Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, April 20, 2026

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, the final hours of the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran and the confusion tonight. Will there even be talked to make a new deal? President Trump says J.D. Vance is ready to head to the negotiations, but Iran isn't committing. And we get new video of a dramatic confrontation at sea, U.S. Marines seizing an Iranian flagship. And the new polling tonight, the pressure the president may be under to end this conflict. Also tonight, global outrage after an Israeli soldier is seen smashing a statue of Jesus, be held responsible. The deadly shooting at a popular tourist spot doesn't set running for their lives as gunfire erupts at a pyramid near Mexico City. The terrifying close call at Nashville's

airport, two jets narrowly avoid colliding, plus the airplane bomb scare sending passengers scrambling down emergency slides. This is new tonight to shakeup at one of the world's biggest companies, Tim Cook, stepping down as CEO of Apple. So who's taking over? Circus, chaos, the tiger escaping into a crowd during a performance after a stage malfunction, sparking panic in the stands, what happened next? Marathon Mania, the runner breaking a course record in Boston, and the dramatic photo finish in Delaware, proving why you should never celebrate too soon.

Plus, inside the president's move to fast-track psychedelic drug reviews. We hear from advocates who say this kind of treatment could save lives. Top story starts right now. Good evening. We begin with that chaos. and that confusion surrounding the U.S. and Iran ceasefire. Questions are swirling over whether peace talk stand and at the 10-day truce deadline rapidly approaches. The center of this conflict, the Strait of Hormuz, Iran shutting the vital waterway down again,

and new images show the U.S. seizing an Iranian ship there saying it ignored this warning. Motor vessel tovskah, motor vessel tovskah. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We're prepared to subject you to disabling fire. The U.S. says they sent warning messages for six hours before firing at the ship and taking out its engine. Nighttime video shows Marines approaching the ship by helicopter, repelling down and taking control of the vessel, as the U.S. enforces its naval blockade. President Trump says Vice President Vance will head to Pakistan to meet with Iranian negotiators.

But at this hour, Iran says it will not show up. So if there are no talks and there is no deal, what happens when the ceasefire deadline passes? Garrett Haig, following it all from the White House tonight. Tonight, just hours until the fragile two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is set to expire. President Trump saying in a new interview, he's, quote, highly unlikely to extend the truths. Maybe I won't extend it, but the blockade is going to remain. That blockade resulting in this dramatic confrontation in the Gulf of Oman between the U.S. Navy and an Iranian-flagged cargo ship under U.S. sanctions called the Tutska. A U.S. destroyer sending this warning to the vessel for six hours.

Motovasatostovatoseka. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We're prepared to subject you to disabling fire. And then firing a deck gun to disable the vessel, which was then boarded and seized by U.S. Marines. CENTCOM says 27 other ships have complied with orders to turn back. The U.S. blockade costing the Iranian regime an estimated 435 means. million dollars per day. All of it happening after Iran reversed its own pledge to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by firing on two European ships Saturday. But tonight, the prospect of peace

talks in Pakistan remains uncertain. President Trump says Vice President Vance will lead a U.S. delegation, while a top Iranian official says they won't negotiate under threat. We're talking to them. They wanted to close up the strait again, you know, as they've been doing for years and they can't blackbell us. It comes as NBC News, new polling shows that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the president's handling of Iran. Today, oil prices rose to around $89 a barrel and stocks closed lower with the NASDAQ snapping its 13-day streak of gains. Garrett Hague joins us tonight from the White House. And Garrett, while we have you here, I know there's late word of another shake-up inside the Trump cabinet.

That's right, Tom. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez, DeRiemer, tonight, becomes the third cabinet secretary to depart the administration in less than two months. Derrimer resigned today, saying she was going to the private sector, but she was also facing a misconduct investigation for which she was supposed to sit for an IG interview this week. And, Tom, she was supposed to be in front of Congress next week for an oversight hearing where she would have faced some difficult questions. Yeah, the allegations were mounting against her. All right, Garrett, we thank you for that. To break down what we're seeing in Iran, I want to bring in Bobby Goh. He's a geopolitical analyst and calmness who has reported from and on the Middle East for decades. And Colonel Steve Warren is an NBC News military analyst and former Pentagon spokesperson. I thank you both for being here.

So, Bobby, in light of everything that's happening in this strait, do we think that these peace talks are actually going to happen? Well, it's a little hard to predict at this moment, Tom. The Pakistani still seem to think so. And they're the ones hosting it. They're the ones that playing the role of the mediator. The latest out of Pakistan, and I was watching just before I came on air, is that the Pakistani's expect the President Trump to announce the extension of the ceasefire overnight, they still expect that the talks to go ahead. We know that both sides are keen for talks to take place. Both sides

do want the conflict to end. You know, President Trump, as you said at the top of that segment, faces sort of growing unpopularity here. And Iran has taken a severe beating over several weeks now, And they too need a pause. But both sides need a face-saving way out. You don't get that without actual talks. So they have to figure out how to get to that table. Yeah, and Colonel, we saw what happened this weekend, right? Videos of the U.S. seizing that ship from a military perspective, right?

