Top Story With Tom Llamas - September 21st | NBC News NOW

[Music] tonight breaking news gabby petito missing for weeks her death now ruled the homicide the coroner confirming that a body found near a wyoming national park is gabby the search now intensifying for her fiance who has been named a person of interest in the case federal agents back at a florida nature preserve are teams on the ground in wyoming and florida tonight the other major headline johnson and johnson now saying a second dose increases protection against coven 19 but there's growing confusion over who is eligible for the extra doses and when they could be available chaos at the border as the u.s works to remove thousands of haitians from del rio texas the department of homeland security now promising to investigate those images of border patrol agents on horseback chasing migrants down our new reporting why tens of thousands of more haitians may be on the way trail of destruction the volcano emergency now prompting thousands of evacuations in europe boiling lava swallowing homes even vaporizing this swimming pool prince andrew served the duke of york facing a lawsuit accused of having sex with a minor at the home of jeffrey epstein how his us-based lawyers are responding and superdome on fire flames and smoke shooting from the roof of the iconic new orleans sports arena how firefighters rush to save it top story starts right now and good evening i'm tom yavas we start tonight with breaking news the death of gabby petito ruled the homicide after a coroner confirmed that remains found in wyoming are hers the 22 year old from new york disappeared while on a cross-country road trip with her fiance brian laundry the two leaving on a van trip from florida in july documenting their journey on social media potato last seen leaving a hotel in utah with laundry on august 24th her parents reporting her missing on september 11 after not speaking with her for two weeks on sunday authorities finding a body they said matched her description near a national park in wyoming and all out search now for laundry named as a person of interest his family saying they last saw him a week ago when he told them he was going on a hike in this florida nature preserve federal agents back at that preserve today one day after raiding his parents home we have live team coverage tonight from both wyoming and florida and we begin with miguel almaguer in wyoming gabby petito's body was officially identified today the coroner now ruling her death a homicide discovered in this remote stretch of wyoming's teton mountain range authorities have not yet said how she died but named her missing fiance brian laundry a person of interest from minute one brian laundry has done absolutely nothing other than to help himself and buy time so that he could cover his tracks and his actions 2400 miles away in florida tonight the intensifying search for laundry in this alligator-infested swampland laundry's parents told investigators he came to the 25-thousand acre reserve for a hike a day before he was named a person of interest in his fiancee's disappearance trains very difficult essentially 75 percent of it's underwater after an fbi raid at their family home laundry's parents telling nbc news through their attorney he left their house with a backpack and hasn't been seen in a week we've been lucky so far last spotted together in utah laundry and gabby petito had been documenting their cross-country trip her disappearance and his refusal to speak to investigators he was very kind of awkward and confused resulting in a flood of tips from those who say they saw laundry alone or the couple's van we came across a white van with millions following the case every encounter including this run-in with police during a domestic dispute has now been analyzed on social media petito's family fears she may have been killed weeks ago this affidavit shows her family received a text from her cell phone in late august which they believe may not have come from her our plan for today is tonight those with answers to this deepening mystery are gone and now as one search ends another intensifies and miguel joins us now with the breaking news from wyoming miguel i know you aren't too far from the crime scene where gabby patil's body was recovered federal agents still there because they believe it's an active scene well tom we were at that area just a few hours ago and federal agents had spent about 48 hours in that region we know that tonight that they have since left the area but their evidence markings were still left behind so that was very clearly an active crime scene for quite some time now the focus has turned to that autopsy report tom all right miguel almigher leading us off tonight on top story miguel thank you and more on that intense search for gabby's fiance brian laundry i want to bring in nbc's katie beck who is in florida and has more on that part of the investigation katie we know the north fort police which of course is in florida intensified their search for brian laundry today after calling it off yesterday saying they had quote exhausted all avenues we know that laundry's car was recovered at his parents house after it had been found at the nature preserve but we also saw it being towed from his home yeah that's right tom yesterday we actually witnessed a tow truck and coming to their house and removing that vehicle the same vehicle that laundry's parents say he drove to the reserve and left they say a day or two later they went and picked up that vehicle and brought it back to their house it does raise the question why bring the vehicle back if your son is expected to return from that reserve that is a question i'm sure investigators are trying to get to the bottom up as you said this search today certainly intensifying we are seeing a collection a multi-agency response out here by boat by land by air with k-9 units this is