep breaths and relax. this prevents you from hype ventilating. >> good luck with that. >> zoraida recommends just praying. >> for those think a stiff drink might be the answer, think again. one might help you relax but it will make you feel less in control and you're more likely to have to go to the bathroom. >> ladies room for you --

>> i was going to say ladies room but -- futer than 60 people hurt if you keep the seat belt on. >> sit near the wings and breathe easily. >> one drink. >> the big news in the u.s., dozens of i.e.d.s rds to explode, not in iraq or afghanistan, this is the colorado building. what bomb experts found in the aurora shooting suspect's home, coming up. these fellas used capital one venture miles for a golf getaway. double miles you can actually use... but mr. single miles can't join his friends because he's getting hit with blackouts. shame on you. now he's stuck in a miniature nightmare. oh, thank you. but, with the capital one venture card... you can fly any airline, any flight, any time. double miles you can actually use.

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inside a living room death trap. exclusive details on what was found in the aurora shooting suspect's apartment. >> it is quite a list, folks. >> penn state slammed. the penalties for the jerry sandusky child sex abuse scandal expected to impact the once proud football program for many years to come. >> high speed sacrifice, a police officer risks his own life putting his cruiser in the path of a wrong way driver. amazing video. >> a hero right there. >> welcome back to "early start." >> 31 minutes past the hour. we're happy you're with us. we have brand-new details about the booby trapped apartment of james holmes, a law enforcement official described exclusively video taken from inside that apartment. holmes living room scattered with 30 explosive devices rigged to a control box in the kitchen. glass containers filled with ten

gallons of gasoline meant to rachet up more flames in an explosion. cnn's jim spellman is in aurora, colorado, right outside the theater where the shooting happened. what more can you tell us about this video? >> reporter: well, this law enforcement source who saw this video and told poppy -- cnn's poppy harlow described this control box as being center of this web of spaghetti like wires that link this all together. fortunately there was not a timer involved but rather this was attached to a trip wire to the front door of the apartment, designed to go off with the first person to open the door. they had to go through the window to figure out what these 30 i.e.d.s were about and how it worked. they used water to disable the control box that rendered all of the i.e.d.s safe. they were able to take them to the middle of nowhere and blow them up in a field.

when you see the video of that exploding in the field, it's unbelievable to imagine the damage it could have done in this small apartment plex. police think it was designed to bagsically kill them, police. that when this timer that went off, set off this loud tech know music, somebody would complain and police would arrive and it would explode. fortunately perhaps his timing was a little off. by the time the downstairs neighbor called the police about the noise they were already responding to the theater and there was no way to respond a noise complaint. >> there's a big of good news live in colorado, thank you very much. >> the tragedy in aurora is fueling the debate over gun control this morning. new york mayor michael bloomberg continuing his push for tighter laws and pressuring mitt romney and the president to make it part of the debate. romney and chris christie insists existing gun laws can get the job done. >> i think we've got enough gun

laws now and it's time to aggressively enforce the gun laws we have. >> i still believe that the second amendment is the right course to preserve and defendant don't believe new laws will make a difference in this type of tragedy. >> some day they will be a shooting which you would think would trigger in the american psyche this i'm not going to take it anymore, i don't know what it is, we obviously haven't gotten there yet. but this cannot continue. >> mitt romney's position by the way has seemed to change over the years. he signed an assault weapon ban as governor of massachusetts. president obama has been laying low in the issue of gun control. he didn't bring up the subject and gun control advocates are expressing their disappoint with him. video fit for an action flick. a state trooper chasing down an elderly driver going the wrong way on the interstate. this was last month. the trooper got the call during

a traffic stop. instead of chasing the car the wrong way down the highway, the officer floors it to an exit ahead of him, went up the exit ramp and bumped him with his own car about 50 miles per hour. the trooper says the decision paid off because people would have died if he just kept going. >> good news for him. it is 35 minutes past the hour. what's the weather going to be today? we all want to know that. let's get a quick look at our travel forecast with rob marciano. >> not too shabby, a little thunderstorm rolling across eastern massachusetts right now and another round later on today is possible. this one heading across buzzard's bay and martha's vineyard and mostly dry for the day and humid, another round with a cold front coming through later. minneapolis towards chicago, these cells south of milwaukee are severe and will be heading to chicago in the next hour. if you are in chicago or traveling through there, rough stuff coming at you. so be prepared. the threat for rough stuff to

the mid-atlantic, large hail, damaging winds and ease lated tornadoes possible. we're trying to get this rain south in the drought zone. we'll have bir luck tomorrow and thursday. in the meantime, mostly north and hot and hazy and humid conditions expected. more heat advisories in effect for eastern nebraska and kansas and st. louis and in through parts of the mid-atlantic before the thunderstorms roll through later on today. 103 the actual high for kansas city. 89 albuquerque. near 100 in phoenix again today. here's a video of yet another dust storm, happening yesterday across phoenix, a thunderstorm north of town blew up and this dust was kicked up by those gusty winds, reducing visibility to less than an eighth of a mile at times and coating everybody once again with a coating of dust. >> we'll have to have a haboob forecast on a daily basis. >> if we have another haboob today, we'll have to have a

festival tomorrow. >> the festival of haboobs, thank you. >> that did not sound right. >> the ncaa comes down hard on penn state football. but will it be enough to change the college football culture? we want to talk to former nfl and college star tiki barber and we're going to do that coming up.

