stay domestic. there's always a bull market somewhere. i promise to try to find it for you right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer. i'll see you tomorrow. today," the brass ring. this morning on "early today," the brass ring. mitt romney picks up enough delegates to secure the republican presidential nomination. tipping point. the u.s. and other nations expel syrian diplomats in response to a brutal massacre. and pretty in pink, a 12 carat martian pink diamond the largest of i kind ever sold at carat martian pink diamond the largest of i kind ever sold at auction shatters expectations. 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 long, hard battle. after coming up short four years ago, mitt

romney has clinched the republican presidential nomination with a projected primary win in texas. rather than being able to focus on the triumph, the romney campaign was overshadowed by supporter donald trump. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: a win in the texas primary gives mitt romney enough delegates to clench the republican nomination. he thanked his supporters and released his birth certificate. on romney's big day, republicans were revisiting the fight over president obama's birth place. earlier, romney joked about a businessman who wanted to have the constitution rewritten to make sure presidents have business experience. >> in addition to the age of the president and citizenship of the president and the birth place being set by the constitution. >> reporter: romney spent his evening at a big money fund-raiser with donald trump

who rekindled the birth of the debate. >> you're not allowed to be president if you're not born in the country. >> reporter: romney didn't defend trump but didn't disagree, either. >> i don't agree with all the people who support me. >> reporter: as newt gingrich threw his support behind romney he didn't buy into the birther game. >> we believe this is an american born job-killing president. >> reporter: a big night for mitt romney, and a reprieve for an old attack on president obama. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. in an unusual coordinated move against syrian president ba shash al assad over the recent massacre of 100 people, western nations including the u.s. expelled syrian diplomats. more than a dozen nations are condemning the attack on civilians which included the execution of scores of children and parents in their homes. it was one of the deadliest attacks in the 15-month-old uprising against the syrian government which has left thousands dead. syrian president bashar al assad

who met with united nations envoy kofi annan yesterday showed no sign of yielding to international pressure. despite opposition to the rule the administration said yesterday it doesn't believe it's appropriate to arm rebels in syria. elsewhere, the death toll in the latest earthquake in northern italy has risen to 17, more than 200 people were injured in the 5.8 magnitude quake yesterday. thousands are homeless due to damage, inhabitable buildings. aftershocks have many terrified residents sleeping in cars or tents. this is the second recent fatal quake in the region with seven people killed ten days ago. the italian government says 50 million euros will be provided for disaster relief and reconstruction. officials in iran confirmed that computers have been hit by a massive cyber attack. a russian security software company claims it discovered the data collecting virus called flame. the firm claims flame has been gathering data, recording

conversations, and monitoring online chat sessions in iran and other middle eastern countries for at least five years. experts believe the makers of a virus that attacked iran's nuclear centrifuges two years ago are also behind this one. yesterday, israel's vice premiere did little to deflect suspicion about its possible involvement saying, quote, we boast tools that open all sorts of opportunities for us. now here is a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. in oklahoma several thunderstorms brought hail crashing down and splashing in one man's swimming pool. the force from that hail also shattered a skylight in the house. the storm knocked out power to more than 60,000 people. in florida, video shows an 11-year-old girl falling from a rock climbing wall. she suffered a concussion, the images show the girl just before hitting the ground. 20 feet below.

it happened outside miami marlins stadium. the family believes a cable wasn't properly attached. in new jersey a nightmare for june brides-to-be after their bridal store went out of business with little warning. angry women lined up to try to get their dresses during one of the busiest times of the year for weddings. in some cases they were able to get their gowns, but one woman says the store kept her deposit and won't hand over her dress. finally, a utah state university team of engineering students developed a device that could allow military special forces to scale walls without ropes or hooks. the machine uses high powered vacuums hookup to batteries, the students took part in an air force competition and were the only ones to create a working device. tom cruise would be proud. for a look at your national and regional weather here's meteorologist todd santos has your weather channel forecast. good morning to you. >> good morning.

