"jimmy fallon," happening right [ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today," state of emergency. hurricane irene makes a bee line for the north carolina coast. occupational hazard. a car explodes in a los angeles firefighter's face. and a diamond discovery. the girl's best friend just got a whole lot bigger with this the girl's best friend just got a whole lot bigger with this test planetary find. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a perfect storm.

that is how hurricane irene is being described as she churns towards the east coast, threatening up to 65 million people from north carolina to new england. irene is now a category 2 storm, and a massive scramble is now underway to try and escape its path. for the very latest on the storm, let's turn to bill karins. he has the latest track that irene is taking. >> unfortunately, no good news overnight. in the forecast is still supposed to go across eastern north carolina, then rake the eastern seaboard. we're now getting a good view of the storm on radar. one of the legacies of this storm is that it will be so huge it will affect so many millions of people, not just a small intense storm. it's a very large storm. we've seen more intense storms like katrina and andrew, but as far as size goes, this is about it. it will hit a lot of people. this will show you the cloud tops where all the heavy rain

is. this dwarfs the size of florida and florida is a big state. we'll be watching bad weather for 12 to 24 hours up and down the east coast as this storm does its destruction starting through the night and would the weekend. 300-mile wide. you don't see them that big this often. north carolina up to new york city. the forecast path takes its inland tomorrow morning, north carolina, skirts the coast during the overnight hours, then should make landfall again in long island, new york, sunday afternoon. >> across the east coast, residents are bracing for irene, especially in north carolina where president obama has already declared a state of emergency. kristen dahlgren has more from the outer banks in north carolina. good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning, lynn. people here are being reminded today not to be fooled by the

fact that it's weakened into a cat 2, maximum sustained winds at 110. cat 3 is 111. so 1-mile-per-hour difference. there are now states of emergency in seven states between here and connecticut. we're beginning to feel the first effects. take a look there and you can see waves just beginning to pick up. but to our south and the outer banks we're told they're running between six and nine feet. the first water really being pushed ashore ahead of irene. things expected to get worse here as we go through the day. into this evening, we could see the tropical storm force winds. both rbts and tourists being told to leave. they're told if they stay behind, they're doing so at their own risk. there won't be any emergency personnel to save them if something were to happen. >> important to heed those warnings. far north of kristin, irene

is causing a major change of plans in the capital which is still dealing with a punch delivered by mother nature earlier this week, that rare earthquake. brian mooar has the latest on that from washington. good morning. >> reporter: here in the nation's capital there's a lot of worry about what will happen and disappointment about what will not. let's start out with the barriers that are being put up around the national cathedral that was damaged by that earthquake just a couple days ago. a lot of concern there was damage to the top of this iconic building and the 60-mile-an-hour winds and six inches of rain we're expecting cannot make things easier. they've canceled services at that church. but the big cancellation, the martin luther king jr. memorial. a quarter million people expected including president obama and ageing members of the civil rights movement. they've decided, organizers have, that it's not safe to continue. but martin luther king jr. says the date on the calendar isn't what matters here. >> brian there for us in

washington. thank you. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. newly released video shows that a dramatic car explosion did little to stop one of los angeles' bravest from getting the job done. despite the firefighter's close proximity to the blast, he emerged unscathed and apparently unrattled. he stepped to the rear of the burning vehicle, continuing to hose it down until the fire was out. there was some major disorder inside a cleveland misdemeanor court hearing. a defendant hurled his backpack at a judge after she told him she would give him more time to get a lawyer. with the help of a public defender, court officers rushed in to put down the defendant. he is now under arrest and expected to face assault charges. a wildfire near california's yosemite national park forced officials to issue evacuation orders, putting several

vacationers out on the street. an exploding propane tank triggered the raging blaze scorching at least a thousand acres. the uncontained fire could destroy several structures in its path. finally lightning strikes lit up the early morning sky over ft. wayne. thursday severe thunderstorms produced a parade of lightning as well as high wind and heavy rain. officials say the widespread storm left downed trees and thousands without power. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here once again is nbc meteorologist bill karins with your forecast. >> amazing how many times we have big huge storms on this coast, the rest of the country is very quiet. >> lucky for them. >> we have irene on the eastern seaboard and middle of the country still dealing with heat and a weak cold front. the west coast is very quiet. one little shower or thunderstorm has popped up there outside portland. but outside of that, a very

quiet weather map. showers and thunderstorms still possible in the intermountain west. salt lake city 95. vegas very warm, phoenix on the hot side, too. not bad in l.a. san francisco trying to get to the mid-70s. mild compared to how your summer's been going. portland, seattle, most locations lookin >> another look at irene comes a little later in your weekend forecast. >> bill, thanks so much. also coming up, stocks stumble. gold rises, and the car most likely to be stolen. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, with movie audiences expected to be dramatically cut down this weekend because of that storm, will an underdog

emerge to take the top spot? coming up, jim thome is heading home. your fantasy football report, and a record for the yanks.

