this. the fight is still being waged, state by state, by a lot of very brave people, and in some places they are they are winning, have a great night. good thursday morning. happy independence day. right now on "first look" -- unrest and celebrations in egypt, as the world wonders what will happen next. and president obama hunkers down with his national security team. fourth of july preps from heightened security to barbecue blowouts and everything in between. a massive hole swallows up a car and driver, but somehow, it all ends well. and what who gets james gandolfini's $70 million estate? the arizona firefighters are remembered. the bunny causing quite a stir in texas. good morning. nice to see you. a dramatic political shift in egypt. president mohammed morsi is ousted and the military takes over in a striking fall from grace, the man who was egypt's

first democratically elected president is now under house arrest one year after his election. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel reports from cairo where celebrations raged on into the night. # >> reporter: it's the cry of millions of egyptians, an outpouring of joy and relief that a weight has been lifted from their shoulders. the end of an experiment in political islam gone wrong. >> i'm crying because i'm so happy. so happy we get rid of them. >> we are now free out of muslim brotherhood. >> reporter: army helicopters flew over tahrir square dropping flags. egyptians lit them up with lasers. thanking the military for driving out president morsi who they claim neglected the needs of the people. the celebrations were triggered by this highly anticipated announcement, the army chief on national television outlining a road map. morsi out, the constitution

suspended, the head of the constitutional court, the new president, but only until early elections. and what about morsi and his supporters? they're calling this a naked coup and a front to islam, a plot by israel and america. they're furious. the u.s. embassy, which is just in the back of this square has ordered the departure of all non-emergency personnel and their families and is even advising american citizens in egypt to leave. richard engle, nbc news, cairo. joining me now with the latest is nbc's yousef ga mall al dean in cairo and tracie potts in washington this morning. first to you, yousef. this is a fluid situation. now that the military has taken over, what comes next? >> well, veronica the celebrations continue to this day. just a formational planes flying over the skyline of the capital cairo, what looked like army planes, difficult to confirm.

the army making it clear it tried to talk to the president or now former president mohamed morsi about the power-sharing deal, that didn't work through so it reached out to the opposition, reached out to religious leaders to come up with this transitional period, effectively the head of the supreme constitutional court adly mansour is to be sworn in imminently as acting president and then they would oversee that transition period until early elections. >> thank you. let's go to nbc's tracie potts standing by in washington. traci, president obama says he is deeply concerned. how is this all playing out diplomatically? >> well, what we're seeing here in washington, what we saw early as a few hours ago, were demonstrations in front of the white house. take a look. these are americans supporting change in egypt. certainly not to the degree of the demonstrations that we were just seeing in tahrir square, but we did see those demonstrations here. now inside, president obama was

having a last-minute meeting with his national security team. after that, a statement, yes, saying that he was deeply concerned, but also that he wants to make sure this military is returning egypt to a democratically elected government and that they're not argue temporarily arrested supporters of president morsi. that is now a big security concern in egypt in this very fluid time in that country's history. back to you. >> fluid is right. traci pots in washington, thank you. if you're planning on getting out of town this long holiday weekend, you are not alone. aaa expecting that more than 40 million americans will be packing the roads over the next few days. while the highways may be crowded, there is some good news. gas prices are at five-month low, averaging $3.48 a gallon. if you're staying in the city to watch the fireworks or take in a concert, expect a stepped up police presence. security is beefed up across the country including cities like boston and the nation's capital.

lady liberty beginning to receive visitors today. the statute was closed for about nine months after hurricane sandy destroyed the docks and much of the parks on liberty island. tickets to the crown are already sold out until mid-august. if you plan on grilling you're not alone because about 81 million americans will be joining you at the cookout. firefighters are finally starting to get the upper hand on that massive wildfire in arizona. the yarnell hill fire now 45% contained, up from zero percent just two days ago. while it is positive news, an investigation into what caused the deaths of 19 firefighters earlier this week is just beginning. nbc's jennifer buyorkwin has more from the front line. >> reporter: a sad caravan bringing out an impromptu roadside honor guard as the vehicles that carried 20 hotshots to the yarnell fire made their way back without their men. >> the granite hotshots can begin their journey home.

