survey, i asked do you think the republican attack on pork barrel spending will improve your life? 7% of you said yes. 93% of you said no. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. join me tomorrow night right here on msnbc. check out my radio show, my website, wegoted.com, channel 167 xm monday through friday, noon to three. that's where you can catch the radio show. royal details. the future king of england and his soon-to-be blushing bride waste no time talking wedding plans. double trouble. a dui suspect crashes his car twice after being pulled over by police. and pretty in pink. a nearly 25-carat rare pink diamond fetches a rare price at auction. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with a wedding in the works. in less than a year, england's prince william and his long-time girlfriend will finally have their fairytale ending. in their first interview since the royal announcement, we are learning new details of his engagement to kate middleton, including how william made sure his late mother, proincess dian, didn't miss out by giving kate the 18-carat diamond and sapphire engagement ring. here's more from ity. >> it was a total shock when it came. >> i think kate was nervous. william wasn't before and after. they spent time laughing and joking. you both look incredibly happy and relaxed. >> we are.

we are. we're like sort of deductions, calm on the surface, but little feet going under the water. no, it's really exciting. we've been talking about it for a long time. for us, it's a relief and nice to tell everybody of the the last two or three weeks have been difficult, not tellingin, keeping it to ourselves. >> kate was nerve out and composed. she did the whole thing with relative good humor. there's a story that goes around that you had a picture of him on your walla a child. >> there wasn't just one. ten, 20. >> he wishes, no. i had the levi's guy on my wall, not a picture of william. sorry. sorry. >> it was me in levi's honestly. >> reporter: everyone's got to remember they've been planning for months. all their friends, everyone who knows them has known this is coming for a long time. most guessed they were engaged in kenya some time ago. so they've been preparing for this moment, they knew it was coming. are they aware that the wave of attention coming their way from all over the world?

yes, probably. will it be easy to deal with is a different thing. we'll have to see. i'm tom bradby in london. at home, president obama has suffered a potential serious setback in nuclear arms treaty with highway irussia. and we have more from tracie potts in washington. >> reporter: good morning. let's start with the treaty. this was a big priority for the white house to get it ratified, preferably during this lame duck session of congress ending in just a few weeks. now the top republican in the senate, john kyl, who is dealing with the issue, has said this it is probably not going to happen. very unlikely that they'll be able to pull together the 67 votes by the end of the year because of other issues the senate's dealing with like the tax cuts because it's so complicated and because of the short time frame. president obama was supposed to sit down with democratic and republican leaders this week. but because of scheduling issues, that has now been

postponed until november 30. the other big story here on capitol hill -- charlie rangel. now convicted by an ethics panel of violating 11 of the 13 charges, rules that he was accused of, mainly financial misconduct. this is huge. he's the chair of the congressional black caucus. the ethics panel will decide his fate on thursday. lynn? >> all right, tracie, thank you very much. elsewhere in washington, a shakeup for republicans after the rnc's top political strategist resigned and blasted party chairman michael steele. launching the latest in a firestorm of accusations against steele within his own party. last night on "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell, lawrence asked former republican party chairman why he's running to take steele's place. >> well, i think that the number-one reason that we need change is that the circumstances have changed. you know, in 2008 after we came off of two very bad cycles, republicans were looking for a

national spokesperson, to kind of have somebody who would be the face and voice of the party. i think michael steele made that case to the committee. i ran against him on a nuts and bolts strategy, and he ended up winning. this time around, i think we've elected a majority in the house. we're clearly going to have a speaker of the house that represents our voice, senate and house that's representing our voice. >> michael steele, how you does it net out, has he -- how does it net out, has he helped our hurt the party? >> he's been a net help overall. clearly he's got a number of successes but has it big bumps in the road, as well. >> don't miss "the last word" weeknights at 10:00 p.m. on nbc.

the place for politics. for the first time since the vietnam war a living soldier has received the nation's highest military award. army staff sergeant salvagetor giunta was presented with the medal of honor yesterday. more on his inspiring story. >> reporter: even with the medal of honorround his neck, army staff sergeant salvatore giunta insists he didn't win the award alone. >> i know a lot of people greater than me. i'm mediocre at best. >> reporter: in the corn gal valley in 2007, there was nothing mediocre about his bravery. as the group of paratroopers came under intense fire -- >> it was an ambush so close that the cracks of the guns and whiz of the bullets were simultaneous. >> reporter: he ran on instinct and toward taliban fighters who were dragging a wounded staff sergeant, josh brennan, away. >> sal never looked twice.

