i'm lynn berry. today we begin with the facebook fiasco, one of wall street's most highly publicized initial public offering has now become one of the most criticized. two congressional committees are investigating the bungled ipo and two separate lawsuit ts have been filed, alleging average investors were misled. >> let's do this. >> reporter: last week's facebook frenzy on wall street has turned to -- >> i've never seen anything like this. >> reporter: nasdaq blames a software glitch, after an under whelming showing on the first day the share price has tumbled. >> everybody was on the same page, everybody thought there was tons of demand, but now we know that wasn't the case. >> reporter: that could be because of reports that investment banks guiding facebook's ipo process shared negative information about the company's financial outlook with selected clients. before the stock hit the market. >> perhaps they decided to dump their stock, which is a lot of the reasons why this stock has been in free-

i'm lynn berry. >>> here are top headlines this morning. >>> at least 20 people were killed today in a suicide bombing in a tribal region of northwest pakistan. officials say the bomber struck near a market and security checkpoint. >>> the white house says it may be time to admit defeat in the attempt to end the violence in syria that killed 9,000 people. government forces have largely ignored a united nations cease fire. >>> nasa astronomers have a rare graphic representation of what happened to a star that got too close to a black hole. for the first time, they identified the star in a galaxy three billion lightyears away, ripped apart by the black hole. >>> and this weekend, be sure to look up, we'll see a super moon on saturday night, the full moon will be closer to earth than any other time this year. it should be 30% brighter and as much as 14% bigger than other full moons. now, here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,206 after losing 61 points yester

i'm lynn berry. secretary of state hillary clinton is headed to beijing today where she faces talks that have a new complication. officials have confirmed to nbc news that an escaped chinese dissident is under u.s. protection but they did not make clear exactly where he is. nbc's ian williams reports from beijing. >> reporter: the fate of chen has become the biggest test for u.s.-chinese relations in years. no sign of extra security at the embassy today but the issue is so delicate that there's been no comment from officials here, chinese or americans. chen's crime in the eyes of the chinese government was to expose forced abortions and forced sterilization under the country's one child policy. the 40-year-old self-trained lawyer blind since childhood was jailed in 2006 and then put under house arrest. he says he and his wife were beaten. his young daughter harassed. his every movement was monitored. visitors prevented from meeting with him. he was able to secretly plot his escape. secretary clinton

i'm lynn berry. here are the top headlines. >>> john edwards' daughter, kate, left his trial in tears during emotional testimony. a former advisor testified how the late elizabeth edwards confronted her husband after news broke that he was cheating on her. >>> a college student suing the drug enforcement agency for $20 million after he spent four days in jail without food, water or toilet facilities. the dea apologized saying they forgot about him. >>> 13 people are now facing hazing charges in connection with the death of a drum major, who authorities say was beaten by fellow members of the marching band. >>> federal agents raid ed pharmacies and health offices yesterday in a crackdown on scams that cost taxpayers more than $450 million. more than 100 doctors, nurses and social workers have been charged with medicare fraud. >>> the famous edvard munc hmpb painting "the scream" sold at a record price yesterday. it brought in more than $119 million from an anonymous buyer. unreal. >>> an early look ho

i'm lynn berry. >> here are top headlines this morning. >>> an investigation is reportedly underway to determine who leaked the story about the cia informant revealing the terror plot to use a new underwear bomb on a jet headed for the u.s. officials intended to keep the story secret. >>> a republican-led house committee is backing a nearly $5 billion project to build a missile defense site on the east coast despite the pentagon saying it's not needed and democrats saying it's a waste of money. >>> a new russian-made passenger plane, the first since the days of the soviet union, crashed in indonesia with 45 people on board during a demonstration flight for potential buyers. search teams have found no signs of survivors. >>> celebrity hair stylist vidal sassoon, who revolutionized hair style and liberated women with wash and wear haircuts in the '60s died at age 84. sassoon had leukemia, but died of natural causes. >>> in china, ferrari is apologizing for lifting a sports car on top of a historic gate to perform driving stunts. chinese officials criticized ferrari and ordered workers to

