h the national park foundation so you can experience the spirit of these national treasures in your home. the national park collection. something in the air wick. this morning on "early today," the brass ring. mitt romney picks up enough delegates to secure the republican presidential nomination. the u.s. and other nations expel syrian diplomats in response to a brutal massacre. and pretty in pink, a 12 caratartian pink diamond the largest of its kind ever sold at auction shatters expectations. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for wednesday, may 30th, 2012. hello and good morning i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a long, hard battle after coming up short four years ago, mitt romney has clinched the

republican presidential nomination with a projected primary win in texas. rather than being able to focus on the triumph, the campaign was overshadowed by supporter donald trump. brian mooar reports. >> reporter: a win in the texas primary gives mitt romney the republican nomination. he thanked his supporters and released his birth certificate. on his big day, republicans were revisiting the fight over president obama's birth place. earlier, romney joked about a businessman who wanted to have the constitution rewritten to mi make sure presidents have business experience. >> in addition to the able appeared citizenship of the president and birth place being set by the constitution. >> reporter: he spend his evening with donald trump, who rekindled the birth of the debate. >> you're not allowed to be president if you're not born in

the country. >> reporter: romney didn't defend trump but didn't disagree, either. as newt gingrich threw support behind romney he didn't buy in the birther game. >> we believe this is an american born job-killing president. >> reporter: a big night for romney and attacks on obama. in a coordinated move against bashar assad over the massacre of 100 people, western nations including the u.s. expelled syrian diplomats. more than a dozen nations are condemning the attack on civilians which included the execution of scores of children and parents in their homes. it's one of the deadliest attacks in the 10-month-old uprising against the government which left thousands dead. assad who met with kofi annan yesterday showed no sign of

yielding to international pressure. despite opposition to the rule the administration said yesterday it doesn't believe it's appropriate to arm rebels in syria. more than 200 people injured in the 5.8 magnitude quake in italy yesterday. thousands are homeless due to damage, inhabitable bullings. aftershocks have residents sleeping in cars or tents. this is the second recent fatal quake in the region with seven people killed ten days ago. 50 million euros will be provided for disaster relief and reconstruction. officials in iran confirmed the computers have been hit bay massive cyber attack. the russian security software company claims it discovered the data collecting virus called flame. the firm claims flame has been gathering data, recording conversations, and monitoring online chat sessions in iran and

other middle eastern countries for at least five years. experts believe the makers of a virus that attacked the nuclear center two years ago are behind this one. yesterday, israel's vice premiere did little to deflect suspicion of the possible involvement. saying "we boast tools that open all sorts of opportunities for us." now here is a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. in oklahoma, severe thunderstorms brought hail crashing down and splashing in one man's swimming pool. the force from that hail also shattered a skylight in the house. the storm knocked out power to more than 60,000 people. in florida, video shows an 11-year-old girl falling from a rock climbing wall. oh my goodness. she suffered a concussion, the images show the girl just before hitting the ground. 20 feet below. it happened outside miami

marlins stadium. a family believes a cable was not properly attached. in new jersey a nightmare for june brides-to-be after their store went out of business without warning. women tried to get dresses during one of the busiest time of the year for weddings. in some cases they were able to get their gowns, but one woman says the store kept her deposit and will not hand over the dress. finally, a utah state university team of engineering students developed a device that could allow military special forces to scale walls without ropes or hooks. the machine uses high powered vacuums hookup to batteries, the students took part in an air force competition and were the only ones to create a working device. looks very mission impossible there. a look at national and regional weather here is meterologist todd santos with the weather channel forecast. how about that oklahoma hail. >> incredible stuff, lynn. a lot of areas had hail

