Well be there live. And let there be light. After a starstudded celebration, the Rockefeller CenterChristmas Tree is sheevening bright today, first, december 4th, 2014 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 this thursday morning the rockefeller Christmas Tree looking so great. How many years collectively have we been doing this . Its the first time they let us prets the button. They used to do it. We were always a part of the tradition. It was fun, we should mention as we were doing that, there were protests in the streets of the city not far from that event. That is our top story, demonstrations not only here in new york city, across the country. They were in response to another controversial grand jury decision tied to the death of a suspect at the hands of police. We will speak with eric garner. Steffi gosk is in times square with the latest on all this. Good morning to you. Good morning, matt. Times square is more or less back to normal here. Can you see bare al qaeda behind me. That was not the scene last fight. Emotions in the city were already running high after a grand jury decision not to indict in the ferguson case, when the statin grand jury decided not to prosecute the officers involved in eric garners death, protesters seemed ready. They staged in a number of areas. They blocked streets new york city, including the iconic rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting. Bringing traffic to a stand still, shutting down major highways and bridges. In cities across the country, massive protests, demanding justice for eric garner after a grand jury did not indict the Police Officer who put him in a choke hold that led to his death. He could have been indicted. There is no justice, no justice. I hope there will be peace. Reporter in this video if july, police can be seen arresting garner for illegally selling cigarettes, write he denied doing. He was forced to the ground saying he was unable breathe. I cant breathe. Moments later, the father of six was dead. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide partly caused by a neck or choke hold. It is banned by the Police Department. The Officers Union says the officer did not use a choke hold. I dont know what video they were looking at. Evidently, it wasnt the same one the rest of the world was looking at. The problem here, is these secret grand jury proceedings in a case that otherwise is very, very public. New york citys mayor spoke out shortly after the decision. Our decision requires us to say that black lives matter. Reporter in a statement, the officer accused of the choke hold says i became a Police Officer to help people and to protect those who cant protect themselves. It is never my intention to harm anyone and i feel very bad about the death of mr. Garner. While in washington, president obama, once again, calls for action to repair Law Enforcement in communities nationwide. Right now, unfortunately, we are seeing too many instances where people do not have confidence that folks are treated fairly. Reporter attorney general eric holder announced there will be a special civil rights investigation. He says this is one of a couple incidents, recent incidents that have tested the sent of trust between Law Enforcement officials. Savannah. Steffi, thank you so much. Eric garners widow is with us along with al sharpston, good morning to both of you. Good morning. Mrs. Garner, let me first offerly condolence for the loss of your husband. Can you take me to that moment yesterday when you first heard the grand jury did not indict . I just dropped my phone and just started balling. I started crying. Because its not fair. Its not fair. What do they want to see . How could they possibly not indict . You know, i felt hopeless. I felt like there was not another corner to turn, like there was nothing left for me to fight for him then i got some encouraging phone calls and of course with the support of reverend al and the new york i feel now we have some type of hope, you know, some type of justice to be done for my husband. This is one of those very rare instances where this was caught on camera. It is all on video. Knowing that, having looked at that video, how do you explain what the going did, what do you think happened here . Honestly, from the beginning, i had no faith in Staten Island prosecuting anybody from Staten Island. I didnt have any type of encouragement. I felt no remorse. I felt no compassion, no anything from Staten Island, like besides the people on Staten Island, but as far as like the police and da. There was no sincerity in his eyes from day one. Let me ask you about that. The officer released a statement saying he felt quote very bad about the death of your husband and hopes you would accept his personal condolences. Do you . Not at all. You consider that an apology . The cops to apologize or have any remorse like i said yesterday, when my husband was screaming he couldnt breathe. Let me ask you the other side of this i heard a Law Enforcement person on the show say, you know, when you resist arrest bad things happen and there will be some people watching. Thats how hay they look at it. Living in new york, i know a lot of people that resisted arrest and a would have walked away from it, either if jail, out of jail, whatever the case