marks today. 979 the big bang created. december 23rd b.t.w. . this is news live from berlin living with the effects of the climate crisis as the u.n. secretary general sounds the alarm on rising global temperatures we hear from an indonesian fisherman waging his own personal battle with the resulting rising global sea levels also coming up. thousands of people marched on the streets of hong kong in a new wave of protests hoping to keep up their momentum after the landslide victory of pro-democracy candidates in elections a week ago. and events are being held around the globe to mark world aids day much has changed since the discovery of the virus and $983.00 talk to an expert about the situation in germany and the rest of the world. thanks for joining. us secretary-general antonio terrace has issued a stark warning about the threat of climate change and he s called for immediate action he announced at the bank of england governor mark carney would be taking up the role of special envoy on climate action at the un from early 2020 we have even the pull and the. soon it will be too deep to escape. i welcome the voices of young activists so be meeting they understand that you have job revising their future if you fly i will continue to push every to keep climate at the top of the international gym. statement follows the declaration of a climate emergency by e.u. lawmakers showing a heightened awareness of the impact implications of climate change for some people though in other parts of the world the issue is already a life change. for abdul hadi a fisherman in java indonesia the climate crisis is stark reality flooding in his home village of time back is so bad that he s engaged in a constant battle against water it s a graphic reminder of the risks posed by the sinking coastline. it s always flooding my house is located to the lowest level lower than the road. there every few years hardy has to elevate his house the flooding is aggravated by the ground level sinking caused by extraction of underground water and coupled with extreme weather and rising tides associated with climate change. land subsidence around $10.00 to $20.00 centimeters every year due to extraction of underground water and on the other hand the seed of it has increased. due to problems have caused flooding and high tides. and that climate change also caused other impacts like extreme weather. and. indonesia is particularly vulnerable to climate change the polluted capital jakarta is drowning because of rising sea levels because of this alarming situation the country s authorities have taken a controversial decision to move the capital which will cost 33 $1000000000.00 hardy though can t afford to follow his government s example. it s impossible for us to move we can t pay for it so even though there are title floods stay. for him the only way to confront the climate emergency is with a stoic fatalism. maltese prosecutors have charged one of multis wealthiest people as an accomplice to the murder of investigative journalist stephanie. you re going fenech pleaded not guilty to his alleged involvement in the . police arrested him 10 days ago while he was trying to leave malta on his luxury yacht. i was investigating government corruption when she was killed in a car bomb attack 2 years ago you spoke to her sister shortly after fenech appeared in a courtroom i will be content when every when full justice is finally delivered for everybody involved. and everybody she ever exposed and everybody involved in her murder possibly has not been identified yet which is why we re expecting the prime minister to leave office and parliament. and be investigated along with his chief of staff. because they may have very well have been involved in the plot. and now to some of the other stories making news around the world. new orleans police say 11 people were shot in the city s famed french order early sunday morning 2 of the victims are in critical condition police detained a person of interest motive for the shooting is still unclear as well as whether there was one or multiple gunmen involved. dutch police say there is no evidence that the suspect in the hague the stabbing had a terrorist motive 3 teenagers were injured in the attack on friday night in a busy shopping street police are questioning a homeless man in connection with the incident. and iraq s parliament has approved the resignation of prime minister adel abdul mahdi amid ongoing violence and anti-government demonstrations. he has said his government will stay on until a new one is chosen. the. at least 900 people have been killed and another 18 injured after a bus plunged off a bridge in eastern siberia a vehicle landed upside down on a frozen river it was carrying 40 passengers when one of its tires burst and the driver lost control of the. thousands of people have taken to the streets of hong kong in a fresh wave of pro-democracy protests there hoping to keep up the pressure on city leader kerry lam after the landslide victory by pro-democracy candidates in district council elections a week ago once again police in riot gear were out in full force. taking aim with pepper spray at protesters rallying to decry precisely this kind of police response hong kong s pro-democracy movement was back out in force with thousands on the streets chanting revolution of our time and liberate hong kong. once again police made arrests and used tear gas to push demonstrators back even as a separate rally was being staged elsewhere in the city to protest the toll the tear gas is taking on residents health but the movement seeking greater autonomy from beijing is eager to keep up momentum after its candidates landslide victory in district voting a week ago. off to their high school and all and a remarkable achievement in that district. would not let these do exist now we are calling to call for to set up an investigation commission called police brutality i think it s very important for us to all like. like come out of it all together make sure we re on the same page here so you support what we re doing. at a 3rd rally a wave of american flags relayed protesters gratitude for this week s show of support from donald trump. the u.s. president a hero for protesters after he signed legislation that could sanction hong kong and chinese officials for human rights abuses in the city. spelling out appeals for more help their banners underlined the sense that their struggle is far from over. the election of 2 new left leaning social democrat leaders has cast doubt of the over the future of chancellor angela merkel s government senior german conservatives today called on the s.p.d. not to abandon the grand coalition but they also ruled out renegotiating the governing agreement the winning jewel boy. say they want to focus on issues closer to social democratic values such as social justice and climate policies and they have indicated that they would be prepared to exit the coalition if they don t get what they want speaking after her victory last night co-leader designit esque instead the pair wanted to discuss the way ahead at an s.t.d. conference this week due to makati stick with a grand coalition is terrible for our democracy it has to be said we can also see that the big parties lost out in the grand coalition that means that we both have an interest in governing in other coalitions again. today marks world aids day much has changed since the discovery of the hiv virus in 1903 over the last 2 decades the number of new infections has declined significantly and although there is still no cure a positive diagnostic this is no longer a death sentence however hiv remains a major concern and un estimates that close to $38000000.00 people worldwide are living with the virus about 6 percent of infected people live in western and central europe and north america 15 percent are in the asia pacific region and nearly 70 percent of hiv infected people live in sub-saharan africa which also has the highest numbers of new infections and aids related deaths. around the world events are being held to mark world aids day china has launched a national red ribbon alliance to better connect medical facilities helping people living with the disease and a hospital in brazil released thousands of red balloons to draw attention to the ongoing epidemic. and in south africa an organization that supports mothers and children living with hiv he held special events including a performance by this always a choir. and to talk about the situation here in germany i m joined by whole gift of george aids hiv a charity that helps raise awareness about aids what is the situation in germany as far as h.l.v. people goes well we have declining numbers of infections 2 in germany that s really good news that s because of the effectiveness of the medication the therapy under effective under effective therapy it carries not transmittable anymore and that s really good news because it also helps to remove fears people are not afraid anymore if they know transmission is impossible and that is the case today but there s still stick while there are still discrimination against like people judging other people saying well why didn t you protect yourself you have done prong or are seeing a danger in other people like moving a little bit back wards or maybe it s still a problem maybe i could get infected that s not true of course in everyday life transmission is impossible with an effective therapy it s absolutely impossible but that s that s good news not everybody knows it but why doesn t everybody know it are young people forgetting i mean i can remember you know how princess diana at the end of the 980 s. shook the hand of an aids patient yeah really shocked people and but raised awareness and made it clear that you don t die by it she she showed people you can touch people with h.l.v. that pose a sensation and there was just so much panic and fear and today the situation has changed so much and and we can tell people you can even sleep with people living with hiv show read as long as you choose one of 3 possible ways to protect yourself one is still condoms the other. one is the the the therapy because under effective therapy transmission is impossible and the 3rd one is actually prophylaxis as a negative it s everything you get to of person you can take a medication to if you have a high risk and you won t contract it to be then let s get back to the stigma you re talking about let s say i had h i.v. in germany what kind of obstacles and sort of rejections are problems that i face in society the 1st thing you should know is that you can go on living a regular life in all areas like burke family s sexuality everything still possible because of the effectiveness of each of you therapy but you never know how other people who are react you will get a lot of support people will be supporting you. there are always some people judging you or maybe you will you have some problems of birth maybe because your boss things you re not in affective employee anymore and stuff like that it s not true there s still a lot of lot to do to tell people that people with a job we can live like anybody else ok thanks so much that was a victim of aids hiv here in germany thank you to formula one now and world champion lewis hamilton has rounded off the season with victory at the abu dhabi grand prix hamilton started from pole position and was unchallenged as he cruised to his 11th win in $21.00 races this year the brit a 6 time world champion now has 84 career victories just 7 shy of the record held by michael schumacher. to football now and the draw for the euro 2020 group stage has taken place with germany in given a very tough assignment the german side will have to face both the reigning world champions france and the reigning european champions portugal in group af the outlook appears slightly less troublesome for fellow turn and hosts england who will have to face croatia and the czech republic in group d. the 4th opponent in each of these groups is yet to be decided. behind berlin valencia is regarded as one of the best marathon cities thanks to its even flat course and mild winter plot. today s events yielded some fast times in both the men s and women s categories 2nd fastest men turkey s. violent broke the european record previously held by for ah ahead of him the ethiopian runner you won with a time of 2 hours 3 minutes and 52 seconds fellow ethiopia that rose berridge a claim the women s crown setting a new course. and
