Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, June 10, 2024

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

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.

Tonight, inside the rescue, incredible new video showing the tense moments the IDF went in to save Israeli hostages. The close-up look at the daring mission to recover three men held for months inside of Gaza and how it all nearly fell apart. The growing international outrage over the number of Palestinians killed in the operation. The U.S. led ceasefire proposal gaining new momentum. The U.N. Security Council now urging Hamas to accept the deal. NBC News exclusive reporting the potential new negotiations to free five Americans held hostage in Gaza. Also tonight, Hunter Biden verdict watched the fate of the president's son now in the hands of a jury. Prosecutors arguing he knew he was lying about being a drug user when he purchased a gun.

The defense saying no one saw him using drugs during the time in question, the key testimony the jury is weighing to make their decision. France's election turmoil, far-right groups gaining ground in Europe triggering a shocking move from French President Emmanuel Macron, Macron taking a stunning risk, announcing he would hold new elections later this month? Will his gamble keep his party in power or hand him a humiliating defeat? Miami apartment Inferno, a massive fire sweeping through an apartment complex, crews rushing in to try and rescue people trapped inside the building, a building employee found shot at the scene. The late breaking details just coming in. Bull on the loose. Shocking moments at an Oregon rodeo, a bull jumping out of the arena charging into a crowd,

several people injured, how officials were able to capture the escaped animal. Plus, a budding problem in Martha's Vineyard, the island is about to run out of pot. The federal regulations that could leave the area high and dry, and one dispensaries fight to stay afloat before it all goes up and smoke. And Apple jumping into the world of AI, how the new tech could change how you use your iPhone. Top story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom Yameth. Tonight, a new look at Israel's hostage rescue operation. Israeli authorities releasing dramatic video of the moment they raided an apartment in Gaza, finding hostages inside.

That high-risk That high-risk operation carried out in broad daylight to bring back four hostages held in captivity since the October 7th attack. In a few moments, we'll explain how the mission almost went terribly wrong. Back in Israel, tears of joy and emotional moments of celebration as the hostages reunited with their families. But the raid leaving families in Gaza in mourning. More than 270 Palestinian civilians killed, according to Gaza's health ministry,

and sparking global outrage over the bloody operation and wide-scale destruction. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Blinken urging Israel and Hamas to agree to a U.S. drafted ceasefire, a proposal approved just today by the UN Security Council. And NBC exclusively reporting that the Biden administration, has discussed negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas to free five American hostages. The move would leave Israel out of the mediating process. The IDF claiming the men rescued on Saturday were held by a local journalist who'd worked for Al Jazeera.

Authorities did not provide evidence to support that claim. The response from the Qatari state-owned broadcaster in just a moment, but first NBC News, Andrea Mitchell, starts us off tonight. Tonight, the dramatic moment when three of the four hostages were rescued. You can hear gunfire as Israeli officers approach a family home in the middle of a refugee camp, finding the hostages held by Hamas inside a back room. The officers asking for their names as the hostages answer back. Andre, he says, the daring daytime mission later resulting in a firefight, the IDF says, as Hamas opened fire on the hostages and rescuers as they escaped.

The high death toll of Palestinians, potentially complicating delicate, cease fire negotiations with Hamas. Secretary of State Tony Blinken in Israel tonight, demanding Hamas agreed to a deal. Israel has accepted the proposal. The only party that has not accepted, the only party that's not said yes is Hamas. That's who everyone's waiting on. All four hostages were taken during the October 7th Hamas terror attacks at the Nova Music Festival.

Noah Argomani, 26 years old, who became the face of the hot. hostage horror, seen on the back of a motorbike being kidnapped into Israel. Her boyfriend still held captive tonight. Agamani hugging her father and reunited with her mother, who was terminally ill. Amag Meir Jan, 21 years old, coming home just one day after his father died, but arriving before his mother's birthday. I couldn't stop hugging him. I couldn't stop.

And tomorrow is my birthday, so I got my present. Thank you. 40-year-old Shlomo Zeev and Andre Kozlov, 27, falling to his knees when he was reunited with his mom. But while there's celebrations in Israel, in Gaza there's mourning. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian deaths, says 274 Palestinians were killed in the rescue mission, including 64 children. one woman telling our crew in Gaza.

The family is destroyed, and my house is destroyed. This is NBC News is reporting exclusively the U.S. is discussing a dramatic new move if cease fire talks fail, making a unilateral deal with Hamas to release the remaining American hostages, negotiating through Qatar and without Israel, according to two current and former senior U.S. officials. My number one priority, Secretary of State, is to ensure the well-being of Americans, who are in harm's way anywhere in the world. If that's your top priority, wouldn't indirect talks for the Americans at least bring those Americans home, or possibly?