How does the commander-in-chief President Trump sort of decide, listen, we have this ceasefire, but this is getting a little too crazy there in the straight-up from Moos, and we have to take aggressive action? Right. Well, I think this action over this weekend really shows three things, tactical, operational, and strategic, right? Tactically, it sort of demonstrates to every ship in the region that the United States Navy is prepared to prevent anyone from running this blockade. Operationally, it sends that message to the Iranian sort of military, whatever's left of their Navy, that the U.S. military, the U.S. Navy is ready to go. But the most important thing into what we're talking about is the strategic message.

I think it shows it sends a signal to the Iranians that while we want things to cool down, we are ready and prepared to continue kinetic operations if you don't come to the table and start talking, et cetera. And then, Colonel, you know, the president has made a lot of conflicting statements about when this ceasefire ends. If that deadline comes and there is no deal, does the fighting immediately start again? Well, I think, you know, you'll hear a phrase out of the Pentagon regularly called, you know, we will begin at a time and place of our choosing, right? That's a phrase that we use often in the military.

And I think so. I think the switch will flip to on, but Admiral Cooper, the commander of forces there, he will direct when that first bomb drops, and that will be, you know, based on the tactical situation, what we see the Iranians doing, et cetera. But I think, to answer your question, the switch will flip, you know, on Wednesday, for sure. Bobby, so we just saw in Garrett's report, you mentioned it a little bit, that the war is very unpopular here in the U.S. Clearly, the polling shows that. There was an interesting piece in the New York Times magazine over the weekend which had, it was talking to two Iranians in Tehran,

and basically one was aligned with the regime. The other one wasn't. By the end of the interview, over all the weeks of war, the one who was not aligned with the regime was starting getting very frustrated with Israel and the U.S. I know there's no polling in Iran, but do we know what the people of Iran want? We know that they want the war to stop.

Their country has taken a tremendous beating. the cost in human lives, cost in infrastructure. I saw one calculation that the damage done, even in this short period of time, is equal to or more than the physical damage done to Iran over an 80-year war that they had with Iraq in the 1980s. So that's an enormous... And the cost of rebuilding, the time it'll take,

they need to start right now. So ordinary Iranians, I think it's safe to guess even without the benefit of polling, they want the war to stop. We're also hearing that there's conflict within the regime. There are reports coming out that when they went to Islamabad

last week, that people within the delegation represented two different points of view, that there were the military side that was very aggressive and very hardline, and there was a political side. The Revolutionary Guard

versus the foreign minister and president, if you will, the moderates, if you will. So-called moderates, yeah. So there is division, as you would expect in the case of war. There's division in this country. What does that tell you,

They go to the negotiating table with maybe two different vested interests. It tells you that they're still recovering from the first blow of this war, which is when the previous Supreme Leader was taken out and a whole bunch of top leaders alongside them. When that happens, when a decapitation strike happens like that, even in the best of circumstances, it takes a while for a regime to reorganize itself, no matter how efficient that regime is.

And to try to do that in the middle of a bloody war is so much harder. So we shouldn't be surprised that there's division within the regime. The question is, can they get it together and come to the next round with a clear message? We want peace. We're willing to make a deal. Colonel, you know, I'll remind our viewers, the U.S., the president says we got into this war because they did not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. There's a front page story in the New York Times today that describes two different sites where the Iranians could have their enriched uranium, right? One, Ishfahan, which is buried under a lot of mountain.

It's been bombed. It's hard to access. The other pickax mountain, which is sort of a new site the Iranians were working on in the wake of Ishvahan and other ones getting bombed. I bring this up because it seems like we went to this war to make sure they wouldn't get a weapon, and it's unclear where this uranium exactly is. And if anyone, including the Iranians, can get access to it, how does the U.S. handle that? Right. It's a very tough nut to crack, you know, to put it simply.

Continued bombing doesn't guarantee the United States that that uranium is no longer in play. The only way to know that that uranium is out of play is for us to get our hands on it. And we've seen now, based on this reporting from the Times, that uranium may well be in two places, half of it in Ishfahan, half of it in Pickax Mountain. And Pickax Mountain is very well protected, so much so that our bombs may not. even be able to get in there, penetrate it, and destroy it. So it's a tough one. The idea of a ground operation, very, very difficult. We just saw two weeks ago as we tried to rescue a single American pilot that was downed in Iran, how much energy that took, how many aircraft, how much, you know, we lost several aircraft, you know, it was a major, just for bringing one pilot, you know,

out of the ground or off the ground. To get this uranium, almost 1,000 pounds of it in two places deep in the center of the country. Very difficult ground operation. Real quick, Bobby, because we're out of time here. Do you see any deal that the U.S. can cut and save face if they don't get some of that uranium out of Iran? Based on what the president said, no. When you start and you repeat over and over again, they can't have uranium, they're not allowed to enrich, they're not allowed to have a bomb. And you have to acknowledge at the end of the day that they still have that material. I can't see how you get away, how you come away with having saved face. Bobby Ghosh, Colonel Steve Warren, and we thank you both for joining Top Story tonight.

