for you. see you tomorrow. this morning on "early today," tipping point. anti-american protestors attack u.s. government buildings in two countries leaving one u.s. official dead. phone frenzy. all eyes on apple as the buzz builds over its rumored next generation iphone. and deep impact. an amateur astronomer captures a massive explosion on the planet jupiter. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation. i'm mara schiavocampo. today we begin with under siege. libyan officials say the u.s. ambassador to that country and three other embassy staff members were killed last night during a flare-up in violence in the eastern city of benghazi.

u.s. officials have yet to confirm the reports. last night, smoke and flames billowed out of the u.s. consulate in benghazi after libyan security forces clashed with armed muslim protesters throwing handmade bombs at the compound. the gunmen were outraged over an american film promoted by an extremist anti-muslim advocate which criticizes islam and the prophet mohammed. secretary of state hillary clinton strongly condemned the attack. earlier tuesday anger over that same film boiled over at the u.s. embassy in cairo. thousands cheered while demonstrators pulled down the american flag and replaced it with a black islamic flag. the white house is denying reports of a split with israel over iran's nuclear weapons program. a white house statement says president obama spoke on the telephone for an hour with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and reaffirmed they are united in their determination to stop iran from building a nuclear weapon. the statement refuted earlier reports that the president rejected a request from netanyahu for a meeting in washington next week. netanyahu wants specifics of

what would provoke a u.s.-led military strike against iranian nuclear facilities. well, congress still appears to be gridlocked in the battle over the budget. senate majority leader harry reid says he's hopeful congress will reach some kind of agreement to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff with automatic across-the-board spending cuts next year along with the expiration of the bush era tax cuts. however, republican speaker john boehner says he is, "not confident" congress can reach an agreement before the election. all that as moody's warned once again it may downgrade the government's credit rating if a deal can't be reached. well, it's finally here. today is the day apple ends all the speculation and rumors swirling around its much hyped media event. those in the know expect the company to debut its next generation iphone today. a launch at least one expert predicts will have a significant impact on the nation's economy. nbc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: faster, slimmer, sleeker, more memory, bigger screen and better applications.

it can feed your dog, even change your baby's diaper. well, the last two are a bit of a stretch, but speculation about the new iphone and what it may be able to do has been building for months now. >> you know, that's what i'm curious to see, the laws of physics and design sort of dictate that a phone can really only be a phone. we're not going to get a magical flying spaceship tomorrow. it is going to be a roughly square device with a touchscreen running an operating system that is relatively familiar to people. >> reporter: what's unfamiliar is the level of expectations which stretch far beyond the ability to make a call, send a text, or surf the web. experts say today's announcement could be the biggest consumer electronics launch of all time, that 5.5 million could sell during its debut weekend and that ultimately sales could alter the u.s. economy. >> it seems insane. just when you think that the apple hype machine cannot possibly be ramped up any higher, you actually see an analyst report saying that the

iphone could positively impact the entire united states gross domestic product. >> reporter: that's right. analysts at jpmorgan suggest massive sales could actually boost the country's gdp by 1/4 to 1/2 a percentage point. the economic and technical questions swirling around the iphone should begin to be answered later this morning when we find out just what's at the center of this new apple's core. jay gray, nbc news, san francisco. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in florida, a dramatic end to a high speed chase after a car plowed into a guardrail, spun out, and smashed into the back of another car before finally coming to a rest along i-95. two men and one teenager inside took off running but police quickly caught them all. the trio may be linked to a series of burglaries. in utah a massive breach in an earthen dam sent water and mud flowing into dozens of homes and businesses. strong thunderstorms and heavy

rains were too much for a dike causing a gash 80 feet wide and 30 feet deep. the flooding also forced evacuations. in pennsylvania, a heartless act of vandalism. the target, animals. a goat and a horse were spray painted over the weekend. they were just sitting on a farm when they were attacked. their owners, who think the same vandals tagged mailboxes, say they're shaken by seeing livestock mistreated in this way. finally, could this be the future of our military? the pentagon-backed darpa program has posted video of what it calls robot dogs. they're electronic canines that could one day lighten the load for our troops by hauling heavy gear over rugged terrain. gps and other technology helps keeps the high tech mules moving in the right direction. hmm. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's meteorologist todd santos with the weather channel forecast. those dogs kind of freak me out. >> they look a little awkward, "star wars" like. >> and no head. >> maybe make it look more like

a talk. >> i want to talk about where we're seeing some flooding, we've seen some of the video out of utah. want to take you into portions of nevada out of clark county, yesterday, you find vegas and in the area some substantial flooding. the rainfall amounts don't sound staggering but the amount of runoff combined with how try the conditions have been, 1.18 inches worth of rain at the vegas airport, a record for the date, almost doubling the original record, i think there were rescues done by helicopter. thankfully a lot of the activity is shifting farther toward the east. you see a few showers in the monsoonal moisture but the energy is streaking off to the east and dakotas and towards minneapolis, where at least a few showers to the south and east. fairly quiet across the stretch of the coast. there's a batch of showers in san bernardino county and southern california pushing toward the i-40 corridor, slowly