The most effective way to do that, to achieve that, to actually get them home, is through the proposal that's on the table. So let's see if we get an answer from the Moss. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu has still not publicly backed the deal and is now facing more intense pressure from his far right to reject it. Alison. Andrea Mitchell, thank you. For more on that hostage rescue operation and the other developments out of the region.

I want to bring in NBC News International correspondent Matt Bradley. He joins us now from Jerusalem. Matt, let's go back to that daring daytime raid because the videos, the stories around it, it's a lot to take in. These hostages, they were not found inside of Hamas tunnels, but instead they were found inside of apartment buildings, at least some of them were. in a refugee camp, right, that would naturally, typically, and given the space inside of Gaza, mean that there were civilians nearby civilians impacted by this.

Can you talk to us a little more about the toll of this operation on Palestinian civilians? Yeah, well, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip have said that at least 274 people were killed, maybe nearly 700 were injured, and among those dead there were dozens of children. And you're right. They were found inside what looks like a Nusayrat refugee camp. It was a residential area, so it was surrounded by civilians, women, children who are walking around. So this was a situation where it looks as though, yes, the rescued hostages were being hidden among a civilian population, as you said, not under military installations, which don't really exist in the Gaza Strip. There are no Hamas formal military installations, and not under those tunnel systems where a lot of the other hostages were either held.

are thought to have been held. Another headline coming out of the raid in a social media post, Israel alleging that three of the hostages were held in the home of a journalist who contributed to Al Jazeera. What is the network saying about that allegation tonight? And what more do we know about what allegedly his ties were here? Well, this is something that goes back to a lot of the enmity between Israel and Al Jazeera, a network that they recently banned and even raided some of their equipment recently, just in the past couple of weeks. So this kind of puts pay to some of the allegations about Al Jazeera

that the Israelis have been making, not just in the last couple of months, but for years. But, you know, now Al Jazeera is distancing themselves from this man. They're saying that, yes, he had contributed at one point. He was a one-time contributor. And he contributed to a lot of other publications. The fact that the Israelis are zeroing in on this Al Jazeera connection is, again, a lot about the history between Al Jazeera and Israel. A lot of people, still inside of Gaza needing basic supplies and aid tonight. And NBC News has new reporting on the status of the U.S. military's pier off of the coast of Gaza. What can you tell us about that?

Well, it sounds as though that pier hasn't actually been taking in any actual goods for a couple of days. And this was something that, you know, the pier had been severed from the coastline because of bad weather for several weeks. This is a military installation that was installed without putting U.S. boots on the ground, and that was very deliberate. So this is kind of something that was essentially attached from the sea onto land, and it's been a focus of much speculation, of much concern. Hamas has said that they don't want to see any American troops on their coast, and that is something that sounds like the Americans have abided by. Now, there's been a lot of criticism of this saying, you know, why don't the Americans just ask these? their allies, their benefactors, to let them in, to let in the aid, instead of creating this elaborate get-around. And so this is a situation that, again, has attracted criticism

before, and it's going to continue to attract criticism. But unlike a lot of those airlifts that had brought in aid into the Gaza Strip before, this was an effective means of bringing an aid into the Gaza Strip, not as effective as it would be to simply open up the gates to the Gaza Strip and let aid in by road. But it had brought up. brought in a lot more than the airdrops before. And last question, Matt, and I know we're covering a lot of different topics with you here, but you have so much experience reporting in the region, and there is just this many different nuggets of news right now.

But Blinkin's visit to Israel, as that was happening, you had this key member of the country's war cabinet resign. Talk to us about who that was and the significance, ultimately, of Benny Gantz's departure here. So, Benny Gantz is a former defense minister, and he had been brought on. on October 7th to some sort of emergency coalition government, and this isn't the first time this happened, actually, Netanyahu convened a similar kind of emergency government back during COVID, and it met an almost similar end. It was essentially just, you know, torn apart when COVID ended.

In this case, Benjamin Netanyahu could decide to replace Benny Gantz, who's considered a moderate and a reliable partner of the West and the international community, unlike Benjamin Netanyahu and his very right-wing allies in the cabinet. So losing Benny Gantz doesn't just lose a moderate voice within the War Cabinet, where he is one or was one, of three voting members, and there are a couple of observers. It also means that there isn't this same direct line between the rest of the world and Israel that was basically carried by Gantz himself

because he carried that much trust. He is a man who enjoys a lot of... esteem and prestige in this country because of his history with the military and because of his political middle-of-the-road moderation. And he was someone who appeared in a lot of the protests against Benjamin Netanyahu or supported the protesters against Benjamin Netanyahu in the summer leading up to October 7th when Netanyahu was trying to push through constitutional reforms, as he called them, that would have essentially empowered the right wing over the country's judiciary. So Benny Gans's departure

