covert conquest. new details on the secret mission that took down al qaeda mastermind osama bin laden path of destruction. a powerful and deadly tornado tears across new zealand's largest city. and gator glitch. a florida reptile has a run-in with the law. good morning. everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with sacred ground. as details emerge of the military's mission to take down osama bin laden, white house officials say president obama will visit new york city's

ground zero this week to mark the milestone with the families of 9/11 victims. last night lawmakers from both parties applauded the president's success, praised the commander in chief was quick to pass on. >> i want to begin recognize the heroes who carried out this incredibly dangerous mission. tonight it is my fervent hope that we can harness some of that unity and some of that pride to confront the many challenges that we still face. >> reporter: with osama bin laden dead and buried at sea, aides say the commander in chief called some on the navy s.e.a.l. commando team and heard their story as they choppered toward bin laden's complex. the president knew the s.e.a.l.s had rehearsed the raid on a mock compound, but he agonized, watching and listening in realtime at the white house. u.s. intelligence had found bin laden last summer, trailing a trusty courier to his hideout,

but they were never sure. >> the president had to evaluate the strength of the information and then made what i believe was one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory. >> reporter: his call to send in the s.e.a.l.s, not just bomb the place and risk never confirming bin laden dead. one chopper went down hard, but the radio message came soon after. geronimo, code for osama bin laden dead. he was found on an upper floor and shot in the head. where bin laden hid, his plush compound near pakistan's capital, just down the road from the army's academy, suggests al qaeda's founder was protected by the pakistani government. >> they've got a lot of explaining to do. >> reporter: i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. as the reality takes hold across the country, americans are asking how the nation's most wanted man was able to hide in plain sight inside a nation that

claims to be our ally. nbc news correspondent andrea mitchell reports. >> reporter: in this sleepy military town only 30 miles from islamabad, bin laden's compound was a mcmansion with 18 foot walls topped by barbed wire dwarfing the neighbors, many of them retired military. there are other red flags. the luxury home, eight times the size of nearby houses, had no internet access or phone service. the bin ladens even burned their trash. in these cia satellite pictures, neighbors are almost next door. and less than a mile away, pakistan's military academy, the equivalent of our west point. >> it is a little incredible, and my personal view is that they certainly probably were aware of it. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence concluded it could only have been built for bin laden. so how could pakistan's army not notice? >> could be a case of eyes wide shut, which they were aware of it and decided to keep their

eyes open but closed as far as americans are concerned. >> reporter: the neighborhood certainly noticed the raid, blogged in realtime on twitter by@really virtual. helicopter hovering above abbottabad at 1:00 a.m. is a rare event. now i'm the guy that live blogged the osama raid without knowing it. the united states put $4 billion into pakistan without getting a reliable ally. last year hillary clinton said what we were all thinking. >> i believe somewhere in this government they know where osama bin laden and al qaeda is. >> reporter: andrea mitchell, washington. >> last night on msnbc, we talked to philip mud, former director of the cia counterterrorism center, for more details on the painstaking process that eventually helped u.s. officials capture and kill osama bin laden. take a listen. >> this is very difficult intelligence to collect. you're talking about somebody

who doesn't communicate and who rarely has contacts with his subordinates. so as the president said, the information was collected beginning last summer. you have somebody who presumably was a courier between the main al qaeda organization and its leadership. over time, you have to take bits and pieces of sand. how does he communicate? how often? what does the compound look like? how can you verify who's there? what kind of threat would you face if you enter that compound? put these bits of sand together and eventually over eight months determine whether it's useful to take a stab at the compound. remarkable intelligence success. >> lean forward at 6:00 weekdays on msnbc, the place for politics. chaos erupted inside an oklahoma city courtroom when the defendant attacked the district attorney, punching him in the face. several deputies pounced on the defendant before dragging him from the courtroom. the attack came moments after the man was convicted of murder. the d.a.'s injuries were minor.

a florida gator was involved in a bizarre fender bender with the police cruiser. the officer was answering the call quickly, and he quickly learned that this gator would not go peacefully. it latched onto the car's bumper, even holding on when the car backed up. the 7-foot gator was later captured by a trapper without further incident. in illinois, relentless rain continued to wreak havoc on cairo, flooding streets and adding sinkholes. that put a lot of strain on this small town, but it paled in comparison to the danger posed by the swelling of nearby rivers. so to save the town, monday night the army corps of engineers blew up a levee, diverting floodwater into neighboring missouri farmland. in hawaii, ugly weather produced an awesome sight off the coast of honolulu. a water spout was captured on camera near the international airport there. the funnel shaped cloud did not

