terror on the hudson -- new york city police say they've arrested an al qaeda sympathizer in an alleged bombing plot. feeling the sting -- two california university officers are placed on leave in the wake of pepper spray outrage. and, taking a swing -- chinese consumers fight back against what they say are defective appliances. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry, those stories and more are straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. and we begin this morning with terror target -- a new york city man is behind bars this

morning on a slew of terror-related charges. after allegedly plotting to bomb new york city police, u.s. post offices and troops returning home from overseas. officials say the al qaeda sympathizer was driven by terrorist propaganda. wnbc has more. >> reporter: if the suspect was able to build and place the pipe bombs, investigators say this tape of an nypd test shows the kind of damage that would have been done. the 27-year-old suspect is jose pimintel, police say he had spoken about wanting to bomb u.s. soldiers returning home and nypd police cars. >> the suspect was a so-called lone wolf. motivated by his own resentiments of the presence of american troops in iraq and afghanistan. >> police say pimintel learned how to build bombs by reading al qaeda's inspired magazine. officials showed off some materials, pipes and timers,

materials allegedly acquired at stores like home depot and they showed photo of the suspect allegedly trying to mix powder. first when the naturalized american expressed radical views. >> the nypd has been keeping track of the suspect since may of 2009 when he talked about violence and more intensely, in recent weeks, as he acted on it. >> officials say pimintel was a follower of radical cleric. the fbi and prosecutors chose not to take this case, with some sources say an informant played a key role in providing money and materials each step of the way, with a suspect who may have emotional problems. but the manhattan d.a. said stuff state terror laws apply

here. the suspect who is broke and living with his mom was ordered held without deal. elsewhere, it appears lawmakers tasked with slashing more than $1 trillion from the nation's deficit are throwing in the towel. after months of partisan disagreements on tax cuts and spending, it looks like the so-called supercommittee has failed. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: with a drin looming, members of the congressional deficit-cutting supercommittee seem to have agreed, there will be no agreement. and the other side is to blame. >> nothing new came out of this from the democratic side, it was the same thing, raise taxes, pass the president's jobs bill. no entitlement reform. >> they think they're going to win the senate, win the presidency and they want to wait until next year and write their own deal. >> the bipartisan committee has to agree in cuts by monday evening to meet a deadline for a vote. but the 12 members are deadlocked. republicans are standing firm on tax increases.

>> it's not about assigning blame. but we are unaware of any democratic offer that didn't include at least $1 trillion tax increase on the american economy. >> reporter: democrats are drawing the line on medicare and medicaid. >> what we will not put on the table is the end to the guarantee to those entitlements. >> reporter: without an agreement, deep automatic cuts kick in, slashing domestic and defense spending alike. but not until 2013. a crisis for the next congress. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. occupy wall street protesters angry over last week's eviction from their downtown camp site have now staged a 24-hour drum circle near the home of new york city mayor michael bloomberg. hundreds arrived on the upper side of manhattan. they came with musical instruments in hand. the group was forced to demonstrate across the street, due to barricades that police set up around bloomberg's block. new york's mayor claimed full

responsibility for clearing the protesters out of the park last week. in other news, two california university police officers in rye yoet gear who pepper-sprayed a line of peacefully-sitting demonstrators friday at uc davis have been placed on administrative leave. video of the incident has touched off nationwide outrage. the school's chancellor has sped up an investigation into the confrontation, in which police say they were surrounded by demonstrators and plans to meet with protesters. alleged animal cruelty has led mcdonald's and target to call off business with a minnesota egg producer. videos shows chickens being tossed around and shoved into inhumane living quarters. the government recently issued 13 health and safety violations against the company. and finally, this is just downright weird, greyhound bus passengers bound for st. louis experienced a bizarre delay. they were left stranded at a

truck stop by their bus driver. the driver, who has a good track record, left and never came back. passengers think his abrupt exit stemmed from an argument with a passenger. greyhound says the driver will be disciplined. for a check of your national weather, we go to nbc meteorologist bill karins, he has your weather channel forecast. >> how hard is it to drive a bus? i would nominate you to jump behind the wheel. >> now would you try to get me to walk off set and not return? is that a hint, bill? >> no, i just want you to drive me around. good morning, everyone, decent conditions, very warm in the eastern half of the country. northern plains, winter has returned. this will be a stormy week. we haven't had a lot of storms lately. we're not going to see a ton of bad weather this week. no tornadoes, but what we will be dealing with is a lot of heavy rain. a lot of people have travel plans, trying to get to their thanksgiving destinations. we had rain overnight from

southern new england, from new york city southwards to philadelphia. that will be gone shortly. it shouldn't be much of a player today. but a lot of heavy rain from arkansas and tennessee and kentucky. if you're traveling in the west, the pacific northwest is getting a big storm today. we're going to see rain going through arizona. a bunch of little storms on the maps. going to cause wet weather issues. thankfully, there's not enough cold air around for a lot of snow or ice this week. we're mostly talking about rain. today's forecast, interstate 40 is the worst drive, numerous thunderstorms, one rolling right for downtown memphis and another line of storms to the north of nashville and out to the east of town. that's one of the worst drives out there. interstate 40. i mentioned the rain exiting southern new england. new york city is just about done with your rain. southern jersey, atlantic city, another half hour or so. d.c., a chance of showers, it's not going to be a steady rain. light rain will return later on this afternoon towards tonight. i did mention some areas of the country it does feel like the middle of winter.

