. on alert. terror concerns in europe trigger a new warning for american travelers. girl power. the supreme court heads back into session this time with a record number of female justices. and a census of the sea. a first ever tally of species living in the world's oceans. good morning, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more state ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with a travel alert. this morning americans traveling to europe are under direct --

under direction rather from the state department to be on guard against potential terror attacks there. the government's warning comes after uncovering what it characterizes as terror plots beyond the planning stages and already under way. nbc's tracie potts has the details for us from washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. but no specific information against europe and that's why this is a travel alert and not the more serious travel warning. what we do know, intelligence officials believe, that eight germans and two british brothers are hiding out somewhere near the pakistan/afghan border believed to be planning an attack in europe similar to what we saw in 2008 in mumbai, india, those coordinated shootings and bombings there and believe osama bin laden himself may be involved in the planning of this. over the weekend, the pakistan ambassador here in the united states said that the cia and pakistani officials are sharing

intelligence and that is part of the reason why they know more about these planned possible attacks at this point. so the state department warning for today, be on the lookout for anything suspicious. if you are traveling in europe, specifically on trains, subways, airports, seaports and around tourist attractions. in great britain the alert level is already severe. at this point they want americans to be on alert. lynn? >> tracie potts, thank you. well, meanwhile, the pakistani taliban are claiming responsibility this morning for attacking and setting fire to at least 20 tankers carrying supplies for american and nato troops in afghanistan. today's attack, which killed at least three people, is the third such strike inside pakistan in as many days. it happened on a supply route that has been stalled due to a border closing imposed by the country's government last week in protest of a nato helicopter attack that killed three

pakistani troops. well, it is the first monday in october. and in washington, that means the supreme court goes back to work. newly appointed justice elena kagan takes her seat on the bench making the high court one-third female for the first time in history. nbc's frances kuo as our report. >> reporter: the u.s. supreme court traditionally starts its term on the first monday in october but there's nothing typical about the court this time around. >> so help me god. >> congratulations. >> reporter: elena kagan hand-picked by president obama is its newest member. kagan becomes the third woman on this court, the fourth in its history. but she'll likely sit out about a third of the cases to avoid any conflicts stemming from her former stint at the justice department. >> with only eight members of the court deciding these cases there is a chance of a tie. if that happens, the supreme court's not going to be able to decide it and will have to come back in probably another year.

>> reporter: kagan and the eight other also have a full caseload when the session begins. one of the biggest whether protests at military funerals are protected under freedom of speech. protesters claim war deaths are god's way of punishing the gays. >> god is punishing these soldiers, punishing their parents really. >> reporter: fred phelps was one of several protesters of matthew snyder. snyder's father said their presence forever ruined the memory of that day. >> they turned it into a circus. >> reporter: one of the many pivotal decisions facing the new supreme court, still closely divided between a majority of five conservatives and four liberals. francis frances kuo. a suspected bank robber locked in the trunk of his car. he evaded capture after robbing

a local bank. unfortunately, for him he did so by hiding in his trunk. acting on a lead they tracked down the getaway vehicle not expecting to find him right under their nose. parents and children at a festival got more excitement than they paid for when the ferris wheel they were riding broke down leaving them dangling for three hours. firefighters worked quickly stabilizing the ride before rescuing all 17 riders. officials suspect a loose axle pin may be to blame. and in new mexico, cows flew with bumblebees, even darth vader took to the sky at the balloon fiesta. the largest ballooning event in the world. the spectacular display of over 600 hot air balloons attracts enthusiasts and novices from around the world. now for a look at the national weather we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning, i'm away for a week. i thought you'd greet me with

sunny weather. a little warmth. >> you didn't get the flowers. >> no, only the rain. >> what's your name again? maybe i had the wrong name. >> how quickly you forget. >> good to see you. >> i know i'm forgettable. >> this horrible forecast. lynn was mentioning it. last week we had the big storm. this won't be a heavy rain. this is a typical fall dreary week. if you live in boston or hartford, new haven, providence, new york city, philly, even d.c., an ugly tart to the fall week, ugly start to october, i should say and it's just going to be rainy, not heavy rain but rainy on and off lightly, temperatures are very chilly, too. big huge areas of canadian high pressure moved down. it was a cold weekend. sunny but cold in areas of chicago and detroit and now that cold air made it to the eastern seaboard. the green is the rain and, again, it's not really heavy. it's not like thunderstorm rain, just light rain, almost more annoying.

