Of a young female chinese student. But the victims family is holding out hope. All that, plus Venus Williams gets emotional at wimbledon. The creator of the ice bucket challenge puts the rumors to rest. And falling flat. Passengers aboard a hot air balloon get an unexpected ending to their holiday joyride, today, july 4th, 2017. From nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on this independence morning. Thanks for joining us. Craig and i are in for matt and savannah today. Were going to help you celebrate americas 241st birthday with some members of the band here. This is the United States air force ceremonial brass out on the plaza. Theyre going to be joining us throughout the course of the morning. Busy morning. We begin with the breaking news. North korea says it has testlaunched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Our team is standing by with everything you need to know, beginning with keir simmons in london. Good morning. Sheinelle, good morning. U. S. Defense and military officials tell nbc news they are assessing the type of missile fired by north korea. But early analysis suggests it is an intermediaterange ballistic missile, not the longer range that north korea claims. It comes just days before leaders of the group of 20 nations will discuss steps to rein in north koreas weapons programs. Overnight, north korea announcing its conducted another missile test. Claiming it has tested an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, icbm, which could have the range to reach the United States. Officials say the missile test was fired from the countrys Western Region and tracked for 37 minutes before landing in the sea of japan. The launch comes after a string of tests and rising tensions between north korea and the United States. President trump, calling out the north korean leader, condemning the missile test on twitter. North korea has launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life . Hard to believe that south korea and japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps china will put a heavy move on north korea and end this nonsense once and for all. H. R. Mcmaster calling a Nuclear Armed north korea the number one threat to the u. S. We have to prepare all options because the president has made clear to us that he will not accept a Nuclear Power in north korea and a threat that can target the United States and target the american population. Reporter it is unlikely but not unprecedented to change the assessment of the type of missile tested by north korea. Asking if it could be an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile as north korea claims, one official says its possible. Well talk about that. Keir, thank you. Lets bring in jeremy bash. Good morning to you. Good morning, guys. This is the 11th time that theyve conducted a missile test since donald trump cabecame president. This appears to be the longest of the tests so far. What can we make of the timing and north korea being a global threat . This only traveled 578 miles. But it launched high into the air. It flew about 40 minutes. If you extend out that range, it could hit alaska and maybe the outer reaches of hawaii. While the label Intercontinental Ballistic Missile is not as important as the range, what is showcases is this is a significant escalation. The regime of kim jongun is heavily isolated from the world. And despite threats and tough talk from the Trump Administration, at this point, nothing seems to be working. What can they do to reel this in . Its very difficult. And north korea seems undeterred by President Trumps rhetoric. They seem undeterred by chinas diplomacy. The options on the table for america are very limited. And one of the things i think the Trump Administration is weighing is preemptive military action. If they see another missile law firm launched on a launchpad or on the back of a vehicle, the Trump Administration will have to decide whether to strike that preemptive hi. But that could spark a wider war on the korean peninsula. You mentioned china. Reported reportedly President Trump called the president of china, xi. Have we overstated chinas willingness and or ability to rein in north korea . Its our only hope, craig. Thats the point in the region. We dont have many good options. And all of the options usually lead to put pressure on china and put pressure on their partner in the region, north korea. They control that border. We need to leverage that diplomacy. Its significant because last month donald trump said the diplomacy has not worked. In statements on friday with the south korean president , he said effectively diplomacy is over. I think thats what triggered the Missile Launches. People are concerned with the apparent advancement of technology, justice u. S. The timeline on all this. They have been testing missiles since the mid2000s. Theyve been Testing Nuclear weapons since 2006. Five nuclear tests. But they have not put a Nuclear Warhead on top of a missile. They do not have the ability to hit the United States with a nuclear weapon. But this Missile Launch shows they can potentially range alaska, hawaii and eventually the west coast of the United States. G20 leaders. Japan will be there, china, the United States. This will be the topic of conversation. From an International Perspecti perspective, what are the options for the International Community . I think the biggest option here is sanctioning. Sanctioning those entities to do business with north korea to cut off their lifeline. Short of that, were talking about preemptive military action, which nobody wants. Thank you. President trump back at the white house where he will be spending his first fourth of july as commander in chief. But hes looking ahead to the highlyanticipated facetoface meeting with russias president Vladimir Putin, in germany. Hallie jackson has more on that. Hallie, good morning. Reporter good morning to you. And plenty to talk about on the foreign front in morning. Its not just that meeting with chinese president xi, you and jeremy talked about later this week, where north korea will be at the top of the agenda. Thats a crucial facetoface. But its not the most highprotile one. That will come from Vladimir Putin just a few days from now. Trump, ready to celebrate Independence Day back home at the white house with fireworks already. Taking aim at the Fake News Media and taking credit for strong wall street numbers. But the real show happens later this week, at the g20 summit in germany. Thats where President Trump for the first time will talk facetoface with Vladimir Putin, in what russian officials acknowledge is a crucial meeting, highly anticipated. Right now, were not getting along with russia at all. We may at an alltime low. Were going to have a great relationship with putin and russia. Reporter its a relationship thats, well, complicated. Critics calling for a tougher tone after moscow meddled in the 2016 election, something that the kremlin has denied. Its not clear if President Trump will bring that up