huge or maybe green if you can kick it s fictions of coal and nuclear power. welcome to you business asia i m stephen beard s in berlin thanks for watching us class action lawsuit claims that chinese video sharing app tick-tock secretly transferred vast amounts of user data to chinese servers the lawsuit filed in california accuses tech talk of collecting the information without user content consent rather saying it could be used to identify profile and track customers. has become hugely popular with teenagers since it launched 2 years ago last month to hit 1500000000 downloads that s already more than instagram. and for more on this let s bring in rob watts he s been looking into this rob 1st off for months to give what is to talk so take talk is the international version of a chinese doll un and it s a simple concept uses post 15 2nd video up to 15 2nd videos most like it pays to tweet on twitter or a photo on instagram but they tend to be sort of quickie videos like sinking along to a song or a comics it s all something that uses some funky sort of editing to make something a little bit otti and you mention there are some really big numbers involved with this already around the world it s got hoth a 1000000000 uses most of them ah in that teens or their early twenty s and early relatively quick time it sounds like oh yeah as you mention any a couple of years but the uptake is strong and these young uses are constantly uploading that data to it and now it seems or at least there is this accusation that some of that data is finding its way to china ok so why why would that matter i guess if it s going to china i mean so many social media sites of course are collecting data in the u.s. why should we care about this well the thing is chinese social media websites. the quiets to allow beijing to access that data so if it s being stored in china it means it falls under the purview now what you might ask is well what to what would china want with the states and now we can t speak for. inside the chinese government but we can discuss perhaps. why they might want that i mean for example that data can be used these enormous data sets to try and target advertising to target specific messages that perhaps promotes the chinese government s there also is the possibility that you could scan that data for people who are critical of the chinese government so the concern here is that china would have access to the data versus a facebook or google which already has access to massive amounts of our data yeah exactly that because you ve got a state hacked a state actor that could potentially be a hostile state tax or when you re dealing with the data of overseas citizens this is the 1st time the talk has been in the spotlight at least in the last few weeks of no i mean we ve been talking about the context of us this is a particularly controversial issue that i mean the u.s. congress back in october asked tick-tock to clarify suggestions that it was somehow in the thrall of the beijing government and that it had been deleting accounts and deleting videos that were critical of beijing is there any truth to the well to talk denies that it says it s never been asked by beijing to take anything down and if it was asked it wouldn t do it but last week we did have this example that hit the news 117 year old user name was pharoahs as ease and she posted a series of videos that looks like make up tutorials but in fact highly critical of beijing s treatment of weak and muslims in jang her account got deleted now to attack is set to attack to talk that sound that was a mistake and it was down to human error but it doesn t look good when the fighting those accusations are right will keep it out it was thanks for talking with us about this drug. china the tariff wars continue with no end in sight just a few weeks ago markets were celebrating what appeared to be an end to the trade conflict between the u.s. and china but trump has changed his tune now the us president is saying that he s in fact in no rush to get rid of those tariffs. if the end had been incited doesn t appear to be any more for weeks speculation that the world s 2 biggest economies could be close to a trade deal had kept investors calm and then came the news that the u.s. president donald trump wasn t counting on a pact until after the 2020 election comments that sent markets into a tailspin and left his commerce secretary grappling to explain who said there is a possibility that close in to have for i think the point he was trying to is we need a proper deal and whether it comes this. or it s next to or some other day is. the proper deal details about the stumbling blocks are scanty but intellectual property trade in agricultural products and the role of chinese tech equipment giant huawei have all been enduring themes and there s other geopolitical tensions after washington pos legislation seeking sanctions in relation to beijing s crackdown on the weaker minority in jinja you worry. if the united states takes actions that undermine china s interests do you think that we ll just let it be and do nothing anyone who makes a wrong move must pay a price. but analysts say the price of an enduring trade conflict between the united states and china could be too much for the global economy to bear. over europe now where the head of one of germany s most powerful lobbying groups the german association of the automotive industry says that the sector must become . more competitive and faster on its feet if it s to survive a difficult moment bernhard modest said in a year and press conference that sales and employment in the german car industry will continue to fall in 2020 he said slowing global sales massive technology change in the turbulent trade environment we re all rocking the sector. and i had a chance to talk to madison after the event and i asked him if the auto industry faced an existential challenge. i know it s an extension but it s huge challenge and it s different to what we have seen in the past when we invented new innovations and border to market now it s really a structural change in the whole industry and all 3 challenges together at the same time and that makes it really a big management challenge and but we are facing that and we are going to make it looking at those challenges this of course requires a lot of investment and a lot of risk you ve asked the government for a lot of help managing that risk does your industry right now have the kind of weight that it needs to go to berlin and ask for those things given the kind of skepticism that it faces due to environmental concerns growing environmental concerns and of course the lingering effects of the diesel scandal. we are together when it comes to fulfilling what we have said as objectives for $10.00 to $30.00 when it comes to c o 2 reductions and the politicians as well as we work together on a plan how we can how we can achieve that and that means infrastructure when it comes to charging point that means how can we let me say make it more interesting for cunt customers to purchase their 5 vehicle and what can we do and the politicians to to together to make that more interesting and we had a very good dialogue on that. i want to ask you about tesla of course the german auto industry has always said that tesla may be in front in terms of the pioneering for each autos but that once the weight in the scale the german auto industry was brought to bear that it would be able to mainstream each autos but now tesla is actually coming to berlin and it s been successful for almost a year already in terms of producing at mass volume does that mean the german auto industry is still playing catch up and we re welcoming any competitor because competition has always made us very strong globally and therefore if tesla comes to germany and becomes a competitor fine fine with us because as i said we are facing competition across the globe and we have always strong in this competition. all right now was my interview with ben hard not us president of the german association of the automotive industry from earlier today let s go over to taiwan where all 40 is there are stepping up efforts to clean up the energy sector c o 2 emissions are high of 10 tons per person per year significantly higher than the average of 7 tons here in europe our next report takes a look at how efforts to switch to renewables are going down in the country. here in taiwan and it tricity is very cheap but most of it is still generated in coal and gas powered plants that s despite the fact that the government offered subsidies for solar panels chen weeping is the co-creator of a green energy crowdfunding platform called sunny founder she was determined to make use of the state support for solar but there were challenges. the most difficult. place. because no one knows us and though i wonder if anyone will ever believe us chast us even joining us. i thought with myself and i told of to myself. if you don t actually you will have no answer weeping has championed a range of renewable energy projects here she is talking to residents in a long term care center where sunny founder helped install solar panels on the roof the center receives renewable energy certificates for the green power it produces this is by far the largest. charity projects we have cough on date and this project sponsor was sponsored by taiwan mobile company and combine the donation efforts with almost they mean in individual us environmentalists say taiwan still needs to do a lot of work to improve its share of renewable energy there are plans to set up a number of offshore wind farms. but nuclear energy which accounts for about 15 percent of taiwan s electricity remains a contentious issue the government wants to phase it out although last year a majority of voters said they wanted to keep it in a referendum organized by this much. we up with nuclear week because it is putting in sight the high level ways that are going to. spend for you is all story nuclear power fred inside of paul corner so it doesn t effect the people s living are wrong and you could pop right communities living near the nuclear power plant receive subsidies officials don t appear. to be too concerned about the risk of earthquakes. and that s it from me and the business team you can of course find out more about these and other business stories online dot com slash business and to check us out on facebook and twitter i m stephen there s a always that s watching. can carry information. can help feed people. still people can be happy without. how much lights do we really neat. we ve seen the lights on made in germany in 30 minutes on w. . welcome to the euro max new 2 channel. mode a good line of stories. with exclusive insights. and a must see concerning sports and culture to ensure a. place to be for curious minds. do it yourself networkers. so subscribe it and don t miss out. on the announcement mostly affectionately asian but as affectionately as you can. come to him in the middle of his election campaign in the year 2000 the documentary was filmed for russian television. to turn the camera back on of course the film secretly chronicled a power grab and actually everything was precisely planned instruction. featuring top supporting roles to the freedom of russia. and featuring a lead role like you ve never seen before. but i m here for that amir of edge to
