these all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. this morning on "early today." malware monday. users prepare for a cripples computer virus. out of this world. a stunning view from mars gives a glimpse of the red planet. >> stuntman in china is lucky to be alive after a >> stuntman in china is lucky to be alive after a heart-topping fall. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with back to work. as lawmakers return from the holiday, president obama is

reportedly getting ready to stir political fires with a call to extend bush-era tax cuts but not for everyone. this as the president's campaign turns up the heat on mitt romney on his tax history and offshore bank accounts. brian mooar joins us with details. >> reporter: faced with bad headlines, the obama campaign wants to change the conversation. as congress returns today from its july 4th recess, president obama already has work planned for lawmakers. later today he's reportedly going to ask congress to extend bush-era tax cuts to those earning less than $250,000 a year. the obama campaign needs to quickly turn away from the feeble jobs report and it's aiming guns on capitol hill and mitt romney's personal finances. >> he offhoeshores most of his personal investments. >> i've never known of a swiss

bank accounted to build an american bridge. >> reporter: romney supporters call it a cheap shot and a distraction. >> in terms of governor romney's financial success, i'm happy. >> reporter: back on capitol hill, a fight over bush-era tax cuts, on wednesday they will try to overturn obama care, going nowhere, because democrats still control the senate. still it promises to keep the heat up in a town that's already seen too much of it. the president's tax cut proposal is designed to make anyone who stands against it look like they're standing against the middle class. ver on ra it. >> brian mooar in washington, thank you. for thousands of americans whose morning routine includes sitting down at the computer and logging onto the internet, you could be into a rude awaking. fr we have a quick test to make sure you stay connected.

>> reporter: logging onto the internet monday morning may be a problem for tens of thousands in the u.s. it began months ago when six estonians were charged with corrupting 4 million computers worldwide with malware, it hijacked the computers forcing internet users directing it to sites they may not have intended. the scammers made as uch as $14 million on ads they sold on the destination sites. >> they found a way to tap into one of the most lucrative sources of money on the internet, and that's online advertising. >> reporter: after the scammers were caught, the fbi took over their servers, allowing users to serve without issue for months. now after numerous warnings, the fbi is pulling the plug, essentially disconnecting an estimated 45,000 infected devices. >> the good news is odds ant they high you will be infected. bad news, if you are infected,

you probably don't know and on monday, if your internet goes out, you'll have a really hard time fixing your computer. >> reporter: there is a way to see if you have a problem. logon to dcwg.org. it will tell you immediately if your machine has the virus and how to fix it. it's a simple test that can save you from a lot of potential problems. nbc news. hollywood is mourning ernest borgnine, who played love-sick butcher in 1945 and the scheming officer in "mchale's navy" and more than 200 roles and a career that spanned more than 60 years. he often played the villain in films such as "ice station zebra." ernest borgnine was 95 years old. here's a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. in texas one family is getting the creeps from crawling

critters. a growing number of tarantulas are making themselves at home on one man's property. he spotted ten in his home along with scorpions. tw experts say they don't pose much risk but hard to get rid one. man paid off his mortgage down to the last penny. saving up to 62,000 final pennies to make the final payment. he got his mortgage 35 years ago and started saving pennies. it took bank employees two full employees to unroll all of those coins, more than 400 pounds worth. finally, way, way, way beyond america on mars, nasa captured amazing new images showing a 360-degree view of the landscape. the rover opportunity combined more than 800 pictures to show a composite view of a martian winter. another view shows a large

crater standing 14 miles in diameter. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's meteorologist todd santos with the weather channel forecast. i don't know about mars. it looked like the desert southwest. or the grand canyon. >> right? cool images there and we want to show a few images this morning as far as thunderstorms we're still dealing with even early on. maybe some kept you up, some rowdy conditions across a few areas of western maryland. one area around frederick that still has flash flood warning in effect for the next couple of hours. looking at some thunderstorms, they're really kind of focusing along the frontal boundary that made its way to the south. from chicago, d.c., up to new york, a lot of relief as far as the heat wave is concerned but we have to pay the price for the thunderstorms along the front itself. back in towards front range of colorado, additional chances tore showers. some activity may bubble up from the south and along the front

