service here. letting you know you do not necessarily have to join a gym or buy a horse as the case may "early start" begins now. a big letdown in london, the favorite u.s. men's gymnastic team falters. blood on the beach -- a shark attacks a swimmer off cape cod. and mitt romney in poland, can he salvage what's been a tough trip with a spaech about an hour from now in warsaw? good morning, welcome to early start, i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman, it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. a community rallies behind a couple that was barred from getting married in mississippi just because of their race, we reported this yesterday and i still can't believe it.

>> an interesting outcome. this may be good news. plus, a school district that pays struggling students to go to summer school. talk about outrage. we're going to chat about that this morning. >> we're going to begin with the olympics and the night that was filled with so much promise and ended in so much disappointment for the u.s. men's gymnastics team after finishing first in the trials, they entered the finals last night as favorites. but a fall on the floor, two costly errors in the pommel horse and a fall on the vault -- undid team usa. halfway through six rotations they were in last place. last. but they rallied at the last minute to finish in fifth place. better, but still not great. amanda davies joins us from london. they were talking so big going into the finals. what happened? >> i think the mood in london at the olympic park today probably reflects the mood of the u.s. men's gymnastics team.

gray and gloomy is the best way to sum it up. they were hotly tipped for a medal because they had qualified for the final in first place. but really, it was just a story of trips, tumbles and fumbles. >> danell, leyva had a stumble and a wobble on the bars and there was a dreadful picture of him sitting beside the arena, in tears. it's not good to see a young man in tears. and it's put to him that the team has choke and he composed himself and his reaction was there. we weren't really shaking or anything, it wasn't as if we were scared, we were just off. we didn't do what we knew we could. settle was great amount of expectation, as you said. and it just seemed to get to them on the day. so the wait goes on for the men's team. for the team medal. and of course, it's the women's turn today. >> it was one problem after the

other for the men. as you said, we're hoping for more from the women tonight. now one other place where there's been a lot of ups and downs and controversy, has been the pool. the u.s. had some mixed results yesterday. >> disappointing day for ryan lochte. he came out without a medal in the 200 meters, free. the great day for matt grievers. and for missy, the missile franklin, she got her first olympic gold of this games in the 100 meters backstroke as well. all the eyes today will be on michael phelps, a big, big day for him. he's back in action, looking do make history with a third straight gold with the 200 meters fly. today could be the day that he breaks the record, 18 olympic medals. and then of course, the chinese sensation, yi xia wen, she's

been forced to stand up for the chinese team, deny claims of doping after that sensational performance of hers in the 400 meters individual medley. she's up for the 200 meters individual medley. she set an olympic record in her semifinal. the only crime she's committed is swimming fast up to this point. a lot of pressure on her. >> she in fact swam five minutes faster than her personal best and she broke a world record. one u.s. coach described her performance in the 400 meter individual medley disturbing, she finished the last leg of her race, finishing faster than ryan lochte. she saved five seconds off her personal best time. it's that incredible disparity that has so many people talking. moving on now to the medal count. >> we're going to, sorry about that. i'll take that, how about that.

the u.s. now tied with china in overall medal counts as we understand here. let's see, 17. but trailing in gold, japan now in third place with 11. >> and what to watch for today. as amanda said, michael phelps heads back to the pool, looking for the first gold medal of these games in the 200 meter butterfly. if he medals it will tie the mark of 18 medal, the all-time record. missy franklin looks to win her second gold in the 200 meter freestyle. and in gymnastic, the women try to win the gold in the team. >> and at 5:30 eastern, former u.s. gymnast, bart conner is going to join us, the a member of the last men's gymnastics team to win gold. do you when that was? >> 1984. >> we'll ask him what went wrong in london. is it inexperience, are they too young of a team? >> there's a lot to talk about. a lot of questions this morning. we're also talking politics this morning. mitt romney is in the polish

capital, warsaw, about to wrap up his three-nation tour with a speech about the value of liberty. but the presumptive gop nominee continues to make headlines and not the kind he would like, necessarily. palestinian officials are calling him racist for telling israeli donors their culture is the reason they're more successful than the palestinians. senior strategist david axelrod tweeted is there anything about romney's rolling ruckus that would inspire confidence in his ability to lead u.s. foreign policy? in an interview with cnn's wolf blitzer, the former massachusetts governor walked back comments he made last march about russia being america's number one foe. this is his position now. >> the number one national security threat of course to our nation is a nuclear iran. russia is a, a geopolitical adversary, but is not an enemy

with, with messles being fired at one another, things of that nature. >> romney also told wolf blitzer he believes the u.s. should keep a military option available in iran. the bloody struggle for control of syria's largest city intensifying overnight. it seems like a repeat every morning. tens of thousands of people are leaving aleppo as rebel forces try to capture the last government checkpoint on the road to the turkish border. government forces stepping up shelling of rebel-held districts with rocket, field artillery and helicopter gunships. cnn's barbara starr catching up with defense secretary leon panetta on his trip to the middle east. panetta sounding certain the assad regime is on its last legs. >> i'm sure that deep down, assad knows he's in trouble and it's just a matter of time before he has to go. >> what would you say to him? >> i would say -- if, if you want to be able to protect

yourself and your family, you better get the hell out now. >> panetta's travels this week take him to tunisia, egypt and jordan, with syria topping the agenda on each top. a shark scare off the coast of cape cod, i hate hearing this, i swim in these beaches, a witnesses say a man swimming off truro, massachusetts was bitten by a shark yesterday. some bathers say they saw a large dorsal fin coming out of the water. the man, thankfully is said to be in stable condition. he had severe cuts on both legs. but the fire chief says he will not lose a limb. several great whites have been spotted off the coast of cape cod this summer. i hate, terrifying, i'm terrified of sharks. >> are you going to continue swimming there? >> i'm never going into a pool, let alone the ocean. an african-american couple

has inspired unity. charles and tammy wilson were married by the church's pastor but at a different location. city leaders in crystal springs, mississippi, had a a unity ceremony last night. here's one to get psyched up for summer school. pay your kids to go. find out where that's happening, coming right up. [ female announcer ] the best things in life are the real things. nature valley trail mix bars

