this morning on "early today" -- welcome home. president obama marks the end of the iraq war with those two words. >> christmas grinches. surveillance video catches two teens trashing a holiday display. and small wonder. a baby weighing barely half a pound at by the way defies all a baby weighing barely half a pound at by the way defies all odds. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with the end of a long era. after 4500 lives lost, president

obama and the first lady were at ft. bragg, north carolina, to officially mark the end of the iraq war. all but around 150 service members will be out of iraq by the new year. nbc's kristin welker has more. >> hello, ft. bragg. >> reporter: appearing before a sea of members at ft. bragg, the president and the first lady marked a pivotal history in u.s. history. after nine years in iraq, all the troops are returning. >> welcome home. welcome home. welcome home. >> reporter: the speech, a tribute to the 1.5 million americans who served and the nearly 4500 who gave their lives. >> hard work and sacrifice. those words only begin to describe the costs of this war. >> reporter: the president facing a tough re-election battle did not declare victory

in iraq but has called the withdrawal a campaign promise kept. >> we are ending the war not with a final battle but a final march home. >> reporter: back home john mccain said the withdrawal is purely political. >> i believe history will judge this president's leadership with scorn and disdain that it deserves. >> reporter: but for soldiers like jesse, who served three tours in iraq, today is a moment of celebration. >> makes me proud what we did there. we did our job over there. the president's getting us home. we pretty much had it taken care of. iraqis can handle themselves over there now. >> reporter: kristin welker, nbc news. in the same tribute yesterday, the president told the crowd washington needs to take a lesson from u.s. troops and their ability to work together. and while it appears lawmakers on capitol hill have made some progress on a defense spending bill, an impasse over expiring payroll cuts could result in a

government shutdown. tracie potts joins us with more. >> reporter: good morning. lots going on. let's start with your check on that payroll tax cut. negotiations in earnest, president obama and democrats, it appears, will abandon their push for a millionaire tax in an attempt to get republicans to abandon that controversial oil pipeline they've attached to this package. when it comes to the possible government shutdown as of midnight tomorrow, a new $1 trillion package introduced very late last night by house republicans that would keep the government running includes spending cuts and backs off policies that conservative republicans wanted. top democrats are on board but the white house still has concerns and they're pushing a short-term measure. another short-term measure. finally, some progress on a massive defense bill. the house has passed a $662 billion package. looks like the senate will vote on that later today. there was a concern about terror

detainees, whether they would be tried in civilian courts. now it looks like they've been able to work that out. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. elsewhere, before a speech about brain science research at the university of iowa, republican presidential candidate newt gingrich got a taste of the kind of criticism that comes with his front-runner status. moments after taking the podium, the former house speaker stood silenced as protesters shouted out from the auditorium attacking what they call his, quote, callous attitude toward poor people. two days after mitt romney blasted gingrich for what he called his erratic, outspokenness, romney ramped up his rhetoric yesterday kaulgd him zany. here's a look at other stories making news. look at that. a driver of a pickup truck

crashed through a store front attempting to run down his girlfriend. the man got away by stealing a nearby suv. he was later arrested after crashing that vehicle. only the store owner suffered minor injuries. a pickup truck was used in missouri. a burglary suspect crashed his truck into a store to steal clothing. after loading up, the thief had a little trouble getting out before he eventually peeled off. police later arrested the suspect at his home. a couple of grimplgs attempted to trash a virginia family's spectacular christmas display. surveillance video and photographs show the destruction resulting in $7,000 worth of damage. the victims were able to salvage their display but still feel violated. police have not made any arrests. finally, residents of a small kansas town were buzzing about a truck carrying mysterious cargo. witnesses watched as police

escorted the truck carting away what appeared to be a ufo-like object through the area. bill believes it. the trucking company explained to authorities it was just carrying a model for a my aircraft. sure. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> something tells me if you were going to transport top secret ufo -- >> just do it in wide open and everyone goes, okay. who knows? we've been talking about how warm it's been this december and lack of snow. it's incredible stats. i saw something yesterday that only 16 of new england's 52 ski areas are open. we're approaching christmas and they're about to start losing money if we don't get snow on the ground. we're dealing with another warm scenario. a lot of green on the map. there's just a little snow on the front edge through the mountainous areas of maine. the warm air is winning out.