our mind another top story we re following for you police have identified the man who carried out friday s stabbing attack on the london bridge killing 2 people 28 year old the son khan had been previously convicted on terrorism offenses and released from prison and here again. we re watching the news from dialing coming up next well stories that well did reports one of the topics how from his name and to reduce violence against women at least. it was the speech of his life perhaps his best certainly his most difficult the speech by a close interest and on december 19th 1989. shortly after the fall of the chancellor addresses the people of east germany. the newstands the crowd clamors for german unity journalist peter lim borg was at the scene. 30 years later he looks back on the time interest and starts december 19th d.w. . this week on world stories. working on facet of facing food shortages. east german spies retracing history. but let s begin in france. hardly any other european country see so many women murdered each year a new law is said to protect women from from a site that is a defective. and he describes it as a life sentence she says there s a gaping void inside of her ever since march 2017 when her daughter was killed by her ex-boyfriend and we need to pure soul they had split up 6 weeks earlier he had harassed her ever since then one morning he was waiting for her at the horse stable where she worked and he tried to convince her to take him back but when she refused he pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the heart and the lungs. but anik doesn t only blame her daughter s ex-boyfriend she s also furious with the system that she feels let her daughter down this main level 2 weeks before he killed her he broke into her house he wanted to frighten her he was convinced she was seeing someone else i saw deplane went to the police station to press charges but she came out crying so the police downplayed things and didn t take her seriously and they didn t recognize how dangerous this man was they later decided to drop the case. i am so angry at this patriarchal system where men shield other men and which doesn t protect women but the government says it is taking the matter seriously it s been holding weeks long consultations with victims as to say sions across the country and it s working on a new law to better protect women against domestic violence. took part in the country talks and course the measure is a good start but she says more needs to be done and that one crucial point is missing from the new legislation the need more coffee with. it s really important the police get psychological training. they need to come down from their patriarchal and not show pedestal and really listen to women who are asking for help. if a woman says she feels threatened they must take the necessary measures to protect her. but we know there are many women who went to the police asking for help but were turned away and now they re dead. she still hopes the government will change the law to include this so that at least some women will be saved and their families be spent the suffering she now has to endure. in a move designed to protect jobs working a fast so has taken drastic measures sugar and cooking oil can no longer be imported but now these essential staples are running short. here in bonn for in western kenya fast so only 20 employees are left here making sugar and production will soon grind to a halt and the reason for the slowdown there s no storage space left for domestic sugar the state run company isn t able to sell it because imported sugar is cheaper . than. many merchants are importing legally but there are other merchants who import illegal sugar the market is saturated and we can t sell what we have in storage here we just can t compete with the low prices of imported sugar. to keep the production cooking oil producers and book enough ah so are having similar problems with illegal oil imports they know the country depends on foreign cooking oil. when his team will be q.c. according to estimates working afonso needs 100000 tonnes of cooking oil annually we can only produce 13000 tonnes of so if you count all the domestic producers together we produce around 25 percent of what s needed with one quarter. did was one us who put up a pic will not being able to produce enough is just one problem companies there are not catering enough to the needs of their customers who would prefer buying oil in one deed or bottles the import ban is hitting wholesalers hard they re hoping it will end soon. looking at it more closely it s not really a ban there just no import licenses being issued just. let didn t. hairsplitting that doesn t interest the sugar factories managing director in bun for a he s just happy with the results. and the amount of product in storage is going down but when the imports were banned we had $24000.00 tonnes of sugar in storage now it s less than $14000.00 tonnes that means that the measures of cause customers and outlets to buy our products are so we ve also been able to win new customers just as well as to us but the government s policies could also have a negative effect many analysts are saying that sugar in oil will be hard to find here in 2 months. we move on to germany in former east germany people planning to flee the regime were met with the full force of the notorious secret police the stasi their spies intimidated not only dissidents but ordinary citizens as well. visit the building where they used to live. when the 2 secretaries lived here in their younger years spies from the stars he used germany s secret police monitored them through the kitchen window. but then the tree was smaller i was even dizzy to see people from the stars he standing there no as for me i just recently read about it. we never would have thought of such a thing. no i don t think so either. they read about it in the stasi files a couple of 100 pages of intercepted letters private mail and official correspondence and most of all reports from spies including the layout of your loan as aber and zilker all falls flat. you must have someone looked into my life and i had no idea about it this is made me feel very uncomfortable for years i didn t want to have anything to do with it i didn t even want to read the file on the news. what s there. but i have to live with it. in my experience you always get through life better if you can live with a situation with no hope that. they wanted to leave east germany they had applied for exit visas it was here that they were subjected to hours of interrogation they never wanted to set foot in this place again well let s just go and you have to go back to the place of far away but i have a really bad bodily feeling really bad i could just cry then do it. now. to this day they feel humiliated by the tone used in the interrogations. through the system here. in the service. so is a greeting it was like can see right away that your slant not only is out of you better watch out don t even cross the street the wrong way we are everywhere are just huge threats. that was more than 30 years ago only anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall the stasi documentation authority made the files accessible zilker or fallen ilona zabel speak publicly about what happened there explains young germans why they risked their lives to leave east germany. i wanted out just like i didn t want anyone to tell me who has the right to decide where i live even if it were social or whatever but we didn t want that and at that age you re also brave enough to do it as much as most doesn t even know somehow never getting out or only to a couple of countries that it was decided i could go to i never agreed to that i had said before that i wasn t happy with that and then i thought you know i just want out of here i want freedom is that if i had but at some stage it all petered out both women withdrew their exit visa applications so cut off our marriage a pastor and that allowed her to travel alone as a but had a baby and was allowed to go to the west after all. abdul cut dear lost both his arms several years ago after accidentally touching a high tension electric cable still he s determined to win a gold medal in swimming for india in the 2024 summer paralympics d.w. caught up with him in delhi. the water is after all cut here in dorry s happy place. swimming has helped the young boy overcome big obstacles and made him an inspiration for many in his native india. at the age of 7 abdul qadeer lost both of his arms after an accident but he refused to let its life be ruled by it. so. when he was 7 years old my son accidentally touched a high voltage electric wire we took him to a hospital in mumbai and doctors treated him for almost a week but they said the infection was spreading fast and that they had to amputate both his arms were saving his life with the priority but he had to lose his arms. since the accident abdul qadeer has adjusted in all sorts of ways he does his homework using its feet and he is a smartphone that way too. but it s clear that where he truly excels is in the water. and he set his eyes on a big girl. there but for. the most i think i lost my arms when i was in 2nd grade i had an infection that spread to both arms when i was in hospital. but i love to swim with it when i get bored and i want to win a gold medal for india in the olympics. it s more than just a day dream abdul qadeer is already a 3 time national swimming champion and he s got the medals to prove it but it s a quiet hard work and determination from everyone involved it will be what is on the ice in the beginning we were really at a loss about how to teach him to swim. we didn t know how to support him unlike other kids we couldn t hold him by his shoulders. we could drop him into the water but taking him out was a challenge. but abdul qadeer was determined and nothing could stop him. he started to swim in just 10 to 12 days and learned how to climb up the ladder on his own. little bit with the used to fall and get hurt. but in just a month he became independent in the pool. disease the positive negative of the part of the. uphill cadia is hoping to soon join an elite swimming institute and trying to qualify for the 2024 summer paralympics. every year at christmas time. europeans celebrate with meals the line looking at each country time tradition is this season s euro max mission. in our series christmas dinner this time with turkey and christmas pudding. take stock of the new delicious britain. 0909 to. the baltic scenes of always worth a visit. that s why our host nicole foolish sets off to. where she embarks on her wintry expedition. making discoveries along the way. a mysterious gold treasure. maritime delicacies and millions cool chart.
