Top Story with Tom Llamas - Thursday, August 6, 2026

Episode Date: August 7, 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.

Breaking news tonight, authorities say the man accused of igniting one of the most destructive wildfires in Washington state history now admits he's a serial arsonant. Firefighters still battling the wildfire from the air and the ground. As this man, detectives say, admits he set more than two dozen fires across the region, how they say he plotted for weeks to set this one. Republican senators holding Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer. questions about the pandemic. Will he face criminal charges? Also breaking tonight the president targeting birthright citizenship and cracking down on birth tourism with executive orders after his previous attempts were shut down by the Supreme Court. Horder Wico water emergency, the island running dry, American cities and towns forced to go days without water, our reporter

and his team on the ground there. The TikTok creator who chronicled her life, a rare form of cancer has died at just 26 years old, how she inspired countless others through her candid videos documenting her journey. Caribbean Volcano Watch, one of history's deadliest volcanoes, showing new signs of seismic activity. Could it erupt again and soon? And close call at sea, two sharks circling a man fishing from his paddleboard where there's been a new spike in sightings.

Plus, how much do you need to make to afford a home? What a new study shows as mortgage rates rise? rates rise again. Top story starts right now. And good evening. We're following breaking news on those devastating wildfires in Washington State, a suspected serial arsonist accused of starring the most destructive wildfire in Spokane's history, now facing charges related to previous fires. New video just in shows that suspect 37-year-old Aaron Faranachi appearing virtually before a judge. These new charges all in connection to fires going back to get this July of last year. And just days ago, he was charged with first-degree arson in connection to that

Spokane fire. Tonight, we're learning how he allegedly plotted to set the fire weeks before, even looking up the weather to find the most optimal conditions to spark those flames. That fire just one of several responsible for burning home after home down in this tight-knit community. So many there losing everything. My dad had actually just finished paying off the house. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You were He worked really hard for that. It was a beautiful home. It really was.

It's a very, very hard loss. Terrible to hear that. Right now, crews are still working around the clock. You see them here to get some of those flames under control. New video from a commercial plane showing just how high that smoke is billowing. Look at that. And conditions could get worse. Authorities now warning there's a chance for new fires to ignite.

Our Morgan Chesky starts us off in the middle of it all. As firefighters continue to battle the flames around Spokane and homeowners face utter destruction. Stunning new charges depicting a serial arsonist in 37-year-old Aaron Fairnacci. Farinacci now charged with intentionally starting the most destructive fire in Spokane's history and four other counts of first-degree arson, dating back to July of last year. Aaron Forest Farinacci. Detective Sharon Farinachi initially denied responsibility, but then gave a detailed description of Spokane's old trails fire. that destroyed hundreds of homes in Saturday's fast-moving inferno.

Investigators say he shared how he planned and executed his plan to start fires and maximize the spread, confessing he planned it two weeks earlier, even researching the weather to ensure a dangerously hot and windy day. Adding the 37-year-old admitted he feels fire is powerful, beautiful, and said arson is an easy crime to get away from. Court documents going on to say, Fairnacci claims to have ignited 25 fires near his home between, July and August of last year and was questioned by police multiple times but never arrested. You believe you have the sole person responsible in custody. Yes, we do. Sheriff John Knowles speaking to the challenge of proving arson cases, why were charges not filed against him last year? Back to when when those investigations happen, you have to have people who can reasonably

put a suspect in a certain place at a certain time. And in the old trails fire, authorities have just that. witnesses who contacted police after spotting Farinacci acting suspiciously near where that massive fire began. Morgan Chesky joins us tonight from Spokane. Morgan, back to that suspected serial arsonist. He didn't enter a plea today? Yeah, Tom, that's right. He did not enter a plea. We now know he's being held on a $2 million bond. Aaron Farnachi's defense team requesting a mental competency evaluation before proceeding. And in the meantime, he will arrange remain behind bars. And one thing we have not gleaned from the court documents today, Tom, is any sort of motive here relating specifically to the old trails fire, which, as you can see,

has no shortage of devastation across the city, Tom. Morgan Chesky leading us off. We now want to go to that major headline out of Washington, tonight, Washington, D.C., I should say, a Senate committee voting to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for pleading the fifth more than 100 times during his testimony about the pandemic. The Department, the Department. The Department of Justice will now decide whether to prosecute him or not. Here's Ryan Nobles. Tonight, Senate Republicans voting to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about his response to the pandemic. Seeking the truth is not a witch hunt.

