economy send markets here and around the globe into a spiral. beach spectacle -- several waterspouts kick up sands in north carolina. and what was she thinking? a florida woman is caught riding with an 8-month-old in the back of a pickup truck. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry, those stories and more just ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with here we go again. just when wall street seemed to have settled down, a barrage of bad economic news collided with fresh fears about european banks. to trigger a global selloff in stocks that began in asia yesterday and continued this morning. nbc's brian mooar joins us from

washington with details. >> reporter: the white house says fixing the economy and creating jobs is still the president's number one priority, even as he takes a controversial break from his own. mounting concerns the nation is slipping back into recession triggered another triple-digit loss on wall street. >> the market is trading on fear. we have fear of something we don't control. >> reporter: the dow dropped another 400 points and president obama's approval ratings are dipping, too. a mere 26% of americans agree with his handling of the economy, according to the latest gallup poll. in atlanta, a small army of the unemployed showed up for a job fair aimed at african-americans who have been especially hard-hit. >> i just want to get a job where i can support my family. >> reporter: the event sponsored by the congressional black caucus. >> they all are looking for work. they want a job. >> reporter: for the white house, it is an uncomfortable contrast. americans working to find jobs,

as president obama kicked off his vacation on exclusive martha's vineyard. even at this getaway, he can't escape the criticism. >> i don't think he's doing particularly well on the unemployment situation. >> reporter: the white house says he'll be working on the economic plan he's unveiling next month. still, this is one presidential vacation with plenty of baggage. and the forecast for the president's time on martha's vineyard? cloudy skies with some storms ahead. lynn? >> brian, thanks so much. well u.s. officials tell nbc news, intelligence reports indicate libyan leader, moammar gadhafi is making preparations to leave libya. one official suggested it could be within a matter of days. according to the reports, gadhafi and his family would be granted exile in tunisia. meanwhile, the battle for tripoli rages on. john ray from our english broadcasting partner, itn, reports from libya. >> reporter: the rebels are

hammering at gadhafi's back door. bullet by bullet, forcing it open. leaving the way clear to tripoli. they claim to have taken the oil refineries, cutting the regime's lass source of fuel. but in the east of the city, an intense battle rages. we're warned of snipers and rockets. we soon discover why. when one explodes uncomfortably close by. that is now a very fierce street-by-street fight going on for control of the city. the rebels know if they can win here, they are within touching distance of gadhafi and his capital, which is why forces loyal to him are hanging on to every inch they can. to the south of tripoli, the rebels proclaim victory in the garrosen town of gariayn.

the net is tightening around gadha gadhafi, but the final battle could be the hard et and bloodiest yet. here's your "first look" at other news going on around america today, north carolina beachfront homes provided the best seats for a spectacular show of force by mother nature. as many as five waterspouts formed off the coast, with one becoming a tornado after reaching shore. beachgoers ran for cover as the rare storm whipped around furniture and leveled a section of the boardwalk. no injuries were reported. and employees at a california fast food restaurant used teamwork to turn the tables on a masked gunman. the suspect was no match for the courageous crew, who managed to strip away the gun and remove his mask before letting him go. no arrests have been made. one michigan man's decision to drive with bad brakes netted a nearly disastrous outcome.

the 24-year-old's feat failed him as he tried to use them to stop his pickup truck. probably not too smart there. he hit four vehicles in the process. police cited the man for reckless driving. not so smart is an understatement here in florida where one child's adventures in babysitting was a dangerous prospect. several drivers called police when they spotted the sitter riding in the bed of a pickup truck with an 8-month-old in a stroller. this exists, people. police finally caught up with the vehicle and arrested the woman for child neglect. that is an understatement. now for a look at the national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins, he has your weather channel forecast. >> you have to shake your head when you see that. i want to know the conversation they had before they decided to do something like that. i know, let's put him in the back of the truck. >> i guess she didn't want to

walk. >> can't really explain that, bill. >> i understand. let's get to your weekend forecast. good morning, everyone, temperatures continue to soar in texas and we also saw a lot of thunderstorms in areas like philadelphia, new jersey and new york late last night and during the overnight. how does 106 feel in dallas? this won't end. 98 in new orleans is very hot for them. plus a lot of humidity down there. that's where the record heat continues and still a little steamy from atlanta to orlando. temperatures in the mid 90s. still in the 80s in much of texas. we're cooler in kansas city. this thunderstorm complex meant business. down from omaha and into missouri, now pushing south of st. louis, that's where the worst weather of the country is early this morning. we storms over nothing too dramatic, still the heat down here in texas and isolated storms late today in the east. so you need your umbrella in

many areas. the worst of it by far, look at the line of storms quickly pushing in from missouri, quickly crossing interstate 44 and a lot of lightning. and in st. louis, it looks like the worst of this will miss you and go south of you. your forecast for friday, have the umbrella from d.c. to new york, all the way into boston. you'll probably need it late this afternoon. it will be just like yesterday. much of the morning hours should be dry. but the afternoon into the evening, we'll have the thunderstorms. the same for you in florida. a pretty nice day today in areas like mince and chicago, not bad. thursday heat in texas. denver, around 90 degrees. and the sneak peek at your saturday forecast shows more thunderstorms in the mid-atlantic. still an unsettled pattern even in areas of the east. we'll be ducking thunderstorms from areas to d.c. to new york and philly. >> bill, thanks so much. coming up, how global stocks are reacting to wall street's nose-dive.

