Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a tuesday morning. Im Savannah Guthrie. And im matt lauer. Lets start with that story coming out of egypt. Its a tragic story. Were getting the first images of that hot air balloon crash in that country. It happened in the popular Tourist Destination of luxor, about 300 miles south of cairo. Aim amon mulhuldin. Victims include asianit crasn a sugar field falling from a ball of fire from a thousand feet above. These images on twitter show a group of balloons and tourists as they were taking off just after dawn in the ancient city of luxor. It was supposed to be an aerial tour of egypts ancient valley of the kings, one of the most popular Tourist Destinations in the world. In hong kong, the travel agency that organized the tour confirmed Chinese Tourists were among the dead. What we have received so far from where the accident happened, the balloon caught fire and it fell out of the sky. Reporter an eyewitness said the explosion happened as the hot air balloon was landing, engulfing its carriage and passengers in flames. Rescue workers recovered bodies, some reportedly jumping to their death as the balloon burst into flames and then crashed. Hot air balloon rides are popular with tourists but there have been some accidents in recent years. This is the first fatal accident since they began offering aerial tours in 1989. The Egyptian Government now has imposed a moratorium on all hot air balloon operators here in the country. An Investigative Team has been dispatched to luxor to try to piece together what exactly what happened. Theyll certainly question the pilot of the hot air balloon who remains in a hospital in luxor being treated. Ayman mohyeldin in cairo for us. Thank you. Now heres matt. A second blizzard to hit the heartland in about a week. The Weather Channels mike seidel is in wichita, kansas. Mike, deja vu all over again. Yes, sir. The second biggest snowfall on record. Now the snowiest month in 125 years but the texas panhandle was hammered yesterday, buried under a lot of snow. Amarillo had 19, making it their snowiest day on record. Howling wind and blinding snow are posing huge problems for motorists in the texas panhandle. Several roads are impassable because of whiteout conditions. 12 to 18 of snow and drifts as high as six feet are reported. The National WeatherService Calls the texas blizzard crippling and historic. Folks in western oklahoma are bringing out their shovels and struggle with the wind. The oklahoma Highway Patrol is telling all nonessential personnel to stay home until tomorrow. In the nations heartland a lot of people are saying here we go again. A second round of heavy snow in less than a week is bearing down on the region and is already being blamed for two deaths. Were doing the best we can. Were going to try to get with you. Be patient. Reporter patience is the key word as people prepare to get pummeled again. More this time. More snow. Should be deeper. Reporter Grocery Store parking lot parking lots are full of folks stocking up. Going to the Grocery Store and just hoping that we have enough food and where i dont have to get back out in it. Reporter quite a few in the area are saying enough is enough to old man winter. Im already ready for summer. Reporter it doesnt look like shell get her wish any time soon. The farmers arent complaining about the cold and especially the snow. Here in wheat country, theyre going through a terrible drought. Theyll take anything that falls out of the sky. Theyre loving this moisture. Other impacts this morning, 62,000 customers in parts of three states, missouri, kansas and oklahoma, are without power. Ahead of the snow heading to chicago at ohare, theyve canceled preemptively over 200 flights out of that airport today. Mike seidel in wichita for us. Thank you very much. Mr. Roker is upstairs. Al in the open we said that storm is marching east. What are you expecting . Were expecting a lot of Severe Weather to the south, more snow to the north and the west. This is a sprawling system, affecting millions. You can see the spin right now making its way through the midwest, but it extends all the way down look at this. Weve got tornado watches from savannah down to tampa. Thats the stormy side. The snowy side will bring anywhere from six to nine inches of snow. Here is the futurecast. Deja vu all over again. This time its staying inland. That will be drawing in the warmer air so along the coast were basically looking at rain. Snow inland. Here is what we have as far as snowfall amounts. Basically about 12 inches of snow back through northern missouri, up to 16 inches of snow in interior sections of new england. Then down to the south weve got that Severe Weather to talk about. Rainfall amounts anywhere from two to three inches of rain from the panhandle of florida on into the appalachians. Savannah . Al, thank you. Now to rome and Pope Benedicts final days as leader of the catholic church. Moments ago the vatican announced new details about the popes life after he steps down. Lets get to nbcs Anne Thompson at the vatican this morning. Anne, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, savannah. We now know what Pope Benedict will be called once he retires. If you run into him, you address him as his holiness, bone addict xvi, roman pontiff emeritus. He wont wear the white cape youve seen him wear as pope. And then those shoes that hes so very fond of, they g he will have to switch to brown shoes. He will wear a