Accountability is not vengeance. On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer. Republicans blasting Fauci for invoking his Fifth Amendment rights more than 100 times in last week's hearing. Well, nothing says honesty like taking the fifth. on doc. Democrats tonight defending Fauci. This investigation has been one-sided from the beginning. Fauci accused Senator Rand Paul of trying to entrap him into perjury, which was not covered in a preemptive pardon he received from former President Biden. Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion. In the hearing,

Republicans grilled Fauci over his diary, including where Fauci wrote that he called local officials, convincing them to close down schools. Who the f*** do you think you were for doing that? It is a total disgrace what you did to this country. The contempt resolution will not be voted on by the entire Senate and carries no legal weight. A reality, Paul conceded, but said he still wants answers. That the Department of Justice has no legal responsibility to do it. You know, a million Americans died, I think a lot of people feel like that the origins that came from U.S. funding, and they would like some answers. Fauci's attorney calling the vote a crude political stunt.

The Justice Department will now decide whether to prosecute. Ryan Noble joins us tonight from D.C. Ryan, so even though Fauci was granted a pardon by President Biden, he could still be prosecuted? Explain that. Yeah, and it probably is confusing for many of our viewers, Tom. But there is a big difference between the pardon that was given by President Biden, which is a preemptive pardon that would prevent any prosecutions related to Fauci's work while he was with the administration. It offers him no protections now that he's outside the administration. So cooperation of Congress, which is incumbent upon any American, that is the stage of life that

Fauci is in now. Republicans on this panel feel that he did not cooperate with Congress, so therefore he is subject to potential prosecution. Obviously, Fauci and his lawyers feel much differently. And while we have you there, Ryan, we do want to ask you, there's an update on Senator Mitch McConnell. What can you share with our viewers? Yeah, in a statement tonight, Senator McConnell says that he has been released from a rehab facility. Remember that he's been hospitalized since the middle of June. He has not cast a vote in the United States Senate since June. Now, in that statement, Senator McConnell does not address how long it might be before he returns to the Senate. The Senate is about to go on a lengthy recess, a five-week recess starting at

the end of this week, so it's likely we won't see Senator McConnell until sometime in the fall. Tom. Ryan Noble's busy day there on Capitol Hill, Ryan, thank you. We have more breaking news out of Washington, D.C. tonight. President Trump trying once again to limit birthright citizenship, even after the Supreme Court stopped the first time. But will it withstand new legal challenges? Gabe Gutierrez reports from the White House. Tonight, President Trump is trying a new way to restrict birthright citizenship and crack down on so-called birth tourism by denying visas to some pregnant women.

Very big, big crackdowns, and this will give us the right to do it in a much more forceful manner. In June, the Supreme Court narrowly shot down the president's previous attempt to deny automatic citizenship to children of non-citizens born in the U.S., ruling the broader executive order he signed that the beginning of his second term was unconstitutional because it violated the 14th Amendment. It was close, but a very, very very. unfortunate decision so we're making adjustments because it's very unfair.

These new executive orders are more narrow including applying to children born of foreign diplomatic staff working on behalf of another government while in the U.S., children of people who belong to federally declared terrorist groups, and children born of mothers who enter the U.S. solely for the purpose of having a child on U.S. soil, known as birth tourism. They've taken birthright citizenship and they've made a joke out of it. They're buying their way in, and we're not going to let it happen. The White House calling it a broken system, allowing foreigners access to U.S. government benefits. If you're

telling a consular officer you're here as a tourist, but your true purpose and intent is to go to a baby mill, give birth, and try to mint an American citizen while you're here, then you're committing a fraud against the American government. But tonight, Lulak, responding the 14th Amendment is not a policy preference. Gabe Gutierrez joins us tonight from the White House. Gabe, it sounds like we should expect legal challenges to the president's actions, and you already have heard about some of them? Yes, Tom, look, several groups are already looking through these executive orders. The ACIU tells us that no matter how many executive orders, President Trump, signs, birthright remains the law of the land. So we do expect those legal challenges.

But look, Tom, the White House insists that it is on firm legal footing and that it cites the Section 215A of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Basically, it argues that that gives the president powers over the departure and entry of a non-citizens. So certainly, we look for this to play out in the courts moving forward, Tom. Okay, Gabe, thank you for that. We have some new reporting tonight about a heated phone call between President Trump and a top Pentagon official. The conversation about the dwindling stockpile of some U.S. munitions, ultimately leading to a crisis meeting at the Pentagon. NBC's Courtney QB has that reporting. She joins us now live.