in montana, the wind chill is 3, denver, it's 22. there's a few spots from kansas city to chicago to minneapolis, that you do need to bundle up the kids and prepare for a winter-type day. the warm air remaining on the east coast for one more day, 70s in atlanta, beautiful weather. the carolina look great, but all the wet weather is in the middle from kentucky to tennessee back down through arkansas. late this afternoon through tonight. we'll have the chance of some severe storms. it doesn't look like too many tornadoes, but we should be watching thunderstorms on the strong side, gusty winds and hail. houston, san antonio, austin, up through oklahoma city and dallas. and for tuesday, all the rain begins to head east. the storm will strengthen and by wednesday, it will be all along the eastern seaboard, that will be the worst of our busy travel day. one thing to keep an eye on for your travel plans. well coming up, first euro worries, then asia worries. and why it's best to know a little bit about college rivalries before marketing

college t-shirts. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, champions are crowned in the mls and nascar, the packers remain perfect, and the bears win and lose all in the same game. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. act my age? -why? -why? -why? [ female announcer ] we all age differently. roc® multi-correxion 4 zone moisturizer with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry, and here's some of the top stories making news this morning. for a third day, police in cairo's tahrir square are clashing with protesters. egyptian officials say 20 people have been killed since yesterday. u.s. officials tell the "washington post" the obama administration is investigating whether iran supplied former libyan leader, moammar gadhafi, with hundreds of special artillery shells for chemical weapons that were kept secret for decades. the report says the shells, which lib ga fitted for mustard gas, were uncovered by

revolutionary fighters. gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent has been captured. penn state university police say they've referred another alleged incident of indecent assault to the attorney general's office. the "center daily times" says an alleged assault by a known individual took place in an outdoor swimming pool building in the summer of 2000. and chinese demonstrators smashed row fridge raters outside siemens beijing headquarters sunday, protesting what they say is a design flaw that makes the doors hard to close. that's a little extreme. now for your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,796 after adding 25 points on friday. the s&p was down a fraction, and the nasdaq lost 15. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo,

the nikkei lost 26 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng dropped 265. well there will be no holiday mood this week on wall street. just euro debt gloom. expect light volume, which lately often leads to volatile swings on headlines. the week's potential headline data includes tomorrow's preliminary report on the nation's third quarter economic output. wednesday brings weekly jobless claims. traders will watch for signs from spain. over the weekend, that nation's ruling associatists were voted out. the third government toppled in three weeks over europe's debt crisis. one new area of concern -- germany's bond market, long considered one of the world's safest havens, there's been a heavy selloff over the past few days. adding to uncertainty, as reported earlier, the congressional supercommittee has apparently failed to bridge their partisan differences. asian markets were hit this morning by their own worries. singapore warns of a sharp growth slowdown. japanese exports tumbled and

china's vice premiere predicts a long global recession. watch clearwire, it may default on a large debt, leading to bankruptcy fears. also watch chevron, the company's head in brazil admitted fault for an ongoing spill there. "reuters" reports that alleghany is close to buying trans-atlantic holdings for $3.4 million. and victoria's secret has come out with a michigan state t-shirt, great, right? it has spartan as i cross the front, the state logo acrossck. but underneath "spartans" the shirt reads "hail to the victors." unfortunately, that's the motto of arch rival michigan. they've pulled the shirts. kind of a minor oops there. over the past decade, record gas prices and environmental awareness have forced many consumers to rethink the way they get around. cnbc's phil lebeau takes a look

at how automakers are cashing in on the fuel efficiency trend. >> with prices at the pump above $3 a gallon, there's a new mantra in the auto industry, 40 is the new 30, as in 40 miles per gallon. this year, they've accounted for nearly 5% of new car sales. easily outdistancing electric car sales, which get far more attention, but draw far fewer sales. so what's behind the growth in 40 mpg cars? some due to increasing sales of gas/electric hybrids and that will continue as new models like the prius subcompact go on sale next year. but the big growth in the 40 mbg club is because there are more fuel-efficient cars powered entirely by gas. the chevy kruze, ford fiesta,

all average over 40 miles per gallon on the highway. every automaker is planning on gas prices to stay high. so they're shifting production plans and building more models with smaller, fuel-efficient, four-cylinder engines. that are also adding turbo chargers so driving a four-cylinder car now feels more like a six-cylinder model. letting car buyers feel like they aren't skimping while they go green behind the wheel. cnbc business news, chicago. a win-win for everyone. coming up, the giants play small, the cowboys kick the skins and packers stay perfect. plus, take a good look at this touchdown pass by bears jay cutler. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead, you're watching "first look" on msnbc. congratulations.