the heavier stuff and steady rains towards providence and boston and light shower activity from d.c. all the way up to new york. in its wind, these are sustained winds, 22 miles per hour, gusty in boston, chilly too and then the wins are just falling down from the north. when you get the north wind it's almost like a nor'easter and it's going to linger till thursday. won't get nice till friday. if you're anywhere in the mid-atlantic or new england. when i mention the cold air, 43 in chicago and 44 in kansas city, look at this. atlanta is actually colder than areas here in new england, 47 this morning in atlanta. so it's a completely different feel to it than what we had even last week where summer was trying to hold on. this is end of fall-type weather. 67 for your high in atlanta. then from new york to boston, temperatures, 50s, maybe if we're lucky into the low 60s. as i mention, doesn't really change for tuesday, notice temperatures estimate stuck in the 60s with some rainy weather.

if you want the nice stuff, you have to be in the middle of the country. texas great all week. all the way up to minneapolis. lynn, we're talking in new york, you may not see the sun until friday. >> brutal. all right. well, thank you, bill. good to be back. i appreciate it. >> i blame you. >> what else is new? well, ser risen commits to millions and i'm getting tweets from your dog. your "first look" at the morning's business headlines is straight ahead. baseball playoffs are set. donovan mcnabb proves you can go home again and give that sideline reporter a helmet. you're watching first first on msnbc. re like to diversify my workforce,

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verizon. welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. authorities say a church van rolled over last night in southwestern georgia killing four and injuring more than a dozen others. the van was on its way to florida when its rear tire blew

out causing the driver to lose control. iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad is calling for american leaders to be "buried" in response to what he claims are u.s. military threats against their country's nuclear program. ahmadinejad known for harsh rhetoric against the west went a step further yesterday using an iranian phrase for one's most hated enemies. this morning's "washington post" reports interest groups are spending five times more on this year's midterm elections than they did on last year's midterms. the bulk is being shelled out by conservatives outspending aligned rivals by 7-1 in recent weeks. results of a first ever global marine life census shows that the world's oceans are far more diverse than ever imagined. after a decade-long study researchers estimate there are 12 million plus species in the oceans with three-quarters yet to be discovered.

now here's your first look at how wall street will kick offer the day, it gained 41 points friday. the s&p added 5 points. the nasdaq edged up 2. taking a look at overseas trading. in tokyo, the nikkei fell 23 but the hang seng climbed 260. last year the government asked verizon why data access fees were appearing on the bills of customers who didn't have data plans. today they will begin to pay up to $90 million in refunds to 15 million customers. it turns out most of them accide accidentally pressed the wrong buttons on their phones and verizon says most will receive $2 to $6 credits with some receiving more. on wall street this week, the big moment comes friday. september's jobs numbers, estimates are mixed both up and down as the jobless rate now stands at 9.6%. another big unemployment measure, jobs added last month

in the private sector is out wednesday. and there is high hopes for quarter earnings this week as always alcoa kicks off reporting thursday. other companies reporting include cosco be micron technology and pepsi. as for other data penning home sales and factory orders for august kick off the week. an index of service sector activity is out tuesday. thursday brings yet another unemployment reading. initial jobless claims and wholesale inventories for august come out friday. and finally are you a pet lover? and into social networking? you will love puppy tweets. it is an electronic sensor you attach to your dog's collar and detects movements and soups and sends tweets to a twitter page you can set up for your doll. if he's active he could tweet

chasing everything that moves is a full time josh. you can't reply at least not yet. i'm sure that have coming. in health news researchers announced teens who become pregnant after gastric bypass surgery may have an increased risk of children with birth defects. it can lead to deficiencies and could affect the development of the fetus' brain and spinal cord. some are skeptical and call for more study. for more information on this, check out the health page at msnbc.com. well, the braves wins wild card. the giants win the wild west and the g-men run all over the bears plus former eagle donovan mcnabb shows philly fans what they're missing. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. baseball's playoff pairings weren't decided until yesterday's final day of the season. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning, the baseball playoffs are set but not after it took all 162 games of the season to decide who was in and who would be playing golf. to atlanta, bobby cox and the braves needed a win and got it against the phils. infante had a triple into the corner that scored a pair. braves up a-2.

