if it's sunday, it's meet the press. it's monday, august 24th. right now on "first look," moments ago three americans honored as heros by the french for stopping an armed attack. stock markets around the globe are down big time following the dow's 500 point drop on friday. where will they go today? and as president obama gets back from vacation, more signs that his vice-president may be throwing his hat into the ring. plus an indy car driver is in a coma. usain bolt by a hair to remain the world's fastest man as we begin a busy week. "first look" starts right now. thanks for joining us today. we want to begin with breaking news this morning. the president of france honored

three americans who helped subdue a paris gunman on a paris train. they jumped into action to save other passengers from the heavily armed suspect beating him until he was unanxio anxiocd tieing him up until authorities arrived. this is really a remarkable story. these three men just received france's highest honor for their heroism. >> reporter: yes, after the all the praising from all over the world, finally a reward, and what a reward. the legion of honor is the highest honor anybody could get here in france. very few french nationals get it, let alone foreigners who need to do something extraordinary to receive that special medal. and what an extraordinary act that was. these are guys who were just out here on holiday and they ended up stopping a terrorist and

preventing from president holland during that ceremony called a blood bath or carnage, betty. >> quite incredible. congratulations to them. thank you so much, claude yoe. over the weekend, the men who were honored this morning, they described what it was like overpowering the gunman on that train. take a listen. >> i turned around and i saw what looked to be an ak-47 and it looked like it was jammed or it wasn't working and he was trying to charge the weapon. alex just sit me on the shoulder and said let's go. we tackled him, hit the ground. alex grabbed the gun out of his hand while i put him in a choke hold. he pulled a handgun out, took out a box cutter, started jabbing at me with that. we let go, all three of us started punching him while he was in the middle of us.

i was able to grab him again and choke him unconscious while alec was hitting him in the head with the pistol or rifle. that's pretty much it. >> i want the lesson to be learned that basically in times of basis like that i would want it to be learned that basically to do something. hiding or sitting back is not going to accomplish anything, and the gunman would have been successful if my friend, spencer, had not gotten up. i just want to lesson to be learned going forward in times of terror like that to please do something. don't just stand by and watch. >> three very brave men, congratulations to them. well, all eyes are on wall street this morning after the dow jones industrial average fell more than 500 points on friday, the worst the stock

market had seen in four years. a lot of people are wondering if wall street is bracing for another down day. >> reporter: another week, another day, another decline. you can expect to see more red arrows at the opening bell. the do you tumbled 531 points, the worst day in four years. that was keyed by worries of slowdown in china. speculation over when the fed will hike interest rates and the continued slide in oil prices. asian prices fell overnight. we can get some clues whether a rate hike is coming when the vice chairman speaks in wyoming this weekend. prices are falling below 39 dollars a barrel but gas isn't following suit and held at $2.71 a gallon. analysts say prices are higher in the midwest.

individual investors should reevaluate how you divide your assets, sticking to those safe havens. >> i think a lot of people are going to be reevaluating a lot of things today. thank you so much. a terrifying scene at pocono raceway in pennsylvania. with 21 laps to go, sage care um was leading the pack until he spun out in a turn, hitting the wall at around 220 miles per hour. he walked out of the car and then was able to get to the ambulance under his own power. that's remarkable. but driver justin wilson was not so fortunate. he was hit in the head by a large piece of debris that knocked him unconscious, causing him to veer into the wall. he was air lifted from the raceway and is currently in a coma in allentown. more than a million acres

have been scorched by wildfires in the pacific northwest. hundreds of homes are burned. the government is spending 150 million doll million a week in federal money to fight these flames. in washington thousands are still under evacuation orders but some are refusing to leave their homes. >> i see several structures burning. it's pretty sad. >> in oregon, cooler temperatures and lighter winds have helped firefighters tackles the flames. right now there are more than 100 fires kicking up dangerous levels of smoke across the west. president obama's vacation has come to an end. he returned from his two-week stay in martha's vineyard last night. starting today he has a full plate. after a private meeting with vice-president joe biden and we'll get to him in just a minute, president obama is off to las vegas this afternoon. he will deliver remarks at the national clean energy summit. environmental concerns will likely be the topic of a

conversation in upcoming meetings with pope francis and the president of china. on top of all of that, he will have to discuss dealings with congress and there of course are many things on the plate -- a looming government shutdown at the end of september, not to mention infrastructure spending and of course the iran nuclear deal. on that note, there is some good news for the president. senate minority leader harry reid will support the agreement. that makes 27 senate democrats in favor, meaning president obama needs seven more to ensure the deal's passage. this all brings us to vice-president joe biden's 2016 aspirations. will he or won't he? the "washington post" is reporting that biden is leaning toward a presidential run after a surprise meeting yesterday with elizabeth warren. g.o.p. candidates are clawing to pull ahead of the pack and nbc's brian moore reports.