Courtney, what more can you tell us about that call? Yeah, so this all started at a meeting at Camp David last Friday, so just about a week ago. President Trump, according to four sources familiar, told us that President Trump pressed his Defense Secretary Pete Hague-Seth about this munitions issue and whether, in fact, the U.S. does have a dangerously low stockpile of some of these critical long-range munitions, specifically these defensive munitions. Now, as part of that conversation, Secretary Hague-Seth said, look, it's his deputy, his number two, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Stephen Feinberg, who's responsible for procurement

of these sorts of systems and who's been working on this issue now for more than a year. President Trump then taking that information, calling Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg on the phone. The call, according to two of the people we spoke with, was tense, and President Trump was angry, even at one point asking Feinberg if he should be fired for the state of the munitions right now. and then Feinberg convening this crisis meeting, as you mentioned on Friday evening at the Pentagon, to try to address how they can refill the stockpiles. Now, of course, the White House gave us a statement from Caroline Levitt saying that this is 100% fake news. And the president himself has now come out twice since our story published on social media,

saying that the U.S. has all the munitions they need, the stockpiles are fine. But the reality is, Tom, there has been extensive reporting about this now for months. The U.S. military was already working on their stockpile last year before the United States went into Iran for Operation Midnight Hammer, before the U.S. defended Israel against Iranian attacks. And then before this war started, because of those engagements, those military conflicts, the military is at a really difficult place when it comes to these long-range munitions, and it's having a direct impact on the president's decision-making right now, whether he should resume major combat. operations that they're on, Tom. Okay, Courtney and QB for us tonight. Courtney, we thank you for all that new reporting. We're going to turn out to a water crisis unfolding in an American city. Hundreds of thousands of people near San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, are about to go without water for days at a time as the island faces its worst drought in more than a decade.

Our George Solis is on the ground there tonight. Tonight, growing desperation as drastic water rationing measures in Puerto Rico are just hours away from taking effect. Starting tomorrow, families will be without water on a rotating basis for two days at a time. People here are now racing to prepare. In San Juan, we met a woman named Anna, filling up her water bottles. How bad is the water crisis right now? It's extremely bad. It's something really hard to handle.

We shouldn't be living like this. At neighborhood wells like this one in rural San Juan, the flow offering a lifeline as residents now forced to make decisions like taking a shower or flushing toilets. The water restrictions come as more than one-third of the U.S. territory is facing severe drought or worse. In San Juan, it was the driest July on record. Puerto Ricans already facing water shortages for months, complicated further by aging infrastructure. The drought, only adding insult to injury. Many here feel they're caught in the middle of government infighting. San Juan's mayor lashing out during a special hearing in June calling the situation a disgrace.

And just today, a top member of the water utility resigning over the rationing plan. In Louisa, water trucks are refilling home water tanks. This woman saying it's harder to live without water than without electricity. When school starts, washing uniforms is going to be very hard. And business owners say it's costing them money because they now have to buy water from private sources. This man says it costs as much as $500 a day to fill their water tank. Tom, and you can see people are lined up here to get water, bringing containers of all sizes, some of them so heavy for the elderly to carry.

Officials saying they're not sure how long this rationing will need to last. And while there has been some rain here, it has not been nearly enough to provide any relief. Tom. All right, George Salis for us. Joining us now from Puerto Rico, historian and writer Israel Melendez. Israel, you're on the ground there. What's your current situation? Are you going to be impacted and are you prepared for tomorrow?

Yeah, definitely we're going to be impacted. To be more precisely, I live in Villho San Juan. It's one of the historical town of San Juan. So tomorrow, like you mentioned, we're going to start a ration implant. So my wife and I, we start already filling up buckets and empty gallons. And even though we bought some bottles of water, because we don't know how long it's going to last. I mean, the plan the government shows is just for this month. But since the droughts and the climate,

and yeah, the climate change, they have aggravated the droughts. We don't know how long the droughts are going to last. But a quick note, there are some areas of San Juan. They don't have water since made. So where are they going to collect water? So that comes from their pockets. And no everybody have enough money or dispenses to deal with that.

Israel, how does this happen? Puerto Rico is America. How does this happen in an American city in 2020? I mean, the government is focusing in the climate change, which, yeah, climate change is a fact. I'm not a climate change denier, but the water crisis started even before the droughts. This has been years and years of bad policy, lack of maintainings. In other words, total negligence of the water infrastructure. We're talking about broken pipes.

We're talking about broken meters. So sometimes there's not an actual or accurate, yeah, water volume, a water, a volume measure of the lakes or of the water of the water storages. Some water reserves are broken and things like that. I mean, it's been years and years. For example, the lake, which fits is going to affect the seven towns starting tomorrow. is Carraizo. And in 2019, there was a report saying that they need to clean the lake because they have

so much sediment. They have reduced 56% of the capacity of the lake. Have you heard anything from the Trump administration? Is the White House saying anything? Is the federal government doing anything to help Puerto Rico with this water problem? No. I mean, everything we have here is by the local government. I know from the funds from Maria, the federal government assigned some funds to deal with this situation.