is going to be felt very deeply in this country. The question is how? We don't know exactly because we don't know how Benjamin Netanyahu is going to react. Matt Bradley, thank you. Back here in the U.S., jury deliberations begun in the Hunter-Biden federal gun trial. Prosecutors calling the evidence against Hunter personal, ugly, and overwhelming in closing arguments, but also saying it was necessary. NBC news correspondent Ryan Nobles is in Wilmington, Delaware. There. Tonight, it's in the hands of the jury. Six men and six women now deliberating the fate of Hunter Biden, the first child of a sitting American president to be charged with a crime. Many members of the first family in the courtroom throughout the trial. All of this is not evidence, said U.S. Attorney Leo Wise in his closing statement, while gesturing around the courtroom and in the direction of First Lady Jill Biden in the first row. People sitting in the gallery are not evidence, he said, adding no one is. is above the law. The special counsels accused the president's son of lying on a federal background check by checking a box claiming he was not an active drug user in order to purchase a gun.

Prosecutors used evidence from Hunter's laptop and also called 10 witnesses, many describing Hunter Biden's frequent drug use, including around the time he filled out that background check in October of 2018. Hunter Biden's ex-wife testified she found drug paraphernalia inside his car in October of 2018. And his ex-girlfriend who was dated. him at that same time saying Hunter was smoking crack every 20 minutes or so. The evidence was personal. It was ugly. It was overwhelming, Wise told the jury today. It was also absolutely necessary. But defense attorney Abby Loll argued the prosecution focused far too much on his drug abuse over a four-year period and saying no one witnessed actual drug use during

the window of time that he purchased a gun. And Ryan Nobles joins us now from outside of the courthouse in Delaware. Ryan, talk to us about these closing arguments. Was there one moment in particular where the jury seemed to be more engaged or reactive, if you will? Yeah, it's a good question, Allison. And I don't think there was one particular instance that stood out. And in fact, I think for the most part, this jury's been very engaged over the six days of this trial. They seem to be paying very close attention to the arguments being made to the witness testimony. You see them taking copious notes, and the same could be said for those closing arguments. The other thing that you saw the jury paid very close attention to were the instructions that they were given by the judge.

This will be an important part of their deliberations, which will continue first thing tomorrow morning. And Ryan, what about prison time? This is a charge that typically does have some prison time possibly associated with it. What is that? And how likely is it that if convicted Hunter Biden would actually end up behind bars? Well, there are three different charges here, Allison. Two of the charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, the third five-year sentence in prison.

It seems unlikely that if he's charged with all three of these counts, if he's found guilty on all three of these counts, that he would get the max on all three charges. So the most likely scenario would be a maximum sentence of 10 years, but even that is probably beyond what the prosecutors will seek and what the judge will ultimately hand down. But make no mistake, prison time is a real possibility here for Hunter Biden if he is convicted of these charges. He is a first-time offender, so that will certainly be taken into account.

One thing we do know that his father, the president of the United States, has said that he will not offer him a pardon if he's convicted. Alison. Ryan Nobles in Delaware, thank you. For more on the closing arguments and jury deliberation in the Hunter Biden gun trial, let's bring in NBC News legal analyst Angela Sinedella. Angela, let's just start big picture, kind of how we did with Ryan there. What stood out to you throughout this trial, and particularly in the closing remarks? So I think two different questions. First, did the prosecution make a strong case?

And Ellison, I think it's clear they made a very strong case. There was just so much evidence. This type of charge is not often brought because there is often not that much evidence. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when someone was using drugs. But in this case, they do not have to pinpoint that he was using drugs on that exact. It's really just around that time, whether or not he believed he was an addict or abusing at that time. Obviously, the very personal testimony all brought in together, but also the cocaine that was found allegedly on the gun pouch. All of these together make a very strong case. But the second question

that I would ask is, really, should the prosecution have brought this case? And I think that's so important, given what we saw with the plea agreement that fell through. There was a point in time when the prosecution was willing to just have this entire charge go away. There was no victim. He didn't use the gun. This type of charge is not brought very often. So it does kind of beg the question, we are here. I'll be surprised if we see an acquittal, but should they have brought it to begin with? And ultimately, we are talking about, what, 11 days that he allegedly had this gun in his possession, which would have been a fairly, a really short period of time for such a high-profile case. Let's talk about some of the witnesses we saw, because over the course of I think it was four days,

there were at least 10 witnesses called testifying, most of them from the prosecution. One of the people the prosecutors called was Hallie Biden, who was Bo Biden, Hunter Biden's brother's wife. He passed away his widow, and then later Hunter Biden's romantic partner. A lot of scandalous details in that. She was supposed to help the prosecution, though, in her testimony. The defense and their closing arguments focus so much on her and undercutting her testimony. I'm curious, do you think ultimately Halle Biden helped or hurt the prosecutor's case here? I really think that Hallie Biden helped the prosecutor's case here. I think that Hallie Biden helped the prosecutor's case here. I think that the defense in their closing had to just throw a lot of balls in the air because, frankly,