>> reporter: 19 lost their lives fighting the lightning sparked fire sunday. >> i want to acknowledge brendan here, number 20, he let his life on the line as well. >> reporter: the surviving member of the team attended a public memorial tuesday evening to pay tribute to his fallen comrades. he was the lookout conveying key information, warning them of the fire's erratic shift, at risk of being overrun himself. fire officials say he followed his training and did everything right so the investigation will focus on what went wrong. >> a significant fire event, a significant weather event and all of that will be looked at and pieced together with some of the best technology in the country. >> reporter: investigators from all over the u.s. are on the ground in the 13 square mile burn area looking for answers to learn from this tragedy. >> this team will form a thorough investigation so we can understand what happens as completely as possible to prevent future accidents such as this. >> reporter: they say they owe that to future firefighters and the families who are suffering from loss.

nbc news, prescott, arizona. and now here is your first look at the dish of scrambled politics. start with some patriotic news on this july 4th. new numbers showing nearly 1 million veterans have enrolled in higher education through the post-9/11 gi bill, set up after the 2001 attacks for troops fighting two wars at once. the immigration overhaul passed by the senate last month will cut illegal immigration by 50%, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan congressional budget office. however, lawmakers concede that downfall won't be seen any time soon. meanwhile, that bill's pathway to citizen gained a prominent supporters wednesday. wisconsin governor scott walker calls the current system broken. the abortion debate is heating up in north carolina as legislatures move forward with a strict anti-choice law. senator kay hagen tells msnbc's lawrence o'donnell what the bill means if it becomes law. >> if this is a health care bill about women, i am glad any state

legislature in raleigh is not my doctor. >> texas governor rick perry expected to announce monday on whether he will run for a fourth term or make another run for the white house. however, the latter idea isn't sitting well among his constituents. a new poll has perry in sixth when lone star republicans were asked their preference for president in 2016. among those, ted cruz comes in first. and former illinois governor george ryan is a free man this morning. he was released from home confinement wednesday, ending more than 5 1/2 years in federal custody for wide-ranging corruption offenses. his successor rob what goy vich is still in the big house. that's your dish of scrambled politics. nbc's dylan dryer joins us with this july 4th weather. >> everybody wants to know if the fireworks are going off without a hitch this evening and

most of the country they will. most of it is down in the southeast, especially interior southeast areas like western, north and south carolina, into the atlanta area and the panhandle of florida. couple pop-up showers and storms in the southwest which is an area that could really use some rain right now. heavy rain continuing to stream in off the gulf of mexico. you have that tropical nature to these rain showers, so that means they will produce heavier downpours. there's the possibility in atlanta, parts of tennessee and kentucky and especially the panhandle of florida. areas could pick up three to five inches of rain in the next 48 hours. excessive heat warnings still in effect in the southwest but temperatures are each day getting about a degree cooler than the day before. so we are seeing improvements and it is getting closer to average in the southwest. still hot and dry, though, and most of the rain for this evening's fireworks will be from the ohio river valley right down into atlanta and into the florida pan handle. so those fireworks might not go off without any problems, but up

and down the east coast all the major cities look okay. >> good news there. >> yes. >> you were talking about the heat, when it's 120 degrees when there's a 1 degree drop in temperature i don't know that it's really an improvement. >> you don't even notice the difference. >> thanks, dylan. straight ahead, a massive hole swallows a car and its driver. we'll show you the dramatic rescue. just in time for the fourth over 5,000 of america's bravest from the "uss eisenhower" return home to norfolk, virginia, to barbecue and celebrate independence. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] made just a little sweeter... because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet.

[ male announcer ] you wait all year for summer. ♪ this summer was definitely worth the wait. ♪ summer's best event from cadillac. let summer try and pass you by. lease this all-new cadillac ats for around $299 per month or purchase for 0% apr for 60 months. come in now for the best offers of the model year.

