this morning on "early today," reaching out. president obama makes his first speech to the united nations calling for a new era of engagement. a traffic camera captures a head-on collision. >> dazzling display. a dplims of one of the world's most famous gems as it's never a dplims of one of the world's most famous gems as it's never been seen before. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm christina brown. today we begin with a call for action. president obama is no stranger to high profile speeches but he was on new ground yesterday delivering his first address to the united nations general assembly. faced with a host of global challenges, the most immediate concerns took center stage. nbc's steve handelsman reports.

>> reporter: president obama sat down in new york with russian president medicine vyesterday verify. to stop iran from building nuclear weapons, the russians agreed reluctantly. cooperation. earlier in his first speech to the u.n. president obama called for more cooperation. and he didn't minutes words. >> those who chastise america for acting alone cannot stand by and wait for america to solve the world's problems alone. >> reporter: in his u.n. address, iranian president ahmadinejad didn't mention nukes. >> and those who have created the current disastrous situation continue to blame others. >> reporter: members of the u.s. delegation walked out. president obama had already

pressured both sides. >> we continue to call on palestinians to enden sightment against israel and continue to emphasize that america does not accept the legitimacy. >> reporter: many americans say they trust barack obama borrows hi father was a muslim. even libyan leader moammar gadhafi had warm words. now barack obama shifts his stage to the meeting of the world's wealthiest nation in pittsburgh and shifts his focus on the economy. steve handelsman, nbc news, new york. in what will mark another historic first, president obama will chair a meeting of the u.n. security council, the first time a u.s. president has done so. leaders of the 15-nation panel will gather later this morning where the subject will be nuclear proliferation. the council is expected to unanimously adopt a u.s. drafted

resolution that pushes for further efforts towards nuclear disarmament. the as the u.n. summit winds down, the g-20 summit picks up in pittsburgh. leaders there will turn their focus on the global economy. officials from wealthy and developing nations will meet to discuss economic recovery. climate change is also on the agenda. a big topic for protesters who unfurled a giant banner across the downtown bridge wednesday. meanwhile, thousands of police officers have been mobilized, some in riot gear, with at least 15 arrests coming yesterday. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. in arizona, a highway traffic camera captured a deadly head-on collision. take a look. in the video you see a car swerve across the road and smash directly into a bus that was carrying special needs children. all three people inside that car were killed.

they were not wearing their seatbelts. meanwhile, on the bus, only the driver suffered minor injuries. thieves in west virginia broke into a business and then made off with an atm. after one man threw a car jack through a window, the two grabbed the cash machine inside and carried it to their car. but one of them closed the hatch just a little too soon, hitting his accomplice on the head. an overturned mow lass else truck certainly slowed down traffic in oklahoma. the tanker rolled over spilling the soupy substance across the highway. no one was injured but it did take crews two hours to clean up this very sticky situation. a few ranchers in colorado stepped in to help a pair of elk. the two got their antlers tangled with each other in a bar of barbed wire. neither animal was hurt, but the

ranchers were not able to clear all of the wire. now it's time for a look at your national and regional weather, here's meteorologist ryan phillips from wtvj miami with today's forecast. good morning, ryan. as if the antlers didn't make the elk dangerous enough. >> reporter: throw in a little barbed wire and there you go. here in the east we've got a changeable weather pattern in place. nice cooldown in the east. southeastern states drying out. but the wet weather focus will shift to the middle mississippi valley on into the northern gulf coast states. high pressure, which has brought in wonderful weather in the northeast, starting to retreat. rain in the northeast but most will push offshore by the time we get things going. not looking for much in the way of travel delays across the mid atlantic or northeastern states today. still muggy in the southeast. 71 in atlanta. 74 in savannah. 70 right now in the big apple.