really treacherous terrain something like 24 000 acres of swamp land gators snakes water it's difficult so they have been out there throughout the day they have just concluded their search a few minutes ago they said they're going to be back tomorrow morning at some point between eight and nine a.m as you stated they had said they had exhausted all avenues of search within this reserve for laundry but apparently that is not the case as it seems they are only adding resources and intensifying the search here tom katie beck with that part of the investigation for us tonight katie we thank you for that the other major headline tonight jonathan and johnson making its case for a booster shot the company's saying a second dose of its covid19 vaccine is 94 effective in preventing serious illness when given two months after the first dose but there's growing confusion on who is eligible for booster shots and when they will be available and it comes as a surging case of the delta variants crippling hospitals nationwide september now on track to be the deadliest month in the pandemic since the winter surge in february nbc's stephanie gosk reports good news today for people who received the single dose johnson and johnson vaccine the company says new data shows it is holding up against kovitt 19 variants and jnj says a booster could do even more if given within two months of the first shot a second dose can provide 94 percent protection against moderate to severe covet both pfizer and moderna have said a booster of their vaccines will increase antibodies especially in people over the age of 65. last month the white house said boosters would be widely available in september but the fda has yet to authorize the extra shots for any of the vaccines except for people whose immune systems are compromised my body doesn't make enough antibodies to any disease so i have to be extra careful and extra protected 42 year old sarah ouellette got her third shot in july for you personally how much better do you feel having that booster so after every single dose it's just a little bit of like more relief okay maybe i'm more protected now last week an fda board recommended pfizer boosters for people over 65 and those considered at high risk gary keplinger in his late 70s would have fallen in that category he got a two dose vaccine but still got a rare breakthrough case that took his life his wife ardith speaking with nbc's ellison barber what is the way that you feel like people can honor him getting vaccinated wearing masks i have family members that don't agree with me and i guess that's their right but gary and i had rights too and he doesn't have them anymore a final decision on boosters is expected later this week but some people aren't waiting many of these are occurring in the context of people who may believe they are merit another shot in advance of our recommendations federal health officials acknowledged in august that people were getting unauthorized third shots because they believed they should do we have any examples of people who have gotten an unauthorized booster and it's harmed them in any way no i haven't seen any evidence suggesting that it's been harmful to people and i understand that for some people that might mean well what's the downside i think you want to make sure you're getting the the right booster the right dosing the bottom line say health experts is that the vaccines remain strong protection people should wait for a final authorization on boosters it does make it really incumbent on the fda and the cdc to act quickly so that people don't get frustrated and go out and do this on their own and people do have so many questions about these boosters stephanie goss joins us now live steph the fda could be just days away from its decision on pfizer boosters for people who are over 65 when could those who get that who got the jonathan johnson vaccine see a similar decision well they may have to wait weeks that data has just been turned in and so will more dire i mean tom you've got a situation where just in a few days you may have someone who got the pfizer vaccine in their 70s who walks down the street to get a booster but their neighbor also in their 70s who happen to get johnson and johnson or monderna they're going to have to sit there and wait all right steph thank you so much for that turning to montana now where one hospital overrun with covet 19 infections is now considering rationing care to patients and the tragic update on a young patient our gabe gutierrez met there just a few weeks ago i would not wish this stuff out like my worst enemy at all 24 year old covet patient patrick bershia had been hospitalized just over a week when we first met him earlier this month oh sorry whatever yeah take a breath he struggled to breathe but he wanted to keep talking to share this message as soon as i cannot get the backseat and i highly recommend anyone who has it to do it because this is a very scary situation do you regret not getting the vaccine absolutely i 100 regret it specifically what were some of the things you were hearing that the vaccine was not a real vaccine that uh it was like a tracking chip the government was trying to use on us patrick was in the icu at billings clinic in montana which was already seeing its highest number of covet patients since last year this is the er they've set up overflow beds in the hallways nurse christy baxter was among those caring for patrick is it exhausting it is it's exhausting i've had days where i've thought i don't know that i can get up and continue to do this job and i've been a nurse for 30 years i believe passionately in what we do i want to make a difference for patients but i never thought i would be there but i've had days that i thought i don't know that i can continue to do this since then she says things have gotten worse the hospital has limited ecmo treatments external machines that can