Also in the mid-east tonight, outrage after an Israeli soldier appeared to have damaged a statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer. Molly Hunter joins us now, and Molly, the Israeli military is responding to that image? Tom, that's right. This disturbing photo shows an Israeli soldier smashing a statue of Jesus after it has been torn off the cross. And tonight, the Israeli military say the photo is real, adding, the soldier's conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops. Now, here's the statue before it was desecrated in the Christian village of Devil in southern Lebanon, and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee posting rare criticism of Israel, writing, swift, severe, and public consequences are needed. And tonight, a State Department official and an Israeli official tell NBC news,

a second round of direct ceasefire talks between Israel and Lebanon are expected on Thursday. No confirmation yet from the Lebanese side. Tom? Tonight, Molly, we thank you for that. We're also following breaking news out of Mexico. gunfire erupting at a popular tourist spot, sitting people running for their lives at a historic pyramid just outside of Mexico City. The incident leaving at least one person dead, NBC's Priscilla Thompson with the video as the shooting was happening. Gunshots ringing out at a busy tourist site near Mexico City.

Get out of there. People running frantically and jumping off the tail to Wakhan pyramids. As a barrage of bullets rained down. He's climbing up. Witnesses filming a man seen here pacing atop a pyramid, appearing to hold a gun. Oh, they're shooting at him. The shooter fired multiple times, investigators say, killing a Canadian woman before turning the gun on himself. Six other people were injured.

Authorities say they recovered a gun, bladed weapon, and live cartridges at the scene. Mexican President Claudia Shinebomb saying the attack deeply pains us, promising a thorough investigation. say the popular tourism hotspot visited by more than a million people every year is now secure after a terrifying and deadly afternoon. Priscilla Thompson joins Top Story live tonight. Priscilla, that is a very big area. Do we know how that person brought the gun into the site? Yeah, Tom, so the government website for this archaeological site makes no mention of weapons

or guns being banned, nor does it talk about security screenings. And in fact, the Associated Press is reporting that in past years they have done security scan staff have of people entering this area, but that for some reason they stopped doing that. And it's unclear why exactly they stopped doing that. But certainly an important question as we're looking ahead to that country hosting the World Cup and potentially getting an influx of visitors looking to visit these very popular sites. Tom. Okay, Priscilla Thompson. Priscilla, thank you. Back here at home, several terrifying moments for air travelers from near misses to bomb scares. Our Sam Brock has the latest, as many remain on edge about flying.

Tonight, jarring details about a near miss at Nashville's airport. Yeah, I don't know why they did not help from 507. The confusion clear on air traffic control, which indicates controllers gave an arriving Southwest flight, permission to execute a go-around Saturday, aborting the landing and bringing it directly into the path of a departing Southwest plane. Pilots in both aircraft taking evasive action. The FAA says the crews responded to on-board alerts to avoid a collision course. Southwest as the arriving plane approached in gusty winds and landed uneventfully at the same time. Get away from the plane!

A series of bombscares, sewing chaos from Pittsburgh to Denver this weekend. Passengers scrambling through the cabin and rushing to the wing sliding down to the ground, while another aircraft searched front to back. People in bulletproof vests and helmets. They opened all the overhead bins and we're looking inside all the overhead bins. The latest incident, stopping a plane in its train. track Sunday night in Denver. The FBI were currently on the phone with a bomb threat.

These still images show the rush of late night emergency crews, as the FBI Denver said no dangerous materials were located on the aircraft. I was terrifying the whole experience. They put us on buses and they didn't take us away from the plane. Just 24 hours earlier, this alarming mid-air warning came from a pilot on the United Flight from Chicago to New York. We got an issue up here. We're getting a sequential beating, suspected item on board. we're going to have to start treating this as a potential bomb. There were no reported injuries.

United saying only that the plane landed in Pittsburgh to address a potential security concern. All right, Sam Brock joins us now, live on set here on Top Story. Let's go back to the one in Nashville. So there was that alert that went off. How exactly does that work? This is what's so wild about this entire situation. It's not like a pilot could just choose Tom to decide to do a go-around, which is when they abort a landing because they see something on the ground they don't like, whether it's the weather conditions or something dangerous.

In this case, the pilot did that. The ATC gave him permission to go back into the pathway of a departing flight where they would have crashed. The technology you ask about is called TCAS. It's collision avoidance system. It alerts when planes are in a certain proximity that's so close that it has to force some sort of change. The pilot, in this case, moves the flight, typically ascends upwards and avoids a direct collision. But given what we've seen in recent months, you can understand why people would be unnerved by this. All right, Sam Brock, for us. Yeah, it's wild.

We thank you for that. Now, the $250 million defamation suit filed by the FBI director over a report he calls a false hit piece designed to drive him out of his job. Kelly O'Donnell has the late details. Tonight, a battle over reputation and reporting. You want to attack my character? Come at me. Bring it on. I'll see you in court. Today, FBI director Cash Patel filed a defamation suit, seeking a staggering $250 million against the Atlantic Monthly Group. After its April 17th story, citing anonymous sources reported that bouts of excessive drinking and erratic behavior have put his job on the line. NBC News has not independently verified that reporting.