tonight, several breaking headlines as we come on the air. the category 4 hurricane bearing down on the u.s. at this hour. winds up to 145 miles per hour. this is an extremely dangerous cat 4 storm, only a few hours from landfall. authorities tonight warning of, quote, unsurvivable storm surge. blinding rain and winds already, mass evacuations under way as time now runs out. families trying to find shelter in the middle of a pandemic. authorities concerned about too many families staying put, trying to ride this out. louisiana s governor tonight activating the entire national guard. meteorologists ginger zee and rob marciano, both live in the storm zone tonight with the latest track and timing. also developing as we come on, chilling images on the streets of kenosha, wisconsin. a 17-year-old from a neighboring state now accused of opening fire on demonstrators protesting the police shooting of jacob blake. two people killed, one wounded in the chaos. the alleged gunman arrested, hundreds of national guard members being deployed tonight. and the other major development late today, in an unprecedented move, nba teams boycotting tonight s playoff games over blake s shooting. the bucks not coming onto the court, the magic players walking off. tonight s playoff games now postponed and we have late reporting. the cdc under fire at this hour for its sudden covid testing about-face. amid new guidelines that now say if you may have been exposed to the virus, you no longer need a test if you don t have symptoms. why the change? and abc news has now learned that dr. anthony fauci did not sign off on this. he was under anesthesia after undergoing a surgery himself. night three of the republican national convention. president trump heavily criticized for using the white house as a backdrop. tonight, the elaborate stage going up now for the president tomorrow night, after the first lady used the rose garden for her speech last night. the president using the white house, as well, for a pardon and a swearing in ceremony. who is on deck tonight? disturbing news this evening about that missing soldier from ft. hood. and overseas tonight, the tense confrontation between the u.s. and russian forces in syria. russian forces accused of sideswiping a u.s. armored vehicle at high speed. four americans injured. good evening and it s great to have you with us here on a very heavy news night. we begin tonight with that category 4 hurricane now bearing down on the u.s., expected to make landfall within hours. hurricane laura speeding toward the gulf coast, texas and louisiana. emergency evacuations. authorities warning time is running out. we ve been watching here as this hurricane grows in strength, now upgraded to a cat 4, winds 145 miles per hour. and one of the real concerns here, it is going to hit right in the middle of the night. and just look at the size and scope of this hurricane. these images from the international space station. it is 400 miles across. the center of the storm still over the warm waters of the gulf, which, as you know, fuel this. the effects already being felt tonight. more than a half million people under mandatory evacuations. some in shelters in lake charles, louisiana, there. military aircraft being flown to safer ground out of barksdale air force base. the outer bands of the storm making their mark already. this is from lake charles tonight. and of course all of this hitting in the middle of a pandemic, as well. thousands of coronavirus cases just in the region expected to get slammed by this storm. so, we ll carefully guide you through it all tonight. chief meteorologist ginger zee is live in port arthur, texas, tonight, with the latest track and guidance for us. ginger, what do you expect? reporter: david, the words unsurvivable storm surge were used by the national hurricane center from my point here in port arthur, east through southwestern louisiana. this all comes just a couple of days before the 15th anniversary of hurricane katrina, which obviously hit farther east from here and into mississippi, but that was a cat 3. this is going to be a cat 4. the only cat 4 potentially in history to hit this part of southwestern louisiana. now, i want to take you into what we are looking at, right? so, this is the lake behind me. the hurricane is about 120 miles to the southeast. this is such susceptible land. a very shallow deck that leads up to all of these homes right here along the gulf. 10 to 20 feet, that s going to overtake these homes. and that s why a satellite image like the one you see here is really frightening. we are just hours from the winds starting to pick up in intensity. and after midnight, we should see landfall. when we talk about wind gusts, 50, you say, okay, then you go to 105 here in port arthur, look at lake charles at 4:00 a.m., 127 miles per hour, even through 7:00 a.m. you have three hours of 120 to 130-mile-per-hour gusts, you are going to have ridiculous damage. that 10 to 20-foot surge could go 30 miles inland, so, lake charles, cameron, louisiana, we anticipate significant problems here. and this is going to all be wrapping up and moving and not going to move that it s going to move quick enough, but gosh, it s going to do a lot of damage, all the way up through shreveport, even little rock will feel the winds. i anticipate power outages all the way up into arkansas. david? all right, we re thinking of everyone there in the storm zone. and everyone be safe into the evening hours. and we took note of what ginger just said there. this is now a category 4 hurricane. hurricane katrina was a cat 3. we all remember the devastation. i remember reporting right in the middle of it as it was hitting. so tonight, across louisiana, new orleans, points west of there, they re all taking this very seriously. meteorologist rob marciano on that part of the story tonight. reporter: tonight, the time to evacuate is over. laura s coming ashore, packing 145-mile-per-hour winds and what the national hurricane center is calling unsurvivable storm surge. here comes the first bands of hurricane laura. it s only going to get worse. hurricane hunters flying into laura s eye today. the storm now more than 400 miles across. the surge from this storm is going to push water for miles inland, at a height of 10 to 15 feet. that s water easily up and over my head. that s up and over this roofline. the surge will be even higher than that near the coast. and it s coming in the middle of the night. we met freddie rosteet, who has to ride out the storm at this lake charles blood bank. we re hoping that this wall does what it was made for. reporter: so that he can supply hospitals with needed blood. i ve been doing it for 30 years and that s what i m here for. reporter: louisiana s governor activating the entire national guard. trucks that can be used for high water rescues staging north of new orleans. and if you think you re safe because you made it through rita in southwest louisiana, understand this storm is going to be more powerful. reporter: the military evacuating b-52s from barksdale air force base. our matt gutman in beaumont, texas. and officials are especially concerned about beaumont and port arthur, home to 55% of the nation s strategic oil reserves, most of its jet fuel and also some of the biggest refineries in the country. reporter: back in lake charles, the mayor tells me he s worried too many have decided to ride it out. i m going to be honest, i am concerned that we didn t have the evacuation numbers that we probably should have. so, let s get right to rob marciano, live from lake charles tonight, and rob, i know it s the surge and the winds. what are you expecting where you are? reporter: we could see winds over 100 miles an hour, david. and we don t usually say that with any sort of confidence, but this storm is an absolute beast. extremely dangerous. it s going to cut across louisiana like a giant tornado. not to mention the storm surge that could be catastrophic. it s just going to be devastating here across southwest louisiana and lake charles and life will be flat out different here after tomorrow. david? all right, rob, thank you. as we said, more than a half a million people have been ordered to leave their homes. there is real concern as rob just reported that some are trying to ride this out. the other concern, that some decided very late to get out and time is now running out. marcus moore from the storm zone on that tonight. reporter: tonight, the largest evacuation since the covid-19 pandemic began. more than 500,000 people, a mass exodus of families, getting out before laura moves in. samantha cuevas, a mother of three, waited until this morning to decide to get out. why are you deciding to leave? a tree falls, a fire breaks out, this is not where i want to be with an 18-year-old, a 13-year-old and a 4-year-old. reporter: hundreds unable to evacuate on their own, waiting hours in the hot sun for a bus out of galveston. forced to choose whether to risk their lives at home or risk the coronavirus in a shelter. don t want to be in a shelter. don t want to be infected, don t want to infect anybody. reporter: there have been more than 300,000 covid-19 cases across the areas in laura s immediate path. we got turned down for buses because my mother has corona. reporter: in austin, frustration when evacuees from the storm zone hoping for hotel rooms were told there were no more vouchers. they were supposed to have, you know, something for us. give me a tent, i don t care, something. reporter: and tonight, concern over pets and livestock, too. in winnie, texas, officials shutting down a bridge to help ranchers get 1,100 cattle to higher ground. back in galveston, mark and jenna metzger are staying in part to keep an eye on their 90-year-old neighbor. what about the people who will say, you re absolutely crazy for deciding to stay here? well, then they ve never been in this situation before. you know, a lot of people that choose to ride out these storms, like our neighbors and myself, we ve been in these situations our entire life. reporter: david, here in galveston tonight, officials are most concerned about strong winds knocking out power and also the storm surge. they recorded a 35-foot wave this morning at an area known as the boliver peninsula. tonight, here in galveston, they re expecting a storm surge of four to six feet, david. all right, marcus, rob, matt, ginger, our entire team in the storm zone, we thank you all. please stay safe. and we re going to move onto the other news tonight, all of this as we are also following another fast-moving and disturbing story tonight, the protests after the police shooting of jacob blake in kenosha, wisconsin. the protests now turning deadly. a 17-year-old from a neighboring state is now under arrest tonight, accused of firing on demonstrators. two dead. and in a late development today, nba players deciding not to come on the court for playoff games tonight, demanding something be done about these police shootings. here s abc s alex perez from wisconsin. reporter: tonight, this graphic video shows a man opening fire on a crowd in kenosha, wisconsin, shortly after another nearby shooting, as authorities brace for a fourth night of demonstrations in the wake of jacob blake s shooting by police. officers trying to disperse a crowd violating curfew tuesday when the chaos spirals. video showing a man running down the street with a firearm. a crowd chasing behind him. that man falls to the ground and begins shooting. kenosha police saying two were killed and one was injured in shootings overnight. and that a group of men, many armed, had been patrolling the area where the violence happened. authorities in neighboring illinois today arresting 17-year-old kyle rittenhouse to face, according to court documents, first degree intentional homicide for his alleged role in the fatal shootings. police saying the suspect was allegedly there to resolve whatever conflict was in place. i had a person call me and say, why don t you deputize citizens who have guns to come out and patrol the city of kenosha? and i m like oh, hell no. reporter: the unrest comes after the police shooting sunday of 29-year-old jacob blake. videos appear to show blake struggling with officers before getting up, walking around to the driver s side, appearing to lean in, when an officer pulls his shirt, shoots him in the back. seven shots ring out. blake s three boys, ages 3, 5 and 8, in the car. his family says he s in the icu and paralyzed from the waist down. his mother demanding justice and peaceful protests. for anyone who is doing anything that is violent or destructive, please stop. i get your pain. i get your frustration. but please find another way. reporter: the governor of wisconsin deploying 500 national guardsmen and local authorities pushing curfew earlier to 7:00 p.m. president trump tweeting he will be sending federal law enforcement to restore law and order. but the administration offering no specifics. and david, former vice president joe biden also reacting on twitter, saying the shooting of jacob blake makes him sick and condemning the violent demonstrations. some good news from blake s family. they say there is a chance in the future he could regain the use of his legs. david? all right, alex, thank you. and as i mentioned late today, in an unprecedented move, nba teams boycotting tonight s playoff games. here s adrienne bankert. reporter: in an historic move tonight, the nba announces all playoff games tonight will be postponed, following this week s police shooting of jacob blake. players boycotting in protest. the bucks had been in serious discussion about boycotting tonight s game. reporter: the bucks versus magic, houston rockets versus oklahoma city thunder, and l.a. lakers versus portland trail blazers games all to be rescheduled after some of the biggest stars in sports decided enough is