function as a critical patient's heart and lungs administrators have also discussed how best to get ready for what's known as critical standards of care essentially guidelines for how to ration resources this is heartbreaking this is something i have never prepared myself for or never anticipated and since we met patrick took a turn for the worse he was placed on a ventilator and died this weekend every time we moved him we weren't sure if the end was going to be in that moment and so i just wanted to be there to hold his hand in just one week patrick would have turned 25. he now leaves behind a young son i much like a lot of people in my age group didn't really have a whole lot of proper information i was hearing a lot of propaganda it all like told it's a conspiracy theory uh it's not real you know just a whole bunch of crap but uh is it true this is very real it's it's very scary so hard to hear all that misinformation that he first heard about gabe joins us now in studio gabe that's that's just heartbreaking right there and we've both reported on this issue so much we read the stats every night in the news that's the stats up close what was it like to know someone to actually talk to him and to know that he's not here anymore because of coveton because he wasn't vaccinated tom it was a gut punch to hear that he had passed away and perhaps one of the most heartbreaking things about him is that when i spoke with him at the time he thought he was one of the lucky ones his condition was improving but sadly as you heard it took a turn for the worse and you know his situation he really wanted to get the message across for people to take this seriously and he is now the youngest covet patient to die in that hospital steinwish all right gabe we thank you for that very powerful story we really do appreciate that now to the chaos at the southern border homeland security now investigating images showing border patrol agents on horseback chasing haitian migrants down thousands of migrants still camping out along texas's rio grande and another surge may be on the way nbc news correspondent morgan chesky reports from del rio texas tonight on the texas border 8 500 mostly haitian migrants still inside this tent city where questions outnumber answers who stays who goes and how much longer can they wait many beneath this bridge for more than a week surviving on food and water handouts some even swimming back to mexico to buy more president biden today addressing the crisis for the first time during a border visit today texas governor greg abbott blaming the search on president biden's more relaxed border policies when you have an administration that is abandoning any pretense of securing the border and securing our sovereignty you see the on rush of people like what we saw walking across this dam now new warnings of more massive groups of haitian migrants possibly on the way to the u.s internal documents obtained by nbc news show dhs officials tracking more than twenty thousand gathering in colombia three thousand others in peru and another fifteen hundred people in panama while the vice president weighing in on those images of border patrol agents blocking migrants on horseback human beings should never be treated that way at a del rio shelter we made haitians dirty and elude seville the young couple expecting their first child coming here from south america and have spent the last week beneath the del rio bridge i gotta feed my baby you know i gotta feed my wife and my all my family durney planning to become a barber in brooklyn where family lives hoping he won't be deported with a biden administration allowing most families applying for asylum to stay in the u.s until their court dates how is haiti right now it's terrible and if you were sent back there what would happen hey i'll probably die you can't you can be in the street and you'll receive a gun shot and you don't know that you know it's very very terrible morgan chesky joining us now just steps from the border there in del rio texas morgan i want to go back to something you just mentioned in your report the u.s now monitoring 20 000 haitian migrants in colombia 3 000 in peru and another 1500 in panama with the border overwhelmed right now what are they going to do to try and stop these migrants if they decide to come to the u.s yeah tom that is the question that authorities are asking each other right now those groups under monitoring by the federal officials who say that they're in a staging mode right now they could make their way to this very border but there's no telling if or when that would take place and that is why texas governor greg abbott has requested an emergency declaration from president biden to ensure that there are resources in place should another group make their way here tom and morgan we have seen in your reporting over the last few days those images of the border patrol agents on horseback that's gotten a lot of attention throughout the country today the white house press secretary jen sachi saying it was never acceptable or appropriate when you see those images what exactly is being done now yeah tom we asked secretary my organs that question when he visited del rio yesterday he says that that is under investigation specifically looking at the actions of those officers it remains to be seen if it will change any border patrol policy going forward agents on horseback are common in this area and those images were taken saturday evening when we saw that incredible response from law enforcement here as they try to retake the border tom morgan chesky for us at the border again tonight morgan thank you next we head to the u.n where president biden addressed the general assembly for the first time since taking office he spoke about unity and confronted criticism head on nbc white house correspondent peter alexander has more facing growing doubts about his promise to unite america's