very good monday morning. here's what's coming up on "early today." we've got breaking news overnight. a second explosion in russia in one day's time leaves at least 26 dead as the sochi olympics quickly approach. getting the ungettable. a report on our government's most sophisticated intelligence gathering secret unit. quake crash. a massive stretch of road collapses. plus, peyton manning adds to the record books. and is there a shark just feet from a couple of boogie boarders? it's monday, december 30 as "early today" starts right now.

good monday morning. i'm richard lui. breaking news overnight. another deadly suicide bombing has rocked the city of volgograd, russia. the bomb tore through a trolley bus killing at least 14 people. it comes after another suicide bomber killed at least 17 people at the city's train station. the carnage is putting the city on edge. it's 400 miles from sochi where in just 48 days the world will converge for the olympic games. the white house has agreed to cooperate and president putin has given orders to russia's national antiterrorism committee to strengthen security arpd volgograd. >> reporter: good morning. investigators in volgograd, which is a major bus hub in a city of russia, a city you'd pass through on your way to sochi, authorities believe the bus bomb was carried out by a

male suicide bomber. no one or group has claimed responsibility for today or sunday's attacks which now as you say have left at least 30 wounded -- 30 dead and more than 60 wounded. but the strong suspicion is this was the work of an islamist insurgent group from the north cacasus. and you're right, people are terrified in volgograd. a city of 1 million. there are reports that residents are too afraid to go outside and go about their daily lives. police are calling these latest acts, acts of terror. and they're connected to even a public appeal, if you recall several months ago, by doku umarov, he's the chechen warlord. he appealed to his men to kill civilians and disrupt the winter olympics which russian president putin has staked his reputation on.

he has deployed 40,000 special forces around sochi to make it safe during the games. but militants have shown they can strike elsewhere many russia and at-will. severe weather is hampering another rescue attempt of that stranded ship in antarctica. snow showers and high winds made it impossible for the aurora australia to approach the research vessel. they were ten nautical miles away before having to retreat. they may make a second attempt if the weather improves. the ship has been stuck in ten feet of ice since christmas eve, but spirits remain high with passengers posting video diaries on youtube. the ships 74 passengers include scientists and crew members. they were on a mission to retrace a 100-year-old antarctic mission. new reports that describe the national security agency's secret weapon claims to have internal nsa documents that

detail the agent's elite hacking unit known as tailored access operations or t.a.o. tasked with the mission of getting the ungettable. and sometimes did that by physically intercepting packages with nsa bugs and electronics. the der spiegel report continues with james bond-like gadgets including cables that can record strokes and strips that can send information back to the nsa. the tao has gathered some of the most significant intelligence our country has ever seen. the reported source of those documents is nsa leaker edward snowden. and some members of congress say they aren't impressed with his recent publicity blitz. >> you know, he has kindled an important public debate. but, frankly, i think it came from a mixture of motivations on his part. and i think he should have stayed in the united states and been willing to stand up for his beliefs if that's what motivated him. >> he stole american classified documents that because of their release jeopardizes our troops

in places like afghanistan. and has allowed nation states, russia, china and others to allow them to collect information to keep america safe. >> snowden's legal adviser appeared on "meet the press." >> there are lots of time that society moves forward rather than backwards. for now, he doesn't believe and i don't believe that the cost of his life of conscience so should be a life behind bars. police in phoenix say during a bank robbery attempt saturday the suspect mario garnett was shot and killed by a detective. he's believed to be the same man that allegedly robbed a bank in atlanta and shot and killed an officer in tupelo, mississippi. they're getting ready in new york's times square.

the amazing spider-man who was the official superhero on new year's eve helped test out that confetti. the paper was sent flying from the marquee of the hard rock cafe. and for the first time, a supreme court justice, sonia sotomayor, a new york native will be in charge of pressing that button that drops the sparkling ball to ring in the new year. a rare shark sighting to tell you about in minnesota. a snow shark, a snow shark is what we're talking about, it took three brothers 95 hours to build this 15-foot high snow sculpture of a shark that's sitting in their front yard. and the three, as you can tell, are old pros. because in the past years they've made a puffer fish, they made a walrus. >> how do you get enough snow? >> giant ice cube based on the weather. >> completely. >> i'll stick to snowmen. >> slushy and frozen, it will be there until may. >> exactly.