it was an uphill battle for them to begin with. But in Cross of Halley, it seemed like Abby Lowell, the defense attorney's main argument was that, well, don't you think that Hunter was really lying at the time maybe when he was texting you to cover up other affairs? But if the crux of this case is whether or not he was lying on documents and the defense attorney in order to impeach a witness has to say, well, isn't he a liar? That, I think, really still makes the original witness seems strong. The fact is that across the board, prosecution and defense have shown that he's lied repeatedly. Given this is a lying charge, I think the evidence is very strong. And what did you make of Naomi Biden's testimony? That is one of Hunter Biden's children.

She was called by the defense. Did she help or hurt the defense? So I think at the beginning, she did help the defense. I do think she was very caught by off guard, by surprise, with the questions on cross about the text messages that she had sent to her father. I think that did really hurt. But on the flip side, I do think there's a scenario where the jury is sympathetic to addicts in general and addicts families and maybe felt that the prosecution crossed the line there. Usually when you have a victim up there, someone who is an addict's family member, the cross is not tough like that. It's not really an assault because of the sympathy elements. So I think most likely it really did hurt the defense there, even though it tried to help

the defense. But ultimately, it's up to how the jury feels themselves also being family members of addicts. Angela, Senadella, thank you. Now to the latest in Donald Trump's legal battles, the former president completing his probation interview today after his historic hush money conviction. Trump's sitting for a virtual interview with a New York City probation officer from his home in Florida at Moralago after he was found guilty on all counts in the hush money trial against him last month. For more on this interview, NBC News senior legal

correspondent Laura Jarrett joins us now in studio. So Laura, let's get right to it because I understand you have new reporting on this meeting. What can you tell us? Yeah, we've learned that the meeting has now been completed. It's wrapped. It was described by a source familiar with the proceedings as short, lasting only 30 minutes in length, which we weren't sure exactly how long it would go, probably a lot dependent on how short the president's former president's answers were on this. He's typically asked in a situation like this about his background, his prior criminal history. He obviously has none in this case. He's never been convicted before.

They usually ask about your finances, about your family life. Those are the things that a typical defendant would go through. Obviously, this is one of the most famous people in the world, in the country. And so we're going to report out a lot more about what exactly he was asked and, of course, what he said in response. The fact that this was a virtual interview and that he was able to do it from another state, Sometimes I think if you watch a lot of crime shows, you think, wait, I think after you're convicted, you can't leave the state that you're in. Was the fact that this took place in two different states and virtually, was that abnormal at all? I think it's representative of how unusual the circumstances are generally.

During COVID, certainly, virtual appointments were not unheard of. It is highly unusual in a situation like this to have it be virtual. It would normally be done in person on the 10th floor of the probation department here in New York City. He's the former president. It's disruptive to bring him back to court. It's disruptive to have him there any time there's security issues. And so I think that was part of what factored into having it done virtually. But again, we're going to report out exactly what was said. All right, Laura Jarrett, thank you. Next to a devastating landslide in Wyoming. It demolished a critical highway. This happened in Trenton Pass, the roadway linking Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming. And it's a route taken to multiple national parks. Luckily, no one was injured with the State Department of Transportation. They are calling this incident a catastrophic failure.

For more on this developing story, I'm joined now by NBC News correspondent Dana Griffin. Dana, walk us through this. What more do we know about what actually caused this land side? Yeah, Ellison, essentially it was Mother Nature because of the extra moisture in the area. It oversaturated this ground, this silt that was kind of put in to shore up this highway. And that's where you had the failure. I spoke to the Department of Transportation Engineer who worked on this and assessed this damage

as they started seeing the cracks forming on Thursday. He says landslides in this area are not uncommon. And in this particular area, you will see a shift in the ground, maybe a quarter inch every couple of years, but come Thursday morning, or excuse me, Friday morning, it had started moving an inch per hour, and then by Friday afternoon, two inches per hour.

So they obviously had to shut it down. They moved all of the equipment out of the way. And this is the result. They came back Saturday morning, and you saw just, you see just this huge chunk that fell some 70 feet down that hillside. Ellison? Yeah, I mean, Dana, you look at this image and you're like, where do they even begin to fix this?

