new sanctions he says will change the game. and, a powerful storm system, a rash of severe storm systems move through the country's mid section. the overnight damage and where the system is headed next. this is "way too early." good morning. i'm mika brzezinski in for thomas roberts. thomas, we're with you and your mom this morning. it's monday, april 28th. we begin with breaking news overnight. more than a dozen people are dead after a series of tornadoes tore through the middle section of the country. the worst damage appears to be in arkansas. officials have confirmed 16 people killed in the suburbs of little rock. the state is reporting widespread damage with the area now being compared to a war zone. >> i've saw some of the biggest trees just turned upside down and literally the houses picked up and set on top of cars.

it was over there some of the garages have the cars and garage in the yard. it's a mess. >> at least one person was killed in oklahoma by another tornado. several other states experienced severe storms and there's more bad weather expected today. let's go straight to nbc meteorologist bill karins for more on where the severe storms are likely to hit next. bill? >> we're still watching them occurring now. as we go throughout this afternoon we'll get another mini outbreak. hopefully it won't be as bad as last night. 31 tornadoes in all. this was the line. 100 miles long. this was the one we showed you pictures of, the one that was taking trees and cars and houses and throwing them all into piles. that was the one that just missed little rock but hit mayflower and especially the mayflower area. where are we right now? we still have three tornado watches. one in memphis goes until 9:00 a.m.

we're going through this afternoon. until about 4:00 to 5:00 that we should be watching the potential for stronger storms. this is a slight risk and moderate risk for today. 28 million americans are at risk for severe storms today. as far as the tornado risk goes, it's much fewer than that. it's more to the south. mika, this picture got my attention. once the sun comes up and we get more of these pictures and stories, we've seen it before, joplin. tuscaloosa. looks like we've done it again. >> okay. watch that for us. i know we've got some other systems on the way. let's turn to the crisis in ukraine where europe is being drawn into the center of the conflict. a group of military observers from five different european countries are being held hostage by pro russian militants in the eastern part of the ukraine. they kidnapped eight unarmed monitors accusing them of being spice for nato. they were put out on display at

a news conference just hours after video emerged. >> the people will be released. thank you. we are really waiting for it. >> one of the observers was released for health reasons. they say the other men will not be released unless there is a prisoner swap with kiev. "the daily beast" is reporting that putin is halting all talks. president obama announced that as expected new economic sanctions would be issued later today against russia. >> the goal here is not to go after mr. putin personally, the goal is to change his calculus with respect to how the current actions that he's engaging in in the ukraine have an adverse impact on the russian economy over the long haul and to encourage them to actually walk

the walk and not just talk the talk when it comes to diplomatically resolving the crisis in ukraine. it was a somber day yesterday in kiev. ukrainians gathered in independence square for remembrance day to honor the more than 100 protestors killed in february. the nba is investigating one of its owners after alleged racist remarks were leaked to the press. tm tmz released the argument of donald sterling and his miss stress at the time. >> people call you and tell you that i have black people on my instagram and it bothers you? >> yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. how about your whole life, every day you could do whatever you want? you could sleep with them, bring them in, do whatever you want. the little i ask you is not to promote it on that and not to

bring them to my games. >> look at all this negativity. >> there's no negativity. i love everybody. i'm just saying in your lousy [ bleep ] instay grams you don't have to have yourself with -- walking with black people. you don't have to. if you want to, do it. >> if it's white people it's okay? if it was larry bird, would it have made a difference? >> you're just a big fighter, i can see. who would want to live with a woman like you? >> it sounds like she's setting him up. yeah. the clippers organization -- well done -- responded to the audio recording saying we do not know if it's legitimate or been altere altered. the woman is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million. told mr. sterling that she would get even. i think she's doing that now.

nba commissioner adam silver says he's not ready to take action against sterling but vows to act quickly in his investigation. last night the clippers who are currently playing in the nba playoffs held a silent protest. during the pre-game warmups they took off their warmups and revealed their shirts to hide the clippers logo. >> since the audio leaked the response across the league has been unanimous. >> there is absolutely no place in the nba family for ignorance, intolerance, reprehensible comments that are unacceptable and not fitting for what this league is all about. >> he shouldn't own a team anymore. he should stand up and say i don't want to own a team anymore. >> if somebody want to be racist, that's all right. that's their thing. but when you in a position of power and you can take jobs and economic opportunity from people, that's when crosses the

line. >> we've found a way to make this the greatest game in the world and for comments like that, it takes our game. we can't have it. we can't have it from a player, we can't have it from an owner, from a fan, so on, so on. doesn't matter if you black, white, hispanic, whatever. >> there isn't a process for this but he has to go. he has to go somehow. they have to figure it out. nba great michael jord dap weighed in telling "usa today" that i'm appalled this type of ignorance exists in this country and at the highest level of the sport. in a league where we can't allow this. president obama said when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk and that's what happened here. hundreds of thousands of people witnessed an historic day yesterday at the vatican. pope francis declared both pope