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welcome back, it is 12 minutes past the hour. we're getting an early read on your local news making national headlines. >> we're starting in penn state university where sports is the news, the penn state fooshl team starting to come back to school right now. we're beginning to learn which players will not be joining the team. they're allowed to transfer as part of the penalties imposed on penn state. quarterback rob bolden has announced he is leaving the team and safety tim buckley is also leaving. a lot of other stores considering leaving. including linebacker mike cull and running back silas red. we talked with tiki barber who told us if you're a player who hopes to play in the pros, you have to transfer. that's the only way the scouts are going to see you. otherwise you're not going to play in bowl games, televised games, you got to get out of there. >> he said don't forget this is a solid academic instution, so

if you're trying to do both, this is a great place to be. >> if you want a good school, stay at penn state. this is kind of a wacky story, washington, d.c.'s public school system is paying hundreds of struggling students to attend summer school. this story comes from the "washington examiner." 300 students who signed up for summer youth employment program told to report to summer school for $5.25 an hour. why? only 53% of students in the d.c. public schools are graduating high school on time. they're trying to get those numbers to be a little stronger to beef up graduation rates, d.c. public schools looking to expand summer programs are going to have students retake classes they failed in the following semester. some parents are complaining if students get paid to go to school in the summer, they should get paid to go to school year-round. >> that's a terrible message. work hard. these are also kids that have

behavioral problems, it sets a precedent. >> i would think there's got to be another way. head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. it is 14 minutes past the hour. opening arguments begin today in the much-anticipated trial of an ex-cop, draw peterson. he's charged with the murder of his third wife, kathleen savio. she was found drowned in her bathtub in 2004. her death was ruled an accident. but the case was reopened in 2007 after peterson's fourth wife stacy, vanished. she disappeared. peterson is not facing charges in that case, however. cnn's ted rollins is on the phone in joliet, illinois. ted by no means is this an open-and-shut case. prosecutors are facing a a lot of challenges. what can you tell us? >> absolutely right, zoraida. there's a very good chance, people don't realize this, that drew peterson at the end of the trial is going to walk out of the courtroom a free man. and the problem for the prosecution is that there's no

direct evidence tying him to the death of his third wife, kathleen savio. and prosecutors can't really bring up the disappearance of his fourth wife, stacey. let's be frank, he never would have been investigated for kathleen savio's death if stacy peterson, his fourth wife, wouldn't have gone missing. in this case, there's an autopsy report, there was a coroner's jury done on kathleen savio's death and it came back as an accident. so it's a huge hurdle for prosecutors. they do have some hearsay statements they'll be able to bring in which are damning towards peterson. things said, threats he made to his ex-wife and quite frankly it's a very tough case. the defense team is very pleased with their case moving in. one of the big questions is the stacy peterson factor. how much will the jury hear? here's what the defense team said about that a few days ago. >> what do you make of the stacy factor in this trial? >> who? >> the stacy factor?

>> who? stacy who? >> she's on your witness list. >> that stacy. >> we're hoping she shows up. >> yeah. maybe she'll show up. >> if she got the subpoena. >> does anybody think she's really alive. >> i do. absolutely she's alive. >> well, the honest truth there is that she likely is not alive and that the defense attorneys are very pleased and they're outside the courthouse there, because they know the judge has barred any mention of stacy peterson in this trial. they have that on their side. its going to be a fascinating trial to watch. and it gets under way in just a few hours here in joliet. >> i got to tell you, ted, for a lot of reasons, there aren't many people who don't know the name stacy peterson. you know, so they're going to be, this is going to be really tough. we're glad you're there following it for us, we'll continue to check in with you. >> i can't believe the tone in the lawyers' voice. >> that's the way this has been. it's joel brodsky and it's drew

peterson himself. his defense lawyer says, peterson is guilty of a lot of things. it's now 17 minutes past the hour. we want to get you up to date on all the stories. the u.s. women on top of the standings in gymnastics heading into the team competition. one day after the men stumbled in the finals. and in the pool today, michael phelps and missy franklin go for gold. aurora massacre suspect, james holmes, facing 24 counts of first-degree murder this morning. two counts for each of the 12 people he is accused of killing. 12 of those charges cite extreme indifference to human life and other counts include deliberation. and he's charged with 116 counts of attempted murder. prosecutors say the decision whether or not to seek the death penalty could be months away. a woman who stole a baby

from manhattan hospital 25 years ago and raised her as her own has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. the woman, ann pettaway, but the real parents say what they should give su 23 years from what you took from me. carlena white came suspicious of h her supposed mother as an adult. she searched the web and matched the photo of herself with one on the site and tracked down her true mother and they had a dna test to confirm her identity. check out this time lapse video. preparations for the republican national convention. the event doesn't kick off until august 27th. several hundred people are hard at work at tampa bay times forum. a building on the stage at which mitt romney is expected to accept his party's nomination. >> i love those time-lapse videos. small farmers are struggling through the worst drought in decades. christine romans went back to

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in the last six weeks, hitting an all-time record on monday. >> joining us now live from davenport, iowa, is our friend, christine romans, this is home for you and home is having hard times. >> yeah. yeah, i'm telling you, all 99 counties in iowa have been declared as a disaster. where i am in scott county here you've got patches of decent fields, but you can see, you can see that this corn is baking, it is dying from the ground up. i mean, quite honestly, you drive through some of these counties here and the corn still looks green. and then you go into the fields, you peel back an ear and they're not growing any more. so there's still a little bit of hope for the soybean crop, but the corn crops are basically cooking out here. right now, guys, this is the happiest the corn is going to be all day. because it's about 79 degrees right now. it is dark, so it doesn't have to curl up its leaves to protect itself against the sun. this is the only time it's sort of recharging its battery. talked to a farmer yesterday, joe derricks, about 30 miles north of where i grew up and he

took me through his field. take a look. what are the two things farmers talk about when they sit around with a cup of coffee. >> will it rain, did you get any rain? is it going to rain. every farmer in iowa feels like they have a moral responsibility to do everything they can for this crop, to grow as much as we can, even though we know it's going to be short. this is one of the good-looking fields. >> this is good-looking? >> from the road, this is a nice-looking field and it's pathetic. >> a couple of things about iowa farmers, guys, they all keep telling me things are worse in wisconsin and southern illinois. they have a little bit of an optimistic disposition. they all lived through 1988 which was a really tough time around here. many of them have crop insurance. if they're involved in any government programs, they have to have crop insurance. they won't know what happened to this crop until they get those combines behind me and they harvest this crop in about i

don't know, maybe starting in four, six, probably eight weeks, so they're not going to know for sure, they're not going to be able to put pencil to the paper to figure out what the economics of the summer going to be until much later on. guys? >> christine romans in that davenport, thank you so much for being with us. we know this is home for you. we see the tractor behind you. you know very much about this issue. moving back to the olympics, they were supposed to bring medals home from lopd, but instead, they're bringing disappointment. the men's gymnastics team. coming up, we talk to a man who knows about the pressures of the game, gold medal gymnast, bart conner. if you're leaving the house, you can watch us on your desk top or mobilehone. sorry, my liege. honestly. our sales have increased by 20%. what is this mystical device i see before me? it's an ultrabook. he signed the purchase order.

