[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today," this year's peace prize. the nobel committee recognizes a chinese dissident. dead on arrival. president obama vetoes a bill that could lead to more home foreclosures. grave error. a new report says 72,000 government stimulus checks were sent to dead people. captions id for by nbc-universal television good morning. welcome to viewers across the nation including the pick time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with a dedicated dissident.

liu xiaobo sentenced in china last christmas day to 11 years for subversion has won the nobel peace award and the money that comes with it. jailed for wrooiting a manifesto with other chinese activists that called for free speech and multi-party elections in the totalitarian nation. china called the award a criminal threatening it would hurt elections with norway. as americans across the country struggle to make mortgage payments, yesterday a bill reached the president that according to critics would have made it easier for banks to foreclose on homeowners. president obama stepped in and blocked the pressure using a rare pocket veto. the bill would have forced courts to accept notarizations including those made electronically from across state lines. the worry is such a change could lead to fraud. major institutions have acknowledged problems with foreclosure documents including suspected forgeries. yesterday the white house was busy defending its decision to lets companies escape parts

of the health care law. 30 businesses received a one-year pass on a requirement banning annual limits on coverage for certain low cost, low-benefit plans. the companies including jack-in-the-box and a firm that insured mcdonald's workers say the new requirement would have forced them to raise premiums to unaffordable levels. meanwhile, yesterday a federal judge ruled in favor of the new health care law. the judge rejected a challenge by a conservative interest group saying the mandate for all to have insurance by 2014 is legal. republican senate candidate sharron angle suggesting islamic religious law is taking hold in the u.s. saying the country needs to address militant terrorist situation that has allowed law to take over cities like dearborn, michigan and a city in texas. the mayor called it shameful. nevada republican senate

harry reid, saying she reluctantly endorsing angle's opponent, harry reid. in a statement he sharply criticized angle saying she was a, quote, totally ineffective lawmaker. and spewing oil into the gulf of mexico, the environmental group greenpeace is warning of surprisingly high levels of arsonic and mercury had the sludge. officials from the group told reporters an analysis of water in a canal found arsonic leveled 25 times the limit for drinking water. a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. in michigan three brazen criminals are seen on surveillance video storming a jewelry store guns in hand. they tied up their victims, cleaning out what they could in three minutes. then sprayed mace in their victims' faces before making their escape. however, a sheriff's deputy was right around the corner, and after a brief search they were

apprehended. new jersey police are looking for a father who used his kids to help him burglarize a car. the older kids carted off a bag, two lcd monitors and a laptop while the dad held a toddler. authorities hope to not just solve the crime, but help the young suspects as well. and another robbery, this time in virginia where a man is seen on security camera browsing the aisles of a local grocery store filling his backpack. police say the man walked into the store at night, hid, and then went on a shopping spree after the store closed. an alarm went off, but the alarm company never called the police. finally, the pole fitness craze officially hit the streets of new york. promotors were encouraging folks to abandon the risque stigma attached to pole activities praising its effectiveness as a total body workout. if anything this sport is a whole lot more fun than pounding the treadmill.

now for a look at your national regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karens with the weather channel forecast. so, bill what do you say? are you going to change up your gym routine? ingts want to know who officially called it a sport? are we going to see that in the next plimpl 7 olympics? crazy. probably the highest rated event too. talk about the forecast. good morning, everyone. we are watching a storm system that brought severe weather yesterday to idaho. yes, idaho, three reports of tornadoes yesterday. that's now heading up into the northern rockies. this is that cutoff low plaguing california earlier this week. the weather pattern is changing in the west a little bit. great weather in the pacific northwest for about, oh, four, five days in a row now. now the clouds have increased. this weak storm system is kicking through. a bigger one off the coast. so our weather pattern will become much more unsettled in the pacific northwest. high pressure should control the weather in southern california and arizona. cool but nice. the next storm system will come into the pacific northwest and provide a damp weekend.