yesterday, upwards of severe hail, much larger numbers, there were a few big hail stones and this one, these pictures are coming in from the storm rileders on the weather channel, simon justin were out there yesterday, recorded one of those hail stones not far from in piedmont, oklahoma at five inches. big time numbers across a few areas. we are looking at still i want to mention some of the storm reports in the northeast to show you were not alone. oklahoma some of the largest numbers but we picked up at least ping pong ball size hail in portions of vermont as well as new hampshire. today, different scenario here across the northeast. we have the front in place so we can trigger showers, maybe thunderstorm activity back here across eastern portions of pennsylvania and new york may dodge a few showers, the clouds may help to keep down the chances at least a little bit. here to the southeast, dealing with tropical depression beryl, still 30 mile per hour storm moving toward the north, northeast, we'll track that over

the next couple days. especially as we get in wednesday that could reform in a tropical storm off the outer banks of north carolina if you lived through some of the areas toward morehead city keep a close eye on the forecast. there is a quick look at the region. let's check out the local forecast new york city 82 degrees, light passing shower, better chances to the south and west. orlando, florida may get in on thunderstorms, temperatures in the lower 90s. better thunderstorm chances in the afternoon. lynn, we'll talk about chances for thunderstorms across oklahoma, folks may be getting woken up early. todd we'll check back with you. wall street likes the idea of greece staying put. how low will facebook go? the business headlines are straight ahead. age hasn't stopped

67-year-old steven tyler when it comes to living to excess. this first put on the clinic, the rangers sign an ace, paris says aur riff war to serena. you're watching "early today."

good morning welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are top headlines this morning. police in canada say a severed human foot was mailed to the head quart he is of the prime minister's party in ottawa. police m montreal discovered a human torso in a suitcase. authorities are trying to determine if the discoveries are linked. more than 150 afghan girls were hospitalized yesterday, after being poisoned by an unidentified toxic powder sprayed in the air at a school. it's the third such attack which police blame on conservative radicals who oppose education of

women and girls. grammy award winning folk and country music sinker and guitarist doc watson died at 89. the blind guitarist who played his guitar at lightning speed was awarded the national medal of arts in 1997. planet earth had two recent close calls with asteroid including a 16 foot long rock oot a distance of 9,000 miles. went undetected until monday when another 69 foot asteroid flew by at a distance of 32 thousand miles. the famous martian pink diamond has sold at auction for more than $17 million, far more than expected. named to celebrate the first u.s. satellite mission to mars, the jewel is the biggest pink diamond ever to appear at auction. now here is an early look how wall street will kick off the day. dow open at 12,580 after jumping

125 points yesterday. s&p up 14 points, nasdaq gained 33. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei was down 23 points in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 365. stocks bounced back tuesday despite europe's debt crisis and mixed data here at home. greece may stay in the euro zone sparked buying on wall street that pushed the dow and s&p higher but more market swings were warned. the precious metal gold slid 1% settling down at 1548 an ounce. spain's downgrade took a toil on oil, dropped 2% to settle at $90 a barrel. news home prices fell in march but not as much as previous months stirred hopes that recovery in the struggling housing market. that report was offset by a

lower consumer confidence reading in may. facebook fell to a new low, below $29 as a nervous investors bet against the troubled ipo. two dozen african american pilots are suing the parent of united airlines claiming they were passed over for man agement promotions due to their race. blackberry maker research in motion plunged 13% after warning of a major earnings loss and significant job cuts. samsung launched the latest version of the galaxy smartphone in europe, boasts a screen display that tracks the user's eye to dim or turn off at the appropriate time. a super juice called as-10, reportedly created to reduce astronauts exposure to solar radiation in space, apparently works wonders on reducing wrinkling and age spots here on earth. but at $500 for four month supply, a daily dose of spf-50

may be the best bet or better alternative. serena swoons, albert up to full speed, and the twins rely on the long ball. plus san antonio's spurs make a dramatic statement in game two of the nba's western finals against the thunder. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. thunder in the forecast i'm not talking kevin durant, check in the storm forecast this afternoon. you're watching "early today."