i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top headlines this morning. >>> in a surprise move in the trial of john edwards, his defense team rested its case yesterday without calling the former democratic presidential candidate, his ex-mistress or edwards' daughter to testify about alleged campaign financial violations. closing arguments are scheduled for today. >>> mary richardson kennedy, the estranged wife of robert kennedy jr., was found dead in her new york home. a source familiar with the investigation told nbc news her death appears to be a suicide. >>> the census bureau has made it official. for the first time caucasian births are no longer the majority in the united states. while minorities including hispanics, blacks and asians reached 50.4%. >>> a new study finds that men who drank at least six cups of coffee a day had a 10% lower chance of death. for women the risk of dying was 15% lower. >>> and for the first time in 18 years, the western parts of the united states can watch a rare type of sol

. >>> hello, good morning, i'm lynn berry. >>> we begin with a killing spree. seattle is still shaking this morning after a gunman fatally shot four customers at a cafe yesterday. police believe the same man killed a woman during a carjacking before later taking his own life. seattle has seen 21 homicides this year, the same total for all of 2011. jim foreman from nbc's king 5 news in seattle reports. >> i think i could have easily been shot also today. >> reporter: the two crime scenes converged. >> i heard about all that happened here, and i think -- i think just a huge loss of life. >> when joann came here to the cafe racer, joann was downtown when she came face-to-face with this man, identified by the "times" as ian stawicki, who police say shot six people, killing five. the first gunshots at 11:00 a.m. on roosevelt, where crime scene experts were working. half an hour later when he shot and killed a woman at 8th and seneca and sped off in her suv. after the carjacking, he headed to west seattle where police found the stolen mercedes by late afternoon convi

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 romney campaign was overshadowed by supporter donald trump. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: a win in the texas primary gives mitt romney enough delegates to clench the republican nomination. he thanked his supporters and released his birth certificate. on romney's 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 make sure presidents have business experience. >> in addition to the age of the president and citizenship of the president and the birth place being set by the constitution. >> reporter: romney spent his evening at a big money fund-raiser with donald trump who rekindled the birth of the debate. >> you're not allowed

i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top headlines this morning. >>> at the trial of former presidential candidate john edwards, a former speech writer testified edwards told her he knew a wealthy donor was supporting his pregnant mistress. edwards has denied knowing about the payments. >>> a judge in chicago blocked enforcement of an eavesdropping law that could send people to jail for 15 years if they record audio of a police officer without permission. activists challenged the law because of concerns that protesters at this month's nato summit could be jailed for using smartphones to record police responding to demonstrations. >>> in a lavish ceremony this morning, england's queen elizabeth ii opened a new session of parliament advising lawmakers her government will seek to reduce that country's deficit and restore economic stability. >>> and a new record has been set for a work of contemporary art at a new york auction. mark rothco's 1961 abstract painting "orange, red yellow" sold for almost $87

i'm lynn berry. breaking news. a blind chinese disden the is no longer under the protection of the u.s. in beijing after reportedly receiving assurances from china for his safety. u.s. officials says he left the u.s. embassy after six days and is now at a beijing medical facility where he has been and will be reunited with his family. chen, who ran afoul of local government officials for exposing forced abortions and other abuses escaped from house arrest late last month. the dispute over chen's fate has threatened to overshadow secretary of state hillary clinton's arrival in beijing today. for economic talks with chinese officials. >>> on the anniversary of osama bin laden's death, president obama showed up in afghanistan on a surprise visit yesterday to mark what he called a light of a new day. nbc's tracie potts joins us with more on this. >> reporter: the president admitted we could see tough times in afghanistan but he said 2014 is a hard and fast deadline for our troops to come home. >> reporte . >> this time