enough. lebron james enraged on twitter, saying, we demand change, sick of it. l.a. clippers head coach doc rivers giving a powerful statement after his team s win last night. we re the ones getting killed. we re the ones getting shot. it s amazing to me why we keep loving this country and this country does not love us back. reporter: and you know what, fans are so eager to watch these playoffs, but the bucks tweeting tonight that some things are bigger than basketball. major league baseball following suit, they re protesting. tonight s cincinnati reds/milwaukee brewers game is now going to have to be rescheduled. other teams expected to follow. david? all right, adree yeb, our thanks to you, as well. we re going to turn to the coronavirus in the u.s. tonight. the cdc is under fire for its sudden covid testing about-face, amid new guidelines tonight that now say if you ve been exposed to the virus, you no longer need a test if you don t have symptoms. many asking, why this change? and abc news has now learned that dr. anthony fauci did not sign off on this. here s steve osunsami. reporter: public health experts far and wide can t believe it. the new guidelines quietly shared on the cdc s website say that even if you have been in close contact within six feet of a person with a covid-19 infection for at least 15 minutes, but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or public health officials recommend you take one. it s a huge change, and abc news has learned it happened at a white house task force meeting august 20th, without the nation s top infectious disease doctor, who was under anesthesia, away getting surgery. just last month, the cdc and other health officials were saying something different. anyone who thinks they may be infected, independent of symptoms, should get a test. reporter: the new york times tonight is reporting that the change comes from the top down. from a president who believes the pandemic is being used to hurt his re-election campaign, and who is on record saying he d like to see less testing. when you do testing to that extent, you re going to find more people, you re going to find more cases. so, i said to my people, slow the testing down please. reporter: his critics are having a field day. shame on them. this all is being politicized and, yes, we will be investigating. he now has cdc carrying forward his political agenda. and it is frightening and it is alarming. reporter: this reaction online from a public health expert speaks for many this change in policy will kill. but senior white officials and the administration s testing coordinator insist tonight that this was driven by science and not politics. there is no direction from president trump, the vice president or the secretary, about what we need to do, when. reporter: our source connected to the white house task force says that people in the trenches are horrified by all this. they re concerned that this damages the public s trust in this agency, the cdc, and that it sends the wrong message to americans about the dangers of being infected with covid-19, being out and about and not knowing that you re infected. david? all right, steve osunsami reporting. thanks. and the third night of the republican national convention now getting under way. tonight s headliner, vice president mike pence. amid questions over the president and first lady melania trump using the white house as a backdrop for multiple speeches and taped segments, using the white house during a political convention. some republicans say it s because of covid. critics say it s just wrong. here s jon karl. reporter: the line between the trump campaign and the trump white house is blurring beyond recognition, as the stage is now set for the president to give his acceptance speech here on the south lawn. already the president has enlisted his secretary of state to address the convention while on official travel. i m speaking to you from beautiful jerusalem. reporter: and he s used the marine honor guard ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. reporter: and his acting homeland security secretary as props, taping a naturalization ceremony for the convention. congratulations. you re now citizens of the united states of america. reporter: signing a pardon for the convention, too. last night, a quartet of trumps spoke, including the president s son eric and his younger daughter tiffany. and the first lady turned the rose garden into her stage. unlike many of the other speakers, she addressed the pandemic head-on. the invisible enemy, covid-19, swept across our beautiful country and impacted all of us. my deepest sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one and my prayers are with those who are ill or suffering. reporter: she also spoke about the national reckoning on race. i have reflected on the racial unrest in our country. it is a harsh reality that we are not proud of parts of our history. i d like to call on the citizens of this country to take a moment, pause and look at things from all perspectives. reporter: vice president pence will be speaking from ft. mchenry at the place that inspired the writing of the national anthem. but on this day, when nba games have been canceled in the wake of the police shooting in wisconsin, i am told he will not repeat his criticism of athletes who have kneeled to protest racial injustice. david? all right, jon, we appreciate it. i ll see you shortly. and i hope everyone at home will join us. george, linsey and me, the entire political team coming up later tonight. 7:00 p.m. eastern on abc news live. 10:00 p.m. here on the network. when we come back on the news tonight, american forces injured after a tense confrontation with the russians. the images coming in now. erica. it s 5g ultra wideband, and it s already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it s rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it s like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today s 4g networks. in fact, it s the fastest 5g in the world. from the network more people rely on. this is 5g built right. only on verizon. i had this hundred thousand dollar student debt. two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in debt. ah, sofi literally changed my life. it was the easiest application process. sofi made it so there s no tradeoff between my dreams and paying student loans. student loans don t have to take over for the rest of your life. thank you for allowing me to get my money right. i m a delivery operations manager in san diego, california. we ve had a ton of obstacles in finding ways to be more sustainable for a big company. we were one of the first stations to pilot a fleet of zero emissions electric vehicles. the amazon vans have a decal that says, shipment zero. we re striving to deliver a package with zero emissions in to the air. i feel really proud of the impact that has on the environment. but we re always striving to be better. i love being outdoors, running in nature. we have two daughters. i want to do everything i can to protect the environment to make sure they see the same beauty i ve seen in nature. my goal is to lead projects that affect the world. i know that to be great requires hard work. overseas tonight, that tense encounter between u.s. and russian troops in eastern syria. this is video posted online by what s reportedly a pro-kremlin propaganda site. russian forces sideswiping a u.s. armored vehicle. four americans injured. the national security council tonight confirming the incident. when we come back, disturbing news about that missing soldier from ft. hood. that catered to ae so many including the staff. 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[szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; it s important. we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we ve both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn t notice before. - it s still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. a tragic end to the search for a missing soldier at ft. hood. the body of sergeant elder fernandes found 25 miles from the base. they don t suspect foul play but the army said prior to the disappearance, fernandes had been the victim of abusive sexual contact and had been transferred to a new unit. late word coming in on this cat 4 hurricane, we ll go back we inger. back to ginger. thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including trouble breathing, shortness of breath, cough, or chest pain. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don t. [grunting noise] i ll take that. woohoo! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. with nutrients to support immune health. with acetaminophenction fights pain in two ways. advil targets pain at the source. .while acetaminophen blocks pain signals. the future of pain relief is here. new advil dual action. let s get right back to ginger on this category 4 hurricane bearing down. ginger? reporter: david, while the catastrophic damage will be focused in southwestern louisiana and right here along the texas state line, damage will be seen on a wide swath outside of it. look at that map. that s tropical storm force winds tonight from houston to new orleans, david. ginger, thank you. and we ll see you at 10:00 for the convention. good night. we are just moments away from cal fire s first update of the day on the wildfire burning through the santa cruz and san mateo county areas. the czu lightning complex. reporter: i m wayne freedman in sonoma counseledy where the walbridge fire laid down a bit today giving firefighters a chance to make some headway. that s coming up. i m spencer christian. air quality remains quite poor. i ll have details on abc 7 news at 6:00 starts now. we re making good progress. make no mistake, we have a long way to go. good progress and a long way to go. firefighters face an extraordinary battle against wildfires that are setting state records and still berurning. thank you for joining us. wildfires are all around us as you can see on this map very clearly. lightning sparked the fires last week, so many of them they are grouped into complexes. the largest in the south bay and the east bay, the scu complex has burned more than 365,000 n. the second largest is in the north bay and that s the lnu lightning complex, the same size, with 33% containment at last report. along the coast the czu lightning complex has burned more than 80,000 acres of santa cruz and san mateo counties and is 19% contained. we expect a live update any moment now. let s bring in weather anchor spencer christian for weather conditions. the north bay fires, through the site of the lnu lightning complex. you can see the wind gusts are between 10 and 14 miles an hour. don t pay attention to the wind speed near hennessey.
