aided and abetted the massacre last week in syria. where is that coming from? plus the president invites bob dylan to the white house, and yes, dylan rolls in wearing shades. we will count the ways we love bobby a bit later in the show. first, to the news live at 5:30 a.m. in 30 rock in new york city. the u.n. security council meets today to discuss the crisis in syria. but there is little hope that diplomats in new york can do anything to stop the increasingly brutal conversation. just this morning, russia and china insisted they will block any attempt by the council to authorize foreign military intervention. russia has been a long-time ally of syria and has economic interests in the country. now standing in the way, saying any intervention would be quote premature. meanwhile, the fighting rages on between syrian rebels and pro government forces, more than a month after a cease-fire was supposed to go into effect. today activists reported that syrian troops began shelling

suburbs of damascus and the central stf of homs. the violence reached new heights last week with a massacre of 108 people, mostly women and children, gunned down in their homes. the u.n. human rights office blamed government troops and militiamen for the killings. that prompted the u.s. and a dozen other nations to expel top syrian diplomats, today, japan announced that syrian's ambassador has been told to leave the country. u.n. envoy, kofi annan met with syrian president bashar al assad yesterday to try to salvage what's left of a peace plan. annan said the situation is at a quote tipping point. we're joined by nbc's ayma ayman mohedin who is live in cairo. where do things stand this morning? >> well, if the past few days have shown us anything about the reaction of the international community, it is that there is a deep paralysis in terms of building consensus on what to do

when it comes to the syrian conflict. as you mentioned, so many western countries expelling senior diplomats if their capitols. and now the french president saying you cannot rule out military intervention, so long as it is approved by the united nations security council. but almost as quickly as france made that statement, russia and china denounced it, saying they would not authorize at the u.n. any type of foreign military intervention to force out president bashar al assad. you get a sense of the paralysis in the international community. that's what activists inside syria say is allowing the syrian government to continue the killing. they say because there is no consensus, the syrian government interprets that as a right to go ahead with its military operations in suppressing this 50-month revolt. >> that begs the question, ayman, what's left for the u.n. if they can't take the step toward military intervention because russia and china is in the way, what's left for them to turn on the screws to this government?

>> the syrian opposition inside and outside, particularly the free syrian army, which is a loose-knit group of rebels now fighting the government, they're saying if the west and the u.n. does not allow other countries to intervene to save the civilians inside syria, they should be armed to take up the fight against the syrian government. they're calling on countries, particularly arab countries such as saudi arabia, qatar and others to fund them with weapons to carry on with their struggle. that's something that's been echoed by u.s. senators such as john mccain and even presidential nominee, mitt romney. but it is something that many people are extremely alarmed about. because if they are armed, it could only exacerbate the violence and deepen the crisis even more. perhaps even spilling into neighboring countries. and that's why that idea as well is not one that has been fully embraced by everybody. >> yesterday, ayman, the spokesperson for the u.s. state department suggested iran is responsible for quote aiding and abetting the massacre in syria last week by providing support for the syrian militia. left a few people scratching

their heads, what can you tell us about iran's influence in syria? >> reporter: well there's two ways to look at it. in terms of the actual events on friday, there's still no public evidence to suggest that iran was involved. but there's no doubt that iran is syria's strongest ally in the region. there's no love hidden between these two countries. they support each other militarily. there's very close diplomatic relations and syrian activists in the past have put forth evidence that they have arrested or apprehended iranian operatives working inside syria. iran denies this, there's no evidence to suggest that they were involved in the houla massacre. there's no doubt strong accusations and allegations continue about iran's involvement in supporting the military and the government of syrian president bashar al assad. >> in fact, coming straight from the u.s. state department. nbc's ayman moheldin reporting for us this morning.

the political fallout deepening here at home. white house press secretary jay carney says while the white house continues to spend supplies to opposition forces, there are no plans to add weapons to the fight. >> no military action is always an option. you never, we haven't in this case, removed options from the table. we do not believe militarization, further militarization of the situation in syria at this point is the right course of action. we believe that it would lead to greater chaos, greater carnage. >> mitt romney says he welcomes the administration's move to expel syrian diplomats, but he said that doesn't go far enough in a statement, romney wrote president obama's lack of leadership has resulted in a policy of paralysis that has watched assad slaughter 10,000 people. we should increase pressure on

russia to cease selling arms to the government. that from mitt romney. russia has blamed the assad government for the massacre in syria. but has not ended its support for the regime. romney, meanwhile, is marking his first full day as the republican nominee for president, after winning enough delegates last night in texas to officially put the primary process behind him. he is the republican nominee. with 69% of the vote, romney won at least 88 delegates. that safely pushes him past the 1144 he needed to win the nomination. not long after the polls closed, romney released a statement that read in part i'm humbled to have won enough delegates to become the republican party's 2012 nominee. our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last they're and a half years behind us. romney's victory closes out a tough year-long fight for the nomination. campaigning in california and

