a major milestone as afghanistan takes the lead in securing their country from u.s.-nate hoe led force peps. plus, will and kate's baby, a $400 million boom for the uk, a study on sleeping and your health and a $3,000 watermelon. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm mara schiavocampo. a possible break in one of the greatest mysteries in the last 40 years. monday, the fbi searched a field in sa bush ban detroit for the remains of jimmy hoffa. prosecutors issued a search warrant about 25 miles from detroit. >> it's my fondest hope that we can give that closure not just to the hoffa family, but also to the community, stop tearing that scab off with every new lead and bring some conclusion. >> this latest search was launched after official

reportedly received a tip from aging mobster tony zarilli. those zarilli says he was not involved in the gangster's disappearance, he claims he was told about it by a mobster leader. officials say they plan to resume their search today. hoffa disappeared july 30th, 1975. the fbi says a man who caused a major disturbance on a flight from hong kong to new york liberty airport monday is being giving a psychiatric evaluation. passengers says he claimed everybody on board was being poisoned. one person recorded the event which was about everything from chinese spies to edward snowden. >> your life is in jeopardy, your life is in jeopardy, too,

if you work for the nsa, if you work for the cia, if you work for the national security agency. >> there's no word on whether the man will face any charges. president obama is defending his administration's handling of the syrian war. the president's first comments come following friday's announcement regarding the aid of weapons after bashar al assad's crossing of the red line. >> this argument that if we had gone in earlier in some fashion, that the tragedy and chaos had taken place in syria wouldn't be taking place i think is wrong. >> a new pugh research poll finds 70% are against the u.s. and its allies sending arms and military supplies to anti-got groups in syria, 20% are in favor. nearly two-thirds say the u.s.

is overcommitted the sdmroop syria is expected to take center stage at this week's g-8 summit. while they support opposing sides in the conflict, they agree that the civil war must come toon end. nbc news chief whus correspondent chuck todd joins us live from ireland. chuck, good morning. >> good morning, mara. you played the president's comments to charlie rose there about syria. one other point he made in that interview had to do with the fact that the united states doesn't want to take sides necessarily in a sectarian war between sunni and shia. and what he -- the point he made to russian president putin behind closed doors was this, that the united states goal here is not to push the entire assad regime out, an important ally to the russians, just assad himself, that the assad regime seemed to be at the negotiating table. that seemed to help russia putin

dial back his rhetoric rubbly when it kams to the disagreement with the united states and other nations. here is a little bit of wa putin said after their meeting. >> do not coincide, but happy tension to stop the violence in syria, to stop the growth of victims and so solve this situation peacefully. >> the important distinction there was a markedly different tone from what putin had said about two days earlier during a -- during a meeting that he had had with the british prime minister david cameron. so the fact that he ratcheted back his rhetoric, that alone makes the united states delegation feel as if possibly that there is some movement here that maybe the syrian issue can be dealt with diplomatically. then again, russian president putin promised that the last time he met personally with president obama back in mexico

late last year. >> thanks so much, chuck. as the g-8 summit continues, a new claim from the self-identified nsa leaker edward snowden who says u.s. and british intelligence eavesdropped on world leaders at a previous meeting. andrea mitchell reports. >> as the g-8 summit opened, the guardian reported that the british with american help had spied on past summits, intercepting e-mails and phone calls at a london summit in 2009. one target, russia's then president medvedev encrypted calls home to moscow. >> what it does do for president obama, which is problematic, is it problems him with much moral authority in talking about this. >> reporter: snowden's leaks about hacking china undercut the president when he met with president xi lately. we reported on nightly news 18 years ago that the clinton white

house spied on leaders in miami in 1994. snowden has claimed extraordinary access to personal data. former officials say he's exaggerating. >> snowden is wrong. he could not possibly have done the things he claimed he was able to do in terms of tapping communications. >> but in a website with "the guardian" snowden wrote if i target for an example an meal address and that e-mail address is sent something to you, joe america, everything comes through. snowden denied any contact with the chinese government writing this is a predictable smeerl that i anticipated before going the public as the u.s. media has a predicted red china. >> i think he's a traitor. >> snowden wrote being called a traitor by dick cheney is the highest honor you could imagine. as of today, afghan forces