>> i'm not way down in the polls. >> reporter: carly fiorina is fighting for a spot in next week's g.o.p. debate. she wants to talk about hillary clinton. >> she has lied about key things, benghazi, her e-mails, her server. >> we're going to build a wall -- >> reporter: but donald trump's tough talk has the republican field stuck an defense, responding to his talking points. >> i don't agree that we should be trying to amend the constitution. >> i think birth right citizenship as a policy matter doesn't make sense. >> if folks want to come to our country, they should come legally. >> reporter: trump is defending an immigration plan that could cost between 100 and 6$600 billion and not saying exactly how he would pull it off. >> it's called management. the first thing we have to do is secure the border. >> reporter: managing the conversation, donald trump is still leading in the polls. brian moore, nbc news,

washington. the fallout continues after the hacking of adultery site ashley madison. jeffrey ashton, a florida state attorney who gained national attention in this unsuccessful case against casey anthony has admitted to signing up for the site two years ago. on sunday he says he committed no crime and never followed through with an affair. >> these were incredibly stupid choices. today i'm not very proud of myself. >> meanwhile, two canadian law firms have filed an almost $600 million lawsuit on behalf of canadians who subscribed to ashley madison and had their information leaked. the breach exposed some 39 million memberships on the so-called dark web last week. let's get you to sports right now.

week two of preseason football, packers/steelers. first quarter aaron rodgers finds randall cobb for a 30 yard completion. rodgers completed four of his five passes for 57 yards before he made his exit. ben roethlisberger also having a good passing day. he finished the game 11 for 14 for 100 yards and one touchdown pass. steelers win it 24-19. the cowboys and san francisco facing the 49ers. second quarter, mike per sell comes away with the interception. he breaks two tackles and goes 37 yards for the score. cowboys still struggling deep in their territory. the punt gets blocked by the 49ers and is recovered in the end zone for the touchdown. 9ers go on to win it 23-6. brutal. to the wyndham championship in north carolina. the shot of the weekend goes to scott brown. par three from 162 yards out

takes a couple of bounces and goes right in for the hole in one. he finished tied for third. the winner though, 51-year-o'1"d davis love the third wins and becomes the third oldest player to win a pga championship. congratulations to this guy. bolt overcame daughters as he took on the world championships in beijing. he finished 9.79 seconds beating rival justin gatlin by just 100th of a second. then there's this. boxing mega star floyd mayweather posted this picture on instagram with the caption, my new $4.8 million car. a travata. i don't even know what that is but apparently it's very expensive. it's the only one built in the world with a 4.8 liter engine,

yielding 1,000 horsepower. it goes other to 60 in 2.9 seconds, pulling a whopping g and a half of horse. it was featured on leno's garage. former daily show host jon stewart was the host of the wwe summer slam last night, battling it out for the title. stewart made his way to the ring and helped rollins defeat cena. seems only right that stewart gets a belt as well or maybe just a chair. a big sunday surprise from former president jimmy carter, plus multiple deaths at two air shows over the weekend. this is sad news to tell you about. we have those details straight ahead as "first look" continues.

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from a storm. how about being in a kayak. this is in florida. he did get wet but he avoided the lightning thankfully. that will make you paddle a little quicker. over the weekend we saw some severe weather in the northern plains. the fire weather continues to be the problem out there, still a lot of big huge blazes, ens in washington state. today the winds are going to pick up. over the weekend the air was stagnant so it was bad to breathe but at least it was easy to fight the fires. that changes today. they're afraid a lot of the big fires could flare up. this cold front is heading east. he will see showers and storms with it, especially in the big cities in the east. here's how it looks at 9:00 a.m. by 5:00 p.m., albany, binghamton, scranton, washington d.c., chances of showers and storms. tuesday afternoon, additional showers and storms will flare up in new england, especially in areas of northern new england. betty, it looks like a pretty nice day, much of the country

still very warm with the exception of the great lakes. >> not a bad way to start off the week, thank you. a state trooper is in critical condition this morning after being shot in the head with a sawed off shotgun outside of bell city. the officer arrived on the scene and found a pick-up truck in a ditch and offered to help the occupant. a brief altercation occurred and the man allegedly shot the trooper in the head. some passengers saw vincent on the ground and stopped to help. the superintendent commented on the good samaritans. >> they showed up and subdued the guy, actually put handcuffs on him and tended and gave first aid to the trooper there. >> the state police superintendent described vincent as an honorable officer with a wife and 9-year-old son. according to police, 54-year-old

