so you can play together. did the proposed wall between the u.s. and mexico, the cornerstone of donald trump's campaign, get shelved by the president himself? >> today u.s. military might arrives at the korean peninsula including a nuclear submarine as tensions escalate. i think what you're seeing is, you know, kim jong-un is starting to flex his muscles. >> former president obama is back and he reveals the most important thing he can do for america right now. expect heavy rain in the northeast and flash flooding ahead for north carolina. and one of the richest men on the planet is giving us a look at the not-too-distant future. "early today" starts right now.

>> good morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian. >> i'm frances rivera. a lot of news happening overnight. could a government shutdown have just been averted? word from the white house this morning that the president amid swelling backlash from democrat has walked back his decision to have a budget standoff over funding for his proposed border wall deciding against a possible government shutdown. it is a stunning reversal on what was then candidate trump's central campaign promise. >> we will build a great wall along the southern border. and mexico will pay for the wall. >> we're going to build the wall. we have no choice. >> for more we're joined by nbc's tracie potts live from washington. what's the latest on this reversal and what led up to it? >> what led up to it is democrats and republicans didn't want to deal with it this week while they were trying to prevent the shutdown. the wall was a big campaign

promise. so far the president has fulfilled ten of his 38 campaign promises and that wall was not one of them. he wanted a billion dollars built in this week to prevent the shutdown and start that wall. but now the white house says he's willing to back off and deal with that in the fall in the regular budget process to prevent the government from shutting down. democrats responding saying it's welcome news. they can now move forward that the president is taking this wall off the table. he's not taking off the table, health care. still working on that behind the scenes hoping to get it done not this week as the white house originally said but in coming weeks. they've got the big tax reform announcement coming up tomorrow. >> we'll see the developments on that. nbc's tracie potts, thanks. arkansas executed two death row inmates last night, killed just hours apart, receiving lethal injections jack jones and marcel williams convicted of rape and murder and had admitted their guilt. this is the first time the state

has carried out two death sentences on a single day since the year 2000. they are the second and third executions of the state's plan to kill eight convicts over a period of ten days, the drug used to sedate the inmates expires on sunday. >> at no point in modern american history has any state ever attempted to carry out so many executions in such a short period of time. >> death penalty opponents protested the executions, but last night the spokesman for arkansas' governor insisted the right thing was being done. >> tonight was another opportunity for justice and that's what was carried out. >> the state's next scheduled execution is thursday. an american show of force, a short time ago the uss michigan a nuclear powered submarine armed with more than 150 guided tomahawk missiles arrived at a naval base in south korea. and the "uss carl vinson" will be in the region shortly.

this as north korea is conducting large scale artillery exercises, celebrating the 85th anniversary of its army. tammy lightner is tracking it all from london. >> reporter: good morning. south korean military official confirms to nbc news that north korea is undergoing a live fire military exercise on a massive scale. this comes as tensions are already high amid speculation that the north might carry out yet another nuclear missile test. vice president pence ended his asia trip monday underlying the show of military strength in the area. he promised robust military spending at a time when the u.s. faces threats in the pacific posed by north korea. now the u.s. efforts to curb north korea's nuclear and weapons program dominated much of pence's trip. president trump spoke with the chinese president in an effort to defuse the situation and today a leading communist party newspaper warns north korea against conducting another nuclear test.

meanwhile, details are still sketchy about the detention of u.s. citizen tony kim who also goes by his korean name. he was detained saturday bringing the number of u.s. citizens detained in that country to three. we also don't know the whereabouts of his wife who was reportedly with him at the time of his detention at pyongyang airport. more news for united airlines, a terrifying flight monday night after engine trouble forced an emergency landing. the flight was headed to houston when passengers say one of the engines overheated. a passenger tells nbc the plane tipped to one side as it tried to land. the wing nearly hitting the tarmac before pulling up and trying again. he posted about the harrowing ordeal on facebook. take a listen. >> thinking about kids, being without parents and your life ending way too early. that was a horrifying experience.

