>> mitt romney wondered london was ready for the olympics, and i think it's clear that voters in this country wonder aloud whether mitt romney is ready for the world. >> reporter: mitt romney moving on but still smarting from that stumble on the world stage. today romney's meeting with poland's prime minister and also with its former president, lech walesa. >> here at home, we understand romney is making more headlines today with questions about his taxes? >> reporter: yeah, romney in an interview with one of the other networks said that he had been audited at one point. romney's campaign tells nbc's chuck todd that yes, romney was audited more than a decade ago but was found to be in compliance. but veronica, it just brings up a lot more questions about what isn't being revealed about romney's taxes in those years other than the two that he's decided to reveal to the public. >> interesting. brian mooar in washington, brian, thank you. elsewhere in the middle east, syria's foreign minister has predicted that rebels in the country's largest city will be

defeated soon. government forces have been struggling to take back aleppo with tanks and artillery-pounding neighborhoods for a week. international correspondent john irvin from itn reports. >> reporter: it is evolving into the pivotal battle of the war so far. aleppo is a prize that neither side can afford to lose. consequently these rebels are fighting doggedly to keep every inch they have taken. to have and to hold aleppo would be hugely symbolic. in the villages and countryside outside the city, opposition forces have had much to celebrate, capturing tanks and controlling large sways of territory from where they have been resupplying units inside aleppo. the outside world fears a massacre, and one may already have taken place inside aleppo's

pa main prison. these are rebels trying to get inside to find out if jailed sympathizers are still alive. to the south, the death and destruction that has befallen the city of homs may indicate what the future holds for aleppo. protracted, bombardment and brutality has not finished off the rebels here. indeed in street battles, they appear to be more than holding their own. it's six months since homs became a war zone. the rebels know that prolonging any battle is to their advantage. sapping the resources and will power of the regime is, they believe, the path to victory. john irvine, itv news, in the middle east. here at home, in just a few hours, the alleged gunman in the colorado movie theater shooting rampage will be back in court. today prosecutors are expected to file formal charges against 24-year-old james holmes.

nbc's leeanne gregg is live outside for us the county courthouse in centennial, colorado, with the details. leanne, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. extra security is in place for the hearing later this morning. the courtroom is expected to be packed when holmes could face hundreds of charges. >> call people versus james holmes. >> reporter: all eyes again will be upon james holmes today just as during his first court appearance last week when he was read his rights. then holmes appeared dazed, unable to focus. >> you have a right to romaemai silent. >> reporter: court documents say prosecutors will seek 12 counts of attempted murder, first-degree among other charges. for the first time the suspect will officially hear what he faces in conjunction with the shooting deaths of 12 people and injuries of 58 others. a decision on whether to seek the death penalty could still be months away. the district attorney wants input from victims' families and survivors.

>> if the death penalty is sought, that's a very long process that impacts their lives for years. and so they will want to have, and we will want to get, their input before we make any kind of a decision on that. >> reporter: for now, families of victims are saying good-bye. funerals for several were held over the weekend. among those laid to rest, jessica ghawi, taken home to san antonio. jonathan blunk buried in reno and a.j.boyk remembered in aurora. >> my heart is breaking and i will miss him. >> reporter: heartache as investigators learn more about james holmes and what may have led to such a devious plot. holmes had been seeing a psychiatrist at the medical school where he was a ph.d. student. a hearing will also be held today on whether a package holmes sent to that psychiatrist can be admitted as evidence. from centennial, colorado, i'm leeanne gregg.

veronica, back to you. >> leanne, thank you. now for a look at the national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning. >> good morning to you. this weekend, i got washed out. >> you did? >> i was not very happy with the weatherman. the other people that were with me were not happy with me. >> what happened? >> there were a lot of thunderstorms and rain up in the northeast this past weekend. and we're still dealing with the drought and heat in the middle of the country. as we go into the beginning of august, it doesn't look like this pattern is going to shift. two days left here in july. the middle of the country continues to bake under the heat. the heat wave has shifted a little further south. there's some relief for, say, chicago up to minneapolis and a little relief there in st. louis. but if you're in from kansas to oklahoma to texas, this is going to probably be one of the hottest weeks of the summer. eastern seaboard, a dip in the jet stream. you're still warm. a lot of thunderstorms right along the carolina coastline. that will be the pattern this week. we're not going to see anything too hot in the east.

heat advisories from oklahoma city to dallas. all the way from new orleans back up to little rock. this is where the heat will be worst as we go throughout the day today. how hot will it be? check out the temperature in wichita, kansas, up to 108 today. could even be near 110 right around tulsa from 105 oklahoma city to dallas. little rock's been above 100 day after day. 107 today around little rock, ridiculous. it's pretty humid around new orleans up into areas of alabama and mississippi, too. i tell you what, dallas, this week, 105 all the way to about 100 right through friday. so it doesn't look like any relief is coming. thankfully in kansas city, we do have a few thunderstorms this morning. we'll take whatever rain we can get. it's not drenching the whole area but from st. joseph to k.c., we may see a rumble of thunder. it looks like in the north east, everyone can dry their umbrellas out and leave them at home today. >> a little better for you, right, bill? >> yeah, a little bit.

gas prices rise again and crunching the numbers on olympic gold. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. red sox and yankees need extras. history made in baltimore and a perfect ten for the reds. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. (cat purring) mornings are a special time for the two of you...