The story claims on multiple occasions the director's security detail had difficulty waking Patel and states that a request was made late last year for breaching equipment to gain entry. Patel's lawsuit calls that claim pure phantom. and states that breaching equipment is provided to all FBI protection details. Patel had faced criticism for this moment when he partied with U.S. men's hockey winning Olympic gold. He responded that he was extremely humble to celebrate with the boys. All right. With that, Kelly O'Donnell joins us live tonight. Kelly, we're hearing from the Atlantic tonight. What are they saying? They are responding to this lawsuit, as you would expect. And part of what they're saying is that it is a meritless lawsuit. And they go on to say, we have full confidence in our reporting on Cash Patel.

One of the issues here is because he is a public figure, he is asserting something in the law known as actual malice, meaning a media company would have to knowingly publish false information. That'll all play out in court. But that's what Patel is saying. He is claiming that the publication did not respond to some of the things that the FBI provided in advance of publication. They are saying that they spoke to current and former FBI officials, numerous officials, on all of the different elements of the story. Again, we did not independently confirm this reporting, but it shows you the kind of sort of tone that's in the administration right now. When there are critical stories, there are times when officials fight back themselves. This is Cash Patel in his personal capacity filing this lawsuit against the Atlantic Monthly Group.

Tom? Okay, Kelly, thank you. We're going to be back in a moment here on Top Story with the new investigation to Jeffrey Epstein. This one focused on a sprawling New Mexico ranch, our Hallie Jackson actually went there. She's going to show us what she found. Plus the growing push for psychedelic research, why the White House is calling for a fast-track review of certain drugs, we'll explain. And rodeo rampage, have you seen this video, a horse stampeding through a crowd, several people trampled, will show you what caused the chaos.

Ahead on Top Story. We're back now with our inside look at Jeffrey Epstein's New Mexico ranch where several women say they were sexually assaulted. It's never been searched by the feds, but now the state is reigniting its investigation. Hallie Jackson reports from New Mexico. Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch stretched for miles. Its centerpiece? The enormous mansion he built with its pool and library stables nearby. None of it searched by federal investigators after Epstein's 2019 arrest.

to the shock of Hector Baldaris. At the time, New Mexico's Attorney General. Do you think the feds should have searched the ranch back in 19? Absolutely. By 2019, Balderas had opened a state investigation into the ranch, but says he was asked to stand down by the feds so they could build their case. We assumed, with their reputation for being aggressive, that they were going to be aggressive and then share that evidence with us.

It was a very simple one-to punch. And that's happened before in other cases? Absolutely. But it didn't happen here. It didn't happen here. Now New Mexico is trying to make up for lost time, opening a new state investigation. I think what bothers me the most, knowing the extent of what happened, why nothing was done. New Mexico lawmakers this spring also established a bipartisan commission to investigate Zorro after the release of the Justice Department's Epstein files.

At this point, we don't have the full story. And what we understand is that most information was provided to the federal government and has not been provided back. The DOJ declined to comment on those specific materials but says they welcome New Mexico undertaking additional investigations of Zorro. And if those uncover potential federal crimes, they stand ready to work closely together to prosecute. Outside the ranch now, a memorial with signs, pictures, and crosses. This is the main driveway leading up to the ranch, but this is as far as we're able to go. You can see the no trespassing signs that have been put up around the property. The ranch was purchased in 2023 by a Texas real estate developer who wants to turn it into a Christian retreat, renaming the road here, San Rafael, after the patron saint of healing.

I don't think that you could turn this space around with the horror that has happened here. We believe you. Amanda and Sky Roberts, the family of Virginia Roberts, Dufre, who died by suicide last year. She's one of at least 10 girls or young women who say they were groomed or assaulted by Epstein at Zorro. We have to give survivors and victims of space to come forward and let them feel heard. This is their time. And I ask the current New Mexico Attorney General about the timeline for his new investigation. He says it'll be complicated and time-consuming, but they're going to do everything they can

to get to the bottom of what happened at Zora Ranch, he says, no matter how uncomfortable it is or how long it takes. Tom. Hey, Jackson for us, Halle. Good to have you in the show tonight. Thank you. There are new details tonight in the investigation into the singer David, who tonight has been formerly charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas, whose body was found in the trunk of his Tesla. The singer whose real name is David Burke pled not guilty. I want to bring in NBC's Camilla Bernal, who has been following this case from L.A. since the beginning. So Camila, we heard from prosecutors today about a possible motive. Why did they say David allegedly did this? Yeah, Tom. So first,

they charged them with first-agree murder, and it's actually the special circumstances that they added on that really give us some insight into the motive. They say, One of them is lying in wait. That is because the last time she was seen was when she went to David's house April of 2025. They also say financial gains because he did not want to lose his career, his followers. He had millions of followers on social media, the money he was gaining from all of this. And then the next one was murdering a witness. And so how does that play into all of this?