itself, some best chance areas for potential weather will be to the south of d.c. along the good stretch of the 95 corridor, 81 through western portions of virginia. it's primarily a wind threat, i don't know how to push that through, but we're still talking chances for strong winds, the potential for some isolated hail in some storms. this morning temperatures more mild. still a little steamy in d.c. 79 to start off and we'll see temperatures by this afternoon getting up to 80. 88 for new york not bad considering what we had going into the weekend. let's check out your local forecast. new york, pretty decent temperatures. charlot charlotte, north carolina, good chance for showers and thunderstorms for later on. new orleans also dealing with a chance for some thunderstorms. pueblo, colorado, colorado springs, thunderstorms into this afternoon. so, a number of areas still dealing with thunderstorms. we'll talk more about the next

couple of days and where that front is going. >> 80s, i can handle it. as long as it stays that way. earnings loom over wall street. boeing sooars on a new order. and you can own an island. plus, actors, directors and writers may change but spidman always rules at the box office. roger federer is back on top and a wild scene between rangers and twins and had nothing to do with the game. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of our top headlines this morning. u.s. military officials confirmed six american soldiers were killed in afghanistan yesterday. they died in the blast of an improvised explosive device in wardak. they are still counting vote

in libya's first parliamentary election since the fall of "morning jom moammar gadhafi. they are calling for those to create a grand coalition government. in egypt, the new islamist president morsi is ordering parliament to reconvene. the parliament was dissolved last month after an order from a military-backed court. in jordan, a heated debate on tv became violent when a lawmaker threw a shoe at another politician and then pulled awe gun. the host of the debate separated the two men and there were no injuries. and in china, a blindfolded acrobat walking backwards survived a fall off a tight rope. at that point in the stunt, the drop was relatively short, over sloping grounds with trees. fortunately, he was able to walk

away with only minor yrz. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12772 after dropping 124 points friday. the s&p up 12. the nasdaq sank 38. in tokyo nikkei shot down 123 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng plummeted 372. in the week of friday's disappointing jobs figures, wall street will have a new worry this week -- lower earnings. with american and european economies struggling, 42 companies, including ford and texas instruments, have already warned investors of lower profit expectations. as always, later today, alocoa leads to reporting. no one expects a repeat of last quarter's positive outlook. jpmorgan's chase's report will be watched for the total of the botched multibillion loss.

they expect losses to be much higher. china, main driver of world growth, releases data, analysts expect to be gloomy at best. the most cloesly watched will be china's year to year gdp growth. with all of those dark clouds, wall street is looking for another round of ee3 fed. as aerospace biggest industry, boeing is expecting to win a bid for 737 from ge capital services for over $9 billion, after telling england's "independent" they expect boeing to pull ahead for airbus for a number of years. . the secluded red rock island in north san francisco bay listed earlier this year for $22 million can now be yours for the bargain basement price of only $5 million. the cards walk off in a

record tying victory at wimbledon and like the rest of us, major league baseball players and fans also met with mother nature's fury this weekend. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and speaking of mother nature, we'll check in on her plans for monday afternoon. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports last night against archrivals in boston, the yankees finished off the first half of the major league season with the best record in baseball. here's nbc's bill seward with a look at all your sports headlines. >> hi, everybody. no better way to enter the all-star break than with the best rivalry in the game. yankees and red sox at fenway. new york clenched the best record in baseball with another win over boston. seems like another player steps up for yanks. last night andruw jones. a couple hits, a homer and three rbis. they win 7-3. cards and marlins. miami up one in the ninth and furcal ends it. line drive to left. here comes matt carpenter. david freese right behind him, beats the throw to the plate. cards rally to win 5-4. wild scene in texas. middle of the fourth between the twins and rangers. when this happened.