Have authorities said anything about the timeline for rebuilding? Yeah, so I asked, how long will this take weeks, months? You have some that are estimating this will take months. But the engineer I spoke with says that he hopes to have a temporary fix in within a matter of weeks. But this is just such a disruption. And listen to what he talked about because this is a major highway that stretches from East Idaho to Wyoming. This is where people travel to go to the tourist town of Jackson. And you've got workers that also have to use this road. It's now going to take them hours to try to go around, take the long route just to get through. Listen to what that

engineer told me. We know how important it is to the economy of Jackson, especially now when we're coming into the summer months, which are the busiest months in this area. So we know the importance of opening up this route. We'll get it done. And we'll just be watching to see how quickly they get that done. Also, I want to mention that schools are being impacted. This is their last week of school. The Teetong County School District tells me that they are now offering a space in their district office for teachers to bring campers or RVs in order to spend the night there. Or they're also giving them the opportunity to work remotely. Ellison. Dana Griffin, thank you.

Heading overseas now to France, where President Emmanuel Macron made a stunning announcement on Sunday night calling for a snap election after the far-right politician made a, after far-right politicians, rather, made major gains in European elections. This move is a huge political gamble with the eyes of the world on France ahead of the Olympic Games. NBC News, Chief International correspondent Keir Simmons reports. French President Emmanuel Macron, famous for risk-taking, just pulled the pin on a political grenade, calling a snap election for early June, weeks before the Olympics. Throwing down the gauntlet to the French far-right, hours after Macron stood with President

Biden to remember D-Day and the fight against Hitler during the Second World War. The vote for the National Assembly, the equivalent of Congress, comes after the far right surged in European parliamentary elections. They have launched a signal clear. They said, we want to change the direction. And we say, we're saying, shish. We are ready to do. The far-right National Rally Party is led by Marine Le Pen

and her popular protégé, Jordan Bardella. Their party, nationalist and populist, has spent years working to lose the label of fascist. Le Pen has praised Russia's President Putin Brexit and wants to drastically curb immigration. If they win in July, Macron will welcome the world to the Olympics alongside national rally ministers. It will be the obligation for Emmanuel Macron to choose a prime minister among the

Rassemble National and maybe among the coalition of the radical rights. Macron beat the pen in the last presidential elections. Here at the Macron rally and people have just gotten crazy because they've just announced the result on the big screen here, the exit poll. But she has vowed to stand again and since then France has seen tensions, protests and even riots. Across Europe this weekend, far-right movements won more votes in countries like Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, though in Italy the far-right leader Georgia Maloney has been more moderate in office. And centurists did emerge with a slim majority in this weekend's EU elections.

We won the European election. A victory celebrated by EU president, Ursula von der Leyen. With other words, the middle had to hold. But it is also that the extremes on the the left and on the right side of support given. Calling this legislative election is a huge risk for President Macron. It could open the door to what critics will say will be the most right-wing government. since the 1940s. But Macron only has a few more years in office, and he clearly hopes not to be a lame duck president. Suddenly, it's not only the U.S. that faces a history-making vote this year. Ellison?

Keir Simmons in France, thank you. Still ahead tonight, the terrifying bull encounter at an Oregon rodeo, the wild video as the bull leaps over the gates into a crowd of people. What happened next. An abandoned ship, a boat up in flames at the popular Lake Tahoe, the efforts to rescue everyone on board. And a new era for Apple, the tech giant partnering with Open AI, the new features coming to your iPhone. Stay with us. Top Story is just getting started. Back now with a frightening bull escape out of Oregon. Cell phone video shows a rodeo bull on the loose after hopping an arena fence and into the ground. Several people were hurt.

NBC's Emily Aketa spoke to someone who witnessed the chaos. A terrifying scene at a packed rodeo in Sisters, Oregon over the weekend. It happened during the final event of the night in front of a crowd of thousands. That's when a full-size bull nicknamed party bus jumped over a fence, instantly causing chaos in the stands. Danielle Smithers took the spin. video. I was panicked knowing that now this giant animal is out there. The bull storming into a concession area, striking some in the crowd, knocking over a garbage can and sending terrified patrons scrambling. We had a bull loose. I have one down. The bull then flipped an unsuspecting

woman several feet into the air. You can see her tumbling head over heels before slamming into the ground. Five people sustained injuries, according to the Cloverdale Fire Department, although a Amazingly, they say none were life-threatening. The Sisters Rodeo Association issuing a statement saying in part, the rodeo announcer immediately activated the emergency response plan, adding that rodeo livestock professionals quickly responded to safely contain the bull. He wasn't loose for more than, I would say, 25 to 30 seconds. He actually ran through a gate that was at the end of the arena, and he went right back to where the rest of the bulls were kept. The professional rodeo Cowboys Association saying, while rodeo is a very entertaining sport, on very rare occasions, it can also pose some risk. Nobody could have anticipated this happening, and when it actually did, they were very quick to react.

