precious people on the planet. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i am les today," dropping out. one week before south carolina gop presidential primary, jon huntsman is calling it quits. end of an era. a factory worker's daughter helps bring down the site of a tragic fire. and red carpet close-up. hollywood celebrities strike a pose at the 69th annual golden globe. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry, and today we begin with a narrowing field. despite carrying the largest endorsement, jon huntsman is

officially ending his bid for the republican presidential nomination. he's expected to endorse front-runner mitt romney later today. tracie potts joins us from washington with all of those details. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. this is interesting after getting the endorsement over the weekend and after placing third in new hampshire, the one race john huntsman got the voters to back him now in south carolina looks like before that primary this weekend, he is going to bow out later this morning and then after that we understand he will endorse mitt romney, who is still the front-runner in this race, even in conservative south carolina. he's got on average a seven-point lead. huntsman is expected to talk to romney today. no word what his immediate plans are after dropping out or how often we might see him on the campaign trail with mitt romney. romney certainly seems to be the focus now in south carolina. all of the other candidates for

the most part, especially newt gingrich, have focused on him. and many of them also now focusing on their own electability. gingrich and perry saying they're the one to beat but also taking on president obama. >> tracie potts, thank you so much. elsewhere in the u.s. embassy and rome, two americans are among the 15 people still missing on friday's italian cruise ship disaster. at least five are confirmed dead after the costa concordia hit rocks off the tuscan coast and capsized. now the ship's owner is among those making serious accusations against the captain. in a statement they say there may have been significant human error. witnesses say he abandoned ship and may have been showing off by putting it too close to shore. to hollywood where last night the biggest stars in film

and television took to the red carpet for this year's golden globes awards ceremony, and nbc's mark barger was there. >> the artist. >> reporter: silence was indeed golden at the globe sunday night. "the artist" won best comedy and actor, john duh jar dan playing the end of a silent era. also scoring big "the descendants," the family story set in hawaii took best drama and best actor drama for george clooney. >>. meryl streep has won more globes than anyone else. best actress in a drama playing british prime minister margaret thatcher. >> i want to thank god, harvey wine screen. >> marilyn monroe brought

michelle her first globe. another first-time globe winner was octavia spencer best supporting actor for the help while christopher plumber took best hobbs. the adventures of tintin brought steven spielberg brought best animation while martin scorsese won. on the tv side, the conspiracy thriller homeland won best drama and it started claire danes, best actress. best actor went to kelsey grammer as a corrupt chicago mayor in "boss." "modern family" grabbed kudos for best tv comedy. and former friends star matt leblanc playing an exaggerated version of himself in various episodes. mark barger. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a police cruiser dash cam

was rolling when a florida believe began beating an elderly man with dementia. the violence occurred after police arrived to break up an altercation involving the 66-year-old who allegedly pulled a knife on a co-worker. an elderly woman is very lucky to be alive following a crash into a chicago building. the car was launched into an empty doctor's office after she was rear-ended by a truck. the woman and the driver of the truck were taken to the hospital for some minor injuries. and finally, one visitor to a texas high school had no problem clearing the halls. you can see why. a wild buck jumped into a school window, forcing teachers and students to duck into classrooms. the animal ran through the building until it was able to find an exit. fortunately the commotion ended without any serious injuries. and now here's a look at your national and regional weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning to you, bill.

