watching for in tonight s big speech. right now in turkey, and syria, more than 5,000 people are dead, entire communities have been destroyed after two powerful earthquakes rocked the entire region. we ll take you live to turkey where international rescue cruise and aid are now arriving. also this hour, an inside look at the u.s. coast guard s efforts to address the rise in migrants arriving to the u.s. by sea, and the dangers those desperate people face in search of a better life. and we begin this morning with the horrific destruction in turkey and syria after two powerful earthquakes devastated the region. this morning, the death toll stands at over 5,000 people. it is expected to climb even higher. right now tens of thousands of emergency crews are working around the clock to rescue and recover those trapped under the rubble. in some areas, rescuers are facing snow and freezing temperatures as they search for survivors. turkish president erdogan declaring a week of
ahead this st. patrick s day friday starting with desperate measures on wall street. nearly a dozen banks teaming up to prevent this week s financial turmoil from spreading their $30 billion life line to save another major bank from potential ruin as janet yellen works to sooth the markets and reassure americans that their money is safe. i can reassure the members of the committee that our banking system is sound and that americans can feel confident that their deposits will be there when they need them. plus major move in china s partnership with russia, announcing this morning that xi jinping will visit russia next week at the invitation of vladimir putin that comes as russia continues to search for the downed u.s. drone intercepted by a russian fire jets. why the pentagon says russia won t find anything useful even if they do track it down and rage on the streets of paris, thousands of protestors rise up over an unpopular move by macron raising the age of retirement
officers. we have the latest on a very painful weekend. a new nbc news poll shows just how concerned americans are over president biden s and former president trump s handling of classified documents. steve kornacki is back at the big board with a look at the numbers. students are back in class at a virginia elementary school for the first time since a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher. we ll tell you about the new safety protocols now in place. moments from now, secretary of state antony blinken will meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in the midst of the worst explosion of israeli-palestinian violence in years. back at home, the super bowl lineup is set, the eagles versus the chiefs. buffalo bills player damar hamlin speaks out for the first time since collapsing on the field earlier this month. it s just been a lot to process. i can t tell you how appreciative i am of all the love, all the support and everything that s just been coming in my way.
abortions sued texas over its near total ban on the procedure. we ll hear from one of them who says she nearly died because of the law. we begin this hour with that breaking news out of mexico concerning those four americans who were shot at and kidnapped in matamoros, mexico. the governor of the state of tamaulipas says two of the four americans have been found dead while one more is injured. the fourth was found unharmed. disturbing video shows part of the kidnapping where you see the assailants dragging people into a white pickup truck. a law enforcement official confirmed. joining us now, nbc s ken dilanian, nbc s peter alexander at the white house, and the former head of the dea s operations. ken, what can you tell us? what the governor is saying is these americans have been recovered, two dead, two alive, one injured. they are in mexican custody and will be transferred to the u.s. this has not been confirmed by u.s. officials, but u.s. officials saying that they wer
putin is facing another round of military setbacks. and at our nation s border, the government says arrests have now exceededn just one year. we ll talk to the chair of a congressional hispanic conference, raul ruiz about that and much more. and we begin with our top story this morning, hurricane fiona strengthening to a category 3 storm after devastating parts of the caribbean leaving at least three dead in puerto rico and one dead in the dominican republic. now, the storm is now barrelling up the atlantic taking aim at turks and caicos. next, take a look at the intended path of this of this storm. meanwhile, let s take a look at puerto rico: we re expecting an update later this hour right there after fiona made landfall on sunday as a category 1 hurricane unleashing massive floods. two feet of rain and landslides. the island s power grid ravaged again, four out of five people still without power this morning. over 800,000 people do not have access to running water. th