john paul ii and john xxiii a saint. it was the first time two had been cannonized at the same time. pope francis had high praise for the 20th century pontiffs saying that they were men of courage who were never overwhelmed because of their faith and belief in god. benedict xvi rowas also at the ceremony. divers are back in the water. their efforts were hampered over the weekend by rough weather and current. 114 people still missing with more than 180 people confirmed dead. and as the investigation continues into what caused the ship to cap size, south korea's prime minister announced he is resigning. he blamed deep rooted evils in society for the tragedy. many of the victims families have criticized south korea's

government for allegedly not doing enough to save their loved ones. there are new details this morning in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. today australian prime minister tony abbott said the attempts to find the plane are entering a new effort. teams will focus on underwater equipment to scan the ocean floor. the search area is also expanding outside the zone where suspected black box signals were detected this month. the new search area could take up to eight months to examine. second of state john kerry says israel is at risk of becoming an apartheid state. according to the daily beast kerry told the world leaders that event be actually he may put together his own plan for peace and the two sides could, quote, take it or leave it. the tough words show john

kerry's frustration which despite months of attention have completely unraveled. pro israel leaders have use the the words apartheid. benjamin netanyahu said they have a clear process of moving it forward. >> the president of hamas has to decide whether he wants a pact with egypt or israel. he cannot embrace hamas and say he wants peace with israel. in fact, what i say to him very simply is this, president abas, tear up your pact with hamas. recognize the jewish state. make peace. i hope you do that but you can't have both hamas and peace with israel. >> president abas reached a unity pact with the rival group hamas last week. they both consider hamas to be a terrorist organization. now to business. stocks will look to rally today after closing last week for a loss. all three indexes ended friday in negative territory.

let's go to cnbc steve ched wik. i botched your name. >> that's all right, mika. i can get yours right. weel gdp for the first quarter. we're also going to get the unemployment report on friday. that will be key. perhaps the most interesting could be the fmoc meeting, federal reserve meeting. they'll take more quantitative easing off the table. we have a massive farmer deal. meanwhile, looking at the data report, the problem with the job creation we've seen, we have as many jobs in the u.s. as we have back in 2007. they're not well-paid jobs. legal and accounting, they've lost a lot of jobs. whereas, fast food restaurants have created jobs. the average take home pay for a household in 2012 is 51,000.

back in 2007 it was as high as 56,000. jobs are being created but they're not high paying jobs. >> mr. sedgwick, microsoft's web browser has a new flaw. what do we know about that? >> it's i.e., version 6-11. it accounts for enormous numbers of the world's global browser. the problem is the hackers could gain access to people's accounts and their computers. this could affect especially the xp users. xp has support and it's quite an old system. they're trying to migrate people to new systems. xp could be affected. they're not going to get the support from microsoft. that's a crying shame. steve sedgwick, back to you, mika. thank you, steve. the clippers seem to be on the same page in the pre-game protest. did the unity motivate them when the game began? some say it's the worst

video of its own time but e.t. from atari is back in the headlines. 30 years after its release and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. ♪ ♪ nearly two decades after her kidnapping, phillip and nancy pleaded guilty to the abduction, rape of dugard. she released a statement saying she is, quote, relieved. ♪

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[ female announcer ] call an allstate agent and get a quote now. time now for sports. let's go over to bill karins. double duty this morning. >> great nba action. fantastic. i know you didn't miss a beat of it. >> that's correct. i was glued to the television. >> were you up to 1:00 in the morning last night watching houston and portland? >> exactly. >> speaking of the rockets and

trail blazers, let's go to the highlights. houston trailing by 2. james hardin hands it to dwight howard. an easy slam for him. portland's mo williams has a chance to win it at the buzzer. no. off the back iron and we go to overtime. three-point game at the end of o.t. rockets with the ball. they fumble it away. they fumbled a lot of this game away. portland hangs on with the 123-120 win the 3-1 lead. to oakland where the warriors are hosting the clippers. steph curry had 33 leading the warriors past the clippers. the clippers ended up losing badly in that game. they're tied 2-2 apiece. let's hear what doc rivers had to say after the game. >> we're going home now and usually that would mean we're going to our safe haven, and i don't even know if that's true. >> going to be something to see, to see the fan reaction and

everything at that home game. let's check the rest of the scores. the which is zards beat the bulls, 98-89. the raptors beat the nets 87-79. to the ice, here's a look at some of the top plays. >> the shot. score! dominic, 3-0, rangers. >> sharp up the wing. he's hooked. it's in. >> he works in. he scores! nick bonino, the overtime winner and the anaheim ducks win the series. >> the ducks down the stars 5-4 in overtime. that's good hockey. move on to round two. also moving on are the blackhawks after a 5-1 win over the blues. the rangers take a 3-2 lead after beating the flyers. let's go to pitch for soccer. liverpool, oh, no, that's what i would do. that's an opening for chelsea.