But the local entity which deal with the water supply, which is the Puerto Rican Acquad and Sewer Authority, haven't addressed those needs properly. Tourism is such a big part of the economy there, especially in San Juan. How are hotels impacted by this? Do they also have to follow that ration system? Yeah. happens in recently in June when the main pipe of 72 inches broke, which here we call it the super aqueducto, the super of the megapipe, if you want to call it in English. The company

tourism says the hotel spends about $100,000 in between two days to keep filling up their water tanks. Some of them have to cancel booking. Some of them they have to cancel some activities, like the pools and things like that because of the water shortage. So right now, again, with the situation of the drought, we don't know how long is this going to last. It is unbelievable that this is happening in America and that it had been known about for such a long time. Riesel, we're going to stay on top of this covering.

I hope you guys get your water in time. I hope you get some help in time. We thank you for being here. Now to the new details about the jalapeno pepper recall linked to popular fast food chains, including Chipotle. The FDA now believes a few. found a source. Our Ann Thompson has the latest. The salmonella tainted jalapeno peppers driving this latest outbreak are being recalled tonight.

The FDA says San Diego-based Coast citrus distributors agreed to the action. It supplied the hot peppers to Chipotle and Kudoba restaurant chains. The companies say they are no longer serving those items. Like the lettuce linked to the cyclospora outbreak, the recalled jalapenos come from Mexico, where some 63% of all our imported vegetables are grown. But the government says the FDA only inspects a tiny fraction of the food. They only inspect 2% of all imported products. Only 2%. Only 2%. Barbara Kowalchuk leads George Washington University's Institute for Food Safety. So how do we know the other 98% is safe? Well, and that's not

tested. That's just inspected. FDA doesn't have the resources to go out to those establishments and check to make sure that their food safety systems are working. Even here in the United States, they only inspect facilities once every five to seven years. Now come the lawsuits. A Minnesota woman is taking Chipotle to court after she got sick from eating a burrito bowl and was hospitalized with salmonella that triggered sepsis in June. While this outbreak may be ramping up, signs tonight the cyclosporic contamination is waning. Michigan, the epicenter, with more than 12,000 cases, says illnesses are on the decline, and it's lifted its warning to avoid bagged salads.

All right, Ann Thompson joins us now in the studio. So, Ann, shoppers are going to be watching this. They're going to have questions. Maybe they love jalapenos. Maybe they love cooking up with jalapenos. Maybe they just chop them up and eat them raw. What should people do? Should they worry about this?

They really don't have to. to worry about this, Tom, because the FDA says it does not appear that the peppers in question were sent to grocery stores. They got sent to wholesalers, food service companies, and restaurants. But if you are worried, we do have some advice for you. First of all, while washing helps eliminate some of the salmonella, it doesn't get it all off. The only way to kill salmonella is to cook the peppers. And if you're in doubt, every food expert I have talked to says just throw them out. Okay, that's good to know, Anne. We thank you for those tips. We're back at a moment with the alleged Master of Disguise,

a man accused of dressing up in different costumes while robbing businesses at gunpoint, how officers tracked him down. Plus, mortgage rates soaring to the highest levels in months what potential homebuyers need to know. And the amusement park malfunction, a group of riders dangling upside down, how they made it down ahead on top story. We're back with the thief dubbed Master of Disguise just caught near Atlanta. Authorities say he robbed nearly a dozen businesses holding employees. employees at gunpoint, all while dressed in an array of costumes.

Our Aaron Gilchrist on how police tracked him down. The feds called him a master of disguise, carrying out armed robberies in the outskirts of Atlanta. The FBI says the man in these disguises is 33-year-old Tracy Darrell Mingo, a rain today accused of robbing 10 businesses at Gunpoint between October 2025 and January of this year. Mingo would dress as a construction worker, a security guard, Even in hospital scrubs to avoid being recognized according to authorities. Department of Justice officials say Mingo struck multiple locations of Circle K, subway, and family dollar stores. This is one of the locations the suspect allegedly robbed.

He would enter each store late at night after nearly all the customers were gone. And authorities say that's when he would rob the employees at gunpoint. Law enforcement found and arrested him just as it appeared he was putting on the same security guard disguise used during a robbery. before. Today, officials say they stopped him before anyone was hurt. Mingo now faces a range of charges, including robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He could face up to 63 years behind bars. A federal grand jury indicted Mingo just last week. The DOJ says he put the lives of more than a dozen store employees in danger, and for now we'll stay in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service. Tom? All right, Aaron, thank you. Will still to come on top story while the U.S.

is ramping up its spy efforts in Cuba, our exclusive new reporting tonight. Plus, a man found sleeping on a jet blue plane after allegedly sneaking on board what we're learning straight ahead. We're back now with the rising cost of living and the challenges many Americans are facing right now, especially when it comes to buying a home. Mortgage rates up for a fifth straight week, hitting levels we haven't seen in more than a year. And it comes as a new study shows people need to make around $110,000 a year to afford a medium-priced home. But here's the problem. That's $23,000 more than the average American household earns. Here to discuss this is Yahoo Finance reporter, Brooke De Palma.