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that saves me money. with slate from chase, i'm always in control. financially, anyway. get slate with blueprint and save money. call 855-get-slate today. sp in sports, last night's primetime matchup between the new york giants and philadelphia eagles prove when old rivals square off, anything can happen. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> the eagles needed a win and they turned to their back-up quarterback to get it done against the giants, tied 10-10 in the fourth. vince young threw three interceptions but stepped up down the stretch found riley cooper and the eagles up 17-10. eli manning blindsided and fumbled. eagles recovered and held on to win it, 17-10. west of the best rivalries in football, redskins and cowboys. graham gano had a chance to win

it in overtime, missed a 52-yard field goal. then dan blally showed him how it's done, right through the uprights. cowboys won. packers vst lont a game since last december, they remain perfect. aaron rodgers hooked up with jordy nelson twice, green bay is 10-0. the lions play the packers on thanksgiving and matt stafford was in a fine mood, yesterday. five touchdowns passes, detroit won it 49-35. bears and chargers, jay cutler lofted one to johnny knox in the back of the end zone. chicago won its fifth in a row, 31-20. but cutler broke his thumb. nascar, after an entire season it came down to this, a two-car race for the championship. carl edwards and tony stewart. hover had the better finish wins the sprint cup. stewart made sure there's no debate. led for 65 laps and took the checkered flag. it's stewart's third sprint cup championship.

and the mls crowned a champ. galaxy and dynamo scoreless in the the 72nd minute. landen donovan chipped it over the goalie. david beckham finally wins an mls championship in the last game of his five-year contract with the galaxy. that's your "first look" at sports. for another look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, i know you're such a huge soccer fan, so i insisted they put that in. >> i do enjoy soccer, i did catch a little bit of that match. so don't mock me. >> but that's what i do. >> i'm not a huge soccer fan, but i can get into it. good morning, everyone, yesterday was a very warm, unusually warm november day in the east coast. that's kind of ended a little bit for areas of new england and the mid-atlantic. temperatures back into the 50s kind of a little where they should be. we had some light rain overnight move through the areas of green. it's heading off the coast. you're probably going to wake up to wet roads and a little damp

weather in new jersey and the chesapeake. but that's drying out. more rain later in the day for areas like d.c., virginia and the carolinas. but new england should be dry, so philly southwards, still a chance of showers late today, but really i think most areas will be dry. much cool anywhere new england today, highs in the 40s. where over the weekend you were in the 60s. then on tuesday, more rain will move in. this will be the second half of the day. so tuesday morning is dry. and then we get a good soaking tuesday night and that will last into wednesday. so airport travel, tuesday, late in the day and then as we go all day wednesday, the east coast airports could be problems. today the airports, dallas late today, with thunderstorms, san antonio, possibly houston. then as we take it to tomorrow through the southeast, it's going to be, going to try some people's patience with the bad weather traveling. >> all right, bill, thanks so much. coming up, chalk up another big one for taylor swift. and vampires and werewolves

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry and it is time for a little entertainment news. well if you went to the movie theater this weekend, you saw girl power in action. the "twilight" saga, "breaking dawn opinion part one" took in sz 139 million in north america for well over $25 million. it did more than half its business, $72 million friday on opening day.

its debut weekend was the fifth-best ever. on the other hand, the debuting dancing penguin sequel, "happy feet two" stumbled with $22 million. and this one had the advantage of extra 3-d dollars. elsewhere, the ball keeps rolling for taylor swift. she won artist of the year at the american music awards last night. the second time for her. and finally, let's go back to the box office, this is making a lot of news, "the descendants" the comic drama starring george clooney, it broke into the top ten, with a staggering $1.2 million. but it was only in 29 theaters nationwide. >> they all must have been sold out. >> it's unbelievable. >> have you heard about it before this weekend? >> no. but george clooney movies always do really well. it's sort of -- >> it's one of those quiet releases, get the word of mouth going and now it's going to be -- >> it's only opening in 400

theaters next weekend. well i'm lynn berry, this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" is next. a new york city man is arrested while making a bomb that police say would have targeted police, american troops coming home and even post offices. the question is, who was this guy working with? we'll have the latest. the supercommittee turns out not to be so super after all as the group charged with working across party lines to get the american house in order is set today to announce it has failed. the question is -- with both sides dug in on their core issues, did this thing ever have a chance. and the eagles even without michael vick show signs of life in the sunday night game against the giants. the question is -- are the g-men now in deep trouble? nfl highlights coming up. it's "way too early" for this.