with putin. They plan to bring up syria, ukraine and isis. Moscow is reportedly using patience with the u. S. , with the diplomatic compounds here, shut down as russias election interference. Both sides are working out timing, length and format of the sideline meeting of the two leaders. The president last month with megyn kelly. Did we have a relationship with him . We didnt have a relationship at all. I didnt meet with him. Reporter putin complimented candidate trump on the campaign trial, calling him bright and colorful. Putin says very nice things about me. I think thats very nice. It has no effect on me, other than i think its very nice. Reporter a critical test for the president , facing a veteran diplomat. Some reports out of russia say that president ial sitdown will happen friday. President trump at the g20 is set to meet with european leaders. Were hearing hints it may get uncomfortable. German chancellor Angela Merkel says she does not plan to shy away from politically different differen on climate and trade. Hallie jackson, thank you. Now, to a deal reached late last night in a new jersey budget standoff. The parks will open after Chris Christie was spotted lounging on a beach in a was closed. Reporter governor christie is pushing back hard at his critics. The governor insisted his time at the beach was about keeping a family commitment. Thats our residence. We have a right to be there when we want to be there. Reporter govern eor chris christ christie, facing a torrent of criticism. The Christie Family enjoying the beach at an official residence, the beach thats part of a state park, ordered closed to everyone else because of a threeday government shutdown. The picture dominated the days news. Mocking the oncepopular governor in his final months. Poll numbers at record lows. I dont apologize for it. I dont back away from it. And i think my poll numbers show that i dont care about political optics. What i care about is doing whats right and wrong. Reporter with the government in gridlock and many of the states popular recreation areas closed this Holiday Weekend, some residents didnt like upending their family plans while the governor kept theirs. The kids are excited. We have to turn back home. I think hes very arrogant. And he doesnt care about anybody but himself. Reporter even christies lieutenant governor, running for his job, has turned on him. I certainly wouldnt be on the beach at a park that was closed. As i said before, its beyond words. Its incentive. Reporter social media unrelenting. With tstar wars. With forrest gump. At the white house. Christie said only 11 miles of state beach was closed, 119 miles open. Insisting he wouldnt change a thing. When i get done tonight, ill go back to the beach. Thats where my family is. Reporter christie has just six months left in office. Once a president ial contender and confidant of President Trump, not shying away from a fight as he heads out the door. Everything is open for the fourth. Well take it, ron. A taxi driver jumped a curve. That taxi driver struck a group of pedestrians near bostons airport. He has not been charged. Bystanders were hurt in the crash. None of the injuries are lifethreatening. The 56yearold driver said his car accelerated and his brake wouldnt work. But police say it looks like the driver hit the wrong pedal. An investigation is under way. Now, to a frightening hot air balloon ride near disneyland ended with a splash. 17 people were onboard when the balloon crashlanded in an alligatorinfested pond. At one point, the basket tipped over and water started pouring in. Thankfully, no one else was injured. New developeds on the health of the man who inspired the ice bucket challenge, pete frates. Sadly, he is back in the hospital. Youll remember him from when he inspired millions of people to dump icecold water on their heads to raise money and awareness for a. L. S. Pete frates poking fun of rumors on his death on twitter. Listening to pearl jams hit alive. The tongue in cheek video, after reports that frates died from a. L. S. , also nonas lou gehrigs disease. Frates family said, pete is resting comfortably at massachusetts general hospital, as the doctors, medicine, prayers and love held him get stronger. Frates inspired people around the world with the ice bucket challenge in 2014. From celebrities like ben affleck, martha stewart. Two, one. Reporter and kermit the frog. To athletes. Here we go. Reporter and who can forget when savannah doused matt with that bucket of ice. Is my hair messed up . Reporter it all made a huge viral splash. More than 17 Million People posted videos online, raising 220 million for a. L. S. Research and treatment. Back in 2014, nbc talks with frates and his wife, julie. A. L. S. Is all we talk about it. To see other people talk about it, is mindblowing. All these people are paying attention to something important to us. Reporter the former Boston College baseball star was diagnosed in 2012 at the age of 27. Now even though hes unable to speak. His spirit still shines. Thoughts and prayers and wellwishes with pete this morning. More than 200 million he helped raise. But the awareness. One can argue that was more special. Can you put a number on that . All right, lets get a first check of the weather. Dylan is in for al this morning. The weather is pretty nice. We have a couple of spotty showers and storms. A line of rain moving through texas. That will continue to move to the south and east. Spotty showers moving into southwestern massachusetarkansa. And right here there, we had a strong storm through dallas. Youll see the rain continue shortly and continue to the south and east. Theres a stalled front. And along the front well see showers and storms. Not looking at Severe Weather today. Well see downpours and the lightning, its something to keep an eye out for. And the clouds will continue to move up into the midwest as we go into wednesday evening. Nothing too extreme expected. Well see our best chance of heavier rain through eastern oklahoma, into southwestern missouri and into northwestern arkansas. Scattered showers and storms through virginia and into the carolinas, too. And tomorrow, some of the rain will move along to virginia burke at farmers, weve seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a coupe soup. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, twothousandnine. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum good morning, meteorologist bill henley. Temperatures warming up with sunshine and some clouds. And yes, the chance of a late day shower and thunderstorms. 88 degrees this afternoon. Slight chance of fireworks from Mother Nature for philadelphia and new jersey 87 degrees in interior new jersey. At the shore. 82 degrees. Slight chance of afternoon and evening shower. Delaware popup thunderstorms this afternoon. Isolated and dry out this afternoon. Lehigh valley. Have a great day. Thats your latest forecast. And thats your latest forecast. Dylan, thank you. 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