nevada. that message completely overshadowed by one man, donald trump, renewing discredited claims that the president of the united states was not born in this country. romney met with trump during a high-profile fundraiser last night in las vegas. romney aides have called trump's birther comments an unhelpful distraction. but the event went on as scheduled. president obama's campaign for re-election is out with an ad highlighting the issue. the video credits senator john mccain for knocking down personal attacks against then-candidate obama during the 2008 election and questions why mitt romney won't do the same with the likes of donald trump. the obama campaign released a statement saying mitt romney's continued embrace of donald trump and refusal to condemn his disgraceful conspiracy theories demonstrates his complete lack of moral leadership. if mitt romney lacks the backbone to stand up to a

charlatan like donald trump, what does that say about the kind of president he would be? the romney campaign has said time and again, it believes president obama was born in the united states. newt gingrich also in las vegas for romney's fundraiser said the trump issue will not hurt mr. romney's campaign. >> governor romney is not distracted, the republican party is not distracted. we believe that this is an american-born job-killing president. other people may believe that he was born somewhere else and still kills jobs. but that's an argument over background. the key fact is for any american who is worried about the economy, obama is a job-killing president. i'm happy to say i believe he was born in hawaii. it doesn't change the fact he is killing jobs. >> yesterday romney received the backing of billionaire casino magnate shelden adelson.

adelson and his wife contributing more than $25 million toward conservative candidates, but so far, none to romney. turn now to business, wall street is offering no relief for facebook. shares of the social media site fell again as investors are now betting on facebook's fall. as you see the highlight from "the wall street journal." the company's stock closed at a new low on tuesday, what amounts to a 24% drop since its ipo less than two weeks ago. cnbc's steve sedgewick is live in london to help us sort through the facebook mess. steve, how low can facebook go? >> it's quite extraordinary, isn't it. there were great concerns about valuation. those valuation concerns are still there, even though the stock has fallen 24%. and has wiped out $25 billion u.s. the problems compounded by the fact that option, calls and puts were allowed to be traded. people with start betting on the

down side of the stock if they want. concern how they monetize the billions they've got and turn it into real revenue. do they have to look at mobile options? maybe they need to look at research in motion, a group that fell 13% in yesterday's trade. a stock that was once worth $140, now trading around $10. real concern about profits going forward for research in motion, which is the maker of blackberry. facebook closing at $28.84 yesterday. after its ipo at $38 a share. still ahead, will the san antonio spurs ever lose another basketball game? they ran up 120 points on oklahoma city in last night's game two of the western conference finals. could the thunder run with the spurs? highlights ahead in sports. and the first lady of the united states visits daily show and speaks politely of vice president joe biden, despite a valiant effort by jon stewart to

make her say otherwise. a jury in maryland has found john allen muhammed guilty of six counts of murder in the washington, d.c. area. a virginia jury had already sentenced him to death. [ male announcer ] you sprayed them.

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it's time to live wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system... from beautyrest. it's you, fully charged. welcome back to "way too early," the sun is up at 5:45 in the morning. over washington, d.c. that is just beautiful. jefferson memorial, washington monument, white house in the foreground. let's get a check on the weather from nbc meteorologist todd santos. what's it looking like out there? >> a few of the areas, may see a chance for some showers today. we have a front that's stalled

out across the east coast. so even new york city, at the moment kind of a nice spot. but you see some of the showers that fell apart during the early morning hours, could see some of those refire late they are afternoon. some thunderstorm activity possible as well. but also some showers, new york on up towards automobily. not quite as warm as yesterday. some spots rain-cooled a little bit. you're still dealing with upwards around 70 degrees in philly. 71 in d.c. and 60s in long island sound. getting into the afternoon, showers, clouds as well. boston, factor in the chance for rain this afternoon. same story today's philly and d.c. kind of marginal, here in new york, about a 50% chance for showers. did want to mention the latest with tropical depression beryl, the system has increased in wind speed a little bit, 35 miles per hour. moving north-northeast at around 14 miles per hour. there's a look at the current position of that near the south carolina coastline. we're going to track that the next couple of days, likely to increase in strength enough to be called a tropical storm once again, if not by this afternoon,

good chances into tomorrow. so coastal residents across the carolinas want to keep a close eye on beryl. >> todd santos with a look at the forecast. we turn to sports now, the nba's western conference finals, spurs trying to take a 2-0 lead at home last night against the thunder with a win, san antonio would extend its win streak to 20 games, dating back to the regular season and april 11th. second quarter, tony parker drives, puts the spin move on kendrick perkins, lays it in. that pushes the spurs' lead to 11. parker had 34 points. still in the second, tim duncan takes the feed, heat up. like it's ten years ago, the one-handed throwdown. the spurs were up by as many as 22. jam hardin to the rack and the foul. he had 30. that cut the lead to nine, the thunder never got cleser to that, the spurs win 120-111. they are the fourth nba team in history to win 20 consecutive games.

