>> jimmy: thank you very much. that's your dvd. arianna, there's the book, "third world america" right there. [ cheers and applause ] joel mchale, "community" this thursday, 8:00 p.m. monday night, justin timberlake will be here. "jimmy fallon" is happening right now. have a great weekend. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today," high seas drama, a major rescue operation under way for a disabled cruise ship with thousands on board. cholera crisis, haiti's epidemic worsens as the deadly outbreak reaches the earthquake ravaged capital. and social distortions. a connecticut woman is fired for bad mouthing her boss on facebook, sparking an unprecedented case over free speech. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning.

welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pick time zone. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with rescue at sea. a carnival cruise ship that lost power after an engine room fire off the coast of mexico monday morning is now being towed to safety. all 4,500 passengers onboard are safe and expected to arrive in southern california late tomorrow. nbc's kurt gregory that more. >> reporter: the carnival cruise ship "splendor," drifting at sea since it lost power early monday. the u.s. coast guard says more than 4,500 people are on board and they're safe. >> certainly they're uncomfortable and it's something we're hoping we can bring to a close as soon as possible. >> reporter: the entire ship shut down some 200 miles south of san diego. an engine room fire. planes loaded with supplies for the ship's passengers and crews took off tuesday from the naishal air station near san diego. the planes carried relief

supplies to the aircraft carrier "ronald reagan." plans called for u.s. navy helicopters to make the delivery to the stranded ship. >> right now, it's bread, there's cups, utensils, we've got frozen milk, we've got canned goods. easy to make items that are served cold. carnival has decided the tugboats will tow the "splendor" back to california directly instead of to the mexican coast. the coast guard cutter morgan will provides courtship. passengerless receive a full refund. kurt gergry, nbc news. >> the justice department says no criminal charges will be fired. the cia tape was shot at secret overseas prisons after the 9/11 attacks reportedly capturing two top suspects facing waterboarding, a form of stimulating drowning that human rights groups and obama

administration officials say is torture. those tapes were destroyed in 2005 out of fear they could be leaked to the public and compromise the identity of the interrogators. despite yesterday's announcement, cia official koss still be charged with making false statements during the probe. the latest stop on president obama's agenda as he dashes from country to country on his extensive tour of asia. in seoul, he and other leaders will be tackling issues. he spent tuesday in indonesia where he reached out to muslims saying america will never be at war with islam. meanwhile, a conservative muslim minister has stirred up controversy with some indonesians labeling him as a hypocrite for shaking first lady michelle obama's hand. conservative muslims believe it's improper for males to touch the hand of any woman that they are not related to. the minister is claiming mrs. obama forced the handshake on him.

federal officials say they've arrested three former u.s. marines for allegedly sells weapons to a notorious las vegas gang. the suspects ringleader who served in iraq oversaw the sales of two cases of firearms, including an ak-47 and two other semi automatic rifles. at the sale, which was attended by both a government informant and a gang member, the former marine was asked if he would be willing to sell more weapons to other gang members in the future and he agreed. the suspect called the charges untrue. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america -- a california mystery has been solved. an unidentified object, thought by many to have been a missile launch just off the coast of california was not, at least according to the pentagon, the faa and norad. although they're certain it wasn't a missile, they're still not sure what it was. one military expert suggests it

was an optical illusion, an airplane with a contrail illuminated by the setting sun. in new york, some of the city's top chefs will feed the hungry with dishes made from a 1,426 pumpkin. meals from the gutted gourd will go to a new york charity. as for the seeds, the farmer will hold on to those for the next year's harvest. changing weather pattern stirred up dust devils in hawaii's central oahu. this is created when the ground gets hotter than the air above, pushing warm air and dust upwards. dust devils are usually harmless and typically last only a few moments. in wyoming a sure sign christmas is around the corner. a 67-foot spruce is cut and on its way cross-country from the national

for et forest to the u.s. capitol lawn. wyoming residents decorated the christmas tree scheduled to be lit on december 7th. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, good morning. >> there should be something like an alarm going off or something. christmas is like -- quickly coming. the holidays. the tree is already being cut down from the lawn. amazing. >> november 10th, bill. feel like it was june yesterday. >> it was. it was! i'm right with you, lynn. let's take about what's happening out west, because this is where we saw storm system move onshore yesterday. rainy, gloomy in the pacific northwest. that storm is now located, moving down the coastline here. definitely weakened since yesterday. just a lot of rain and snow showers out had. a very cool weather pattern for much of the west. all the cold air dropping from canada moving into areas of southern arizona. a quick tour of the radar first. the white is the snow. in high elevations outside of portland near definitely the cascades. a little snow at higher