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no medal for the u.s. men's gymnastics team. coming up we talk to 1984 gold medalist and legend, bart conner about what went wrong in london. round two in the tax cut battle, the house gop will push its own bill this week. this billboard is getting a lot of double-takes in idaho. it compares president obama to an accused mass murderer. >> goodness. >> welcome back to early start, i'm john berman. >> and i'm dried zoraida sambolin. it was a shocker. the men's gymnastics team seemingly collapsing under pressure after being on the top in the qualifying round. china claimed their second consecutive gold medal in this event. and great britain was on the podium for the first time in a century. we're excited for them. japan took the silver after the coaches made an official inquiry over the scoring of their final

athlete, a decision that ended up moving the team from fourth to second place. so much drama. the americans haven't won a men's title since 1984. which was when gymnast bart conner was on the team. guess who is joining me now live from london. bart conner, thank you so much for being with us this morning, we appreciate it. so -- >> good morning zoraida, how are you? >> i'm doing well. the question is what happened to the team, you watch it with a different perspective and different eyes than we do. what happened? >> well, unfortunately it really was a heart-breaker for the u.s. men, because they had qualified so well. the way the finals format works is you put up three athletes on each event and all scores count. the u.s. men made four mistakes, they had an off day and it was during the team finals. so even though they have six more opportunities to win medals for men here at these olympics, that was a really heartbreaking missed opportunity. >> absolutely. and after they were first in the qualifying round. do you think the pressure of

that actually affected their performance? >> well, i think the u.s. has the quality to win the gold medal. but i think there were some perhaps pressure, you know, clutch performances that just didn't happen. maybe it was nerves, i'm not really sure. i think what really surprised people was the chinese men, they scored six points higher in the final than they did in qualifying. they had sent home one of their best athletes with an injury. another one of their athletes had knee surgery just ten days ago, we had low expectations for the chinese team. but on every event they nailed their performances. and the japanese men were quite good and we're thrilled for the great britain team. what an energy in that air reason, it was incredible. >> i want to stick to the americans, because we're trying to figure this out. a lot of people are writing that perhaps it's inexperience. and a reporter asked leyva. if inexperience had been a factor. here's what he said. i don't know what to expect.

but now i do. now i know what the crowd is going to be like. now i know what the air is going to taste like. what do you make of that answer? >> well i can relate to that. my first olympic experience, i was 18 years old, it was montreal in 1976. we took seventh as a team and i took 46th place. i was completely overwhelmed when i walked in the arena and i saw all of my heroes from the former soviet union and japan and it was very intimidating. it took eight more years, i was 26 years old by the time i was able to calm down in the '84 olympics and have a great meet. you try to treat the olympics like it's any other competition. but i like to tell the athletes,'s not like any other competition and don't try to pretend that it is. you're going to feel an energy and intensity. so be prepared for that. so perhaps they were slightly overwhelmed. >> and what about going from team all-around to individuals. how do you think they're going to fare now? >> i think it was an important

learning experience. as i said there are six more opportunities. the all-arounders, danell leyva and john orozco have a chance to redeem themselves. so they still have six opportunities to win medals, hopefully they'll learn fm the team disappointment and a rebound. >> it's nice for you to join us this morning. i hope if anything else major happens you will come back mr. bart conner, we appreciate it. >> it will be my pleasure. thank you so much. how cool is it to hear from bart conner on that? >> fantastic. >> one of the best all-time for americans and boy did he have some neat perspective on that. sticking with the olympics, michael phelps may be hours away from another signature olympic moment. he'll be looking for his first gold medal of these london games when he hits the pool to the compete in the 200 meter butterfly if he finishes in the top three, he'll tie the all-time record of 18 career olympic medals. phelps telling cnn's piers morgan when this competition is

over, his swimming career is over, too. >> i'm retiring and i won't be coming back. if i can look back at my career and say i've done everything i've ever wanted, no matter how many medals, no matter how many records, no matter how many this, that, whatever. if i can look back at my career and say that, it doesn't matter anything else. i consider my career a success. >> what more could he possibly want. phelps already has the most gold medals of any olympian. 14 and he shattered mark spitz's record with eight wins in beijing four years ago. democrats are on track to support same-sex marriage as part of their convention platform. the party's platform draft committee unanimously approved a pro gay marriage language in a meeting over the weekend. the draft now goes to the full platform committee, which meets in two weeks. it reportedly won't be a central issue in either party's campaign. you have to check out this billboard in western idaho. no surprise it's getting a lot of attention it compares president obama to movie

massacre suspect, james holmes. that's right. the message by holmes picture says, kills 12 in a movie theater with assault rifle. everyone freaks out. the message by the president's picture? kills thousands with his foreign policy, wins nobel peace prize. the group behind it says all it's trying to do is argue against the president's war policy. still pretty controversial. a showdown over taxes looms. a house gop bill that extends all tax cuts is expected to narrowly pass this week. last week, the senate eked out a bill pushed by democrats and the white house that lets tax cuts for upper-income americans expire at the e of the year. it's now 36 minutes past the hour. there's the threat of severe weather today in the southeast. we're seeing hot temperatures all around the country and we're joined by rob marciano in atlanta, hey, rob. >> getting some thunderstorms across alabama, severe thunderstorm watch in effect

until 8:00 local time. rumblers rolling through birmingham, getting into montgomery as well. some across the tennessee valley, east of nashville. including atlanta and potentially later on. one of the areas that we're watching. a strong line of thunderstorms just moved through chicago and south bend, indiana. weakening as they head towards fort wayne and detroit and these continue to weaken as they go through the day. also kind of a trailing up into the northeast, you still have a threat for seeing some showers and maybe some thunderstorms or some steady rain along the coastline. but the bulk of the heavier action we believe today as far as severe weather goes, will be across the southeast. that does include atlanta back through charleston and in through jacksonville as well. mostly large hail, maybe some damaging winds, we don't see the set-up marley for tornadoes, although can't rule out an isolated one. record highs again yesterday, 110 in hayes, kansas. hot springs, you bet, arkansas, 106. this is the same area today that we expect to see excessive heat.