Prosecutors allege that there was sexual abuse happening since 2003. And it was that continuous sexual abuse that was possibly in the eyes of law enforcement. One of the things that caused him to kill her because he did not want this to come out because he wanted to keep his career and he wanted to continue his fame. And so they say she was just 13, 14 years old. That was a child and he was an adult. So there are additional sexual abuse charges and that they believe is part of the motive here in this case, although they didn't specifically say that that is the only

reason why he did this. They say there's a lot of evidence that they're going to present in trial and that they have and they believe that that's how they're going to be able to link everything. The DA was asked about a smoking gun and he said, look, there is not one smoking gun. It's the totality of the evidence. We then saw him here in court. His lawyers denying the allegations. The family was just feet away from David Burke. They were emotional. They actually chose not to speak. We were waiting for a family attorney to speak, and instead they chose not to do so. This is clearly a difficult situation for this family as this moves forward. But this is just the beginning as we do expect this to continue to move through the courts, Tom.

Okay, Camilla Bernal for us outside of court there. Camilla, we thank you for that. Still to come tonight here on Top Story, the major shakeup at Apple. Tim Cook stepping down as CEO. So who's taking over? Plus, the stunning view from space will show you the shot of Earth and the moon. few before have ever seen. But first, top story's top moment, and it was a big day in Boston, more than 30,000

runners flocked into Bean Town for the 130th Boston Marathon and some making history. John Correar and Sharon Loughkedy, both from Kenya defending their titles as the men and women's champions. Career breaking the course record with a time of two hours, one minute. That's incredible in 52 seconds. And down the coast at the Delaware Marathon over the weekend, a stunning moment. Watch this at the finish line when a runner speeds past the leader to clinch first place. Take a look.

Catch him, get him. That photo finish, proof that it is never over until it's over. Congrats to all the runners today and this week and quite the accomplishment there. Stay with us. More top story after the break. All right, we're back with breaking news in the tech world. Apple announcing a new CEO, John Ternus. The company's senior vice president of hardware engineering will take over as chief executive chairman on September 1st.

man currently in the role, Tim Cook will move on as chairman of Apple's board of directors. Joining us tonight, someone who's been predicting this move would happen for months. Bloomberg managing editor Mark German, who covers all things Apple and tech. Mark, thanks for joining Top Story tonight, and congrats on being right, because it's nice to be right every now and then. Apple CEOs, especially Steve Jobs, and now Tim Cook have really transcended the business world. They've been cultural touchstones whose decisions impact millions around the world. So what do we know about John Turnus and how does he fit?

this mold. John Turnus is a product guy at heart. He bleeds six colors. It's the six colors of the original Apple logo developed under Steve Jobs way back in the day. He is Apple through and through. There was no other option for CEO. He's 50 years old, the same age that Tim Cook was when he was appointed CEO. This gives Apple someone who can sit in the seat for 15 to 25 years and have that runway in charge of the company. He's been leading the company. He's been leading the company. company's product development for the last half of a decade. He was named to his previous role, head of hardware engineering in 2021. He was mentored by some of the best at Apple when it comes to product development.

He worked a little bit in the Steve Jobs days, overseeing product design for the original iPad. And if you remember, if you ever used an original iPad, everyone, when they took it out of the box, was just amazed of how high quality that thing felt, how durable the iPad was. and you know Apple products have become more durable over the last several years. You know they've become more recyclable, environmentally friendly, and lasting a lot longer. You could use a Mac now for five years. That all comes down to the Ternus. So he's really taken Apple's products and hardware and have made them something that can really last a long time.

And really just some of the most top-performant machines on the market right now. So he's taking Apple hardware to new heights. And I think it's going to be exciting to see what he does for the rest of the business now. Why do you think they chose this moment? I got the part about his age, but what about Tim Cook? Was he ready to move? Tim Cook is 65 years old. He's been in charge of the company for 15 years.

And there were some concerns that maybe, you know, his tenure, he was getting a little bit long in the tooth. Apple obviously missed the artificial intelligence revolution. The board felt that someone knew and fresher, someone with an eye for artificial intelligence and these new age technologies. to really run the company in that new direction needed to come in here, right? Tim Cook wasn't forced out by any means. He made this decision himself last year. And certainly he deserved to write his own ticket. And part of that own ticket is remaining involved as the company's executive chairman.

In that role, obviously, Tarnas will report to Tim Cook still. But Tim Cook is going to continue to manage the relationship with President Donald Trump in dealing with governments and China and all. that on the world stage. So this is going to be an interesting setup. It's not unique by any means. You've seen other companies do this. Amazon obviously has Jeff Bezos, still this large towering figure as executive chairman, but Andy Jassy runs the place. You're now going to see the same thing with Apple. Yeah, you mentioned artificial intelligence. Apple's still the top of its game. You've been closely following their new launches, including rumors about an upcoming glasses product to compete with

met as goggles. What does this leadership shakeup mean for the larger ecosystem? And Apple may not have been at the front end of that AI wave, but will this hurt them in the long run? Because people think, whether Apple likes or not, that it's the Apple products that people love around the world. AI will not impact Apple in a negative way in terms of how far behind it has come. They're doubling down on hardware. And it's crazy to say, but as far behind as Apple is an AI technology, they are ahead of everyone else in terms of being the hardware and the platform company to run AI. So they've got the hardware working great, thanks to the two new people at the top of Apple, John Turnus and Johnny Sruji, now his deputy, the chief hardware officer. Their software,

