>> jay: thanks, man. jimmy fallon happening right [ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today" -- slugging it out. with the iowa caucuses less than a week away, presidential candidate newt gingrich takes off the gloves. scare tactics. iran threatens to block oil exports in the face of western sanctions. and cranky croc. an australian crocodile takes a bite out of a lawn mower. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with no more mr. nice guy. republican presidential campaign

newt gingrich lambasted two of his top gop rivals tuesday. despite earlier claims he would stick to a positive campaign. nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the very latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the candidates are sprinting toward the starting line. >> what's going to happen in this process -- >> reporter: with six days to go before the iowa caucuses, the gop presidential campaign is getting personal. mitt romney mocked newt gingrich's failure to get on the primary ballot of his home state of virginia. >> more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. you know, you've got to get it organized. >> so, our campaign is going to stay positive. >> reporter: gingrich insists he's going to be positive, his supporters have launched attacks on romney, asking whether a moderate can be trusted and a new text message campaign, recalling romney's once

pro-choice views. rick perry portraying the other candidate as washington insiders is campaigning with the ultimate outsider, controversial sheriff joe arpaio. >> that's the real deal right there. >> reporter: rick santorum's campaign is finally gaining momentum. michele bachmann is desperately trying to get momentum back. knowing with less than a week left a lot can happen. romney is struggling in iowa but doing well in his home state of new hampshire where the first in the nation primary is now just 13 days away. >> brian mooar in washington, thank you. the democrats' hopes for maintaining senate majority took a blow yesterday when nebraska senator ben nelson announced he's decided not to run for re-election in 2012. he made the announcement in a youtube video. he explained he wants to spend more time with his family. he faced a tough re-election battle against a large group of republican challengers. a funeral procession for kim jong-il has begun in pyongyang. tens of thousands of north koreans lined snow-covered

streets today as the late leader's son and successor kim jong-un led the hearse that carried his father's body. >> with outside monitors now in syria, demonstrators made sure their voices would be heard. amateur video shows tens of thousands taking to the streets reportedly calling for the execution of president al assad. also pleading with monitors for help. and they have released 750 detain detainees. the high stakes battle of western powers, iran threatened to cut off oil exports from middle east if the west imposes sanctions on oil shipments. a top official threatened to close the strait of hormuz if the west continues what he calls

its plot against iran. as state department spokesman dismissed the threats as, quote, bluster. now, here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. michigan police were recently involved in a high speed pursuit of one of their own suv cruisers wearing only his underwear, a suspect hopped behind the wheel after escaping from the back seat. it ended with the suspect crashing into vehicles at a roadblock. no injuries were reported. a lawyer for a group of single mothers in hawaii calling their theft inside a toy store a desperate act in tough economic times. a surveillance camera captured the women stealing $1,000 worth of christmas gifts for their children. they have since returned the merchandise and plan to surrender by the week's end. spreading holiday cheer landed one boston transportation employee in hot water. on christmas day, he programmed a station message board and its robotic voice to recite the lyrics to "deck the halls." grinch-like officials reportedly considered firing the employee

but only handed down a written warning. and finally, new york city preps to welcome in the new year. they installed 300 waterford crystals on the ball that will descend in times square. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. what are you doing for new year's? >> sleeping probably. maybe i'll tape it so lame, so lame. good morning, everyone. in the northwest, rain yesterday. one of the rainiest days we've had so far this december. in seattle, almost totalled an inch of rain in the last 24 hours. a quarter of an inch or less in medford. portland, a half an inch and boise, a little light rain. if you didn't get it yesterday, you will get it today. the storm system will blow on through. look at the cloud cover throughout the west. one ripple after another. the large plume of moisture off