pay be. Not death. Remember, how do you say when someone is laying on the ground already being held down by the officers, you feel choking. He resisted. He said 11 times on that tape, i cant breathe. You are Still Holding him. You cant make a claim, the reason we called this National March next week saturday in washington, is you have ferguson with michael brown. You have Staten Island with sarah garvin, People Killed by police, you have another case in brooklyn, new york, all within three months. So the federal government now has to come in and say, bad kochs, not all cops are bad. Most cops are not bad. But bad cops have to be adjudicated outside of the local prosecutors. Because of these cases, you do have National Attention on this issue. The president saying, this time its different, because the president is focused on this. I was in the meeting with the president. Do you think he is focused or not . He seems very focused. We need that focus to lead to change. I have been meeting with problem and president clinton on these same issues. The difference is they happen one after another, there is a videotape people are saying, the guy is on the ground, where is your humanity that you are choking a man and saying i cant breathe and you dont let him go . We express our condolences, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much for having me. Savannah, thank you. History being made this morning at the Kennedy Space center in. Fla. Nasa is set to launch a brandnew spaceship that will one day carry humans into deep space, perhaps into mars. Tom costello is about as close as can you get to the launch. Tom, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. We are just about seven minutes or so away from launch. This is a big deal. You know, this spacecraft looks nothing like the Space Shuttle flight we saw lift off from here over the past 30 years. This mission is harkening back to nasa glory days and the apollo moon mission. On launchpad 37b the spaceship nasa hopes will one day carry it where no one has gone before. Sitting atop a delta 4 rocket the young manned orion vehicle, accelerating for a 4andahalf hour trip. Once in space, orion will orbit the earth twice, traveling 3600 miles out. Then borrowing a page from apollo, a fiery reentry. 4,000 degree temperatures. A long drop through the clouds, finally splash down in the pacific ocean. We need to make sure it works right, so we are pushing on the systems heat shield and other things to do just that. And liftoff. Final liftoff of atlanta. Reporter its been three years since americas final Space Shuttle flight. Since then, america has paid russia to carry american astronauts to the space station. Dmeshl companies are poised to take over that job. With orion nasa hopes to carry four astronauts to the moon, asteroids, even mars. This launch could be the beginning if you will. It is the first flight in the next era of huh image exploration for the nation and the world. Reporter but a nasa or mars mission will take time. The first manned test flight wont come for another eight years. A mars mission could be 20 years away. There is tminus five minutes and counting. Previously, we saw it about 250 miles altitude and meet up with the International Space station. This mission goes to 3,600 miles howe out. Matt, savannah, back to you. Tom, thanks very much. It will be fascinating to watch. Lets go over to savannah. Thank you. In a disturbing new video, an option of al qaeda is threatening to murder a man in three days from now. Luke summer, 33yearsold, born in the u. K. , an american citizen, spent self of his life here. He was kidnapped about a year ago. He was living in yemen. He initially went as a teacher. Then he started taking photographs and became a photo journalist. He got kidnapped from al qaeda. We havent heard much from him. Then this video came out. An al qaeda member, known al qaeda leader is speaking on the video saying that unless al qaeda demands, which are unmeetable, that he will be killed in three days. You have knowledge about an operation to rescue him, a failed attempt . Late last month, there was a secret mission to free him. It was led by u. S. Special operation forces, yemeni Ground Forces were involved. They managed to free saudi and yemeni hostages. Unfortunately, he wasnt there. This is the way for the grownup to respond saying, you didnt get him. You missed him. Now there is a possibly we will get him. By the way, there is another story getting a lot of attention this morning. An American Teacher who was murdered in abu dhabi. We dont know necessarily why she was murdered. There was video of this woman living in abu dhabi, which is a popular place for american to go abroad. When she went abroad into the persian gulf, she was murdered. Reporter before her brutal murder, she seemed at home in abu dhabi t. 47yearold divorced mother moved from colorado to the wealthy capital of the United Arab Emirates with her twins, 11yearold boys over a year ago. She was recruited by a firm called foot print to teach in the persian gulf. She wrote on the website, i wanted to experience the arab world, sharing my life and learning about theirs. It is an amazing experience. Ryan was stabbed to death monday at this shopping mall. Abu dhabi Police Released this under Surveillance Video showing a person wearing a traditional all covering abayi entering the mall entering an elevator. On another floor, she walks towards the womens restroom. 