this morning on "early today" -- wave of worry. wall street suffers its worst day since 2008. what's ahead for today? fanning the flames -- rioting spreads beyond the borders of london in a third night of violence. and whale of a task -- a dramatic rescue of a baby hack on australia's gold dramatic rescue of a baby hack on australia's gold coast. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, and good morning. i'm lynn berry. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. today we begin with panic point. standard & poor's historic downgrade of the nation's credit

rating triggered a stomach-churning plunge on wall street monday. the roller coaster ride of uncertainty continued overnight as asian stocks clawed back to close above their lowest levels. u.s. market futures have fluctuated between up and down. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: in his first reaction since standard & poor's downgraded u.s. bonds late friday, president obama rejected the double-a plus rating. >> no matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-a country. >> reporter: u.s. stock markets dropped sickeningly. the dow losing 5.55%. the s&p 500, 6.66%. the nasdaq off 6.9%, the biggest drop in years. gold was up to an all-time high, $1,700, a sign investors are scared. by last week's debt ceiling deal, not big or bold enough.

>> no one touched entitlement spending or tax reform. until republicans and democrats show an ounce of backbone and actually do what's in the interest of the american people rather than what's in their own immediate political interest, i can't argue with s&p's conclusion. >> reporter: the president said the downgrade could spur on new debt talks. >> our problems are imminently solvable, and we know what we have to do to solve them. >> reporter: that, in turn, pleased the head of standard & poor's. >> it was actually a bit of a new sense of urgency we heard from him. it was encouraging. >> reporter: s&p downgrade from tip triple-a to double-a plus. mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie mac own or guarantee half of american mortgages. rates could rise driving down home values and sales. >> the markets, on the other hand, continue to believe our credit status is triple-a. >> reporter: as investors dumped stocks, many bought u.s. treasuries.

the same bonds grown graded by s&p. still seen as super safe. i'm steve handelsman, northbound news, washington. elsewhere england's prime minister david cameron has rushed home early from his vacation in italy to deal with the riots that have wreaked havoc on london's streets for a third straight night, and now reinforcements have been ordered for police units stretched thin and chaos, as the violence now spreads to other areas in the country. kier simmons from our english broadcast partner itn reports. >> reporter: despite the condemnation and calls for calm, there are fires burning across london. south of the city in croyden and in lewisham and east in hackney, where so brazen are the rioters that even before night fell they attacked police towers and looted shops.

attempts to regain control led to further confrontations with police. >> this is going to carry on for days, isn't it? >> reporter: hundreds have been arrested. many injured. for a third night rioters are on the streets of london. they are attacking the shops just up there and grabbing anything they can. they've set light to cars and and have been throwing missiles at the police who have backed away down the street and continued to fight running battles with the rioters. there are further reports of clashes and looting in clapham and peckham in south london and in birmingham. police and emergency services face a very difficult night. keir simmons, itv news. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. folks in joplin, missouri, are making sure the fury of last spring's tornado is not forgotten. school officials release new video of the twister, flattening

the local high school with hopes of fueling a fundraising boost. several cameras captured the destruction of the ef-5 storm tearing through the school. students will attend classes inside a mall until construction of their school is complete. a rain delay in kansas city was nearly hazardous to the health of one grounds crewmember. he was rolling out the tarp with co-workers when he took a tumble and was almost trampled there. he did avoid injury and embarrassment by making it back to his feet and skamperring out of the way. and, finally, in western new york, one man attempt to break a record at the bottom of a swimming pool. aided by a 25-pound weight, the lifeguard attempted to break the record for longest underwater walk. the 21-year-old walked nearly 230 feet before coming up for air. guinness world record official

have yet to confirm his feat. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast. good morning to you. >> good morning. the video of the guy on the tarp -- >> we don't laugh at him. >> he got out of there safe. >> he had quick feet, made me smile. good morning, everyone, around the country, the heat's has been the story. rain moved into the areas of the ast. but in the west, it's been more of the same. this was a good example, this is map i don't show that often. in the blue is what your average high should have been yesterday, and in the white is what your high actually was. the case in point is that coastal areas have been cooler than normal this summer. we're 82 is the average high in portland, but we were only 76 yesterday, about five degrees below average. san francisco was about nine degrees below average. l.a. was below average, too. interior west was close to average temperatures. so that's kind of been the story. the interior west has been warm, summer-like, but the coast hasn't gotten into a summer pattern. we're in the 50s right now in seattle and san francisco, there's no bad weather out there. but the coastal clouds really

