good tuesday morning. coming up on "early today," syria front and center. obam akerry, hagel, the nation's leaders will present their most compelling case for military action. a feat 38 years in the making. diana nyad's incredible 110-mile, 53-hour achievement. the ten fastest growing jobs in america. plus, coaches lose their cool. horses lose their way. and christian grey's "fifty shades" is one step closer to the big screen. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for tuesday, september 3rd. good morning. i'm richard lui. a stark warning from bashar al assad. he says any military strike against his country would spark an uncontrollable regional war

telling a french newspaper the fire is approaching. the reaction coming on the heels of a french intelligence report that agrees with the united states' conclusion syria did use chemical weapons against its own people. while syrian ally russia disagrees, turkey is joining the ranks of nations backing military action. the dire situation is making headlines across the globe with a profound human impact. the united nations confirming more than 2 million people have now fled the violence in syria. 7 million people are displaced. that's about one-third of the country's population. we have coverage from ayman moyheldin in beirut and tracie potts in washington. what's the reaction to assad's threat that just came out? >> reporter: good morning, richard. certainly a sense situation unfolding here across the region. especially in the early hours of this morning, given the fact there was this missile test that seems to now have been emanated out of israeli defense forces conducting some type of exercise

in the mediterranean. it gives you a sense hough tense the situation is. and that plays into the argument that president bashar al assad has been trying to capitalize on that any military strike on syria would result in a regional confrontation. perhaps a full-out war involving some of syria's closest allies, including hezbollah and iran. and that gives you a sense of how dire the humanitarian situation is now that it has reached that 2 millionth refugee crossing out from syria into neighboring countries. in addition to the 5 million inside the country that have also left their homes trying to find safe refuge other than the front lines of this conflict. certainly a situation that remains dire for the people fleeing the country and as you mentioned, one-third of the population now in syria has been displaced as a result of this civil war that by some estimates has claimed more than 100,000 lives. >> some staggering numbers that you are reporting on for us. thank you. live in beirut. several developments on the

white house front. president obama met labor day with john mccain and lindsey graham in an effort to drum up support for military action in syria. >> a vote against that resolution by congress, i think, would be catastrophic because it would undermine the credibility of the united states of america and the president of the united states. none of us want that. >> that was just the first in a string of other meetings this week. watching that is nbc's tracie potts live in washington for us. does it look like then that john mccain and any others might be on board now? >> well, john mccain, lindsey graham say they're on board to push for this military action. but any others, that's still up in the air. we could find out more today at the senate foreign relations committee. secretary of state kerry, secretary of defense chuck hagel and martin dempsey all testifying their job is to go there and convince reluctant lawmakers that we are ready and that we should launch this strike on syria in retaliation for what the government says

were chemical attacks on their own people. but is the evidence strong enough? there are still questions here about that. is this our war to fight? some lawmakers have issues with us getting involved at all at this point. and whether or not the u.s. -- whether or not that's our role. i should probably also mention new out of washington this morning, ayman was talking about that israeli missile test that was picked up by russia early this morning. response from the pentagon, u.s. officials -- military officials are saying that the u.s. was not involved in that test. early reports were that it was a joint test between israel and the u.s. but u.s. military officials say they were warned in advance but not involved. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. well, many americans had labor day off. swimmer diana nyad was busy making some history. the 64-year-old finally living out a life-long dream to swim from cuba to the united states. it was her fifth try. her first attempt was in her 20s. the 110-mile journey began

saturday and lasted some 53 hours. she did the whole thing without a shark cage. she becomes the first person to ever do that. and when she finally landed on that key west beach, she told supporters to never, ever give up on your dreams. >> keep it right here for more from diana nyad. she'll be on the "today" show later this morning. wow. at the u.s. ten ice the u.s. open tennis tournament, an upset loss for roger federer. the number seven seed made 43 unforced errors in a three-set loss to number 19 tommy robredo of spain for the first time in a decade, federer failed to reach the quarterfinals at the open. in fact, federer has not gotten past the semifinals in any grand slam tournament this year. in newtown, connecticut, this weekend's labor day holiday

was used to bring the community together. on monday the town held its 52nd annual labor day parade. teachers, students and parents from sandy hook elementary were among those marching. we're going to turn to new information on another government surveillance program. this time it involves the drug enforcement agency and one of the nation's largest phone service providers. it's called the hemisphere project. it's being linked to at&t. the provider has a vast database of americans' phone calls and other electronic details going back to 1987. documents show local and federal police have been given routine access through subpoenas to the archives for at least the past six years. it's been especially helpful for what officials call burner phones. those are where numbers are frequently switched to avoid detection. horses stampeded through north america's largest city.