when it comes to AI, lags pretty much everyone else in the industry. So now they need to catch up software, but in the near term, in June, they're going to announce a revamp version of Siri that plays nicely with AI from Google, from Chad GPT, from Anthropic. And so that's the approach they're taking for now, going all in on their hardware expertise. While I have you here, how much heat are they feeling on the phone front? Do they still feel that the iPhone is a superior product to everything else that's out there in the market? Are they feeling the effects of whether it be a Google or even a Motorola that wants to come back? There's been no effect of AI in improvements you're seeing to competing products on the iPhone. The iPhone is still the quintessential

Apple product. It is still the market leader from basically any metric you look at. I think it's far and away the best smartphone on the market. If you look at the integration between hardware and software, from an AI perspective, it's terrible. But they'll catch up there, especially by letting in third parties to help them out there. You've seen China do remarkable things with their phones, but I still think for most people, the iPhones ahead of the game, and Ternis has been in charge of this thing since 2020, so he's got the experience to take it to the next level. And this fall, Ternus will be on stage announcing the biggest revamp in the iPhone's history with the iPhone Ultra, the company's first foldable phone. And as someone who's watched Apple and

uses all these products for all these companies, this is one of the things that I've been excited about for a very long time, and probably one of the most exciting new things they're going to see from Apple in a while. That sounds good. Mark German, you can read them, of course. in Bloomberg. We thank you so much for joining Top Story tonight. This was a fascinating conversation. Time now for our newsfeed, and we start with the federal trial in Virginia for an Afghan national accused of playing a key role in the deadly bombing at a Kabul airport in 2021. It happened during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Mohammed Sharifullah faces charges related to that attack that killed nearly 200 people, including 13 U.S. service members. He's pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. And chaos erupting at a rodeo in South Carolina. A video shows horses stampeding through a crowd trampling several people. First responders say about 10 were hurt. Most of them treated at the hospital. Multiple other people, they'll get this. They were arrested because they were throwing beer cans and other objects allegedly at officers. Police say the horses were spooked by the giant fireworks you see right there.

And in North Carolina, massive dust devil spinning through a youth baseball game. You can see the so-called dust-nado. sweeping across the diamond there in wait for us, the funnel of dirt sending players, coaches, and the umpire scrambling for cover. Luckily, nobody was injured there, but it did knock over some tents after blowing off the field. And a remarkable view from space that only a few humans have ever seen. Check this out. The Earth slowly disappearing behind the moon, NASA astronaut Reid Weissman captured it on his iPhone while commanding the Artemis mission. He compared the scene to watching the sunset at the beach, but with the most foreign

seat in the cosmos. Pretty cool. Okay. Now to the disturbing shooting in Louisiana, a father going on a rampage, killing eight young children, most of them his own, and now the community is left grappling with how something like this could have happened. Are Ryan Chandler's there? Tonight, new details on gunman Shamar Elkins, who shot and killed seven of his children and their cousin. The shooter's brother-in-law, Troy Brown, shocked. Telling NBC News, 31-year-old Elkins, recently sought mental health treatment through veterans affairs. He stayed there a week and a half. He came home. He was happy. Elkins left the Louisiana Army National Guard in 2020 after they say he served for seven years as a private. He loved his kids. He loved his wife. I just don't know what

happened. You never know what a person's going through. The horrific act of violence happened inside this home early Sunday. The kids all between three and 11 years old. Authorities say the gun, The gunman also shot his wife and a woman believed to be his girlfriend before he fled in a stolen car. Home security video capturing the moments officers caught up to him and exchanged gunfire. He was later pronounced dead. What is it like to return to this scene today? It's just unreal. I can't believe it. It is tragic what is going on and this has affected everyone.

Ryan Chandler joins us tonight from Shreveport. So Ryan, what more do we know about the investigation to the gunman? Well, one urgent question that authorities have tonight is how did the gunmen get the firearms that police say he used in this shooting? They say he used a handgun and a rifle-style pistol in this terrible crime, but he was a convicted felon. Authorities say he was convicted in 2019 of the illegal use of a weapon, so legally he was not allowed to own those firearms. Okay, Ryan, we thank you for that. Now to a story that's taken on a life of its own online. the FBI investigating a series of cases involving missing or killed American scientists.

Could they be connected? NBC's Gabe Gutierrez has more. Retired Major General William Neal McCaslin was last seen in his home in New Mexico in late February. My husband is missing. Tonight, his case is at the center of swirling online conspiracies over the deaths or disappearances of at least 10 scientists that have caught the attention of the White House. I just left the meeting on that subject, so pretty serious stuff. An FBI spokesperson now confirms the Bureau is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. So far, there's no evidence linking the cases.