there s classified documents in this stuff. he knew he had them over the course of the next year talking to his lawyers and they told him to turn them over. he knew it when the fbi told him we keep finding stuff in the stuff you re turning over. it will in the way judge cannon handles things drag it out just a little bit more. a grand jury indictment came down on june 8, 2023. anyone s guess whether we get to the second anniversary. bradley moss, thank you so much for your time tonight. have a good night. that is our show for this evening. way too early with jonathan lemire is coming up next. this case was about the illegal choices the defendant made while in the throes of addiction, his choice to lie on a government form when he bought a gun and the choice to then possess that gun. no one in this country is above the law. everyone must be accountable for their actions, even this defendant. that was special counsel david weiss speaking to reporters after a jury found hunter biden guilty on three felony counts in this federal gun trial. we ll go over the key take-aways including what hunter s sentence could look like, how president biden reacted, and what one juror is now saying about what happened during deliberations. plus, we ll break down new poll numbers that show who voters in key battleground states say they believe is best to handle the economy ahead of november s election. and also, despite his long running feud with donald trump, senator mitch mcconnell says he will attend a meeting with the former president this week. their first face-to-face meeting in four years. we ll talk about what to expect from that. good morning and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, june 12th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us, and we have a lot to get to this morning, and we will begin here. a jury has found hunter biden guilty on all three felony gun charges in his federal trial. the jury reached its verdict yesterday in wilmington, delaware, after only about three hours of deliberations split over two days. the president s son had pleaded not guilty to the three counts tied to lying on a federal gun application about his drug use. sources inside the defense room tell nbc news that following the verdict hunter biden thanked everyone in the room by name, hugged them, and tried to raise their spirits. he later issued this public statement. i am more grateful today for the love and support i experienced this last week from melissa, my family, my friends, and my community than i am disappointed by the outcome. recovery is possible by the grace of god, and i am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time. hunter biden could face-up to 25 years in prison, and each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000. no sentencing date has been set, but under federal sentencing guild line recommendations and as a first-time offender, the new york times points out that someone in hunter biden s position typically would face 15 to 21 months behind bars, significantly a lighter sentence. special counsel david weiss spoke briefly to reporters following the verdict. no one in this country is above the law. everyone must be accountable for their actions, even this defendant. however, hunter biden should no more accountable than any other citizen convicted of this same conduct. the prosecution has been and will continue to be committed to this principle and to the principles of federal prosecution in carrying out its responsibilities. both hunter biden and his attorney have indicated that they plan to appeal. president biden issued a statement reacting to his son s guilty verdict. it reads in part this. i will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as hunter considers an appeal. jill and i will always be there for hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. nothing will ever change that. last week president biden said he will not pardon his son. the president also had an emotional reunion with hunter late yesterday. the two hugged on the tarmac after the president changed his schedule and flew to delaware following an event in d.c. preceding his departure from italy early this morning. hunter biden s guilty verdict comes as former president trump was found guilty of all 34 charges against him in his new york hush money trial a couple weeks ago. while the trump campaign decried the former president s verdict they were quick to call hunter biden s as distractions. well, first, let s remember this was joe biden s corrupt doj that tried to negotiate a sweetheart plea deal with outside immunity unrelated to this case. there are two tiers of justice, and again they wanted to let him off of everything. and now i see the law being used in sort of these ticky-tacky ways missing the main point which would have been the biden family corruption and just trying to ensnare president trump because he s winning. do you think the department of justice is still weaponized against conservatives even though we see nice verdict today? absolutely. when they tell school moms they re domestic terrorists because they don t like what s being taught in their classrooms we still can go into it, yes, ma am. they re sticking with their talking points despite the facts. meanwhile, a juror in the hunter biden trial spoke just moments after the verdict was read. in an anonymous interview with nbc news juror number 10 insisted the decision to vote guilty was not based on any political leanings. it was not politically motivated. politics never played in anything that we said in the jury room and as we were deliberating. of course we spent the last five days together and yesterday and today, and we were not allowed to talk about any of the case until the trial was over. like i told a lot of reporters, i ve seen a lot worse than hunter. so honestly, i don t think putting hunter in jail is going to help anybody. i hope that i hope that hunter is clean, and i hope that his sobriety is going well, and i hope it continues to go well. we should note the jurors in this case are talking out even anonymously while no one, no one in the trump case has had for fear of retribution. now let s bring in state attorney for palm beach county, dave aronberg. dave, good to see you this morning. first let s get your broad take-aways. what was your reaction to the guilty verdict? i was not surprised, jonathan. i thought this was a cut and dry case. the prosecution had the facts and law on their side. hunter biden s own words came back to hunt him. he wrote an auto birog aef talking about being in the throes of the addiction at the time he purchased this gun. and he was in denial. but, look, his own words came back to hurt him because his text messages right after he bought the gun, the day after indicated that he was going to buy drugs from a drug dealer named mooky, and then two days after he bought the gun he was texting his daughter that he was on a car in wilmington smoking crack. so that s why i thought the prosecutors had him. now, whether they should have brought this case, whether this was selective prosecution is another matter. and i agree with a jury that i think that the doj probably should have had bigger fish to fry, and i wonder would he have been prosecuted had his name been hunter smith? but it is what it is, and i think the jury did the right thing in the following the evidence and the law. we ll have far more on the political fallout of this later in the show, but i noted in some of my reporting last night that president biden has told associates in recent weeks exactly what you just said. he believes if he weren t running for re-election, hunter biden would have gotten that plea deal last summer that would have kept him out of prison, but that fell apart. so, dave, what do we tink? what potential sentence realistically will hunter biden face? i think probably probation. now, they re going to look at a lot of things, for example, his lack of a rap sheet, the fact that he was in the throes of addiction during this time. he didn t hold onto the gun very long. after it was disposed of by his then-girlfriend he didn t get it back and never used it. there are a lot of factors in play that tell me the prosecutors may just ask for probation, and even if they don t i think the judge is more likely than not to give him probation, i don t so see what is served by throwing him in prison. i think he has a bigger problem in california during the trial that s upcoming later this year on tax charges. you don t want to mess with the irs. but when it comes to this case, this is a statute that s rarely prosecuted, rarely used in a stand alone charge. usually it s a add on. then the prosecutors will add on this charge of buying a gun while they re in the throes of addiction or if there s drugs found on them at the time. also this statute thrown out by the supreme court which is very pro-gun these days, very second amechlt, all these factors tell me that i think hunter biden is more likely than not to just get probation in this case. and you re more likely to do you think there s any strength there? i think it s tough based on the facts. the facts are pretty clear in this case. their best chance on appeal is go to the conservative judges and justices and to say this is an unconstitutional statute. the fifth circuit county of appeal a very conservative court throughout this statute. they have to declare once and for all this statute is unconstitutional, it s vague and puts restrictions on your law-abiding citizens who are trying to exercise their second amendment rights. it is ironic, jonathan, you have people on the right who are very pro-gun, very pro-second amendment who are now applauding this conviction. it s a topsy-turvy political world we re living in. no doubt. we ll have much more on the politics of this a little later in the show. state attorney for palm beach county, dave aronberg, thank you for starting us off this morning. we appreciate it. next up here just hours after his son s verdict on gun charges, president biden touted his efforts to strengthen gun safety legislation. we ll bring you some of his new remarks. plus, we ll take a look at some of last night s consequential primary results from races across the country. those stories and a check on sports and weather as the sun starts from up behind the u.s. capitol. we ll be right back. from up be. pitol. we ll be right back. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she s sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn t know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you re sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. this isn t charmin! no wonder i don t feel as clean. here s charmin ultra strong. ahhh! my bottom s been saved! with its diamond weave texture, charmin ultra strong cleans better with fewer sheets and less effort. enjoy the go with charmin. here s to getting better with age. here s to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. .without the stuff you don t. so, here s to now. boost. welcome back. just hours after he learned of his son s guilty verdict, president biden delivered remarks at a major gun reform event yesterday. speaking to every town s gun sense university, the president touted his administration s work on gun safety and his plan if he wins again in november. you re changing the nation, you really are. you re changing the nation. it builds upon the dozens of executive actions my administration has taken to reduce gun violence, more than any of my predecessors. everything from cracking down to gun trafficking and so much more. folks, we re not stopping there. it s time once again to do what i did when i was a senator. ban assault weapons. the president s speech as you can hear was briefly interrupted by pro-palestinian protesters calling on him to stop the war in gaza. instead of ignoring the interruption, the president addressed it. take a listen. four more years! four more years! folks, they care. in the children have been lost. important issues both gaza and guns. now, new polling finds improving views about president biden s ability to manage the economy. according to the latest numbers from the financial times and the university of michigan, 41% of registered voters trust donald trump more to handle the economy compared today 37% who say they trust biden more. as recently as february trump s lead over biden was 11 points when that same question was asked, now just 4. overall voters rank the economy as their most important issue by a wide margin, 24 points ahead of the future of social security and medicare. immigration comes third along with crime. now, let s take a look at some of last night s primary results. republican congresswoman nancy mace of south carolina did defeat a well funded primary challenger who had the backing of former speaker kevin mccarthy. mace, of course, one of the eight republicans who voted to oust mccarthy last year. in north dakota trump backed congressman kelly armstrong won the state s republican nomination for governor. outgoing governor doug burgham had supported the challenger in that race, marking a rare split between trump and one of his potential vp contenders. and in nevada army veteran sam brown who received a late endorsement from donald trump won the state s gop senate primary. he ll take on democratic senator jacky rosen this november in what s expected to be one of the most competitive senate races in the country this year. next up here we ll take a turn to