allies president biden delivering his debut speech to the united nations calling for global cooperation to combat climate change and covet bombs and bullets cannot defend against covert 19 we need a collective act of science and political will declaring the world is at an inflection point to deliver for our own people must also engage deeply with the rest of the world the speech a key credibility test for the president who came into office saying he would restore america's relationships that were frayed under former president trump i'm sending a clear message to the world america is back but in recent weeks president biden's been criticized by prominent allies most notably for america's chaotic troop withdrawal from afghanistan today the president tried to turn the page we've ended 20 years of conflict in afghanistan and as we close this period of relentless war we're opening a new era of relentless diplomacy that message comes after a stunningly sharp rebuke from france accusing the biden administration of a quote stab in the back france for the first time ever recalling its ambassador after a dispute over the u.s sale of nuclear-powered submarines to australia then there's the us's rivalry with china the president never mentioning the country by name we are not seeking a new cold war the united states is ready to work with any nation that steps up and pursues peaceful resolution to share challenges topping that list climate change ahead of a crucial summit this fall president biden vowing to double american aid to poorer nations tackling the climate crisis whether we choose to fight for our shared future or not will reverberate for generations yet to come okay peter's back from the u.n he joins us now on set peter as you mentioned in your story president biden never mentioned china by name in the speech but we know the rivalry between the two superpowers is still growing and the u.n general assembly also heard from the chinese leader yeah that's exactly right this was a rare address to the u.n from president xi he was speaking virtually as you know china is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and tonight a surprise a major commitment from the chinese president xi pledging that china would no longer finance new coal-fired plants overseas they are the biggest financer of those cold fire plants overseas right now and the hope is if this is to take place that those smaller developing nations will then begin to rely more heavily on renewable energies tom for us peter thank you so much for that we want to go now to the restrictive abortion law dividing the lone star state a texas doctor now being sued for performing an abortion after six weeks in violation of that new law the case is believed to be the first of its kind i want to bring in nbc news now correspondent priscilla thompson for more priscilla the doctor making a very public stand writing an op-ed saying he's taking a stand to test the law yeah tom so important to note that this law was designed so that instead of having the government enforce it private citizens have the control here and so abortion rights activists have been waiting for an opportunity to challenge this law and it appears that this is it uh dr alan brade pinned this op-ed and he admitted to performing abortion and abortion after that six-week period uh writing in part quote i believe abortion is an essential part of health care i can't just sit back and watch us return to 1972. and so now a former lawyer in arkansas has sued in bexar county texas and this attorney this arkansas man is requesting 100 000 in damages or at least the minimum required by law which is 10 000 and so tom this really is the first test of the law at the state level meanwhile in october a federal judge will hear the department of justice's challenge to this law tom okay priscilla we thank you for that we want to head overseas now to the volcanic eruption forcing thousands of evacuations in the spanish canary islands lava sweeping through neighborhoods swallowing entire homes nbc's molly hunter reports tonight a new volcano vent has blown open on la palma molten lava racing towards villages a drone overhead catching the moment a stream of lava crashes into a swimming pool everything above the house black and destroyed and down the hill it's still green we were running and into the house just packing the documents the most important things the lava moving so fast at more than 1800 degrees fahrenheit the president of la palma sang a wall of lava 20 feet high is burning everything in its path it is like a science fiction film the first eruption on sunday following thousands of small earthquakes a swarm giving authorities warning and today a new opening just three thousand feet from the first one more than six thousand people have been evacuated 150 homes have been lost most of the destruction engulfing forests on a sparsely populated side of the island the lava is now headed towards the ocean ripping through swathes of hillsides and crops but scientists say when it hits the water it could cause dangerous explosions and clouds of acidic steam it's the first eruption on la palma in 50 years but so far evacuations are saving lives temporary shelters now set up officials say there have been no injuries or fatalities on the island now the big fear tonight is more small earthquakes leading to new eruptions now scientists say the lava could keep flowing for weeks with no way to stop it tom weeks okay molly hunter for us tonight molly thank you when we come back prince andrew served the royals next move as he faces sexual assault lawsuit here in the u.s plus a garbage crisis in new orleans trash piling up for nearly a month what's causing the stink and containership backlog why dozens of ships stall that california ports could affect your holiday gifts this year stay with us [Music] next night prince andrews served the duke of york facing a