20th, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today. Its friday morning. Weve got willie here for matt and a really busy news day. Once again terror is our top story. Theres a hostage situation unfolding right now malis capital. This is after gunmen attacked a Radisson Hotel that is popular with foreigners. We know that president obama who is in malaysia right now on separate travel has been briefed by his National Security adviser on this situation, and, of one week after those attacks in paris. We want to get right to nbcs ron mott following developments. Ron, what can you tell us . Reporter hey, savannah, good morning to you. Details are still thin at this hour but heres what we know. The hotel is on lockdown. Some hostages have reportedly been freed. The malian military is on scene and setting up a security perimeter around the hotel and may have already entered and the u. S. Embassy is telling its staff and all americans in the area to shelter in place. Nbc news has learned at least 150 people were taken hostage today at the Radisson Blu Hotel in malis capital bamako, according to a hotel spokesperson. According to reports, there are at least ten gunmen and at least three people have been kill. On its website the hotel said 140 guests and 30 employees were locked in a room by hostagetakers. It is unknown whether any americans are among those being held. Its also unclear which terrorist group is behind todays attack, the latest of them in a series of them this year in central and northern mali. In august at least 12 people were killed during another attack on a hotel used by United Nations staff. This one about 400 miles northeast of the capital. French forces backed up the malian military in ending that assault which lasted 24 hours. Now, according to the New York Times, the gunmen asked hostages if they could recite a declaration of muslim faith. Let grow. Mali has grown increasingly volatile in the past couple of years as civil unrest has spread with its mick militants gaining a foothold in that region. President obama was briefed by National Security adviser susan rice and told his team to keep him apprised of his developments and we can also tell you there were two airlines who are crew members in that hotel, one a Turkish Airlines, some of their crew were able to escape the hotel so this is still a very unfolding situation in mali this morning. Savannah. I know youre keeping your eye on it this morning, thank you. We want to bring in richard engel, nbcs chief foreign correspondent. Good morning to you. Richard, ron just touched on the backdrop of mali. What strikes you about this attack . Reporter well, there are many different Islamist Groups that operate in mali. In 2013 an al qaedabacked group that was operating in northern mali almost took over the country, and that prompt the the French Military to launch an invasion, and just yesterday french president hollande was praising french troops for restoring order in mali and trying to draw the islamists back. There was supposed to be peace talks to begin at this very hotel between the islamists and government factions and a variety of other factions in the nation. Mali has seen problems with Islamist Groups in the past. Not just isis, al qaeda included, so this may be in some way related to that. All right. A lot going on. Richard engel, thank you very much. This drama in mali is taking place exactly one week after the attacks in pairs. Overnight french officials revealed that a third body was found in the apartment raid that killed the alleged ringleader. While here at home the fbi says its on alert for potential copycats. Weve got it all covered beginning with nbcs chief global correspondent bill neely in paris. Bill, good morning. Reporter good morning, willie. It is exactly a week since the worst massacre in france since world war ii. They are not marking it formally here in any way. Authorities dont want to dignify what isis has done, and as you say from the rubble of that Police Assault on an isis cell, a third body has now been found. In the debris of an apartment hit by 5,000 bullets, forensic teams found the remains of a third person, a woman. Its not known who she was or whether she, too, blew herself up. This woman did, Hasna Aitboulahcen, her handbag and passport also found. Friends say she loved life, loved to party and that she was brainwashed. Her final recorded words, telling police the man shes with is not her boyfriend. And this is the moment she detonated her suicide vest in video obtained by abc news. Police say it almost destroyed the apartment. Her mother and brother were led away by police from the paris home she left just three weeks ago after showing no sign of being radicalized. She was with Abdelhamid Abaaoud. He was identified by dna, the ringleader of the massacres who evaded Police Across europe. Its a good thing they found him. Reporter theres no satisfaction for the grieving parents of Natalie Laurent killed at the concert hall. It means nothing, her mother told me. My daughter is dead. For french police, the killing of abaaoud is a success, but the fact that he was able to get on to these streets all the way from syria without being stopped by any european country is an intelligence failure. We have to waken up, said one french minister as europe met to discuss the crisis today. We cannot say today that this is an end. We think were just in the middle of the storm. Reporter isis have threatened more attacks on italy and washington in a video called paris before rome. After the unthinkable here, its and police have now