dagle has an extensive record of duis and will be facing first degree attempted murder changes. isis blows up ancient temple. they detonated a large quantity of explosives around one of the most important temples yesterday. this was the first time the islamic state had damaged part of the ancient ruins. last week they beheaded an 80-year-old scholar. two major air show tragedies over the weekend. in england, a vintage fighter jet crashed into a busy road after the pilot failed to pull out of the loop maneuver. it death toll has risen to 11. in switzerland two small planes collided into a barn. the pilot was killed. luckily the pilot of the second plane was able to eject himself to safety.

for the first time since revealing his cancer diagnosis, president carter talked sunday school in his hometown of plains, georgia where hundreds lined up to hear his speak. >> if you have a setback, accept it and ask how much of it is our fault and then set a higher goal than you ever have before and strive for that. it's pandemonium at the national zoo in washington d.c. a giant panda had twin cubs over the weekend. aren't they cute. woman to woman on the campaign trail. governor moonbeam weighs in on the dark energy and a jeb bush photo shop mishap. what is this all about? we'll tell you. understands the life behind it. those who have served our nation.

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has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®. 22 minutes past the hour. time now for scrambled politics. don't adjust your television set. we're about to play a video of carly fiorina saying something nice about hillary clinton. meet the press moderator chuck todd asked the republican if she had respect for the democratic front-runner. >> in many ways i do. she's a hard working woman. she's an intelligent woman. she has dedicated herself to public service. it is also true, however, that she is not trustworthy, that she has lied about key things, bengha benghazi, her e-mails, her server. >> california governor jerry brown used colorful language in

describing the situation. >> an e-mail is just an utterance in digital form, but it has some kind of dark energy that gets everybody excited, so i don't know how it's almost like a vampire. she's going to have to find a stake and put it right through the heart of these e-mails in some way. >> interesting. well, the controversy is bringing back rumors that just won't die. from the hill, left whispers to senator elizabeth warren, it's not too late to run. liberal strategists are suggesting the left wing candidate would be beating the democrat right now. jeb bush tweeted this out. look at his left hand. it appears to be poorly photo shopped, somehow darker than his normal skin tone. right to rise explained it's just a shadow from the original photo. and on last week tonight, john oliver discussed south

korea's strategy of playing pop music aimed at north korea across the dmz. >> nobody wants north korea firing a nuclear weapon and heaven help us all if south korea chooses to play this. ♪ who likes to party ♪ >> that was a hit, and please, south korea, do not play that through your speakers. there's not just a declaration of war. that's basically gas with back beats and an auto tune. >> that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. ahead the west borough baptist church gets rick rolled by the foo fighters. plus one husband's growing tribute to his late wife.

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♪ what's all this commotion? well, members of the westboro baptist church who were protest protesting in kansas city got a surprise from the foo fighters. they drove by, blasting never going to give you up by rick astley, holding a sign saying you got rick rolled. lady gaga, john travolta, ryan murphy got to hang out with barbra streisand this weekend. lady gaga posted this photo to instagram saying, quote, what a completely amazing moment. how much do you love sun flowers? a man in wisconsin is honoring his late wife by planting a four-mile stretch along a highway. this is such a beautiful story. the sun flowers, they total more than 400 acres.

they were his wife's favorite flower. she had plans to sell seeds to benefit cancer research and that dream is coming true because of all of this. what a beautiful tribute. thanks for watching today. that's going to do it for us. "way too early" starts right now. this morning, market meltdown, grim signs we're in for another gut-check day on wall street. plus a man in custody and a trooper in critical condition after a dui stop that went horribly wrong. >> he seemed like he was ready to fight until the end, so we were. massacre averted. three americans stop an attacker on a train in europe. this morning they get a hero's welcome from the president of france. and later -- >> jon stewart has gone from daily show host to summer slam criminal. >> from the political arena to the wrestling arena, jon stewart takes on a new hosting role.

it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early," the she that believes wrestling is real and the moon landing was fake. ♪ good morning, everyone. it's monday, august 24th. we begin this morning in france where the three americans who foiled what could have been a mass shooting aboard a paris-bound train on friday met with president francois hollande this morning who awarded first class spencer stone, alex car lot toes and college student anthony sadler with france's highest honor and thanked them for their heroics. >> translator: on friday, on friday night, a man had decided to launch a terror attack on board a paris train.