I think the bowl was even caught faster than a lot of the crowd even knew it had escaped. I 100% planned on returning to the sisters rodeo and other rodeos. Organizers say veterinarians did evaluate the bull, and it did not sustain any. injuries. The annual sister's rodeo competition did move forward with scheduled programming yesterday. It's final night. Ellison. Emily Aketa, thank you. When we come back, a dramatic scene unfolding in Miami, a massive fire tearing through an apartment complex, an employee found inside shot in the torso. The arrest made late today just announced by the city's mayor. We're back now with Top Stories news feed, starting with the man arrested for shooting a man

and starting a massive apartment fire in Miami. Aerial footage shows thick black smoke billowing from the complex as flames engulfed two building. Authorities say an employee was found with a gunshot wound to his torso and is now in critical condition. Late today, Miami's mayor saying a suspect shot the victim and then intentionally set the building on fire. One resident and three firefighters were also hospitalized, but they are all expected to be okay. In Lake Tahoe, six people rescued after their boat caught fire. Video shows the Coast Guard arriving on the scene, six people in the lake after they jumped off the boat to try and escape those flames. The Coast Guard rescued the boat owners and a good Samaritan saved four other people as well as a dog. No one was hurt. The

boat eventually sank, no word yet on what caused that fire. Apple introducing its own AI model called Apple Intelligence. The new tech will be used to supercharge existing Apple offerings such as Siri, allowing the virtual assistant to search across multiple apps. OpenAI's chat GPT will also be integrated into Apple products for free to answer questions that Siri cannot. Apple Intelligence will also, or will be available rather, on iOS 18 starting this fall. And Chrysler recalling 211,000 SUVs and pickup trucks due to a software malfunction. Federal regulators recalling 22 models of Dodge Durango's RAM 2,500, and 3,500 trucks. Officials say the malfunction could cause a key safety feature to fail, increasing the risk of a crash.

Owners will be notified and the software will be upgraded. So far, no injuries reported. Turning now to a major headline in the medical world, Moderna, saying its combination vaccine to protect against both COVID and the flu works well in late stage trials. According to the drug maker, the vaccine generates a stronger immune response in adults 50 and older as compared to separate shots. Moderna is hoping to launch the shot for the fall respiratory disease season in 2025. I want to bring in NBC News medical contributor Dr. Akshay Seyle to talk more about this and the future of COVID. Okay, this is fascinating to me because a lot of people are getting pretty sick of having to do these constant boosters of COVID vaccines,

and they're like, we do it for the flu. Is there an easier way? And it seems like maybe there is. What stands out to you about this trial so far? Exciting, Alison, really exciting. So for whatever reason, this trial, which was a vaccine of both a combined COVID and a flu shot, both mRNA vaccines in this case, seemed to work better, actually, than, you know, getting one shot individually, like the COVID shot and the flu shot individually, at least based off the antibody responses, based off what we've seen, you know, this data has not been released yet. It's a company press release. But Alison, from what they're telling us, this combination shot does seem to induce a better immune response. And I think what's really the key here is the age groups they studied

in really 50 and over. The groups that were most concerned about, the groups that get the most sick from COVID, we see that even the elderly who have a weaker immune system are able to generate that strong and robust immune response. So, you know, we're looking forward to see the full data here. So there's a lot of steps that have to happen before something like this becomes available to the public. Can you remind us of what those next steps are? When we're talking about getting near the end of their trial, FDA's got to get involved CDC, what happens to next? So this was a phase three trial, which is the end-stage trial. And by the way, this is the one that's made it the furthest far in terms of the combination vaccines. Other companies are

studying them. We just haven't seen this late-stage results, Alison, but what needs to happen next, the FDA and the CDC, especially come the fall and winter season, are going to weigh in. But we're not expecting this vaccine to be available until next fall. 2025 is what the company's telling us. So for this upcoming COVID and flu season, don't expect this combination vaccine to be on the shelves. Okay. And in terms of that age range, as you said, there were two separate groups, but it was all over the age of 50. Why did they focus on that age group? And for people who are in their 40s, 30s, 20s, and even younger and interested in this, is there a chance that those studies could expand to other age groups?

There is a chance, a good chance that Moderna, I think, is going to have data on younger age groups, especially to see, you know, how much of an immune response are they actually getting from this. But, Alison, the reason that they studied it, at least my guess, is the reason they studied it in this age group is because this is the group we're most worried about. This is also the group with the weakest immune system, right? Those who are elderly, 65 and older, particularly. So if it works for people 65 and over, it's reasonable to conclude that it will work for people like you and I.

But we will await that data, especially because this is, at least until 2025, something we're not expecting to see until then. This should have plenty of time to generate more data for this, Allison. All right, very interesting stuff. Dr. Akshayal, thank you so much. We appreciate your time and insights, as always. Anytime.