elevations. medford, a sprinkle or two across much of the high country, snow for ski areas, i'm sure they're happy. reno and tahoe, definitely thinking you're getting a couple inches on the mountain. as far as temperatures go, cool. 49 in phoenix. one of the cooler temperatures you've seen. 40s widespread out there. the warm spot in southern california. san diego not bad. cool in salem, mostly cloudy. can't rule out a chance of a shower. look at your wednesday forecast. lynn. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. well, the dollar gyrates. more plane problems. and christmas, speaking of christmas, at google.

your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, a golden honor for america's golden girl. the pacers are nearly perfect. and the jazz turned down the heat. you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. ed cholera epidemic haiti is spreading, officially make its way to the earthquake battled capital, port-au-prince. where at least 73 cases have been confirmed. a health ministry official says the national death toll now stands at 583. federal authorities say a connecticut woman was illegally fired from her job as an emergency medical technician after she posted disparaging remarks about her boss on facebook.

an administrative law judge is expected to hear the case in january possibly setting a precedent as more workers use social networking sites. disturbing details are emerging in the trial of brian mitchell, the man accused of kidnapping elizabeth smart. testifying for a second day yesterday, smart described how she was chained to a tree and raped on a daily basis. she also testified she was nearly rescued months after her abduction when a detective approached her at a library but mitchell prevented the official from lifting a veil she was wearing and the cop eventually walked away. the ozone layer could be leaving the earth's whales scarred from severe sunburn. a study shows the whales carried blisters and other damage consistently ultraviolet radiation. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,346 after losing 60 points yesterday. the s&p shed 9 points and the

nasdaq dropped 17. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei climbed 136 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng fell 209. what goes up must come down. yesterday, wall street's recent rally continued its slide. the dollar seesawed over uncertainty still swirling around the fed's plans to buy up hundreds of billions in government debt. most commodities shot up. silver and gold lost ground in late trade. meanwhile, financials were hit hard by the federal insurance corporation's announcement that bigger banks will bear the brunt ever a new fee structure. plus, dean foods, parent of pricey brands such as soy milk, plunged 18% after reporting its net income fell by over whatever. over half.

overseas, airbus flights have been canceled as a precaution after finding oil stains on their engines. the move comes days after qantas grounded its a-380 fleet due to a midflight failure in one of its rolls-royce made engines. here in the u.s. -- another day lee for the dreamliner. a test run was cut short after odors were found in the cabin. chevron announced it will pay more than $3 billion for a stake in its shale-based fuel supplies. a good day for search engines. google employees found out about a companywide 10% pay raise and $1,000 holiday bonuses. and finally, you can't beat the real thing. last night, that coke slogan held true for andy warhol's 1962 pop painting coca-cola that went to the highest bidder at sotheby's for $35 million.

that's an expensive coke. coming up, pinpoint accurate pacers, ichiro is golden again, and a relatively unknown has the best night of his career as the jazz beat the heat. your early morning sports ahead headlines are straight ahead. and here's your regional forecast that's coming up. you're watching "early today." the black widow spider's severe bite

can cause coma and even death. the african black mamba can kill a man with one bite. but there's an even deadlier predator cigarettes, produced by big tobacco, which take a life every six point five seconds.

don't be big tobacco's next victim. good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the miami heat was supposed to be invincible this season. the problem is, that has every team they play motivated to beat them. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it has been a season of firsts for the miami heat. last night, they blew their biggest lead of the season against the jazz. they were up by 22 when the jazz mounted a comeback. paul millsap led the way. he hit a 3 with 12 seconds left and the jasz were down by one. final seconds, c.j. miles missed the jumper but millsap was there to put it in. forcing overtime. he had a career high 46. stayed tied until the end with 0.4 seconds left. knocked down both free throws to give utah the lead.

