breaking news on "early today," blade runner oscar pistorius found guilty of culpable homicide in the shooting death of his girlfriend. we'll go live to south africa. captured, an escaped high school shooter is back behind bars after leading police on a frantic manhunt following a dramatic prison break. australia raises its terror alert to high based on threats from islamic state movements as syria asks the u.s. to start bombing isis in their own country. baltimore ravens fans show their support for the ousted ray rice at last night's game, while the nfl comes under fire from some major sponsors. plus, would you eat this new burger from burger king, complete with dye from squids? the wild weather around the globe on this friday, september 12th. "early today" starts right now.

good morning. i'm dara brown. breaking news. olympian oscar pistorius guilty of manslaughter. >> having the totality of this evidence, in this matter, the unanimous decision of this court is the following -- on count one, the accused is found not guilty and is discharged. instead, he's found guilty of culpable homicide. >> pistorius faces 15 years in jail for the killing of reeva steenkamp. as for the weapons charges, he was found not guilty of two, but guilty of shooting off a gun in a restaurant. that carries a five year sentence. nbc's duncan golestani is

outside the courthouse in pretoria. can you tell us what's next? >> reporter: good morning, dara. i can tell you right now court has just started again and they are discussing bail. remember, for the last 19 months, since oscar pistorius killed his girlfriend reeva steenkamp, he has been a free man. but this morning, the prosecution arguing that he should not be able to go free, that he is a flight risk. he has now been given bail. we just have been told. that means he can walk free from here. the next thing, dara, we're waiting to hear about is sentencing. how long will oscar pistorius have to serve for those two guilty verdicts. one carrying a sentence of up to 15 years, but he could also go free on license, and on the lesser charge of discharging a firearm in a restaurant, that can carry a sentence of up to five years. despite that hanging over him, after the verdicts were are read, he looked relieved. he embraced his sister and

started talking to his family, compare that to the reaction on the other side of the courtroom, where reeva steenkamp's family and friends were sitting, over there. there was the shaking of heads, tears, and reeva's mother engaging in a long embrace. there could be one final twist to this, though. here in south africa, the prosecution is able to appeal a verdict and already the authorities have said they are disappointed and are considering what to do. dara? >> duncan reporting live from south africa. duncan, thank you very much for that report. also breaking overnight, a convicted school shooter who escaped from prison yesterday is back in custody. a massive search was launched after 19-year-old t.j. lane and two other inmates escaped. chris opperud was caught a short time ago. all three inmates are now behind bars. lane had been serving a life sentence after fatally shooting three fellow students in the cafeteria of chardon high school near cleveland back in 2012. during his sentencing, he wore a shirt that read killer.

the warden at the constructional institution announced a short time ago the inmates escaped by scaling over a fence. >> obviously i'm not happy that it's happened. i mean, no warden in my position would like something like this to happen, but the facts are i'm happy to announce that we have mr. lane back in our custody. >> the chardon local school district has canceled classes today following the escape. counseling will be available for students. the school district superintendent spoke shortly after lane's capture. >> the individual is now back in custody. there is certainly an undeniable, profound and deep impact on our entire community. >> police had offered around the clock protection to the families of the shooting victims. in the fight against isis, the u.s. has enlisted help from arab allies. secretary of state john kerry has been in saudi arabia where ten arab countries have agreed to help take down the terror group. they pledged to dry up terrorist funding and to help control and

limit the flow of foreign fighters going to syria and iraq. leaders in syria said the country is ready and willing to help defeat isis militants. australia, meanwhile, elevated its terrorism threat level. prime minister tony abbott announced it has increased from medium to high in response to the threat posed by isis. a cia spokesman here in the u.s. announced yesterday that the estimated number of militants is higher than previously thought. the cia believes there may be between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters in syria and iraq. there were originally believed to be about 10,000. while speaking at a 9/11 commemoration in denver yesterday, retired general and ex-cia chief david petraeus spoke about battling the terror group. he made the point that isis militants do not have strong local support in iraq. >> isil in iraq should not be overestimated. in many respects, it has nowhere

near the root, the numbers, and the structure that al qaeda in iraq and the associated sunni insurgents had that launched the surge. the sharks are circling nfl commissioner roger goodell knew this morning, espn reporting that ray rice confessed to the knockout punch in june. it comes as goodell continues to play defense over the tape. >> the description of what happened was not consistent with the videotape. >> despite rice's problems, a show of support at the ravens/steelers game on thursday. dozens of female fans wearing his jersey. >> i feel i still love ray. good man. made a mistake. what can i say? i still stand by him. >> but not standing by rice, 16 female senators. they wrote the nfl demanding a zero tolerance policy on domestic violence. nfl sponsors are also watching what happens. companies like marriott hotels