good morning if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports, last night the spurs made nba history as they continued their perfect run in the playoffs. here is mario solis with an early look at all the sports headlines. good morning, the spurs proved once again they are simply on another level. game two in san antonio, sit back and watch tony parker do his thing, drive, spins and finishes with the tear drop, flying frenchman making the thunder dizzy, spurs up 11. if if i necessary is not your thin, tim duncan throws it with authority, had 11 but blew the roof off the building with that one. to the third the spurs play like this they can't be stopped. manu ginobili behind the back to wide open parker, he's not going to miss that, finishing with 34.

spurs win the 20th in a row, and make it look easy 120-111. to tennis, serena williams lost at the french open. the very first time she ever lost the opening round of a grand slam tournament. the rangers signed roy oswald to a deal, he pitched for the phillies last season. >> they could have used him against the mets. i don't think anyone can stop scott hairston, mets win 6-3. as hot as hairston is yadier molina, 12 rbi in the last five games. one man does not make a team. braves win 5-4. another great individual effort this one by baltimore's adam jones, ripping a pair of home runs, but not enough, bluejays knock off the o's 8-6. >> angels andianks, albert found his stroke. 7th home run in 14 games.

angels win 8th in row 5-1. the biggest home run of the night, from minnesota. josh willingham ends it walk off three-run bomb, twinkies save the best for last, they win 3-2. that is the look at sports on "early today" i'm mario solis. early today sport is brought to you by ice blue aqua velva. men get it. what has rihanna's friends worry worried? while we enjoyed images of how america observes memorial day. we have one more, a beautiful ceremony, hawaiian style. you're watching "early today."

>> welcome back to "early today." wanted to mention severe thunderstorm watch for dallas-fort worth area. the plano texas area has small area. a little quieter across the east coast, boston may see an isolated thunderstorm or two. if you're watching us on local 2 in houston, texas, posters and memorabilia celebrate the image ri of houston's blues legends at blues in all its colors at the heritage society. that is the "early today" event of the day. todd, thanks so much. an early look at headlines in entertainment. reports say kanye west and kim

kardashian's relationship has hit a few bumps. tabloids say she is jealous of rihanna and banned her from west's dressing room during shows. trying to reinvent and liven up her fashion sense which he thinks is too safe. meanwhile the chicago sun-times report rihanna's friends are concerned about the hard parties in miami with nba bad boy, j.r. smith. part one of the history channel's "hatfields and mccoy" had just under 14 million viewers. jessica biel says marriage to justin timberlake won't change anything. there is one thing she wants to change is her cooking. she calls it a total disaster. "american idol" judge steven tyler owns a new car, the hennessey venom gt spider. one of five made this year. goes from 0-200 miles in 16

seconds. price tag? $1.1 million. probably a drop in the bucket for him. this comes from khnl, hawaii news, one of the nation has final mother's day remembrances set against a beautiful and serene setting. 40,000 people gathered along the beach for the floating lantern ceremony. each of the 3,000 lanterns carried handwritten messages, some are fallen troops or family members, others cast off in memory of those who saved lives through organ donation. one woman described the event as healing. i'm lynn berry 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. after some big thunderstorms last night, we have so play rain leftover -- we have some light rain this morning. probably not enough to affect the drive time. you can see the off and on light showers through lunch time. off and on light rain showers this morning and then becoming mostly cloudy this afternoon. high temperature between 80 and 85. we will check the seven-day forecast going all the way into the weekend. >> 4:57. 69 degrees on tv hill. >> police all looking for a

suspect in a memorial day drive- by shooting. details are next. >> a week from tonight, maryland's newest casino will open in arundel mills. visitors can expect to see inside. >> we will take a look and see if a what about over here? sure. no problem. ♪

roar! alright, what do lions eat? ♪ [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. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> welcome back, tony. >> played a lot of golf than eight too muand ate too much. we had some big thunderstorms last night. last night.