keep the temperatures at bay. even some drizzle can be likely at times out there this morning if you're right along the shore. so medford is nice you're little interior, along with boise and vegas, abo but along the coasta areashe monsoonal flow has weakened lately. adding up the losses, looking at the trends, and who traders hope will come to the rescue. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus six years later -- new details emerge on the break-up of brad pit and jennifer aniston. coming up, a streak, a pair of walk-offs on the ultimate batting practice. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. amid the famine crisis in africa thousands of refugees have streamed into somalia's capital searching for food after the withdrawal of islamic rebels. their departure has raised hopes that humanitarian groups will be able to step up aid delivery. for the first time in five years the united nations was able to airlift aid to mogadishu. meanwhile, president obama has approved an additional $105 million for relief efforts in the horn of africa. the hotel maid who has accused ex-international monetary fund boss dominique strauss-kahn of sexual assault is now suing him for unspecified damages. the woman, whose credibility has been questioned, says she was subjected to a violent and sadistic attack. strauss-kahn's lawyers say the lawsuit has no merit.

after nearly 200 years, the house page program, a program that lets high school students serve as messengers, will end this month. lawmakers say the $5 million annual expense can no longer be justified since messages can be sent electronically. the senate, however, will keep its page program. and in australia's waters rescuers rush to save a baby hump back whale that had become stranded on a beach. the whale was guided out to sea. rescuers hope it will find its mother. and now after yesterday's day on wall street, let's take an early look at where investors will start off the day today. the dow opened at 10,809. that's after sinking 634 points yesterday. the s&p lost a whopping 79 points. the nasdaq plunged 174, and taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei stumbled to 153 point

loss, but in hong kong the hang seng plunged 1,159. as we reported earlier, america's financial downgrade hit wall street like a bomb on monday. with losses far greater than most had expected. stocks tumbled despite moody's, standard & poor's rival, reaffirming its triple-a rating on america. so how hard and how fast was the selling? well, trading volume was the highest since september 2008, the fourth highest on record at just under 18 billion shares. to put wall street's recent losses in perspective, consider that in late july the dow was flirting with the 13,000 mark. yesterday it fell below 11,000 for the first time since last november. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 are both down by 18% since the end of april. the nation's smaller companies have been battered as

well. the russell 2,000 index of small stocks has lost nearly 25% from its most recent high in april. wall street's so-called fear index shot up 50% yesterday. its steepest one-day rise since february 2007. oil fell more than 6% to $81.31 a barrel, the lowest price of the year. on a day that saw every single s&p 500 stock fall, the biggest loser was bank of america. plunging 20% after insurer a.i.g. filed suit against the bank, alleging it sold a.i.g. overvalued mortgage-backed securities. bank of america is down 51% this year. and, finally, later today the fed meets on interest rates, and many investors are calling for a third go-round of central bank buying billions in bonds to help stimulate the economy, but chairman ben bernanke and

others have recently come out against a so-called qe3 citing inflation worries. well, a walk-off single for the mets, a walk-off homer for the rays, and big papi just walks all over the twins. plus, the ultimate batting practice trick by guys with way too much time on their hands. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. that wasn't real. once again, yesterday 90% of the country had record heat. we're going to talk about your forecast coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you are just waking up, this is "early today." in sports not too long ago tongues were wagging that big papi, boston's david ortiz, was washed up. well, no one is saying that now. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. a night after beating the yankees in extras, the red sox waited until their final at-bat to pull off a win in minnesota. ellen degenrez on hand. she saw david ortiz put on a show. after hitting a home run, he delivered the go ahead single in the ninth. ortiz with four hits, three rbis with a triple shy of the cycle. boston added another run to beat the twins 8-6. to tampa, rays and royals. tied 1-1 in the ninth. when casey cox ended it.

