Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Im matt lauer. Im Savannah Guthrie alongside tamron hall who is in for natalie this morning. Well get to todays top story, the deadly mall attack in kenya where militants are Still Holding an unknown number of hostages in a twoday standoff that has already left at least 68 people dead. We go right to nbcs ron allen in nairobi with the lat est. Good morning, ron. What can you tell us . Good morning, savannah. Were behind security from the mall where you can see smoke billowing out of the building. The morning began with five or six loud explosions and sustained gun fire that went on for some time, and also firefight firefights spilling out outside of the mall, and you can see the kenyan soldiers firing at places around the mall. Unknown at this point is the fate of the hostages and the gunmen inside. And we believe as many as 10 to 12 gunmen and same number of hostages, but the kenyan government says they have it firmly under control, and clearly, trying to bring this confrontation to an end. Reporter a thick cloud of smoke billowed out of the besieged mall. The hfate of the hostages and te men holding them are unknown. Kenyan officials said at least 10 to 15 armed gunmen and they said that most of the hostages have been freed except for ten. We are in full control of this situation, and we are saying in no time that the fire will be futile. Reporter from the security perimeter more kenyan troops could be seen arriving at the mall, and some in armored personnel carriers and firefights broke out. As the smoke poured from the building, there was little indication that the firefighters were trying to get close enough to extinguish the blaze. These pictures are just released show the terrifying moment saturday that the mall was packed with families when the gunmen struck. It seems like anywhere you look, thered be another body. Reporter tyler hicks raced to the scene. People were krig and screaming and running for their lives. Reporter among them elaine deng, a 26yearold from san diego who was working as a guide in nairobi. This morning, she is one of five americans recovering from injuries sustained in the attack. The militant Group Al Shabab with links to al qaeda has claimed responsibility, and retaliation for kenyan troops going into somalia. And with links, the u. S. Is investigating that at least five americans were among the attackers. The military began to stop the siege, and they hoped to end it by sunday, but clearly, that did not happen. We have just seen a heavy crane move into position down there heading toward the mall. We have also seen fire engines arriving as the flames and the smoke that are billowing out of the building seem to be easing a little bit, but it may not be a safe enough situation yet for the firefighters to get that close. Now, there is conflicting information from both sides about the aftermath of all of this which is still very muddled and unclear. The government is claiming that most of the hostages have been freed, and the militants al shabab are claiming that many of the hostages and people around the world were killed. Again, the numbers are not firm at this point. This has been going on for some time, and about a half hour ago, there were more sustained barrages of gun fire going in that direction down on that side of the mall. The hostages who have been taken out, and the government insists most have been freed have been going out to the other side of the mall where they are screened and treated for injuries. We have also seen the ambulances coming up and down the road this morning, but that activity seems to have eased. At this point, there is a lull in the situation, but it is unclear whether it is over or not. The kenyan government wants to bring this thing to an end, but they are struggling to do that. Lets turn to Roger Cressey who is a member of the National Security council at the time of the 9 11 attacks and worked in somalia shortly before the blackhawk down incident, and now he is a terrorism analyst. Good morning to you. Good morning, matt. We know there are hostages and this group has killed 60 people over the weekend and anything that you have seen or heard over the weekend, roger, that makes you believe that they may be willing to release the hostages unharmed . Highly unlikely, matt. The body count will certainly go up. Al shabab came in for one reason and that is to kill. This is not a typical hostage situation where political demands are to be met. They want to get as much coverage of the atk the to demonstrate to the kenyan authorities aed on the the Broader Community that shabaab has a capable ability to inflict pain on the world. And welcome to 2013, because this group is tweeting over the weekend, and one thing they tweeted is that there are americans among to a attackers, and first off, roger, do you believe they managed to recruit and radicalize somalis or americans living in this country to help in the attack . Since 2008, matt, they have tried to successfully recruit americans to go back to somalia to fight in the civil war. Al shabab is a product of the civil war, and the thing to keep in mind about somalia is that it is clanbased, and there elements of the Somali Community of the members of the United States who are susceptible to calls to ask the youth to come back to somalia and fight in the war. We dont know if al shababs claims are accurate, but this is a concern for Law Enforcement and the Intelligence Community for years. When you talk about recruitment, an event like this over the weekend and i hate to put it this way, roger, but this has to make the recruitment easier among the fringe radicals. So for any part of the Somali Community that is susceptible to being radicalized or wanting to go back to somalia, this is going to give them great fodder and make it attractive, but there are other elements of the community who simply abhor what is going on, and they