our computers are projecting over the next 48 hours the areas of darker green as much as one ith of rain. the yellow, as much as two inches of rain. not flooding or anything, but wet the next couple of days. portland today, showers. seattle some showers moving your way more or less later tonight into tomorrow. temperatures cool there. notice it's nice down here in southern california and also in arizona, where temperatures for highs only in the 80s. that's a look at your friday weather today. sunshine in much of california, but cool and chilly. weekend forecast coming up, veronica. >> all right. good day to do pole dancing there in l.a. 84 degrees. >> you said it. the ups and downs of gold and oil. what today's job numbers say. your early morning biz headlines

are straight ahead. plus, is she box office poison or box office gold? this weekend might tell. the nhl drops the puck on a new season. controversy in baseball, and tim lincecum is lights out. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz and here are your top head lines this morning -- associated press says the ruling party made the first public confirmation that the son of leader king jong-il, kim jong un, will succeed his father and become the third generation of his family to lead the nation. a government investor says the social security administration mistakenly sent out 72,000 stimulus chex ever $250 each to people who were dead nap amounts to around $18 million. the report finds more than half of those payments have been

returned. chilean officials say a drilling machine may reach trapped miners as soon as tomorrow, although it most likely will be next week. and extracting those mentally sound and capable of handling the setback in the narrow shaft. next those with illnesses and last, those who are the most physically fit. and in montana, they discovered what may have caused the collapse of the country's hive bee population. a harmless parasite. how it killed the bees remains uncertain. scientists are hopeful with more research they will be able to slow the mysterious disorder which killed off 40% of the honeybees since 2006. an early look at top headlines. experts say thursday is a surprising jump of americans

hobbled by arthritis may be due to obesity. the president of the arthritis foundation said the increase is probably due mainly to baby boomers at an age more likely to suffer the most common form of arthritis and kpl complicating a number of baby boomers are obese. find this online at msnbc.com. now here's an early look how wall street will kick of you the day. the dow opens at 10,948 losing 19 points yesterday. the s&p fell one point and the nasdaq rose three. looking at overseas trading in tokyo the nikkei dropped 95 points. hong kong, the hang seng added 59. and on wall street inkaeding caution ahead of today's all-important monthly jobs report.

first time unemployment claims for last week fell more than expected giving stocks an early lift. those gains dwindled with investors playing it safe at today's important monthly employment report, supposed to show little change from september looking for further steps by the federal reserve to boost the economy. a drown trend thursday, oil and gold took a toll on energy and mining stocks. copper and gold fell more than 2%. gold hit another record of $1,3 66 thursday pulling back by the end of trade. oil prices tumbled below $82 a barrel after rising past $84 earlier. abercrombie & fitch jumped almost 9% and american eagle 8% retailers led healthy september retail sales. alcoa kicked off the earnings season after the closing bell report aglower third quarter profit. that, nevertheless, beat

estimates. shares rose more than 3%. pepsi reported mixed results with its future outlook disappointed. pepsi fell 3%. and rates on 30-year mortgages fell to the lowest level in decades. for the ninth time in 12 weeks, dropping to 4.27%. finally, in case you hadn't noticed, the future is here. latest example, paypal's iphone app allowing to you deposit a check by sending in a photo of both sides. the feature cleared 100,000 dollars worth of checks in the first 36 hours it was available. hmm. and another twin feeling in minnesota. and pucks in pennsylvania. plus, san francisco giants' pitcher tim lincecum, known as the freak, downright scary last night against the braves. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and on this friday, i'm

struggling to find bad weather. your weekend forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

women, good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports, after multiple ejections early in multiple

playo playoffs, the umpires are under the microscope nearly as much as the players. here's nbc's fred rogen with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning, the playoffs continued yesterday. not without a bit of controversy, in minnesota, yankees and twins tied at 2. the pitch to lance burgman down the pipe. that's a strike in anybody's book but not to the umpire. looked like strike three, it was called a ball. parkman ripped an rbi double to center. yanks grabbed a 3-2 lead. that did not sit well with twins manager ron gardenhire. a few choice words for the umpire and then tossed nap was the deference. yankees, 5-2. a questionable call this one in the rays and rangers game. in the fifth, tampa thought he struck out michael young. the first base umpire said he didn't go around. the rays disagreed. take another look. he definitely went past the plate with his bag. next pitch, young took advantage of his second chance, a three-run homer. joe maddon was livid.