>> let's talk california. we have red flag warnings at the end of december up for areas. that's just a red flag itself. yesterday ie hees was 76 in l.a. december is usually one of the wetter months and we're ending the month with a couple drops in the bucket. l.a. and san francisco about a third of an inch and vegas and phoenix similar ball game. because of that it's so dry. when we get warm and breezy with low relative humidity, we have the threat of brush fires. even outside the mountains in l.a., red flag warnings. this is how long-living this drought has been. look at this extended forecast in southern california and this just -- i mean, it's beautiful. it's nice, it's just not what you need. we're just not getting the snow pack. we're well behind in the sierra for the snow pack too. not just for the ski resorts but water supply and everything else and could lead to another dangerous fire season in the spring. we are going to have a little bit of rain up in the northwest.

it's not even that significant. that will mostly be about after 4:00 p.m. today in seattle. 80 and sunny t and sunny. we chalk up these graetd days at a cost. you spent some time out there, people starting to talk about it, when is it going to end? >> too much of a good thing. look at the pictures of reservoirs, they're really at record lows. a major milestone for obamacare and why tomorrow might just be the best day of the year to buy that brand new car. and tony starks "iron man" powers the 2013 box office to some new heights. you're watching "early today."

good morning. and welcome back. the government announced sunday that more than 1.1 million people have enrolled in health care coverage through healthcare.gov. the troubled website found a vast majority of those signups, more than 975,000 in december. the december 31 deadline for the removal of syria's chemical weapons is not likely to be unmet according to the united nations. seven-time formula 1 champion michael schumacher is in critical condition in france after suffering a serious head injury while skiing. according to the driver's agent, schumacher required surgery and was comatose when arrived at the hospital. a 900 foot stretch of highway collapsed and amazingly, no injuries were reported in the freak accident. and talk about a photo of a lifetime, a mother snapped this photo of her son, his friend and

some kind of a sea creature in southern california over the weekend. some surfers claim it's definitely a shark. others claim it's a dolphin. one thing is for certain, that is one very large sea creature. the dow and s&p 500 on track for four straight months of gains. a report in the "wall street journal" saying google and audi teaming up gain car information using google's software. it's set to debut in las vegas. car shoppers, listen up. new year's eve might just be the best day of the year to buy a new 2013 car. dealers and automakers are willing to offer huge deals and rebates. speaking of deals, kiplinger.com reports shoppers should be able to score major discounts on clothing, electronics and other items. 2013 set a record with domestic box office with moviegoers at the box office spending almost $11 billion.

sequels with "ironman 3" with 1.2 billion. "despicable me 2," "fast & furious 6," and rounding off, "monsters university." plus, why texas a&m quarterback johnny manziel better not quit his day job. you're watching "early today."

this is india's neck tie man. on saturday, he beat the current guinness world record for speed tieing a windsor knot. clocking in at 18.2 seconds. that is more two seconds faster than the current holder. that guy's got skills. somebody else who has got i don't know if you've tied a lot of double windsors there, the season is done now begins the road to the super bowl. the eagles is where we start at a win or go home game. dallas' dez bryant cuts it to two. later, the eagles intercept dallas, 24-22. the eagles move on. broken collarbone, the packers aaron rodgers back after missing seven games. they missed his skill and his luck too. like this right here.

rodgers hits as he throws. green bay picks up the ball. gets the score. then in the fourth, packers down by one, rodgers on fourth down throws a cannon to beat the bears. the panthers sacked matt ryan nine times. carolina, 21, atlanta, 20. the saints get a wildcard berth. thanks to a win over the bucs there. chiefs at chargers tied. the chiefs flub the game-winning field goal right there. then they go into overtime because of it. the chargers with their own feel goal 27-24. seahawks beat the rams, 27 to 9. the nfc denver broncos dominated. peyton manning sets a season record with 557. 55 season tds another record. he also led to break the nfl's points record with 607 points all in a day's week.

the afc, broncos with homefield advantage, patriots, colts, bengals, chiefs and the chargers. for the nfc, seahawks with home field advantage throughout the playoffs. packers, 49ers and saints. pride on the line for the last vikings game. and it worked. 14-13. minnesota moves into a new stadium. the lions are 7-24. the metrodome, oh, the history there. and some fans left with some souvenirs. don't try this at home, jaguars rookie roy reynolds goes for the tackle. forget the helmet. despite the effort, jags lose to the colts, 30-10. look for more pink slips today in the nfl. cleveland browns coach fired sunday. rex ryan was saved. many expect the 3-13 redskins coach mike shanahan to get the

boot. it's definitely johnny football, not johnny basketball. he was in atlanta for the chick-fil-a bowl on tuesday. it didn't work. just ahead, jimmy fallon is gearing up for something big. plus, did the boss just take a page from beyonce, bruce springsteen's new album leaked online. we'll have details next. you're watching "early today."