Coming up next, a vice president vanishing in East Africa, where a plane carrying the VP of Maloney, was last spotted before it went off the radar in the urgent search now underway. Stay with us. We are back now with the growing humanitarian crisis out of Sudan. The World Food Program saying the ongoing war is leaving 18 million people on the brink of starvation, which would make it the largest famine in the world. Over the weekend, this New York Times report catching our attention, the heartbreaking images showing the desperate need for humanitarian. and medical assistance.

For more on this, we're joined by Avril Benoit, the CEO of Doctors Without Borders. Avril, first of all, thank you so much for being here with us to talk a little about the situation in Sudan and the work that you and your organization do. You did recently travel to the region. Talk to us about what you saw in terms of the humanitarian situation on the ground.

Well, I traveled to Central Darfur, and it's one of the many Darfur regions regions where you have so many displaced people, many of them came under attack because of their affiliation with ethnic groups that are identified as non-Arab. So for the most part, the Masalit people. And in these areas, you have hospitals that were looted, widespread sexual violence, villages burned, widespread attacks. And this is just one area in an entire country.

which has now erupted in war for more than one year, displacing 10 million people now, is the latest count, killing 14,000 with widespread malnutrition to the brink of famine. And so what I saw in central Darfur, it was just a small glimpse of the broader problem, which is that this is a country that has been enveloped by complete chaos, violence, and war.

When we're talking about the civil war here, I mean, as you mentioned, as we've mentioned in the past, mentioned in the past, it has been going on for more than a year now. There have been reports, and I think you're alluding to some of them there, that RSF, rapid support forces, as well as the Sudanese Army, that they have not only looted humanitarian aid that is there for civilians, but they have also, in this next allegation is particularly, has been made towards the Army that they have blocked humanitarian aid from getting to people who need it the most.

Is that what you and Doctors Without Borders are consistently seeing on the ground in this area? This is what has been going on, and it's just horrific. So just a couple of days ago, South Hospital in Elfasher, which is the capital of North Darfur, was stormed by RSF after many days of fighting, during which time we had downscaled the staffing at the hospital. We had evacuated a lot of the patients, but they stormed the hospital, opened fire inside the hospital, looted, took equipment, took just about everything they could grab. stole an ambulance also. There were 10 patients there among others, staff and

caretakers. They managed to flee, although we don't know the entire count of how many might have been injured or killed in this assault. And that is the kind of thing that keeps happening. You know, this hospital over a four-week period up until last week had been hit four times by, if not bullets, then mortar shouts. And, you The entire environment is so dangerous that our staff, the medical staff and other medical personnel from the region end up having to evacuate to other places that are also unstable. So not too far away, you've got ZamZam camp, a camp for internally displaced people, hundreds of thousands of people there, and catastrophic levels of malnutrition.

So what we do need are travel permits, which are often denied. We need to be able to move supplies without obstruction and looting. We need to be able to work in a safe environment, and that is far from being the case. How can the rest of the world, or even people, individuals at home who might be watching this, help your organization to get some of those things that you so desperately need to do your job? We see this happen in a lot of different countries. I think of Haiti in different instances in conflict zones, where Doctors Without Borders were deeply under threat, life-threatening,

conditions, and very rarely does Doctors Without Borders actually leave. You almost always come back, you stay when everyone else seems to go. So what do you need right now to keep doing this work? Well, we need all the support we can get, and people can go to Doctors Without Borders.org to find out about our work. At the moment, we're supporting 30 health facilities in nine states across Sudan. We're providing trauma care, maternal care, pediatric care. But a big focus, of course, is malnutrition.

And with the inability of other organizations, namely the United Nations, to be able to provide people with general food distributions, which would be normal with levels of malnutrition like we're seeing, and this famine scenario which keeps looming, although it's not quite safe enough to completely get a picture of all that's happening. We certainly appreciate all the support. I mean, we're privately funded the organizations that are able to work and deliver humanitarian operations in Sudan are few and far between, and we all really appreciate not only the support that we receive, but also the attention that media organizations like you are giving, because, of course, international journalists are also denied travel permits and visas to be able to enter the country

and to be able to report on this catastrophic war in Sudan. And look, let's be honest here. This is a situation where the U.S. media and the international media hasn't devoted a ton of time to reporting on what's happening here. I saw this cover on the New York Times, a photo that startled a lot of people, but this has been going on for more than a year. Why do you think the world, the U.S., media organizations, whoever, why do you think people are not paying more attention to what's happening in this region and to Sudan? Well, we can certainly speculate.