But among the disappearances fueling speculation online, Monica Reza, a former NASA scientist who vanished this past summer while hiking in California. And Alabama-based anti-gravity researcher Amy Catherine Eskridge, whose death in 2022 was really. rule to suicide. Others have ties to nuclear research, aerospace programs, and classified projects. That's definitely something I think this government and administration would deem worth looking into. McCaslin's disappearance has drawn a lot of attention because at one point he worked inside an Air Force base in Ohio, long rumored to house extraterrestrial debris despite repeated air force denials. And his wife wrote on Facebook, it seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him.

He also retired from the military more than 12 years ago, so there are still a lot of unanswered questions whenever it comes to his case, as well as all of the others that are drawing so much online speculation. Now, today, the House Oversight Committee also said that it would conduct its own investigation, formally asking for a briefing from the Defense Department, the Energy Department, the FBI, as well as NASA.

Tom? Okay, Gabe, thank you for that. Meanwhile, in Washington, President Trump directed his administration to speed up reviews of certain psychedelic drugs. It's a movie, says, is directed at helping veterans as the war with Iran drags Trump's approval rating down. NBC News's White House correspondent, Julie Sirk and has more. No, you're not hallucinating. These experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential. President Trump signed an executive order on Saturday speeding up reviews of certain psychedelic drugs,

easing restrictions for medical research on psilocybin or magic mushrooms and ibegain, a natural psychoactive drug. Even joking, he'd be open to trying them. Can I have so, please? I'll take it. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan says he helped push the president on the issue. I sent him that information. The text message came back sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do it. It's a far cry from the 1970s when Richard Nixon declared war on drugs.

Public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. While psychedelic drugs remain banned federally, some states and localities have decriminalized possession and use, though researchers say there are serious potential safety risks. But a growing movement of veterans and advocates have pushed for more research into the drug's potential medical benefits. Professor Alex Kwan studies psychedelics and their effect on the brain at Cornell University. If you think back into the 1970s and 1980s, I think these drugs are viewed negatively.

But I think, you know, some of that could be not fully warranted. And I think now we're seeing more research and science into these drugs to explore their potential positive benefits. News, some combat veterans like Joshua Wall are glad to hear. Spent time in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Wall says he turned to the VA when he returned home in 2009. He was suffering from PTSD and spinal injuries. I proceeded to go ahead and get on all the various medications of the VA prescribed to me. Try that for over a period of two years, and it made me a shell of a human being.

Ten years later, the husband and dad tried microdosing on mushrooms. Would you say that psilocybin healed you? Very much so. Do you know veterans personally whose lives have been saved by psychedelics? Yes, hundreds and hundreds. Veterans suicide rates are 58% higher than the general population. Wall says he hopes this new research push could bring that number down dramatically. We just got tired of losing people.

We have the ability to say, hey, this is something that worked for me, and we can help you get better. Okay, with that, Julie joins Top Story tonight. Julie, the EO is meant to speed up the review process, right, for sort of these drugs. How fast are we talking? Well, the president, Tom, was asked that exact question. He made sure to highlight that this is still going through the late stages of the advanced clinical trials to make sure these drugs are as safe as possible. Veterans groups that I talk to, though, Tom,

say this fast-tracking EO may lead to approval in the rescheduling process in a matter of months. That would be huge. But I think the point to take away from this is that while this is still a substance under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has high potential for abuse. That professor that I talked to said,

look, Americans are seeking these treatments anyway, oftentimes going out of the country to Mexico or South America. Wouldn't it be safer if they could do it here? here under a controlled environment with scientists and doctors present. Tom? Okay, Julie, circuit for us. Julie, we thank you for that. Still ahead tonight, circus nightmare.

Look at this video. A tiger escaping its enclosure after a malfunction on stage, leaping into the crowd filled with families, a tiger people. What happened next? Also, one giant step for robot kind, humanoid, going head to head against actual humans in a half marathon. Who came out on top? We'll show you next.

Okay, we're going to turn now to Top Story's Global Watch, and we start in Japan, where the country is on alert after a powerful earthquake today. It hit in northern Japan, sparking a tsunami alert and leaving at least two people hurt, that according to an emergency agency. The 7.7 magnitude quake also caused authorities to warn of a possible mega quake for some areas along the coast. We will stay on top of that one. And an investigation in Europe over jars of baby food that German police say were deliberately tainted with rat poison. They say they found five contaminated jars across Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. So far, no reports of anyone getting sick, but police say one more tainted jar is still unaccounted for. Officials say the incident may have been part of an attempt to extort the manufacturer.

And shocking video out of Russia of a tiger getting loose during a circus. The video shows a net barrier dropping down, allowing the animal to leap into the crowd. You can see that tiger moving throughout the seats before a worker appears to try to wrangle it. Russian state media reports people were escorted. out of the arena and that nobody was hurt. Okay, earlier in the show, we told you about that superhuman feat accomplished at this year's Boston Marathon. But another race across the globe in Beijing is setting records for robot kind. NBC's Janice McEfrayer was at the world's only robot half marathon where people run alongside

the machines. In the race to build robots that are faster and smarter, big strides are being made here in China. At a half marathon pitting more than a hundred humanoid robots, beside 12,000 real-life runners, the machines were on the move. Some whipping by at speeds up to 15 miles per hour, leaving the entire field behind. The winner called Lightning, finishing the 13 miles faster than any human ever, 50 minutes, 26 seconds, shattering the current world record by nearly seven minutes.

