and tough to swallow. a new report reveals the outrageous amount one government agency paid for muffins and other snacks. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is first ro"first look" on. and we begin with walking the diplomatic tight rope. president obama speaks to the united nations later this morning. but perhaps more importantly, he's meeting with palestinian mahmoud abbas tonight trying to broker a compromise on palestinian state hood, an effort that could potentially backfire. tracie potts joins us with more from washington. good morning. >> reporter: the president actually meets with abbas and

israeli prime minister netanyahu today, separate meetings. and the administration says he'll tell both the only way to a two state solution is through peace talks. >> it is time to lay down your arms and join the new libya. >> reporter: president obama speaks to the united nations today welcoming a newly liberated member. >> the new flag of a free libya now flies among the community of nations. >> reporter: arab uprisings in libya and other nations have put a spotlight on the palestinian's bid to become full members. outside, there were protests against it. rick perry showed up in new york criticizing what he calls america's policy of appease chlt. >> if america does not head off the aggression forces hostile to israel, we would only embolden it, a tragic mistake. >> reporter: though the u.s. is prepared to veto, experts say that could send the wrong signal. >> the united states is forced in a position now of having to

navigate a negotiation where neither party is prepared to make any concessions. so that puts the united states in a terrible bind. >> reporter: in one-on-one meetings with netanyahu and abbas, the administration says president obama will tell both peace talks are the only way to achieve a two state solution. >> irrespective of whatever takes place in new york in the coming days, the parties will have to find a way back to the table. >> reporter: here's one option, the security council may decide to postpone that decision on the palestinian application to give peace talks a chance to worg. >> tracie potts there for us in washington. thanks. according to this morning's "washington post," the u.s. is building a ring of secret drone bases in the horn of africa and arabian peninsula in is campaign

against al qaeda in yemen and somalia. officials have previously acknowledged the presence of drones, but have said their main mission was to track pirates. u.s. officials have said there were no plans to arm the unmanned aircraft, however, cables obtained by wikileaks show american officials were considering weaponizing them. a condemned did georgia inmate who claims he's innocent drawing numerous supporter including the pope and former president carter is due to be put to death today after losing his latest appeal. troy davis who is willing to take a polly graph test if the pardons board would consider its results is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection this evening. he was convicted of 1989 killing of a police officer, but his attorneys say testimony in his case was flawed and has largely been recanted by several witnesses. supporters have been holding vigils for davis and they'rely a million people have signed a

petition to halt the execution. and here is your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. in arkansas, chilling new surveillance video shows a shooting spree at an arkansas courthouse last week. video shows the shooter walk past a security check point hiding two pistols and assault rifle. and then the than opened fire wounding a court secretary in the leg. police eventually gunned down the shooter outside the courthouse. he later died of his injuries. in maryland, a grand jury has indicted two prince george's county police officers for an alleged beating back in march of 2010. video of the incident shows police in riot gear using a baton on a student who was part of a group celebrating a win by the university of hear land basketball team. in texas, a trio of shop lifters could soon be known as the panty bandits. security cameras show the women casually picking up packages of diet pills and putting them into their bags.

after apparently running out of room, they then lifted up their dresses and tucked the loot into their underwear. in louisiana, every day what looks like 100 humming birds show up to feast on sugar and water. the homeowners say the swarm started showing up after a hurricane in 2008. and thousand for a look at your national weather, let's check in with ryan phillips. good morning, ryan. >> good morning. we've got a soggy pattern unfolding for the next few days across the eastern third of the yunld. so wherever your umbrellas are, find them. we had our first wave of rain move through yesterday across the northeast. but we couldn't shake the cloud cover. we're dry this morning, but really soon showers will be on the way in from the south and from the west. but as it stands right now, kind of a cooler and cloudy start to our morning across the