i'm lynn berry. it's been one year since one of the deadliest tornadoes in the u.s. history forever scarred the community of joplin, missouri. 161 people were killed, more than 900 were injured and some 7,000 homes completely swept away. president obama was in joplin last night to mark the anniversary. nbc's jinah kim reports. >> the president of the united states of america, barack obama. >> reporter: speaking to thousands gathered for the joplin high school graduation, president obama said it was the people of joplin who deserved applause. >> as i look out at this class and across the city, what's clear is that you're the source of inspiration today. >> reporter: it was shortly after the same graduation ceremony last year that an ef-5 strength tornado tore through joplin taking 161 lives and shredding nearly 10,000 homes and buildings. surveillance cameras captured joplin high school getting ripped apart. one year later the school is still a pile of rubble while students study at a converted depart

i'm lynn berry. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. today we begin with ratcheting up the campaign. august conventions may be months away, but mitt romney is already moving on to the next phase in his race for the white house, selecting a running mate. meanwhile, president obama isn't wasting any time taking shots at his presumed republican rival. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: kicking off his re-election bid this weekend in the battleground states of ohio and virginia, president obama took off the gloves and took on mitt romney. >> i don't care how many ways you try to explain it, corporations aren't people. people are people. >> reporter: other than romney's presumptive nominee, his former rivals are helping him bring the party together. >> if you look at mitt romney, it's all about his proven track record and what he's done with his life. >> so you have endorsed him. you are endorsing him. >> as far as i'm concerned, i've endorsed him. >> reporter: an

i'm lynn berry. today we make it official mitt romney is expected to lock up his party's nomination in today's texas gop primary. later he'll team up with donald trump to raise funds in las vegas. yesterday president obama and romney spent memorial day on the campaign trail and nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on all of this. good morning. >> good morning. he won't get the official nod from the party for another three months but after today after the texas primary, mitt romney can feel pretty confident going into that republican convention that he will be the one to take on president obama in the fall. >> reporter: texas is expected to put mitt romney over the top today giving him the 1,144 delegates he'll need to win the republican nomination. >> a big day tomorrow. look forward to the good news. >> reporter: he'll make his case from battleground colorado today then las vegas at a fundraiser with donald trump. romney brushed off concerns about associating with trump who is still

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a shocking revelation. in a potential breakthrough in one of the nation's most baffling missing children cases, a new jersey man is under arrest in connection with the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old etan patz. police say the former convenience store worker confessed to killing the boy. nbc's dan shenman has details. >> reporter: it has been 33 years since 6-year-old etan patz disappeared while walking to catch a school bus. now a break in the case. >> the new york city police department is announcing the arrest of pedro hernandez. >> reporter: according to police, hernandez shown here in a photo ob sands by "inside edition," spoke to detectives more than three hours and confessed to killing the child. >> hernandez described to the detectives how he lured young etan from the school bus stop. >> reporter: investigators say a tip led police to the hernandez home. >> hernandez told a family member and others he had "done a bad thing and killed a child in new york." >

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a day of remembrance. on this memorial day americans are paying tribute to those who served and those who lost their lives fighting for this country. today president obama and his presumed republican presidential rival mitt romney will be participating in observances. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: hundreds and thousands of bikers roared into the nation's capital on the 25th annual run of rolling thunder, a moving tribute to americans who served and sacrificed. many of these bikers are veterans, and in this election year they could be the key to winning the white house. current and former military members are well represented in several swing states including florida and that has president obama and republican mitt romney focusing on veterans and the issues that affect them. >> it's not just enough just to make a speech about how much we value veterans. it's not enough to remember them on memorial day. >> reporter: while president obama is touting what he'

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with the evidence. the state of florida has released nearly 200 pages of documents they will use in the trial of george zimmerman for the shooting death of trayvon martin most of it unseen by the public until now. curt gregory has the story. >> reporter: more than 180 pages of documents, witness statements and photographs were released late thursday by special prosecutor's angela corey's office. evidence the state says support their charges against george zimmerman. among the pages, never before seen photos of injuries allegedly sustained by the 28-year-old zimmerman during his confrontation with trayvon martin. and images of the scene where the shooting took place, on february 26th. zimmerman is charged with second degree murder, but has pleaded not guilty under frida's stand your ground law. also within the documents are reports from investigators including one that describes an interview with martin's father, tracy martin, two days after his son's death. the investig