heat advisories and warnings, including parts of wichita and through tulsa. back through the lower mississippi valley as well. so these are areas that in drought. the mississippi river very, very low and temperatures in kansas city, 102. not going to be very cool in iowa, where romans is, 77 in new york. clouds and raindrops to deal wxts b with, but that's chilly chaired to what they've been dealing with. >> rob marciano in atlanta, thanks very much. 38 minutes past the hour. a rough overseas trip for mitt romney. all eyes will be on him once again when he speaks about a half an hour from now. he's in poland. we're going to have a live report from warsaw coming up. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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good morning to you, washington, d.c. it is 75 degrees right now. a little bit later, 87 degrees with isolated storms, take your umbrella this morning. welcome back to "early start," we're happy you're with us, i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman, it's 42 minutes past the hour. in half an hour, mitt romney will give a major speech in warsaw, heralding the close ties between poland and the u.s. there's a lot on the line for governor romney this morning. after being lampooned in london for his criticism of olympic security. yesterday mitt romney was called a racist by palestinian leaders, for suggesting to israeli donors that their culture is a reason

they're more economically successful than palestinians. cnn's jim acosta is in warsaw. so far romney has had a much easier time in poland. he's getting ready for a big speech where he'll talk about poland's path to democracy and its economic success? >> reporter: that's right, john. mitt romney is going to try to get his campaign and this trip back on message with the foreign policy address here in warsaw. and as you said, he's going to be talking about some of the good things he sees here in poland, his aides have talked about how this economy here is roaring ahead of much of europe. that's something that the rest of europe, he says might want to take a look at. the other thing he'll be talking about, i think he'll be also honoring this country's commitment to the war in afghanistan. so we may be hearing some of that as well. but you're right there have been a few gaffes on this trip for mitt romney. the palestinians are very upset about what the gop contender had to say in israel at a fundraiser

with some of his doans. let's put his quote up on screen that got the palestinians so fired up. he said culture makes all the difference. he said in regards to why the israeli economy is doing better than the palestinian economy. and he said, and as i come here and look out over the city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, i recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things. and as you mentioned, palestinian leaders were not happy about this when they heard some of these comments. or read some of these comments. a spokesman for palestinian leader, mahmoud abbas put out this statement saying it is a racist statement and this man doesn't realize that the palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an israeli occupation. we should also mention that mitt romney sat down for an interview with our very own wolf blitzer. and wolf asked the gop contender about something that he said a few months ago. when he described russia as the nation's top geopolitical foe. he got criticized for saying

that. notably from colin powell. here's how mitt romney explained it in this interview. >> the last time you and i spoke in an interview you said that russia was america's number one geo-strategic foe. do you still believe that? >> there's no question. but in terms of geopolitics, i'm talking about votes at the united nations and actions of a geopolitical nature, russia is the number one adversary in that regard that doesn't make them an enemy. it doesn't make them a combatant. they don't represent the number one national security threat. the number one national security threat of course to our nation is a nuclear iran. >> so here, there you hear that explanation from mitt romney. now we should also mention, john and zoraida, a few moments ago, romney wrapped up a trip to the tomb of the unknown soldier here in warsaw, they have a monument also for their war dead here in warsaw. as mitt romney was leaving that

monument, some members of the traveling press corps that's been following his trip attempted to ask some questions of the gop contender. he ignored those questions. but john and zoraida, his traveling press secretary, rick gosha sort of dressed down some of the reporters as they were trying to ask the questions. at one point, telling one of the reporters to shove it. there have been some tensions on the final day of the trip, john and zoraida. >> that's interesting. and the reporters have had a very tough time getting questions to romney the entire trip. it's been a largely staged event after event. and wolf blitzer did get to sit down with him for quite a bit. gorka said holy site for the polish people, show some respect. let's get you up to date for the top stories. the u.s. women on top of the standings in gymnastics aiming for gold today in the team competition. a day after the men totally collapsed in the finals.

after finishing first in the trials, they ended up a disappointing fifth in team competition. china took the gold. an olympic judo fighter from saudi arabia will be allowed to wear her head scarf during competition. saudii officials insisted the 16-year-old wear clothing that quote sticks to islamic principles. the international olympic committee has given its permission now. this is the first year saudi arabia has allowed female athletes to compete in the olympics. an atlanta woman who survived cancer twice is now fighting an extremely rare bacterial infection that has cost her both her hands and her feet. doctors believe the victim may have contracted the disease from a dog. and the bacteria is common in dog is a saliva. and the victim may have been more susceptible to the infection because of her battles with cancer. a single inmate is being blamed for a riot that destroyed a hines county detention center in raymond, mississippi. a sheriff said it began monday morning when 25-year-old inmate

kendall johnson escaped from guards and used a fire hose to flood the unit. he began releasing other inmates. the standoff was brought under control early monday afternoon. listen john, if you curse on the job -- >> what do you mean, listen john? >> it could be holding you back. you never curse. a new career builder survey finds that 65% of employers say they think less of an employee who repeatedly operatively uses curse words. 57% say they would be less likely to promote someone who swears in the office. at the same time, one in four employers admitted to swearing at their employees. >> the story is a load of -- well never mind. we'll leave it at that. >> you never, ever curse. i haven't heard it yet. but you haven't been here that long. >> it's been a couple of weeks. it is a long way from the nfl and coming up, brett favre's first day in his brand new football job. and if you're leaving the house right now you can watch us any tile on your desktop or

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we have great stories for you today. welcome back to "early start," it is 51 minutes past the hour. i'm zoraida sambolin. along with john berman. we're taking a look at what's trending on the web today. >> one of the things trending on the web, from title town to tiny town. we're talking about brett favre back on the field. >> perfect. perfect. >> that is coach brett favre to you. he's now an assistant coach at a high school near his home in hattiesburg, mississippi, he's we think is an unpaid offensive coordinator for this team. barking orders, calling plays and everyone paying close attention. is he taking snaps? the running back. i don't know what he was doing there, but looked sharp, very gray, i might say. the aging brett favre no doubt

about to come out of retirement and play again in the nfl. >> can you imagine the people that will flock there to watch the team? this is incredible. of course they're going to listen. brett favre. this is so cool. we have another really cool story. a big kid at heart, ll cool jay stopping by an arcade. taking a turn at a cardboard whack a mole. at a summer camp. check out the guns there. we showed you caine's arcade. it's a touching video that went viral. so this 9-year-old boy, he built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad's used auto parts store. loads of cardboard, tape and a big imagination. he brought his arcade to camp and it was a hit with kids of all ages. apparently a lot of celebrities have stopped by. you know what i'm going to do, i'm going to send this out via twitter and facebook.

it's an amazing story to share with all your kids. perseverance, it's an adorable story. never give up. this is fantastic. i have one more sports item to talk about. something very rare, one of the most rare things in baseball last night. more rare than a no-hitter. that's kendall morales, hitting a home run. what's more remarkable, he hit two home runs from both sides of the plate in the same inning. so he he hit one righty. that was there before. he hit one lefty. it's, it never happens in baseball. just the third person to do whatever the first two were carlos bierga and mark bellhorn. you have to get up twice in the same inning to have it happen and you have to face different pitchers. it's a really big deal. >> a rare moment. >> better take this very seriously. >> i am. i'm going to tweet that out, too. 54 minutes past the hour. late-night laughs and the boys getting their first crack at mitt romney's overseas trip and the summer games. so take a look.