it's raining near montreal and southern california. no cold air available. rain that continues along the ohio river, up into ohio. light rain once again. that's going to be in the memphis area and nashville eventually today. we were expecting a few thunderstorms yesterday in texas. we did but we didn't have too much severe weather. just light rain. dallas/ft. worth, you look okay but cool with a slight chance of showers. the only areas that are cold right now, below freezing, is out here in the northern rockies and central rockies. everyone's above freezing in the east. it's an amazingly warm weather pattern. temperature as far north as boston today, 52. only cool air, northern plains. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. today in ohio, mostly just areas of light rain. could be a heavier downpour. temperatures are very warm. raleigh, north carolina, heading up almost 70 degrees today. boston at 52. minneapolis, a little cooler today than yesterday.

and this rain will be out shortly looks like a dry weekend for a lot of us. >> bill, thanks so much. everything falls on wall street except for fear. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, who would have thought she showed up on time, dressed okay and got along with the judge. lindsay lohan finally has a good day in court. coming up, chris paul is traded. magic make a decision about dwight howard's future. and tim tebow for president. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines. activists say violence across syria left as least 25 people dead wednesday. an activists group says army defectors killed 25 soldiers in security clashes this morning which would make it one of the

deadliest attacks by rebel troops in the nine-month uprising. a commercial satellite company says it captured a photo of china's first aircraft carrier taking an apparent test ride in the yellow sea. they bought the ship from ukraine in 1998 and spent years refeshing it and arming it. some startling new numbers from the centers for disease control and prevention based on a new survey of domestic violence. one in four women reported being violently attacked by a husband or boyfriend. a number researchers called astounding. while one in five women said they had been sexually assaulted. and researchers have spotted a giant gas cloud spiraling into a super massive black hole at the center of our galaxy. that's pretty cool. thought as -- or thought it's known black holes draw in everything nearby, it will be the first chance to see one consume such a cloud. well, now here is an early

look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 1 1,823 after tumbling 131 points yesterday. the s&p solid 13 points. the nasdaq lost 39. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei sank 141 points. while in hong kong the hang seng dropped 327. the stocks fell for a third day wednesday, hitting their lowest level in two weeks. the only thing rising on wall street was fear of a global slowdown. with europe sliding into recession, concern is spreading, the world's entire economy may be in jeopardy. italy's borrowing costs rose to a euro-era record. the euro fell to an 11-month low against the dollar. oil tumbled over 5%. snagging energy stocks. gold dropped to its lowest level since early october. in fact, copper fell to a near three-week low. tin, a three-month low. and the price of aluminum hit

the lowest level in 17 months. all that drove mining, commodity and material stocks lower. high demand for safe u.s. bonds drove a $13 billion, 30-year bond sale at a record low rate. shares of caterpillar, led the dow lower. chevron also dragged the dow after brazilian authorities sued chevron over a recent spill for over $10 billion. techs sold off sharply. first solar tumbled after joining other companies that recently cut their outlooks. watch lam research today. it's buying novellis in a $3.3 billion all-stock deal. elsewhere, one survey says ceo pay shot up 27% last year. john hammergrin of the country's highest paid took home $145 million. meanwhile f congress fails to extend unemployment benefits that expire in two weeks, nearly

