those across the pacific time zone. today we begin with out of control. some parts of the u.s. recover from the tumultuous tornado season, arizona is now dealing with a blaise covering more than 200 square miles. residents are evacuating at the state's third biggest wild fire ever rages on. nbc's frances coe reports. >> reporter: the temperatures and high winds seemed a perfect mix for this historic blaze in eastern arizona, smoke spread as far as new mexico and colorado. >> that would be horrible. >> reporter: the fire is a week old blanketing 140,000 acres. on the scene, 1300 firefighters from across the country. but the numbers were no match to mother nature. >> the column that's up in the air is about two days of being in excess of 30,000 feet. if you have something that large and that huge, it generates its own weather. >> reporter: not just arizona baking. record shattering temperatures have melted the south and the midsection. >> the nation up in the north in the mid to upper 90s. this is catching a lot of folks off guard. >> reporter: including in chicago where heat and humidity hovered over the half marathon. which was stopped mid course. one man collapsed and died while a dozen other runners were hospitalized. down south, houston recorded 105 degrees yesterday breaking a record set 30 years ago. >> why does the other part of the country have too much rain and water and we don't have any? >> reporter: by the way, summer won't even be here for another two weeks. frances coe, nbc news. as summerlike heat scorches the west, the remnants of winter and steady spring rains are forcing folks in the upper midwest out of their homes. evacuation orders have been issued for 600 residents in southwest iowa after a missouri river levee was breached. yesterday the management team air dropped thousands of sandbags calling the job too dangerous for ground crews. the river isn't expected to crest until mid to late june. overseas where agriculture officials in germany believe vegetable sprouts are at the root of the e. coli outbreak. beans and sprouts grown on an organic farm in germany are linked to infections in five states. it's claimed 22 lives and sickened 2200. four of the sickened victims are americans who travelled to germany. israel is bracing for more violence a day after deadly clashes between border troops and protesters killed 20 demonstrators and wounded scores more. on the 44th anniversary of israeli's capture of the goland heights. the protest group began on facebook. israel claims the clashes were a syrian smoke screen designed to divert attention on the crackdown of the bloody opposition protest at home. other stories making news early today in america. plans to transport the plane known for the miraculous landing on the hudson river. a new jersey intersection was not wide enough for a tractor trailer towing the aircraft. the aircraft is scheduled to arrive on friday in the aviation museum in north carolina. a group of about 50 people broke out their best moves in the nation's capitol to protest recent arrests on a ban on dancing in the jefferson memorial. park police did not make any arrests. but they did force out the protesters before closing the memorial for a short time. in southern california, it was surf's up for dozens of dogs at the sixth annual surf dog competition. the dogs needed to catch at least two waves and more importantly, look good doing it. it wasn't just dog biscuits on the line, the top prizes included vacations for the dogs an their owners. in missouri, no holds barred for a few brides to be hoping to win some prizes before their big day. competitors at the sixth annual cake dive dove head first and put their sweet tooth to work. prizes for the best dive included gift certificate and a honeymoon vacation. now for a look at your national and regional weather, bill karins has the forecast. good morning. >> there is a proud fiance out there. >> that is my girl. go get them. >> interesting weather around the country. we talked about the heat. everyone on the west coast is saying can i have a taste of that please? >> our cut off low on the west coast bringing unusual weather for june. >> we talk about the june gloom and chilly temperatures. we had a high of 66 in san francisco. the heat from the middle of the country spread as far west as phoenix. even salt lake city wasn't bad. it is the clouds and the rain that has caused the attention. over the past couple of days we have had an inch of rain in san francisco. shattering all sorts of records. we don't get rain like this. this is a winter type storm that is sitting over the region. we have had the highest storms sitting over the sierras here. weather conditions will begin t to warm things up. temperatures will warm up in the west. >> update forecast coming up. >> all right thank you so much. and also coming up. another hack attack on a mega gamer. apple readiys for steve jobs return. and how pinching pennies lands a man in hot water. plus how brady cooper and crew faired against a pack of mutants at the box office. and fatal bert takes another bite. you are watching "early today." good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here's some of your top headline this is morning. >> the u.s. military says five u.s. troops were killed in iraq. in yemen, anti-government protesters have been celebrating the departure of their president. he's in saudi arabia recovering from an operation to remove shrapnel from the rocket attack. 11 people die in that assault. but the wounded leader is returning to power despite months of protest calling for his departure. >> in pakistan, a bombing claimed two dozen people. one attack happened at a bakery declaring 18 dead. there's been no claim of responsibility so far. the pakistani taliban have taken credit for other attacks saying they're avenging the death of osama bin laden. a pakistani security officials said authorities are nearly certain that a recent strike killed ilias kashmiri. he's believed to have been replacing bin laden as the chief. his death is still unconfirmed by the u.s. the field for presidential contenders will get more crowded today. former pennsylvania senator rick santorum is expected to officially kick off his bid for the gop nomination. volcanic ash from chile has been raining down on argentina. the volcano erupted this weekend after being dormant for half a century. so far, thousands have been evacuated. no injuries have been reported. now, an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,151 after losing 97 points on friday. s&p is down 12 points. the nasdaq dropped 40. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei lost 111 points. and in hong kong, the hang seng was closed for a holiday. and wall street has been to the first full week of june. triggers will likely remain on edge following friday's disappointing may jobs report. last month, employers added the most new workers in eight months pushing the unemployment rate up from 1.9% to 9%. that spurred a selloff and offered evidence of what many are calling a soft patch in the economy. shares of tokyo electric power plunged 24% dragging down the nikkei. yesterday, tepco acknowledged 15,000 more tons were being removed and put into storage at the fukushima daiichi plant. >> sony and nintendo lost ground and they scrambled to recover from attacks on hackers. the attack on nintendo seems to be less serious than the sony playstation security breach. looking ahead, opec's gathering in vienna could be the petroleum group's most contentious in years. it faces pressure to respond to triple digit oil prices. back here at home, apple ceo and co-founder steve jobs makes a big return from medical leave to deliver a keynote speech in california. a new operating system and cloud computing service are expected to be among today's highlightings. and finally, the average penny pincher has nothing on one man in utah who's been cited for disorderly conduct after paying a disputed medical bill with 2500 pennies. he now faces a fine of $140, or 14,000 pennies. coming up from ejections to players. a wild night in the diamondbacks-nationals game. and miami's lebron james hammers home game three of the nba finals. your early morning sports headlines are ahead. in weather, wide-spread record heat continues and a sneak peek with the tropics, including something interesting for me. 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, a dramatic victory in dallas last night with dirk nowitzki just unable to come through for the mav vicks this time around. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all of your sports headlines. hi there, good morning, time and time again, the mavericks' dirk nowitzki has been able to hit the big shot when the team needed it the most. not last night. game three of the finals in dallas, if you don't already know, lebron james is good, real good. huge dunk in the first quarter heat up by five at the break. they lead by as many as 14. the mavs don't go quietly. nowitzki late in the fourth to tie it. it's not lebron or dwyane wade that hits it big shot, but chris bosch nails the jumper to give miami the lead. dirk with the fallaway with the tie, off the mark. the heat holds on to take game three, 88-86. they lead 2-1. rafael nadal beat roger federer in a final to win the french open. raffa got 56 unforced errors. nadal wins the sixth french open and tenth major. from the clay to the asphalt, brent lozlowski won. dale earnhardt jr. took second. extending his winless streak to 106 races. deja vu all over again, pujols with a walkoff home run. he did it again yesterday. fat albert is a walk-off bomb in the tenth inning. cards rally to win 3-2. strange play. jason marquis is hit in the stomach by the pitch. take your base, right? wait a second, not so fast. he swung the bat. that's a strike and a painful one at that. to the 11th. here's a strike that michael morris takes for a ride. clears the bases for a grand slam nationals break it open and win this one 9-4. that's a look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. >> "early today" sports is brought to you by ice blue aqua velva. >> prequels and sequels dominate theaters this weekend. plus, why one group of mall santas say giving is a year-round job. you're watching "early today." >> welcome back. i thought we would check in with our friends in hawaii. some of those showers but that is typical. 87 degrees comfortable. west coast temperatures below average. most areas the exception in phoenix. la today 67. still wearing sweaters and jackets up the coast. pacific northwest not bad. cooler today and tomorrow chilly. it will get warmer as the week progresses. if you are watching us on ktvu, channel 2 in anchorage, alaska. that is your pacific event of the day. now an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. hollywood continues the summer box office terror with "the x-men" leading the charge. "x-men first class" earned $56 million in the debut weekend. last weekend's top movie "hangover part ii" hung in there adding $34.4 million adding to its total. "kung fu panda 2" with $24.3 million in the second weekend. "pirates of the caribbean: on stranger tides" took fourth place and bumping the three-week earnings to $190 million. and fifth place, "bridesmaids" held up well earning another $12.1 million bringing the four-week total to $107 million. and finally, the flick franchise "twilight" dominated the mtv movie awards for a third year in a row. the "twilight saga eclipse" ended up with five popcorn trophies including best movies, male and female performances, and best kiss. you were happy about that i know. >> i saw, i didn't get a chance to see it though. >>. >> and this comes to us from kusa in denver, colorado. some volunteers are proving the season of giving can last all year long. billy lee is well known for playing santa claus in local malls. two months after an accident left him unable to care for his animals. the society of santas are pitching in. they formed a crew of santa's helpers to tend to the farm of the man they say has done so much for others. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. thanks to modern technology, one museum in japan has the world at it's fingertips. this 20-foot globe is covered with over 10,000 special lighting panels to display the movements of clouds and weather patterns. it shows how the march tsunami in japan spread through the pacific ocean. the images are beamed directly from meteorological sites in space. restaurant workers in germany were serving up some entertainment for the crowds this weekend. the waiters' race allows hospitality workers to show off their skills to run hundreds of feet with service trays in hand. to win, you can't spill anything. the annual race started after world war ii as a light hearted way for people to return to normal life. don't kick an opponent when he's down. but when he's standing, it is fair game. at least at this shin-kicking competition in england. the idea is to kick your opponent's shins as hard as you can until they fall to the ground. straw is stuff in the pants for protection. while it looks brutal, today's version is better than years ago when they used steel-toed shoes and no straw. see it is the straw that is going to save you from shin-kicking. >> couldn't they think of anything else? >> like foam or something like that? good point. >> well, it is time now for an early look at some of the stories we will follow throughout the day here on nbc. former international monetary fund chief dominique strauss-kahn will be arraigned today for the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in manhattan last month. he's expected to enter a formal plea of not guilty. tonight, a town hall meet willing take place in joplin, missouri by those displaced by the may 22 tornado. information will be provided about debris removal and details on last month's housing. last month's twister killed 44 people and demolished roughly a third of the city. happy birthday to the "today" show's natalie morales who turns 39. all day long, stay on top of the developments on those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight, watch brian williams with nbc nightly news. finally, look at what's coming up this morning on the "today" show, the latest on the wild fires raging in arizona and the river flooding swallowing homes across the plains. and the exclusive interview of a teacher captured on video punching a student and has now been cleared of charges. now keep it on this channel for continued local news, weather, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of today, today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com