gold prices shine and another bank sends out pink slips. your "first look" at business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a washing machine, a head shot and what happens when a goodwill tour goes bad.

welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. and here's some of the top stories making news this morning. in afghanistan, there have been twin suicide attacks on a british compound in kabul. at least ten people have been killed. one bomber made it inside the compound, triggering a five-hour gun battle with afghan security forces. a u.n. official is recommending the security council refer syria to the international criminal court over its crackdown on civilians. this comes as the u.s. and european allies demand syria's president step down amid the nation's five-month uprising. israeli aircraft struck seven targets in gaza today. the assault was in response to

yesterday's attacks in southern israel, where gunman ambushed vehicles, killing eight israelis. the "associated press" reports investigators have been told that just two days after american tourist robin gardner was reported missing in aruba, her travel companion tried to cash in on a $1.5 million insurance policy he took out on her. gary giordano has denied any wrongdoing saying she went missing while they were snorkeling. and in belgium, a scene reminiscent of last weekend's stage collapse tragedy in indiana. a storm buckled concert structures as it swept through a music festival featuring the foo fighters and eminem. at least five people were killed. and now here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,990, after sinking 419 points. the s&p went down 53 points and the nasdaq lost a whopping 131.

looking at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 224 points while in hong kong, the hang seng tumbled 16. world markets have taken a beating as global recession fear rears its ugly head once again. the current bleak economic outlook fuelled more losses overseas this morning. markets were down as much as 2% in japan, hong kong, shanghai and australia. investors fleeing stocks snapped up gold, hoping the precious metal will prove to be safer in the long run. yesterday's fresh high of $1836 put gold up some $350 an ounce since july 1st. on the street, oil tumbled more than $5 a barrel. the ten-year u.s. treasury note hit its lowest yield ever and the average mortgage rate fell to its lowest level in at least 40 years. escalating worries about europe's debt, "the wall street

journal" reports u.s. regulators are looking at the u.s. arms of big european banks to make sure they have enough money for day-to-day operations. on the economic front, the hits just keep on coming. beginning with new jobless claims that jumped by 9,000 last week. consumer inflation is at its highest level since march, home sales fell unexpectedly for the third time in four months. but a bleak manufacturing report delivered the biggest blow. that sector has been the strongest in recent years. and yesterday, the fed reported a dismal drop in mid-atlantic states. more bad news for bank of america. it's cutting 3500 jobs as part of restructuring that could eventually eliminate thousands more down the road. and it's the end of the road for hewlett-packard's smartphones, tablets and pcs, as it exits most of its consumer-based business. well, at a time when so many people are looking for jobs,

it's really hard to believe there are companies with open positions and no one to fill them. it's the result of something called the skills gap. nbc news senior investigative correspondent, lisa myers reports. >> reporter: even with 14 million americans out of work, the industrial giant siemens is having so much trouble finding qualified workers that for the first time, it's had to hire recruiters. the ceo argues that unemployment remains painfully high, not solely because of a lack of jobs. >> well there are jobs out there, it's that we don't have the people that have some of the skills that are required. >> reporter: it's known as the skills gap, a gap between skills required for available jobs and the talent pool. siemens alone has more than 3400 jobs open in the u.s. engineers, sales, production. that includes hundreds of jobs here in charlotte, north carolina. making turbines and generators. >> the key thing that we're

looking for are folks that have mechanical aptitude and math skills to be able to learn how to do programming for the automated equipment we use. >> reporter: siemens puts applicants through a battery of tests, reading, math, mechanical aptitude, only 10% pass. and are deemed to have enough skills to be trained for these jobs. it's a nationwide problem. a recent manpower survey found that 52% of employers are having trouble filling key jobs. in west virginia, ibs hydro, an environmental clean-up company desperately needs certified drivers to drive heavy equipment. workers with construction experience and safety training. larry dawson says a lack of qualified workers is hurting his ability to expand. >> you can buy all the equipment in the world, but you still have to have the trained employees to operate that equipment. >> reporter: what's the answer? experts say more math and

science at all levels of education. and the right training to match workers with the jobs that are out there now. a mismatch that hurts both employers and workers hungry to find jobs. lisa myers, nbc news, charlotte, north carolina. frustrating prospect there. all right, well coming up, a pitcher takes a line drive to the head while new england's chad ochocinco gets a leveling of his own. plus a goodwill game between georgetown and china is marred by bad sportsmanship. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead, you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this...is the network --