makes you really appreciate life. >> the plane did land safely with no reports of injuries. united cites a maintenance issue and passengers would be compensated. the passenger is shaken up but credits the pilot getting everybody to the ground safely. former fox news anchor bill o'reilly is breaking silence after losing his cable show and speaking to his viewers and supporters via his podcast. he told them, quote, he was sad not to do television anymore, adding he was surprised how it all turned out. i can't say a lot because there's much stuff going on right now but i can tell you that i'm very confident the truth will come out, and when it does i don't know if you're going to be surprised but i think you're going to be shaken as i am. you have a right to know i think what happened and we're working in that direction. ol' riley denied any wrongdoing

since "the new york times" reported he and fox news paid $13 million in settlement of past sexual harassment allegations. he says he plans to make his podcast a quote genuine news program. tucker carlson stepped in for the first time and had this to say. >> i watch bill o'reilly at this hour for years and i always marvelled how well prepared he was, how tough he was and crisply and directly he expressed his views. what he did was not easy. he set a high bar. i'm going to do my best to meet it. >> after more than three months of public silence on vacation and away from the spotlight, president obama came roaring back. >> so, what's been going on while i've been gone? >> a sense of humor as well. moderating a panel discussion at the university of chicago, focusing on what catapulted him to the white house, civic engagement urging young people to get involved. while tackling some of the most

pressing issues without ever mentioning his successor's name. >> the single most important thing i can do is to help in any way i can, prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton. what i said in 2004 that there were no red states or blue states, that was aspirational comment, but i think -- and it's one, by the way, i still believe in the sense that when you talk to individuals one on one, people, there's a lot more that people have in common than divides them. >> tieless and casual. his decision not to criticize trump is in deference to george w. bush's decision not to critique him. >> parts of north carolina getting hit with heavy rain, flooding causing major problems in the central part of the

state. >> we continue to monitor the wildfire burning in arizona. roads are closed and homes evacuated in parts of santa cruz county. the fire which started on sunday has grown to 11 square miles and is only 5% contained. crews say the flames are fueled by gusty winds and dry vegetation. >> let's check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins following two storm threats. snow in the rockies and rain in the northwest. >> fast-moving system. that was responsible for the gusty winds in arizona yesterday. the one storm system is wide over wyoming, snowing in high elevations. here comes another blast of rain moving into the northwest. as far as the rainfall goes, as we go through thursday, that's over the next couple days, the highest obviously will be in the mountains, a little less than that. when we talk about the mountainous regions, that's where we have snow. rapid city getting snow, casper, wyoming and se ofom warm

day. looks like more clouds and showers throughout the rest of this week. >> mid 50s is okay in the middle of wipt ir. you don't like that when you're at the end of april. >> don't like it when you're a teenager and it's prom season. the girls with those gowns. we know it is prom season. if you're anything like this couple, you make a hell of an entrance. >> poor guy. he's like, why was there video rolling, because there always is. he'll i'm sure never live that down. if you were hungry after all the dancing, you head to your local grocery store and keep having fun like this group did. looks like at costco or bj's, even more fun with 12, 24 rolls

of toilet paper. if you're anything like this teen, you use the occasion to honor your mother. she wore the same prom dress decades later. the mom on the left, the daughter on the right, both looking great. timeless dress as well. if you're truly very brave, you go all out with a goofy suit. you get the stars and stripes for that couple and get all kinds of themes. >> wow. >> leopard print. >> look at that leopard print. >> and the stars, the moon, the solar system there. >> a little bit of everything. we'll see if that trend sticks around for years to come. >> you know that poor guy who slid down the stairs, at that age, it is just the worst. >> thanks to us for sharing it with all you guys. i'm sure he appreciates it. >> things will get better. new details on what caused the death of "happy days" actress aaron moran. plus what caused a gator to be cussed by authorities. we're back in two.

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here is an example of what happens when an alligator won't cooperate. apparently you cuff him. that's what happened when this gator wandered into a garage in a neighborhood near new orleans after a struggle it took two officers to wrangle it and put handcuffs on the gator. he was then taken to a safe location and released. i'm sure he's glad to have the freedom after being cussed. leading the news this morning could be closer to a writer's strike. it comes one week before the union's contract is set to expire. the last strike in 2008 lasted nearly six months and brought n tv to a standstill. erin moran likely died from cancer. the local sheriff's department says an autopsy revealed the 56-year-old who was found dead over the weekend had stage four

cancer, though they didn't say what type of cancer. officials say toxicology results are pending but no illegal drugs were found. >> a terrifying health scare for rocker elton john. he's been forced to cancel all his concerts through may including a string of vegas shows after coming down with a potentially deadly bacterial infection. he contracted the disease during his recent south american tour and became violently ill on the flight home. she says he spent two nights in intensive care and is now resting at home. he is expected to make a full recovery. thankful for that. a developing computer glitch shutting down millions of computers, plus a big day ahead on the world stage for first daughter ivanka trump. we'll tell you about it when "early today" returns. why? terrible toilet paper! i'll never get clean! way ahead of you, big daddy. aww. (avo) charmin ultra strong. it's washcloth-like texture helps clean better.