they're going to finish that. the best players in the world. take a lead 1-0. in the 92nd minute chelsea finds an opportunity all alone against the liverpool defenders for the second goal. 2-0 the final. we know someone that's going to be a little bit excited about that. >> actually not happy but -- >> that's right. >> joe and his son there. joe not happy, joey hardy. hard plane ride home. we'll see him tomorrow. hey, bill, while you're there. >> give you a quick update? >> please do. we have on "morning joe" up' give us an extensive look at the torr nad does across the country. what about the weather? >> if you have flight plans, yard plans, whatever you're doing, this storm in the middle of the country that's causing all the tornadoes will be extremely slow moving. if you're getting rain today you'll probably get it tomorrow. eventually this makes its way to the east coast for wednesday or thursday. these are rainfall estimates.

you're going to get soaked. that much rainfall over a two-day period we'll deal with flooding. for today's forecast, again, the headlines, another tornado outbreak possible mississippi, alabama, tennessee. there will be a lot of airport issues. atlanta, charlotte, a lot of headaches. >> nothing compares. >> yeah. >> bill karins, we'll see you in just a bit. coming up on "morning joe," much more on the tapes that allegedly show clippers owner donald sterling making racist comments. the next steps in the nba and the fallout for the owner. john oliver is taking his talents to hbo. louis will show you our favorite moments from opening night from "last week tonight."

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earlier in the show we told you president obama arrived in the philippines this morning just hours after the u.s. signed a sweeping new defense agreement with the island nation. do you want to sound smart today? tell your friends that according to a recent survey, filipinos hold americans in higher regard than anyone else on the planet. of the 39 countries, pew research said the philippines have the most positive outlook

to the u.s. with an impressive 85% saying they view our country favorably. yes, they seem to like us more than we like ourselves. so, speaking of self-loathing, let's go to louis. >> i don't think that's possible. >> look at that cheesy smile. were you thriving all weekend? >> all weekend and all of last night as well. former daily show correspondent john oliver made his debut last night in the preview of his show "last week tonight." he didn't waste any time getting straight to the punch line. >> just a short time ago pope francis presided over a double papal ceremony that elevated john paul ii and john paul xxiii together. >> two at "once." that's the equivalent of a kfc double down. this morning was actually historic for a number of reasons. >> it's an event that may well never happen again. in effect, four popes in the same place at the same time.

pope francis will declare that two of his predecessors are here in spirit while the man he succeeded pope benedict looks on. >> you know who i feel bad for there? pope benedict because it cannot be easy to be the fourth most popular pope in the room. >> i think that show is going to become very popular very quickly. many call it the worst game ever. game maker atari literally tried to bury it back in the 1980s. you can't keep a bad game down. ♪ ♪ >> it's like pacman. >> atari's e.t., mika. check out the incredible graphics and game play from back in 1983. i wasn't born then. the story of e.t., they tried to dispose of 700,000 cartridges by burying them in a new mexico government and covering them

with concrete. 30 years later they unearthed the game and some video game fanatics began playing the game out of the back of a van. insiders say it's partially a result of that horrible game, e.t. >> when you ad lib it's something that adds. >> not detracts. >> i'm going to go bury you in 30 years. >> more training. >> yeah, you do. >> well, let's go to kansas city where a water slide there is now the tallest in the world standing at 168 feet and if that doesn't have you freaking out, check out the promotional video, mika. that does not look safe.

it is frightening. >> i want to do that. >> i would love to film you doing that. that's at a water park in kansas city. if you could head over there. speeds can reach over 60 miles per hour. the whole ride takes only 11 seconds. it's set to open next month. it's still undergoing safety tests. the heavier the load, the faster you'll go. >> what are you trying to say exactly? thank you very much. i do want to do that. i love heights. louis, coming up on "morning joe" he's doing sports, he's doing a package on thrive. what else is he doing? "morning joe" is now just moments away. akin' mad havoc! now's the time to send in the scotts turf builder weed & feed, man! it kills weeds while it feeds and strengthens your grass. feed your lawn. feed it! ♪ it kills weeds while it feeds and strengthens your grass. (vo) oh.

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guaranteed. ortho weed b gon max. get order. get ortho®. ♪ there's absolutely no place in the nba family for ignorance, intolerance, comments that are unacceptable and not fitting for what this league is all about. >> he shouldn't own a team anymore. and he should stand up and say i don't want to own a team anymore. >> if somebody want to be racist, that's