mid-atlantic and into the northeast. temperatures generally running this way 5rks 2 ear, 52 albany,. check out the forecast. again, showers and thunderstorms pretty much dominate the entire area with the exception of boston. 70 degrees with mostly cloudy skies, but philadelphia, 79 and as we go into the extended planner here, the shower chances stay with with us each and every day. we could see locally heavy rains, even thunderstorms on thursday, highs at 80. friday, 77. now, the mid-atlantic, not the only game in town. a lot of wet weather here across the southeast. atlanta, savannah, charleston, all with showers and thunderstorms this morning. one wave of energy moving up the east coast, a stronger area of low pressure across the northern plains right over top of minneapolis and duluth as a matter of fact with that front dropping and cool air behind that, but all of this will work in tandem to bring pretty tight rain chances to the east of that front for the next two days.

so from cleveland to boston down to atlanta and orlando, wet weather dominating. but nice in kansas city today, we will say that, 71. same for chicago. hot sunshine in texas, highs in the lower 90s. but anywhere east of the mississippi, it's a stormy pattern. and that's the first look at your first. >> all right, ryan, thanks. euro debt problems mount, an answer from the fed, and what they ban this had hollywood. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a pitcher dual in los angeles and ohio close is the al wild card race? red sox fans are cheering for the yankees. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ woman ] jogging stroller, you've been stuck in the garage,

while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. is to take you from where you are... to where you need to be. and we're not just talking about points on a map. with a more intuitive delta website and mobile app... and the most wifi equipped planes. we let you be everywhere at once. innovations like these are extending our reach >> all right, ryan, thanks. the yankees. so you can extend yours. and now, even at 30,000 feet you can still touch the ground.

♪ on a beach? on a mountain? or wherever you happen to be... the first step on that road may well be... a bowl of soup. delicious campbell's soups fill you with vegetable nutrition, farm-grown ingredients, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. putting you on the road to happiness. bon voyage. campbell's -- it's amazing what soup can do.

welcome back to "first look." according to the lawyer for two american hikers convicted of espionage in iran, they will be released today. he claims on have secured the

necessary signatures from judicial officials for their release on pail and said he expects them to be released later this morning at the swiss embassy. afghan peace talks have been rattled by the assassination of a former afghan president and leader of current peace talks in his country. he was killed by an assassin who debt mate detonated explosives hidden in his tur ban. new video has surfaced from last week's air show disaster in reno. sadly, the death toll there has climbed to 11. 14 others are still hospitalized. secret service officials say a man who jumped a white house fence yesterday got closer than most intruders usually do. he was apprehended and nothing hazardous was found in his backpack. outrage on chicago over a new government report criticizing the justice department for wasteful spending after serving $16 huff fmuffins8

cups of coffee at a conference. the report found the department spent $121 million on conferences in 2008 and 2009, exceeding its own spending limits. a justice spokeswoman says cost cutting steps have since been taken. last night on the last word with lawrence o'donnell, ralph nader talked about why he thinks president obama should have to face a slate of so-called six challengers in a democratic primary. >> a slate by definition is not a challenge to his nomination. it's a challenge to his conscience, a challenge to his backbone, a challenge to have the democratic primaries be other than a series of air force trips around the country where president obama is responding to

the crazed republicans and their juvenile monetized minds. it's an attempt to basically broaden the issues in the election for all the millions of workers stuck in stagnant minimum wage, for the millions of workers who want to form trade unions against globalization. and they're not allowed to. for cracking down on corporate crime in the corporate crime wave for adequate budget. for stopping illegal wars oversea, for having single payor health insurance. there are all kinds of environmental issues, public reform, civil rights. all kinds of issues which will never be discussed. they will be completely off the table, blacked out, in a one man rhyme area. be sure to watch the last word with lawrence o'donnell week nights at 8:00 p.m. eastern only on msnbc, the place for politics. and now here is your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11408 after adding 7 points yesterday.