are working with the local law enfor enforcement to stop the recruitment efforts from this community and it is a constant tug of war for at least six years. Let me bring it back to the United States and other countries around the world, because it happened in a Shopping Mall and maze of exits and entrances and very hard to secure. There are thousands of those facilities here in the country, and do we now need to rethink security here at home at places like that . Well, matt, we have talked for years about the vulnerability of soft targets like Shopping Malls, and it is something that the fbi and the department of Homeland Security has been focusing on for over a decade. We wont change our tactics and approach, but what al shabab has done is a highly coordinated attack by a relatively small amount of people can be lethal and deadly, and we dont have that type of threat inside of the United States, but you can guarantee that this and other organizations affiliated with the broader Al Qaeda Movement are going to look at the al shababs success in nairobi and try to duplicate it elsewhere. That is not good news. Thank you, Roger Cressey. Meanwhile, the president travels to the u. N. To address topics like syria and iran, and sunday, his topic was gun control after the deadly shooting at washington last week. We have our nbc news editor chuck todd joining us. It is a familiar scene, the memorials for the folks of gun violence, and this one of the folks at the naval yard at washington, d. C. And there were also pleas from politicians to do something about gun violence. We cannot begin to comprehend your loss. Reporter for the president speaking at a Memorial Service f following a mass shooting has become a familiar scene. Sunday was the 13th speech in nine months as consoler in chief. To aurora and newtown and now Washington Naval yard. If we want to be a country to go to schools and walk the streets free from senseless violence with so many lives being stolen by a bullet from a gun, then we have to change. Reporter after failing to rally congress on a background check bill in the wake of sandy hook, the president once again pushed for action. If we can prevent even one tragedy like this, and save one life, and spare other families what these families are going through, surely we have an obligation to try. Reporter but Getting Congress the do something is not going to be easy. The nra has convinced many lawmakers that more gun laws wont stop the violence. No, the whole country, david, knows that the problem is that there are not enough good guys with guns. Reporter but there is a new lobby, the families of victims of gun violence vowing to become a political machine. It took six votes over seven years to get the initial brady law passed and sarah and jim brady didnt give up. Those of us who are involved, and unfortunately our numbers are are growing, we are not giving up. Reporter guys, the reality is that there is political paralysis when it comes to the gun issue, and the recall elections that took place in colorado a few weeks ago almost guarantees that politically, there is no motivation by those in congress to do anything right now. All right, chuck. Thank you for joining us in new york. Could be some new rules next time you fly. Tamron hall is filling in for natalie. If you are a techie and you travel, the faa is expected to have new rules easing some rules on Electronic Devices. The rules have been in effect for some time, and as we reported in june, the New York Times says that the faa is likely to allow ebooks and listening to podcasts at lower altitudes, but the new rules still ban phone calls and sending or receiving emails or notifications using wifi. Today, the captain of the Costa Concordia is charged with manslaughter and ship wreck and abandoning the ship before everyone had evacuated. Today in court he blamed the helmsman for the accident, and now that it is righted, he wanted to inspect the ship, himself. Some mixed news at the gas pump, and according to bloomberg, the average price of gas has dropped six cents nationwide in the past two weeks to 3. 52 a gallon, but the price is not down everywhere. The average in california is 3. 97 up 16 cents from two weeks ago. And it was a scene out of the bad bmovie, you might say, sundays game between the angels and the mariners was delayed twice when a swarm of bees took over the outfield, and take a look as you can see the tiny creatures. The players tried to dodge the ariel assault, and then play resumed after they used fire extinguishers to rid the bees. You were going to make a joke . No, a baby born today. On the series we are running about the challenges facing parents all week. This is a live birth and a baby being born at the university of texas hospital in houston, and the mom and dad are there and so is janet shanlian. We are at the university of texas hospital in houston, and im with emily who has had her second baby, a little girl, haley, who is born in the last minute. Hello, emily, how are you doing . Look at the camera and tell us . Fine. And they are cutting the cord as you can see, and everything has gone smoothly here. She is doing well. Hugs to dad. How are you doing . Fine, fine. All right. And guess what, guys . We have 15 other women at this hospital in labor and delivery, so it is going to be and a actionpacked morning, but we are welcoming haley to the world, and we have Something Special for her. And here it is, the first one si in honor hoff the born today. Janet, thank you. First of all, welcome, haley. Who is cooler than emily . Can you believe that . You have just given birth to the baby and the cameras are there for the entire country and you turn and say, hi. Hi, how is it going . And 15 other moms in labor this morning, and we may see births throughout the show today which means im going to be crying every five minutes or so. And look at that, and you can say it is a cliche, but no more profound