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. at least 47 people were killed in a fire on a train in southern india. 28 other passengers were hospitalized with burns by a fire that may have been caused by an electrical short circuit. a head-on crash between a truck and van in arizona killed seven people yesterday. the truck crossed the center median on interstate 10 west of phoenix, killing the people in the van and sending the truck driver and his wife to the hospital. in ohio, a kent state university student has been arrested after he allegedly sent

a tweet saying he was planning to, quote, shoot up the campus. in 1974, students were killed at kent state during an anti-war protest. in california, 12 passengers were rescued off the new superman roller coaster at six flags discovery kingdom sunday. fortunately, they were upright when they got stuck. it took two hours for firefighters to bring the cars back down. and a 20-year-old giant panda has given birth at the san diego zoo and has also set a record. officials say it is the sixth cub born at the zoo to baiyun, the most at a breeding facility outside of china. baiyun is also one of the oldest giant pandas known to give birth. here's your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. republican presidential candidate mitt romney laughed off "newsweek" magazine calling him a wimp in its issue. romney told cbs they tried that

with george herbert walker bush and he said bush 41 was, quote, a great president. former vice president dick cheney told abc that choosing sarah palin as the 2008 vice presidential candidate was a mistake. cheney says he likes palin, but she didn't pass the test of, quote, being ready to take over as president. but cheney's daughter, liz, sent a tweet shortly after her father's interview to disagree with him. liz cheney wrote that palin was, quote, more qualified than obama and biden combined. "the miami herald" reports bobby jindal is being called the goldilocks candidate because marco rubio and chris christie might overshadow romney, and rob portman and paul ryan, well, they're just too dull. so when asked about being the middleweight goldilocks candidate, jindal asked, quote, is that a compliment, or is that an insult? well, the associated press reporting that former president bill clinton will play a

prominent role at the democratic national convention this summer. clinton will formally nominate president obama for re-election, and he will use a primetime speech to argue that obama has the strongest economic vision for the country's future. and politico saying that minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann is stiffing small businesses who did work for her failed presidential run. a company that rented a fleet of golf carts to bachmann's campaign for use in iowa last summer has not been paid. and in fact, her campaign still owes vendors a total of $935,000. hmm. and that is your dish of scrambled politics. and now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off. the dow opens at 13,075 after jumping 187 points friday. the s&p shot up 25. the nasdaq added 64. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo,

the nikkei rose 68 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng leaped 10. well, stocks are riding high on hopes that central bankers will take action this week after friday's less than impressive gdp report. investors are hoping the federal reserve moves to bolster the u.s. economy. however, expectations are low for another round of quantitative easing. overseas, all eyes will be on the european central bank's president mario draghi as he faces the complicated task of delivering on his promise to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. asian shares rose today driven by expectations that both central banks will deliver new measures to boost their economies. at the end of the week, the july jobs report looms large. there are also earnings from about one-fifth of the s&p 500 as well as auto and retail sales data on deck. today apple's patent battle against rival samsung goes to trial. apple claims samsung infringed on three patents related to its

iphone and ipad. the national transportation safety board is investigating why debris fell from an engine on one of boeing's new 787 dreamliners during a preflight test in south carolina on saturday. general motors ousted its global marketing chief after little more than two years on the job. gm said he failed to meet the company's expectations. gas prices are on the rise again. the average price for a gallon of regular now stands at $3.51. that is up a dime from two weeks ago. and finally, how much is an olympic gold medal really worth? well, considering each 412-gram medallion only contains about six grams of gold, most of it is silver. right now one of the prize medals is worth about $646. the dodgers sweep the giants and the red sox overtake the yankees in extra innings. plus, chalk it up to an occupational hazard as the

marlins' third base coach gets caught in the cross fire. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream

welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports, a red sox rookie shortstop proved to be the yankees' newest nemesis. here's nbc's mario solis. >> good morning. no better way to end the weekend than with the best rivalry in baseball. yankees and red sox, an inning after russell martin cut the

lead in half, he ties it with an rbi single in the eighth. all knotted up and headed to extras. but new york cannot complete the comeback. a little flare to right. that's good enough to score a run. red sox hang on to win, 3-2, in ten. dodgers and giants. clayton kershaw goes the distance in san francisco, allowing just five hits and striking out seven. break out the brooms. dodgers sweep the giants, 4-0. the orioles had it going against the "a's," striking out 12 in just 5 2/3, the first oriole to strike out a dozen in less than six innings. baltimore wins 6-1. hottest team in the bigs has to be the reds. both hitting homers in the fifth. cincy wins their tenth in a row. they beat colorado, 7-2. how about a walkoff? cards at cubs. tied at 2-2 in the tenth. anthony rizzo steps in and out. a two-run shot over the ivy in