another dramatic day in the second degree murder trial of george zimmerman as the jury got a good look at the physical evidence like trayvon martin's clothing from that night and the gun used to kill him. nbc's ron most has our report from sanford, florida. >> reporter: jurors got an up close look at trayvon martin's bloody hoody and the bullet hole created by george zimmerman's .9

millimeters pistol, what a state witness described as a muzzle shot. >> meaning the muzzle of the gun was up against the shirt when it was fired? >> correct. >> i got a complete dna profile which matched george zimmerman. >> reporter: dna testimony confirmed only zimmerman's fingerprints were found on the gun and none of his dna were found under martin's fingernails. it was a day zimmerman's law enforcement know-how was made public. >> how are you doing, george? >> reporter: with his college professor and army prosecutor testifying he'sed a criminal defense class. >> he was probably one of the better students in the cla class. >> reporter: included discussions of florida's defense law, commonly called stand your ground. zimmerman has pleaded not guilty saying he fired in self-defense. but the witness testified he taught self-defense has its limits. >> we also talked about imperfect self-defense where you may have started out being the person that was attacked, but

for whatever reason, you took ir the agregressoaggressor. >> he also told the defense attorney don west the standard is imminent fear. >> you don't want to wait until you're almost dead before you can defend yourself? >> no. i would advise you probably don't do that. >> reporter: this brought a smile and a chuckle from even the defendant. the state is expected to call its final witness and rest its case when testimony resumes here on friday. ron mott, nbc news, sanford, florida. and some other stories making news this morning. it was the coast guard to the rescue. a florida unit found eight boaters including two american teens who had been missing off the coast of honduras since last week. everyone is okay. if you ever have driven over a pothole you know it can give you a jolt, but take a look at this. a massive sinkhole swallowed a car in toledo. the driver got out safely. her car is now in the repair shop. a southern california

teacher has been arrested after giving birth to a baby allegedly fathered by a 16-year-old student. 28-year-old laura elizabeth whitehurst is facing sex charges. sad news out of yosemite national park, a summer camp counselor was killed when a tree fell on to a campfire circle. the 21-year-old is being remembered as a role model who loved art. the countdown is on until the arrival of the british heir. "us weekly" reporting kate middleton is feeling great but quite nervous and can't blame her for that, right? even before they gives birth the royal baby gifts are rolling in, including this, this is an 18 karat white gold charm bracelet that, gets this, doubles as a diaper rash cream holder, which is reportedly worth about $15,000. okay. let's get the latest in

sports from betty nguyen. what do you think of that. >> that what is crazy. i don't know if i was treated for diaper rash at that age. my parents were like forget about it, you'll be okay. the youth invasion has begun in beantown. the boston celtics have hired butler university's brad stevens to be their head coach. the 36-year-old fills the vacancy left by doc rivers' departure to the l.a. clippers. manny ramirez is heading back to the big leagues sporting a brand new do. here's his old hair do right here. long locks. the texas rangers signed a 41-year -- the 41-year-old to a minor league contract and says he will cut his famous locks to comply with the team's policy on hair length. let's hope it doesn't change his game. the minnesota twins celebrated yankee mariana rivera's final season, oh, yeah, presenting him, the relief pitcher, with a rocking chair of all things, kind of fitting, since the twins gift is made of shattered bats, some caused by rivera's famous fastball. rapper jay-z continuing to

make a splash in the sports world since launching rock nation sports in a new song off his album "magna carta holy grail." the music mogul brags about signing robinson canoe away from super agent scott boras. did you see it yet, sportsillustrated.com had fun with an expose on ricky bobby from the movie "talladega nights" and according to the article the fictional nascar driver is broke but managed to pull enough money with antoine walker and warren sapp to open an r&b smoke and toke shop. never heard of that before, but maybe he's the comeback kid. ricky bobby. >> thanks. james canned feeney's $70 million estate will be distributed. we will have details next. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. djibouti, africa. 2004. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999.

[ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

you are looking at pictures out of cairo in cairo right now a ceremony is being held to swear in egypt's chief justice as interim justice hours after mohamed morsi was removed from power. joining me to talk about this and other political stories is bob franken. bob, good morning to you. happy independence day. >> good morning. same to you. >> thank you. let's go ahead and start with this turmoil in egypt. what are the next steps here for the u.s. in terms of its response? the u.s. watching closely. how critical are the next few

days? >> well, quite critical. morsi is still saying that he's the victim of a coup, and that's a very loaded word because in the united states, it would be a prohibition against providing aid to a military that was involved in a coup and the united states provides like a $1.3 billion to the egyptian military. the u.s. is avoiding the word coup like crazy. you have a democratic leader who has been, in effect, had his power usurped by the military there. the united states is going to proceed to use the old line very carefully. >> all right. and bob, another hot topic we want to get to, the nsa surveillance program. president obama and german chancellor angela merkel agreed to talks discussing the nsa allegedly spying on germany and its allies. bob, what can we expect to come from these talks? >> well, i suspect that the nsa will probably seek see cretly