he was ejected in a hurry. rangers won 6-0. one victory away from wrapping up their first playoff series in franchise history. gold old-fashioned pitches in san francisco. tim lincecum struck out, allowed two hits in his postseason debut. derek struck out six. only mistake in the fourth. in came buster posey and the giants were up 1-0. that was all the offense lincecum needed. got derrek lee looking for the game shutout. game two is tonight. sidney crosby and the penguins open a new arena in pittsburgh. unfortunately, the flyers spoiled the debut. scoring early in the third putting the flyers up 3-1. the eastern conference champs won it 3-2. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. can a horror flick shock the competition this weekend at the box office? early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, paying tribute 20 the pentagon to one of our fallen heroes. you're watching "early today." welcome back on this friday

morning. much of the country will be dry today. the exception up here in the pick northwest. not a lot of wet weather bought chance of showers. already a few out there this morning for portland northward up by 5, have that umbrella with you and even in the northern rockies. casper into the international park, showers as well.

saturday, the next significant storm system pushes onshore. wind and rain. temperatures in the low 60s with the rainfall. nice in california right into sunday, getting warmer, too, temperatures near 91 in phoenix. 80s in southern california. notice the pacific northwest. a great stretch of weather. unfortunately during the middle of the week. as we head towards the weekend now it's going to be damp and cloudy. well if you're watching us on kget, channel 17 bakersfield, california, they say big things come in small packages. see for yourself. incredible works of art as the visual arts small works festival at the bakersfield museum of art. that's your pacific event of the day, veronica. >> nice picture there. see that? >> cute. >> i grew up in san francisco. near one of the beaches there. an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment --

romantic comedies have not fared well of late. there's one opening this weekend that experts think will take the box office title in tight competition. "life as we know it" starring katherine heigl and josh duhamel is a cautious favorite. expected to take in $15 million or more. heigl struck out paired with ashton kutcher, but maybe this will work for audiences. it's a big weekend for the defending champ. "the social network," will it win again on its march to the oscar glory or get lost in the sauce and disappear? experts say it will compete for number one. despite diane lane and a hugely expensive marketing campaign, "secretariat" is not generating big interest and is expected to take in $10 million. the wildcard here, 3-d horror "my soul to take." some see it going nowhere while others see horror fans pushing it to the top in a weak field. no interest for me, though. >> i'm going to predict that "secretariat" will win by a neck. >> no. that's funny, but, no. i think that "the social network" will do really well. >> got a lot of good buzz.

may increase from last week. >> great. i saw it. go see it. wonderful. i think i'm going to go so that romantic comedy, because i'm just sappy like that. >> yeah? not me. >> yes, you are. this comes to us from our nation's capital. for one u.s. war hero who made the ultimate sacrifice receiving this just recognition. one day after receiving the medal of honor, his parents looked on, posthumously inducted into the pentagon's sacred hall of heroes for saving the lives of afghan soldiers even after mortally wounded. they received a plaque and flag. herating their son's selfless sacrifice. and i'm veronica de la cruz and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one company in tokyo boasts an indoor year round rice patty. company staff and visitors took time out sloshing around in rubber boots planting individual rice stalks. the room uses 101,000 watt lights to keep the grain growing. even six months ahead the traditional rice planting season. the rice that will eventually be harvested will be served in the staff cafeteria. and twins may be rare, but twins of an endangered species are really special. 1 midtwin pandas made their debut in spain. conceived through artificial insemination, said hello to the world after spending their first month in protective incubators.

with only about 300 in captivity worldwide, the newborns are significant additions to the panda population. so cute. one farmer in rwanda is bringing music to a unique set of ears. he's known as the pig dj playing hip hop, country and classic rock, depending on what mood he wants to help his swine take on. pigs exposed to around the clock rhythm produced more babies. which improves his farm success. get this -- jay-z perks them up while celine dion helps them relax. >>ham, add a little wine to the, you know, into the trough, some barry white, dim the lights. >> yeah. not going to touch that one. thanks, bill. time for an earlier look for stories we're going to follow throughout the day on nbc. with elections weeks away, a big day in politics. candidates go face-to-face for debates in ohio, south carolina, wisconsin and florida. if you are traveling on

amtrak, don't be alarmed if you see extra security. amtrak is running a security exercise. this was previously planned and has nothing to do with the latest string of terror threats aimed at europe. and a milestone for actor matt damon who celebrates his 40th birthday today. happy birthday. stay on top of the latest developments on those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight, watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." and finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. whether a duke university student could face legal trouble after a list she made rating her sexual partners went public. today looks like a day in the life of america's golden girl betty white. and now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and much more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thanks for watching "early today." your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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