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with exit strategy. president obama is meeting for a second day with nato leaders and afghanistan's president hamid karzai in chicago as they develop a roadmap to wind down the war in afghanistan by 2014. meanwhile thousands of anti-nato activists marched in protest, resulting in dozens of arrests. nbc's nick bogart reports from chicago. >> reporter: blocks from the nato summit, police and protesters clash. police using batons and pepper spray, some anti-nato demonstrators throwing paint and other objects at officers. some even grabbing batons and turning them back on police. at least two dozen protestors were led away and presumably arrested, some bloodied. the clash did not disturb the summit itself, members approving so-called smart defense plans, trying to lower nato's costs in tough economic times and united behind a plan for afghanistan to pull nato troops off the front lines next year and substantially out of the country by 2014. >> there would be no rush for

i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station. >>> well, people in thailand are launching into monsoon season with a big bang. hundreds of villagers gathered for the annual thai rocket festival to mark the beginning of the rainy season. the yearly ritual has residents competing to keep a rocket airborne as long as possible. locals believe the rockets pay homage to the rain gods in hopes of an abundant farm season. >>> competitors in the philippines gathered for a regatta of makeshift watercraft. nearly a dozen vessels made from recycled and nonbiodegradable materials raced for the title of best green craft as a way to promote green recycling and teach valuable survival skills. sailors completed the over 80-foot course, being judged on their boat's speed, durability and innovation. >>> and, finally, imagine going to a restaurant where the tables, the menu, and even your companions are not visible. one restaurant any nepal serves its guests in comple

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we begin this morning with breaking news. a blind chinese dissident is reportedly no longer under the protection of the u.s. in beijing. a u.s. official says that chen guangcheng left the u.s. embassy after six days and is now at a beijing medical facility where he's being reunited with had his family. chen, who ran afoul of local government officials for exposing forced abortions and other abuses, escaped from house arrest late last month. the dispute over chen's fate had threatened to overshadow secretary of state hillary clinton's arrival in beijing today for economic talks with chinese officials. >>> elsewhere, on the anniversary of osama bin laden's death, president obama showed up in afghanistan on a surprise visit yesterday to mark what he called the light of the new day. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on this. tri tracy, good morning. >> good morning. he admitted there are

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with in the hot seat. jamie dimon faces stock holders today for the first time since admitting the bank lost millions of dollars due to risky bets made on his watch, a practice he reportedly encouraged. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with those details. good morning. >> good morning. the big question today, can he hold on to his job? some analysts think yes because even though this has been quite a challenge for the company, he's been considered a near genius before now on wall street and investors, some of them analysts say, won't want to go on without him. >> reporter: today, jpmorgan chase ceo jamen dimon faces shareholders for the first time since admitting risky hedging led to a $2 billion loss. >> we're still going to earn a lot of money this quarter. it isn't like this company is jeopardized. >> reporter: his job could be. on today's agenda, whether to split the company's chair and ceo. dimon holds both positions. elizabeth warren, a massachusetts se

i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we are going to begin with a day to remember. it has been exactly one year since one of the deadliest tornados in u.s. history forever scarred the community of joplin, missouri, 161 people were killed, more than 900 injured and some 7,000 homes completely swept away. president obama was in joplin last night to mark the anniversary. nbc's jinah kim reports. >> the president of the united states of america, barack obama. >> reporter: speaking to thousands gathered for the joplin high school graduation, president obama said it was the people of joplin who deserved applause. >> as i look out at this class and across the city, what's clear is that you're the source of inspiration today. >> reporter: it was shortly after the same graduation ceremony last year that an ef-5 strength tornado tore through joplin taking 161 lives and shredding nearly 10,000 homes and buildings. surveillance cameras captured joplin high school getting ripped apart. one year