he took aim, killed one of the insurgents and wounded the other who ran off. indianapolis giunta rescued brennan who later died and rescued another. >> every single tomorrow they will ever have they gave for their country. >> reporter: without giunta, more may have perished. in a ceremony at the white house -- >> i'm going to go off script and say i really like this guy. >> reporter: the young sergeant became the first living medal of honor recipient since the vietnam war. an honor bestowed on few yo, shd with many. >> i'd give this back in a second to have my friends with me now. >> reporter: those with sergeant giunta never far from his heart, right where the medal now rests. kristen dahlgren, washington. a hero. in california, a suspected drunk

driver hardly kept it together when he was pulled over by police. the driver got out of his car but apparently left it in reverse, so the car slammed into the front of the patrol car. if got worse. when the droofr got back in the car sped -- driver got back in the car sped off and crashed. the man was arrested on suspicion of dui. a wisconsin robbery suspect is dead after leading police on a high speed chase which ended when he charged through an intersection and was t-boned by another car. police say the man robbed a convenience store, then stole a customer's car. the other driver was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. an explosion at a pennsylvania lumber milicenl se crews scrambling. a huge fireball sent them running. and an emergency landing left a small plane belly up in the middle of an orange grove. the pilot said he lost an engine shortly after takeoff and flipped over as he hit the

ground. no passengers were aboard, and the pilot seems to be just fine. now for a look at the national weather, let's check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins can -- bill karins with a busy forecast. good morning. it's funny that the plane flipped. i got a report from the trenton airport that because of the severe thunderstorms, they've had little palestinians flipp flipped -- little planes flipped because of the gusts. new york city had a severe thunderstorm warning. the storms headed for new york looked nasty but then weakened. that's not the case from yonkers northward along the border of connecticut and new york, a line of severe storms is going to be rolling through connecticut shortly. if you're heading out the door in connecticut over the next hour, you are going to have to go through this line of storms. it's moving quickly. only going to last 10 or 15 minutes. but when it does so, visibility will get poor driving on the roads. you'll also have to deal with strong, gusty winds and downed trees around the region. let me show you a wider view of

the storm system. a batch of very heavy rain continues now through boston, providence, northward, portsmouth, portland, maine, to manchester. the severe line of storms is shrinking a little bit. it really goes from the capital district, albany's connected to detroit, down southward, north of new york. and that should weaken as it heads through the berkshires of massachusetts. now behind this, there's a storm system, it's still lingering near buffalo. that's the parent storm. it's going to be windy and blustery even after the rain is done today through the mid-atlantic, all the way from d.c. to baltimore, philly, new york, everywhere in between. it's going to be a windy day. temperatures will be dropping as the colder air begins to return. it's mild out there this morning in those areas. temperatures, 61 in new york city at this hour. so you get an idea this this is a little unusual. and as far the rest of the country goes, lynn, not many problems. it's really here, the focus in new england. >> bill, thank you very much. foreign worries batter stocks here at home. g.m. prepares for a big sale. and tweeting your wye to a

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. and here are some of the top stories this morning. suspected russian arms dealer victor boot is in a prison facing terrorist charges after bei leaving thailand. he's been convicted in africa, south america, and middle east. the cholera epidemic in haiti is spreading across the border with one case confirmed in neighboring dominican republic. since the disease broke out nearly a month ago, it has sparked riots against united nations peacekeepers and claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people. the head of the transportation security administration has a message for

those vowing to opt out of new airport security measures, including full-body scans and intimate pat-downs, telling travelers if they do, they won't fly. appearing before a congressional committee yesterday, the tsa administrator urged the public to become "partners" in the effort to combat terrorism. incumbent republican senator lisa murkowski appears to be heading for a victory in alaska's senate race, with the latest tally giving her a more than 10,000-vote lead over tea party challenger joe miller. miller's campaigns he is interested in requesting a recount. and a rare pink diamond has smashed the world record for a jewel sold at auction. a london gemstone dealer bought a nearly 25-carat diamond for $46 million. that's nearly double the previous record. now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,023 after tumbling 178 points yesterday.

the s&p dipped 19 points, and the nasdaq lost 43. and taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei rose 14 points, but in hong kong the hang seng dropped 478. global economic woes sent markets tumbling overseas yesterday, and it triggered a chain reaction that took a toll on u.s. markets. chinese shares were lower again today, adding to the 4% slump which set off the global trend yesterday. beijing is readying a plan to rein in its rapidly rising cost of living which has investors worried about global demand. in europe, financial leaders and members of the international monetary fund will head to ireland to figure out if that country is in need of a bailout destabilized its battered banking system. the fallout on the street was swift and sweeping. materials were among the hardest hit, while worries of a possible dip in china's demand sent prices of commodities tumbling. energy stocks followed the

trend. exxon mobil dropped 2% as the price of crude settled 3% lower. upbeat earnings from walmart did little to allay investors' fears, but the chain managed to eke out gains from the healthy report. the company that makes the popular controversial caffeinated alcoholic beverage four loko says it will remove the caffeine from all of its products. the move comes in the wake of safety concerns raised boy a number of states -- by a number of states and a probe by the food and drug administration. general motors is expected to price its public stock offering after the bell today in what could be the largest ipo in history. finally, twitter may have its critics, but tweeting does pay off. kfc is offering a $20,000 scholarship to the high schooler with the best tweet. and according to a new study, students who use twitter for school work earned a higher gpa than those who didn't. so kids, spend more time on twitter. i'm sure you love hearing that.