>> mitt romney campaign still try og to do damage control after remarks that romney made while in the uk. probably romney's worst gaffe is when he said visited buckingham palace and said to queen elizabeth -- you call this a house? >> right now the united states and china are tied in total medals, naturally, the u.s. trails in gold, because every time we win one, we hand it over on the podium to pay off our national debts. nice. all right the guy is having some fun there with the overseas trips and the olympics. it is 55 minutes past the hour. we're going to have all of our top stories coming up after the break. we're also expecting mitt romney to give a very big, important speech in warsaw in the next half hour. he's wrapping up his european tour with this speech. we'll bring it to you. you're watching "early start." then, some said, we lost our edge.

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a big letdown in london. the favored u.s. men's gymnastics team falters. mitt romney getting ready to speak in poland, a lot on the line after what has been a tough trip overseas. and just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a shark attack on swimmers off of cape cod. >> the guy's okay, though. >> good morning, welcome to "early start," i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. also coming up, penn state students rallying for their embattled football program at this hour. >> and the drought that's hitting the midwest, our christine romans goes back to her home state of iowa.

talking to farmers, small businessmen trying to deal with the worst drought in decades. but first we're talking about the olympics, a wild day in london. a disappointing one for men's gymnastics, an historic one fory franklin and controversial one for 16-year-old chinese swimmer who did one lap faster than ryan lochte. up first, i want to go live to london. let's talk about the u.s. men's gymnastics team, one slip up after the other. >> reporter: they did so well in the trials and placed first and there was a lot of confidence going on unfortunately when he hit the vault and attempted to land, it just didn't work out and that meant the entire u.s. men's gym that is tick team was out of medal contention. china won the gold, japan the silver after a little debate

there. but it was disappointing for the men's gymnastics team because they had so much conversation going in. you could see it on his face, not just after his dismount but when he sat down i was trying to contain his tears. having said that, we're looking forward to women's gymnastics today, jordyn wieber didn't qualify so they'll depend on two other on the u.s. team to try and gain more medals tonight. >> atika, live from london. thanks. let's get right away to maggie gray, this is a tough one. we're talking about the chinese swimmer, performance in the 400 individual medley suspicious, talking about the doping and the possibility of that. what do you know? >> we don't know whether or not she was doping or not. she will be tested like every olympian. but one of the reasons why this

story had legs because of what happened in 2008 with the women's gymnastics team. four came under scrutiny for being too young. you have to be at least 16 years old to compete in the olympics in gymnastics, after two investigations, the chinese team was cleared of any wrong doing but it does leave a little bit in the back of people's minds that maybe they are doing things that are a little bit unethical. as far as we know, there's no reason to suspect this swimmer is doping. >> it was five seconds faster than her record performance and also faster than lochte was. i want to first listen to what the ioc has to say about that this. >> so the sudden rise in performance or surprise win be primarily suspected for being achieved, sport is a danger for sure because it partially ruins

the charm of the competitive sport if a surprise win is surrounded by question question marks. >> there are a lot of suspicions and question marks. let's also put up a statement that lochte put up as well. if we have that ready, that would be great. do we have that? >> he essentially was wowed. >> there it is. pretty impressive and it was a female, she's fast. if is she was there with me, i don't know, she might have beat me. >> how likely is something like that to happen? >> unfortunately in this day in age, everything is suspicious, any time you put together a time or a race or performance that's better than anyone expected, people are going to look and maybe rise an eyebrow and shrug shoulders and say it could be performance enhancing drugs, she could have just raced the race of her life. >> and super duper athlete. >> where there's smoke there's

fire and there's a history in atlanta with an irish swimmer. whenever you blow by seconds -- we're talking about a big chunk, it definitely raises eyebrows. >> everyone is tested in the ioc in the world anti-doping agency does a fantastic job of trying to find out cheaters sfwl wouldn't it be something that it comes back fine. >> that's part of why the olympics is great because you have can have amazing, record breaking mind-blowing races and hopefully it will be a good story. >> let's talk about misty may treanor and kerri walsh. it is looking like another dominant performance and people thought maybe this year they would not be the favorite. they have proven that teamwork and the chemistry they have together.

>> we told her to bring back the gold so we could see it live in in person. >> they looked excited last night. they are doing good things. >> thanks for being here, we appreciate it. >> it would be great to retire on a high note. >> it's only misty mae that's retiring. >> we'll give you an update on the overall medal count. the u.s. tied with china overall, 17 medals but we're trailing in gold 9-5. japan is in third with 11 med ols. >> michael phelps heads back to the pool in the 200 meter butterfly. if he medals, he'll tie the career mark of 18 medals, missy franklin wins to her second in 100 meter back stroke. >> we'll talk to a u.s. gymnast and we'll ask him what went

wrong in london. >> mitt romney is in warsaw, about to wrap up the three nation tour with a speech about the values of liberty. he continues to stumble on the world stage. palestinian officials are labeling him racist, they are telling israeli donors their culture allows them to be more economically successful than the plinz. the white house quick to jump on their opponent's latest struggle. david axelrod, tweeting, is there anything about romney's rolling ruk us that would inspire confidence in his ability to lead u.s. foreign policy. backtracking on comments he made last march about russia being america's number one foe. >> the number one national security threat of course to our nation is a nuclear iran. russia is a geopolitical adversary but not an enemy with

missiles being fired at one another, things of that nature. >> romney also telling wolf blitzer he believes the u.s. should keep a military option available in iran. the bloody struggle for control of aleppo intensifying overnight. rebel forces trying to capture the last government checkpoint on the road to the turkish border. government troops stepping up with rockets, field artillery and helicopter gunships. barbara starr catching up with leon panetta. in the middle east, panetta sounding certain the assad regime is on its last legs. >> i'm sure that deep down assad knows he's in trouble and it's just a matter of time before he has to go. >> reporter: what would you say to him? >> i would say if you want to be able to pro tech yourself and your family, you better get the hell out now.