It was a technological leap from last year's race when only six of 21 humanoids finished and the rest fizzled. This time nearly half the robots were autonomous running on their own without people controlling them. While it all seems a bit science fiction, the spectacle here speaks to a bigger race between China and the U.S.

to develop machines that think and move like people. Intercity technology robots can run, Groove, even gets sassy. You are making my circus feel all warm and fuzzy. Robots today have the body of Mike Tyson, but need the brain of Stephen Hawking, says the CEO. Once that's solved, the scope for imagination here is immense. You ready? Go.

Humanoids are expected to someday be capable of doing nearly any job. repair work to caring for the elderly. In that sense, it was reassuring the race was not without its setbacks. There were face plants and stretchers. Some finishes showing more flair than others. Suggesting humans still have skin in the game for now. Compared to last year's race, the advances in speed and endurance are really kind of hard to compute. kind of hard to compute. A lot of the human runners were slowing down or stopping running the

marathon altogether so they could watch the robots whizz past. It's like this very public stress test for the robotics industry, with the teams already working on adjustments to their humanoids to make them even better for next year's race. All right, Janice McEugh-Frayer for us. We thank you. Coming up, another competition that's raising eyebrows. Our Brian Chung takes us inside the world of competitive rock-paper scissors. Is there really a strategy to the age-old game? We'll explain, and we put his skills to the test right here. We're back now with the game as old as time, rock-paper scissors.

And while it may be popular in the playground, some are taking the sport, yes, sport, to the next level. NBC's Brian Chung tries his hand at some high-level Roche and Bo. Rock-paper-s scissors shoot. It's a game of strategy and chance. With simple rules. Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock. scissors beats paper. A playground pastime passed down through generations, from the classic to seemingly endless variations. That's fire. Beats everything.

Does it beat water balloon? But did you know, according to the World Rock Paper Scissors Association, it goes back more than 2,000 years to ancient China, where the original game called So Shiling is said to have included three animals, a frog, a snake, and a centipede. In Japan, it evolved to a fox, village headsman and Hunter. And finally to today's modern hand signals, now played by billions worldwide and beyond. It appears they are going with rock paper scissors. But make no mistake.

For some, it's a sport with real tournaments like this one at Notre Dame. Three, two, one, rock paper, scissors, two. And in China, where 10,000 people competed in the largest rock paper scissors tournament back in 2019. Before attending a local tournament myself, I spent over 15 minutes mastering the art of throwing rock paper and scissors. As ready as I'd ever be, I headed to New Jersey. Here, the state lottery is hosting hundreds of rock paper scissors enthusiasts

vying for a $10,000 grand prize. Try to win. It's 10,000 on the line, man. Get that paper, and then can I pull it? What's this way? Is this a secret one? This one has a typo. What's the typo?

Don't trow rock. I think people get it, but yeah, you know, we can do a little spell check. The rules are straight. enforced. Paper looks like this. Okay. This is the one that people mess up a lot. I want to make sure that paper looks like mine with their palm flat and their fingers together.

Tell me about the mask first. It was in case all else fails, put on the mask. Some players saying it's a game of psychology. It's based on their previous throw. The odds of what the next throw will be and whether they're going in order through rock, paper, scissors, which most people will do. It's elbow movement. You can actually see what's the most of my arm.

actually see what somebody gonna throw out. You pay attention. Paper first. Why? I read it was better. I read everybody does rock first. Others say there isn't any one winning strategy. Whatever came out of my hand.

No strategy. Whatever my hand shows, I'm Italian, so they talk. We had a Todd Tutu, but I was feeling very papery, and she just happened to be there with the scissors. I didn't see that coming. What's that postseason prep going to look like for you? going to look like for you yeah honestly the grind never stops honestly me and coach have talked about it we need more forearm grips a lot more chin-ups after three days of

competition beating 383 people on the way 29-year-old veterinary assistant Julio Rivera emerged victorious so you have no strategy it's just it just my gut wasn't the heart it was the gut rock rock rock until paper now it was my time to suit up and take on the current champion Regular pace? The tension building. My heart racing. He keeps the money either way.

Oh, I get a participation trophy. I got it. I beat the first. Let's go. All right, Brian joins us now. Brian, great story. I see you're taking this role very seriously. Strength training is really important.

So you look like you're pretty good. I'd love to take you. Done some rock paper scissors of my day. So if you're ready to go. All right. Best to one right here? Best of one. Okay, and you go on shoot, by the way.

That's what the referee said. Ready? So go one, two, two, three, no? Rock, papers, isn't shoot. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, ready? Rock, paper, scissors, shoot. Oh, sweet.

I don't know about that. I wish we could, I want a replay. I felt like he was a little bit. I don't know about that. You're good, bud. You're good. Great story, Brian. We really appreciate it.

Appreciate it. All right, that does it for us tonight. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.