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welcome back, we are talking about the future of penn state football and it is in serious doubt after strict penalties handed down from the ncaa for the jerry sandusky scandal $60 million in fine over five years, banned from bowl games for four years, reduced scholarships for four seasons and team stripped of all wins going back to 1998. that means among other things joe paterno is no longer the winningest coach in football history, way down on the list. emmert said the goal is to change the culture. >> one of the grave dangers stemming from tour love of sports is that the sports themselves can become too big to fail, indeed, too big to even challenge. the result can be an erosion of

academic values that are replaced by the value of hero worship and winning at all costs. >> tiki barber, a former running back for new york giants and sports analyst and plays college football. when you heard the penalties and there are a lot of them, what was your first reaction? >> i thought it was harsh, especially stripping the wins with something that wasn't really that important, it was a slap to joe paterno, someone who can't defend himself because he passed away. i think the ncaa is trying to take steps towards where the nfl is, if you get situations like this, you come down as hard as possible to set an example. will it work? that's yet to be seen. >> setting a message for all of the colleges around the country. >> they have just instituted this playoff system, there's going to be more money in college football and more attention paid to what's happening on the field. they need to take control of any

type of situation coming up. this is unprecedented with jerry sandusky did at penn state. but there are a lot of sanctions like this that are going to start happening around ncaa because violations happen frequently. >> one of punishment against the penn state football program that players there now, they can transfer and play immediately. pit yourself in their shoes, you're a sophomore, are you staying? >> it depends, there's two type of guys who go to college to play sports. one who wants to play in the national football league and may get a college degree but want to play in the national football league. those guys will probably transfer. let's not forget the academic side of intercollegiate athletics, they have great degree programs, can't get away from the fact that a lot of guys are good at football but also want a great degree in education. i think it's going to be interesting to see how this

community reacts to this. happy valley is very ins lar and tight knit, a lot of people are predicting the program will fall off. i'm not sure that will happen. >> if you're there to stay in school, you'll stay and there to play pro ball, you'll get out. >> the hardest challenge is to get recognized by nfl scouts and people around the league. if you're not on television regularly and not getting promotion around the things you're accomplishing on the field, that's not going to happen. >> if you were one of the players who played from 1998 to 2011, if you had your wins vacanted, how would you feel about that? >> it's largely ceremonial. it's a way to slap the legacy of joe paterno to post humously bring him down a notch which is kind of tacky in some ways, but you're a player, you still did those things and put on the uniform and busted your butt and beat florida state or miami, whoever it may have been and you can't take that away. >> doesn't mean you condone what

happened while you were there? >> absolutely not. that's the one thing that is getting lost in the hoopla about the sanctions, the athletic program, that there are still dozens of victims who may -- who don't see how this affects them or helps them. the biggest benefit of the fine system and there's an additional $13 million fine that the big 10 levied on penn state, the biggest help is that that money, it's a lot of money, is going to help victims of child abuse. that's the most important thing i take away from this. this sanctions for the program are less important when you think about the victims affected for the rest of their lives. >> tiki barber, thanks very much for being here. >> i appreciate it, john. >> it is 45 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date this morning's top stories, exclusive new information about the explosives discovered in the apartment of suspected movie theater gunman james holmes. a law enforcement official describing video taken from inside that apartment.

he said it was set up like something you would find in afghanistan or iraq. the suspect's living room littered with 30 improvised grenades rigged to a control box in the kitchen. glass containers filled with ten gallons of gasoline to enhance the effect of an explosion. charges will be brought against key figures arrested as part of the news of the world hacking scandal. andy coulson and rebekah brooks will be charged for the offenses linked to the hacking. he was a close confident of rupert murdoch, brooks was a key executive. the investigation was launched 18 months ago. >> that was rebekah brooks you're looking at there. mitt romney addresses the vfw

convention in reno today. president obama got his turn, touting his record on the wars in iraq and afghanistan and killing of osama bin laden. after romney lays out his foreign policy vision, he will travel to israel and poland. the white house challenging him to offer americans clear messages during this trip. soledad will join us with what's ahead on "starting point." >> we're going to talk more about the shooter in colorado. there's new details from inside the rigged apartment building. 30 i.e.d.s, ten gallons of gasoline in glass jars designed for maximum damage. we'll walk you through exactly how it was set up. if you saw him in court yesterday, he appeared aloof, making weird facial twitches at points. the big question is will the mental state of the suspect prevent him from standing trial? criminal defense lawyer lisa wayne is a woman who helped train both members of holmes

