cheese. what is next sounds a little collective. david axelrod knows it too, i bet. . on the move. there are reports this morning a chinese dissident has left u.s. protection. president obama ushers in a new relationship with afghanistan. and dangerous driving. a florida couple is arrested for towing a toy car with their granddaughter inside. 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 breaking news. a blind chinese dissident is reportedly no longer under the protection of the u.s. in beijing. a u.s. official says that chen guangcheng left the u.s. embassy after six days and is now at a beijing medical facility where he's being reunited with had his family. chen, who ran afoul of local government officials for exposing forced abortions and other abuses, escaped from house arrest late last month. the dispute over chen's fate had threatened to overshadow secretary of state hillary clinton's arrival in beijing today for economic talks with chinese officials. elsewhere, on the anniversary of osama bin laden's death, president obama showed up in afghanistan on a surprise visit yesterday to mark what he called the light of the new day. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on this. tri tracy, good morning. >> good morning.

he admitted there are difficult times ahead, but 2014 is a hard and fist deadline for u.s. troops to come home. >> this time of war began in afghanistan and this is where it will end. >> reporter: shortly after arriving under cover of darkness, president obama signed an agreement promising support after the war ends in 2014. >> we have a clear path to fulfill our mission in afghanistan. >> reporter: the agreement does not say how many troops will stay. >> 20,000 troops spread all over the country as advisers without much combat capability would be too much at risk. >> reporter: critics argue we can't afford to leave too many soldiers there. >> the thing that will take this country down is not al qaeda. it is spending money we don't have on things we don't need and creating a debt that will totally shackle our children. >> reporter: during his six-hour surprise visit on the anniversary of the death of osama bin laden, president obama spoke to troops at bagram air

base. hours later, a car bomb exploded in kabul, killing at least six people. then more explosions and gunfire for hours. the taliban said it was response to the president's visit. back home, mitt romney again backed off earlier criticism of mr. obama's decision to go after osama bin laden. >> had i been president of the united states i would have made the same decision the president made, which was to remove him. >> reporter: the president is out of afghanistan, heading home, expected back here in washington this afternoon. >> thanks. tonight don't miss an hour-long special edition of "rock center," inside the situation room with president obama and his national security advisers. it airs at 9:00/8:00 central on your local nbc station. as tracii just mentioned, mitt romney appeared at a new york city firehouse. actor alec baldwin told lawrence o'donnell his view on how the

republicans are doing in 2012. >> things for these guys aren't going that well. you know, the economy may stumble, it probably won't stumble that badly between now and the election, for those people who look at these very handy benchmarks like the dow, the dow is still staying pretty well above 13,000, which that kind of crowd of romney's really, really goes for. it's the anniversary of this president getting osama bin laden, and i think that the republicans -- i think romney, these guys are really, really getting scared. for me, the most important thing is that obama shows up, he's stealthily going into afghanistan here and on this anniversary and talks about peace. he's talking about peace. and i'll tell you one thing, if you play all these republican debates and they had more debates than they are games in the nba season, these guys had debate after debate, you never heard them once, never heard the word "peace" mentioned. what i'm proudest of and whether the guy was a democrat or

republican, he happens to be a democrat now, we're back to talk being about peace, which i think is very important for the united states and the world. >> be sure to watch lawrence o'donnell every night at 10:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. five men are under arrest in an alleged plot to blow up a bridge in ohio. federal officials describe the men as anarchists, angry at corporate america. they were unaffair an fbi informant was involved with the plot. a federal prosecutor says the alleged plotters obtained what they were explosives. the beginning of may brought mayday protests from coast to coast cred. police fired tier gas to disburse protestors in oakland, california. protestors demanding an end to income inequality battling with police. there were with arrests but the protests were less violent than the ones that erupted last fall.

here is your "first look" at some other news going on around america today. video of a horrific attack inside a massachusetts high school has led to two arrests. prosecutors have charged the teen attacker with felony assault charges, but they've also charged the student who was recording that violent ambush. charges against him include wiretap violation, disorderly conduct and aggravated assault. both men have pleaded not guilty. the lights went out in upstate new york when a car just crashed right into a national grid substation. a section of albany lost power after the vehicle collided with one car and then careened into the power plant. power was restored shortly afterward. the driver suffered minor injuries. and finally dropping the kids off at grandma's house wasn't such a good idea for one florida child. this 7-year-old's grandparents were arrested after they were spotted towing the child in her toy car at approximately 5 to 10 miles per hour. this is not smart.