sports and bring you a preview of tonight s game three of the nba finals. plus, we ll explain the beef keeping joey chestnut out of this year s nathan s famous hot dog eating contest, a contest he s dominated for so long. we ll bring you that next. o long we ll bring you that next. touge and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there s still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won t replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. what a wonderful world ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful. if you 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[ engine revving ] listen. horsepower keeps you going, but torque gets you going. [ engine revving ] oh now we re torquin ! the dodge hornet r/t. the totally torqued-out crossover. here s to getting better with age. here s to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. .without the stuff you don t. so, here s to now. boost. deep right field. at the wall, and it s off the base of the fence. this game is tied. riley green demolishes a baseball, and he s not done. here he comes. lakers lead. a rock around the bases for riley green. that was a little league grand slam for the detroit tigers. riley green clearing the bases with a triple hit off-the-wall right center field in the third inning, and then he scored the go ahead run on that throwing error, but the washington nationals took advantage of the tiger s late game miscues and went onto beat them 5-4 in extras. another stellar performance on the mound from pittsburgh pirates phenom rookie paul skenes. he received a standing ovation from the cardinals crowd those are some knowledgeable fans when he was pulled from the game in the seventh. we turn now to the nba finals. the dallas mavericks will host the boston celtics tonight in game three. the celtics might be playing without center christof porzingis with a left leg injury he suffered in game two on sunday. porzingis had just come back for game one after missing more than five weeks with a calf strain. long issues and celtics babied him all yearlong, wept back, injured again. 50/50 it seems like he ll be able to play if he does play, probably limit. how will the celtics adjust, this is concern boston fans have had all yearlong. the mavs will try to hand the celtics their first road loss of the post-season to try to cut their series deficit in half. meanwhile a third of golf s four major championships, the u.s. open, will tee off tomorrow at pine hurst country club in north carolina. tiger woods who has faired even worse in majors after returning to competitive golf after he was jurred in a car crash in february 2021, despite all that tiger expressed confidence in his game ahead of this week s tournament. do you feel like your body right now is in a spot that you can win this tournament, has it approved enough you feel like you have the strength to carry for four rounds? yeah, i do. i do feel like i have the strength to be able to do it. it s just a matter of doing it. this golf course is going to test every single aspect of your game especially mentally, and just the mental discipline that it takes to play this particular golf course, and it s going to take a lot. in a stunning headline here, joey chestnut will not compete in the nathan s famous hot dog eating contest next month. the perennial champion has been banned from the fourth of july event because of his reported sponsorship deal with the competing brand named impossible foods. in a statement yesterday major league eating said in part this, we are devastated to learn joey chestnut has chosen to represent a rival brand that sells plant based hot dogs rather than competing. . in a series of posts on twitter x chestnut wrote he was gutted to learn about his ban. he said his decision will deprive the great fans of the holiday s usual joy and entertainment. chestnut has won the annual coney island contest 16 times in a row. i m not going to watch any of this footage. he s also won the last eight straight years. he ate a world record 86 hot dugs and buns in 2021 and did 62 last year to retain his title. time now for the weather and let s go to meteorologist angie lassman for the forecast. crew here can attest i closed my eyes at the very end of that reel. i too shielded my eyes. i m so sorry, joey chestnut, but i can t look at that this early in the morning but i can look at this. i ll tell you about the forecast instead. we ve got a whole lot of run already fallen across the state of florida and more to come. 7 million people under these flood watches right now, and you can see how unsettled it at this hour, and it s going to remain like that not just through the day but the next couple of days. we ve got a stationary front hanging out and more tropical moisture to tap into. and by the way already happening over places that received anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of rain yesterday, likely some more flooding concerns here through the day today and probably through the rest of the week. you can see why. rainfall up to 15 inches will be possible in parts of southwest florida. meanwhile out west is the heat that gets your attention. 18 million people are under those alerts at this time, and temperatures expected to hit the triple digits once again in phoenix today. but notice omaha, chicago headed to the 90s. by the time we get into tomorrow, the 90s will spread closer to the east coast. we ve got richmond and charlotte into the 90s, 85 degrees and cincinnati and detroit will also hit the 90s. angie lassman, thank you as always. coming up here on way too early we ll look ahead to president biden s trip to italy for the g7 summit where the ongoing war in ukraine will be one of several topics the leaders will try to attack. we ll be right back with that. ok we ll be right back with that. have you always had trouble losing weight and keeping it off? 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what else do they hope to accomplish? they ve been negotiating for months to sort of tap these frozen russian assets as waway to help fund ukraine for the rest of the year and also into 2025. what has been really unclear about this deal is who exactly is left holding the bag for these assets, say, for example, if the war ends early? because this really depends on those assets staying immobilized for a couple of years for those profits to really pay off that loan. so that s still really unclear. if this is not made, this could be a huge blow to the u.s. and they believe this could be announced this week, so that would be a very awkward situation for them to be put in because officials have been discussing this for months now. usually these things have already been worked out, their teams haven t landed together. we should expect to hear from the president much like they did last week in france ahead of the d-day anniversary a push to defend democracy in ukraine and beyond. let s turp to back here at home. the fallout from the hunter biden conviction. let s start on the political side. aides and those close to the president have said for months they didn t think the trajectory of this case would change much. now the verdict has come and it s guilty what s the early sense this will play out politically? i think aides are right this is probably have little to no impact on the electorate. particularly for democrats, independents, folks biden really needs to turn out, but it was an awkward moment yesterday for biden to be speaking at this event with gun control advocates just hours after that conviction from hunter biden. and what s been interesting from trump and republicans is they have said this conviction i just a distraction, they don t think it amounts to much, they wanted the justice department to go further even though this seems to undermine trump s claims this department is weaponized and now we ve seen them bring a conviction which was also historic for president biden and the president as well. first of all they re making claimwise no evidence whatsoever the gun charge was to cover up for corruption oilgss. that s been thoroughly investigated and nothing was there. president biden did not stop the prosecution of his own son. even if the political fallout is limited and hunter is just one remaining son. we showed earlier his embrace with him on the tarmac yesterday in wilmington. the family was gathered last night there in delaware. what is the level of concern among those close to the mr. president on how this will weigh on him in these crucial months after the election and as he awaits to see if his son potentially could face prison time. i think the real question is how is it going to weigh on him going forward? because we still have another case. of course hunter biden is facing tax charges in september in california. but the way biden has dealt with this is he s said it from i m a dad, i love my son. me and jill support our son. we ve seen family members day in and day out continue to support hunter, and that is certainly a stark contrast with donald trump who is largely without family for most of his trial and at that huge press conference when he was convicted. and biden aides are preparing for the idea trump would be on the attack. thank you for your reporting. next up here we ll go live to cnbc for an early look what s driving the day on wall street as the federal reserve is expected to announce a decision on interest rates later today. plus the united kingdom showed no economic growth last month despite claims of a turn around. what we re learning from the latest labor report and what it could mean for us back here in the united states. way too early will be back in a moment. s. way too early will be back in a moment it ain t my dad s razor, dad. ay watch it! it s from gillettelabs. this green bar releases trapped hairs from my face. gamechanga! .while the flexdisc contours to it. so the five blades can get virtually every hair in one stroke. for the ultimate gillette shaving experience. the best a man can get is gillettelabs. i m jonathan lawson, here to tell you about life insurance for the ultimate gillette shaving experience. through the colonial penn program. if you re age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p s. what are the three p s? 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(old spice mnemonic) ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she s sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn t know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you re sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. here s to getting better with age. here s to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. .without the stuff you don t. so, here s to now. boost. today, as we gather, one and only one thing stands in the way of this deal happening. and that s hamas. so my primary and first message today to every government, to every multilateral institution, to every humanitarian organization that wants to relieve the massive suffering in gaza get hamas to take the deal. press them publicly, press them privately. and hamas should not require much convincing. after all, the proposal is nearly identical to one that hamas itself proposed on may 6th. that was secretary of state antony blinken in jordan yesterday urging leaders in the middle east to pressure hamas into accepting the latest u.n.