And the groups in Darfur who are targeted, non-Arab, identifying themselves as black, the ones who at the levels of 600,000 are in Chad, in refugee camps, they would say, well, it's because we're poor, we're black, nobody cares about us. But I think the other factor here is that you have two warring parties, the Sudanese armed forces and the rapid support forces, and it's not as polarized as other conflicts, where your average news watcher is going to say,

okay, these are the good guys, these are the bad guys, these are the ones I support. It's all so messy. They have all, all of the fighters, and including Janja Weed, who've been enlisted, various militias that have taken sides. They have all perpetrated what we would call atrocities, war crimes, crimes against humanity. And so it's not easy to see anything but just a mass of violence. And it's hard to penetrate that. And if you don't get those stories of the individual people, the staff who are running,

hospitals, like the surgeon who's performing a caesarian section when a group of RSF fighters decided to come along and loot the hospital. They take away the generator, which is powering all the machines to keep the patient alive, who's having the C-section. And the doctor, the surgeon is pleading with them. Just give me a few minutes. I have to finish this up. She will die if you take away this solar panel and the generator. And no, they just up and take it. So that just The level of venality of cruelty is hard to wrap our heads around. And I think that's one of the reasons that we just, it's instinctive. There's so many awful things going on in the world that we sometimes choose.

We opt to look away. And of course, Doctors Without Borders, other humanitarian organizations, don't have an option to do that. Averill Benoit, thank you. We appreciate your time and insights. Now to Top Stories, Global Watch and a sad update tonight. The British TV doctor who disappeared last week on a. a trip to Greece has been found dead. Footage showing rescue crews carrying Dr. Michael Mosley's body off of the Greek island of Simi.

Authorities say he was found dead Sunday among rocks after a four-day search. His wife saying he took the wrong route on a hike and collapsed. The vice president of Malawi missing after his plane failed to make its scheduled landing. Malawi's president saying the military plane carrying vice president Salos Chilima and nine others went off the radar on a flight from the country's capital to Missouri. airport. Search efforts are ongoing. Gailima was facing corruption charges that were dropped by prosecutors last month. When we come back, the battle over marijuana on Martha's Vineyard, why the island is expected to run out of legal weed before the end of the summer,

and the fight underway to allow new supply in before its cannabis industry goes up and smoke. That story is next. Back now with a growing problem for the marijuana industry on Martha's Vineyard. The military's warning the island's weed supply could run out by the end of summer as the sole cultivator closes up shop, and regulators say it's illegal to transport the drug across the ocean. One small business owner, they are now fighting back with a lawsuit. Tonight, a budding marijuana problem in one of the wealthiest enclaves on the east coast.

I'm on the brink of glowing out of blusiness. Retailers on Martha's vineyard warning the island's supply of cannabis could soon run dry. I started the effort to bring safe and responsible cannabis. to the community. Jeff Rose is the owner of Island Time on Martha's Vineyard, one of two dispensaries on Martha's Vineyard that sells medical and recreational marijuana, which Massachusetts legalized back in 2016. He says he was forced to temporarily close his business after Fine Fetal, the only grower

on the island, decided to close its Martha's Vineyard cultivating site, and what he had in stock is now sold out. At first, Rose tried to bring in new supplies from the mainland. That regulations were never written to think about transportation over the water. But the state's Cannabis Control Commission says that transporting the drug across the ocean, either by plane or boat, could violate federal laws. We're in a bit of uncharted territory right now. So there are some state waters.

There are also a majority of federal waters, but we're also dealing with a substance and a product that is also not federally legalized as well. So it's a really complicated dynamic right now. Find Fettel, which also owns the island's last operating dispensary, says it will close up its shop, too, when supplies run out in September. We sell more than enough product year round in our dispensary. It is simply it costs so much in our cultivation for us to keep afloat. Chloe Loftfield is the general manager of the company's Martha's Vineyard Dispensary and the holder of a medical marijuana card. Now, she's worried about both her health and her career.

It puts me in a place where I have to think about leaving this island that I was born and raised on to be able to have access to safe medication for myself. And with my job, too, it puts me in a position where I'm unsure what my future looks like. Rose and a dispensary owner from neighboring island Nantucket launching a lawsuit against the Cannabis Control Commission to save their businesses, arguing in part, quote, the commission lacks authority to prohibit and punish transport of marijuana and marijuana products across state territorial waters. The Cannabis Control Commission met with sellers, patients, and residents on the island last week to discuss the issue. And they're set to have a public meeting this Thursday.

I think there will be some sort of middle line where we could permit some sort of transportation under really, really specific terms. As retailers like Rose hope they can continue serving people who rely on medical marijuana. We have to serve those patients as well as the adult use community. We can't have them go to the illegal market. And Feinfeld says they have enough product to last until September, but that it could be sold out even sooner because of the busy summer months ahead. Thank you so much for watching Top Story. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom Yamis in New York.

Tom is back tomorrow. Stay right there because more news now is on the way.