are taking the lead for the country's security from the u.s.-led nato coalition. president what mid karzai provided over the hearing in kabul. it was met with a new round of violence. american forces will now move entirely into a supporting role before their full withdraw next year. massive demonstrations in brazil, more than a hundred thousand people in at least eight cities took to the streets monday to protest for public services, public violence and government corruption. in ree yo, there were clashes as demonstrators threw rocks at police and set fire to cars and government buildings. in northern mexico, at least one person has died due to excessive rain throughout the weekend and monday. they've received over 17 inches of rain, about 60% of the season's annual rainfall. it has left at least 40,000

people homeless. more rain is expected for the region. and now for a look at the weather closer to home, nbc's bill karins is here. >> good morning. we had some downpours around here, but nothing like that. the dallas/ft. worth area, you've been getting and seeing noormus lines of thunderstorms overnight. one was right over the top of the desoto sl desoto/dallas are. it's very warm, very humid. eventually, these showers and storms will be in atlanta. it looks like right during your morning rush hour. there's many other areas, too. right off the coastline of south carolina. we've got showers and storms, light rain heading across tennessee. here is how the weather map will be for this afternoon. about half the nation with the chance for showers and storms today. temperatures will be warm and muggy, all the way from the mid-atlantic to the northeast down to the deep south. the biggest concentration of

storms today and the heaviest rain will be found through the carolinas and areas of georgia. that's a look at the national forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. don't expect a lot of severe weather today. we'll have isolated cases of strong storms, southern portions of indiana and near kentucky, could deal with strong storms on that cold front. overall, tornado threat is very low today. coming up, just wait until i tell you who is dealing with a heat wave. it's the least state you would ever expect. >> that's a great tease. we will wait to hear about that. thanks, bill. today, the pentagon will announce when women can train as army rangers and navy s.e.a.l.s. plus, cops bust a crime ring. incredible details when "early today" returns.

welcome back. here are some stories making news. chuck hagel is set to announce

new roles for women in the military. women could begin training as army rangers by 2015 and navy s.e.a.l.s a year later. the owners of seven-11 stores have been charged with concealing undocumented workers. conditions for author employees were like a modern day plantation system dating back as far as 2,000. new research says cheating yourself of a full night sleep can have long-term downsides. it can put you at risk for short life expectancy as well as heart and kidney complication peps. a filmmaker has been convicted after sending his 167-year-old nephew into an intersection with a fake grenade launcher. and the doctor is in. barbra streisand has received an honorary doctorate of philosophy from the hebrew university of

professionalism. it was given to you after her dedication to israel and the jewish people. turning now to big, stocks starting off the week in the green as the fed begins a two-day meeting and oil flirts with $100 a barrel. the house of representatives will consider a farm bill that would cut $2 billion a year from food stamp pes. white house says they would veto the bill with that provision because it would leave too many xherns hungry. netflix will today off family-friendly choices off a new website. the british economy is about to get ads 400 billion boost thanks to none other that will and kate's special delivery. royal baby sleepwear, booties and much more will be big business for the royal family and for retailers. check out this $3,000 wart melon. these black skin melon grow only

on japan's northern island heikedo. you might consider investing in this letter written by george washington about the u.s. constitution. it's being auctioned off by christie's. a radio host fired for going over the line. allen i'veson accused of abdu abducting his five children.

well, it's time for sports. for all the latest headlines, we're joined by betty. >> good morning, mara. in sports, in game three of the stanley cup final, bruins daniel paille rips a shot past crawford for a 1-0 lead. three minutes later, bergeron makes a power play goal. the bruins take the game and now have a 2-1 lead. allen iverson's ex-wife has filed paperwork saying iverson has abducted the five children. but the former nba star allegedly never returned the

children home from north carolina after a vacation. the former nba star denies the allegations. chad the former ochocinco johnson is a free man this morning. he spent a week in jail for patting his attorney on the butt. yesterday he apologized and i'm sure he kept his hands to himself. three atlanta sports radio hosts have been fired for making fun of former nfl player steve gleason on air. gleason, diagnosed with als in 2011 is confined to a wheelchair and has lost his ability to speak. the radio hosts set up a skit where they pretended they were interviewing gleason. the host then went on to discuss whether gleason would be alive by next week. >> terrible. >> yes. terrible. the hosts have since released an apology. to baseball now, one fan

attempted to get a foul ball, but ended up getting stucks in the seats. after much embarrassment, the fan was given the ball and able to laugh it off. >> at least he got the ball, right? >> i was going to say, at least he came away with something. ahead, a naval academy football player is to face sex assault charges as early as today. plus, actor johnny depp thrown from a horse and trampled during filming of "the lone ranger." details coming up.