Brooke, thanks for being here. So break down the numbers here is buying a home just out of a reach for so many Americans right now? Unfortunately, with these new interest rates, it seems like it's getting further and further from being a reality. What we've seen over the past week is actually the volume of mortgage loan applications has dropped nearly 3% compared to where we were just a week ago. Because people are simply pricing out of this market. When you think about mortgage rates back in February, they were the lowest level in three and a half years, hovering just below 6%. And so this is pretty hard news to swallow for a potential home buyer. So demand's not down maybe, but demand may be out of reach for so many.

Does that mean that home prices are coming down at all? The average home price is still hovering on 400,000. And when you think about what this means, if you take on a $400,000 loan, let's say, this means upwards of about $100 more a month. And so it's just relatively more expensive. So when you think about your monthly budget, you're telling yourself that this is somewhat out of the question, or maybe it's going to take years longer to put a bigger down payment. As we try to get a handle on inflation in this country, why are mortgage rates going higher and higher?

Yeah, well, what we saw recently, where we saw bond yield jump because the Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates steady. When they decided to hold interest rate steady, that kind of sent a ripple effect among investors. There was this fear that the Federal Reserve would not be able to do. tame inflation. And right now, inflation has been running higher because of that ongoing conflict in Iran that's driving oil prices higher and that's causing inflation to stay higher. There's a couple federal programs that are talking about building more homes for America because

people need homes as we've been talking about here. When do we think those houses will come online? I mean, the reality of it is that we are not seeing houses start, you know, certainly jump at a significant amount. We're still seeing slowly but steady. And especially here in the northeast, Chicago, these bigger markets, where there is just... just more inventory, the new homes being built. People are staying longer. We're hearing about this lock-in effect. Ultimately, Americans are willing to take on a higher mortgage.

They're staying in that 3%. And that's causing inventory to stay where it is. Brooke De Palma, great to have it here. Thanks for explaining all that to us. Time now for Top Stories News Feed. We're going to start with an update on the story we brought you last night. That was terrifying. A teen in a clown costume captured on a doorbell cam,

now charged with first-degree murder. Look at this chilling video. It shows the 15-year-old walking up to this home in East St. Louis. Lewis, Illinois. Earlier this week, police say moments later a 78-year-old man was found fatally stabbed in the street nearby. Prosecutors have now filed a petition to charge that teen as an adult. A man was caught sleeping on board a JetBlue flight that was parked for maintenance at Fort Lauderdale's airport. Investigators say airline staff discovered 32-year-old Samuel Lackey on board when they arrived to inspect the plane before moving it. Lackey is now facing misdemeanor charges.

It's not clear how he got in the airport, but surveillance video shows him using portable stairs to get to the park jet. And new video of an amusement park ride malfunctioned leaving these riders hanging upside down. It happened at the Ocean City Boardwalk in New Jersey in July. You can see those people dangling there in the air heels overhead on a ride called wipeout. The amusement park says those people were brought back down within minutes and that all the riders made it off safely. And in Maine, a fisherman on a paddleboard capturing video of two great white sharks swimming right past him. You can see one of them here. Marine experts say the sharks were around six to eight feet long. It happened off the coast of Pine Point Beach and Scarborough, a popular

vacation spot in the summer. And a viral moment on the baseball field, New York Mets rookie pitcher Jerry Yon, celebrating after a strikeout on the first batter he faced in his big league debut. Take a look. It's just not going to work. And there's a strikeout and he leaps in the air and celebrates as only Jeffrey Yon can. He's a mixture of Roger Clemens and James Brown. It's apparently a signature celebration for Jan who pulled it off back in spring training. He ended the game last night with two strikeouts and no earn runs, helping the Mets beat the Guardians 6 to 5. Not a new pressure tonight from the U.S. on Cuba. Two sources telling NBC news the CIA is boosting intelligence assets to the island.

It comes months after CIA director John Ratcliffe made a rare visit to Havana. And as NBC reports, the Trump administration is ramping up efforts to force regime change there. The Trump administration also increasing economic pressure on Cuba issuing new sanction as the island reels, as you can see here, from its sixth blackout. More than half of the capital without power today. This is what it looks like to drive down the streets in Havana, headlights providing the only lights on pitch black streets lined with dark windows. I want to bring in NBC's Dan Dalyse who broke this reporting and added to some others reporting as well. Dan, is the CIA operation real or are these just threat tactics to pressure Cuba to change? Well, Tom, probably both, right? So anytime you leak word that you're focusing your intelligence

agencies on a certain country, you're sending a message, right? But also, I think this is real. This is a real priority for this White House, and they are trying to devote more resources to gathering up information about the regime, what it's up to, and what its possible weaknesses are. Dan, walk us through your reporting. What types of resources are we talking about here? This is one of the most well-funded intelligence communities in the world, of course. So there are human intelligence sources that they will no doubt be developing, already have there on the ground. There are U.S. satellites that can watch the regime in that way and maybe devote more satellites to that. And then there's also the ability to eavesdrop on electronic communications.