lawsuit accused of having sex with a minor at the home of jeffrey epstein his lawyers here in the u.s receiving the papers today clearing the way for that civil suit to proceed nbc's kier simmons reports tonight prince andrew served with legal papers in america confirmation that even a member of the british royal family is not above the law the sexual assault lawsuit delivered to his u.s attorney via email and fedex according to court records it's another setback for the prince a judge ruled he could not hide behind palace walls he's been staying at the queen's balmoral castle in scotland virginia jewfrey's legal team accused prince andrew of actively evading efforts to serve him with a lawsuit they even provided pictures showing them posting the papers by royal mail she is suing the queen's son for alleged sexual assault when she was just 17 years old she says she was trafficked by the prince's friend the late jeffrey epstein prince andrew has always denied the allegations or even knowing jewfrey despite this widely circulated photo of the two of them i can tell you categorically i don't remember meeting her at all i do not remember a photograph being taken and i've said consistently and um and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever at a court hearing last monday prince andrew's lawyer called jewfrey's case a baseless non-viable potentially unlawful lawsuit prince andrew of course denies that this ever happened he denies that it ever happened and he's going to keep denying that it ever happened but he knows the truth and i know the truth prince andrew's of himself and his friendship with epstein on television was widely criticized do i regret the fact that that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming yes unbecoming he was a sex offender yeah i'm sorry i'm being polite in the sense that he was a sex offender now he has days to respond and defend himself through the legal system all right kier simmons joins us now from london here viewers at home may be watching this and this legal procedure is moving it's not going away at this point are there any international treaties or laws that protect a member of the royal family from being sued in the united states essentially can his royal blood save him not in this case tom in fact in this case under something called the hague convention our two legal systems are closely connected now it may not mean that prince andrew has to be in court in the us but just think about this and it's it's extraordinary what we may see is a british prince having to defend his reputation some would say even the reputation of the royal family in an american court with illegal back and forth we do know that last thursday prince andrew won the right to unseal a 2009 settlement agreement document between jeffrey epstein and virginia dufrey prince andrew is claiming this document could nullify her case that's right you know i think it's important to remember here tom that we haven't actually heard the case heard in court look these are the papers that prince andrew was served with mostly it's procedural it's legal so we are yet to actually hear prince andrew defend himself legally he may well be successful tom keir simmons with all the legal twists and turns in this case here thank you coming up the fire at the superdome take a look at the video flames shooting out of the famed new orleans sports arena what authorities believe sparked that fire and saving the sequoia is how crews are working to save some of the world's oldest and largest trees from a massive wildfire you're watching top story stay with us we are back now with top stories news feed and the fire breaking out on the roof of the superdome new video showing heavy smoke and flames shooting out of the new orleans arena about a dozen firefighters forced to climb the side of the dome to access the flames crews believe the fire broke at us workers were power washing the roof you can see the smoke there in the sky at least one person was injured officials now investigating the extent of that damage amazon amazon relaxing its drug testing policies while lobbying for the legalization of marijuana the company announcing it has reinstated employment eligibility for former employees and applicants who were fired or deferred due to marijuana screenings amazon has also voiced support to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level and expunge marijuana related criminal offenses george holliday the man who filmed the beating of rodney king by los angeles police has died from covet 19. a longtime friend telling nbc news the 61 year old died after battling the virus at a california hospital for more than a month holiday shooting the infamous grainy black and white footage with a video camera outside of his home on march 3rd 1991 and a major backlog of container ships could impact your holiday gifts take a look at this video it shows dozens of ships waiting to unload at the port of long beach on monday a lot of ships out there massive delays reported at ports across southern california experts saying it's leading to a rise in prices in consumer goods and likely to cause a delay on goods throughout the end of the year all right we turn now to the ongoing crisis in new orleans residents complaining of trash left for weeks in front of their homes the city and waste contractors pointing fingers at a labor shortage but residents say those workers need to be paid a livable wage and their waste needs to be picked up no excuses tonight the big easy turning into the big stink just look at that garbage ooze anger in new orleans at the city's sanitation system piling high along with the city's trash i'm sick of it and everybody else should be sick of it residents facing a trash collection nightmare weeks without anyone taking away the rotting waste creating a health hazard i would love for them to pick it up then hurricane ida hit along with