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fast forwarding into tuesday, president trump will be the keynote speaker at the days of remembrance ceremony at the u.s. capitol. part of a week-long commemoration of the holocaust first daughter ivanka trump is in berlin to speak. she was invited by angela merkel. >> coming up the truth about going to the bathroom in pools. nbc's jeff rossen was inside of this one and tested the water at kiddie pools, hotel pools, hot tubs and even the water park.

those with kids, maybe those without kids may know what's going on, jeff rossen will find out. the dow soaring over 200 points. stock futures in the green pointing to a positive open. but it was a strange computer glitch for windows that impacted millions of users. landon dowdy has the detailed. >> anti virus software used by thousands of businesses and millions of consumers went a little berserk yesterday. it started identifying some of windows as malicious threats and shut down an unknown number of computers around the world. the problem existed for about 15 minutes before the program was taken down. multiple files were yarn teed. the company is working on a fix. the mustang is still going strong for ford. the automaker says global sales of the car rose to more than 150,000 last year. that's up 6% from 2015.

the mustang is now sold in 140 countries including china where sales jumped 74%. more people are deciding to cut the cord. a recent report estimates about 25% of u.s. households won't have a traditional tv subscription by the end of this year as streaming services like netflix and amazon prime become more popular. that's up from about 20% last year. some cable companies are trying to keep customers by adding more services and on demand offerings and have limited overage fees if customers use too much data. francis and yasmin, so many options, so little time. >> so little time. outside of netflix and amazon, us here, good old-fashioned news. you always will need us. >> i do like more services i have to admit. thank you landon. if you had to live without wi-fi or laundry, which would you choose? plus bill murray surprises us again with his unexpected

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"new world" that will feature chamber music led by cellist jan voguer. he will sing songs, also numbers from "west side story," and even perform literary readings by whitman, hemingway and mark twain. it is set to be released in august. who knew he had classic music, classic literature in him. >> incredibly talented guy. it will do well, i have an inkling. if you had to choose which you can't live without, wi-fi or laundries? so a new survey finds most apartment hunters are more concerned with internet access than clean clothes. 34% ranked access to wi-fi the most important for apartment living. 25% high speed internet, and 13% said having a washer and drier was the most critical factor. >> not even a toss up for me. wi-fi. i can always send the laundry out. >> i'm all about the laundry. you're watching "early today." (vo) more "doing chores for mom" per roll

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welcome back. you can see from the weather map that all the warmth is in the east. the cool weather, rockies, northern plains into the northwest. 87 in phoenix, very enjoyable for this time of year. into tomorrow we continue with showery type weather, still stuck in the 50s from boise to salt lake city, even down into san francisco. it's really southern california and southern arizona, the only places in the west. still working on that tan. >> bill, thank you. this morning, 21 states attorneys general are issuing a public outcry against education secretary betsy devos after her reworking the student loan programs. it's raising concerns she could undo president obama's overhaul of college financial aid.

much of the student loans were moved away from banks and private institutions to the federal government. in a letter the ags warn we should be looking for ways to ease the burden not enabling the student loan servicing industry to manipulate and exploit students. student loans make up $1.3 trillion of debt, over $137 billion in loans are currently in default. speaking of former president barack obama, he could be in store for a very big payday. fox business reporting obama agreed to give a paid speech for $400,000. he'll be speaking at a wall street health care conference run by investment bank canter fitzgerald in september. serena williams is responding to ratist comments about her unborn baby. the mother to be writes on instagram, it disappoints me to know we live in a country -- she goes on to quote famous poem

"still i rise." she posted this photo with a note to her baby from, quote, the world's oldest number one to the world's youngest number one. >> a sweet picture. all right. to fulfill all our imaginations, get ready to set sail into the skies. google co-founder larry page unveiling this video, kitty hawk's prototype. all electric one-seater, can fly over water up to 15 feet in the air. the company saying it's easy to learn, safe, tested and legal to operate in the u.s. in uncon jested areas and you don't need a pilot's license to fly it. i imagine i could probably not fly that over new york city. >> at least over the water it's safe. so many times they say in 10, 15 years, we'll be able to fly. >> i'm scared about that. thank you for watching "early today." i'm yasmin vossoughian.

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temperatures. a live look at the golden gate bridge this morning...as the working our way to warmer temperatures. a live look at the golden gate bridge as the bay area still waking up to cloud cover. in a couple days, the sunshine will be back in full force. today in the bay starts right now. bringing the sunshine back. that's a great thing. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. speaking of being back in full force, that's right. all four of us. >> the whole team. >> i know. a really nice break. >> greetings. >> do you know what sleep is like? it's amazing. >> i hear great things. >> you don't get it on this shift, but you do get great people to work with. good to see you, kari. and mike. >> i'm going