last chance for the heat, but eddie house couldn't get the jumper to fall. despite a triple-double by lebron james, the jazz hand the heat their third lost of the 116-114 in o.t. the cavs bench scored 5 2 points. they won it 93-91. pacers had a third quarter to remember unless, of course, you're the nuggets. indy was nearly perfect. 20 of 21 shots. only missed a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left. pacers scored 54 in the quarter and beat the nuggets. ichiro won his 10th straight aol gold glove award. it. and finally, another day, another wacky highlight to show you from high school football. this comes from south dakota where derek swigger punted the ball.

that's had the real fun began. the wind blew the ball another 47 yards down field. we sped up the video for the sake of time. the ball finally came to rest at the 3. credited to an 86-yard kick thanks to a little help from mother nature. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. robert downey jr. swears he doesn't care about winning an oscar. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, monday was the 50th anniversary of jfk's election. coming up, we'll tell you about one kennedy fan who stumbled upon a cherished keepsake. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back pup need the umbrella traveling through much of the high country of nevada and also portions of the cascades here. even down into northern california, showers activity. higher elevations snow. salt lake city could see this. a cold morning through arizona, nevada. tomorrow doesn't look better. a chilly weather pattern through much of the west. just the pacific northwest on veterans' day, unfortunately another storm with rain for you. if kwur watching on kcra 3 s sacramento learn about america's railroads in hollywood. movie scripts, sheet music and more at the california state museum of railroads. that's your pacific event of the day, lynn. >> all right, bill. thanks.

now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. for someone who insists that he doesn't care about winning oscars, robert downey jr. sure sounds like he thinks a lot about them. the twice nominated actor says there was a time when he thought the only way out of hell was to win one. now he claims to be over that, but says he'll eventually win a bunch of them even if someone else deserves it. why? because it will be his time. according to downey, that's just the way it works. tonight, gwyneth paltrow makes her country music singing debut at the sunt music awards in nashville. it makes her a nervous wreck. she admits she can't eat or sleep. she's confident that if she can keep her nerves under control, she can survive it. the betty white train shows no signs of slowing down. yesterday she was made an honorary forest ranger. ranger white calls the honor a childhood dream, and i'm sure, bill, the publicity is a dream for the parks, as well.

>> reports of smokey the bear is nervous. >> why? >> may not get re-signed if betty white is the spokesperson. >> we'll take care of that. one little moment, publicity stunt. >> you think they can do it together? >> i don't know about betty white being in a campaign for the park. >> causing trouble. >> of course. this comes to us from channel 4 in little rock, arg arkansas where one man hit the presidential history jackpot when he read between the lines. a self-professed kennedy buff. had a friend gifted him a used copy of john f. kennedy's 1960 book "the strategy of peace" he was ecstatic, but the truth, it was tucked between pages, a mint conditioned business card signed during his senate years. the card is locked away in a bank. no one really knows how much it's worth. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

despite the odds, nothing could hold back one brave bystander in canada. a wheelchair-bound man haim add hero for coming to the res ki during a convenience store dust up. one customer tried to use a counterfeit bill to pay. he was able to tackle the customer to the ground and keep him in a headlock until the police arrived. there are still two weeks before thanksgiving. for retailers it's never too early to get in the spirit of spending. london's shopping district flipped the display with an elaborate display of christmas lights.

this year's theme was the movie series "chronicles of narnia." including the film stars doing the illumination honor. it is the instrument we love to hate and can't seem to escape. the vuvuzela is still making noise, at least at this competition in cape town where contestants were trafficked with finding ways to reuse the new horn, like a christmas tree, even a toilet paper holder. but the winner decided to turn the ear-ringing instrument into earrings. get it? get it? >> i kind of get it. >> ear-ringing. earrings. >> oh! ding, ding, ding. >> it's my turn to make a bad joke, bill. >> i'm not used to it coming from you. usually it's me. >> save them all for you. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. in alaska, it could be reminiscent of the 2000 florida recount. officials there will start counting by hand the more than

91,000 write-in ballots in the state's u.s. senate race. al tally should settle a battle between republicans whether incumbent lisa murkowski wins as a write-in candidate against joe miller. in washington, d.c., secretary of state hillary clinton will announce the transfer aid to the palestinian authority. and happy 235th birthday to the u.s. marine corps. on this day in 1775, the military branch was organized by the continental congress. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to 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. former president george w. bush is live with matt lauer and a look back at his type in office. and sarah palin opens up about her new reality tv show. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of

the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com