>> his travels take him to tunisia and jordan. a shark scare off the coast of cape cod. witnesses say a man swimming was bitten by a shark yesterday. sunbathers did see a large dorsal fin come out of the water. and this video from the cape cod times showing the mancaried off in a stretcher. he is said to be in stable condition. he had severe cuts on both legs but the fire chief says he will not lose a limb. several great white sharks have been spotted off the cape cod coast this summer. >> they are so rare but every time it happens, it scares me. >> aimee copeland has been filted with three new prosthetics. asked when she might come home from rehab, here's what her father told erin burnett.

>> we're saying that she's going to be home by the 22nd. i told her, great, when you come home, i want to have cameras there, everybody seeing aimee come home. no, dad, i don't need that. i need -- let me come home. she said, i need to come home. i feel like it was going to be a great big moment we could record. doesn't even want me to record it with a home video. did you record me when i went off to college? i'm like no. okay, when this is the same thing, don't make a big deal out of it. >> aimee's foot may require more surgery still her recovery is remarkable. she contracted the bacteria from a homemade zip line in may. >> her father is so great. >> good moments. >> opening statements in the drew peterson case. prosecutors are facing some challenges, that's putting it nildly, a live report coming up. [ chirps ]

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welcome back, we're happy you're with us this morning. i'm zoor roid da sambolin. >> opening statements begin in the drew peterson case, his third wife was found drowned in her bathtub in 2004. it was first ruled an accident. the case was reopened in 2007 after peterson's forth wife, stacy, disappeared. peterson is not facing charges in that case.

ted rowlands joins us from joliet, illinois, it was a long time coming and it was delayed and prosecutors face some challenges, don't they? >> reporter: absolutely, john. a huge uphill climb for prosecutors because the reason that they exhumed kathleen savio's body in the first place was because peterson's fourth wife was missing and presumed dead and they have him as the main suspect. they can't bring in spacey peterson at all during the trial and the original investigation into savio's death was ruled an accident. it's a huge problem for prosecutors. take a listen to joel brodsky, the outspoken attorney for drew peterson. >> we do not have that sound right now, ted. >> reporter: well, i can tell you basically what he said, the autopsy came back and said this was an accident, this was an accident, this was an accident. and that's what we're going to hear today, john, in opening statements from the defense.

basically, using that first autopsy done on kathleen savio and it's going to be tough for the prosecution to get over that because there's no direct evidence leading this former police officer to the death of his third wife and the elephant in the room of course is the missing fourth wife and the prosecution's really ham strung here, they can't bring that up. >> the defense has her on the witness list and they think she's missing, they assume she'll show up and almost mocking the fact she's gone. ted, thanks for being with us. 15 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date. the u.s. women on top of the standings in gymnastics heading into the team competition today. this is of course one day after the men stumbled in the finals. in the pool, michael phelps and missy franklin are trying to go for more gold. another mean tweet gets on o

limb pea yan booted after south korea beat switzerland. he has apologized but you remember a greek triple jumper was thrown off the team after posting a derogatory tweet. police in upper darby pennsylvania, looking for a robbery suspect who attacked a man who suffer from muscular dystrophy. they roughed him up then pulled him out of his wheelchair. one of the robbers stood on top of the helpless victim while his partner stole the tv. the suspect police are searching for as identified keen an smith. >> aurora massacre suspect james holmes facing 24 counts of first degree murder this morning, two counts for each of the 12 people he allegedly killed. they cite extreme indifference to human life and 12 others cite

deliberations, he is charged with 116 counts of attempted murder. a decision on whether to seek the death penalty could be months away. democratic lawmakers unveiled a bill to regulate the sale of ammunition both online and by male. they have all by side stepped the issue of gun control because neither party wants to rock the boat ahead of november's elections. kim rhode making it clear, for her using a gun is about discipline, respect and competition. when asked about the gun control debate, here's what she told piers morgan. >> i think it's really sad too that the news gets those lines blurred between the news and the sport. and really the sport of shooting is about responsibility, discipline, focus and that's really what we represent here at the olympics and for me, it was atradition, something passed

down generationally in my family and we embrace that and run with it. for us, that's what our sport is about. hopefully we can push more of that positive message. >> rhode is the first american athlete to win five medals in an individual event in five consecutive olympics. she isn't done. she'll compete in the women's trap which starts on saturday. >> she's a rock star. >> small farmers are struggling through the worst drought in decades, christine romans gets a firsthand look. this is her hometown. high with a corn country. that is coming up. head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. everyone has goals.

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welcome back. it is 22 minutes past the hour. as half of the nation suffers through the worst drought in 50 years and record heat. its toll is being felt especially hard by u.s. farmers, 90% of the corn crops are in drought-ravaged areas and the price of corn is up more than 50% in the last six weeks, hitting an all-time record on monday. >> joining s us live from davenport, christine romans, you grew up in iowa and covered commodities for years. what do you see on pt ground there? >> reporter: what i see is i see a drought. some patches of ground are going to yield some corn, yield some beans and other patches are a complete wipeout.

i want to take you through a farm i went to yesterday and told you about this last hour, joe derricks is the farmer, 30 miles north of where i lived. you'll feel this in your grocery bill next year folks, watch. >> this is just total devastation up here. it's just nothing. there isn't anything in this. this is just junk. how does this affect the consumer? well, i would expect that we will have higher meat prices, higher grain prices will make that happen and bread prices probably will be higher. >> when it's 100 degrees, i mean that just pretty much fries all of this stuff. >> it tried. >> it's pretty looking. we love doing what we do but this year we're going to fail at it because mother nature wasn't doing her part. >> reporter: could i introduce you to katie tutles, she talks

to the farmers about their corn crop. katie, he was talking about mother nature not cooperating, we can try to do everything else but mother nature we don't have control over. this is a decent ear of corn you guys got. >> what we're seeing here three of our better ears, this is on rotated ground, looks a lot better this year. >> even a decent looking ear of corn -- >> here we're also seeing more kernels aborted. >> there's too much sun and not enough water. >> too hot when it's pollinating. >> this is what we're typically seeing in the fields around. >> this is typical around here? >> what you're seeing is a lot of tip back caused from the drought and heat during polination. >> this is not what iowa farmers are known for. this is so devastating about this crop. >> reporter: this is the happiest the corn will be today?