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. and here are some of your top headlines this morning. police say a large explosion has struck near the united nations building in nigeria's capital. a wing of the building has been levelled by the blast. many are feared dead. libya's moammar gadhafi remains on the run. we're getting a firsthand look inside his compound. it contains an underground network of tunnels he may have used to escape. rebels also found a photo album with pictures of former secretary of state condoleezza rice, whom he once welcomed into his home and showered with

gifts. new video has surfaced of a suspected meteorite flying over the andes mountains in peru ten days ago. and australian a stron omers believe they've found a once massive star that's been transformed into a small planet made of diamonds. it orbits a pulsar in a remote corner of our galaxy. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,149 after tumbling 170 points yesterday. the s&p fell 18 points. the nasdaq dropped 48. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei added 25 points, but in hong kong the hang seng was down 169. wall street shifted into reverse thursday veering into steep losses after a strong three-day rally. stocks rose earlier this week largely on expectations of another round of stimulus from the fed.

later today fed chief ben bernanke will be speaking at a wyoming conference, the same one he unveiled for the fed's plan for buying billions in bonds last year, the plan noent as quantitative easing. thursday on worries shares may dramatically drop in the aftermath of no move today by the fed chief, the doubters took over fleeing stocks for the safety of cash. stocks had opened higher on warren buffett's berkshire hathaway taking a $5 billion stake in the struggling bank of america. the oa gained over 9%, accounting for almost 10% of the day's total volume. on the first day of trade since apple ko founder steve jobs' resignation, shares fell only slightly. a sharp drop thursday on germany's dax. a one point by as many as 5% increased jitters and selling on wall street. new jobs numbers also fuelled selling. u.s. jobless claims rose last week to their highest points in

five weeks, but that was largely inflated by formerly striking workers at verizon. after two days of sharp declines, gold rose more than 1%. elsewhere delta plans to spend billions buying 100 boeing 737 jets to upgrade its fleet. finally, the gas-guzzling favorite of the rich and famous is also apparently the favorite of thieves. a new study finds the cadillac escalade is the most likely vehicle to be targeted by crooks. coming up preseason football heats up. the red sox live off the long ball, and the u.s. final is set in little league baseball. plus, the new york yankees do something that's never been done before in the entire history of baseball. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. on radar i'm tracking the sensor, the eye of hurricane irene as it heads towards north carolina.

good morning. if you are just waking up, this is "early today," and in sports despite all the things the yankees have accomplished over the years, yesterday they did something new. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the yankees are known as the bronx bombers, and yesterday

they certainly lived up to their name. let's go to new york. they were down 7-1 to the as and suddenly caught fire. robinson cano, russell martin and curtis granderson all hit grand slams. first time a team has ever hit three grand slams in a game. the yanks won big. real big. 22-9. after struggling all season in texas, the red sox have finally turned a corner, and adrian gonzalez a big reason why. hit two home runs against the rangers. he has now hit five in the last three games. boston won it 6-0. quick baseball note. a week after hitting home run number 600, jim thome going back to where it all began. the twins traded him to the cleveland indians. expected in the line-up against the royals. football, you're thinking about drafting michael vick for your fantasy team? if so, i think you'll like this. mike vick called his number from eight yards out. eagles beat the browns. or maybe you'll draft cam newton. he played well in the preseason. didn't throw a touchdown against the bengals but he did roll over a defender on his way to the end