if you want to find extreme weather, go to alaska right now. they're in the middle of an all-time heat wave. two days in a row now, they were above 90 and yesterday they were at 94. never happened before. juneau was 82. this is very warm by alaska standards. today, 87 degrees in fair banks, alaska. 87 is like -- that's warmer than atlanta today. so it's kind of crazy. they don't have air-conditioners in a lot of those places. you were right, i would not have guessed alaska. entertainment news, angelina jolie's recent double mastectomy

has been driven as heroic. melissa encourages women to research all of their options. the comic world is buzzing with breaking news, sony film announced plans to release two additional spider-man movie necessary 2016 and 2018 after the amazing spider-man 2 opened in 2018. according to writing director josh wedden, the avengers 2 l a new bad guy to replace loki. brad pitt was in the big apple for the premier of his new film, world war z. hugh jackman is showing off his physique in "men's fitness" magazine. he also reveals that he always makes an effort to be polite to fans. and talk about having a great day, this guy was all smiles when he bumped into

sharon stone in tel aviv while wearing a t-shirt with a film from her film. >> where did the t-shirt even come from? i've never seen that before. >> i'm mara schiavocampo. this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day on nbc.

new from overnight, a major step in the war in afghanistan overshadowed this morning by even more violence. good morning, everyone, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang.

let's take a live look outside at 4:26. another muggy start to your day. 73 degrees. let's check in with tom kierein with a first look at our forecast. >> good morning. starting off with quite a bit of cloudiness. a few breaks in the clouds. we've seen showers beginning to move into the mountains way off to our west. right now partly to mostly cloudy around the region. yeah, it's rather humid this morning. our temperatures around most of the region, the mountain s into the shenandoah valley, 70s. low to mid-70s in washington and near the chesapeake bay. the rest of virginia and maryland, most locations upper 60s to near 70. maybe a little patchy fog in the rural areas. we'll look at your tuesday morning in just a couple of minutes. now let's check on traffic. good morning. >> good morning, tom. good to be back here. let's talk about the road work. first connecticut avenue. if you're traveling southbound

connecticut avenue making your way from bradley getting closer to chevy chase circle, you'll be forced to the left lane. then northbound is carrying both north and south volume. so you can see here the work zone is set up, and if you're leaving the house any time soon, please expect delays on connecticut avenue. also keeping an eye on this work zone. this was here before i left. as you travel university boulevard at colesville road. it is blocking the right lane on university boulevard. back to you. >> we are glad you are back. 4:27, 4:28. live at the live desk with breaking news. >> a live blast that has torn through kabul just as armed forces are taking control of security. this happened near the afghan independent human rights commission. police vehicle there in the distance on the left is damaged, as you can see. police saying the bomb was targeting a former afghan vice president. he was not hurt but some of his

bodyguards were. this transition from nato forces to afghan troops has been now 12 years in the making. all troops scheduled to leave by 2014. at the live desk, news 4. right now police are looking for the person who shot a man playing basketball in the district. the shooting happened yesterday night at the shaw recreation center on rhode island avenue and tenth street in northwest. police say the victim was shot in the hand. they do not believe the victim knew the shooter. some metro riders tell us they may find another way to work this morning after they were not able to report a fight using the emergency call system. metro says it's testing that system this morning. two men started fighting on a red line tra last night, and it spilled out onto the platform at the woodley park station. one passenger says she saw several people press the emergency call button, but there was no response. >> honestly, i was terrified. there was a woman in front of me and a couple other people that were ducking just in case there was gunfire. and to think that the emergency button wasn't working, i was

right next to it. i couldn't hear anybody responding. i was completely paralyzed by my fear. >> metro does think there was some kind of communication between passengers and the operator because the operator was able to oif police. the fight was over, though, by the time police arrived. you might remember that the news 4 i-team raised concerns about metro's emergency call buttons this spring. we obtained records that showed 170 intercom malfunctions in the last two years. metro said in march train cars are sent for inspection after every complaint. the transit agency is considering posting signs in trains to make sure passengers know what to expect when making a call. this morning a paramedic injured in a deadly crash while responding to a call is improving. the calvert county paramedic is now in stable condition. chopper 4 flew over the scene near route 6 in prince frederick, maryland. the county sheriff's office says a car crossed the ambulance's