uconn is still streaking. a blue devil makes it look easy. and this time the butler didn't do it. plus, the denver nuggets had to use creativity last night to keep a pesky new york team at bay. sports is straight ahead. to germany's nurburgring to challenge ourselves on the most demanding track in the world. with us, in spirit, was every great car that we'd ever competed with. the bmw m5. and the mercedes-benz e63. for it was their amazing abilities that pushed us to refine, improve and, ultimately, develop the world's fastest production sedan. [ engine revving ] the cts-v, from cadillac. the new standard of the world. having an insurance agent costs you more money. the truth: an allstate agent can save you a bundle, by helping you get all the discounts you deserve. discounts for safe driving, antilock brakes, owning a new car, paying electronically,

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t and blackberry have teamed up to keep your business moving. blackberry torch now just $99.99. only from at&t. rethink possible. welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. in sports, the struggling new york knicks saw firsthand last night what denver's carmelo

anthony could bring to their team if a long-rumored trade ever comes off. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> reporter: good morning. the denver nuggets' carmelo anthony will likely be traded this season. last night he auditioned for the knicks. carmelo and amar'e stoudemire, fansed love to have that combee. anthony had a game-high 26. it sums up the season for the knicks. final seconds down three. inbound pass off his hand and out of bounds. ouch. nuggets held on to win 120-118. in milwaukee, bucks and lakers. kobe bryant had 31. shannon brown stole the shower. four three pointers in the fourth. they snapped the skid 118-107. in d.c. john wall sat it out with a sprained foot. gilbert arenas made his appearance as wall's replacement. drained the three, had 20. baseball, the phillies' roy halladay was the winner of the cy young award, becoming the fifth player to win the award in

both leagues. college basketball, ladies first. uconn completed their win streak by beating baylor. maya moore led with 30 points. baylor down, shot at the buzzer, but was way short. they won 65-64. to the men, butler was upset by unranked louisville. defense led there offense all game long. the block, they went the other way and mira knocked down the three. louisville won 88 live 73. maybe this is why duke beat butler in last year's title game. the blue devil-style singler shooting from anywhere and everywhere. nothing but net in the cheap seats. he took it to another level literally. hit the bounce shot from the rafters. with shooting like that it's no surprise that duke routesed miami of ohio -- routed miami of ohio last night. that's a first look at sports, i'm fred roggin. now for another quick look at weather, here's msnbc meteorologist bill karins. i don't believe it. >> don't college students have anything better to do? shouldn't they be studying?

>> yeah. >> i know you and i were, constantly. >> kind of. i'm convinced that that's computer generated. anyway, i know you have weather to get to. go ahead. all right. you're probably right. let's check about the temperatures. it's very warm this morning. unusually warm actually. look at new york city, 61 degrees. so right away you know in november this time of the morning it should not be in the 60s. that means we have a pretty strong unusual weather pattern out there. and this is a pretty good-sized storm. thankfully, a lot of the heavy rain is going to be over with from baltimore, philly, d.c., and new york city for the heart of the morning rush hour. that won't be the case, though, for boston, where the rain is continuing to go hard. it probably will go until about 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. a very steady rain. now the severe weather, if there's any left, it's going to be up here right along the border of really connecticut and new york, it will be heading eventually for danbury. new york city is clear. new york city probably is only going to have showers from here on out. but you it will be windy. look at pittsburgh, winds gusting to 30 miles per hour.

these are the gusty winds that are going to move through new england with probably significant airport delays later on today. i guess the bottom lion is if you're in new england, rain this morning will be gone this afternoon. if you're going to wear the rubber boots, bring an extra pair of shoes so you don't look silly going home. >> good advice. thanks. redford and stroisand together thanks -- streisand together against thanks to oprah. and low-scoring bristol palin is vaulted into the competition's next round. hey, guys, i know i've been bad at this in the past,

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry.

it's time for a first look at entertainment news. hollywood's in shock after a respected beverly hills publicist was gunned down near sunset boulevard leaving a movie premiere. ronni chasen was shot and killed in her mercedes, police have no motives. the miss trow deepened when investigators seized computers from her firm. on a lighter note, oprah winfrey reunited robert redford and barbara streisand yesterday, stars of "the way we were." oprah reunited them for the first interview together. he joked he has never done before because, "i never thought i'd get a word in." finally, another stunning decision last night on "dancing with the stars." high-scoring singer brandi and her partner were sent home. much to the shock of the show's audience and their competitors. despite finishing last, according to judges' scores, for a third straight week, bristol palin and her partner advance to

the finals thanks to the home audience vote. brandi got all tense. >> i don't watch the show. all i know is that that's good for abc, controversy is going to equal bigger ratings for them. >> a lot of people are saying there's no way it's because bristol is a good dancer. it's all the support she has of her mom. i'm lynn berry, and this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" starts now. when you hear the term scheduling conflict, the red flags should go up as they have after the postponement of the much-heralded white house meeting between president obama and republican leadership. the question is, why did the gop really cancel on the president? meanwhile, it was like jagger and richards back on stage when george w. bush and dick cheney reunited in dallas for a soldout one-night-only limited engagement. the question is, what's the narrative the pair is putting in place for history? and the biggest n