zone. if are you in the market for a defensive player, you can't go wrong with the redskins deangelo hall. picked off joe flacco. should have been tackled a couple of times. he stayed on his feet and scampered 52 yards for a touchdown. not enough, though. ravens won it, though. finally back to baseball. california punched its ticket to the u.s. little league world series final with a win over pennsylvania. they'll play montana tomorrow. hands off to the youngsters of clinton county, pennsylvania. they break attendance records every time they hit the field and leave an indelible mark on the little league world series. have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> early today sports is brought to you by just for men hair color. live forward. three opening films take on "the help" this weekend at the box office. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, to millions irene threatens to be a danger and a hazard. to one woman in connecticut, the storm may also be a dream

breaker. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. here's what you need to know for everyone on the east coast, whether a family or relative that lives in that area. 12 hours left for prep in the mid-atlantic and 36 hours for new england. in other words, time's beginning to run out for people. those people have to be prepared to be without water and power

for up to three days. that's pretty significant. a lot of tree trouble out there. people have to determine what their safe rooms are as the storm goes by. forecast are the the west today, not many issues. thunderstorms for the intermountain west. boise still hot at 97. warm in medford. we're still watching the pattern in the midwest as the east coast deals with the big storm. seattle and portland, maybe two nice weekends in a row. is that too much to ask? if you're watching us in reno, nevada, pack the lawn chairs and head over to carson city. enjoy a free acoustic rock concert, food and dancing under the stars at the concert at the cove at the cove at carson mall. and that's your pacific event today. i'm a romantic guy. that would be my date night. >> your wife's lucky. all right, bill, thanks so much. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. a big storm and debut movies canceling each other out should

keep last weekend's box office winner on top once again this weekend. after debuting in second two weeks ago "the help" had the rare experience of moving up to take the top spot. the experts think this weekend's smaller audiences will focus on this film. and the newer films should keep each other in check. $15 million should keep the help on top. "our idiot brother" boasts a cast of paul rudd, elizabeth banks and emily mortimer. this is the year of r-rated comedy, but the experts only see it fighting for second. ditto with the new horror entry "don't be afraid of the dark." the experts don't see the combo of katie holmes and horror equally number one. stop it, bill. finally zoe saldana did star in "avatar," the highest grossing movie of all time. but experts don't think

"columbiana" will slay the other films for top spot. >> who are these experts? this comes to us from wvit nbc connecticut in hartford where in nearby westhaven one woman's wedding day could be wiped out by a monstrous storm bearing her own name. >> not my fault. >> hurricane irene -- of course, everything's your fault, bill. hurricane irene has thrown a monkey wrench into the plans of irene rios. the bride-to-be's dream wedding could become a nightmare if the storm doesn't turn out to sea. adding insult to possible injury, their backup plan is take the whole thing indoors unless the nearby conference center is ordered to evacuate. why are you laughing, bill? for any bride, that's so upsetting. she's laughing about it, too, apparently. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

a family in portugal is living the high life. a 250-year-old oak tree is the foundation for a pretty impressive tree house they call home. the wooden home sits four feet from the ground nestled in the mammoth tree and mostly hidden by plush leaves. the structure is unconventional. all amenities are included, even electricity and plumbing. well, a cloud of mystery is hanging over beijing. photos uploaded online have many scratching their wonder what caused the bubble-shaped cloud. what started as a ring of light grew for about 15 minutes before dissipating. stumping many who watched from

the ground. scientists still aren't sure what spawned the bubble, but speculate it was human made. finally, a champagne taste test you probably would pass on. swedish talk show hosts toasted a bottle of bubbly thought to have been belonged to adolf hitler and taken by a british soldier as the nazi regime were collapsing. medical staff were standing by because a rumor that hitler's collection of wine had been poisoned with cyanide. in the end no doctors were needed. this is why i travel with beefeaters. >> and i would be very polite and i would let you take the first sip just being a gentleman. >> really? why does that not surprise me, bill? well, time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. alex rodriguez will meet with major league baseball officials in baltimore to discuss allegations the yankees' third baseman took part in at least two illegal poker games. baseball commissioner bud selig acknowledged an investigation

into the allegations earlier this month. there will about be a hearing on los angeles lakers forward ron artest's request to change his name to med da world peace. meda is a buddhist word meaning loving kindness. he cited personal reasons for wanting to make the switch. and happy birthday to macaulay caulkin who turns 31. you can follow those headlines as they break on msnbc, and be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally here's a look at what's coming up later on the "today" show. as the east coast braces for hurricane irene, al roker is live in north carolina with the latest. and the grammy award winning band train performs live on the plaza for the summer concert series. 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. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.

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