>> welcome back. >> thank you. did you miss me? >> a lot. i couldn't sleep at night. >> wow. now you can. rest easy, bill karins. >> thank you. itz's like we have one wild deer story. i don't know how many deers break into houses and convenience stories and high schools. good morning everyone. it was a cold day, by far the coldest in the eastern half of the country. thankfully we're going to warm up. yesterday it was brutal. currently the windchill, negative numbers, boston, hartford. all of northern new england who now mostly has some snow on the ground. the lakes are finally frozen. it finally feels like the middle of winter out there and it's a cold day. the windchills are still kind of brutal in new york city and philadelphia too. the cold air that is in the east will slowly leave. there's another shot of cold air coming down there through the northern plains and it's going to be a battle this week. we've got some mild air trying to move up in the middle of the country. the 24-hour temperature change

has really warmed up from san antonio to dallas. we're 23 degrees warmer in chicago than we were yesterday morning. but also there's a shot of cold air through montana. there's a battle between the two. the cold air coming down from the north and the warm air from the south and in between is where we're going to see stormy weather. we're going to start with light rain in areas of the ohio valley, tennessee valley, memphis, heading into little rock. but to the north of that we're going to see significant snows this week in the northern rocky. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. well, we are watching areas of rain that will develop during the day it's going to be very light and kind of showery-type weather and eventually late today it could make it way to detroit, st. louis. maybe a chance of a thurm late tonight or tomorrow. so no huge snowstorms this week, lynn, but a lot of little stuff, annoying stuff. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. coming up, france is stripped, pump prices rice, and

why natural gas customers are jumping for joy. plus, crime pays at the box office as mark wahlberg debut's his new action thriller "contraband." the ravens fly into the afc tight. game, and the giants shock the defending super bowl champs. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. after threatening to cut off access through the strait of hor muse, iran is warning its neighbors in the gulf against backing new u.s. oil sanctions. president obama signed a law freezing out institutions that deal with iran's central bank or buy iranian oil. in iraq, at least ten people were killed including police officers after gunmen armed with explosives attacked a police compound in ramadi. there's also word this morning a

car bomb has killed at least eight near the northern city. police in romania used water cannons and tear gas to control rioters who protest government austerity measures. >> a demolition with a twist in england. a campbell soup factory was brought down sunday. campbell's left the daughter of an employee killed in a workplace accident years ago have the honor of lowering the boom. she says it gives her family closure. and the first family took some time sunday to honor the first day of dr. martin luther king jr. president obama, first lady michelle and their daughters joined worshippers at a washington, d.c., baptist church. the civil rights icon would have turned 83 yesterday. and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. a new study says there's a bright side to hard times. traumatic life events can actually benefit you by teaching coping skills, establishing

social support networks, and promoting new cell growth in parts of the brab. researchers say it's like exercising to improve fitness dealing with adversity prepares you to become more resill yentd in the future. and for more information on this and other health stories you can check out the health page on msnbc.com. "early today" is brought to you by advantage sill with wash with odor wash, the denlts clean. u.s. markets are closed in honor of martin luther king's br but here's how the week end. the dow closed at 12,422 after losing 48 points on friday. the s&p was down six points, the nasdaq fell 14. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei dropped 121 points while in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 192. when trading resumes on tuesday, wall street will be watching energy prices, european debts, and new earnings reports.

among the companies reporting this week are key financial stocks like bank of america and goldman sachs. french president nicolas sarkozy is calling for calm after standard & poor lowered france's rating to aa plus on friday. germany insists that reforms can help greece return to economic growth, but talks between the government and private creditors to avoid default have stalled. oil prices in asia edged up near $99 a barrel today, amid concerns that tensions in the middle east might hurt crude oil supply. despite tightening sanctions on iran's oil industry, experts say the country's crude should still flow, but perhaps at a deep discount. iran may ultimately have to sell its oil for 10 to 15% less. so far in january, we have not seen falling gasoline price like we usually do. aaa says gas prices are at historic highs for this time of year, up 11 cents so far this month. meanwhile the price of natural gas is way down, which

helps both homeowners and businesses. it fell 13% last week to its lowest wintertime level in a decade. the nation's largest retail trade group expects a solid 3.4% increase in sale this year. sales could reach over $2.5 trillion in 2012. and the number of internet users in china has surged past 500 million. an industry group reports that new web surfers in china are going online using mobile phone and computers. the ravens move on a decisive win over the. and the giants upset the packers to advance to next weekend's conference title game. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and this is going to be one of the stormiest weeks of the winter, especially in the northwest. of your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports the nfl conference championship games are all set for next weekend, and, of course, that will determine which teams will go to the super bowl. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> hi, there. good morning.