and fedex. the nfl deal can cost up to $10 million. volcanic eruptions in iceland are causing a serious health scare for residents there and those living a thousand miles away. officials are warning children and people with respiratory issues to stay indoors with windows closed. that's because concentrations of volcanic gases including sulfur dioxide have become unusually high. the smelly gases are so strong, that residents across the sea in norway and finland have reported smelling them. now scientists say the eruptions could last months. back here in the u.s., memphis is recovering from a serious soaker. 4 to 6 inches of rain fell, flash floods left folks in need of rescue. and in michigan, wicked waves, some as high as ten feet. they looked cool, but proved to be too much for one kayaker. he had to be rescued. and wait for this, yep, it is snow in september. parts of south dakota got hit with two inches of it.

two inches of snow. nbc meteorologist bill karins is here. >> the leaves are green. >> this is crazy. this is a wacky september. >> it snowed last night in denver. i know. >> what's coming up next? >> i know. a heat wave for the west. try to wrap your head around that. look at yesterday's high temperature map. that tells the store are ary. it was 100 in phoenix, high temperature was 41 in casper, wyoming, that's about -- that's almost 60 degrees difference between those two locations. so the heat is moving in the opposite direction as the cold air. the cold air is coming down from canada and heat is expanding in the west northward. so this is just a weather pattern we're getting into this weekend. unfortunately, kind of the weather pattern we have been in for the last year. so the heat is going to be building and along with it warm, low humidity, very light breeze, but that's enough for red flag warnings from seattle all the way to the medford area. and that will be pretty much all weekend long, the fire danger will be kind of high.

look at los angeles, easily mid to upper 90s through tuesday. very warm weather pattern setting up as we go through the rthward. so enjoy the coolest while it lasts in washington state. heat in the west. no rain. drought. repeat. >> spin the wheel of weather on this friday. thank you, bill. coming up next, what the feds threaten to do to yahoo! to get your private conversations. plus, wow. really? why your next whopper could look like this. a little scary there. you're watching "early today." [ female announcer ] you can change your style to express your unique personality. so why can't you do the same with your eye color? ♪

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welcome back. new court documents reveal the u.s. government once threatened to fine yahoo! $250,000 a day if it refused to hand over communications. it happened in 2008. yahoo! called the demand unconstitutional. it was all part of the nsa's controversial prison program for collecting information. nsa leaker edward snowden brought it to light last year. an elementary school teacher in utah is recovering after her concealed gun accidentally went off in the school bathroom. her leg was hit by a bullet and toilet fragments. she did have a permit for the weapon. and does this look appetizing? burger king in japan is selling a new all black burger. the buns and cheese are blackened by bamboo charcoal and the special sauce made from, get this, squid ink. and speaking of fast food, for the 21 and over crowd, red robin is introducing the bacon boozy shake. it is made with jim bean maple bourbon, caramel and soft serve

ice cream and it is topped with bacon bits and a strip of candied bacon stirred in with it. check out virgin galactic's white knight 2, a jet powered aircraft with what looks like two separate planes designed to carry spaceships up to an altitude of 40,000 feet above earth. at that point, they can be released into space. general motor has issued a stop delivery order for one of the hottest selling karsh the cor corvette is on hold so it can fix two issues before it leaves the factory, air bags and brakes. preorders for the iphone 6. the phone goes on sale september 19th. just ahead, it is huge, why everyone will be glued to the tonight show on monday. plus, heart stopping, a marlins all-star drilled in the face by a pitch. sports coming up next. ♪

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this morning, in a "today" exclusive, maria shriver sits down with actress robin givens. she shares her thoughts on the ray rice scandal and opens up about her own abusive relationship with boxer mike tyson. that's later on "today." now to sports, thursday night football kickoff between division rivals, baltimore

ravens and pittsburgh steelers. ravens dominated their home opener in the wake of the race rice domestic violence incident. here is coach harbaugh post game. >> from the outside looking in, probably feel like, you know, all the media stuff is being generated as a team and it is really not as you know. you've been inside. we're really isolated from all of that. >> special 9/11 tributes were held at mlb games honoring victims and heroes of the tragic attacks. emotions were high in new york. the yankees and mets played at home. the mets took on the nationals. 6-0 in the fourth. then jason worth gets drilled by bartolo cologne. cologne's second time hitting a player in the game. cologne is ejected with manager terry collins. the mets win 6-2. in the bronx, the yankees no hit most of the game against the rays. down 4-2 in the bottom of the

ninth, things get worse. yankees chase headley hit in the face by a fastball. he leaves the game with a bloody chin and heads to the hospital for x-rays. an emaegsotional game that fini like this. >> deep to left field! going back! back wall! see ya! a three-run, walkoff home run and the yankees win 5-4. now to milwaukee, another terrifying injury, this time marlins john carlos stanton taking a fastball to the face from brewers pitcher mike buyer. stanton's father watching from the crowd as his son is taken off in a stretcher. he suffered multiple facial fractures and dental damage. the next pitch, buyer hits another batter. benches clear leading to multiple ejections for the marlins. the brewers will win the high tension game 4-2.