cause any damage or delays, but pretty remarkable sight there. now for a look at the national weather, turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> that was incredible, especially for hawaii standards. you want the beach and the sunshine and nice gradual waves. >> no funnel cloud? >> no. the flooding is still the story. we went straight from the tornadoes to the flooding, as we expected. we're getting one little last batch of rain right now, and then it will clear out. it's amazing what's happening. there's no big cities being targeted by the flooding. it's mostly in the areas at the end of the ohio river where it flows into the mississippi. we're talking about paducah into areas of southern illinois and cape girardeau, then down south north of memphis. that area has gotten a lot of rain the last two weeks. it's going to get a break. no heavy rain event after it leaves this morning. one little last batch. flood warnings for areas of western tennessee. it's amazing they had to blow up the levee in the cairo area

because all of that water, instead of going into the mississippi, is now going to flow over the farmlands of missouri. they're not happy about it. 130,000 acres are going to be flooded as we go throughout the next couple days because they had to blow the levee up to save that town. here's how it looks right now. this is the mississippi river. this is the ohio river. the red coloring, those are flash flood warnings right now. all the ones you see isolated, we have many areas where there's water going over the top of the levees. we have dams that can't contain the water anymore. we haven't had any levee failures, but they've to evacuate a bunch of small towns, especially in southern illinois. our computers are saying a little more rain today, and then it's gone. we're going to have four or five days in a row. that's exactly what this needed. it's a slow process of getting all of this water into the mississippi. in memphis, the crest isn't going to happen until may 10. we've still got a week to go until we see the crest going down the mississippi. it's a slow process, and then we'll worry about it in areas

like viksburg. as far as today's forecast, isolated storms. not going to be a tornado outbreak. if you live in areas of eastern pennsylvania down through west virginia, the mountainous areas of virginia itself, including the roanoke area, you could see isolated strong storms, damaging wind, maybe some hail. the forecast for today, warmer today definitely. coastal areas, i-95 all the way up the coast. temperatures will be above average for once. d.c. even a little humid at 83 degrees. new york city could get into the 70s easily. cooler air behind that storm. you notice that chicago, minneapolis, and kansas city only in the 50s and 60s. and a look at tomorrow, all that severe weather and stormy weather will head to new york and boston for wednesday. lynn, the flooding situation, good news is that the rain is done. now we're just going to have to wait and see how high the rivers get. >> bill, we'll keep an eye on it. thanks so much. coming up, the sony playstation hack keeps getting

worse. the debt ceiling battle is delayed. and why less homes in america have television. coming up, the sacramento kings make a big decision. the nationals honor america's finest. and one chicago bull wins while his team loses. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena naturals. removes 99% of dirt and toxins without dyes, parabens, or harsh sulfates. so skin feels pure and healthy.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. on the same day libyan ruler moammar gadhafi buried his son the swiss government says it has identified $405 million of potential assets linked to him. another $407 million has been tied to egyptian president hosni mubarak. swiss banks have been ordered to freeze assets of both men along with tunisia's ousted president. the black box and a voice

recorder of a french airlines plane that crashed in the atlantic in 2009, killing 280 people, has been recovered. they were found by a submarine probing almost 2 1/2 miles below the ocean surface. and new zealand's largest city has been hit by a deadly tornado. the twister tore through auckland today. at least two people were killed. more than a dozen were injured. and now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opened at 12,807 after dipping three points yesterday. the s&p shed two points. the nasdaq lost nine. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei was closed for a holiday while in hong kong the hang seng dropped 87. this might make you think twice before giving out any personal information online. just one day after sony made a public apology to some 77 million playstation users whose personal information had been hacked, the company revealed nearly 25 million online

entertainment accounts have also been compromised. sony is offering free service in exchange for the unprecedented intrusion. osama bin laden's death gave stocks a higher start yesterday, but the early rally was short-lived as investors shrugged off upbeat economic data and earnings from dish network, humana, and chrysler. investors' biggest worry, gas prices. the national average is now $3.96 a gallon. warnings pricey gas could eat into high end grocery budgets sent whole foods down 5%. in deal news, teva pharmaceuticals will pay $6.8 million for drug maker cephalon. treasury secretary timothy geithner said, due to stronger than expected tax receipts, the white house and congress have three more weeks to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling. watch massey energy today after bell massey reported its

fourth consecutive loss. and according to nielsen, the number of american homes with tvs have dropped for the first time in it 20 years, thanks to a new generation of online viewers and households who can't afford to upgrade their analog sets. the mavs rally against the lakers. the bruins nip the flyers in ot. and the hawks fly past the bulls. speaking of the bulls, will derrick rose become the second chicago player after michael jordan to win the league's mvp award? your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a-di-os, cheerio, au revoir ♪ ♪ off it goes, that's logistics ♪ ♪ over seas, over land, on the web, on demand ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ operations worldwide, ups on your side ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. in sports, after a spectacular season that saw derrick rose lead the bulls to the league's best record, has he sewn up the league's nba mvp trophy. good morning. it wasn't a matter of if but of when. according to sources, chicago's derrick rose has won the nba most valuable player award. at the age of 22, rose is the youngest player in league history to receive the honor. bulls hosted game one of the series. how many times have we seen this? the spin and in. atlanta hung around early. bulls may have the mvp, but the hawks have game one, 103-95. now to los angeles, lakers and mavericks came down to one

single shot. final seconds. kobe bryant for the win at the buzzer. dallas trailed most of the game, took the lead on free throws, and held on to win 96-94. sacramento kings are officially staying put. and that gives former nba star and mayor kevin johnson a chance to follow through on the promise to build a new downtown arena. nhl playoffs, bruins and flyers. david krejci with a blast that won the game, or did it? the referee waved it off, and play continued for another 20 seconds. they then reviewed the shot and overturned the call. the puck hit the middle bar, in the net, and bounced out. bruins won 4-3 in ot. they lead the series 2-0. finally, it may be coincidence, but we'll call this perfect timing. a day after osama bin laden's death, the nationals held military appreciation night. only fit to honor the men and

women who serve our country, but the defense on the field is a different. ankiel with a driving grab in center. and then larry hairston jr. charging for a grab. nationals beat the giants 2-0. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. for another quick look at the weather, bill karins. another look at that oahu water spout. >> when you think of hawaii, you don't think of seeing water spouts. really they're tornadoes over the water. it was a pretty serious situation. about 60,000 people in oahu lost power as the storm rolled through. the water spouts did not move on land. if you have a water spout and it moves over land, that becomes a tornado. that didn't happen from the many reports i heard yesterday. let's bring you back home here. as far as the big corridor goes, i-95, boston, hartford, new york, philly, baltimore down to d.c., every area is going to be warmer than yesterday.

that was good. it was kind of cool out yesterday. slight chance of thunderstorms late in the day, more into the evening in d.c., baltimore, and philly. but the daylight hours should be dry. low to mid-80s today. a little shock to the system in philadelphia and d.c. back in pittsburgh and buffalo, much, much cooler. look at buffalo, only 45 degrees with areas of rain. and that ugly weather will head over the top of the big cities on wednesday. if you have any business travel up and down the i-95 corridor from virginia northward, you'll have to deal with rain, clouds, and the possibility of thunderstorms and airport delays as we go to your wednesday. again, in the middle of the country, we're drying out. some of that bad weather is going to head to the east at least for one day. >> bill, thank you. another celebrity does the mugshot walk of shame. sadly, it's not bill. hold on for that one. plus charlie sheen's speechless? that's how he described his feelings after touring one area devastated by last week's tornadoes. 't always fill.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. last night on "late night with jimmy fallon," jimmy provides his audience with a little known detail about osama bin laden's last moments. >> last night bin laden was killed. believe it or not, his last words were i hope you at least use this to interrupt celebrity apprentice. why not? they did dna testing to prove the body actually belonged to osama bin laden. or as i put it, best episode of maury povich ever. you are the terrorist. no, you are.

you don't know me. you don't know me. the u.s. said that bin laden was actually buried out at sea today. what a tough year for the ocean. first bp pumps oil into it. then radiation seeps in from japan. and then we're like, hey, do you mind? we're going to put osama bin laden in there. what did i do wrong? i'm the ocean. >> tonight jimmy welcomes actress whoopi goldberg, sesame street's elmo, and musical guest jennifer hudson. "late night with jimmy fallon," week nights 12:35. it's time for your first look at entertainment news. charlie sheen has taken on many varied real life roles lately, but they keep getting more bizarre. yesterday, wearing a university of alabama jersey and cap, sheen toured a tuscaloosa neighborhood decimated by last week's

tornadoes. sheen says he's working with local authorities to organize a set. also mariah carey and husband nick cannon welcomed their long awaited, much publicized twins into the world, a boy and a girl. as '80s rocker rick springfield to celebrity mugshot. the 61-year-old was arrested in malibu sunday night for driving under the influence. finally, no prenup for william. according to a friend, despite legal advice to consider one, the duke of cambridge refused because, quote, he loves kate and trusts her implicitly. i guess the telegraph doesn't do the double source thing. according to a friend. >> are you you sure we didn't grab rick springfield's album cover from the '80s? he's 61. >> it's impressive. he had his hair done before hand. i'm lynn berry, and this is

"first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. with the country energized now by the death of osama bin laden, president obama plans a visit to ground zero and calls on washington to recapture the unified american spirit of september 11th, 2001. the question is how long will that good will last? meanwhile, in light of questions about his government's competence and even his allegiance to the united states, pakistan's president zardari writes a piece for "the washington post" defending his efforts to track down bin laden. the question is how does he explain the most wanted man in the world hiding in plain sight in a suburb of the pakistani capital? and more details on the stunning navy s.e.a.l. operion that led to the end for bin laden, the one the pakistanis didn't even know about until it was over. the question is what was recovered from the computers in bin laden's palatial hideout.