recovered cctv footage of that ringleader abaaoud as attacks were taking place. He was filmed at a metro station in central paris, so the man who organized the attacks also clearly directed them from the ground. Willie, savannah. So much has happened, so much a week. Bill neely in paris, thank you. And with isis now threatening attacks on the United States, security and intelligence officials here are, of course, on heightened alert. The director of the fbi says his agents are keeping a close eye on dozens of people they fear could be inspired by the terror group to try to do Something Like what happened in pairs. Nbcs justice correspondent Pete Williams in washington with that. Pete, good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. The fbi says what its most worried about is home grown extremists, people in the u. S. Responding to isis recruiters on social media and willing to carry out attacks here at home. The fbis top priority is keeping watch on people in the they might be interested in carrying out an isisinspired attack here. The fbi director puts the number of such cases at dozens. Intelligence Officials Say its about 50. That is very hard work, but we are very fortunate to have the help of our state and local partners around the country. Reporter fbi director says despite the relentless isis propaganda videos, the latest including a threat to attack white house, he sees no sign of any credible threat here of a parisstyle or any kind of terror attack. Isil and its supporters put out all kinds of propaganda like video or magazines and thats not credible intelligence. Of course we investigate all of those propaganda threats. Reporter comey for the first time gave an estimate of the number of people believed to have gone from the u. S. To Syria Associated with isis and then come back to the u. S. That number, he said, is in the teens, a huge contrast to the estimated 5,000 people from western europe who have been to syria and back overwhelming european efforts to track them all. But that figure has some in congress saying the u. S. Must do more to screen travelers from European Countries who dont need a visa to come to the u. S. Regarding the Visa Waiver Program this, program is important to the Business Community and the tourism industry, and i have supported it, but i also believe it is the soft underbelly of our National Security policies. Reporter fbi director comey said hes seen no indication that isis terrorists have attempted to come to the u. S. From overseas in the past days or weeks. Savannah. All right. Pete williams in washington, thanks. Lets turn to shawn henry who served as assistant director of the fbi and now with crowdstrike. Good morning. In light of what happened in paris what, changes for the fbi . Presumably they have their eyes on a bunch of individuals. Do they change what they are doing now to kind of say, hey, we are watching you . They absolutely do. Following people involved in investigations, people this they know are sympathetic to the jihadi cause and pose a threat here to the United States, on the heels of what we saw in paris they will be more aggressive and be more proactive and go out and shake the bushes. Theres issues where people are aspirational and may cause harm here versus though who become operational. The fbi cant wait for somebody to become operational right now. They have to go out and let them know that they are under investigation. How do the fbi decide who to track more closely or surveil more closely, looking at social media, wire tapping . How do they find this group. A whole range of things that put somebody up as a priority. Its who is moving closer to becoming operational. Are they talking about obtaining weapons . Is their rhetoric becoming much more violent . Are they associated with others who maybe have traveled overseas . The fbi wants to make sure they are focusing on highest priorities and the reality is there are too many of these people and they dont have all intelligence to focus you. Talked a lot about the part that the public has in this in reporting anything that seems out of order or suspicious. Im thinking about this female suicide bomber in france who not that long ago had a totally different life, was not devout, was out partying, according to reports and then one day she shows up and shes suddenly changed. Is that the kind of thing people should be reporting . Thats absolutely right, savannah. What it goes to show you cant profile who a suicide attacker is or a terrorist might be. What youve got to do is look for this anomalous behavior, someone making violent statements, their behavior has changed. They are looking to associate with others or they are talking in a much more violent way or, again, seeking to go out and obtain weapons or something of that nature. They are looking for that those are the people who are coming up on the priority list and are going to be more clearly focused on. I think a week ago when we first saw these attacks in paris, a lot of americans reaction was my goodness, if it can happen there it can happen in any city here in the United States. What should the American People glean from listening to the fbi director yesterday . Is Something Like this coming down pike for the United States . What the American People need to know is absolutely there is a risk, but be aware. Be alert, dont be afraid. Shawn henry, always good to talk to you, thank you. Now to the fierce debate of Syrian Refugees coming to the United States. Defying the president the house voted on thursday overwhelmingly to impose stringent new screening