two of the previous three teams to win 20 or more in a row went on to win the nba title. the heat and the celtics resume their series tonight in miami for game two. before that game, the nba draft lottery order will be announced. the michael jordan-owned bobcats have the best chance to win the number one pick. tennis, the french open, serena williams facing unseeded virginie razzano of france in the first round. williams ahead 5-1 in a second-set tiebreaker, but razzano hanging in. she takes the point and wins the set, decisive third set. match point for razzano, after a rally, razzano appears to hit it into the net. but williams' previous shot is called long. that shot is upheld. so razzano, ranked 111th in the world, pulls the upset and ends serena's 46-0 run in the first round of grand slam tournament. serena is done at the french. to baseball, angels hosting the yankees, angels trying to

win their eighth straight. no score in the second inning, nick swisher puts a charge. look at mike trout with a leaping grab. wow. great catch there by trout, that's worth another look. a rookie timing his jump. still scoreless in the third, andy pettitte, 68 years old, gives up the two-run homer to albert pujols, pujols fifth home run. angels win 5-1. above the .500 mark. the mets and fimmies in city field. mets rookie starting pitcher, jeremy hefner, your pitcher launches one deep to left. solo home run the first hit of his major league career and it's a home run. he got his first major league win in the game. the first time in ten years, a player has won his first game and first home run in the same game. back page of the papers, eclipse of the sun, the "post," huge

hefn hefner. the "daily news," huge hefner. russia and china vow to block any action on syria. what's the next move for the u.s.? we'll debate it with the "morning joe" crew. and when we come back we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch president obama turn all fan boy on the great bob dylan. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol

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the top of the show, we told you about the response from russia, china and politicians here at home to the massacre in syria last week that left more than 100 people dead. yesterday, the white house said the united states does not plan to provide military aid to syrian rebels, despite calls for mitt romney and senator john mccain to do so. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends the syrian army is currently made up of 325,000 active-duty military personnel. making it the 15th largest army in the world. by contrast with the united states and nato provided aid to rebels in libya in 2011, the libyan government army had 76,000 soldiers and was the 50th, 5-0 largest army in the world. enough of the real news, let's huddle up around the water cooler to watch president obama at the white house yesterday, awarding presidential medals of freedom to a group that includes

former astronaut and united states senator, john glen, nobel prize winner, toni morrison and yes, an aviator-rocking bob dylan. perhaps because the great 71-year-old sing eer declined t take off his sunglasses during the presentation, president obama could not seem to keep a straight face, look at him trying to hold it together. the harmonica-playing dylan. he said he loved dylan's music in college before bestowing dylan with the country's highest honor, he spoke about dylan's legacy. >> bob dylan started out singing other people's songs. but as he said, there came a point where i had to write what i wanted to say, because what i wantsed to say, nobody else was writing. born in hibbing, minnesota, a town where he says you couldn't be a rebel, it was too cold. today everybody from bruce

springsteen to u2 owes bob a debt of gratitude. all these years later he's still chasing that sound, still searching for a little bit of truth. and i have to say that i am a really big fan. >> and still wearing those sunglasses. meanwhile, the first lady was in new york making the rounds yesterday. promoting her new book on healthy eating. "american grown" the story of the white house kitchen garden and gardens across america. she was on the daily show last night. jon stewart turned conversation to some of the cushier jobs in the obama administration. >> are there people in the white house could you go like i could do that guy's job? >> no one. >> how about the biden joe -- everything going, well, okay. >> i love joe. >> i love joe, too. isn't it hard to raise a kid around biden? i would assume -- that if

there's a lot of like joe language, or -- like he's like the uncle that comes over and like, you brought them guns. oh -- like that kind of thing. is that? >> no. >> no, he's -- >> no, he's a great vice president and he's a great friend. >> that's nice. >> my kids hang around him. >> staying right on message. still ahead on "way too early," your persistent tweets, texts and emails are next.

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power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. top story right now, on msnbc.com, with a win in last night's texas primary, as expected, mitt romney surpassed the 1144 delegates needed to secure the republican presidential nomination. mitt romney is the nominee. and looks to the general election against president obama on november the 6th. we asked you at the top of the show what you could possibly be doing up at this hour. our producer, john tower has answers. what have you got?

>> twitter response, he writes simply, way too purple with willie geist. >> there's a lot of critique on twitter, folks, i can't hold you hand and walk you through the have a valley of good fashion. >> a tweet, up "way too early" so i up way too early to get in a few chapters of my wife's copy of "fifty shades of gray" before she gets up. you're a dirty, dirty man, and i love you for it. "morning joe" starts right now. i think as the chairman of the joint chiefs has said, no military action is always an option. and we haven't in this case removed options from the table. we do not believe that militarization -- further militarization of the situation in syria at this point is the right course of action. we believe that it would lead to