30 law enforcement horses escaped police custody, galloped furiously down one of mexico city's busiest streets. the horses were brought in to provide crowd control for a protest but ran when they were startled by all the commotion. thankfully no one was seriously injured. the city government has offered to pay for damages there. flooding across the nation this labor day holiday has destroyed building and caused travel delays. rhode island hit with major flooding. rain rushing into two apartment buildings, for instance, displacing hundreds of residents. flooding in eastern texas closed a number of roadways as well leaving it impossible for travellers to get home after their labor day vacations. let's go to meteorologist bill karins. when we look at this, are we glad that summer is over, or -- i don't know pooim not sure. >> this wasn't widespread with flash flooding. just thunderstorms. even in the west, many areas in the intermountain west dealt with similar situations. some areas got hit with these

thunderstorms. others totally left alone. overnight some flash flood warnings. we had this one batch of heavy rain that just missed downtown las vegas. just moving along interstate 15 and now north of there into central portions of the state. we're looking okay in vegas looks like for the rest of your morning. the rest of the forecast area. rain up there along i-5. mostly right around the tacoma area. just -- seattle will get a little light rain. toward the olympics we get the bulk of the heavier rain. still kind of humid in the intermountain west. still a chance of showers and storms throughout the afternoon hours. especially from vegas to boise. it's still a relatively cool on the coastal areas of california. the onshore flow continues. notice the northwest still kind of warm but you'll be hit and miss showers and storms with that pesky storm just off the coast. that's your national forecast.e

california, pretty nice september day. 88 and sunny in sacramento is considered a nice september day. >> they are just to kick off indian summer. it's going to be a couple months there for them. who hacked our marines. plus why wine might help ward off depression. and basketballer dennis rodman heading back to north korea again. "early today" back in two with that. >> announcer: "early today" is brought to you by new fast acting advil. nothing works faster.

stories making news on this tuesday morning. a senior defense official has confirmed the marine corps recruiting website was temporarily hacked. it's not being said who was responsible for the hacking. the website's url was temporarily redirecting to a post for the syrian electronic army. a southwest flight from raleigh to chicago was cut short. the plane struck a bird and was

forced to land. no one was hurt and the passengers were given a $200 voucher. drinking a glass of wine a day could potentially help prevent depression. in a study of 5,000 people, those who drank two to seven glasses of wine a week were least likely to show signs of depression. other experts argue moderate drinkers tend to have better social lives helping them to avoid depression. after a long wait, gator hunting season kicked off in mississippi this weekend. you could say it was a huge success. one group caught a 13-foot, five-inch garrettor. another broke weight records with their 727-pound catch. that thing is huge. for business and cnbc's jackie deangelis. good morning. >> good morning. wall street playing a little catch-up after the holiday weekend. investors could react today to positive economic data out of china. the dow coming off its fourth straight losing week and the worst month since may of last year. cbs and time warner cable

ending their dispute over programming fees. time warner cable has restored cbs for customers in new york, los angeles and dallas after a month-long blackout. microsoft striking a deal to buy nokia's smartphone business for $7.2 billion. the company's second largest deal after it bought skype for $8.5 billion. microsoft and nokia have been partners since 2011. that's when nokia started using windows software on his lumia smartphones. >> interesting stuff. thank you, jackie. it's the third largest deal in business history. verizon and vodafone inked a $130 billion agreement that puts verizon wireless solely in verizon's wheelhouse now. here are the ten fastest growing jobs in america and their median salaries as well. starting at number 10, skin care specialists. personal care aides, personal finance advisers, coaches and scouts, human resources specialists as well. massage therapists, interpreters and translators, music directors and composers, petroleum

engineers, $130,000 median salary and service unit operators, oil gas and mining. straight ahead, when coaches collide. and all your sports highlights. i'll have that coming up.

now let's get the latest in sports for you. it was a bit of a scare last

night. rafael nadal losing his first set of this u.s. open. the number two seed then swept the final three sets of that match over 22 seed philippe kohlschreiber. it's been two decades since they've seen the playoffs. pittsburgh's hopes remain alive, though. they reclaimed first place in the national league central last night. neal walker's three-run homer putting the pirates in the lead in the seventh. the pirates beat the brewers. oakland and texas. deadlocked for the division lead. the a's are surging. take their seventh of the last eight games, thanks to coco crisp. oakland edges the rangers, 4-2. the hype was huge. the publicity, well, palpable. does florida state's new quarterback choke? far from it. jameson winston threw four touchdown passes and ran for another. they whipped pitt. tommy morrison is dead at