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boise and salt lake city. 83 on saturday. and you notice that by saturday and sunday, working pretty much the same here, portland up to 88 degrees. and really no signs of the heat really abating. we should be typically in the low 100s to upper 90s this time of year in phoenix. a little bit above that, about 103 the next week straight. no rain. >> no rain. >> not yet. >> that's looking hot, though. over 100. dry heat, right? >> okay. thank you, bill. leading the news on nbc news.com, ebola victim treated with survivor's blood. doctors say they're giving the doctor everything they had access to and he's improving with an experimental drug he received two blood transfusions from his friend dr. kent brantly who recently survived the virus. in the l.a. times, a huge predatory dinosaur built to swim. scientists discovered a fearsome species that appears to be first known semiaquatic dinosaur measuring -- this thing is nine feet longer than a t-rex.

it had several features that strongly suggest a life spent largely submerged in the water. >> hollywood will make that the next movie. >> sharknado, a dinosaur that eats sharks. now to entertainment news, after a family reunion earlier this week, news is breaking about a possible married with children spin-off. sony pictures television is currently hearing pitches for a sitcom about bud bundy. still unknown if other stars from the original show would be involved. it would bring people back to the tv, for are sure. patrick stewart channeled the heroism of patrick pickard when he learned this young fan asked the make-a-wish foundation a special meet and greet offering autographed photos and pictures with the entire family. and it looks like cecily is leaving the anchor desk. michael che will replace her. alongside, colin jost. she will stay on as a cast

member of the show. and jimmy fallon on monday, barbra streisand will be on the show for first time in over 15 years. >> she's never been on. >> she doesn't do talk shows. that's her thing. i think she did oprah once. >> she has a nervous disorder or something like that. >> she will be there as a sole guest to promote her new album "partners". and after lashuan mccoy reportedly left only a 20 cent tip at a restaurant, charlie sheen is speaking up, offering a thousand dollars to the waiter who got the bad tip saying, well, he just wants to help. i'm dara brown. this is "early today." we hope it is just your first stop of the day on nbc. [ female announcer ] you can change your style to express your unique personality. so why can't you do the same with your eye color? ♪ we at alcon believe you can.

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want free tickets to one of the hottest concerts this year? all you have to do is your part in ending extreme poverty. betty nguyen explains, it is actually easier than you think. ♪ ♪ baby, baby, baby >> reporter: cheering crowds will soon fill central park's great lawn for the global citizen festival on september 27th, feeing jay-z, no doubt, carrie underwood, fun, the roots and tiesto. >> hugh jackman here. i'm excited to be host this year of the global citizen festival. >> reporter: and it is all absolutely free. well, you can't buy the tickets. concertgoers, better known as local citizens, can earn them by taking action to end extreme poverty by the year 2030.

>> not just about clicking the button, go to a concert, smile and that's it, the end of it. it is for them, it becomes a lifestyle. they say i'm going to actually take action year in, year out. >> reporter: hugh evans is the ceo of the global poverty project, the organization behind the global citizen movement. >> we believe the next 15 years, if we get the right policy environment, if we get the right sort of intervention we can end extreme poverty forever. >> reporter: global citizens are taking individual actions, pressing government to implement poverty preventing efforts for people in need. like this rwandan mother who is hoping to send her daughters to school. it is their best shot out of poverty. one in ten children across the world have no access to an education. global citizens are working to get 29 million kids in school. they're also campaigning for sanitation and clean water in some of the world's poorest areas. and just as important is the global citizen effort to save 6 million lives with

immunizations, 1.5 million children die every year from vaccine prevebtable diseases. you can help change that, because global citizen is not just an organization. you are the global citizen. here's how it works. just go to the global citizen festival website and join the movement. once you've earned eight points, then you're eligible for a chance to win free festival tickets. there are a lot of ways to earn points. the more action you take to prevent poverty, the better shot you have at concert tickets. >> actions can be anything from taking a social media action, to tweeting, to e-mailing a congressman, to planning a petition. very easy actions that can have great impact for the world. >> reporter: this way the impact doesn't stop when the concert ends. >> you can watch the global citizen festival on september 27th starting at 4:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. i'm dara brown. thanks for watching "early

today." have a great friday.

onscene responding to wa they say was the woman found suffering from plunt force trauma. she died on scene. no words puerto rico any suspects or possible motivings. we'll bring you a live report come being up in the