falling apart. notice the flash flood watches are limited to southwestern colorado, a couple of counties in southern utah, aside from that, conditions should be improving. shower potential through southern and southeastern arizona but next couple of days the moisture will be streaking off toward the east, leaving drier conditions in southern nevada, dealing with the heaviest rainfall yesterday. temperatures, cooler numbers as well, up toward billings, 47 degrees, same number toward boise, 70 in l.a. and a beautiful afternoon especially flagstaff may see a chance for showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. >> so at least a few areas we'll

talk more about the next of days going forward as we move the showers and move to the forecast. >> all right. thanks so much, todd. well, stocks soar, zuckerberg speaks, and the woman who claims eating at starbucks every day has been good for her. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus a new chris brown controversy. did he really get a tattoo showing former girlfriend rihanna's beaten face? coming up, the orioles pull even, usa soccer gets a lift from hercules, and bieber fever hits a minor league hockey team. you're watching "early today." >> announcer: "early today" is brought to you by advil. make the switch to advil now.

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm mara schiavocampo, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. there's no end in site yet for the chicago teachers strike which begins day three today. union negotiators say they did not make much progress in talks yesterday.

whistle-blower bradley birkenfeld has been awarded $104 million by the internal revenue service, the largest individual federal payout in u.s. history. he turned on the swiss bank ubs for helping thousands of americans evade taxes, and since then the u.s. has collected billions of dollars. next month the interior of the statue of liberty will be reopened to the public on the monument's 126th birthday. lady liberty has been closed for renovations since last october. and an amateur astronomer captured video of a flash hitting the giant planet jupiter as it took a hit for our solar system. the impact, probably a comet or asteroid, happened early monday morning. astronomers say the massive gravity of jupiter makes it a cosmic shield that helps protect life on earth. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,323 after gaining 69 points yesterday. the s&p added 4 and the nasdaq was up just a fraction.

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei leaped 152 points while in hong kong the hang seng jumped 217. optimism that central banks will support stimulus overseas and here at home helped the dow hit its highest level in nearly five years today. energy, industrials and financials led the day's gains. however, many traders sat on the sidelines ahead of the fed's decision tomorrow and germany's ruling on the eurozone's bailout fund today. there was heavy volume over on the nasdaq as apple's shares slid ahead of today's big product launch. citigroup and morgan stanley agreed to value their joint brokerage venture morgan stanley smith barney at $13.5 billion as morgan stanley begins to buy out citi's stake in the firm. facebook's ceo mark zuckerberg admitted yesterday he's disappointed with his company's crumbling share price, but his comments about company's morale and mobile growth prospects pushed facebook's share higher in late trade.

meanwhile, the ceo of zynga, the struggling social gaming company behind popular facebook games like farmville, resigned this week. luxury retailer burberry issued a profit warning tuesday citing slowing sales to china. brands ralph lauren and tiffany and company. u.s. regulators issued a rare warning to lancome parent loreal over claims its anti-aging skin care products alter the way the human body works. the fda says that language requires classification as a new drug and, in turn, fda approval. finally, move over, jared. a 66-year-old virginia woman says she lost 85 pounds in two years eating every single meal at starbucks. she credits the nutrition info on the packages which made calorie counting easy. the oriole's fly, the sox spank the yanks, and will bieber take the ice? plus, there's no place like home for team usa in world cup qualifying. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and many of us have been enjoying a very easy week weather wise. we'll track some of those

showers moving eastward. coming up, you're watching "early today." have you heard of the new dialing procedure

for the 408 and 669 area codes? no, what is it? starting october 20, 2012, if you have a 408 or 669 number, you'll need to dial 1 plus the area code plus the phone number for all calls. o.k., but what if i have an 408 number and i'm calling a 408 number? you'll still need to dial 1 plus the area code plus the phone number. so when in doubt, dial it out! good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, it's been a hard year for the last place boston red sox, but they can still

enjoy messing things up for their archrivals, the new york yankees. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the red sox are not going to make the postseason, but they can still play the role of spoiler against their bitter rivals, the yanks. pick it up in the ninth. tied at 3-3. one aboard for jacoby ellsbury. fourth hit of the game, the biggest of the night. a single to right. the throw to the plate not in time, and the sox walk off with a 4-3 win. with a yankee loss, the orioles move back into a tie for first. j.j. harding belted a pair of home runs against the rays. baltimore crushed tampa 9-2. the rays are two back in the east. now to the central where the tigers made up a game on the white sox. miguel cabrera smashed his 36th homer of the year. detroit won it 5-3. they trail chicago by two games. special night in new york as they remembered 9/11. the mets wore first responder nypd hats during batting practice. this game belonged to the team in red, white and blue. the nationals tyler moore with a