billy wagner struck out dobbs. they lock out the n.l. wild card. giants beat the padres and eliminated san diego. posey hit a home run and they'll start the postseason against the braves thursday. playoffs start wednesday. rays won the a.l. east and host the rangers. in the national league the reds will play the phillys in philadelphia. donovan mcnabb returned to the city of brotherly love to a standing ovation. connected with cooley for a touchdown and redskins were up. michael vick left with a chest injury. he'll have an mri today. redskins won it 17-12. the colts and jaguars. peyton manning found austin collie to tie it at 28. the jags, a last chance. it was a long shot and josh scobee, 59 yards out and he got it. longest field goal in franchise

history won it for the jags, 31-28. the giants got back on track with a win over the bears and ahmad bradshaw, 129 yards on the ground and giants won it 17-3. football is a contact sport. so is sideline reporting. that is michelle turner and look out turner who also works for knbc had a football off her head. she was all right. just goes to show you sometimes the best action in the game happens on the sideline. your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. >> and now for another quick look at the weather here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> i don't want to be considered bias by only giving the forecast where we live in new york but it really is the worst forecast really anywhere in the country this week. i mean it's just going to be a gloomy week when the leaves are near peak and as we look at the forecast, i mean monday through thursday, temperatures in the 60s and a chance of rain each and every day, right up until

friday. sun will probably come out. showers out there this morning. this is how it's going to be. on and off light rain. not just new york but southern new england down to philadelphia, washington, d.c., this entire region from southern new england dunn into the mid-atlantic and throw in pittsburgh because you'll see a fair share of wet weather this week, so this is kind of -- unfortunately we lost a lot of leaves. this week it's more like new jersey and southern new england and now we get a gloomy week like this too. i know you like the beautiful sunshine for the leaf peepers but not going to happen. only 55 for your high in d.c., very school. unusually cool and damp too. even into tuesday, not a lot of changes, temperatures warp up maybe a little but still cloudy. if we're lucky further story the south as it pushes northward we may get a break or two of sun. i wouldn't count on it. wednesdays storm sits here and kind of lingers.

around the rest of the country, gorgeous, what storm? it's literally only going to sit off the mid-atlantic coast and rest of the southeast through the middle of the country, cool for this time of year, as we go through the week, great today and tomorrow, sems in the 60s and 70s in many areas, so i apologize, lynn, for just an ugly week. >> well, bill, there are days when you just have a beautiful week so we won't hold it against you. >> i'm holding it against me. >> here in new york we don't mine. it gives us an excuse to cab. i'm not complaining. >> okay, for lazy sake i'm happy for you. >> there we go. all right. bill, thank you. yet another actress is said to be a lot for the coveted role of mary jane in the next spider-man movie and the new facebook movie lot a more than the box office crown. first look at entertainment is straight ahead. ♪ check your ema

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. friday night on "late night with jimmy fallon" he focused on the white house chief of staff's decision to leave the commander in chief. >> white house chief of staff rahm emanuel announced he is leaving to run for mayor of chicago. right? he said it won't be easy to say good-bye to obama and voters were like, ah, it's easier than you think. here's some celebrity news. heidi mon tag and spencer pratt have called off their divorce. spencer was -- that's right. it's big news. spencer was like i can't wait to

kiss those lips again and heidi was like they're right in that jar over there. finally united and continental completed a merger to form the world's largest airline following that old business adage if it ain't broke don't fix it but if it is broke just make it twice as big and maybe no one will notice. >> must see interview on jimmy, morgan freeman stops by, "late night with jimmy fallon" on your local nbc station. and it is time now for your "first look" at entertainment news. without real competition at the box office the expected winner social social, a movie about facebook's harvard beginnings still managed to impress in a number of ways. it opened at number one with $23 million. a little better than expected. even more impressive, it has earned rave reviews and is even generated enthusiastic oscar

talk particularly for the singer who wants to be taken seriously as an actor, justin timberlake. harry potter fans, in case you missed it j.k. rowling told oprah winfrey she may not be done after all. she says she could possibly write two more books for the series. finally she's the red-hot it girl at the moment so it should come as no surprise that emma stone may be land the role of mary jane for the high school spider-man film. bill, it is all abuzz on twitter, that social network ironically because it's about facebook but the reviews are insane. people have been going crazy over this movie. >> they love it. >> did you see it? >> i did not. my wife really wants to see it. >> justin timberlake breaking through. >> we know how talented he is from "saturday night live." you were gone for a week and we

didn't have any lindsay lohan stories. >> that's actually sad that you associate the two. well, i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc but stay tuned. "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. the state department warns americans traveling in europe to watch their backs. the question is, on what intelligence is the u.s. government basing that warning and how concerned should travelers really be? meanwhile, rahm emanuel moves quickly from the white house to the chicago's mayor's race and has a website up and everything. the question is why did he make poor pete ralph cry in that "snl" sketch. the undefeated chicago bears take on the surprise stinking giants. was the giants' strategy to knock out jay cutler? if so, mission accomplished. it's "way too early" for this.