>> pretty cool, isn't it? >> very neat stuff. >> very "mission impossible". >> you might hear them coming with the initial one. we showed in the beginning when you started talking about some of the other stories around america with some of the hail reports out of yesterday. over 200 hail reports from the country, back towards central oklahoma where we had very large hail. these pictures are coming in from the storm riders at the weather channel show. simon and justin also had one of their vehicles, chase vehicles, their back wind shield was broken. don't feel too bad for them. they're storm chasers. we were seeing some hail reports even upwards of five inches in diameter yesterday and would not be surprise to see similar numbers or large hail range talking about central, southern portions of the plains today. still, an active spot as far as thunderstorms are concerned. across the east i did want to quickly mention tropical depression beryl, strengthened a little bit and is set to move along the coastline and actually almost offshore later on today. could become a tropical storm once again. max sustained winds at 35 miles

per hour. across the west a fairly quiet scenario, the heat building in the southwest, some of the showers may brush the peninsula early on but it's later tonight that we may see a few more showers. the true storm track is pushing towards british columbia. sunshine, find that through arizona, prescott coming in at 85. a number of areas across the west will see the temperatures climb the next couple of days. the southwest, when the heat watches that are in effect towards phoenix. >> thanks so much. coming up, wall street likes the idea of greece staying put. how low will facebook go? has space research yielded the mountain of youth? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. age hasn't stopped

64-year-old steven tyler when it comes to living to excess. this first put on the clinic, the rangers sign an ace, paris says au revoir to serena. you're watching "early today."

good morning, welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are the top headlines this morning. police in canada say a severed human foot was mailed to the headquarters of the prime minister's stephen harper's party in ottawa. police in montreal discovered a human torso in a suitcase. authorities are trying to determine if the discoveries are linked. more than 150 afghan girls were hospitalized yesterday, after being poisoned by an unidentified toxic powder sprayed in the air at a school. this is the third such attack which police blame on conservative radicals who oppose education of women and girls.

grammy award winning folk and country music singer and guitarist doc watson died at 89. the blind guitarist. who played his acoustic be guitar at lightning speed, was awarded the national medal of arts in 1997. planet earth had two recent close calls with asteroid including a 16-foot long rock that passed by yesterday at a distance of 9,000 miles. went undetected until monday when another 69 foot asteroid flew by at a distance of 32 thousand miles. the famous martian pink diamond has sold at auction for more than $17 million, far more than expected. named to celebrate the first u.s. satellite mission to mars, the jewel is the biggest pink diamond ever to appear at auction. now here is an early look how wall street will kick off the day. dow open at 12,580 after jumping 125 points yesterday. s&p up 14 points, nasdaq gained 33.

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei was down 23 points while in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 365. stocks bounced back tuesday despite europe's debt crisis and mixed data here at home. signs greece may stay in the euro zone after next month's elections sparked buying on wall street, that helped push the dow and s&p higher but analysts warn of more market swings ahead. a downgrade of spain's credit undermine gold's safe appeal. the precious metal slid 1%, settling down at $1548 an ounce. spain's downgrade took a toll on oil which dropped about 2% to settle around $90 a barrel. news home prices fell in march but not as much as previous months stirred hopes of a recovery in the struggling housing market. that report was offset by a lower consumer confidence reading in may.

facebook fell to a new low, below $29 as a nervous investors bet against the troubled ipo. two dozen african-american pilots are suing the parent of united airlines claiming they were passed over for management promotions due to their race. blackberry maker research in motion plunged 13% after warning of a major earnings loss and significant job cuts. samsung launched the latest version of the galaxy smartphone in europe. it boasts a screen display that tracks the user's eye to dim or turn off at the appropriate time. a super juice called as-10, reportedly created to reduce astronauts exposure to solar radiation in space, apparently works wonders on reducing wrinkles and age spots here on earth. but at $500 for four month supply, a daily dose of spf-50 may be your best bet or better

alternative. serena swoons, albert up to full speed, and the twins rely on the long ball. plus san antonio's spurs make a dramatic statement in game two of the nba's western finals against the thunder. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. thunder in the forecast i'm not talking kevin durant, check in on your storm forecast this afternoon, coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports, last night the spurs made nba history as they continued their perfect run in the playoffs. here is nbc's mario solis with a look at all your sports headlines. good morning, the spurs proved once again they are simply on another level. game two in san antonio, sit back and watch tony parker do his thing, drive, spins and finishes with the tear drop, flying frenchman making the thunder dizzy, spurs up 11. if finesse is not your thing, how about some muscle, tim duncan throws it with authority, had 11 but blew the roof off the building with that one. to the third the spurs play like this they can't be stopped. manu ginobili behind the back to wide open parker, he's not going to miss that, finishing with 34. spurs win the 20th in a row, and

