-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this morning on "early today." malware monday. internet users across the country prepare for a potentially crippling computer virus. out of this world. nasa's stunning new view from mars gives a glimpse of the red planet. a death defying trip. a stunt man in china is lucky to be alive after a heart-stopping a stunt man in china is lucky to be alive after a heart-stopping fall. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and very good morning to you. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with back to work. as lawmakers return from the holiday, president obama is reportedly getting ready to stir political fires with a call to

extend bush-era tax cuts but not for everyone. this as the president's campaign turns up the heat on mitt romney over his tax history and offshore bank accounts. nbc's brian mooar joins us with details. brian, good morning to you. >> reporter: faced with bad headlines, the obama campaign wants to change the conversation. as congress returns today from its july 4th recess, president obama already has work planned for lawmakers. later today he's reportedly going to ask congress to extend bush-era tax cuts to those earning less than $250,000 a year. the obama campaign needs to quickly turn away from the feeble jobs report and it's aiming guns on capitol hill and mitt romney's personal finances. >> he offshores most of his personal investments. presumably to shield them from taxes. >> i've never known of a swiss bank accounted to build an american bridge.

a swiss bank account to create american jobs. >> reporter: romney supporters call it a cheap shot and a distraction. >> in terms of governor romney's financial success, i'm happy. he's a successful businessman. we've got a president today who's never run a business. >> reporter: back on capitol hill, a fight over bush-era tax cuts will have to get in line. on wednesday, they will try to overturn obamacare, going nowhere, because democrats still control the senate. still it promises to keep the heat up in a town that's already seen too much of it. the president's tax cut extension is designed to make anyone who stands against it look like they're standing against the middle class. >> brian mooar in washington, thank you. for thousands of americans whose morning routine includes sitting down at the computer and logging onto the internet, you could be into a rude awaking. that's thanks to a rogue computer virus. >> reporter: logging onto the internet monday morning may be a problem for tens of thousands in

the u.s. it began months ago when six estonians were charged with corrupting 4 million computers worldwide with mall wear. that virus essentially high yakked the computers forcing it to use internet users directing it to sites they may not have intended. the scammers made as much as $14 million on ads they sold on the destination sites. >> they found a way to tap into one of the most lucrative sources of money on the internet, and that's online advertising. >> reporter: after the scammers were caught, the fbi took over their servers, allowing users to surf without issue for months, but now after numerous warnings, the fbi is pulling the plug, essentially disconnecting an estimated 45,000 infected devices. >> the good news is odds ant they high you will be infected. bad news, if you are infected, you probably don't know and on monday, if your internet goes

out, you'll have a really hard time fixing your computer. >> reporter: there is a way to see if you have a problem. logon to dcwg.org. it will tell you immediately if your machine has the virus and how to fix it. it's a simple test that can save you from a lot of potential problems. francis could koe, nbc news. hollywood is mourning ernest borgnine, who played love-sick butcher in 1955 and the scheming officer in "mchale's navy" and more than 200 roles and a career that spanned more than 60 years. he often played the villain in films such as "ice station zebra." ernest borgnine was 95 years old. here's a look at other news making headline today. beginning way, way, way beyond

america in mars, nasa has captured pictures showing a 360 gree view. they show a composite marchand winter. it stands 14 miles in diameter. in massachusetts, one man paid off his mortgage right down to the last penny. in fact, he saved up 62,000 pennies to make the final payment. he started saving 1 cent at a time when he saw a penny on the ground after getting his mortgage 35 years ago. it took bank employees two full days to unroll all the coins. more than 400 pounds worth. in texas it is the catch of a lifetime. a 10-year-old boy reeld in a bull shark. dad helped bring the big guy in, he helped the video, the family decided to give the shark a break and released him back into the water. finally, in missouri, talk

about hi-def television. during a minor league baseball tournament one of the batters hit a ball that smashed into the lens of one of the cameras. fortunately they were able to fix that camera between innings. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's meteorologist todd santos with the forecast. i'd like to say our business has so many perks. not when you're behind the camera and that happens. >> maybe not. can the kid get the lens? that's appropriate in itself. >> right. >> i've always loved that stuff. so destruction aside. actually, a fairly nice day for many of us across a good stretch, at least the western third of the country. some showers flared up yesterday. eastern edge of the four corners could see that activity today. that has helped firefighters, waldo canyon fire, 98% contained. could reach 100% containment. a few showers along the central