overall today, we are going to see more clouds around and still very muggy in the southeast but dry after the massive flooding we've had in northern georgia near atlanta. 84 today and partly cloudy skies. 84, early morning showers in new york. and detroit and chicago looking very nice. partly cloudy skies and highs in the mid-70s. miami, orlando, mid-70s. that's a check of the weather across the region. now your forecast close to home. hartford, connecticut, 79. more clouds and sunshine today. we should push the showers out of here. charleston, 89, partly sunny. savannah, 88, with muggy conditions. so we're going to roll on here. overall, we're going to roll on with just shower activity in the northeast but really cool temperatures coming for the weekend. we'll talk about that in just a little bit, christina.

banks stumble, oil falls, and the fed says things are going okay. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, she's back. just when you thought the world might be safe from mad cap singer amy winehouse she proves she's still in fighting form. a legendary manager calls it quits. a pair of walk-offs from around the league. and when did the yankees get cat woman? you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm christina brown. here are some of your top headlines this morning. for the first time an experimental vaccine has proven effective against the virus responsible for aids. and the world's largest aids vaccine trial involving 16,000 volunteers in thailand. the vaccine reduced the risk of becoming infected with hiv by more than 31%.

the results surprised researchers because the dose combines two vaccines that separately did not prevent hiv in previous trials. a law enforcement worker said a consensus worker has been found dead in kentucky with the word fed scrawled on his chest. new satellite information shows ice sheets in greenland and antarctica are melting away faster than scientists anticipated. damage showed in parts of antarctica the yearly rate of thinning from 2003 to 2007 was 50% more than what it was from 1995 to 2003. and scientists now believe they have unambiguous evidence that there's water on the moon dashing the notion that earth's neighbor is a dead satellite. data from spacecraft fly-byes have detected proof that a film of water covers the moon's

surface in some areas, in particular near the poles. the dow opens at 9,748 after dropping 81 points on wednesday. the s&p lost 10. the nasdaq fell 14 points. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei rose 173 points, but in hong kong the hang seng sank 544 points. yesterday's federal reserve meeting did not deliver think big surprises the take on the economy still changed to disappoint some. after wrapping its two-day meeting wednesday the fed announced interest rates will reman unchanged. on the subject of a recovery, the committee said the pace of economic activity has, quote, picked up. markets rallied early but finished lower afteren vestors worried that the fed's decision to slow some stimulus measures may have come too soon. with interest rates

remaining at record lows, concern that banks will have a hard time turning a profit sparked a sell-off in financials. jpmorgan led the market. citigroup is reportedly cutting back on branches nationwide, focusing the pluck of its business overseas. now citi will be in just six major u.s. cities. some say the move could make waves in washington considering the u.s. government bailed out citigroup last year and now has a 34% stake in the company. also dragging down markets, the price of crude slid nearly 4% wednesday, settling below $69 a barrel after reports of rising supplies. shares of sisco fell 2% wednesday weighing down the tech heavy nasdaq. the number of americans unale to pay credit card bills rose 1%. the a lot of debt charged off hit a record high as americans

struggled to find jobs. japan's sony reported global retail sales of its latest cut bright model of the playstation video game console had hit 1 million in the three weeks since its launch. finally, if you've ever wished you had a segue that fits indoors, honda's new mini transporter might be your answer. the unicycle will keep you on your toes, though. to steer, you'll need your balance to lean in the desired direction while traveling up to 6 miles per hour. well, the braves get out their broom. hazing yankee rookies. and walk-offs galore. plus, tampa's bj upton and his flare for the dramatic. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and we are still stormy in the middle mississippi valley. your regional forecast coming up. stick around. you're watching "early today."

good morning. ifyou're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the man who guided the atlanta braves to 14 straight postseason appearances is stepping down. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. they say when it's time to go,

you'll know. and for bobby cox it's that time. the manager of the braves announced he will retire next season after 50 years in baseball. cox and the braves were in the big apple facing the mets. laroche had three hits and a pair of rbi. this one gave the braves a 3-0 lead. sacks full. castillo grounded into an inning ending double play. braves won it 5-2. they're now just four games out of the wild card. florida down one in the ninth. cantu, rbi single up the middle. tied the game at six. pinch-hitter brett carroll. you can call him hero. came through with a game-winning hit. marlins rallied to beat the champs, 7-6. more late inning heroics. dodgers and nats. tied score. runners on the corners. pete shot to andre ethier. he dropped it. not like it would have mattered. the runners were tagging. the victory meant so much more for the team.