>> it's unrolled right at the moment and overnight it's able to cool down and make the sugars. >> and we have no rain in the forecast and it's going to be hot again today. nice to meet you and thanks for walking us through the science of mother nature here, guys. >> you alluded to grocery bills earlier. can you talk a little bit about that? >> reporter: grocery bills will be up 4 or 5%, if you have $100, you can expect to pay $104 next year. we look down the aisle things from peanut butter to ketchup, anything that has corn syrup and soybeans -- this will be a historically big crop because they planted so many acres, it's not near what anybody was expecting when they were putting corn seed in the ground this year. >> christine romans, thanks for looking at what's on the ground. >> olympic cyclist has trained

to compete with the best in the world. >> when it comes to traveling, she wishes she was a runner. here's her olympic journey on this week's road warriors. >> i'm dotsie bausch, if i had known it was this much sleping, i would have been a runner. you have to pack your road bike and regular suitcase and carry-on. we'll use road bikes on rollers where you can ride in place, we'll do that in the hotel. something else that's awesome to travel with is a therapy ball. you are on the plane for how many 8 to 12 hours, i use this to release tension in my hips. i am looking forward to the whole experience of being in the village. no other time do any of these sports compete with a bunch of

other sports around. it always felt like a long way away but time flies so here we are. it was emotional to think -- it's been a wild ride and i would have never thought i would have made it to the olympics at all, much less really feeling knowing that we have a shot at a medal. >> thanks for coming on the road with me, and i'll see you in london. >> travel like an olympian, trains in a bike stationary. >> i love that therapy ball. who knew, right, that they travel? you don't think what they have to travel with. >> hats off to them on the subject of the olympics, they were supposed to bring medals home from london, but instead disappoint for the u.s. men's g gymnastics team. we're going to ask what went wrong in london. the capital one cash rewards card

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falling off the horse, literally, the u.s. mens gymnastics team collapses in the final. >> john roethlisberger will join us live to weigh in shortly. too good to be true, the chinese swimmer who smashed a world record and finished stronger than the guys. the win raising suspicions that china cheated. the film with an unfortunate name after the colorado massacre, giving movie goers

jitters. welcome back, i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman. we're still talking about the olympics and fans of team usa are stunned by the news, the men's gymnastics team after being on top in qualifying rounds found themselves without a medal, finishing a disappoint gs fifth place in the team final. china claimed their consecutive gold medal in this event and great britain was on the podium for the first time in a century and the crowd went nuts. japan made headlines for nabbing silver after the coaches made an official inquiry over the scoring of the final athlete, moving the team to fourth to second. there was a lot going on there right now. joining us now is john roethlisberger, a three-time olympic gymnasts. he joins us live from london. i know you watched this, there were falls on the floor, on the pummel horse and vault.

what was going through your head when you saw this? >> it was devastating for the united states. coming in, they were in a situation that quite honestly the united states men have rarely if ever been in, qualifying first place in the team finals and they were on a high. i'll be honest, i did not see this coming. i watched all of the olympic trials and if you added up all of the mistakes those athletes had in those four days of competition, they probably had more last night than all of those competitions defined and it was deflating and they'll hurt for a long time. >> john, i want to bring up a sore subject but you have experience in '96, you had a slip on the pummel horse. >> this interview is over, john. >> what goes through your head when that happens? tell us what it's like. >> well, the olympics, they are unforgiving is a kind way to put it. gymnastics is an unforgiving sport. you don't get second chances and

don't get a rebound and get another chance to make a shot. you get one chance. it is such an intri cat difficult sport. when i fell off the pummel horse in '96 it was different from last night. for all gymnasts, when you make a mistake, you're in shock. if you saw the highlight, you're standing like, this didn't really happen, let me redo that. you've got to regroup. even last night the americans still had a chance. they made a mistake on the floor and made mistakes on horse. the thing about gymnastics it's not over because the other teams could give you an opportunity. and that's what you're hoping for. unfortunately for the united states that did not present itself and it was a disappointing fifth place finish. >> let me read you a quote that gives you a sense of what was going on, i'm someone who is visual in his training and it was very hard because i had never been to an olympic games before. now i know what the feeling and now i know what the crowd is going to be like and the air is

going to taste like when i'm in training so it will help in the next four years leading up to rio. >> still has the individual competition coming up. what lessons can he take? >> you've got to stay focused. for the united states when things went wrong early, they hadn't been in that situation, they were so confident and such on a high that as soon as things derailed a little bit, they looked a little out of sorts and didn't know how to handle it. maybe that's the lesson, it's just gymnastics like the pomle horse in the gym. you've got to treat it that way. you can't look around and look at the other teams and you've got to look at yourself and that apparatus, there's no defense, you're the offense and you have to assert yourself. at the end of the day you've got to be aggressive and assert yourself. hopefully hard lessons are sometimes good lessons and hopefully the men will not

forget that sour disgusting feeling in my stomach. you go back and give it better than you gave it the first time. that's all you can do. >> there's no defense in gymnastics, john roethlisberger, thanks so much for being here. you are a hero, you've done things i can't imagine doing. >> don't try to suck up, john after the comment about the horse. you're not getting back in the good graces. >> i pull a hamstring when i look at the pummel horse. >> thanks so much, that was really great. nice to get their perspective. he says that he'll never forget. nobody would ever let him forget, would they john? >> sometimes you have to bring it up. i'm just saying. >> years later, all right, michael phelps is swimming for i am mortality today, he'll look

for his first gold medal, of the london games when he competes in the 200 meter butterfly. if he finishes in the top three, i'll tie the all time record of 18 career olympic gold medals. phelps telling piers morgan, i knows he's considered a superstar but doesn't always feel like one. >> i like to just think of myself as a normal person who just has a passion has a goal and dream and goes out and does it. that's how i lived my life. >> phelps already has the most gold medals of any olympian, 14 and shattered spitz's report. the 16-year-old olympic swimmer is denying taking performance enhancing drugs after shattering a world record at the games. one u.s. coach described her performance in the 400 meter

medley as quote disturbing. yesterday she shaved five seconds off her personal best to break the world record by more than a second and win the gold medal. in the last 50 meters of the race, she swam faster than u.s. star ryan lochte did in the men's event. >> governor mitt romney wrapping up his three nation tour with a speech at the university of warsaw in poland. this is the third leg on the european leg. let's take a listen. >> this crafting a remarkable future at a time of widespread economic slowdown and stagnation, your economy last year outperformed all of the other nations of europe, quite an accomplishment. i began this trip in great britain and ended up here in poland, the two book ends of nato, history's greatest military alliance that kept the peace over half a century. while he was at 12 downing