there will be a new super bowl china this week. the g-men came into lambeau playing their best football of the season and kept it going against the heavily favored packers. tied at three in the first, eli manning hitting hakim hicks. hakim takes a licking and keeps on ticking. rumbles 66 yards to tend zone. giants up 10-3 after one. final seconds in the half. instead of attempting a long field goal, the giants decide to go for it. it is answered by knicks. the hail mary gives new york a 20-10 halftime lead and momentum heading into the third. turnovers burnt the packers' all game. he fumbles the ball. giants recover. the packers had four turnovers and you're not going to win a playoff game or any game for gnatter when you give up the ball that many times. the fumbles sets up this. eli's third touchdown seals it. giants led from start to finish and beat the defending champions

37-20. they'll travel to san francisco to play the niners in the final game. to the afc, turnovers also did in the texasin's. the ravens took a fumble early in the first. flacker to chris wilson before the fans get settled in their seats, the ravens up 7-3. flacco finds bolden in the end zone. ravens clicking on all cylinders, up 17-3 after the first quarter. texans chip away at the lead, have a chance to tie it in the fourth. throws into double coverage. picked off by ed reed. one of three interception. ravens score early and hold on to win 20-13. they will play the patriots in the ac championship game on sunday. that's a look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. coming up, disney rakes it in with a new dimension on an old favorite. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, how one group of students in texas lead their

imaginations take flight. you're watching "early today."

today" on this monday morning. hope you had a wonderful weekend. we are watching a pretty quiet weather pattern. i mean there's no really big storms or severe weather or anything like that. but we have changes taking place. eventually we're going to see some of the light rain developing through the ohio valley. by the time we get through tomorrow, some of that moisture

is going to reach the cold air in the east. later tonight watch out for interior new england. if you're watching us on wtal, baltimore, maryland, enjoy the celebration of one of recent history's greatest vision airs. that's martin luther king jr. day at the american visionary art museum. that's your "early today" event of the day. here's aing look at early headlines in entertainment. three releases help give hollywood a boost after the sluggish holiday season. mark wahlberg's smuggling thriller "contraband" easily stole the top spot with a $24.1 million. the 3-d release of beauty and the beast waltzed into second place. that's good news for disney considering it only spent $10 million to converts the 1991 classic. and the weekend's third release "joyful noise" starring queen latifah and dolly parton came in

fourth with $11.5 million. and this comes to us from kxas, nc 5 in dallas where in nearby mckinney, one group of students added a high-tech twist to an old-fashioned project. the middle schoolers launch 5d 00 balloons carrying encrypted messages containing personal poems and haiku poems. some didn't think they'd get a response but some 60 miles east a student stuck abouted on bar codes. she used a smartphone to unlock the message had her students write back with a digital age approach to creating new pen pals. well, i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

good morning, everyone. a baby girl left out in the col has died. we have the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this is an extraordinarily sad story. an infant girl left on the porch of this house here over my shoulder there. police were called here because a neighbor found that baby.

we're told that she was naked and wrapped in very little. basically either a blanket or a towel. she was rushed to the hospital where she later died from her injuries. now, here at the 3000 block of northeast channing. she was discovered at 11:30 last night. neighbors called 911. she was taken to the hospital. we have reports that the baby girl was in cardiac arrest when she was found. she died at 2:3 a.m. this morning at children's hospital. at this point we have no information on the parents or any possible charges in this case. we're told it's still under investigation. i'm tracee wilkins live in northeast. back to you in the studio. >> awful story. thank you. an italian cruise captain is accused of showboating and causing a ship to run aground killing people. the costa concordia ran aground thursday night. ships often come near t