both face child endangerment charges while the grandfather is also charged with driving under the influence and with a suspended license. now for a look at your national weather we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. time to find a new babysitter. >> i used to live in florida so i think i have the right to say this. how come so many of these stories happen in florida? >> whoa! viewer mail on its way. >> there was one last year there was a pickup truck that had the little guy in the back of the truck. >> don't single out florida, bill. >> florida is a magnet for some reason. good morning, everyone. we are watching thunderstorms this morning, we had tornadoes yet we dealt with. in all, about 15 tornado reports, no injuries, no fatalities and no towns really hit or demolished. we had one bunch of strong storms from indiana into illinois that produced tornadoes, a lot of hail yesterday into areas of ohio and northern kentucky. even our friends in north carolina dealt with large hail and winds. back here, these were the storms

from last night from minnesota. that line of storms is still moving this morning. if you're in milwaukee, chicago, the quad city areas, you will have the rain and thunderstorm action this morning during your morning rush hour, the worst of it heading on interstate 80 toward the quad cities. also it looks like from madison to green bay, storms your way. milwaukee had one line of storms, you'll see another through the morning rush hour. that's by far the worse travel this morning. we've had a surge of very warm, humid air coming up out of the gulf. we're at 71 degrees to start your morning in kansas city, very much like the middle of summer. when with you have air as cold as 38 in montana, there's your clash. that's why later today we're going to get a pretty good severe weather outbreak here, especially from nebraska into areas of iowa. that warm made it into d.c. yesterday, too. you jumped up to 84 degrees yesterday so it felt like summer in your area. so we have the battle right now, all that warm air and the cooler air to the north. that's why from omaha to des moines widespread wind damage

and large hail later on today. that boundary also exists all the way from chicago, detroit, pittsburgh, to d.c. new england is protected by the cooler, drier air. the warm, humid air coming up from the south will collide with it. we have a large area of the country going to experience strong thunderstorms. again, we have those storms this morning in wisconsin and then later this afternoon all the way back down through ohio, virginia, and our friends back there also in the northern plains. lynn, a stormy pattern, continuing tomorrow. details coming up. also coming up, the dow bounces back. news corp strikes back. and why even a losing lottery ticket is worth holding on to. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, the sixers won past the bulls, paul pierce shoots down the hawks. and a rookie steps up for the devils. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. this man is about to be the millionth customer.

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that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. aung san suu kyi has taken the oath of office to become an official member of parliament. the 66-year-old nobel peace prize winner joins a new political system after 49 years of military rule. a man born in bosnia was convicted in a terror plot yesterday and now faces a possible life sentence. two former classmates pleaded guilty in the conspiracy two years ago and testified against him. a fugitive on the run for more than two years is under arrest for allegedly running a scam that collected $100 million in donations from people who thought they were helping u.s. navy veterans. little if any of the money was used to benefit veterans. in oklahoma, michael seltzer was executed by lethal injection last night. he was convicted in a 1975 convenience store murder, but

legal appeals delayed his execution for almost 37 years. and a painting by french artist paul say zon was auctioned off in new york the the water color thought to be lost for almost 60 years sold for more than $19 million to anonymous buyer. now here is your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,279 after adding 75 points yesterday, the s&p gained 7, the nasdaq up 4. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei added 29 points while in hong kong the hang seng rose to 14. a little optimism drove the dow to its highest level in more than four years tuesday. news that april manufacturing expanded at the strongest pace since june gave stocks early momentum. signs of improving demand spilled over into financial, transportation and energy stocks as well as the price of oil. after the bell, chesapeake energy slipped in the wake of

weak earnings. the natural gas producer had close higher on news of a replacement for its controversial ceo and co-founder. earlier lackluster reaction to research in motion's new blackberry software weighed down the nasdaq. avon was the biggest drag on the s&p after its earnings plunged 82%. pg change's china bistro surge after the restaurant chain agreed to be taigen private for more than $1 billion. news corp is calling a report by an english committee of lawmakers that labeled rupert murdoch unfit to run his empire quote unjustified and highly partisan. walmart will pay $4.8 million to employees who were unfairly considered exempt from overtime wages. on the heels of a high-profile unveiling after of its new organ donor feature, it's said facebook has chosen

may 18th as its wall street debut. why you should never throw away a lottery ticket. a judge in arkansas ruled against a woman who picked a $1 million winner out of the trash and cashed it in. he said the jackpot belonged to the original owner who tossed it out after a ticket scanner erroneously said, sorry, not a winner. lesson learned there. coming up, the lakers sink the nuggets, the devils down the flyers and jays rally past the rangers. plus, the sixers take advantage of the bulls without injured mvp derrick rose. sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. in sports, last night the shorthanded boston celtics managed to tie their nba playoff series against atlanta hawks. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. the celts without rondo. how did boston and chicago do without their point guards? we'll start in atlanta. hawks built a double-digit lead, then pierce took over. the news got even worse for the hawks. right side of the screen, josh smith spranged his knee, left the game like all of us he's day to day. the celts got it done without rondo. game three in boston friday. rose watched helplessly from a luxury box, bulls arguably the

best defensive team in the league. time and time again, philly would make the extra pass for an easy bucket. sixers earned a split in chicago with a 109-92 win. in los angeles, too much kobe bryant for the nuggets. finished with 36, denver tried to rally in the fourth but kobe and andrew bynum put an end to that, the bucket and foul, lakers won 104-100. the best record in the league will get you home court advantage in the playoffs and for greg pop owe vich earned him coach of the game. the rookie took advantage of the opportunity, scored the equalizer in his first career playoff game. the devils caught fire in the third, scored four unanswered and beat the flyers 4-1. the series is even 1-1. baseball, any time he can beat the best game in the a.l., it's worth a pat on the back.