i'm lynn berry.ere are some of the top stories making news this morning. at the trial of former presidential candidate john edwards a former speech writer testified edwards told her he knew a wealthy donor was supporting his pregnant miss stress. edwards has denied knowing about the payments. >>> a judge in chicago blocks enforcement of an eavesdropping law that could send people to jail for 15 years if they record audioof a police officer. activists challenge the law because it says the protesters at this year's summit could be jailed for using smart phones to record police. >>> he has been denied for a sixth time. berkowitz terrorized new york city in 1976 and '77 and was convicted of killing six people. >>> a new record has been set for a work of contemporary art at a new york auction. mark rothko's 1961 abstract painting orange red yellow sold for almost $87 million. i just do not get it. there you go. here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,932 afte

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead had. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we're going to it begin this morning with "in the hot seat." jamie dimon faces stack holders today for the first time since admitting jpmorgan chase lost billions. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the details on this. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, some analysts are saying that dimon is unlikely to lose his job because, despite what's going on with the company right now, he's been considered a near-genius on wall street and many investors won't want to navigate this without him. today jpmorgan chase ceo jamie dimon faces shareholders for the fist time since admitting risky hedging led to a $2 billion loss. >> we're still going to earn a lot of money this quarter. it isn't like the company is jeopardized. >> reporter: but his job could be. on the agenda, whether to split the company's chair and ceo. right now dimon holds both. elizabeth warren, a massachusetts senate candidate, who d

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we're going to begin this morning with star power. president obama took in a record haul last night at george clooney's star-studded hollywood fund-raiser. but today it is back to reality. when the president heads to nevada to talk about the economy, nbc's tracie potts joins us with more on that, and the high school drama dogging mitt romney. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. today the president moves on to nevada to talk about the economy, after those three fund-raisers on the west coast last night. including that really big one in california. president obama's $40,000 a plate dinner at george clooney's house last night appears to be the single biggest fund raiser ever, more than mitt romney raised in an entire month. democrats say donations are pouring in since the president announced his support for same-sex marriage. >> making sure that everybody, regardless of sexual orientation, is treated fairly. >>

i'm lynn berry. stay tuned. with willie geist" starts right now. >>> the nbc/"wall street journal" polls are out, and they show president obama with a slight overall edge on mitt romney but with double-digit leads among women, latinos, young people and independents. all this while joe biden was back on the trail hammering romney's economic vision for the country. how does romney reverse some of these persistent poll problems? >>> another day down for facebook as its stumbling public roll-out continues among new reports that analysts at morgan stanley weren't investors before friday's ipo that it could be a dud. the question is what's going on with facebook's stock price? we'll have a live report to try to sort through this. >>> hollywood has a great story as the l.a. kings, the last team in the playoffs out west, advance to the stanley cup finals in dramatic style. the question is, how excited is the nhl by the prospect of an l.a./new york stanley cup? it's way too early for this. >>> good morning. i'm willie ge

i'm lynn berry.n sports yesterday, in the nba playoffs for the second day in a row the los angeles team won the showdown. here's nbc's mario solis. >>> hi, there. good morning. third time's a charm for the l.a. clippers. after squandering a 3-1 serious lead the clippers finally got it right in game seven against the grizzlies. the bench getting it done in the fourth quarter scoring 25 of their final 27 points. nick young draining 13. clippers send the grizzlies to an early hibernation hibernation they advance to play the spurs. >>> to miami lebron james getting his mvp award. then he shows everybody why he's the most valuable player in the league, scoring 32 points against indiana. in fact, lebron and dwyane wade outscore the entire pacers team by four points in the second half. heat take game one 95-86. >>> to hockey, game one in the western conference finals, kings and coyotes. dustin brown with another huge goal. seems like every game the captain steps up in a big way. kings are a perfect 6-0 on t