tropical storm nicholas we went through covid we went through the hurricane and now they're asking us to patiently fester in a pile of garbage residents holding a trash parade this past weekend dumping trash bags on city hall steps in protest demanding the city government and its contractors collect the garbage that's been festering on their lawns we just took out all the trash for our neighbors just yesterday and there was maggots and just piles and molding rotten it was the grossest thing local officials and the city's waste contractors who are responsible for curbside trash collection saying the root of the issue is a nationwide labor shortage tied to the covet 19 pandemic new orleans mayor latoya cantrell tweeting we are looking at three to five times the workload with about 25 percent of the workforce but the trash parade participants say the blame is on the government not on the workers themselves these trash people definitely need to be paid a living wage it's not right those sanitation workers joining in on the demonstration honking in solidarity the only short-term fix the city is offering asking residents to haul it themselves and dispose it at this transfer station for most that's just not good enough i have to put it in my car it's trash that's literally been sitting there through rain and sitting there for weeks it's unsanitary and for some what really stinks is putting down money for a pickup they're not even getting every citizen in the parish of orleans should be outraged at the lack of service that is being provided to us residents there new orleans dealing with so much all right we head to the west coast now to the sequoia national forest where a raging fire is threatening some of the world's oldest trees and with more than 20 thousand acres already destroyed firefighters are racing to save the historic redwoods here's nbc's erin mclaughlin some of the world's largest and most iconic trees are just feet from the flames teams of firefighters are racing against time to save historic redwoods from a raging wildfire tearing through the sequoia national forest the threat intensifying in recent days after lightning strikes ignited two uncontrollable wildfires which merged into one massive blaze the k-p-n complex fire has already torched over 23 thousand acres firefighters struggling to get the upper hand it's incredibly steep the fuels are incredibly dry all of that makes this a very difficult fire to fight very dangerous the burn area visible from space as it closes in on the so-called giant forest home to general sherman the largest tree in the world the giant sequoia which is over 2000 years old and stands towering 275 feet high almost as tall as the statue of liberty has attracted tourists from around the world the flames creeping closer crews covered the base of its massive trunk with fire resistant wrapping in an effort to protect it as those once awed by the forest's beauty look at that look at that now shocked by the threat of devastation the fear is that you won't be able to see wonder in nature the way that people 100 generations before you saw it officials say the fire has already burned the inside of these trees rooted just a few hundred feet from general sherman and the threat not isolated another fire burning just 40 miles to the south has swallowed over 25 thousand acres and threatens more giant sequoias this area is no stranger to this kind of destruction just last year california's castle fire alone incinerated 10 percent of the world's giant sequoia population the wildfires that we're seeing are not natural anymore they're amplified as a result of human choices and human activity now as the flames rage the race is on to protect these towering treasures all right we thank aaron for that report we turn now to the americas in guatemala droughts and climate change are leaving millions of people on the brink of starvation nearly half of all children under five are chronically malnourished there experts saying they expect it to only get worse here's nbc correspondent megan fitzgerald from high above this looks like a lush landscape but when you peel back the layers a very different story these fields are ravaged crops inedible millions of guatemalans are on the brink of starvation are you scared see why jose vasquez is struggling to feed his family the farmer and father of four says his crops are being destroyed by climate change what's the problem with this that's because the soil is rapidly deteriorating triggered by extended periods of drought followed by torrential rain the warming climate also causing more catastrophic weather events in 2020 two category four hurricanes hit central america in the span of two weeks washing out entire villages in guatemala climatologists warn it will only get worse and disproportionately impact impoverished countries jose took us inside his home where his wife does what she can with the little they have so how long do you think this food will last you for [Music] so it's a constant hunt for food i see nearly half of all children in guatemala under the age of five are chronically malnourished in rural areas that number soars above 50 percent the government is stepping in providing food for families in need and opening clinics across the country to help starving children these women walked miles to be here so their babies could be monitored malnutrition has severely stunted their growth to give you some context a one-year-old child is supposed to weigh at least 17 pounds here we have seen babies here at 1 years old coming in at under 15 pounds like ubalda's 13 month old daughter isabella ubalda lives in this room with her three children dirt floors and walls made of slats she says she does the best she can with the little she has but worries that still may not be enough to save her severely malnourished baby girl what do you fear most for your baby for millions of guatemalans this is life