a blast of thunder and lightning rocketed the stadium, sending everyone running for the hills. worth another look. a classic texas thunderstorm. delayed the game for about 45 minutes. no one was hurt. just a little startled. 13th inning, lightning never strikes twice, unless you're the rangers. ian kinsler, the bolt, to turn out the lights. rangers win 4-3. to tennis, a brit hasn't won a wimbledon title since fred perry back in 1936 and it wasn't going to happen yesterday. men's final at the all-england club. roger federer proved once again he's the best player in tennis. after losing first to murray, federer comes alive. drop shot can fall. federer takes the second set. how about power. an ace past murray to win the third set. on to match point. after a short rally, murray return is wide. federer wins his record-tying

seventh wimbledon title and regains the number one ranking in the world. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm bill seward. who did better than expected and who flopped this weekend at the box office? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, these may make you think of a wonderful pie. they mean something totally different that bills itself as cherry pit spitting capital of the world. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." a beautiful day here towards new york city. phil request as well. three sharp line with a better chance of thunderstorms down towards d.c., baltimore as well, extending back through a good portion of tennessee, even into the southeast, eastern texas may also see a chance for a few thunderstorms. if you're watching us on news channel 8 on your side in tampa, florida, lakeland, learn about water conservation while creating your own rain thunderstorm at explorations children's matter. >> if only i was 5 again. darn. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment news. some are calling it this super hero summer at the box office because it started with "the avengers" ended with "batman returns," and this weekend belongs to another comic hero. the new friendly neighborhood spider-man spun himself a $65

million opening weekend. the amazing spidman added a whopping $129 million overseas for a grand worldwide total, get this, todd, $341 million so far. huge, huge. the previous top film "ted" fell to second with an impressive $32 million. you want to see that. >> i do. >> among new releases oliver stone struggles "savages" opened stronger with $16 million. on the flipside, "katy perry" did not lure the pop star's fans in eighth with just over $7 million. you don't want to see that, do you? >> not really. finally after two weeks in a handful of theaters woody allen's "to rome with love" went national and cracked the top ten. that's something i want to see. >> "ted", "spider-man," and then whatever else. >> ted? it's a talking bear.

>> i like his humor. >> you see that and let me know how it is. this comes to us from news center 16 in south bend, indiana, where the pits keep on coming. a fruit farm held its 39th annual cherry pit spitting contest. competitors young and old hurled the pits as far as their mouths would allow them. for 20 years two families took turns claiming victory but this year there was an upset. the big winner was a rookie from chicago who launched his pit a whopping 69 feet. though the all-time record still stands at 93 feet. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

parts of our area are under weather advisories at this early hour, this after a long night of powerful thunderstorms or maybe even worse. good morning and thanks for starting your workweek with us. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm angie goff in for eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" on this monday, july 9th. severe storms are wreaking more havoc on our area again this morning. >> another brutal system slammed into fredricksburg, virginia, overnight, flattening several businesses and sending four people, including children, to the hospital. >> about a block and a half stretch of fleming street was the hardest hit, and that's where the roof of the sheer fusion studio was ripped off and

blown into a home next door. about 20 cheerleaders and parents were inside as the storm hit and walls collapsed around them. then, just down the street, the roof of the building that houses a salon, seafood restaurant and mattress store partially collapsed with employees still inside. >> the whole roof is just caved in. the inside of it is just demolished. it's demolished. there's cinder blocks on the floor inside. definitely, you can tell a tornado hit it, but it's just, it's devastating. >> what am i going to do? this is everything that i have. i have put so much time, effort and prayer and thought in. it's just demolished. >> fortunately, none of the injuries are life-threatening. witnesses do tell us that one of the parents suffered a broken leg and other injuries trying to protect children from that collapsing roof. >> and just as everybody was getting their power back on, last night's storm forced thousands back