rules while on the campaign trail donald trump is under fire this morning after calling for the creation of a National Database to register all muslims living here in the u. S. Nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander is covering the political piece of that this morning. Peter, good morning. Reporter hi, savannah. Americans clearly have real fears after the paris attacks. Doesnt matter which party you belong to, but on the topic of Syrian Refugees, it is republicans on the campaign trail who have really gone on the offensive with some of the toughest language yet. In the fight over Syrian Refugees, more fearmongering and heated rhetoric. We cant take them. Reporter donald trump cheered on by supporters in iowa thursday night, telling nbc news hed support a government database to track muslims living in this country. There should be a lot of systems beyond database. We should have a lot of systems. I would certainly implement that, absolutely. Reporter later trump ignored a followup question. Mr. Trump, why would a muslim database not be the same thing as requiring jews to register in nazi germany . Who are you with you. Im with nbc news. Requiring muslims to register and jews . Reporter in alabama calling for tough screening ben carson compared some refugees to mad dogs. If theres a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, youre probably not going to assume something good about that dog and youre probably going to put your children out of the way. Reporter criticized for those remarks, carson criticized reporters. So what is the news media do . Rabid dogs. The bill is passed. Reporter on capitol hill 47 House Democrats joined republicans defying the president s veto threat passing a bill that would shut the door on refugees coming to the u. S. From syria and iraq, setting an impossible bar requiring the nations top three Security Officials at fbi, Homeland Security and national intelligence, personally certify that each refugee is not a threat before they are allowed in. Its a security test, not a religious test. Reporter on its instagram page, the white house blasted out images of desperate young refugees, unveiling her aggressive strategy to defeat isis, Hillary Clinton attacked the uproar. That is just not who we are. Reporter and new this morning, the results from the latest nbc news surveymonkey online poll taken after the paris attacks, here what they are, among republicans trump remains firmly in the lead. Hes at 28 , but you can see ben carson, had the biggest drop falling into a tie for second now at 18 with senator ted cruz, cruz grabbing some of carson evangelical support. Marco rubio at 11 and jeb bush well behind. On the democratic side Hillary ClintonStill Holding the lead just shy of 50 , but note this, Bernie Sanders posted his highest level of support in our polls yet at 33 . Savannah, willie. All right. Peter alexander, thank you so much. Were going to take a closer look at some of the numbers on the refugee issues. Of the 69,000 refugees who have enter the 12,000, about 18 , are from iraq and about 1,600, less than 3 , are syrian. And that syrian number could grow next year as president obama remains committed to his plan to accept at least 10,000 more Syrian Refugees. New this morning, nearly 30 years after his arrest, convicted spy Jonathan Pollard has been released from a federal prison in North Carolina. The former u. S. Navy selling classified documents to israel in 1985. The case, one of the most contentious issues between the u. S. And israel over the past three decades. Pollard is now 61 years old. Hell be on probation for at least five years and wont be time. A Spirit Airlines flight was forced to make an Emergency Landing last night due to a bomb threat. Passenger took this cell phone video of a man being taken into plane. The flight from ft. Lauderdale to minneapolis was in the air for 15 minutes when the crew was forced to turn around and return to ft. Lauderdale. The plane was taken to an isolated area at the airport and swept for explosives. Nothing was found. Officials say two men are being interviewed by police and the fbi. Busy morning here. How is it in the Weather Department . Anything shaking . Some snow. Really. You want to see some video of snow. It happened in fargo, north dakota. Happened yesterday, blowing snow at that. Reduces visibility, especially when gusts are up to 40 to 60 miles per hour. Not a lot of snow but enough to make the roads slippery and the overpasses were a little bit icy. Temperatures have been very cold and it doesnt look like much here, but this will turn into the first big snow storm for the midwest, including chicago as we go into this weekend, especially tonight and tomorrow morning. Right now were seeing a steady snow from rapid city, south dakota, stretching into northeastern parts of nebraska and there are Winter Weather advisories in yellow and winter storm warnings across parts of iowa into Northern Illinois and also central wisconsin. Michigan is under a winter storm watch. Heres an area of low pressure. It will approach chicago and will start as rain as we go into tonight and tomorrow morning and then it ends as some snow and thats where well see most of our accumulation and gusty winds could reduce visibility as well and then lifts north and rain showers through erie pennsylvania. How much snow will we see . Go north of chicago and thats where we could end up with 8 to 10 inches of snow and south of chicago lesser amounts and right in chicago itself we should see about 2 to 5 inches and this pink area right in he