the pacific. as far as what we're dealing with radar, a little hole in seattle to bellingham. not any wet weather for the next hour or two. showers from olympia, southward. portland getting good. and heavier rainfall totals over the next 48 hours will be on the cascades, snow levels very high. very warm out there as far as rainfall total, a little bull's-eye from medford to portland. we get to the red, four to five inches of rain. possibility of some localized flooding is going to be there. you go throughout the next couple of days. the cumulative effect of the weather system. rain doesn't make it san francisco southward. just the pacific northwest this time around. the forecast for today, mild, that is the one good thing. snow levels extremely high for this time of the year. temperatures in the upper 40s, low 50s. nice from san diego to l.a. and sacramento to san francisco,

slightly cooler. cloudso sunny and nice. california, no issues. looks like the heavy rain will continue in the northwest. where the worst weather in the country will be it looks like until the weekend. >> going back to you taping new year's eve. >> does that work? >> you still have a vcr? >> no. i've gotten on board with the dvr. >> just checking. >> okay. oil bubbles, putting your foot in your mouth on facebook. early morning business headlines, straight ahead. wait until you hear the price mel gibson will end up paying for sprubmitting with hi long-time wife. celtics can't stand the heat

and the lakers get back on track. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. the 58-year-old president of argentina fernandez has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and will take a leave of absence to undergo surgery next month. the type of cancer she has is thought to be highly survivable. a political shakeup in moscow. one of prime minister's putin's long-time deputies has been removed from his role over seeing the domestic political agenda. putin is facing the biggest opposition protests after his 12 years in power. a third baby has gotten sick from a bacterial infection that killed a missouri infant. however the baby did not consume the formula of enfamil.

that has been the subject of a government probe. a legendary show business figure died, cheetah the chimpanzee, tarzan's sidekick passed away on christmas eve at a florida sanctuary at the age of 80. in australia, crocodile versus lawn mower, and the crocodile wins. the mower was no appetite for the appetite of 18 elvis. elvis also got in trouble a few years ago after climbing on board fishing boats. oh, my goodness. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,291 after losing 2 points yesterday. the s&p was up a fraction and nasdaq added six. in tokyo the nikkei lost 16 points while in hong kong the hang seng fell 110. stocks building ended flat on light volume tuesday, a

typical trading day between christmas and new year's. one big mover was sears after planning to cut 100 sears and k-mart stores. they plunged to a new 52-wheel low. whirlpool which depended on sears tumbled almost 9%. bad housing news. october single family home prices fell more than expected with atlanta and las vegas prices falling to their lowest since the housing crisis began. that helped take the shine off a jump in consumer confidence to the highest level since april. growing consumer confidence combined with tensions with iran sent the price of oil above $101 a barrel. endeavor international rose 24% on a deal to buy conoco phillip. international gained 5% on the government opening the door to online gambling. elsewhere, italy's ten-year bond yield hit the crisis 7% level tuesday. after the chinese yuan hit an all-time high against the dollar, the treasury department

refused to call them a manipulator, angering trade groups. they accuse beijing of holding the currency level down for trading advantages. a federal judge dismissed charges of bp's subsidiary violated probation after an oil spill on alaska's north slope. and finally, a mexican anti-poverty official has been fired. he posted a facebook comment saying poor people smell bad. the boilermakers boil. the red wings beat the blues. which teams dominated nfl pro bowl selection? the shamrocks wilt against miami's heat. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. the big storm that drenched the east coast is gone. now cold air tries to make its way in. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

and a very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, nba teams take note, the heat are coming out of the gate firing on all cylinders. here's nbc's mario solis with a look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. the nba season is just three days old but the miami heat are in midseason form. south beach. celtics paul pierce sitting out his second straight game and boston could have used him.

miami hits the ground running. lebron hits it into another year and flies back rondo for the jam. heat up 15 at the break. to the third dwyane wade joins the fun, lobs it up for james and he throws it down. lebron with 26. wade 24. heat beat the celts 115-107. took three games but the lakers finally got in the win column. check out world peace. looks like ron artest when he was 25. kobe nursing a sore wrist but get it it done with a game high 26. lakers turn down the jazz. hockey -- blues cruising up on the red wings when in the blink of an eye, detroit score s two goals in 56 seconds. they score three unanswered to beat the blues 3-2. the lightning have been struggling this season. maybe this will help. stamkos scores two against the flyers now tied for the league lead with 22. tampa wins 5-1.