change in a persons life than when they have a baby whether it is the mother or the father, and so it is an incredible moment, and again, it is all part of the born today series, and we are talking about today what is it like to be raising children into todays world and the new ad vances in technology in terms of having a baby and for couples struggling with fertilities and the fl philosophies of raising children as well. And what it costs to have a baby these days, but that moment right there is priceless. You guys are so smooth and calm. That is why you are the best. My heart is racing. I think that im more nervous than haley. Matt lauer said to you on national tv, and what about emily turning to the cameras on national tv and saying, hi. Congratulations, emily. And we will go the al roker who has been in the delivery room a couple of times himself. He is on the road in colorado dealing with the communities so affected by the flooding. Al, good morning. Yes, those folks could use a smile today, and that will certainly put it on everybodys face, and i remember my life changing profodly for the Better Seeing those kids and my oldest when she was adopted, i remember that as well as a major, major moment. And the rain has stopped. You can look at the radar, and it is moving away. Vice President Joe Biden and dr. Jill biden and fema administrator craig fugate and colorado governor hickenlooper is going to be here as well. You can see the rain bringing cooler weather into the area. And the california coast is fantastic, and l. A. , with the sunshine and 77, and denver after the clouds move out and sunshine cooler with 76, and phoenix with a high of 96, and billings, 69. We will get to your forecast 7 17. Good monday morning to you. Im meteorologist christina loren. Pretty good looking day shaping up for the first monday of fall. 72 degrees in san francisco, 81 in napa, and right around 79 degrees here in san jose. So not too warm out there, even livermore, we are expecting mid80s. We have pretty substantial changes to get through for tuesday and wednesday, temperatures drop and temperatures are going to be cool all week. The good news is that the heavy rains shouldnt affect the flooding situation here. It is really, guys, more psychological. Back to you. Thank you, al. We will check in with you a little bit later. Meanwhile, we have had a live birth on the air, and last night carson daly gave birth to a emmy last night. Yes, he did. A bouncing baby emmy. That was unbelievable and congratulations to haley and the baby, and the today show should get an emmy for the timing, because that was incredible. And there were a lot of happenings last night at the emmys as well. Well sh, it was fun and a bi night and a lot of upsets and fun to be part of one and our cameras were there, so we filed this report. Take a look. Reporter the 65th annual emmy awards was a big night for cable. Breaking bad. With breaking bad winning best drama series. I did not see this coming. To all of my fellow nominees, tread lightly. Reporter despite the warning, Bryan Cranston did not take home the emmy for the best actor in a drama series. And the emmy goes to jeff daniels. Didnt expect this. Just one of the nights many upsets. No one in america is winning their emmy office pool. In a scandal of its own, clare danes beat kerry washington. Id like to thank our my family. Reporter Julia Louie Dreyfuss a along with her costar tony hale took home emmys for veep. Michael douglas. He picked up his first emmy for the portrayal of liberace. And while jim parsons and modern family walked away winners once again merritt weaver, nurse jackie. It was merritt weavers 30second speech that stole the show. Merritt weaver, best speech ever. Across twitter the show was blasted for being to somber for several tributes to actors and producer including Cory Monteith and James Gandolfini. The voice. Reporter and bright spots like say, the reality show competition. That was absolutely unbelievable. It was a crazy moment, and you know that the great category, and the amazing race has historically won that category every year since they have had that category, and top chef won it one year, but what timing for the release of the voice tonight, and season five repremiers and a great night and we were shock ed. Is it heavy, the emmy, carson . It is surprisingly heavy and i asked mark burnett the producer right backstage, can i borrow it to give to my parents and he said, you are ogoing to get one, wait a minute, buddy. Did they engrave it . Yes, at the governors ball, and i thought it was 1890, a guy engraving it, but they were predone, and i put it on, and i walk walked out. It was a special, special nice. Congratulations, carson. Awesome. Thank you, guys, very much. I appreciate it. We will check back with cabazon later on. And how about this, oprah admit s that she came close to the breaking point last year, and we will tell you what sent her to the edge. And then, just how much does it cost to have a baby . The answer may surprise you, and find out as we begin the weeklong series born today and we have started it with a boom. But first, this is today on nbc. As we told you at the beginning of the show, were live in delivery rooms in four cities across the country. In houston, another baby just born. Come on boston, new york, cleveland. You can do better. That baby is called Taylor Daniels just entering the world. This is pretty exciting. It is. Well, coming up, not only a babys world, but a womans world. Cher is here and she will perform on the plaza live for the first time ever. We cant wait for cher to make the big entrance. First we will have a check of the local news and weather. [ female announcer ] wouldnt it be nice if we focused less on the number and more on how the fit makes us feel . Take the special k challenge™, and slip into size sassy. Hey, were gonna have a good day investors could lose tens of thousands of dollars on their 40