we're out here doing this and that they need to straighten up their act, clean up your act and treat their retailers and customers with respect and honesty. >> that's all for now. i'm ler holt. thanks for joining us. this morning on "early today," off and ronning. president obama officially kicks off his re-election bid while speculation of mitt romney intensifies. smash and grag. a video captures a store robbery in ohio. a montana river bursts in nepal. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with

ratcheting up the campaign. august conventions may be months away but mitt romney is moving on to his next phase in the white house, selecting a running mate. meanwhile president obama isn't wasting any time at taking shots at the presumed republican rival. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: kicking off in ohio and virginia, president obama took off the gloves and took on mitt romney. >> i don't care how many times you try to explain it, corporations aren't people. people are people. >> reporter: romney's presumptive nominee, his former parties are pulling together. >> you look at what he's done with his life. >> so you have endorsed him. >> reporter: and attention is turning to a possible running mate. florida senator marco rubio could help deliver hispanic voters. >> this president asked us to

hire him four years ago on the promise that he knew how to fix this economy and he would be different, he would unite the economy. ayotte out of new hampshire might close the gap with women a president whose 2012 campaign motto no longer promis hope or change. >> we're not going back. we're moving this country forward. >> reporter: forward. that is a battle cry for a president fighting for another four years. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. else wra, u.s. drone strike killed another top al qaeda in yes man. he stepped out of his vehicle in southern yemen. he was one of al qaeda's most senior leaders linked to several terrorist attacks. he was on the fbi's most wanted list in his role in if the bombing of the uss cole in 2000 that killed 11 american soldiers

and wounded 39 others. there will be a trial set for five charged in the 9/11 attacks. nbc's correspondent michael isikoff reports from cuba. >> reporter: in guantanamo bay it was a difficult day for a military judge and a painful one. accused master find khalik sheikh mohammed were brought into court. charged with killing more than 3,000 people. but mohammed and his co-defendants were defiant, repeatedly refusing to answer the judge's questions or put on a headset to hear what the judge had to say. one of the co-defendants stood up and disrupted the proceedings at one point shouting and suggesting that guantanamo bay were trying to kill him, but the judge moved the case forward and

agreed to hear a defense motion to delay the trial for up to a year. meanwhile the defense lawyers held a press conference. >> these men have had years of maltreatment and torture. >> i have viewed scars on his arms, and that we have reason to believe that he has been subjected to mistreatment while in the camps. >> reporter: they suggested that their clients' behave in court was peaceful resistance to what they said was their torture by the u.s. government and an unjust military system. michael isikoff, nbc news, guantanamo bay. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in ohio a camera captured a thief's entrance into the store. he smashed through the front taking out security fencing.

he then crawled under the wreckage to begin the heist. but for all that trouble, the store manager said all he got away with was a tv that he may have damaged on the way out. in massachusetts police say a speeding driver slammed his car full of passengers right into a building. the driver was immediately killed. they had to use the jaws of life to get three out. witnesses say the man at the wheel was also driver erratically. and finally from tampa, florida, just in case you missed it. very cool time lapse images from this weekend's super moon. it was brought 4,000 miles closer than usual and it made the moon appear to be about 3% brighter. and now for a look at your national and regional weather -- why are you laughing, bill? what's so funny?

here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. we did not see it. >> there was a tornado over in japan of all places and unfortunate lit did take one life and this was an up close and personal account of the tornado. looked like a tightly wound twister too. about 400 homes were damaged. it gets you wondering. japan actually averages 20 tornadoes a year, but they haven't had a deadly tornado in about six years, so this one was rather impressive by anyone's standards. we're not dealing with anything like that this morning. the worst of the weather this morning is south of chicago, around kankakee. flash floods have shown in these maroon areas and now they're in northwestern areas of western idaho. additional storms could cause more flooding problems. this is going to be a slow moving storm system moving through the eastern half of the

country. everything in green, you could see heavy rain with additional storms some of this will be a slow-moving system as i was mentioned, and as it heads to the east coast, we get one good day today but the storms and showers will sly toward the eastern seaboard. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look outside your window. areas like yoernld, your typical afternoon latedate storms. could be nice. enjoy it. it could be the last time you see the sun until the weekend. it looks like the storm system is going tole on the east coast all week. a little bit of wet weather in the cards for the east coast. coming up, european election results shake up the markets, facebook beats the drum and pull hose plus warhol. superheroes smash all kinds of record this weekend at the box office. a wild sunday including the

knicks snapping their playoff skid and albert pujols break as cold streak of his own. 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. voters in france have elected a new president who opposed austerity maeshs. president obama called to congratulate the winner. he defeated nicolas sarkozy who mm voters blamed for the nation's economic troubles. police are investigating. the body of a groom from kwaut mala was found yesterday in a horse born, but police say there's nothing to indicate it had any connection with the derby. and in san francisco a fire destroyed a four-story wooden apartment building in the city's mission district. more than 30 were left homeless

by the fire. the acteder who played goob goober pyle has died. he was 83 years old. and in nepal at least 17 were killed in flooding as a wall of water destroyed a bridge. 47 are missing and presumed dead. the flash flood hit with almost no warning. rescue teams are still searching through the debris. and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. a new study finds the risk of birth defects is higher with certain fertility treatments. a more complex in vitro fertilization procedure used moseley in cases of male infertility resulted in about 10% of babies being born with brkt defects. that's compared to about a 6% rate for baby's conceived naturally without fertility assistance. and for more information on this and other health stories, you can check out the health page at msnbc.com.