make it look easy 120-111. to tennis, serena williams lost at the french open. the very first time she ever lost the opening round of a grand slam tournament. baseball, the texas rangers signed roy oswalt to a one year deal. the three-time all star pitched for the phillies last season. speaking of the phils they could have used oswalt against the mets but i don't think anyone can stop scott hairston right now, three games, three home runs, mets win 6-3. as hot as hairston is yadier molina, four for four with a home run against the braves. he has 12 rbi in the last five games. however, one man does not make a team. braves win 5-4. another great individual effort this one by baltimore's adam jones, ripping a pair of home runs, but not enough, bluejays knock off the o's 8-6. angels and yanks, albert pujols has officially found his stroke. 7th home run in 14 games. angels win their eighth in a row, 5-1.

we've seen a lot of home runs but the biggest home run of the night, from minnesota. josh willingham ends it walk off three-run bomb, twinkies save the best for last, they win 3-2. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. early today sport is brought to you by ice blue aqua velva. men get it. what has rihanna's friends worried? something jessica biel does badly. your entertainment headlines are straight ahead. while we enjoyed images of how america observes memorial day. we have one more for you, a beautiful ceremony hawaiian style. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." i mentioned before we were talking about a few hot spots. today we're starting with them. at least where our let's say our starting point is. 75 phoenix, 74 vegas. by tomorrow we're going to start to see the numbers get into the excessive heat watch range. many of the showers through the northern portions of the rockies. watching us on king 5 tv? in seattle, see foe graphic portraits some of the 20th century most important creative minds at picturing the artist at the seattle art museum, your pacific event of the day. >> thanks so much. an early look at headlines in entertainment. reports say kanye west and kim kardashian's relationship has hit a few bumps.

tabloids say she is jealous of rihanna and banned her from west's dressing room during shows. also he's trying to reinvent and liven up her fashion sense. he thinks it's a little too safe. that's a strange way to assess that. meanwhile "the chicago sun-times" report rihanna's friends are concerned about the hard parties in miami with nba bad boy, j.r. smith. part one of the history channel's "hatfields and mccoy" staring kevin costner had just under 14 million viewers. that's an all-time record for a nonsports show on basic cable. jessica biel kels "gala" magazine that marriage to justin timberlake won't change anything. there is one thing she wants to change is her cooking. she calls it a total disaster. "american idol" judge steven tyler owns a new car, the hennessey venom gt spider. only one of five made this year.

goes from 0-200 miles in 16 seconds. is that even street legal? the price? $1.1 million. that's what they call "american idol" money. khnl, hawaii news, one of the nation has final memorial day remember anns was set against a beautiful and serene setting. 40,000 people gathered along the beach for the floating lantern ceremony. each of the 3,000 lanterns carried handwritten messages, some honored fallen troops or family members, others cast off in memory of those who saved lives through organ donation. one woman described the event as healing. beautiful there. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station.

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in canada a mountain of ice has a view that would melt your heart. it is a beauty. an iceberg floated down the coastline, an area known to be known as iceberg alley. the massive 10,000-year-old beauty, 90% is submerged in water drifts down every spring creating an iceberg parade along the 18,000 mile long coast. in china a group of performers put on the balancing act. the umbrella acrobats balance various objects on top of umbrellas as well as their body, sometimes while hula hooping. inspired by acrobats from her childhood, one woman started the group after retiring and after much practice, they have mastered the art. finally, beauty won't get you so far at one pageant in

zimbab zimbabwe. the winner is crowned mr. ugly. the title went to 37-year-old man named ugliest of them all. one him $100 in prize money and two nights stay at a hotel. he said his wife was on his case about needing more money for food so he entered the contest. i would bet that is not exactly what she had in mind. >> now she has the ugliest husband. >> i don't know if she's proud about that, but she has $100. i'm sure she's excited about that part. early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. the scripps national spelling bee begins with a preliminary round. ranging from ages 6 to 15, the contestants hail from all 50 states. the 6-year-old participant is the youngest speller in the history of the competition. on this day 90 years ago in 1992, the lincoln memorial was dedicated in a ceremony attended by president warren g. harding. former president and then chief justice william howard taft and

robert todd lincoln, the president's first son. and country singer winona judd turns 48. all day long, stay on top of the latest developments and those stories as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nightly news." finally here is a look at what's coming up later on the "today" show. get a first look at jessica simpson's new baby girl and hear how motherhood has changed her life. then take a back stage tour with one direction, england's newest boy band sensation. 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.