brett lowery are a solo shot in the ninth, the blue jays knocked off the rangers 8-7. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. for another look at the weather, we check back in with nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. >> a lot of heavy rain yesterday was pushing through the big cities of the east. today we have clouds but not so much rain. just a few showers out there south of d.c. and heading through northern maryland. there's more rain back here in eastern ohio that will roll down through west virginia and south of pittsburgh. so we do have rain in the forecast today, not going to rain all day long. the best chances of rain will be late this afternoon d.c. into areas north of there towards philly and also pittsburgh. notice the temperature difference, wind off the water in boston, highs in the 50s. we're in the low 80s in d.c. the big contrast the further north you go. the widespread areas of severe weather include a moderate risk

of severe storms around omaha to des moines, chicago, detroit, pittsburgh to d.c., all portions of northern virginia down to virginia beach and norfolk, a chance of strong storms today. that's kind of the big story. we're pretty quiet from texas all the way through florida, much of the west coast seeing quiet weather. little wet weather in seattle. but the thunderstorms will get all the attention later today. not too many tornadoes today, lynn, but we'll get a lot of damaging wind and hail. >> bill, thank you so much. and it is the weather channel's 30th anniversary so they're going to be launching a new web site. >> yeah. >> we should give them a plug. >> i just went on the web site for the first time. a little more sleek and slick, the local forecast and stuff is pretty cool. they also have a social media tool which is new, where you can actually go if there's a weather event going on around you, find out what people are saying about it, if there's tornadoes in your area or large hail, you can go on and see all the tweets about what's happening around your area. that was a new added feature. >> pretty good idea. always bust bill's chops by

saying i go to weather.com for all of my weather. >> she doesn't trust me. >> because that's what i do. coming up, who's the latest star rumored to be on the short lift for the "x factor." plus, jessica simpson takes on the role of a lifetime. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. look. it's so simple. [ male announcer ] in here, the right minds from inside and outside the company come together to work on an idea. adding to it from the road, improving it in the cloud all in real time. good idea. ♪ it's the at&t network -- providing new ways to work together, so business works better. ♪

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. some tech news. today facebook founder mark zuckerberg announces a new tool that lets users show they're organ donors, in case there's a plow accident in farmville. get this, people are crazy. a billionaire in australia plans

to build a replica caof the titanic, a titanic ii, a great way to travel if you couldn't get a flight on the behindenburg jr. there's a new restaurant in oregon that sells food infused with medical marijuana. it's annoying when the customers call the waitress over and said, we didn't get our appetizers. wait, did we get our appetizers? wait, did we even order appetizers? wait, who are you again? wait. >> tonight jimmy welcomes amy poehler from "parks and recreation," danielle day kim from hawaii 5-0 and musical guest lady antebellum, that's weeknights on your local nbc station. time now for your first look at entertainment news. the jessica simpson baby watch is finally over. >> thank goodness! >> i know you've been waiting for this. >> i was get willing worried for her. >> i was, too. the 31-year-old singer gave birth to a 9 pound 13 ounce

baby, a little girl. >> that's a bowling ball. >> named maxwell drew johnson. it happened on tuesday, this according to her publicist. maxwell is the first child for simpson and her 32-year-old fiance former nfl player eric johnson. >> maxwell. are there any females named maxwell? ashton kutcher has reportedly signed a one-year deal to remain on "two and a half men" for a second season. reports say he'll be paid serve $700,000 an episode. 19-year-old miley cyrus is being considered as one of the vaik anlt judges spots on the "x factor," it's reported. she joins a list of potential candidates including avril lavig lavigne, leann rimes and britney spears. literally everyone's been considered for this and being thrown money in their faces. >> we need to go back to maxwell. >> bring it back. >> can you think of any females with the name maxwell?

>> i've never heard of anyone named maxwell. >> maxwell dean. >> okay. there you go. not everyone is a huge fan. >> are you? >> i'm going to go with no comment. >> boring! so neutral. >> thank you for joining us. i'm lynn berry. willie geist is next. as we emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home, it's time to renew america, an america where our children live free from fear and have the skills to claim their dreams. a united america of grit and resilience where sunlight glistens off soaring new towers in manhattan and we build our future as one people, as one nation. >> that is president obama on an unannounced visit to afghan stoon, meeting with troops and signing a deal with president karzai that ties the united states to afghanistan for a decade beyond the 2014 withdrawal date. the question is,