>> i like to say there is always a bull market somewhere. i promise to try to find it just for you right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer. see you tomorr this morning on "early today," chinese checkers, a diplomatic game of strategy is being waged after a daring escape from house arrest. storm chaser video shows what it's like to get caught in a shower of hail. and "easy rider." an amazing piece of americana crosses the pacific, washing up an amazing piece of americana crosses the pacific, washing up from the japanese tsunami. 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. secretary of state hillary clinton is headed to beijing

today where she faces talks that have a new complication. officials have confirmed to nbc news that an escaped chinese dissident is under u.s. protection but they did not make clear exactly where he is. nbc's ian williams reports from beijing. >> reporter: the fate of chen has become the biggest test for u.s.-chinese relations in years. no sign of extra security at the embassy today but the issue is so delicate that there's been no comment from officials here, chinese or americans. chen's crime in the eyes of the chinese government was to expose forced abortions and forced sterilization under the country's one child policy. the 40-year-old self-trained lawyer blind since childhood was jailed in 2006 and then put under house arrest. he says he and his wife were beaten. his young daughter harassed. his every movement was monitored.

visitors prevented from meeting with him. he was able to secretly plot his escape. secretary clinton has been critical of chen's house arrest. >> i can certainly guarantee that we will be discussing every matter including human rights that is pending between us. >> reporter: one big sticking point may be his preference to stay in china and fight for justice instead of accepting a one way ticket to exile. the other is the fate of his family under house arrest themselves and from his supporters some of whom have been detained since his escape. back to you. one year ago today president obama gave the go ahead for the military mission that led to the death of osama bin laden. now the president is reacting strongly to gop criticism about a newly released campaign ad praising that raid. tracie potts joins us from washington with those details.

good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. it was the obama team that brought this into the campaign with a web ad featuring former president bill clinton applauding the decision, the very risky decision that president obama made. now mitt romney has said that it is not appropriate in fact a member of the romney team called it a cheap political employ to bring will into the campaign. president obama also reacting about whether that decision should have been made. romney at the time said it was ill considered, but yes of course he would have done the same thing. as he put it, even jimmy carter would have given that order. in reaction, in the news conference president obama said without naming romney said that if you say one thing a year ago and something different now, you need to explain. and so the question remains how long are will there are remain a campaign issue in the campaign

between now and november. >> tracie potts for us in washington. thank you. in a rare public admission, the u.s. tactic of using drone strikes to kill militants in other countries, president obama's counterterrorism advisor insisted on monday the strikes are legal under international law. john brennan's comments mark the first time a senior white house official spoken at length in public for years what was considered a covert mission. he said the drone campaign has saved american lives and caused few civilian casualties. now here's a look at some other stories making news. in texas some scary moments for a storm chasing crew from the weather channel. hail the size of golf balls smashed into their window repeatedly. at one point the driver used a blanket to protect himself in case the glass gave way. fortunately other than plenty of dents in the rig everybody is okay.

in oklahoma heavy flooding turned roads into rivers and several feet of rain left farms, oil wells and hay bales flooded and winds ripped off roofs. in minnesota a tank was brought in to demolish the house. the home was 150 years old and headed for the wrecking ball. instead somebody got the idea to bring in a piece of military might. a british tank from the '60s. it took a few tries but eventually the tank did win. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's meteorologist bill karins. good morning, bill. >> 50-year-old tank. >> still did the job on the house. >> a chance the house would could have won. well, good morning, every. rain showe thigrsmoinrn at some of the higher terrain inin oregon and washington state. kind of a gloomy y.da on shore flow throughout much of the west has temperatures on the cool side.

a lot of fog down in california. but the rain showers really very light. higher elevations, a little bit of snow this morning with the on shore flow. and it looks like with the cooler temperature, that will be the case for the next couple days. cold front went through, a lingering little frontal system through northern california. so drizzle possible really all of southern california. we'll try to burn it off for a decent afternoon with mostly sun any conditions. but temperatures as i mentioned on the chilly side. 40s from seattle to portland and only 50 in san francisco. so today, showers in the northwest, we'll try to get you sunshine after drizzle beautiful, 79. l.a.

looks like a stronger storm comes into the west wednesday night. >> all right. we'll be watching that i'm sure. thank you. coming up home ownership tumbles. scooping up sunoco. and the big business that is mother's day. plus bobby brown sits down with matt lauer to talk about whitney houston and drugs. coming up the knicks couldn't handle the heat, the capitals got even and rajon rondo suspended. you're watching "early today".

good morning, welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are your top headlines. parliamentary committee has concluded that news corp chairman rupert murdoch is not a, quote, fit person to run a major international corporation. the committee found murdoch exhibited, quote, willful bli blindness towards wrongdoing. and the report also questioned the competence of murdoch's son, james. may day protests are planned today by occupy wall street activists in cities across the country. they plan rush hour demonstrations in new york and san francisco to block bridges. dna evidence has cleared two men in texas who were officially exonerated in a rape and shooting 10 years ago. they shook hands with the judge who declared them innocent after decades behind bars. and in colorado robert dewey was released after a court hearing that exonerated him also

based on dna evidence. he had been in prison for 16 years. finally in canada a large container was found washed up on shore and inside was a harley davidson motorcycle. it had a japanese license plate and was very rusty indicating it was debris carried across the ocean after the tsunami in japan 13 months ago. now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines. a new study says between 2000 and 2009 the number of babies exposed to addictive drugs before they were born tripled. the research suggests using new medication to treat mother's dependence on illegal or prescription drugs could reduce baby's symptoms after birth. for more information, check out the health page at msnbc.com.