90 minutes later the tape shows people, including the suspect, running from the restroom, where witnesses told nbc news, they heard shouting. One person confronts the suspect. Who quickly leaves the mall. They call ryans murder a troubling sign for americans living in the persian gulf. Traditionally up until this very moment, americans have been safe. This is a warning sign. People have to be careful. Its unclear why she was murdered. But there had been a warning put out by the u. S. Ba es to cross the middle east. That al qaeda was looking to carry out attacks against American Teachers. So there had been a specific threat for learning institutions. Abu dhabi one of the safer cities in the middle east. Thank you. More top stories of the morning, including bad news for anyone who received a flu shot this year. Thats right. We are getting a warning from federal officials this morning. Much of the influenza virus in the u. S. Has mutated. They are saying this years vaccine doesnt provide good protection against it. The centers for Disease Control and prevention said most flu cases are started by the virus this year. It mutated and about half of the cases match the vaccine. Still the cdc says the vaccine provide what is is called cross protection, which might reduce the likelihood of severe outcomes, such as hospitalization and death. Family and friends gathered on wednesday to remember tamir rice, the 12yearold cleveland boy shot to death by a Police Officer. More than 100 people attended the service. Rice was shot nearly two weeks ago by an officer responding to a call about a person with a gun. It turns out it was an air soft pellet gun. The grand jury will consider whether to bring charges against the officer. Baltimore ravens officials are denying claims that they suggested to jenay rice. That apology came during their joint news conference, she told matt she was ready to do anything to help the situation. If there is anyone that says, jenay, it would be good if you issue an apology. They suggest it, yes. Did they come up with the wording . No, not specifically. They basically gave us the general script. The ravens Team Official said in a statement wednesday, the Team Provided talking points to ray, not to jenay. Rice won the appeal of his indefinite suspension last week. It remains to be seen what his team will take him on. A driver and shaith 38 children escape a smoking bus on the way to school. So the driver pulled over. Fortunately, everyone was able to get out safely. The bus, though, was soon fully engulfed in flames. Talk about flight i frightening there. The Holiday Season officially under way right here in new york cit city. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 as you saw, matt, savannah, al and i were there, along with several other performers, to light up the famous Christmas Tree, the spruce topped by that beautiful glowing war swarovski star. Mariah carey kicking off the event with her no. 1 hit all i want for christmas is you. So now we can ask the question, have you started your Christmas Shopping . Thats the question a lot of people are asking. I give you the chance to say 45,000 lights, one goes out, they all go out that wont be the last time. Mr. Roker. We have been talking about this rain in california and while it doesnt seem like big numbers for california these are impressive numbers for the month of september. Look at this, san francisco, threeandahalf inches. All of last year got 3. 3 inches of rain, los angeles picking up an inch and a third. San diego, twothirds of an inch of rain. That has made it into the southwest. On into albuquerque. We will watch this. Even though you may not live in this area. This rain makes its way east and by friday it is in the midwest. It will make its way into the northeast as we make our way it will make its way into the northeast as we make our way into the weekend so walgreens knows the holidays are full of surprises. Thats why, whenever the need arises. Walgreens is always right around the corner, so you can get in and out in no time. And help keep the magic in your holidays. At the corner of happy and healthy. Plus get up to 20 in jingle cash on next weeks purchase of 30 or more. As we head into the rest of today well see a mix of sun and clouds. Thats an improvement from what we saw yesterday. Our temperatures race between 44 and 47 degrees just slightly below the average of 49. Temperatures continue to drop down as wed into your friday. Mostly cloudy skies tomorrow, no sunshine. But were tracking your rain return on the overnight hours friday headed into your saturday and sunday a chance of showers for the eagles games on sunday. Ll right, al, thank you so much. Carson, i used to snow a guy named carson. Is he in for tamron . Merry christmas. Ho, ho, ho, everybody. Nice to see you guys, too. Well, there is good news. I will tell you about it in a bit. Our friend jimmy fallon and their his wife, nancy, they had a baby. Also ahead, could you go through with this . Why one mother says she is can selling christmas to teach her kids a very important lesson. 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