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like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan.

dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. in sports, the new york yankees experienced a bit of deja vu yesterday with another disputed call. here's nbc's fred roggin. good morning, a night after a home run remain went against the yankees, the umpires got it right in minnesota. taking on the twins, justin mourneau hit one down the right field line just inside the foul pole, or was it? one umpire said home run. mourneau rounded bases. they would review it, look for yourself. that's a foul ball. to the third, no replay needed for this one. mark teixeira, 33rd homer of the year, the yanks won it 8-4, remain a half-game ahead of boston in the east. white sox/indians, phil hummer was hit by a face by a line drive. amazingly he was fine. left the game for precautionary reasons.

takes a pretty hard head to take a shot like that. indians won it 4-2. on the political front, vice president joe biden is in china on a goodwill tour. also in china to remote basketball on the tour, the team from georgetown university. they played an exhibition game against a chinese pro team and a brawl broke out during the game. perches cleared, punches thrown. a wild scene in a game ha was reportedly very physical from the start. the georgetown team walked off for its own safety. i'll say this, if it was the goodwill tour, those kids from georgetown should have for diplomatic immunity. to the guys who are supposed to hit, the patriots, chad ochocinco got flat-out leveled against the bucs. mason foster nearly took off his head. the league is trying to crack down on these types of hits and mason was given a penalty. but chad would have the last laugh, scored his first touchdown as a patriot. steelers hines ward won "dancing with the stars" in the off-season and scored a touchdown.

and cue the music, that's called the washing machine. the steelers 14-4 win over the eagl eagles. now for a look at the weather, here once again is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. did you get that, bill, the washing machine? >> i thought the old school one was like this. >> don't do it, bill, don't do it. >> it's like the energy-efficient washing machine. good morning, let's take you through what's happening. we're watching a lot of heavy rain in the last couple of days in areas like philadelphia. now we have flash flood watches because we have more thunderstorms in the forecast. there's some clouds in jersey right now and showers heading off the coast. then we'll get some sunshine. but i want to show you how much rain has fallen. just this month alone in philadelphia. we're now over a foot of rain, that's an all-time record for august. new york city has had almost ten inches of rain this month. if you're wondering why the grass has started to grow fast, it's because we've had a wet august in the mid-atlantic and

up through new england. temperatures this morning in the 60s and in the 70s, which isn't too bad. but we do have thunderstorms in the forecast late this afternoon and evening. temperatures today very typical of august, most areas will be in the low to mid 80s. a look into saturday, more of the same. but it won't be quite as widespread, we could see some delays in the atlantic today. coming up, celebrity tattoo artist, kat von d takes the good with the bat. plus, can the "rise of the planet of apes" rise above the competition for the third straight week? you're watching "first look."

welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry and it's time for now for your first look at entertainment news, as the summer box office winds down, last weekend's runner up "the help" isn't going to need any help against 3-d newcomers. good buzz should push the film into the top spot with $19 million. but "spy kids all the time in the world in 4d" could give "the help" a run for its money. a scratch and sniff gimmick could attract curious families to the tune of $18 million. the rating box office champ "rise of the planet of the apes" should lose some steam, coming in around $17 million. and a 3-d remake of "conan the

barbarian" should suffer from 3-d fatigue and the lack of star power, it should debut with just $16 million. another remake, "fright night" stars colin ferrell as the vampire next door is only expected to pull in $13 million and kat von d's engagement to sandra bullock's ex is reportedly back on. but the bad news is that tlc has canceled her show. >> now they'll do a wedding show. >> i think the bigger problem is the engagement is back on. and what's her show called by the way, do you know? >> it was canceled. >> i guess that's why. i'm lynn berry and this is "first look" on msnbc. but stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. the dow with yet another big drop triggering fears over european debt and a possible return to recession here in the

united states. the question is, how real is the possibility of a slip back into recession? we're going to talk to andrew ross sorkin in a minute. meanwhile, major news overseas as u.s. officials tell media that moammar gadhafi is ready to pack up his robes and shades and get out of dodge. the question is, what do libya and syria look like without their long-time leaders in power? and the struggle for global supremacy plays out in ugly fashion during exhibition game in china, between georgetown university, and a chinese team. the goodwill game quickly turned into a haymaker-throwing, chair-chucking brawl. the question is what did vice president, joe biden, who is traveling in china have it say about his fellow d.c. ambassadors whupping up on the chinese. it's "way too early" for this.