and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,038 after tumblings 168 points on friday. the s&p sank 22 points. the nasdaq sank 67. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei lost 261 points while in hong kong the hang seng shot down 549. after closing out its worst week of the year, it looks like election upsets overseas could send investors into another stormy stretch. asian markets took a beating today while the euro plunged to a nearly five-month low in the wake of nicolas sarkozy's defeat in france. likewise in greece, voters swept aside leaders favoring strict budget reforms as a solution to that country's debt crisis. oil slipped below $97 a

barrel this morning bringing its losses over the last three trading days to about 8%. a third straight month of disappointing jobs data from the government spark a selloff friday, impact that will likely linger today. the average price of regular gas is down again, seven cents low over the past two weeks to an average of $3.85 a gallon. ahead of next week's ipo, facebo facebook's zuckerberg and others will meet across the country. also we'll see quarterly reports from the likes of cisco, macy's, and news corp. at&t will start selling home automation and security services out of its retail stores starting with a trial this summer in dallas and atlanta. and, finally, an andy warhol painting of elvis presley dressed as a cowboy shooting from the hip is set to hit the auction block the week. it's said to fetch about $50

million. coming up the kings sweep the blues, the knicks stay alive, and halleluiah, an angel finally gets his wings. plus a very bizarre moment in the la/denver playoff clash as the so-called nugget soccer in vads the court. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. the heavy rain retracting in the ohio valley all throughout the east coast through tuesday, that forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in in sports last night the lakers pushed the nuggets to the brink of elimination. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning to you. playoff fever in full effect. starting with a pivotal game four between the lakers and nuk its. in denver, a bit of a dis strakz in the second quarter. a woman walks onto the court during play. she reportedly has a history of stalking the nuggets. no one's hurt, and the game marches on. final three. that's your ball game. lakers win, 92-88 to secure a three to one lead. amar'e stoudemire back. final minutes. gametime carmelo anthony hits the clutch three. 41 for melo. closing seconds, miami, with the

shots for the win. knicks win it 89-87. to boston mitt romney checking out the celtics and hauchlkts third quarter rajon rondo fakes a behind the back pass. celtics wince 101-79. they can poll eric off atlanta tomorrow night. hawks and nudge. dainius zubrus nets the go-ahead goal. jersey gets the win on his 409 birth. in los angeles candidacy finish off the blues. final minute. blues pull off their goalie but dustin brown takes the puck for the game winner. the kings take the win 3-1. baseball, it finally happened for ail bert pujols. connecting in the fifth. his first home run as an angel, a 33-game drought was the longest of his career. pujols and the angels win 4-3.

finally to boston, the rox had orioles in the 17th ef inning. darnell mcdonald takes the mound. adam jones takes him out for a three-run shot. now it's up to the first baseman chris davis to cloak out the game. no problem, orioles win it in 17 innings. maybe it's time for a maneuver to the bull pen. and that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. well, who's accused of going diva behind the scenes of this weekend's "saturday night live"? your early morning entertain mnt headlines are straight ahead. plus working for the bomb squad would be a little stressful, but for one little boy, it's a dream come true. you're watching "early today."

. welcome back to "early today." hope you had a wonderful weekend. preparing wise as you head out the door, anywhere from the quad cities to central illinois, indiana, especially to northern half of the state and ohio, be prepared for at least a portion of the day to have some serious downpours around. thunderstorms and scattered storms from orlando to atlanta today. then the storm slides to the east of tuesday. we're going to have widespread rain really from the southeast all the way up to the eastern board. well, if you're watching us on on kcrp local 2 in texas, bring your child to the tyke hikes at

the houston arboretum and nature center houston. and that's your "early today" event of the day, lynn. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. when it comes to big box office debuts there's never been a bigger one than "the avengers." it notched the biggest ever opening by far, rocketing past the $169 million set by last year's final "harry potter." there's no technicality or doubt at today's average ticket prices. it's estimated "the agent veries" sold around 825,000 tickets. including overseas earnings in barely a week and a half, the avengers has already climbed over $648 million. i think it did well. also this weekend ashton kutcher did the kentucky derby where he and miranda lambert and he made up and made friends. and finally tmz recorded

that rihanna angered lauren michaels by skipping dress rehearsal. she claims it never happens. i guess she was sick sniet only happen as couple hours before. live audience. people wait on the sidewalk overnight to go see it and then she didn't show up. >> they had her dancers do a bit of a number. not the same thing. this comes from kcr3 which reports in sacramento, california, where a little boy who's been fighting a big battle against leukemia got to have a real blast. more than anything 8-year-old evan wanted to see an explosion and a sheriff's bomb squad was more than happy to put on a real show. a make-a-wish foundation brought evan from texas to catch the big blow joup and he said he liked what he saw. he said, quotes are cool. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable

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4:28. remember all those clouds that didn't seem to go anywhere yesterday? some are going to stick around today. tom will have the full forecast in a moment. good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm wendy rieger in for eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" on this monday, may 7. we have royalty heading into town. prince harry will be in town accepting an award for his houston work, from the atlantic council, for work with wounded service members. the prince supports a number of service-related charities including walking with the

wounded. that's a british group that retrains and re-educates injured veterans to help them return to civilian lives. you new this morning, an unexpected wake-up call. a car plowing into a building in greenbelt before 4:00 this morning. we're working to find out more. no reports now of any serious injuries. d.c.'s police -- >> d.c. police are searching for the person who shot a woman in northeast. that shooting happened along fitch place just before 10:00. we're told the woman was shot in the stomach. she was taken to the hospital in critical condition. her name has not been released, and so far, no arrests have been made. a gaithersburg father will be in court today accused of killing his own son. police say 55-year-old wayne price shot his 23-year-old son matthew after a fight at their apartment on spiceberry circle. the son staggered out into the parking lot where he collapsed. neighbors say this case is