1.8 million americans will lose assistance. finally, it's known as retail therapy and store owners love it. a new survey of finds one in four adults have gone shopping to improve their mood. guilty as charged. coming up, dwight howard is staying put. bruins keep rolling. and one other way tim tebow can take advantage of his repeat string of luck. plus, the no.'s chris paul drama/trauma ends with paul headed to l.a. just a slightly different address in l.a. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather, the warm weather continues across the country and it looks to stay that way. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, apparently the nba feels it's okay for chris paul to be traded to los angeles as long as it's not to the los angeles lakers. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. after a week of speculation, chris paul has finally been traded to los angeles. not to the lakers, the l.a. clippers. that's right. after the deal was dead numerous times with both clippers and lakers, the clips put together a package the hornets and nba

could not resist. they said eric gordon, chris kaman, and first round pick to new orleans for paul and a pair of second rounders. paul agreed to exercise a $17.7 million option, making him a clipper until 2013. paul's a clipper and dwight howard remains a member of the orlando magic. according to the team, he'll be there for a while. they pulled him off the trade market. hockey, the best in the west, blackhawks and wild. looked like chicago would run away it with it. marian hossa and michael frolik, scored 89 seconds apart but minnesota rallied, tying in third. koivu with the equalizer. after a scoreless overtime, patrick kane won it in a shoot time and scored in the empty net. blackhawks won their fifth in a row 4-3. chicago was playing well but no team is playing better than the bruins who kept it going against senators. paille scored a pair. boston atop the eastern

conference after a 5-2 win over the senators. finally with the iowa caucus just weeks away a new candidate making a late push for the republican nomination. according to public policy polling, tim tebow has a better net favorability in iowa than any of the republican candidates. we know he can run on the football field but he's not old enough to run for office. tebow for president in 2024? maybe it has a nice ring. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. what is the proper etiquette concerning divorcing and tweeting? some births are easier than others but we'll tell you one of the most amazing survival stories of all time. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." still umbrella weather in areas of texas, especially dallas, san antonio yoe. damp from pittsburgh to ohio and kentucky this morning. we'll eventually go through some of the big cities in the northeast. a peek at your friday forecast shows many areas dry out. the southeast just a little damp. if you're watching us on wsav savannah, georgia, enjoy favorite sounds of the season at holiday classical guitar concert at the west broad library. >> sound fun. thanks so much.

now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. lindsay lohan was all smiles in court wednesday as once she heard praise from the bench. the judge overseeing her probation gave her credit for completing all community service and therapy sessions and even discussed ending her probation as early as february. >> squeaky clean now. >> exactly. this judge is no fool. when her lawyer asked if she could skip january's appearance, the judge said, if i said yes, then she'll not complete everything. i'm just saying. kim kardashian spent $65,000 on three bracelets at elizabeth taylor's jewelry auction and made sure we all knew about it. barbara walters named steve jobs number one on her ten most fascinating people of 2011 list. and finally, it's the burning social question of our era. how quickly should a divorced woman change her twitter handle? demi moore, who is still using

the name @mrs. kutcher said, sorry it bothers so many of you. should i not tweet until i do? does it not matter? >> i'm on her side. >> agreed. and this comes to us from los angeles, california, where the world's third smallest baby since records have been kept is alive and well after beating seemingly insurmountable odds. melissa came into the world weighing less than a soda can. born four months early she tipped the scales at a little over half a pound. >> wow. >> unbelievable. now she weighs more than four pounds. she's thriving. her amazing survival story is about to begin a new chapter when doctors allow her to leave for her family's home on new year's day. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. we're off to a mild start of this a thursday morning. it is dry. 46 at the airport. 43 in parkton. about 10 degrees warmer than it was yesterday at this time. a chance for some rain showers most likely late in the morning and afternoon. a high temperature of 55 degrees. we will come back and check the forecast into the weekend. >> 45 degrees on tv hill. police need help as they search for a man who sexually assaulted

a woman in glen burnie. will be awash in purple today. >> the iraq war is over. we have closing ceremonies this morning. >> sarah caldwell checking on your morning commute. sit will updat

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. i'm stan stovall. >> and i'm mindy basara. -- thank you for joining us this morning. >> there is some rain on the way? >> i think the drive time will be ok. we have some clouds. we're in the 40's. we're stepping up. we're stepping up.