-backed cease-fire deal. hamas later then responded to the proposal, but it appears some gaps still remain and they said there was room for positivity, but they didn t complete the agreement. this comes as blinken continues his latest diplomatic blitz throughout the middle east. he s in qatar right now, and yesterday the secretary of state spent the morning in israel before then going onto jordan. in jordan he met that country s king and took part in a conference focused on the humanitarian response within gaza. meanwhile, the leader of hamas has reportedly been resisting pressure to agree to a cease-fire deal with israel because he thinks more fighting will work to his advantage. the wall street journal has obtained messages sinwar has set. the journal reports that he s, quote, shown a cold disregard for human life and made clear he believes israel has more to lose from the war than hamas. he called civilian losses in national liberation conflicts a necessary sacrifice. in more recent ones simwar told officials we have the israelis right where we want the em. the comments come as the hamas run gaza health ministry say more than 40,000 people have been killed in gaza since the start of the war. it s not known how many of these are militants, but as the journal notes the scale of the collateral damage is unprecedented. let s now bring in former fbi special agent and national security analyst for nbc news and msnbc, clint watts. clint, good to see you again. let s start with the hamas piece of this. explain to us the power structure within this group. how much influence does simwar have over the direction of the war and over those political leaders who are trying to engage in cease-fire talks? jonathan, it s a multi-part structure. you ve got a political wing and a military wing. and simwar is part of the military wing, not really been seen publicly since the war broke out october 7th, seems to wield incredible power and it seems is probably inside that area of gaza, which also just points to some of the other leaders which have either been killed or seen in other locations that are oftentimes outside gaza. so he seems to wield incredible power over the negotiation process because he is basically with the hamas multiple wing. i think it s confusing how to navigate who is really in control. and i think that s what secretary blinken was saying at one point, this may come down to swaying the opinion of one man, and that one man could be simwar. let s talk about where things stand in this cease-fire proposal. there was another renewed burst of optimism yesterday when hamas did finally respond. they asked for a concrete time line regarding the permanent end of the war in gaza and withdrawal of troops from the strip there. how feasible are those requests? yeah, the time line is probably a real sticking point because you just don t know how long some of these phases will take. the process is really broken into three parts versus an initial cease-fire with prisoner swaps and withdrawal from populated areas. the second part would be a whole withdrawal from gaza, and the third would be an exchange of remaining bodies and then a reconstruction effort. that all is probably difficult for either side to really commit to. they just won t know how long it will take to do each part of that. so i think hamas is using that as a sticking point, but as you noted simwar s messages about negotiations seems to suggest the longer this goes on, the more civilian casualties there are, he sees that to his benefit politically and also suggests as you noted with the notion of the french-algerian war of the 1950s, which was a very bloody and long war for algerian independence, that the longer it goes on, now you re talking about an insurgency versus an a counter insurgency. we know after 20 years in iraq and afghanistan how difficult those processes will be. simwar definitely showing no value of human life there. give us an update where things stand in rafah, israel. we had the hostage rescue the other day, some sort of tactical efforts. no full on invasion just yet. what should we be looking for? yeah, i think it s probably a balancing act of the israeli military looking to see if they can rescue some hostages through these surgical missions, but even in this case a surgical mission rescue of four hostages, they lost some troops, many we operation. this is urban warfare at its most intense. you ve got the entire civilian population, really have been pushed down to rafah from the beginning. now you have a military encircling it. having to go house-to-house, that is a small operation in urban warfare. and i think anything else in rafah and why this peace settlement is so important, anything else would be extremely intense. you would see israeli military casualties, and you would also see more palestinians killed in this battle as well. so it s just not a good situation at all, looking forward, if this continues. clint watts, we really appreciate the analysis. please come back soon. thank you for joining us this morning. up next here, donald trump is set so meet with congressional republicans tomorrow in washington. what we re learning about that meeting, as the presumptive gop nominee looks to shore up more support. and then, coming up on morning joe, we ll bring you expert legal analysis on hunter biden s guilty verdict, as well as the president s reaction and the impact it could have on the 2024 race. plus, democratic governor wes moore of maryland will be a guest, as baltimore reopens its shipping channel after that deadly bridge collapse. also ahead, the dating nightmare. why more and more young women say they are struggling to find a partner. the features editor of the cut will bring us that conversation. morning joe just a few moments away. morning joe just a few ms away makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e trade from morgan stanley power e trade s easy to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans can help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. e trade from morgan stanley centrum! it s scientifically formulated to help you take charge of your health. centrum gives every body a healthy foundation. supporting your - oops - energy, immunity and metabolism. and yours too! you did it! plus try centrum silver, now clinically proven to support memory in older adults. if you have chronic kidney disease you can reduce the risk of kidney failure with farxiga. because there are places you d like to be. farxiga can cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, urinary tract, or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. far-xi-ga here s to getting better with age. here s to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. .without the stuff you don t. so, here s to now. boost. welcome back. tomorrow, former president donald trump and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell will meet face-to-face for the first time in more than three years. trump and mcconnell have not spoken since december of 2020, when mcconnell publicly congratulated biden for winning the presidential election. mcconnell, the longest serving senate leader in u.s. history has made clear of his distaste for trump, but yet still endorsed him back in march. joining us now to talk more on this is msnbc political analyst, brandon buck. he was a communication strategist and former aid to house speakers, ryan and boehner. brian, good to see you this morning. does anything about this meeting surprise you, that mcconnell has agreed to meet with trump, and why do you think this meeting with trump and republicans on the hill matters? yeah, mitch mcconnell hates donald trump, but he loves the idea ofwinning back the majority, securing his legacy more than anything. he ll put his pride aside. you have your party s nominee, you re going to plan for the next year, it s a normal thing that the party leader would do. obviously, they have a very strained relationship. i ll be very interested to see how trump treats mcconnell in that meeting. these are awkward, sometimes very small, intimate settings. and trump is known to call out friends or jeer at rivals. so i think there will be some tension in the room, but i imagine mcconnell will sit there very quietly, say very little, and he s not going to be leader next year. he ll allow others to set the agenda. so elsewhere, the republican party, we had some primary results last night, including nancy mace surviving a challenge backed by former speaker kevin mccarthy. what s your take? it was an interesting play by kevin mccarthy. he went around and found a lot of money from some rich votes to go after a sitting member who voted to oust him. i m with kevin mccarthy in sentiment. that the eight people that voted him out did some real damage to the institution and really broke it for a long time. but nancy mace never really showed any signs of vulnerability. it was a long shot to begin with. and the fact that we have so many member-on-member primaries or members challenging each other is really toxic for the institution. while kevin mccarthy was trying to fight back against these forces that are eating the house conference from the inside, i think he s only adding to it, because you ve got this primary this week, you ve got bob good next week. it seems like every week, you have a house republican member who has to worry about their primary, and that is the exact dynamic that has hurt us. at the end of the day, it s as if you have donald trump on your side, though. that s what s been proven time and time again. bob good, the virginia congressman who s likely to lose his primary next week, hard line conservative still potentially could lose hi primary. it s because donald trump is coming after him. here in this case, donald trump didn t go after nancy mays, and that proved on the difference. let s turn so some other 2024 story lines. we ve been covering it all morning. hunter president biden, guilty verdict yesterday. aides from both campaigns don t really think it will play, have changed much of the structure of the race. what s your analysis? does it become anything that the republicans will use or are they hamstrung by the fact that, wait a minute, hunter biden is not on the ballot, donald trump is. he just got convicted, too. i think there s been some wishful thinking that this will end some of the republican conspiracy theories about all of this, you know, showing that obviously the justice department isn t solely being used to go after donald trump. i don t think you can really worry about people like that. they ve made up their mind and they re not going to be swayed by facts like this. i m most interested to see how this is handled in the debate. you would think that joe biden would come at donald trump for being a convicted felon. not hard to see donald trump coming right back at joe biden in very personal ways and how the president would respond to something like that. that could be a very powerful moment and may handcuff joe biden a little bit. i have some reporting on this. the biden campaign is still going to lean into convicted felon, biden himself will probably on occasion do the same, potentially even at the debate, and some aides are encouraging or at least talking among themselves that if trump does come after biden about hunter, which i m sure he will, president biden will take it personally, that maybe it would be okay flash some anger. that would be a normal, personal, human response. and americans, a lot can really sympathize about people who s struggling with addiction. if he s able to rise above it, that would be smart. this is the thing we re arguing about, whose conviction is worse and doesn t inspire a lot of the gravity of the moment that we should be talking about. i don t think in the end at the end of the day, either conviction is really what people are going to be voting on. and so it s to the point you re getting at, can someone change the dynamic around it? can they rise above it in a positive way and potentially joe biden is well positioned to do that. but for that and so many other reasons, that debate now just two weeks or so away looms a very important marker in this race. we really appreciate you being here. msnbc political analyst, brandon buck. thank you, as always. come back soon. and thanks to all of you for getting up way too early on this wednesday morning. morning joe starts right now. the contrast today is just staggering. apparently when a republican is convicted, it s weaponization, but when a democrat is convicted, the president s son, no less, that s justice. i mean, give me a break. do republicans still believe that president biden is weaponizing the justice system? because if he is, he s sure doing a lousy job. and as usual, the only trump derangement syndrome going on around here is on the other side of the aisle. people say that biden orchestrated the quick of his ow