they avoid losing 100 games this season. kudos to them. as the yankees pena dressed as cat woman for rookie hazing. robinson gave new york the lead rbi single. went on to win 3-2. their magic number to clinch the east is five. rays and mariners. tampa trying to salvage anything from a disappointing season. sacks full. bj upton would score two. last guess for the mariners. bill hall, long drive to center. it ties the game. upton made the leaping grab at the wall. rays go on to win 5-4. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. how brittaney spears ex-husband turns his weight gain into financial game. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead.

>> if diamonds are a girl's best friend, we're about to introduce you to every girl's bff. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." a cold front across the deep south stays far enough to the southeast. but in the northeast this front may kick off early morning showers. nice weather just in time for the weekend. new york might see an early morning shower.

88 in charlotte. 84 in atlanta. mid-80s tomorrow in atlanta. detroit, d.c., new york, even into the northeast, highs 65 to 70. if you're watching us this morning on wcsh tv in portland, maine, come see amazing comparisons between photos of portland over 100 years ago and the exact same locations today at picturing portland a century of change at the portland harbor museum. that's your eastern event of the day, christina. >> thanks so much, ryan. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. haven't heard much about amy winehouse lately. then perhaps, just perhaps, you thought she'd calmed her life down lately, right? wrong. earlier this week, winehouse allegedly stormed into a london school to confront a girl who bullied her god daughter. she reportedly screamed at and spit on the girl. then rg not kidding her, she signed a few autographs and went home. jude law is a father again but this time only financially.

his former flame gave birth to a daughter sophia. grey's anatomy star gave birth to a daughter she named stella lieu that. britney spears's ex is joining vh-1's celebrity fit club. renee zellweger won't be gaining weight. it took her so long to drop the pounds after the second film. for this one she says she's going to wearing a so-called fat suit. >> no need to load up on all the milkshakes like the the last movie. >> at least she could say she was preparing for a worthy cause. >> well, this comes to us from wrc tv nbc 4 in washington, d.c. where the world's largest blue diamond is taking center stage in the nude, so to speak anyway. for the first time, the famed

hope diamond is on display without its or nate setting. the gem is appearing naked while another setting is prepared, which will mark its 50 years at the smithsonian. now for several months, starry-eyed visitors will be able to see the 45 1/2 karat diamond and all its bare elegance. i can't even concentrate after seeing that. >> serious bling, big time. >> no kidding. i'm christina brown, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> a good person morning to you. yesterday it was warm. we hit a high of 84 degrees. that was at the airport. 86 at the inner harbor. today, more of the same. some cooler air will move in this afternoon. it will be drier air. much cooler with high pressure building in. 75 downtown. 72 of the airport. mid 80's today. the cells come up. >> thank you. here is a look ahead to 11 news today. >> baltimore city employees are facing furloughs will begin in less than two weeks. these cells straight ahead.

>> in washington, president obama starts his day at the un focusing on nuclear weapons. then he goes to pittsburg for the g-20 summit. >> para benson closures in the city. city. we are off to a good start. - ( music playing ) - we know technology can make you more connected.

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and ultimately connected to you. at kaiser permanente, we believe that if knowledge is power, shared knowledge is even more powerful. kaiser permanente. thrive. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good morning. >> thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> it will get to our big story in just a minute. first, let's check with our forecast -- on our forecast with sandra schaub. >> -- sandra shaw. >> high pressure will change things for us by tomorrow and into the weekend. 75 downtown. 72 at the airport. 73 on the easn