pair he was given on a trip to mexico. All of those details are coming out as the world gets a glimpse of the sometimes ugly gamesmanship that goes on in this beautiful setting. Cardinal keith obrien, britons highest ranking catholic and its only vote in the upcoming papal conclave is staying away, accused of improper behavior with four young priests going back to the 1980s, detailed in the newspaper sunday that obrien denied. Monday, Pope Benedict offered his resignation, which he offered months ago, to be effective immediately. I hope it signals a Rapid Response capability that has been lacking in the past. And a willingness to take Decisive Action against malfeasance, incompetence in leadership in the future. Reporter marijuana americas cardinal, roger mahoney, urged by some catholics to stay home, too, because he protected pries priests in los angeles. Some victims groups that enough is never enough. So we have to do our job as best we see it. Reporter in his last weeks, the pope tried to stop the speculation that dominated y l italian media, saying only he knew the contents of the internal report into last years leak of papal documents and said that he will only share it with the next pope. Allegations that it contains the vatican denies that. It certainly weighed on him. We put more into it if we make that the decision. Reporter now the pope also gave the cardinals permission to move up the start date of the conclave to choose his successor, but the vatican just said it looks like those conversations, those meetings wont start until next week. Savannah . Anne thompson at the vatican this morning. A reminder, i will be live from the vatican with the special komplg of the resignation of Pope Benedict starting tomorrow on today. Matt . Savannah, thanks. Now to washington with the threat of automatic budget cuts set to take effect friday looms large. As chuck todd reports, there is no deal in sight. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. Not only is there not a deal in sight, theres not even a negotiation in sight to try to get a deal before these cuts go in on friday. Instead, were seeing a game of finger pointing. The president hits the road today, heading to a Naval Shipyard in virginia, attempting to build public support against a slue of supposedly cuts. Home to the number two house republican, eric cantore. Were very concerned about the impact on the common lwealt as we are on all states. The president has to lead. Congress has to work with him and get it done. Reporter no talks or phone calls are scheduled between the president and congressional leaders. Instead for the second time in a row, the White House Press briefing featured a cabinet secretary making dire warnings about the socalled sequester. I dont think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country with sequester as without sequest sequester. Reporter after a weeklong recess, House Speaker john boehner had harsh words for the administration, reminding the president that tax hikes will not be supported by republicans. The president says we have to have another tax increase in order to avoid the sequester. Well, mr. President , you got your tax increase. Its time to cut spending here in washington. Reporter speaking in front of the nations governors, president obama called on every elected official to act. All of us are concerned about our politics, both in our own parties as well as the other par partys, but at some point we have to do some governing. Reporter a couple of key Republican Leaders are coming to the white house about meetings but its not on sequester. Its on immigration. Lindsey graham and john mccain coming here to talk about immigration. No talks to prevent the sequester kicking in on friday. With just a few days to go. Chuck todd, thank you very much. Lets get a check of the other top stories of the day. Natalie morales is here with that. Good morning, matt and savannah. Good morning, everyone. Defense secretary nominee chuck hagel after republicans stalled his nomination, the former gop senator is now back on track to win confirmation and succeed leon panetta. Violence in civil war this morning as a massive explosion rocks syria, hours after president Bashar Al Assads regime said it was prepared to hold talks with the rebels. They are unlikely to talk to the government they accuse of mass atrocities. According to human rights watch, the Syrian Military fired several Ballistic Missiles into residential areas of aleppo, killing more than 140 people, including 70 children. Today marks 20 years since the first attack on the World Trade Center here in new york city. The car bombing back in 1993 killed six people and left more than 1,000 others injured. The names of those victims are now inscribed at the september 11th memorial and a ceremony will be held there today. A desperate race against time near monterey bay in california after the coast guard received a series of distress calls from an unidentified family, the last one saying they are abandoning ship. It is believed the boaters were on a 29foot sail boat with two Young Children on board. Crews have been searching the waters off Central California overnight hoping to find and rescue them. And now lets head to wall street, which had a rough start to the week. Cnbcs Courtney Reagan is at the new york stock exchange. Whats rattling the market . It hopes to bounce back after monday, after a stalemate in the italian elections, opposed to that economic reforms, causing concerns