go-ahead home run in the seventh. nats have won eight of their last ten after a 5-3 victory. if you build it, they will come, at least that's what seattle is hoping. they agreed on a plan to build a new arena to house an nba and nhl team. of course, seattle once had the supersonics and we all know how that turned out. soccer, head coach jurgen klinsmann guaranteed a win and team usa delivered. in a game that could make or break their world cup hopes, they beat jamaica 1-0. the americans got a big lift from hercules in the 55th minute. hercules gomez scored the only goal of the match in a free kick. usa wins. next world cup qualifier october 12th. finally, the bakersfield condors have come down with a serious case of bieber fever. the minor league hockey team offered the pop star a one-year contract. bieber's canadian so he's got to be good at hockey, right? with the looming nhl lookout, bieber on ice could be the best hockey you'll see all winter. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> bieber on ice. well, jessica simpson's odd new commercial and a funny man takes on a very serious role.

your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, one indiana man's annual tradition paying tribute to the victims of 9/11. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." a beautiful day across a good stretch of the pacific northwest. 82 in portland, 94 in med ford.

some showers this afternoon, denver getting in some showers and thunderstorms. tomorrow, phoenix getting into the sunshine, vegas will make a run at the triple-digit temperatures and hawaii trade winds set up for you. if you're watching us on kcra3 in sacramento, california, celebrating the centennial of the girl scouts, 100 years of girl scouting in california at at california museum. that is your pacific weather for the day. >> everybody loves the girl scouts. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment, which focus a great deal on celebrities, surprise, surprise. chris brown is denying his new neck tattoo is a portrait of a beaten rihanna, the former girlfriend he was convicted of assaulting three years ago. he insists it's a mexican day of the dead skull design. jessica simpson unveiled her new 40 pound slimmer post baby delivery look earlier this week on katie couric's show. she's made it clear she's been

having a tough time losing her baby weight, and anyone can sympathize with that. what's harder to sympathize with is simpson's awkward first weight watchers commercial. shot in july, simpson is seen only from the neck up. both entertainment and business experts are wondering who was so uncomfortable with showing simpson's body and why not just shoot the commercial later. finally, in casting cosmetics, do you buy comedian bill murray playing franklin roosevelt? "hyde park on hudson" premiers later this year, but after its recent festival debut, murray has earned excellent debuts. i'm having a hard time picturing bill murray as fdr. >> i am, too, but i feel he can pull it off. >> it's not an obvious casting. >> you wouldn't expect that, no. if someone said cast fdr, go, i'm not sure who i'd pick. >> i don't think his name would be in the top ten. >> maybe can he fix social security after the role, with what to do. >> we need lots to help through that.

this comes to us from wthr in indianapolis, indiana, there was a one-man tribute to the victims of september 11th. every year since 9/11 jimmy has stood along a highway overpass waiving a giant american flag. he takes a day off from work to keep the solitary tribute going. he's proud of the fact the flag can be seen up to a mile away calling it a reminder of our greatness. he describes himself simply as a humble messenger. i'm mara schiavocampo and this is "early today," just your first stop today on your nbc station.

well, divers in the philippines have taken to the sea for a new kind of pilgrimage. about 40 people made the plunge to visit stone icons of the virgin mary and infant jesus. the statues sit 80 feet below the surface and were put there in an effort to stop the local dynamite fishermen who were devout catholics from destroying the country's only double barrier reef. in finland, food lovers are going to different kinds of depths for a great meal. the country's newest pop-up restaurant is actually 260 feet underground in a limestone mine. featuring an award-winning head chef, the restaurant will be open for another two weeks. a little over 164 bucks a person gets you a four course meal, drinks, and bus transportation to and from helsinki. in ukraine, one little boy has some serious strength. the 7-year-old did 4,000

consecutive pushups in 2:29 setting a ukrainian record. the child began training when he was 5 and within a year he was able to do 3,000 pushups in a row. he says his personal best is over 6,000 but he soon plans to top that. and that kid is in shape. that puts everyone to shame. >> i do a thousand to get pumped up for the show. >> just to get up. >> but 4,000 crosses a new line. >> absolutely. time now for a look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. vintage fighter planes will take to the skies over reno with several safety changes in place for the decades old air show. last year a plane plunged into a crowd of spectators killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. this week's event will include a tribute to those who died and to those who were disabled. the u.s. census bureau will release findings online from its 2011 report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in the united states. and golfer arnold palmer will receive a congressional gold medal for his contributions to the game as well as his civic

work. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and 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. what you need to know about a new study that's casting doubt on the benefits of fish oil supplements. and "america's got talent" judge howie mandel previews tonight's big million-dollar battle between the show's six finalists. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and more. i'm mara schiavocampo. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com