a personal plea for the war in ukraine. volodymyr zelenskyy makes a 11th hour push for more aid from the

u.s., with a trip to the white house today. but with ukraine and russia locked in a stalemate, can he move the needle in congress? the life or death battle over access to abortion. one texas mother's fight against the state's ban on the procedure, underscoring the legal minefield left behind bit supreme court's decision to overturn roe versus wade. a new york neighborhood rattled after a building collapsed in the bronx. the good news from crews who spent hours searching the rubble. the gift that could keep on giving, lower prices. steve sedgwick is live with why we could see more signs of easing inflation today. the restaurant dishing out good deeds, one meal at a time. it's tuesday, december 12. "early today" starts right now. good morning, i'm frances rivera. >> i'm jessica layton. today volodymyr zelenskyy will meet with president biden at the white house. and the two leader the will have

a bilateral meeting at 2:15 p.m. eastern time with the joint press conference after that. zelenskyy will also meet with senatorance other congressional leaders. for the very latest on this, let's go to nbc news foreign correspondent, chapman bell. could you walk us through what zelenskyy hopes to get out of this visit in. >> reporter: good morning, jessica and frances. yeah. the main goal for zelenskyy will be more military aid for ukraine. he was speaking yesterday at the national defense university, saying russia's dreams come true when they ceedesee delays. the latest aid package that includes funding for israel as well as ukraine, and also tougher u.s. border policies has seen opposition from republicans in the senate and in congress. and other senate republicans, including j.d. vance of ohio are said that ukraine needs to just give up land to end this war. many skeptical after ukraine's

counter offensive really fell short of expectations. it didn't accomplish much, leaving ukraine to search for a new st new strategy for america's help. amid fears that putin's parks co patience could pay off if funding dwindles and the war machine runs out. it could create a real chance of ukraine losing this war. so all eyes are on zelenskyy's visit to waushington, d.c. to ty to shore up support as well as more military aid for their country as they continue to fight russia following this invasion nearly two years ago. >> so much at stake. chapman, thank you. half of the population of the gaza strip is now starving,

the u.n. says. the gaza health system is on its knees and collapsing, according to the head of the world health organization. local health authorities say more than 18,000 have died and thousands more are presumed dead under rubble. >> meanwhile, israel has released the names of 20 hostages they say have died. hamas has previously made statements saying captives were killed in israeli airstrikes. as a recently-freed hon hostage told richard engel, time is running out. >> reporter: time is running out to save the hostages still in gaza. how concerned are you about the ones who didn't get out? [speaking in a global language] >> translator: the lack of air in the tunnels, as well as the

shortage of food and mid med medicine to lead people to exhaustion. >> reporter: she was taken from her residence in a small kibbutz where hamas kidnapped or killed one out of every four people. >> translator: we walked several kilometers underground. thewalls were wet, the ground was damp. we walked there until we reached a large room they had prepared in advance. i don't flow how many are still alive, especially the elderly and sick. they are not getting anything and barely enough food. >> reporter: as israel continues to attack hamas, food is increasingly scarce in gaza. a desperate crowd rushed to take whatever food aid they could in rafah. the u.n. says half of the population is starving, and

sdie diseases are spreading. this 15-year-old tried to count the number of times she's been displaced. we are tired. so tired. we are begging for one bite, she says. 90% of gazans have been driven if this homes according to the u.n. many are living in the open desert. that wall is the egyptian border, the end of the line. nowhere is left that's safe for gazans or the hostages. incl including yher husband. >> he was a very talented person. he was a brilliant journalist. he is still an excellent economist. don't want to say "was" in the past tense. >> reporter: she and her daughter made an urgent appeal to hamas, the israeli government and the united states which vetoed a resolution for a

cease-fire to release the hostages. >> translator: there are sick people who don't get the medicine they need. they won't last long. only a negotiation can release and return them. >> make a christmas miracle. make the hanukkah miracle. and let us arehave our people b. >> our thanks to richard for that report. there are new developments in the fight over reproductive rights in texas. the texas supreme court has overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed kate cox to get an abortion because of concerns for her health. brie jackson joins us now with the latest on this story. even before this ruling, cox had already announced she was leaving texas. >> reporter: that's right, frances, good morning. doctors for kate cox say she had no time to waste. the 31-year-old mother of two first sought an abortion because she learned the baby she's carrying has a rare disorder. it is not expected to survive.