a home run in the deepest part of the park. rays walked off with a 2-1 win. from one walkoff to another, mets in the ninth and rallied against the padres. a seeing eye single mets won at 9-8. circling like a shark in the water that smelled fresh blood, harris jumped on duda's back and got him with a whipped cream pie. mets are celebrating after a win over the padres. streaking through florida last night. no, not that kind of streaking. a hitting streak. a single and alex hit 29 straight. braves beat the marlins 8-5. finally, you ever wanted to play baseball but you couldn't find somebody to pitch? we have found the solution. no pitcher needed. just a few trampolines. a soft toss gets it going. the fun begins. builds up to four trampolines and comes back. it takes an incredibly accurate hitter to get the ball bouncing, but if you hit the sweet spot, there's no stopping. this is probably the only time you would want to hit it right at the shortstop. don't know if this is real or fake, but one thing is for sure,

it's pretty cool. at one point they even toss another ball into the mix. a dizzying trick for all those players that can't find someone to throw it down the middle. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. well, kanye has been talking, again. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, we've all experienced the dreaded public rest stop. well, coming up, we'll show you one you wish they would all be like. you're watching "early today." c:

welcome back on this tuesday. we're pretty much taking out the rainfall forecast really for the next couple of days. we don't see anything changing this weather pattern. yesterday, temperatures were in the 0s, once again, boise, salt lake city, the deserts will be in the low 100s, coastal areas will struggle, especially if you have the pevgy clouds to deal with. tomorrow the same thing, even drizzle possible around seattle. the warmer weather, not yet. maybe about a week away. if you're watching us on king 5 washington, tle, cc1: head to nearby bellevue to see latin-inspired jewelry you can wear, that's your pacific event of the day, lynn. now here's an early look at your headlines in entertainment. new details have emerged about the 2005 break-up of brad pitt

and jennifer aniston. it's a new book by the producer: of "mr. and mrs. smith." it claims when nicole kidman was replaced on the film by angelina jolie, pitt then returned to the project.cc1: he said pitt was infatuated with jolie from day one. he then writes aniston started asking around set if pitt was involved with jolie, but no one on set told her out of loyalty to pitt. pitt finally admitted to the affair to aniston on a caribbean vacation with courtney cox and david arquette. aniston then ordered him out of their home. known for his outbursts, kanye west is at it again. kanye received boos in england last weekend when he told a concert audience that tha people look at him like he is insane, like he is hitler.cc1: in true kanye fashion, he added "one day the light will shine through, and one day people will understand everything i ever did." finally, tmz reports outspoken filmmaker michael

moore is endorsing a presidential candidate for 2012. actor matt damon. and this comes to us from wmaq, nbc 5 in chicago, illinois, where the spotlight on one museum's rest room has turned bathroom breaks into a spectacular tourist stop. the bathroom inside chicago's field museum could be america's next top john. the lavatory is one of ten finalists competing for the title of best restroom. featuring large, family-friendly rooms with modernized sinks, stalls and a painted sky view, museum officials hope to flush the competition and take this year's crown for the throne. i'm lynn berry and this "early today," just your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station.

breaking a world record is a lot more fun when it involves a good time. in lebanon just over 5,000 people gathered to join what was the largest group of line dancers. the huge crowd made it hard to even make out the line. this isn't the country's first world record feat, having already conquered the largest serving of hummus and the largest skewer of meat. vikings took to land and sea this weekend. it was all part of the annual viking festival in ireland. reenactors dressed for the part, arrived by boat, and then marched inland all to the beat of war drums. the event celebrates the role played by the city in defending the country against invaders in the 11th century.

finally, france is known for their french baguette, and now they have taken that to the next level. to make sure everyone can buy a fresh warm baguette any hour of the day, one man in paris created a 24-hour automated dispenser that bakes loaves within seconds. for a little more than $1. he hopes to expand throughout europe and even the u.s. for all of us overnighters that eat at 2:00 in the morning, let me ask you -- >> go to the machine. >> bring one right here to 30 rock, please. >> i actual will youly know what a baguette is. >> you didn't think i would think you know what a baguette is. i would hope you do. the remains of the american servicemen killed in last week's helicopter crash in afghanistan are expected to arrive at delaware's dover air force base.

30 americans on board were among those killed when the nato helicopter was shot down. the department of transportation will release its latest air travel consumer report, which contains numbers from flight delays, tarmac times, and other customer complaints from throughout the month of june. and smoky the bear was born on this day in 1944, when the u.s. forest service and the ad council introduced the character to promote forest fire prevention. all day long you can stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc, and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news". finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. after the worst day on wall street since 2008, matt is on the trading floor live with maria bartiromo and jim cramer and the manhunt intensifies for the so-called dougherty gang. two brothers and a sister on a southeastern crime spree. the latest details in a live report. 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. cc1: