and cinderella story. the nation's tallest man finally finds a shoe that fits. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. >> we're going to begin this morning with bin laden's words. one year after navy s.e.a.l.s killed the the al qaeda leader some documents seized from his compound in pakistan are now being released. they show his concerns about his weakened organization. but that he was still plotting attacks on americans. michelle franzen has details. >> the compound in pakistan where osama bin laden lived in secrecy and died after u.s. special forces tracked him down is gone.

destroyed without a trace. but documents, letters and other evidence seized the night of the raid left a trail showing the al qaeda leader still had aspirations to attack the u.s. >> there's nothing i would like to have more than the capacity to read my enemy's mail. in this case we're reading ten years of osama bin laden's mail. >> the sbel jebs community and the public are getting a snap in shot look at some of the documents analyzed over the past year at west point's combatting terrorism center. the west wing gave west point the green light to publish 17 documents and letters on its website, originals, written in arabic and translated in to english, dated from 2006 to april 2011. >> because of the renewed interest in on this anniversary in the mission that led to his demise, this is an appropriate time to release them. >> reporter: terrorism experts say it shows bin laden focused

on grand plots following 9/11, including an outline to assassinate president obama, and then nato commander general david petraeus. >> there is no question of his aspiration here, he wanted to kill the president of the united states. >> reporter: the documents also exposed cracks within the terrorist organization, worldwide. >> this shows an organization in decline, under siege and really feeling the pressure. >> reporter: the threat of al qaeda diminished with bin laden's death, experts say, but not gone. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. well, the incredible drama of a blind chinese dissident continues to comply eight secretary of state hillary clinton's visit to beijing. now china says chen guangcheng can apply to study abroad and a possible step toward resolving the diplomatic stand-off. chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell reports. >> reporter: at 4:00 a.m. in this beijing hospital, surrounded by security, chen

gung chen answered a phone call from human rights activists as they were meeting with republican members of congress. chen told them he wants to come to the u.s. to rest. he worries about his family and wants more help from hillary clinton. >> translator: i want to meet with secretary clinton. >> reporter: clinton, walking a diplomatic tightrope, told china's leaders they need to address human rights. >> all governments do have to answer to citizens aspirations for dignity and rule of law. and that no nation can or should deny those rights. >> reporter: that was a softer version than her prepared remarks which included a warning to china not to punish dissidents. it's already become an issue in the campaign. mitt romney said the administration was too eager to keep its summit on track and smud not have handed chen over to the chinese. >> if these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom, and a day of shame for the obama administration. >> reporter: ambassador gary

lock told nbc's ian williams chen was not pressured to leave the safety of the u.s. embassy. >> he jumped up and said "let's go," and before we got in the van i asked him again, is this what you really want to do? do you want to leave the embassy? are you ready to go? and he said, yes. >> reporter: in the eye of the storm since his weekend escape from house arrest, chen made a series of emotional calls including to nbc news. lock says chen has clearly had a change of heart and they will visit him again to find out what he really wants. but as clinton tries to pressure china for help on iran, syria and north korea, and treasury secretary geithner on the economy. >> we meet here in beijing at a time of risk and challenge in the global economy. >> reporter: both countries now must deal with chen and how china handles dissidents. issues both countries had hoped to downplay. >> this is a lose-lose proposition for the united states because the administration will be criticized for failing to stand

up tall enough in defending him. that was nbc's andrea mitchell reporting. here is your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. in southern california a mama bear and two cubs are now spending time in a residential neighborhood. they may be there for a while. the bears wandered down from the angeles national forest, while sheriff's deputies have warned people living in the area to keep an eye out, there's been no attempt to use a tranquilizer for fear of injuring the cubs. in florida, a massive sinkhole has turned a backyard into a crater. 100 feet wide and 50 feet deep. it came within three feet of the house. county officials have declared the home unsafe and firefighters helped the family remove as many items as possible. finally in massachusetts, take a look at this guy. america's tallest man showed up at reebok's headquarters with a simple plea, just give me a pair of shoes that will fit. that's because he stands 7'8"

tall, his feet are a size 22. it understandably makes it painful, nearly impossible to get around in normal shows. reebok is donating the footwear which the company says costs upwards of $28,000 to design and produce. for a look at national and weather we turn to meteorologist bill karins who many of you know has a similar problem. he's always sitting down. he's like 6'8". he's a giant. but we try to keep him a little bit lower. >> i proudly represent the lower half of the population as far as average heightwise. >> we don't stand next to each other. >> you represent the upper half. i'm the lower half. that's fine. >> it's all i have. >> we cover all of the demograph demographics. good morning, everyone. overnight we did see thunderstorms that are continuing to roll on this morning. we had numerous severe weather reports, and really had a couple tornadoes. one did a little bit of damage there in the southeast corner of iowa. a lot of hail reports yesterday, some near chicago, all the way through lower michigan.

kind of the green dots here are the hail reports. they're kind of widespread. we're going to see something similar today. if you're waking up this morning in southern new england, once again, it's the third morning in a row we've dealt with rain at this hour. right now it's heading some thunderstorms just past new burgh, toward yonkers, southern connecticut and long island soon. eventually this little tail end of this that's heading down through the poconos is going to spread toward new york city with some thunderstorms and some downpours, too. so keep that in mind, anyone traveling in the tristate area. and even interstate 80 towards hazelton. as far as southern michigan goes, by flint, grand rapids and land lansing, on and off storms all night. detroit, showers in your forecast. chicago has had some light rain. the big-time thunderstorms are back here south of the quad cities. looks like they're going to try to make a run at peoria here. a lot of lightning and some downpours. flash flooding. this area has seen a lot of storms over the past couple of days. time after time the heavy downpours the drainage gets worse and worse. northern missouri by far the

worst of it driving. later on today, severe weather in yellow. louisville, omaha, a chance of strong storms. a little tiny tir yeah in the delmarva, new jersey, pennsylvania, the eastern half of the state, a slight chance of some damaging wind and some hail with some stronger thunderstorms. today, once again, lynn, northern half of the country, very stormy, the southern half, just plain old hot. >> all right, bill, thanks so much. coming up, wall street waits on jobs, facebook values its shares, and pepsi brings back the king of pop. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up the career of yankee closer mariano rivera may have come to an abrupt end while the knicks playoff woes appear to be far from over. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. for three hours a week, i'm a coach.

but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans.

that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories

making news this morning. at least 20 people were killed today in a suicide bombing in a tribal region of northwest pakistan. officials say the bomber struck near a market and security checkpoint. the taliban has claimed responsibility. the white house says it may be time to, quote, admit defeat, in the current attempt to end the violence in syria that's killed 9,000 people. government forces have largely ignored a united nations cease fire. nasa astronomers say they have a rare, graphic representation of what happened to a star that got a little too close to a black hole. for the first time, they identified the star in a galaxy three billion light years away, which was ripped apart by the black hole. pretty cool there. and this weekend you're going to see a super moon, so be sure to look up. on saturday night the full moon will be closer to the earth than any other time this year. it should be 30% brighter and as much as 14% bigger than other full moons. now here's your "first look" at how wall street is going to

kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,206 after losing 61 points. the s&p lost 10 points, the nasdaq fell 35. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei up 29 points. but in hong kong the hang seng fell 163. it is finally friday, and on wall street, it's all about jobs. yesterday better than expected weekly jobless claims offset fears from wednesday's private sector tally, but all the speculation ends this morning when traders receive the broader monthly jobs report from the government. the retail sector dragged stocks lower after several chains including target and gap missed april sales estimates. after the bell linkedin racked up better than expected earnings, and announced plans to buy presentation service slide share for $118 million. green mountain coffee bitter earnings report cost the company nearly half its market value yesterday.

meanwhile, kraft foods edged higher on upbeat sales. facebook's may 18th ipo could set a u.s. record, if its shares debut at the top end of its $28 to $35 range, facebook would be valued at $96 billion. walmart is being sued by a major shareholder. the california state teachers public pension fund. in the wake of the company's recent bribery and cover-up scandal in mexico. yahoo admits what it calls an inadvertent error about the education of its new chief executive whose bachelor's degree is in accounting, not accounting and computer science as his resume stated. and a grim twist in the cola wars. pepsi is resurrecting michael jackson's sponsorship deal to pump a little life into its new marketing campaign. a billion new pepsi cans will feature the late king of pop's silhouette. coming up the heat scorched the knicks, the thunders stormed the mavs and the devils tromped

the flyers in overtime. plus a potentially career ending injury for baseball's all-time saves leader. this one is going to hurt to yankees fan. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" look on msnbc. [ female announcer ] lactaid milk is easy to digest. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk.

you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. oh, wow! that feels really good. it's about support where you find it most comfortable. to celebrate 25 years of better sleep-for both of you - sleep number introduces the silver edition bed set, at incredible savings of $1,000 for a limited time. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. [ facilitator ] what do you smell? takes me outdoors. sort of a crisp, fresh feeling. [ facilitator ] go ahead and take your blindfold off. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the febreze set & refresh. breathe happy for 30 days, guaranteed. holding down the fort

while you're out catching a movie. [ growls ] lucky for me, your friends showed up with this awesome bone. hey! you guys are great. and if you got your home insurance where you got your cut rate car insurance, it might not replace all this. [ electricity crackling ] [ gasping ] so get allstate. you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar, nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate. [ male announcer ] this is your moment. this is zales. the diamond store. take an extra 10% off storewide now through sunday. welcome back to "first look" lime lynn berry. and in sports, going to be a tough day for yankees fans because last night closer mariano rivera tore his acl while chasing a fly ball during batting practice.

here's nbc's fred roggin. good morning, mariano rivera faced this question dozens of times, is this his final season? could be, but nobody thought it would end like this. rivera twisted his knee chasing fly balls before the yankees loss in kansas city. manager joe girardi said rivera tore his acl. that's an injury that ends his season and perhaps his career. the nba playoffs have not been kind to the knicks. over the past decade. no better this year. madison square garden, amare stoudamire out since he punched the fire extinguisher glass. chris bosch back after his wife gave birth. jr smith, amazing reverse jam, left the garden crowd in awe. lebron james made them feel awful. 17 of the 32 in the final quarter. heat beat the knicks 87-70. new york has not won a playoff game since 2001. heat go for the sweep sunday. now to dallas, defending champion mavs couldn't keep up with the thunder. kevin durant scored 31, oklahoma

city routed dallas, 95-79. they lead 3-0 and can sweep the champs tomorrow night in dallas. day after the shocking death of junior seau, medical examiners officially ruled his death a suicide. researchers hope to study his brain to see if football-related concussions may have played a part in his decline. hockey in new jersey. devils and flyers, 17 minutes into overtime, when jersey caught them in a line change. alexi ponikarovsky stopped once, won't be denied the second time. new jersey leads the series two games to one. kings hosting st. louis in the third. drew doughty locked and scored. kings win 4-2. they hold a surprising 3-0 lead on the second-seeded blues. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm fred roggin. tomorrow afternoon, the 13 th kentucky derby will be run.

it is the nation's oldest continuous sporting event. bit it's more than just that. nbc's tracie potts is at churchill downs this morning. >> hi, lynn, good morning, everyone. this is actually going to be a very busy day at churchill downs. in addition to preparing for tomorrow, there's no race happening here today, the kentucky oaks. very popular local race, all of that before this weekend's big event. the parades, the parties all leading up to tomorrow's race. 165,000 people packed churchill downs last year, betting $165 million on this race. this horse, hanson, is a favorite. >> to win the derby, it's everybody's dream. but to be local and be part of the racing scene, it's so much fun. >> reporter: experienced derby goers know this weekend is about more than just horses. >> it's gorgeous. >> reporter: hats. everywhere. big ones. small ones. even baby ones. the fascinator was popular last

year. this year, milliner christine moore says women are going a bit bigger. >> in kentucky the smaller the woman the larger the hat. so if you want to wear a large hat, go for it. >> reporter: patty starts planning out her outfit months in advance. >> i pick the dress first. the color really just depends on what i see that i like. and then she sees the dress, christine sees the dress, and then we go from there. >> reporter: men, too, must dress to impress. >> you're going to see all kinds of preppy shades from creamsicle orange to pale blues, pale pinks. so it's really about color for the guys. >> reporter: the mint julep has been the derby's official drink for nearly a century. they'll serve 120,000 here this weekend. but none quite like this. the $1,000 mint julep. the money goes to charity. >> for $2,000 you get this wonderful 24 karat gold plated cup, with 43 diamonds in the horseshoe. >> reporter: but if you were hoping for that little souvenir,