left. cubs win in dramatic fashion, 4-2. let's go to florida, funny moment between the marlins and padres. fly ball to right. no problem for mark kotsay. he's headed to third. here's the throw. watch out. the third base coach goes down. fortunately he's okay. avoided being hit by the slimmest of margins. the ball went right between his legs. check out ozzie guillen. he gets a good laugh. the marlins were all smiles. they beat the padres, 5-4, in ten. and that's your first look at sports. i'm mario solis. and now for another look at the weather. here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. what olympic events have you been watching? >> i watched some of the swimming. phelps, lochte. >> what happened? i watched that. >> he got fourth. >> i saw that. what happened? i'm asking you. >> the guy's been around a long time, still doing pretty well if you ask me. he has many more chances. don't worry about him. today at the olympics, still kind of cool.

beach volleyball, instead of the bikinis, they were wearing like pants and shirts. it's been chilly in london, and that will continue today. 66 degrees today. it's a nice day. it's just a slight chance of showers. tomorrow there's a better chance of rain there. finally a dry day for everyone in new england after a soggy, cool weekend. maybe a slight chance of a thunderstorm today in d.c., but most areas remain dry. the best chance of rain today is down along the southeast coast in north florida and central florida. very hot and dry in the middle of the country today. west coast remains pretty nice, too. this heat wave and drought, for everyone in the middle of the country, it can go away any time now. it's lingering. >> yikes. all right. thanks rn thanks, bill. why is rapper snoop dogg getting the boot from norway? plus, good news and bad news for the caped crusader at the box office this weekend. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

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welcome back to "first look." it's time now for some entertainment news. the reigning box office champion easily rose to the top of a sluggish weekend at the box office. that included two newcomers. "the dark knight rises" continued with $64.1 million in ticket sales. still that represents a 60% decline from its opening last weekend and roughly $25 million less than the last "dark knight" film made during the same period. in second place, "ice age continental drift" managed to pull in $13.3 million in its third weekend. and then "the watch" starring ben stiller, jonah hill and vince vaughn opened in third place with a disappointing $13 million. thanks largely to negative reviews.

and then there was "step up revolution" with $11.8 million, well short of the previous three films and "the dance" franchise. but something nabil cathat bill went to go see. snoop dogg has been banned from entering norway after two years after he was busted for trying to enter the country with a small amount of marijuana last month. >> shocking. >> shocking. shocking. >> wow! >> whoa! are you sure about this? >> two-year ban? >> i don't know. i don't know about that. anything out there that you want to go see? >> i don't know. everything kind of has a weird feeling to it since the colorado shooting. i wonder if that has a lot to do with the down number. $13 million for second place for a summer weekend? >> everybody's watching the olympics. that's what it was. >> that's true. biggest numbers over, 40 million. >> i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look." stay tuned because "way too early with willie geist" starts right now.

mitt romney continues his overseas tour in jerusalem assuring his host he would prevent iran from developing nukes. the question is, will his gesture over there win any extra voters here at home? the democrats pull out the big guns calling on bill clinton to make a primetime speech at the democratic convention. the question is, is the greatest politician of his generation can't convince americans that president obama that there is another four years in office, who can? and a memorable opening weekend at the olympic games in london where some athletes found redemption and olympic gold, and others walked away with only heartbreak. the question is, after just a few days of competition, where does the u.s. stack up on the world stage? it is "way too early" for this. good morning. there you see london and welcome to "way too early." i'm luke russert filling in for

willie geist here in new york. while willie is partying up in the olympic village, in fact, he's getting in after a night out with prince harry and kate moss. so he'll be in tip-top shape when we see him later on i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc, listening live on sirius radio. shoot us an e-mail or tweet us at@williegeist1. or do what gabby douglas does and text the word "awake" followed by your response to 622639. barnicle, get louder. we'll read the best responses later in the show. before we get to the news here at 30 rock, i want to bring in willie live from london who's been covering the olympics the entire weekend. willie, you've got an amazingly awesome 1970s retro vest right there. you were just partying with prince harry and indicate moss, living the high life. what do you have ahead for us in the world of sports, my friend? >> reporter: you know how we do it. i was surprised you went with

the kate moss reference. >> you're in your early 30s. i was going old school for you. i'd be more of a pippa middleton guy. >> reporter: i'm in my 30s like i'm a senior citizen. we've got a lot going on today, luke. we've got some gymnastics to tell you about, the woman who is expected to win the all-around competition or at least silver. not going to be there. didn't qualify yesterday. ryan lochte who won a gold two days ago couldn't come through on the last leg of a relay. usa settles for gold there, too. of course, we've got the dream team showing the french what time it is, luke. we'll have highlights of all that a little bit later. >> thanks, willie. that's going to be a blast. and let's go to the real news now, or the hard news, not the sports news. sports is always news. let's go to the hard news at 30 rock here in new york city. mitt romney is heading to poland today after wrapping up his tour of israel. romney spoke to some 300 supporters in jerusalem yesterday, many jewish backers from the u.s. who had traveled there to greet him. and though he was careful not to criticize president obama on foreign soil, romney suggested