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we're going to make it official today possibly for mitt romney. he is expected to lock up his party's presidential nomination in today's texas gop primary. later, he's going to team up with donald trump to raise funds in las vegas. yesterday, president obama and romney spent memorial day on the campaign trail. nbc's tracie potts joins us with more on this from washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: hi, lynn. good morning. call today sort of pre-official for mitt romney, if, in fact, he's able to get those delegates from texas. he can go into this republican convention three months from now confident he'll take on president obama in the fall. texas is expected to put mitt romney over the top today giving him the 1,144 delegates he'll need to win the republican nomination. >> a big day tomorrow. looking forward to the good news. >> reporter: he'll make his case from battleground colorado toorksd th

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>>'s we begin this morning with exit strategy. president obama is meeting for a second day with nato leaders and afghanistan's president karzai in chicago as they develop a road map to wind down the war by 2014. meantime, thousands of activists marched resulting in dozens of arrests. nick bogart reports from chicago. >> reporter: blocks from the nato summit, police and protesters clash. police using batons and pepper spray. some anti-nato demonstrators throwing paint and other objects at officers. some grabbing the batons and turning them back on the police. at least two dozen were led away. some bloodied. the clash did not disturb the summit itself, members proving so-called smart defense plans trying to lower nato's costs in tough economic times & uniting behind a plan for afghanistan to pull nato troops off the front lines next year and substantially out the country by 2014. >> there would be no rush for the exits. we wo

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we begin this morning with a presidential to-do list had. president obama is holding a rare meeting with top congressional leaders from both parties today. the president is pushing an ambitious election year agenda, including raising the debt ceiling by increasing the tax on the rich. brian mooar has the details. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. the president is hosting a bipartisan lunch at the white house with some items on the menu republicans will find hard to swallow. today president obama is it issuing a to-do list for congress and holding a rare sit-down with top laud makers from both parties to get it done. one of the first orders of business, raising the debt ceiling so the gosvernment can pay its bills. john boehner is already drawing a hard line. >> when the time comes i will again insist, my simple principle of cuts and reforms greater than the debt limit increase. >> rep

good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we're going to begin this morning with the evidence. the state of florida has released nearly 200 pages of documents they will use in the trial of george zimmerman for the shooting death of trayvon martin most of it unseen by the public until now. nbc's kurt gregory has that story. >> reporter: more than 180 pages of documents, witness statements and photographs were released late thursday by special prosecutor angela corey's office. evidence the state says supports their charges against george zimmerman. among the pages, never before seen photos of injuries allegedly sustained by the 28-year-old zimmerman during his confrontation with trayvon martin. and images of the scene where the shooting took place, on february 26th. zimmerman is charged with second degree murder, but has pleaded not guilty under florida's stand your ground law. also within the documents are reports from investigators including one that describes an interview with martin's fath

. >>> hello, good morning i'm lynn berry. today we begin with bin laden's words. one year after seals killed the leader, some documents seized from his compound in pakistan have been released. they show his concerns about his weakened organization but he was still plotting attacks on americans. nbc's michelle franzen has details. >> reporter: the compound in pakistan where osama bin laden lived in secrecy and died after u.s. special forces tracked him down, is gone. destroyed without a trace. but document ts, letters and other evidence seized the night of the raid left a trail showing the al qaeda leader still had aspirations to attack the u.s. >> as a former professional intelligence officer, there is nothing i would like to have more than the capacity to read my enemy's mail and we're reading ten years of osama bin laden's mail. >> reporter: the intelligence community and public are getting a snapshot look at some of the documents, analyzed over the past year at west point's combatting terrorism center. the west wing gave west point the green light to publish 17

. >>> hello, and good morning i'm lynn berry. >>> today we begin with significant shift. after months of refusing to take a clear stand on the controversial issue of same sex marriage, yesterday president obama decided to come out in favor of it. a decision that could prove to be risky. steve handelsman reports from washington. >> reporter: on a bbc, barack obama became the first sitting president to back gay marriage. he came to realize that wasn't enough for same sex couples that he and his family know. >> members of my own staff who are incredibly committed, monogomous relationships, same sex relationships, raising kids together. malia and sasha have friends whose parents are same sex couples. >> reporter: gay activists are applauding. >> great deal of hope and inspiration to same sex couples across the country who genuinely struggle. >> reporter: gay marriage is an emotional issue and not necessarily a winning one for obama-biden. >> this is potential big wedge issue in the african american community, works class whites. this is an issue that will mobilize the evangel