defense team and she's going to talk about what they might do as they proceed. penn state's football program decimated by the ncaa. hundreds of wins stripped and scholarships cut, are the current players being unfairly punished? i'm going to talk to mark emmert, the man who awarded those penalties and we'll ask what he thinks people saying not fair. oscar winning producer and movie mogyou will, harvey weansteen will join us, the unlikely friendship between a man who is a quadriplegic millionaire and he is also a huge supporter and fundraiser for president obama. we'll talk about both of those things. all of that as quts starting point gets under way in about 12 minutes. back to you. >> the entire world will be watching when the 2012 games kick off next week in london. look at this.

this is a live look of the stadium from london. we also have a preview of what you can expect, a lot of details are leaking out. >> secret details. >> wait until you hear. with the spark miles card from capital one, thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! ahh, the new fabrics, put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? the spiked heels are working. wait! [ garth ] great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? [ cheers and applause ]

nice new animation this morning. it is 52 minutes hast the pour. i'm john berman. >> and we're going to start with breaking news out of london. british government will deploy an additional 1200 troops. remember they had problems with security.

the country there, g4s promised to provide enough security for the olympics and was not able to do so. so they have called up 1200 troops for olympic security. that's on top of the 3500 they already had. that is a late breaking details out of there. let's go to jim, live at the olympic site in london and he's going to share the exciting details happening in london. >> reporter: well, that's right, the stadium behind me, there was a practice for opening ceremony last night and despite organizers hoping people wouldn't leak information, we are hearing more about it. people who were here said they could hear paul mccartney singing, we know he's going to be part of the opening ceremony. there's talk mohammed ali and david beckham as well. and farm animals, we know there's going to be cow and sheep and ducks and a lot of fun -- >> we're trying to figure that one out. the farm animals and how they

will play into everything. >> reporter: yeah, the inside is going to look like a farm as well. they've got to put in this dirt and grass and have animals live animals, some people are upset they are going to use live animals, it's all part of the fun really. >> all right, jim, thank you so much. we can't wait. we're very excited we hear the music and get all perked up. >> old mcdonald had an olympics. >> watch, you are going to be blown away by it. >> the next best advice comes from cindy lauper, why she never explains about the past. stay with us.

this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, i'm barack obama and i approve this message. for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee,

and crowned thy good, with brotherhood...

starting point is coming up

in a little bit. >> we wrap it up as always with best advice. >> don't take my advice, today's advice comes from singer and activist cyndi lauper. we asked about the best advice she received and this is what she told us. >> it was something my mother told me when i was complaining, she said, listen, cyn, i can't change the past. i can change the present and i can change the future. and i thought about that and i thought, absolutely right. you don't have to sit, you can let it go. that was the best piece of advice. >> you can let it go. you can only control the now and tomorrow not the yesterday, boom, i like cyndi lauper's mom. >> best pieces of individual. >> and it comes from cyndi lauper. >> almost exactly the same. >> can't control the 1980s costumes she wore, that's in the past. she can only control what she wears tomorrow. >> that's "early start," i'm john berman. >> "starting point" with soledad

o'brien starts right now. welcome, death trap, 30 i.e.d.s rigged to blow, cnn exclusive details of home made bombs found inside the aurora shooting suspect's apartment. severe punishment for penn state, future scholarships and $60 million. will the program ever recover? mike and mike will join us to weigh in. >> syria is warning the world they have wmds and not afraid to use them. a packed show this morning. congressman jason chaffetz and os war winning harvey weweinste

joins us. "starting point" begins right now. welcome, our starting point this morning, new details coming to us about what was inside the apartment of the aurora colorado shooting suspect's home, after his bizarre appearance in court yesterday. cnn has new information, a law enforcement official who viewed videotape taken inside the apartment says this, mess of wires looked like spaghetti and it was rigged quote, right. if police hadn't dismantled the explosives the entire floor could have been consumed by flames before the first fire truck arrive. the aurora police found 30 improvised explosive devices surrounded by gas containers of gasoline. the gasoline was meant to enhance the effects of the blast. all of that brings us right to jim spellman. he's standing outside the theater. we can see the neon sign behind

you. let's talk first about this video. i know it's black and white. what more can you tell us? >> yeah, police describe this whole apartment as being designed to kill. all rigged up to a trip wire at the front door. it took them almost two days before they could figure out how to dismantle this safely, ult the matly using water to render inoperable this control box. fortunately there wasn't a timer to it because they needed that much time to sort out how to do it. when they were finally able to render it safe, they took them to the country and detonated them. the fire ball in the middle of the field was huge, devastating to ponder the impact should a first responder or police officer gone through that door. >> about the investigation, jim, what's the latest? i thought seeing the suspect in court yesterday and seeing all of his facial -- i guess i would call them ticks or just -- he looked