just assing with seemed to settle down, a barrage of bad economic news collided with fresh news about european debt. to trigger a global selloff in stocks that began in asia yesterday and continued this morning. nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the details. brian, good morning to you. >> hi, lynn. the white house says creating jobs is still the president's number one priority even though as he takes a controversial break from the job. >> reporter: mounting concerns the nation is slipping back into recession triggered another triple digit loss on wall street. >> the market is treading on fear. we a fear of something we don't control. >> reporter: the dow dropped another 400 points. president obama's approval rating is dipping too. a mere 26% of americans agree with his handling of the economy, according to the latest gallop poll. >> we need jobs bad. >> reporter: an army of the unemployed come here for jobs. >> i want to get a job to support my family. >> they're all looking for work. they want a job. >> reporter: for the white house it is no comfortable contrast. americans working to find jobs as president obama kicks off his vacation on exclusive martha's vineyard. even at this getaway, he can't escape the criticism. >> i don't think he is doing particularly well on the unemployment situation. >> reporter: the white house is working on the economic plan he is unveiling next month. this is one presidential vacation with plenty of baggage. forecast for the president's time on martha's vineyard, cloudy skies with some storms ahead. lynn. >> all right, brian mooar from washington. thank you. well, u.s. officials tell nbc news intelligence reports indicate libyan leader muammar qadhafi is making preparations to leave libya. one official suggested it could be within a matter of days. according to the report, qadhafi and his family will be granted exile in tunisia. meanwhile, the battle for tripoli rages on and john ray from our english broadcasting partner ipn reports on more of this. >> reporter: the rebels are hammering at qadhafi's back door. bullet by bullet forcing it open, leaving the way clear to tripoli. they claim to have taken the oil refinery, cutting the regime's last source of fuel, but in the east of the city an intense battle rages. we are warned that snipers and rockets, and we soon discover why when one explodes uncomfortably close by. there is now a very fierce street by street fight going on for control of this city. the rebels know they can win here. they are within touching distance of qadhafi and his capitol which is why forces loyal to him are hanging on to every inch they can. to the south of tripoli the rebels proclaim victory in the town of garian. the net is tightening around qadhafi, but the battle ahead could be the hardest and bloodiest yet. john ray, itn news. now other news we're covering in america. north carolina beach front homes provided the best seat for a spectacular show of force by mother nature. as many as five waterspouts formed off the coast with one becoming a tornado after reaching shore. beachgoers ran for cover as the rare storm whipped around furniture and levelled a section of the boardwalk. no injuries were recorded. employees in california fast food restaurant use teamwork to turn the table on a masked gunman. the suspect was no match for the courageous crew who managed to strip away a gun and remove the mask before letting the gunman go. no arrests have been made. one michigan man's decision to drive with bad brakes netted a nearly disastrous outcome. the 24-year-old's seat failed him horribly as he used it to stop the truck. police cited this man for reckless driving. also in the not smart department, in florida one child's adventure in baby-sitting was a dangerous prospect. several drivers called police when they spotted the sitter riding in the bed of a pickup truck with an 8-month-old in a stroller. police finally caught up with the vehicle and arrested the woman for child neglect. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning to you. >> nice baby-sitter. >> no references. >> good morning, everyone. yesterday around the country we had thunderstorms and we had record heat. take a look at the temperatures in texas. 106 in dallas. it was 105 in houston. i mean, everyone else, the days are getting a little bit shorter as far as the daylight is concerned. temperatures typically in august tend to go down a little bit. we're just waiting here if texas. this has been ridiculous. it was 98 even as far north as denver. we had a lot of thunderstorms yesterday in areas of the east, new york city, philadelphia got nailed too by a pretty good thunderstorm, and now overnight the biggest thunderstorm complex has swept down from omaha, and it's pushing right through the entire state of missouri. that's causing a lot of havoc and a lot of reports of large hail and now a lot of reports of damaging wind. we're pretty dry. the skies have dried up on the east coast around atlantic city, new jersey. southern jersey got some showers this morning. that's about it. this is by far the worst complex. all the white dots here, see the lightning streets. along interstate 44 it's quite the thunderstorm complex. stay in your house until that has come and gone. the forecast here friday, more record heat in the deep south. 