the s&p lost 2 points. the nasdaq dipped 22. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei was up 19 but in hong kong the hang seng lost 190. after rallying early tuesday, traders ran for cover late on euro debt concerns. investors hit the sidelines thanks in part to s&p's downgrade of italy. now ranking below slovakia and on par with malta. needing more loans soon to avoid bankruptcy, greece promised further sector cuts but did nothing. the international monetary fund struck an ominous tone over europe with its chief economist saying simply, europe must get its act together. here at home the fed wraps up its two-day meeting announcing what stimulus measures, if any, it will make later this afternoon. netflix tumbled tuesday, getting wall street's thumbs down for separating streaming and dvds.

molycorp plunged after a price drop in rare earth minerals. ibm rose after settling an europe investigation. ralph lauren hit an all-time high after an upgrade. carnival was up sharply after the cruise line beat forecasts. oracle was up and down in after-hour trades, posting revenues slightly above expectations but also weakening hardware sales. elsewhere, reuters reports united technologies is close to a multibillion dollar all cash purpose of aircraft component maker goodrich. today representatives from expedia, yelp and nextag will testify before a senate antitrust subcommittee looking into anticompetitive charges against google. finally, one california city is becoming the first to shed sales of one luxury item. tuesday west hollywood city council approved a ban on any apparel made of fur. coming up, a classic

pitcher's duel in a classic rivalry. the braves and cardinals stay wild. and how players amuse themselves when they're out of the pennant race. back and forth battle between boston and baltimore ends with the red sox collapse. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ hush, little baby ♪ don't you cry ♪ soon the sun ♪ is going to shine ♪ [ male announcer ] toyota presents the prius family. ♪ walk if i want, talk if i want ♪ [ male announcer ] there's the original one... the bigger one... the smaller one... and the one that plugs in. they're all a little different, just like us. they're all a little different, a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal.

that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. she won't eat eggs without hot sauce. she has kind of funny looking toes. she's always touching my hair. and she does this dancing finger thing.

[ male announcer ] with advanced technology from ge, now doctors can diagnose diseases like breast cancer on a cellular level. so that women, like kristy's mom, can get personalized treatment that's as unique as she is. [ kristy ] she's definitely not like other moms. yeah, my mom is pretty weird. ♪ you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm? [ jake ] uh... khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ welcome back to "first look." in sports, there is no joy this morning in red sox nation as boston continues to find new

ways of losing down the stretch. here's nbc's fred roggin. if good morning. are the red sox trying to give away the a.l. wild card? if so, they're doing a traffic job. had the lead against in the orioles and blew it away. andino cleared the bases with an rbi double. baltimore held on to win. it's not every day boston fans cheer for yankees but they need a new york win to keep their lead in the wild card and they got it. yanks jumped over the rays. granderson, four rbi. boston's lead is still two games after a 5-0 win. n.l. wild card is heating up. gonzalez started it with a slot to the left and won 4-0. cards kept pace with the braves with a seventh against the mets. theriot with a ground rule double. cards scored six. they remain 2 1/2 back in the

wild card with an 11-6 victory. to los angeles, pitcher's duel kershaw and lincecum. the night belonged to kershaw. the only bright spot in a bleak year for the dodgers, kershaw allowed one run and struck out six. he picked up his 20th victory of the season. first dodger to do that in over two decades. l.a. won 2-1. powerball and mega lotto sales were through the roof in washington. $521 and $705 million. actually, the bull pen was having a little fun and rearranged the numbers. not much to do out there when the offense plays like this. espinoza took cliff lee deep and that's all they needed. that's your first look at sports, i'm fred roggin. and now another quick look at the weather. >> showers invading across the

southeastern states. i don't see things changing much in the day ahead. atlanta, wet pattern today, tomorrow, in will to friday. highs in the lower 80s, but you rewarded with lots of sunshine on the weekend. across the nation, vigorous area of low pressure moving across the northern great lakes and across the southeast. a disturbance, those will work in tandem to keep things wet in the eastern third of the u.s. cool in minneapolis, 53 with showers. storms from atlanta down to miami. lower 80s to lower 90s respectively. boston hanging on to a dry day today, but all across the eastern third of the u.s. today and tomorrow, it's a wet weather pattern with temperatures not pluck chew eighting all that much there, but, boy, talk about nice weather. the western u.s. for the last few days and for the next few days to come, we're talking about lots of sunshine, 105 tomorrow in phoenix, and that won't change much as we get into friday either. 104. 86 in denver to end the workweek, sunshine? kansas city and a welcome cool change for the southern plains, namely dallas breaking that hot