We've always had those things, but those resources can be limited. So if you devote more of those resources, you're picking up more information. And then on top of that, there are the really secret things that can't be discussed by the government, but that would include covert operations where you maybe try to put one faction against another inside the regime. Maybe you try to expose embarrassing information about the regime. I think there is no indication, though, Tom, that there is something kind of like the Bay of Pigs invasion from the Kennedy years in the early 60s. There's no indication that there's some kind of paramilitary force being prepared in this. I wanted to dig a little deeper into sort of the reasons for this, right?

Because spy operations, as you know, look different in every country, whether it be Iran or Russia or Cuba. So what do you think the CIA is trying to do here? Do you think they're trying to confuse Cuba's elite, so discord or a little bit of both? You know, I think the bigger question, Tom, is what is the Trump administration trying to do? And I don't think it's clear. That's open to debate. They want the regime to somehow crumble or dissolve, but what do they want to replace it with? There really isn't an organized opposition.

So, you know, it is in the power of U.S. intelligence and military services that they could topple the regime, I think, if the U.S. decided. But then what? And so I think part of this intelligence work will help the White House develop their policies and their decisions. How are they going to approach this regime? Is there someone inside the regime who they think is more pragmatic, who they can trust, someone like who they found in Venezuela, Delceo Rodriguez? So that could be part of the aim here. There is always the possibility that they're actually trying to topple the regime

and that use covert means to do that. We just don't know. There is a reason why the U.S. assets are depleted in Cuba, and it's because of the Havana syndrome and what happened there and what people suffered there. Explain that to our viewers so they kind of understand the state of play. Right. So that is a whole other huge saga, a very difficult story for the CIA and for the U.S. government. Over many years, there were CIA and other government employees, other diplomats, who reported similar symptoms.

And some of them were stationed in Havana. Some of them were stationed elsewhere in the world. It involved intense headaches, migraines, other kinds of indicators. symptoms that all seem to add up to some kind of an attack perhaps by a foreign adversary, possibly using microwaves, something like that. It's been a real kind of mystery to get to the bottom of it, but it was known, it became known as Havana syndrome, and the CIA and the U.S. government have now acknowledged that this really happened, and they've tried to help all those people that really suffered terrible medical consequences and ended many people's careers. So

that is just to illustrate, Tom, that operating in Cuba is difficult. The U.S. has a healthy respect for the Cuban regime's intelligence services still to this day. And Cuba has always been a challenge trying to penetrate that place. It's an adversary of the U.S., a lot of hostility over many decades between the two governments. And so it's not been necessarily an easy place to have CIA officers, for example, cultivating their foreign agents. So you have to do a lot of it outside the island and work indirectly. But I think that just is to illustrate again that it. it is not easy to operate in Havana, even if the country is incredibly impoverished,

and obviously the military there is weak at this point. Yeah, so you have power outages, you have the military weak, you have people obviously upset with everything in Cuba right now because the situation is not even livable there. And then you have sort of the different factions in the government right now, whether it be relatives of Raul Castro versus Diaz-Canel, the current president, and who will eventually rule Cuba. Can the CIA do damage there?

Because you alluded to this earlier in your comments about how sophisticated the Cubans were when it came to sort of spy games. As poor as the country is, as much mismanagement to the economy and to pretty much every public service system on the island, they have been able to still be pretty good spies. Other people were all argued they couldn't predict what happened in Nicholas Maduro and they were there protecting him. That being said, can the CIA do some real damage in Cuba right now? You know, I think the Cuban regime should never be underestimated, right? I mean, how many presidents have wanted to get rid of that regime somehow and overturn it or somehow shift it's view? And so I think they still have the ability to, you know, defend themselves and to hold on to power.

They clearly aren't able to meet the needs of their people. But their number one priority over the years, as you know, has been to hold that grip on power. And, you know, even with satellites and eavesdropping technical means that the CIA has and the U.S. intel agencies have, you still need human sources on the ground, and you still need insight into the regime. And so that is the question. Can the U.S. find someone that they believe they can work with, or is that unrealistic? Is this different than Venezuela, and that just won't work? And so in many ways, it's maybe not an intelligence challenge here entirely, right?

It's a political and diplomatic challenge, and it's vexed previous president. So we'll see if President Trump can sort of cut through that knot and figure this one out. We'll see if it makes a difference. Dan DeLuce, we thank you for coming on top stories tonight. Also tonight tributes are pouring in for TikTokers Sidney Toll, an influencer who shared her life and her cancer journey with millions of followers, encouraging them all to live life to the fullest. Dana Griffin shares her story. Let's go sell you some chemo.