monitor the talks, number one. but beyond that, there is a particular sensitivity in germany to this kind of thing because of its long history under communism, particularly in the eastern side which by the way is where merkel is from. but the talks are going to also have this sort of shock, i'm really shocked idea, behind them because, of course, all governments know that everybody spies on each other. so it's going to be very interesting to see and it's going to be interesting to see how they gloss it over when they come out after their meeting. >> all right. bob franken, it's always nice to see you, sir. happy fourth. >> nice to see you, veronica. same to you. >> thank you. it is time now for entertainment news. let's start with this, reporting saying late actor james gandolfini has left the bulk of his $70 million estate to his two children. 13-year-old michael and 8-month-old lilliana. a judge has ordered former miss pennsylvania shenna to pay

$5 million to donald trump for calling the miss usa pageant, quote, fraudulent. last june, despite her pleas that the award would financially devastate her. usher ringing the closing bell at the new york stock exchange wednesday to promote the macy's fourth of july fireworks spectacular. catch tonight's fireworks at 8:00, 7:00 central on nbc. "e news" has confirmed kerry washington secretly tied the knot with san francisco niners quarterback nnamdi asomugha in idaho. they had been dating since last summer. on a largely desolate stretch of road in texas, playboy enterprises put up their logo in an attempt to revamp their image through art and culture. the bunny logo caused quite a stir among residents and a state agency says that it is illegal and it must come down. apparently hayden pan ne tear likes nutella because she

tweeted this photo of herself holding an 11-pound container of the chocolate hazelnut goodness with the caption, "breakfast anyone." doesn't that turn your stomach? >> i think it sounds good. kanye west is reportedly concerned that baby north is not responding to his music. celebrity blogger naughty but nice rob says kardashian told a friend that the baby seems to, quote, cry every time one of her daddy's songs is on. time for your first buzz. we're talking a couple different things this morning. fourth of july, we're talking barbies and also talking puppies. go puppies next, first? >> puppies. >> who doesn't love puppies. >> dylan. >> two of my favorite things. well, they've been combined for a commercial for purina beniful. ball in the basket and coin rolls down the thing. i don't know how they recorded this whole thing, but watching

this whole thing play out, it's available on the internet, is the cutest thing. >> it is. >> i love dogs and rube goldberg machines blow my mind since "pee wee's big adventure." let's get to the barbies. we've all grown up with barbies. now there are quote/unquote real barbies. an artist took the average 19-year-old's measurements and put a real barbie -- >> looks nothing like the barbie we know, right? >> i think it looks better. this what is they came out with. and this is the model. who knows if they're ever going to hit the store shelves. they're so much more realistic. >> if you did the proportions she wouldn't be able to stand up straight. it's crazy. >> at least the one on the right, you know, gives girls, you know, a more natural look of what everybody looks like. gives girls hope is what you're saying. >> betty, you have something on fourth of july. >> let's talk food. i've already had barbecue for breakfast. mind you only 5:20 in the

morning. think about these foods in history. did you know that john adams celebrated the fourth with turtle soup of all things. yeah. so when it comes to our hamburgers and hot dogs that came from the spaniards. wheat buns, christopher columbus. all of this goes back in history. so happy fourth, everyone. >> and we can thank them for where they've taken us now because burgers and dogs. >> we consume 150 million hot dogs over the fourth of july holiday. >> happy fourth of july. i'm veronica dela cruz. happy fourth of july to you. yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male announcer ] fiber one.

when you experience something great, you want to share it. with everyone. that's why more customers recommend verizon, america's largest 4g lte network. with olay, here's how. new regenerist eye and lash duo. the cream smooths the look of lids... softens the look of lines. the serum instantly thickens the look of lashes. see wow! eyes in just one week with olay.

good thursday morning. happy independence day. right now on "first look" -- unrest and celebrations in egypt as the world watches what will happen next. and president obama hunkers down with his national security team. fourth of july preps from heightened security to barbecue blowouts and everything in between. a massive hole swallows up a car and driver, but somehow, it all ends well. and who gets james gandolfini's $70 million estate? the arizona firefighters are remembered. the bunny that is causing quite a stir in texas. very good morning to you. nice to see you. i'm vic