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> i'm lynn berry. today we begin with unexpected visit. anniversary of osama bin laden's death, president obama showed up in afghanistan on a surprise visit yesterday, to mark what he calls the light of a new day. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: president obama spoke at the base where seal team 6 took off to kill osama bin laden on the president's orders. >> the goal i set to defeat act and deny it a chance to rebuild is within our reach. >> reporter: he met with troops and gave them credit along with his drone campaign for killing 20 of bin laden's top 30 commanders. >> we have been able to decimate the ranks of al qaeda, and a year ago we were able to finally bring osama bin laden to justice. >> reporter: the president had flown to afghanistan secretly overnight. to sign a new 10 year treaty with afghan president karzei. u.s. forces will focus only on the fight against what is left of al qaeda. critics see it as an election year photo-op, a victory lap on an anniversary that off to have

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we begin with a day of remembrance. on this memorial day, americans are paying tribute to those who served and those who lost their lives fighting for this country. today both president obama and his presumed republican presidential rival mitt romney will be celebrating and participating in observances. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: hundreds of thousands of bikers roared into the nation's capital on the 25th annual run of rolling thunder. a moving tribute to americans who served and sacrificed. many of these bikers are veterans. and in this election year, they could be the key to winning the white house. current and former military members are well represented in several swing states, including florida. and that has president obama and republican mitt romney focusing on veterans and the issues that affect them. >> it's not enough just to make a speech about how much we value veterans. it's not

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. >> we're going to begin this morning with bin laden's words. one year after navy s.e.a.l.s killed the the al qaeda leader some documents seized from his compound in pakistan are now being released. they show his concerns about his weakened organization. but that he was still plotting attacks on americans. michelle franzen has details. >> the compound in pakistan where osama bin laden lived in secrecy and died after u.s. special forces tracked him down is gone. destroyed without a trace. but documents, letters and other evidence seized the night of the raid left a trail showing the al qaeda leader still had aspirations to attack the u.s. >> there's nothing i would like to have more than the capacity to read my enemy's mail. in this case we're reading ten years of osama bin laden's mail. >> the sbel jebs community and the public are getting a snap in shot look at some of the documents analyzed over the past year at we

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

. >>> hello, good morning, i'm lynn berry. today we begin with tuesday's take aways. >> a three-state sweep for mitt romney was no big surprise but a major incumbent upset in indiana and referendum on same sex marriage in the south could provide some insight on the issues ahead of elections this fall. tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that, tray sooe, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. no big surprise, mitt romney is 63 delegates closer to winning the nomination after picking up wins in indiana, west virginia and north carolina. he campaigned in michigan yesterday. but in a couple of other votes it pit conservatives versus moderates in the republican party, in indiana, we saw the longest serving republican in the senate lose his seat after 36 years. dick lugar is out, losing to a candidate backed by the tea party, treasurer richard mourdock. in north carolina, the issue of gay marriage on the ballot, looks like the initiative to define marriage between one man and one woman won by 58%. that would b

i'm lynn berry and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >>> at 4:28, you're waking up to more heat, more humidity, and more chances for storms in our region. and a little noise in our studio. your first forecast is coming up in a couple of minutes. first, good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> it's early. i'm eun yang, welcome to "news4 today" for this tuesday, may 29, 2012. >>> we begin with breaking news. italy is rocked by a second earthquake in less than two weeks. a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit about 32 miles northeast parma about an hour ago. right now italian tv is reporting one person died and four others were hurt. we're also told some buildings have collapsed. earlier this month, a 6.0-magnitude quake hit the northern part of the country. hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed. seven people died. >>> new this morning, prince george's county police investigating a deadly crash in clinton near the intersection of branch avenue and woodyard road. one person was kille