washington. maybe a few showers down near paso. that ridge builds to the west. we do have a ridge across the central u.s. thunderstorms and showers across the afternoon. very quiet, sunny, warm conditions. we are going to be running some 10 to 15 degrees above average on up through seattle. the storm straker is well to the north. looking for a beautiful afternoon. a cool start up towards seattle and portland. get down towards vegas and phoenix, starting on the warm side of things. phoenix, your average this time of year is 107, 112 for today. 105 in boise.65 degrees. mount shasta, lower 90s, full sunshine. we also do have our latest

hurricane of the season. we'll talk more about emilia coming up. i was just in vegas visiting my mom. 105 when i landed. it's a dry heat. >> that's what i hear, not for me. earnings win over wall street. bowing soares on a new order and now you can own a desserted island surrounded by people. plus, the actors, directors, writers may change but spider man always rules at the box office. roger federer's back on top and a wild scene between the rangers and the twins and it had nothing to do with the game. 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. u.s. military officials confirmed six american soldiers were killed in afghanistan yesterday. they died in the blast of an

improvised explosive device in wardak about 40 miles west of the capital of kabul. they are still counting votes in libya's first parliamentary election since the fall of moammar gadhafi. they are calling for those to create a grand coalition government. in egypt, the new islamist president morsi is ordering parliament to reconvene. it's his first sign of definian against the military. the parliament w dissolved last month after an order from a military-backed court. in jordan, a heated debate on tv became violent when a lawmaker threw a shoe at another politician and then pulled a gun. the host of the debate separated the two men and there were no injuries. and in china, a blindfolded acrobat walking backwards survived a fall off a tight rope.

at that point in the stunt, the drop was relatively short, over sloping grounds with trees. fortunately, he was able to walk away with only minor injuries. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12772 after dropping 124 points friday. the s&p down 12. the nasdaq sank 38. overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei shot down 123 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng plummeted 372. in the wake of friday's disappointing jobs figures, wall street will have a new worry this week -- lower earnings. with american and european economies struggling, 42 companies, including ford and texas instruments, have already warned investors of lower profit expectations. as always, later today, alcoa leads the reporting. no one expects a repeat of last quarter's positive outlook. jpmorgan chase's report will be watched for the total of the

botched multibillion loss. they expect losses to be much higher. china, main driver of world growth, releases data, analysts expect to be gloomy at best. the most closely watched will be china's year-to-year gdp growth. with all of those dark clouds, wall street is looking for clues of another round of quantitative easing or qe3 from the fed. as aerospace's biggest industry, boeing is expecting to win a bid for 737s from ge capital services for over $9 billion, after telling england's "independent" they expect boeing to pull ahead for airbus for a number of years. the secluded red rock island in north san francisco bay listed earlier this year for $22 million can now be yours for the

bargain basement price of only $5 million. the cards walk off in a record tying victory at wimbledon and like the rest of us, major league baseball players and fans also met with mother nature's fury this weekend. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and speaking of mother nature, we'll check in on her plans for monday afternoon. you're watching "early today." very good morning to you.

if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports last night against arch rivals in boston, the yankees finished off the first half of the major league season with the best record in baseball. here's nbc's bill seward with a look at all your sports headlines. >> hi, everybody. no better way to enter the all-star break than with the best rivalry in the game. yankees and red sox at fenway. new york clenched the best record in baseball with another win over boston. seems like another player steps up for yanks. last night andruw jones. a couple hits, a homer and three rbis. they win 7-3. cards and marlins. miami up one in the ninth and furcal ends it. line drive to left. here comes matt carpenter. david freese right behind him, beats the throw to the plate. cards rally to win 5-4.