it boils down to one thing survival the biden administration pledging 4 billion dollars to help central american countries fight malnutrition 54 million dollars focused on the food insecurity and child nutrition in guatemala but the climate crisis already colliding with livelihoods forcing hundreds of thousands to the u.s border when people are closer to the edge because of generalized insecurity a bad climate event can can push them over the edge and need them to use migration darwin mendez tried crossing the u.s border three times he now owes smugglers nearly 30 thousand dollars in a country where most people make six dollars a day still he says he'll try again because he can't support his family with his crops now practically bare i thought for so many it's a choice between starvation and migration comments about how it cut the way or touched away the a reality as the climate crisis tightens its grip forcing people to the extremes tom sasson is a state-run organization that's setting up clinics throughout guatemala they're trying to target rural areas offering women clinics monitoring their babies offering food as well as lessons on things like hygiene so that their malnourished children don't get sick but the concern here is with the climate crisis getting worse there's fears that so will the situation in guatemala tom megan fitzgerald for us tonight megan we thank you for that next tonight a new development in the case of a british teenager allegedly hit and killed by a u.s diplomat's wife you may remember the story the family of harry dunn has reached a settlement in its u.s civil suit against ann sakulas she is charged in the uk with killing done after driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the 2019 crash the u.s has rejected an extradition request to return her to the uk for prosecution canadian prime minister justin trudeau will serve a third term the 49 year old narrowly securing a victory but failed to win a parliamentary majority the white house says president biden called trudeau today to congratulate him and emphasize the close relationship between the two countries an air force inspector general will review a drone strike that killed 10 civilians in afghanistan the probe comes after the pentagon concluded numerous mistakes led to the august 29th strike that left 10 people dead including seven children the air force's chief independent investigator will have 45 days to file that report another note on afghanistan nbc's savannah guthrie sitting down with the british prime minister boris johnson for an nbc exclusive interview pressing the uk leader on the botched withdrawal from afghanistan but johnson defended it calling it quote a massive success how frustrating has that been for you this withdrawal of afghanistan that was so chaotic my country the the uk owes a big debt to the u.s military for the incredible professionalism and sacrifice they showed at that airport at the hamikaze international airport it was an amazing operation it's never going to be an easy thing to do to pull out of somewhere like afghanistan after 20 years in a clean uh and straightforward way but you can't spend your whole time trying to run another country by proxy it was never going to be easy but it didn't have to be that messy your own diplomats were stranded in kabul we have that mistaken drone strike are you frustrated that the u.s withdrawal was so botched frankly i think that it was a massive logistical success what they did easy come easy go about it but you you heard about it in parliament members of your own party tony blair called it tragic and unnecessary theresa may member of the conservative party went after you should the u.s have been surprised by how quickly this collapse of afghanistan happened what did the intelligence tell you there was a spectrum of advice a spectrum of predictions from the intelligence people amongst which was the possibility that kabul would collapse very fast and that the taliban would would take over very fast of course you're going to look back on it with mixed feelings but i say this savannah all the things we did in in afghanistan 3.6 million uh women and girls were educated who would not otherwise what about those women and girls now sure i agree it's a terrible thing now to listen to some of the threats that we're hearing uh to their potential that their freedom their opportunities but what we've got to do is work together as the as the west to say to the new authorities in uh in afghanistan in kabul look you want our cash we want to engage with you but you know afghanistan can't be a breeding ground for terror anymore there were reports that as this collapse was happening you tried to reach president biden and didn't receive a call back for some 36 hours is that true don't discuss my calls with other leaders for the best of my recollection we talked very frankly about the whole thing and we didn't feel snubbed or not sufficiently consulted as this was happening no not at all no no do you think the president was too stubborn about this total withdrawal by a certain date from afghanistan america has been there for for 20 years and it's a respectable argument to say that enough is it sounds like you do look i mean could we have done it a bit differently maybe we could savannah guthrie sitting down with boris johnson there coming up gun ownership in the u.s is exploding and now more and more women are the ones buying guns our dasha burns joins a new gun owner to hear why she joined the growing trend stay with us we're back with a new trend a study just released showing in the last few years women have bought almost as many guns as men here's nbc's dasha burns who looked into it her nickname is granny with guns and she wears it proudly and your figure never goes on the trigger until you're ready to shoot diane jones is the 61 year old owner of this glock 34 and she knows how to use it diane is