well, we talked a lot earlier in the show about the lack of rain. one area that won't have a lack of rain over the next couple days will be the pacific northwest, specifically a damp space needle later tonight as the rain will move in. nice christmas tree on top. nice touch. forecast 46 in seattle today, again after about 4:00 p.m. we'll have the best chance of seeing some of that wet weather. should be dry in portland, much of the rest of the area of the west are completely dry. as we go to tuesday's forecast, a frontal system will continue to linger in the region with the chance of some damp weather. i mentioned the seattle forecast this week, it's not the coldest. temperatures aren't bad, it's just not going to be a lot of sunshine. >> temperatures this weekend, but you did see a little bit of that rain. that's the one part in the west that's doing okay. thanks a lot, bill. robin roberts made a major announcement on facebook. roberts looks back at 2013 and thanked important people in her life including her girlfriend. it's the first time she has acknowledged her homosexuality.

"the wolf on wall street" the three-hour martin scorsese flick came in fifth with $18.5 million. the "the hobbit: the desolation of smaug" retains the top spot with $29.9 million. brit britney launched her show on saturday. among the star-studded audience there, miley cyrus and katy perry. >> miley was in the front row and dancing. >> they had to hold her down because this is not her show. it's the spear show. selena gomez announced she's taking time off to address her lupis. the soon to be new host of "the tonight show" jimmy fallon announced on twitter "the best of late night 2 hour prime time special. 9:00 p.m. january 5, we did a lot of inside stuff." beyonce said she recorded 80

songs for her surprise self-titled album. the ones that made the cut were the ones in the teens were the easiest to sing. many thought that bruce springsteen was trying to pull a queen bee when his album leaked over the weekend on amazon over the weekend. it was actually an amazon glitch, though. and the album was pulled from their site a few hours later. a new read it thread list all the movies and tv shows that will be removed, includes "titanic," "braveheart," "serpico" and "top gun." i'm richard lui, this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day right here on nbc.

leading the news in the uk's "independence" exclusive private talks between tony blair and george bush on the iraq war to be published. the long awaited report on the iraq war will be published in 2014 is a cache of notes from blair to bush and records of telephone conversations and meetings. in "the wall street journal" "sex-assault reports surge for the military." the number of military sexual assaults shot up by 50% this year. an increase that defense officials say may suggest victims are more willing to come forward. and some stories you may have missed. a bombshell, "the new york times" reports a september 11th, 2012 attack in u.s. consulate in benghazi. the paper found that neither al qaeda or any terror group played any role.

a report says any video mocking islam largely triggered the attack that left four americans dead. a senior obama administration official telling nbc news that the white house does not dispute that report. 70 journalists were killed around the world this year. 29 died while covering the syrian civil war. and deadly clashes in bangladesh leave at least one person dead. it forced them to cancel upcoming elections. today, there are reports of opponents throwing stones at each other in the second day of violence. watch out manchester united because there's a new team in town. in nepal, you can call it the world's heaviest soccer match. elephants and their jockeys competed on the pitch, running around, making contact, and of course, scoring goals. they're really speedy, aren't

they? hat tricks will be tough. the annual event starts as a race but became the premiere soccer competition. elephants, who knew, right? >> is there an elephant team in the u.s. that maybe we could it's a time for a look ahead and a look back. a california family tries to keep their daughter on life support. 13-year-old jahi mcmath suffered complications after a tonsil operation. and the family has until 5:00 p.m. pacific. on this day, a move towards peace is recorded by nbc news. >> the white house has announced that the bombing has been stopped and that peace negotiations will resume. the technical meetings between american and north vietnamese experts will resume in paris next tuesday. happy birthday to nba star lebron james, tiger woods 38. i'm richard lui along with bill

karins. thanks for watching

pleddics responding to an emergency on the peninsula forced to call 911 themselves after someone steals their ambulance. >> russia is under a state of emergency this morning following a second suicide attack overnight. >> and the new report shedding light on the hours leading up to the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. >> a live look over san francisco, you can see lights in the distance, a beautiful start to your last monday of 2013. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. it's 4:30. i'm peggy bunker. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. lots to get to. let's check the