wild scene in texas. middle of the fourth between the twins and rangers. when this happened. a blast of thunder and lightning rocketed the stadium, sending everyone running for the hills. worth another look. a classic texas thunderstorm. delayed the game for about 45 minutes. no one was hurt. just a little startled. 13th inning, lightning never strikes twice, unless you're the rangers. ian kinsler, the bolt, to turn out the lights. rangers win 4-3. to tennis, a brit hasn't won a wimbledon title since fred perry back in 1936 and it wasn't going to happen yesterday. men's final at the all-england club. roger federer proved once again he's the best player in tennis. after losing first to murray, federer comes alive. drop shot can fall. federer takes the second set. how about power. an ace past murray to win the third set. on to match point.

after a short rally, murray return is wide. federer wins his record-tying seventh wimbledon title and regains the number one ranking in the world. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm bill seward. who did better than expected and who flopped this weekend at the box office? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, these may make you think of a wonderful pie. they mean something totally different to the town that bills itself as the cherry pit spitting capital of the world. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." want to quickly mention hurricane emilia. following on the heels of daniel. category 1. off towards the west northwest. should be moving towards land over the next few days. a very good story. beyond that, the heat remains the big story. if you're watching us on news channel 11 in fairbanks, alaska, see how artists take their work from concept to completion at art in the making at university of alaska museum of the north. that's your pacific event of the day. >> that's one thing i wish i could do. >> art? >> yes. >> i have no skills. >> pottery, something. drawing. painting. anything like that. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment news. some are calling it this super hero summer at the box office because it started with "the

avengers" ended with "batman returns," and this weekend belongs to another comic hero. the new friendly neighborhood spider-man spun himself a $65 million opening weekend. the amazing spider-man added a whopping $129 million overseas for a grand worldwide total, get this, todd, $341 million so far. huge, huge. the previous top film "ted" fell to second with an impressive $32 million. >> among new releases oliver stone struggles "savages" opened stronger with $16 million. on the flipside, "katy perry" did not lure the pop star's fans in eighth with just over $7 million. todd is disappointed as well. >> not really. finally after two weeks in a handful of theaters woody allen's "to rome with love" went national and cracked the top ten.

$3.5 million. this comes to us from news center 16 in south bend, indiana, where the pits keep on coming. a fruit farm held its 39th annual cherry pit spitting contest. competitors young and old hurled the pits as far as their mouths would allow them. for 20 years two families took turns claiming victory but this year there was an upset. the big winner was a rookie from chicago who launched his pit a whopping 69 feet. though the all-time record still stands at 93 feet. how on earth -- i don't know. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in china a few lucky pandas have gotten a new toy. the keepers at chengdu panda bay surprised their fury friends with a new slide. look at them go. the panda awareness goal is to widen support for conservation and find new advocates for this endangered species. one thing is for sure, those pandas are head over heels for this new slide. they are too cute. over the weekend in germany the living dead took to the streets. around 1,000 dressed in blood-soaked costumes and makeup staggered through what could easily be mistaken for a scene out of a horror movie. one organizer of the annual zombie flash mob set up on social media in its fifth year says it's about having a good day out. okay. at one event in finland

husbands carry wives through life's obstacles literally. the annual wife carrying world championship had husbands hoisting their wives over hurdles and through water to quickly complete a nearly 300-yard obstacle course. spouses clung to their partners for the bumpy ride some making it look much easier than evers. see, todd, chivalry isn't dead, right? >> not at all. you carry them over the puddle. you do that in maine and you win your wife's weight in beer. i'm not sure what they do in finland. >> wow. time for an early look at some stories we'll follow throughout the day right here on nbc. in washington the woodrow wilson center will discuss results of mexico's recent elections and its impact on u.s. relations with our southern neighbor. after calls for a recount in accusations of fraud, mexican election officials confirmed sunday nieto is the country's new president. in virginia the 16th annual

renewal and remembrance project kicks off at arlington national cemetery. hundreds of volunteers are expected to take part in the beautification process. happy birthday to tom hanks who turns 56 today. happy birthday. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news". and finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. savannah guthrie is welcomed with a special surprise as she starts her first official day at co-anchor of "today." and ray romano and queen latifah are live in studio to preview "ice age: continental drift." keep it on this channel for continuing local news, sports and much more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for watching "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific monday. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com