now a regular at this north carolina shooting range but she wasn't always so gung ho so two years ago you had never held a gun never shot a gun what kind of i didn't know much about them so i was a little afraid of them and now i have four so this is your first diane is just one of the millions of american women who bought a gun for the first time within the last two years preliminary results from a new survey obtained by the wall street journal shows that women made up almost half of new gun owners between 2019 and april of this year it's a big change from the old boys club stereotypes of the past it's really recent that women are getting into this what do you think is going on i think taking the mystery out of it and saying oh okay i can do it it's been basically a man's thing so for women to come and start branching into it's like oh women it's like girls with guns like we can do it and everything becomes a muscle memory skill it was instructor marshall hampton who first lit the spark for diane she met him at a shooting range after a friend invited her out marshall has been teaching women's shooting classes for five years and says he's seen a recent uptick in interest and in skill ladies out shoot men a lot you give a guy a gun and he goes i saw john wayne do that i know exactly how this works and you give a girl a gun and explain to her the fundamentals how you grip it how you stand how you look how you breathe all the techniques for marksmanship and she's going to execute that perfectly women cite a slew of reasons for seeking out firearms from safety concerns brought on by covet 19 and last summer's protests to political divisions but some studies have shown that states with more guns have more accidental gun deaths other research shows guns playing a key role in domestic violence against women but for diane and her for guns there's an elemental attraction to the range oh i smile the whole time when i'm shooting and i smile the whole time when i leave okay dasha burns joins us now live dasha i want to ask you know do we know why diane got into guns i know you cited some reasons there in your story for other women yeah tommy you know it's interesting for diane she was invited to a shooting range by a friend of her she was initially timid and a little bit nervous to go but once she actually fired one she was really interested in it she got interested in doing it safely and doing it competitively and for her she says she loves the feeling of focus and the feeling of control and she wants to see more women enter the space that has been traditionally dominated by men tom and dasha you know the industry is noticing and they're changing the ways they sort of market guns especially to women yeah yeah that's right this is a big shift and the industry is absolutely paying attention you know tom in the past there was a lot of pandering to stereotypes with a strategy known as shrink it and pink it so smaller guns and more traditionally feminine colors but the women we talked to say that's not what they're interested in and now some companies are instead focusing on manufacturing guns that are easier for people with smaller hands to handle and by the way tom it's not just women this study also found that new gun owners are more racially diverse with 55 being white but 21 being black and 19 hispanic tom okay dasha burns for us tonight dasha we thank you when we come back here on top story the concert one teenager will never forget the moment mark anthony jumped off stage to sing to a fan what his dad told us about this special performance stay with us finally tonight we want to leave you with the special moment a 16 year old caught the attention of singer mark anthony during his concert in new york city what happened next he'll never forget [Music] when it comes to mark anthony's music it's not just something you listen to it's something you can feel resident johnny rivera knows that well he was celebrating his 16th birthday at anthony's concert on sunday night all of a sudden a spotlight was on him his dad in disbelief it was something that was beautiful you know just seeing my son interact with one of his favorite salcedos and just having that pure moment is what it's about johnny who is blind sharing this special moment with the puerto rican salsa singer it happened during anthony's performance of his hit song divide me vida like yes my son is supposed to meet mark anthony because of how special mark and his music is to him you know and and vice versa people need to meet people like my son in order to bridge that gap and to understand that it's all about human connection in the middle of singing that song anthony made his way off stage putting his microphone down and singing into johnny's ear his hand tapping the teen's back to the beat of the song during the the performance i went into my son's ear and i said john you're about to meet mark anthony he's standing right here in front of you he's going to sing and you're going to touch him and then afterwards it was just wow dad i met mike anthony no puerto rico the hit maker connecting with a young fan making sure he not only heard the music but felt it right there with him a moment like this is what he'll remember for the rest of his life [Applause] the sound the loudness you know the touch the feelings those are the things that he's going to remember and that's what makes it special not about oh my god i saw mark hanton he didn't see him he felt him you didn't see him you felt him and no boiler we loved that and happy birthday to johnny thanks so much for watching top story i'm tom yumas new york we'll see you right back here tomorrow good night thanks for watching our youtube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the nbc news app you

Channel: NBC News

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Length: 50min 3sec (3003 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021