John Klooister News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

And john klooister, a long-time nbc news photographer. these three men were able to appear live on the "today" show, fife days after being kidnapped and held in captivity in syria. just hours before this shot of them this morning, they were freed by a syrian rebel group who rescued them from an unknown group that had taken them and that had held them for five, long, horrible days. the rebel group not only rescued these three, they then took responsibility for driving them to the border and getting them safely out of syria. they were in syria in the first place to cover the war there. this is f...

We were on our way there when we ran into this rebel checkpoint and we had this escape and freedom. >> and richard, john, and ghazi, i know you all are all very experienced. but i'm wondering how you are feeling this morning, how you're doing and how you're processing what must have been an absolutely terrifying experience. >> ghazi, you want that? >> well, to be honest, when we first got captured, for me at least it was a bit of a moment of disbelief. but i've worked with those guys for a long time in harsh environments. and we get each other very well. we work with each other very well. i wa...

Our richard and ghazi and john are three of them. we and they and their families feel very lucky and very happy tonight that that is the case, even as we continue to be concerned about those for whom we cannot yet say that. foreign correspondents and crews know exactly how dangerous it can be to report from a war zone. we know in part from their reporting that this particular war zone appears to be descending into just total chaos right now. you can see signs of that in the syrian government's apparent decision to fire scud missiles inside its own territory at its own people. they deny they ha...

Syria's closest ally other than iran is russia. today russia moved five warships to the mediterranean to prepare to evacuate russian citizens out of that country. there are a lot of russians who live in syria. and a massive evacuation is something russia had resisted doing all of this time because, we think, they thought it would make their ally look bad. well, now things have progressed in this war to the point where they appear to be no longer concerned than. they are preparing to get their people out. for those of us who are friends of richard and ghazi and john, and of course for their fam...

Senate in this next congress. we found out yesterday who is being tapped to replace senator jim demint, who is leaving the senate. we also found out yesterday who might replace john kerry if he leaves the senate to be secretary of state. we found out today who is the odds-on favorite to replace long-time hawaii senator daniel inouye, who died yesterday. we've got all that news ahead. but we begin tonight with something that is an important story in its own terms. but for those of us at msnbc and nbc news, it is also an incredibly emotional thing. and i can tell you, it ends with good news. i...