For years, Sydney Toll radiated joy, captivating audiences on TikTok with her effervescent spirit. Good morning. Her wit. Hey, do you guys have any more room under there? And her love for living life to the fullest. We can do hard things. Even while documenting the darkest chapter of her life,

battling a rare and aggressive bile duct cancer, Calangio carcinoma. Hey, besties. Updating her besties through the highs and lows, ignoring negative comment. Sometimes life is horribly unfair and it doesn't look the way that you wanted to, but you still show up for yourself every single day.

And advocating for early screenings. When detected early, survival rates can reach up to 99%. But this week's update came from Sydney's mom and brother. Sid went peacefully last night. She fought really hard and were so proud of her. Thank you for all of your kind messages of support and love. In May, a dream came true for Sydney when she walked the runway for Miami Swim Week,

just days after refusing her doctor's suggestion to start end-of-life care. I said, no, so we are switching hospitals. The news of Sydney's passing hitting her more than one million followers. It's just really incredible how somebody we never met in person can still become so meaningful to us.

She's an example of being so incredibly light and passionate and happy in love with life. And how impactful was having community and sharing her journey online? It was hugely impactful for this rare cancer. Stacey Lindsay is CEO of the Calangio Carcinoma Foundation. I think Sidney will inspire the younger generation to be more thoughtful about healthy and positive living because she lived her life in such a positive way.

For Sydney, this was more than turning cancer into content. It was transforming pain into awareness while reshaping people's image of what living with cancer looks like. All right, Dana Griffin joins us, and Dana, we are hearing more from Sydney's family tonight. Yeah, in a statement, her family writes, we are so proud of how Sydney fought and for sharing her journey with so many people. She wanted to raise awareness for rare cancers and was passionate about promoting self-advocacy.

We will continue her legacy and honor her in every way we can. Tom. All right, Dana Griffin, for us on that sad story. Dana, thank you. Coming up, one of the deadliest volcanoes in history, seen a new uptick in activity, so could it unleash another deadly eruption? We'll speak with an expert. And Europe's drought crisis, rivers running dry, sparking concerns for nuclear plants will explain. Stay with us. We're back now with an alert about the reawakening of a long-dormant Caribbean volcano. Scientists are calling for caution after a spike in activity beneath Martinique's Mount Palais.

In 1902, it was the source of the third deadliest eruption. in history. Here's some of those pictures. Nearly 30,000 people were killed in mere minutes when a cloud of gas and debris swept through the town of St. Pierre, wiping out almost its entire population. Since then, the population across Martinique has increased from 200,000 to 350,000, and the danger zone in Mount Palais, shadow stretches across nearly half the island. The warning about new activity comes in a summer full of powerful volcanic eruptions across the globe, including in Guatemala, Indonesia, and even Italy. on set here, volcanologist, did I say that right?

Volcanologist? All right. A. Not Lev. A not. Thank you so much for being here. You're from Columbia University. I am. Thank you. So scientists have noticed a shift, right, in the activity underneath this volcano. Should we be worried? With volcanoes, you always want to be on the watch. See what they're doing. But this seems to be not a super unusual level of activity.

Okay. We can see that the local volcano observatory had a hadn't lifted the alert level, which is really what they do. So on that point, the observatory there in Martinique is saying the probability of an eruption, right, it remains, in the short term, it remains low, but added that the situation could change in a matter of weeks or months. Does that mean people living near this volcano should reconsider their safety? They should just be very vigilant and make sure that their evacuation bags are ready, that they know where to go in case something does happen, and just pay attention, make sure they know

where to get alerts, if it's social media or the radio or a siren. Just been ready. Explain to our viewers, why are we watching this right now? There's stuff happening underneath, right? It's not like we just made this up. Right. So there's been a deformation of the surface, so the volcano is getting a little bit bigger, and there's been detecting just more earthquakes.

Underneath it. Yeah, when the magma moves or expands to build pressure, then it creates small earthquakes. Okay, so are those the warning signs? I mean, are those, is that usually what happens before it goes kaboom? Yeah, yeah, these are some of the things that we listen to is earthquakes or change in shape, changing chemistry of springs even, or the gases coming out. We have to look for all the different signs. When do you know that it's getting close?

When the magnitude or the size of the earthquakes are getting bigger. Okay. If they look like they're changing systematically in depth, getting shallow and shallower, then you see something's kind of systematically changing. If it's reaching the deformation level that were the same as a recent eruption, then you know, oh, it's getting closed. Now, when Mount Palais erupted in 1902, there were few people that were able to evacuate, even though there were early warning signs, but obviously it's 1902, right?

And so many people died along the way. They lived very close to the volcano. I know that area has sort of changed. the people that live close to the volcano now. But are people around Martinique, should they also be careful, even though they're not right next to the volcano anymore? There is a hazard zone where if there is an eruption,

the lahars or the pyroclastic flows would go. If you were completely far away, then it's probably safe. You still might have to deal with ash that falls on infrastructure, power cables, solar panels. There might be evacuation of people from the evacuation zone, just coming to the other town. Just yesterday, thousands of people in Guatemala, we were covering the Fuego volcano, right?