street i thought back to the days of winston churchill who first spoke of the iron curtain that desends across europe. what an honor to stand with the men and women that helped to lift that curtain. after that state of england i visited a the state of israel, a friend of your country and more. but for an american, you can't get much closer to the ideals and convictions of my own country than you can in these places. our nations belong to the great fellowship democracies, we speak the same language of freedom and justice. we upheld the right of every person to live in peace. i believe it's critical to stand by those who have stood by america. solidarity was a great movement that freed a nation and it is

well solidarity that america and poeland face the future. >> talking about the economic success as a way to get back on the subject of the economy even while he's overseas. you can continue to watch romney's speech uninterrupted on our website, cnn.com/live. cnn.com/live. 40 minutes past the hour. the exo dus has started at penn state, the first football players to transfer out in the wake of the penalties imposed after the jerry sandusky child sex abuse scandal. ask me.

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welcome back. it is 43 minutes past the hour. i'm john berman. >> today has been flying by, don't you think? >> wicked fast. let's check on the weather with rob marciano. >> good morning, a threat for showers across the eastern third of the country, including the big cities of new york and boston. south will see severe weather. line of thunderstorms moving across the great lakes, in between there we have heat to deal with. oklahoma, especially northeastern oklahoma through the lower mississippi river valley, some heat warnings with the humidity 110, 115, dangerous stuff. there's the showers heading south of chicago. severe weather from birmingham to montgomery and that will expire in the next couple of hours. june was hot, we knew that, had 3200 or so daily high temperatures. well july even hotter, 4200 record high temperatures and today we'll see more, 102

expected in kansas city, 85 in chicago. back to you. >> thank you, rob. it is 44 minutes past the hour, let's get you p to date with the top stories the u.s. women on top of the standings in gym that is tigymnastics and aiming for gold. the men ended up a disappointing fifth in the team competition. it was china that took the gold. >> happening right now at penn state university, a radio show is hosting a pep rally for football players who decided to stay at the cool despite a four-year bowl suspension and crippling sanctions. punishment for covering up the enginejerry sandusky sex abuse allegations. >> rob bolden announcing he has already visited lsu to explore a transfer and tim buckley is

heading for north carolina state. a handful of other players are considering transferring, including red and outside linebacker mike hall. >> in light of the aurora shooting, some movie theaters caused a stir by stating safety not guaranteed on the marquises. the thing is that's the name of an actual indy film. a theater manager is receiving complaints and the manager of a jacksonville theater posted on facebook that a news crew showed up asking for comment. that's tough timing. >> i can see where there's concern. >> yes, absolutely. >> soledad o'brien is here to talk about quts starting point. >> lots to get to, family tree has been linked to brad pitt, sarah palin, president bush. it turns out that president barack obama might be related to the first documented american slave in revolutionary america back in the 1600s. we're going to talk to the lead

geneologist at an ses tri.com. it's not through his african father but his white mother from kansas. we'll talk about it. and we'll talk about the tax cut fight. is the economy being held hostage in between? we've got both sides, we're going to talk to elijah cummings and nan hayworth. behind angie's list, there's an angie, how she turned an idea into a huge hit despite a tricky economy. all of that coming up in about 13 minutes or so. >> i'm a big fan of angie, lose the service all the time. when i lived in chicago, haven't used it here but they do all the work for you. >> i'm dealing with a contractor who left half of my house built. >> angie is coming after them. >> she will actually. it's nice. >> mitt romney is speaking in

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we're back, it's about nine minutes before the hour, i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. happening right now, mitt romney is giving a major speech in warsaw. let's listen in. >> the answer once again is look to poland. it's not surprising that people who waited so long and endured so much for the sake of liberty are today enjoying liberty to the fullest. poland has no greater friend and ally than the people of the

united states of america. you helped us win our dependence. your bravery inspired the allies in the second world war. you helped bring down the iron curtain. and your soldiers fought side by side with others in iraq and afghanistan. we have fought together and we have died together. we share a common cause tested by time inseparable by foe, in times of trouble and in times of peace, we march together. god bless you, god bless america and god bless the great nation of poland, thank you so much. >> cnn's jim acosta is live in warsaw. jim, he's taking a lot of criticism on this trip and this was the final leg. what do you think people will say about this? >> reporter: well, i think this speech is going to be very well

received here in poland, he's already met with a number of leaders in this country. i don't know if you saw this yesterday, anti-communist icon in in country all but endorsed mitt romney during a meeting they had. he is having a good trip in poland, it has been marred by a few gaffes, when he questioned whether that city was ready for olympic games and in israel, he gave that big speech in front of jerusalem's old city wall but then came and did a fundraiser the next day and made comments that upset the palestinians. so it's sort of been one problem after another for mitt romney. then he came here to poland hopefully to leave a lasting message of his trip hailing really a shining example to the rest of the world, not only when it comes to their fight for freedom over the many years,

they've suffered through a lot. but the fact their economy is doing so well. i think the polish like what they are hearing today. >> no doubt. we listened to a little bit in the beginning and end and ended exactly as he began. jim acosta live for us, thank you very much. >> today's best advice comes from record breaking alex thompson, one of the coolest sailors around and that's coming up after this quick break. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward.

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breaking news is from oslo, norway, where the area around the u.s. embassy has been evacuated. embassy officials called police in norway saying they received a suspicious thing under a car parked just outside. they've cleared an area about 500 meters around the u.s. embassy right now and police are investigating the scene. stay with us and we'll bring you the latest on this as it develops. >> we have best advice today. >> "starting point" with soledad o'brien is coming up next. first, here's our best advice. >> so the last time around the world i didn't finish. the best advice ever given to me the first guy to sail around the world in 1969 and said alex, to

finish first, first you have to finish. >> that was from alex tox tom son, a yachtsman trying to sail around the world. he tried twice and fail. that advice particularly poignant. >> let's hope he does. wouldn't that be great? >> it would be the best. >> that is qu"early start." >> "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. welcome, everybody, our "starting point" this morning, olympic doping concerns, a 16-year-old chinese swimmer smashes her personal best by five seconds and sets a new world record and drawing big time doping speculation. we'll take you live to london. drew peterson's day in court, opening statements in the murder trial where the former police sergeant, his third wife found dead in a b