that europes debt crisis could get even worse, rattling u. S. Markets. Separately, though, home depot reporting strong earnings this morning. Home improvement retailer thanking the turnaround in housing as well as all that repair work done in the wake of super storm sandy for those increasing profits. Natalie . Courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange, thanks. Airports, as you know, can be very frustrating places but there is no reason to get this angry. Take a look. Chinese Government Official flew into an epic tantrum when he learned he had missed his flight actually, his second flight that he missed. He took his anger out on airport staff and two innocent computers. The video has gone viral on chinese social media and now he has been suspended from his post and he faces punishment charges. Guys, youll notice security is standing off behind that rope there. Turns out because he outranks the security guards, they were afraid to step in, if you can believe that. That and a chair. Yeah. You might be able to say former Government Official. Yeah. Pretty soon. I think thats going to happen. Natalie, thanks. Mr. Roker, back from your allnighter in hollywood . That sounds good. Well, its true. From the Academy Awards as well. Really . Thank you. Thank you so much for that. Am i wrong . It was an all nighter. You make it sound like i was in vegas partying. Anyway, lets see what weve got for you going on right now. For today, we have a risk of strong storms, storm watches from savannah to tampa. Beautiful day down in southern california. Snowy through the great lakes today. Plenty of sunshine in new england and temperatures will be seasonal. Well get to your local forecast but first these messages. Good morning. We will start out with some dry weather. Rain b likely this afternoon. High and thats your latest weather. Savannah . Al, thanks. In the wake of argos big win, some of those held hostage are hoping that the film will help them. Oscarwinning film argo, the escape of six americans from iran is refocusing attention on capitol hill to the reallife iranian hostage crisis of 32 years ago. Its a story for which so far there has not been a happy ending. The best picture oscar for argo, ben afflecks movie celebrating the rescue of 6 u. S. Embassy employees from postrevolutionary iran is longdelayed justice for the americans left behind and held hostage for 444 days beginning in 1979. This is an act of terrorism, totally outside the bounds of International Law and diplomatic tradition. The hostages went through a horrifying ordeal, brutally interrogated, kept naked in cells in subfreezing temperatures. They stood me up, blindfolded me, tied my hands behind my back. Reporter then a marine corps guard, twice subjected to mock executions, an experience briefly depicted in argo. I thought i was going to be shot right there. Reporter other former hostages are still angry over their treatment and want compensation from the government. This is the big fish. And the big fish is accountability. That what was done at this point they got away with it. Reporter until now the hostages efforts have been blocked by a 1981 agreement known as the algiers accord that led to the hostages release. They reluctantly agreed that they could not sue their captors. Theres a new effort in congress to bypass that agreement. Its literally like having a gun to your head and giving up your rights. Now is the perfect time when this movie has created so much attention, to educate the American People about what they went through. Reporter a bill to be introduced in the next few weeks by congressman bruce braley would create a special 400 million fund to compensate the hostages, using the proceeds of fines paid by company that is violate u. S. Sanctions against iran. It will be a relief none too soon for the former hostages. People remain upset and every year were up to 12, we watch someone else pass away. I dont want to go to any more Memorial Services before this is settled. Sponsors of that new bill say they are confident that, should it pass, there will be more than enough money to compensate the former hostages. Thats because they expect a number of Companies Hit with fines to increase, thanks to tighter u. S. Sanctions aimed at pressuring the iranians over their nuclear program. Savannah . Michael isikoff. One diet that could change the way you eat. And the buzz over google glass. How you can get your hands on a pair before they hit the market. But first this is today on nbc. About why an image of the first lady at the oscars was altered to cover her up. More on that. And then the college sheer leader who wowed the crowd with this, an incredible shot. She will give it a shot live on our plaza. Well see if she can do a repeat performance this morning. I guess shes already practicing. First a check of your local news and weather. This test paper behaves like the surface of your skin. Now watch what soap does to it. If soap breaks down this paper, just imagine what its doing to your skin. Soap strips your skin. Dove is different. 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Its durable, clothlike and its 3 times cleaner. So ditch your dishcloth and switch to new bounty duratowel. The durable, clothlike pickerupper. This is wbaltv 11 news in baltimore. Good. I am stan stovall. Usns comfort is cruising out of baltimore for the final time right now the ship began its departure out of canton 30 minutes ago. It has served various humanitarian missions aro