too late. it's already sold out. but there's still plenty of money floating around. in fact they've increased the purse for this year's derby. it's now over $2 million. at churchill downs, i'm tracie potts. back to you, lynn. >> all right, tracie, thanks so much. nbc's going to have coverage of the derby live from churchill downs, beginning tomorrow, 4:00 p.m. eastern time, on your local nbc station. all right, what about the weather for the derby? that's the big headline there. bill karins is looking at that. >> it will be -- it will be interesting. because there's going to be thunderstorms around, and typical summertime thunderstorms. today, and tomorrow. today for the fillies race, all the ladies will be in action. the oaks, 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms. that's the same forecast for the derby which is run just about after 6:00 saturday afternoon. so, it's hit and miss. they could have a very sloppy, wet track or just could be warm and sunny. really a flip of a coin. 40% chance of those showers and storms. now as far as this morning goes,

showers and storms about to roll from new york city through long island. if you're in connecticut, bring the umbrella with you as you head out the door. showers and storms this morning. a break through much of the day and later again this afternoon to this evening another round of showers and storms for this area. then also from minneapolis to chicago will be dodging the storms. as we go through your weekend it looks like we're going to see improvement in new england in the mid-atlantic, still a chance of an additional storm this weekend, though, especially in the norv plains. very active weather pattern over this last week or two. again, lynn, no tornado outbreaks. just cycles of thunderstorms after thunderstorms. >> yeah, no fun. also some all that hail out there. >> there's been a lot of hail reports. >> all right, bill, thanks so much. coming up, actress demi moore undergoes a name change. plus, marvel superheroes unite to kick off the summer blockbuster movie season. your "first look" at entertainment straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who's good with money. see what's free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. what happens when classroom teachers get the training... ...and support they need? schools flourish and students blossom. that's why programs like... ...the mickelson exxonmobil teachers academy... ...and astronaut sally ride's science academy are helping our educators improve student success in math and science. let's shoot for the stars. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students.

let's solve this. to put more giddy-up in our get-along. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's... ... and mix a little more hop in our hip-hop. with the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles ... you'll want to get up and go.

welcome back to "first look." time now for a look at entertainment news. you're not going to need superpowers to predict business film will dominate this weekend's box office. i'm super fired up about this. >> you are. >> i am so fired up. it's a highly anticipated super hero match-up -- >> why? >> because it's amazing. "the avengers" it's already amassed a record-breaking $281 million in foreign theaters in just one week. why would you say why, bill? $280 million. robert downey junior's iron man, captain america, chris hemsworth as thor, mark russell as the hulk and your favorite, there you go -- black widow. >> i didn't realize she was in there. >> there we go. now we're talking. boosted by 3-d and imax ticket

sales, experts believe it could earn between $150 million and $170 million, possibly breaking the opening weekend record held by the last harry potter movie. all right elsewhere, actress demi moore has her new twitter handle. following her breakup with husband ashton kutcher. she called on fans to replace @mrskutcher. without hurter ado, new name -- >> what is it? @justdemi. >> really can't make fun of it. really can't pick on it. >> i think that was the point. she wanted to just keep it simple. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" starts right now. the blind chinese dissident at the center of an uncomfortable diplomatic dispute between the united states and china starts making demands. holding a conference call with u.s. congressmen demanding a meeting with secretary of state hillary clinton. the question is, should this guy

take it down a notch a little bit on demands of the country that provided him safe haven? we'll have some details. also new details about the facebook ipo. coming in a couple of weeks. and what it means for the company, and for the 27-year-old who invented the concept in his dorm room only eight years ago. the question is, could facebook really be worth this much money? or is it a little overvalued? and terrible, terrible news. not just for yankee fans but for baseball fans, as the undisputed greatest closer of all time tears up his knee while shagging fly balls in batting practice. the question is, have we seen the last of the great mariano rivera? it's "way too early" for this. good morning, i'm willie geist and this is "way too early," the show that blames the outfield grass in kansas city not just for mariano's knee but for all the world's problems. including war,