weather streak in to the 80s by the time we get to friday. still cool in chicago to start the weekend. temperatures there around 60 with not a lot of spine and again the rains begin to wind down late week in the middle east. lynn, that's your forecast. ryan, thanks so much. a ratings record breaker and a surprising confession from brad fit. pit. plus gormg clooney gets married sort of. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. [ sighs ] [ bird chirps ] [ bird squawks ] ♪ [ bird screeching ] ♪ [ elevator bell dings ] [ sighs ] how mad is she? she kicked me out. but i took the best stuff. i'll get the wrench. ♪ [ male announcer ] kohler's tresham collection. life. with a twist. ♪

a dab of concealer here... a flurry of powder there. what if there was a makeup that didn't just hide your breakouts... but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup. it has our proven blemish fighting formula blended with silky gorgeous makeup. so it gives you a beautiful flawless look while undercover it works to clear breakouts. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics.

is to take you from where you are... to where you need to be. and we're not just talking about points on a map. with a more intuitive delta website and mobile app... and the most wifi equipped planes. we let you be everywhere at once. innovations like these are extending our reach so you can extend yours. and now, even at 30,000 feet you can still touch the ground.

look." last night on jimmy fallon, he put one nation's health tradgra

to the test. >> china is restaurants hygiene using smily faces and frown faces. who do they have working on it, kids? get this. wendy's just introduced a newberger with extra cheese, thicker beef and a buttered bun. which explains why in their logo wendy is now wearing spanx. you have on to. there is a new 24 hour hotline for illegal immigrants who have questions about deportation. i mean, the number is really easy to remember, it's 1-800-trap. >> and tonight jimmy welcomes jonah hill, whitney cummings,

and musical guest elbow. that's week nights at 12:35 on your local nbc station. well, it is time for your first look at enter stainmetai entert. ratings for the first post-sheen episode of "two and a half men" are any indication, it will do just fine without charlie. ashton kutcher's debut was seen by 27.7 million people monday, more than any episode in the show's first eight seasons. on the verge of his baseball movie "moneyball" opening and as he graces the cover of "sports illustrated" brad pitt revealed he never liked baseball and knows little about it. says he took on the project about the oakland a's becoming competitive because he can't resist underdog stories. finally, george clooney is married. at least in a new norwegian tv ad. it shows an obviously hungover woman and she wakes without a clue to discover a huge ring on

her finger, a wedding gown, and suddenly clooney appears, the man she can't remember marrying. the bank commercial reminds people, some are just plain lucky, most of us need to plan for the future. i guess gormg clooney will get married at some point, may as well be a tv ad. >> start first this this. >> did you check out that ring? it was like kim kardashian material. a little pressure on goreorge clooney to make it work. a lot of ladies gasp, but he's still on the market, girls. i'm lynn berry and this is "first look" on msnbc, but stay tuned, way too early on ostarts right now. president obama speaks this morning before the general assembly at the united nations here in new york where he he continues to address the prickly problem of convincing palestinian leadership to abandon its bid for state hood later this week. the question is, how does the

u.s. take a stand against state hood when the long time basis of its middle east peace proposal has been a two state solution? meanwhile, the former president of afghanistan and hopeful figure in the country's attempts to find political reconciliation is killed by a suicide bomber who packed explosives into his turban. the question is what does his death mean in afghanistan. and the new york yankees tried to do their red sox a favor by beating up on the rays. the question is, are the sox trying to give this thing away? it's way too early for this. good morning, i'm willie geist. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live on siriu