They had to evacuate. No one was hurt. Is modern technology helping out communities that live around volcanoes? We're really trying our best. We try to get more data, more types, and make it open so that most scientists can take a look at it. and have it transmit in real time,

either from cell phone networks or from satellite networks. So we're really trying to be on top of it. Fuego, in 2018, there was an eruption that killed many people, and the fact that now they were able to respond and evacuate. Yeah, thank God. It's really thanks to more monitoring. We get to talk to a lot of interesting people on Top Story, not a lot of volcanologists, right?

I think you're the first one that we've talked to everyone on this show. What's the most interesting thing about volcanoes that people don't know? One of the things people don't know is that there's always a few of them, or even a couple of dozens, that are erupting at any point. So when someone's saying, hey, did you hear about that eruption that's happening? Like, well, which one? So there's always something going on somewhere around the world, putting somebody in danger or impacting their environment. And when volcanoes do erupt, do they tell us anything about sort of the future of Earth? They tell us about the past and the future, because the past is.

how this earth was formed and how it evolved, but also how it's going to evolve in the future. They're carrying material from the inside. It's our only way to get it. Okay. We thank you for that. And not Lev. We thank you so much for reading here from Columbia University. You're welcome. Thank you. Now the Top Stories Global Watch and the impact of the extreme heat that it's been baking Europe all summer.

Rivers drying up across the continent, forcing some countries to take drastic action. Raff Sanchez is along the Thames and London with more. Yeah, Tom, we're in the west of London. We're standing on the banks of the usually mighty river Thames. But if I get out of the way here, you can see just how low the river is right now. This bank closest to us almost completely exposed. You can see the mud. You can smell it also.

And this is because there has been so little rain and such hot weather here. Now, this is low tide. The water will come up a little bit over the coming hours. But this is a situation that we are seeing all across. Europe right now. In Central Europe, governments are being forced to take pretty drastic measures because the river Danube is so low. It's relied on in Romania to power one of the country's nuclear power plants. They use it to cool the reactor there. The Romanian Navy actually blasting through rocks trying to create a new channel to make sure that water gets to that reactor.

In another part of the river, they have sunk a bunch of barges, these big old boats full of rocks. to try to kind of artificially guide the water to where it needs to go. And with the water levels receding all over Europe in these baking temperatures, it's actually revealing some pretty stunning history. In Serbia, they found a couple dozen World War II era warships that have been sunk in the mud in 1944 and are now visible because the water is so low. In Bulgaria, they found the remains of a woolly mammoth, the rib cage, what looks like the tusk of this ancient creature.

The hot weather across Europe set to continue with major heat warnings in every single major city in Italy right now as this long hot European summer continues. Tom. Raf, thank you just ahead. The power of investing in others. A Wendy's manager now heading to Yale

after his bosses made his dreams of going to college a reality. That inspiring story next. Coming on the air with breaking news. We are live tonight from Juarez, Mexico, reporting over the skies of Bajna. You're in Florida. The time to evacuate has come and gone. You were seeing people just running for their lives.

People running for their lives. We've seen this almost unbelievable power struggle. What does this mean for Ukraine? It's the battle off the field that's inspired the world. Every night, it's your news playlist. Top Story with Tom Yamas, streaming weeknights at seven on NBC News Now. And finally tonight, a Wendy's manager who came to this country as a teen,

hoping for a better life, getting to live out his dream of going to Yale. And it's his bosses who believed in him that help him get there. Watch as 23-year-old, Tallis DeSuzza's life is about to change. Fissy. An acceptance letter to Yale University, a dream that once felt impossible. He was always college. He has always been. Desusa escaped extreme violence in one of Rio de Janeiro's poorest neighborhoods. moving from Brazil to the U.S. 10 years ago.

I don't think a lot of people really saw potential in myself. And I don't think I saw potential in myself. In high school, he learned English and worked full time at a Wendy's in Cape Cod. He wanted to save for college, but the pay wasn't great. So he decided to pursue another job. But his bosses at Wendy's had another idea. Continue working with us and we will help you to go to college and pay for him. For every hour, Desusa worked, they set aside extra money for him, a college scholarship fund.

It was a wonderful opportunity with a kid who has all the potential in the world. With their help, he enrolled in community college and excelled. His sights set on Yale. So he applied, leading to this moment. Let me see. Embraced by his mother and sister. And showered with champagne by his friend. I changed the whole perspective of my life, and I think that's the point, right?

He only takes one person to believe in you. And I am a living proof of the... Good luck in New Haven. All right, that does it for us. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamerson, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.