age 44. he rocketed to fame in "rocky v." later beat george foreman in '93 for the wbo title. he tested positive for hiv in 1996. cause of death was not disclosed. olympic gold medal skier lindsey vonn back on snow. her first time since her crash and major knee surgery. tiger woods' girlfriend plans to race in the 2014 winter olympics. we're hoping for the best for her. hard bodies on display at the body building championship. lou ferrigno who played the incredible hulk won a lifetime achievement there. stan lee was there to honor him, the "hulk" creator. >> if i had those kind of muscles, i would terrify you. >> ferrigno won the mr. universe title twice. still acting and gives inspirational speeches. keep on going. the game was tight. 13-10. so your rival teams, 20

penalties. but don't fight. this is high school. two alabama football coaches throwing elbows there. the players had to help break up the fight. the game-winning coach, by the way, lost the brawl. who is the adult on the field there? coming up, robert patisson as you've never seen him before and probably won't. plus "fifty shades" fans. the big screen version has its christian and anastasia. find out who they are when "early today" returns.

welcome back. the rain is coming down pretty good now around olympia. if you'll be driving anywhere around the olympics or even around seattle over the next half hour, you are going to have some rain. almost just over one-third of an inch has already fallen in olympia. it's raining pretty hard by shelton. that's the worst area in just about anywhere in the west. the chance of additional showers and storms this afternoon after we get some heating during the day. we'll see a chance of additional storms in vegas and phoenix. still gairth the warm-up in areas like san fran. onshore flows lasting a long time. the june gloom. it's lasted all the way into september. >> big cloud that just is always overhead there. in entertainment news, "lee daniels' the butler" raked in $20 million over the labor day weekend. charles hunnam and dakota johnson have been picked to heat up the big screen with bondage and suspense. they've been cast as the main characters in "fifty shades of

gray." robert pattinson is showing he may have played a steamy christian grey. he stars in this sexually charged ad campaign that will only air in europe. michael douglas' marriage to catherine zeta-jones may not be as rocky as reported. the actor said the couple is fine and they are just going through a temporary break. the tenth annual style awards is set to honor kate upton as its 2013 model of the year. she'll receive the award on wednesday night in new york city. and the new documentary on j.d. salinger has revealed five unreleased novels from the author that will be published between 2015 and 2020. they're titled "a counterintelligence agent's diary, a world war ii love story, a religious manual, the complete chronicle of the glass family, and the last and the best of the peter pans. how are you doing, franco?

you look like johnny depp with lupus. >> it got to be a long night for james franco as you got a sense there. this is the comedy central roast of him. one roaster even went after his grandmother. but the actor took it all in stride. can you imagine sitting there for that amount of time being lambasted. >> there was a lot we couldn't show and a lot that wasn't appropriate for young children. >> some stuff that was savory. >> a lot of comments about how he's always looking so angry. >> yeah, yeah. >> but nevertheless -- >> his oscar thing -- his oscars got busted on pretty bad. this is "early today." we hope just your first stop of the day on nbc.

leading the news in the miami herald, one dead, two injured in miami area lightning strike. officials saying here the men tried to hide underneath a tractor trailer during a major storm when it was struck. and in the israeli newspaper "haaretz," two palestinians ram stolen truck through ben-gurion airport barrier. the men were arrested. the truck did not have explosives but was loaded with very expensive cheese. the crisis in syria. the intelligence report agrees that syria used chemical weapons against its own people. syrian president bashar al assad said any military strike against his country would spark an uncontrollable regional war. he told a french newspaper, quote, the fire is approaching. here at home, a series of meetings are under way to drum up congressional approval for

u.s. military intervention. diana nyad lives out her dream to become the first person to swim from cuba to the u.s. without a shark tank. and dennis rodman is back in north korea to visit kim jong-un. it comes days after they rejected a visit by pyongyang to bring home a jailed man. there are so many summer foods to celebrate. yesterday the texas state fair revealed their top fried food. it's already going to be a good fair. drum roll here? it is -- can you tell what that is? cuban egg roll. wanton rapper stuffed with pickles and cheese. >> usually tastes better than it looks. wis wirks grocery store holding the title of world's largest brat. evidently have the title with a

f 50-foot brat from last year. this year 150. >> that's a good sized brought. need some beer to go with that. >> perfect for football season. time for a look back. new benefits begin at the defense department. the lava lamp was introduced september 3rd, 1963. >> i never had one. >> no. actually, i did have one for a little bit. the ultimate psychedelic accessory was first sold. charlie sheen is 48. meet the actors who will star in the fifty shades of grey film and adriana performs live. for bill karins, i'm richard

experience and i'm really excited about it. and i'm not going to miss it. >> it is the first morning commute with the new span of the bay bridge. it is now underway. a live look at the eastern span. it is early. >> it is looking good out there. this one opened just after 10:00 last night. and yes the celebration was on. a lot of people out there enjoying the ride, honking their horns, waving their arms and making history. just about 4:31. i'm jon kelley. >> this is the bay bridge toll plaza. we are seeing cars making their way. the lines not long right now. there are no