106 again in dallas. we'll talk about afternoon storms in the big cities in the atlantic this afternoon. that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. washington d.c., you'll have sunshine this morning. some thunderstorms this afternoon. we're also be looking in denver, colorado. maybe the storms will cool you off. sunshine throughout much of the day. the temperatures in texas ridiculous. weekend forecast coming up and a lot more of the same. >> bill, thanks so much. well, coming up, how global stocks are reacting to wall street's nosedive. gold prices shine, and another early morning business headlines are straight ahead. sfloous. plus, can conan the barbarian conquer the box office? >> maybe. coming up, a washing machine, a head shot, and what happens when a goodwill goes bad? you're watching "early today." good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are your top headlines this morning. a u.n. official is recommending the security council refer syria to the international criminal court overly its crackdown on civilians. this comes as the u.s. and european allies demand syria's president step down amid the nation's five-month uprising. israeli aircraft struck seven targets in gaza early today. the assault was in response to yesterday's attacks in southern italy where gunmen ambushed vehicles, killing eight israelis. the associated press reports investigators have been told that just two days after american tourist robyn gardner was record missing in aruba, her travel companion tried to cash in on a $1.5 million insurance policy he took out on her. gary giordano has denied any wrong doing saying she went missing while they were snorkeling. a scene reminiscent of last week's stage collapse tragedy in indiana. a storm buckled structures as it swept through a music festival featuring the foo fighters and eminem. at least three people were killed. the dow opens at 10,990 after sinkle 419 points. the s&p went down 53 points. the nasdaq lost a whopping 131. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, the nikkei dropped 224 points, while in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 616. world markets have taken a beating as global recession fears rears its ugly head once again. the current bleak economic outlook fueled more losses overseas this morning. markets were down as much as 2% in japan, hong kong, shanghai, and australia. investors fleeing stocks snapped up gold hoping the precious metal will prove to be a safer bet in the long run. yesterday's fresh high at $1,836, put gold up some $350 an ounce since july 1st. on the street oil tumbled more than $5 a barrel. the ten-year u.s. treasury note hits its lowest yield ever and the average mortgage rate fell to its lowest in at least 40 years. escalating worries about europe's debt, the "wall street journal" reports u.s. regulators are looking at the u.s. arms of big european banks to make sure they have enough money for day to day operations. on the economic front, the hits just keep on coming. beginning with new jobless claims that jumped by 9,000 last week. consumer inflation is at its highest margin. home sales fell unexpectedly for the third time last month. manufacturing has been the strongest in recent years, and yesterday the fed reported a dismal drop in mid-atlantic states. more bad news from bank of america. it's cutting 3,500 jobs as part of restructuring that could eventually eliminate thousands more down the road. and it's the end of the road for hewlett-packard's smartphone, tablets, and pcs. a pitcher takes a line drive to the head, while new england gets a leveling of their own. a goodwill game between georgetown and china is marred by bad sportsmanship. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. your weekend forecast is going to be all about heat and thunderstorms. that's coming up. you're watching "early today." good morning. if you are just waking up, this is "early today." the yankees experienced deja vu yesterday with another disputed call. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. a night after a home run replay win against the yawningees, the umpires got it right in minnesota. taking on the twins. justin hit one down the right field line. just inside the foul pole, or was it? one umpire said home run. he rounded the bases. they would review it. look for yourself. that's a foul ball. to the third. no replay needed for this one. 33rd homer of the year. yanks remain half eh half game ahead of boston in the east. phil umber was hit in the face by a line drive. it hit him so hard the ball carried back towards home plate. amazingly, he was fine. takes a pretty hard head to take a shot like that. indians won it 4-2. on the political front vice president joe biden is in china on a goodwill tour. also in china basketball on the tour, the team from georgetown university. they played an exhibition game against the chinese pro team, and the will wasn't so good. a brawl broke out during the game. the benches cleared. punches were thrown. a wild scene in a game that was reportedly very physical from the start. the georgetown team walked off for its own safety. i'll say this, if it was a goodwill tour, those kids from georgetown should have diplomatic immunity. chad ocho cinco got levelled against the bucks. the league is trying to crack down on these types of hits, and there was a penalty gin. chad would have the last laugh. he scored the first touchdown for the patriots. they won it big 31-14. steelers hines ward won "dancing with the stars" and showed his moves last night. scored a touchdown and key the music. that's called the washing machine. steelers with a 24-14 win over the eagles. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> early today sports is brought to you by just for men mustache and beard. >> kat vondee takes the good with the bad. plus, a unique commission where bed makers and vacuumers fight for olympic gold. you're watching "early today." well, a good friday morning. welcome back. we take you through your weekend forecast. today afternoon storms are likely once again from boston and new york down to d.c. middle of the country not too bad. just a whole complex of storms going through missouri, heading through northern arkansas and maybe the memphis area. eventually, texas, record heat, once again, and florida, you have a chance of thunderstorms not just today, but even into saturday. ice laid storms possible from new york to philly. the most concentrated area will be here to missouri. faebl into your sunday, more of the same. the heat relaxes just a little bit in texas. beautiful weather for minneapolis to chicago. looks like atlanta to orlando not bad either. sunday is the better day in many areas. well, if you are watching us on west 2 in orlando, florida, in nearby winter park see black and white photos of legendary rock performances. it's always rock and roll at the cornell fine arts studio. >> thanks so much. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. as the summer box office winds down last weekend's runner-up "the help" won't need any help against 3-d newcomers. it should push the acclaimed film about the 1960s south into the top spot with $19 million. "the spy kids, all the time in the world in 4 d" could give the help a run for its money. it has a scratch and sniff gimmick that could attract serious families to a tune of $18 million. a 3-d remake of the classic conan the barbarian may suffer from 3-d fatigue, and it lacks star power. it has great hair, though. it should debut with just $16 million. another remake. "fright night" stars colin ferrell as the vampire next door. it's only expected to pull in $13 million. finally, this is bad news for l.a. ink star kat vondee. the good news, her engagement to sandia bullock's ex, jesse james, is reportly back on. however, her show has been canceled. i'm not sure that's good news that -- it is jesse james. remember him? >> i do. he did something to someone that most people like that is a good actress. >> i would say bad news, bad news for her. sorry about that. >> you don't replace arnold. why did they make that movie? >> with the luscious locks? and this comes to us from ksnz my news 3 in las vegas, nevada where the spotlight was on the unsung heroes of vegas strip. housekeepers had their game faces on in the 21st annual housekeeping olympics. teams competed in events such as bedmaking, mop and vacuum race. they took home queen size beds and reputation for cleanest house on and off the job. i would have failed at that miserably. i'm lynn berry, and this is the first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. after some thunderstorms last night, things have quieted down. we have partly to mostly cloudy skies. 73 in annapolis. 70 at the airport. a mixture of sunshine and clouds. a chance for a shower or thunderstorm this afternoon with a high temperature in the mid to upper 80's. we'll come back and check the forecast for the rest of the weekend. >> thank you. 67 degrees on tv hill. have you ever faced a phone call to avoid -- have you ever faked a phone call? that is our water cooler question of the day. >> the mosquito population is expected to boom. rewarding about west nile virus. >> cloudy skies over the u.s. economy and over president obama's vacation. that story is coming up. >> we have a busy start. a couple of major accidents. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> could morning. i am lisa