now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow kicks off at 13,213. the s&p 500 lost five points. the nasdaq fell 22. taking a look at overseas trading. in tokyo the nikkei sank 169 points but in hong kong the hang seng jumped 352. the s&p saw its first losing month on monday thanks to economic worries overseas and here at home. banks were the biggest losers on news of spain's recession and stand and poor's cut the credit rating of 11 spanish banks. this as a much sharper than expected decline in midwest business activity added to worries the u.s. economy is losing steam. elsewhere home ownership fell to the lowest level in 15 years as more americans lost homes to foreclosure and shifted to renting. this morning's "wall street journal" reports bank of america is about to cut 2,000 of its

highest paid employees. on the earnings front insurance provider humanus had a drop in profit. sunoco soared 20%. meanwhile delta is shelling out $150 million to buy its own oil refinery. the airline hopes to save millions a year. barnes and noble shot up 52% after microsoft agreed to invest $300 million in its ereader and textbook business. finally how will you show mom the love on may 13th. according to a new retail survey consumers will spend an average of $152 this year on mother's day gifts. coming up the caps deny the

rangers, the thunder slip past the mavs and what's the punishment for bumping a ref in the playoffs? plus the upstart l.a. kings take two on the road from the blues in the second round of the stanley cup playoffs. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. i'm still stressing about my mother's day gift. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today" and in sports, last night's playoff loss by the new york knicks at the hands by the miami heat. one knick took out his frustration and may be out for the season. here's nbc's fred row begin. >> good morning. the knicks were better last night in game two but still not good enough to beat the heat. let's go to south beach. knicks put up a fight. after scoring 11 on saturday casey anthony stepped up and led new york with 30. lebron doesn't beat you dwayne wade will. 25 for him. the heat too much. win 100-94 stoudemire is out for game three. he punched the glass casing around a fire extinct extinguisher.

another close one between the mavs and thunder. dallas got the lead. thunder took the lead back. mavs down three. jason terry got two shots to tie it. but couldn't get either to fall. thunder take a two game lead in the series with a 102-99 win. pacers even their series. outscored atlanta. they won it. game three tomorrow night. one more nba note. rajon rondo will not be in the game against the hawks. he was ejected after bumping the referee. game two between the hawks and celtics tonight at 7:30 eastern. hockey, caps and rangers, ovechkin has been unhappy with his lack of ice time. the caps earned a split new york with a 2-3 win. no place like the road for the kings. perfect 5-0 away from los angeles this post-season.

mike richards scored 31 seconds into the game. kings beat the blues 5-2. they lead that series 2-0. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. octomom goes belly up in a manner of speaking. and the operation to separate them caught the world's attention. coming up the happy results of that procedure.

welcome back. just a few showers here and will this up in the northwest today. not a lot of wet weather. you'll even see breaks of sun. sun will come out in much of california eventually during the day, but we are locked pretty good into the fog early this morning in southern cal. vegas to phoenix looking warp aptoastity. wednesday night into thursday, coastal areas of oregon could get heavier rain. if you're watching us on nbc 11 california bay area, see the role of the bike in american. >> caller: culture at chain reaction. bobby brown has flatly

denied what many long assumed. he said he did not introduce whitney houston to drugs. in an exclusive interview with matt lauer brown claimed his drug use started way before he entered the picture. in fact brown claims before meeting houston he only smoked marijuana and drank beer. the interview airs wednesday and thursday on "today." a $200,000 lamborghini stolen more than a year ago from a san francisco dealership has been found in northern california. finally nadya suleman, the so-called octomom has filed for bankruptcy monday claiming as much as $1 million in debt. the chapter 7 bankruptcy would seize almost all of her assets. she said bankruptcy is what's best for her kids. >> i'm drawing the line.

from now on, we only want to hear positive stories from octo mom. >> noted. >> i don't want to hear anything that goes wrong with these kids. >> i agree. this comes to us from kntv, in san jose, california two little girls have spent six months apart. they couldn't be happier because they were joined at the chest and abdomen. but they were separated. they are doing great. running around and being able to sleep without depending on the other twin and they turn 3 in august. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

from city streets to church walls. paint brushes have been traded for spray cans and they decorate inside the church. the church entrusted the artists. sketches were tested out on computers before marking the real thing. balance is everything for three athletes in china. participating in the first of three rounds in a slack line walking challenge competitors had to navigate across a nearly 330-foot long cable positioned 65 feet over a lake. morning rainfall made for a slippery slack line. one american covered a distance

of 135 feet but it wasn't until after several falls. in china one grandma swapped out babysitting duties for something more adventurous. pole dancing. here we go. the retiree says she loves the dance and can't wait to learn more technical moves like her classmates. she ignores the taboo associated with the dance. she credits the dance for giving her a youthful vigor. actually it's funny her husband didn't even know. >> i thought you were going to tell me it's funny because you do the classes, too. dwl don't go down that road. her husband did not know. how he's like thank you. >> time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow today here on nbc. in new york city a state supreme court justice will decide whether or not to throw out a lawsuit filed by a hotel maid claiming dominique strauss-kahn tried to rape her in his hotel suite last may.

the decision will be posted online later this morning. related criminal charges were dropped last summer. also in new york city a rare water color thought to be lost in 1953 is said to be auctioned after being rediscovered this year. it's expected to sell for up to $20 million. and tim mcgraw turns 45. you can stay on top of those stories and others as they break on nbc and tonight watch brian williams on "nbc nightly news." and on the "today" show a live report from pakistan one year after the raid that led to the death of osama bin laden. it's been nearly three years since ryan o'neal lost the love of his life to cancer. now he opens up to matt about his own cancer battle. keep it on this channel for local news, sports, weather and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today." just your first stop of the day on your nbc station.

just your first stop of the day on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com