nfl, the 49ers and patriots will send eight players each to this year's pro bowl game. fan favorite and hype machine tim tebow is an alternate. bowl games. off to north carolina for the belt bowl. nc state and louisville. glennen airs it out to graham. wolfpack up 11. they hold on to win 31-24. little caesar bowl. the kickoff from the 1 yard line and off to the races. 99 yards to the house. pizza for everyone. purdue wins 37-32. that's your look at sports on "early today." year end, celebrity naughty and nice list and an internet prank runs out of control. plus, they're only saying there's an app for that. how about the app that saved christmas? you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." this wednesday morning. umbrella day in the pacific northwest. especially coastal areas. heavy rain heading into oregon in the next 48 hours. very warm. not a lot of snow out there only the highest elevations. most mountain passes, just rain. some of the clouds will sneak down your way. arizona, sunny.

a peek at tomorrow. a stream of storms into the northwest. look how warm it is. very unusual. temperatures in the upper 40s to low 50s. very warm in areas like l.a. over the next couple of days. watching us on knbc 4 in los angeles, california, see the story of the second gold rush, citrus fruits at kit citrus, california's golden dream. >> 75 in l.a. >> i could sit there and be happy. out on my porch. now here's an early look at this morning headlines in entertainment. sadly, a little more than two weeks after her wedding, sinead o'connor ended her fourth marriage. she blames pressures placed on her husband by, quote, certain people in his life. she exchanged vows in las vegas. "people" announced a cover

featuring taylor lautner was 100% fake. apparently it spread as a holiday internet joke, cofounding russell simmons to tweet his congratulations. lady gaga, justin bieber and george clooney topped dosomething.org as doing the most and peta named kim kardashian one of the grinches of the year for wearing fur. and in his finalized divorce settlement, not only does mel gibson have to pay his former wife half his current fortune, $425 million right now, she also gets half of his future residuals forever. >> every weekend when i watch "lethal weapon one" and "two," she guess a piece of that. >> cha-ching. that's the law in california. >> eddie murphy said that once

in a comedy skit. this now comes to us from knbc nbc 4 in los angeles, california, where a clever ipad app stopped a suspected grinch from steal one family's christmas. kent woke up to a homeowner's nightmare when he saw a burglar near his bed. he got away with the ipad and the christmas gifts. a locator application on the device led the suspect to a nearby home where they arrested the thief and recovered all of the stolen items just in time for christmas. oh, my goodness. don't mess with somebody with an ipad. >> if everything had that nobody would steal. >> you don't have one, do you? >> no, but if i get one, i know it can't be stolen. veronica de la cruz, this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one turtle that took a wrong turn is getting a second chance. johnny turtle was released back into the gulf of mexico where he started a journey three years ago. they think he was swept up by a gulf stream to the netherlands. after a long rehabilitation in portugal, yesterday he returned home to his home waters. in nepal a game for charity. the players were beneficiaries themselves. four elephants led by

they show amazing dexterity. it promotes conservation of the elephants and the tourism that locals depend on. in algeria, lack of snow didn't stop ski fans from hitting the slopes much the sii locals. you have to climb up the dunes before you get to the fun part, sailing down to the bottom. oh! yikes! and a mouthful of fund to sand with that. stories we'll follow nowout the day on nbc. the trial of hosni mubarak has resumed. this following accident sdwlaus a jfs biased toward mubarak.

nasa will hold a briefing. they hope to collect a wealth of new information. and america's first test tube baby celebrates a milestone. elizabeth jordan carr turns 30 years old today. she was born in virginia in 1981. all day long, stay on top of the very latest developments on those stories and others as they break on msnbc. be sure to watch brian williams on "nbc nightly news." and later this morning on "today." new details on the christmas morning fire that killed three children and their grandparents in a story in connecticut. and hot travel destinations. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and much more. thank you so much for watching "early today," your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station. have a terrific wednesday.