carrying it to full term could put her health at risk and prevent her from being able to have another child. hours before last night's ruling, her lawyers said because of her deteriorating health she is forced to seek medical care outside of the state. the president of the center for reproductive rights has been helping kate and spoke out to nbc news. >> texas keeps saying there's exce exception. but when they say this falls in the exception, what you hear from the state of texas is no, no. we're going to continue to come after your doctor and anyone who helps you. that's just not a circumstance if whic in which you can go forward with med medical care. >> reporter: they said her doctor did not show enough that

she was facing a life-threatening condition. cox has chosen to lose the state so the ruling does not impact her, but the decision does clarify the standard going forward. >> highly consequential, brie, thank you. the supreme court has been asked to rule on one of donald trump's trials. jack smith asking the supreme court if he is immune from prosecution because he committed the alleged crimes while in office. the high court has agreed to consider whether to hear the case on an expedited basis. mr. trump continues to call the case politically motivated. meanwhile, a new poll shows 51% of likely iowa caucus goers say trump is their top pick. and that's up eight points from october. makes it the largest lead ever, this close to a republican caucus. trump's closest rivals are

trailing him by more than 30 points. in new york, crews are still sifting through the ru rubble ar a corner of a building collapsed. investigators work to figure out what led to the collapse. to the forecast, there's a new system threatening to bring rain and snow across the country. angie, good morning. >> we've got a storm system that we're going to watch emerge along the border with new mexico and texas. those are the spots, especially, where we're going to see the heaviest rain. this is tomorrow. you notice there's also a little bit of snow that we're going to deal with from this system. it's a slow mover. central texas could see the potential for flooding. we can see anywhere if two to

throm two to three inches. where you sighee the brighter p. we'll watch the system continue to advance through friday. but a system will impact the state of florida through the weekend. the potential for flooding is o of texas with the high 60s on tap. houston will end up at 67 degrees with partly sunny skies. and that's a look at your forecast, ladies, back to you. we are back in a minute with disney versus desantis spilling

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t skmur /* s the consumer price index. >> why is this important? f if the inflation remains high, it means the federal reserve will need to keep rates higher for longer. they've probably stopped raising rates, but a lot of people in the market are wondering when they can start cutting. while inflation remains at the 3% level, that's still too high for comfort. keep an eye on this announcement. it could be really important for tomorrow's decision from the federal reserve. hasbro, the owner of brands such as my little pony and

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i don't have anything big planned, just a giant blowout party. >> the world will remember this day. >> the biggest movies of the year are once again gearing up to face off, not at the box office but at awards shows. barbie and oppenheimer led the

nominations. the two blockbusters received a total of 17 nods. on the television side, hbo's "succession" will look to cap off its final season. they won at least one in every category. i've been rooting for "succession." and the impact and all the time we spent watching and rye watching. the snubs, though, "color purple." and "ferrari ii" was expected to get a lot of nods and did flott. russell wilson is winning on and off the field. he and his wife have welcomed a third child. amora's arrival brings this kids to four, ciara has a son she had

with her ex. the family was in town to see dad get his victory over the chargers. >> that baby, nine pounder, amazing. brenda lee's "rockin' around the christmas tree" hit number one on the billboard charts. mariah carey sent her flowers and a message of congratulations for her chart success. this year marked the first holiday season zsince 2019 wher

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( clears throat ) for fast sore throat relief, try vicks vapocool drops. with two times more menthol per drop, and powerful vicks vapors to vaporize sore throat pain. vicks vapocool drops. vaporize sore throat pain. a family-owned restaurant in wisconsin is paying it forward this holiday season by raising money to make sure customers in need have hot meals.

from our affiliate there, mohammad abdul kawhi has the details. >> think love coming here. >> reporter: current owner, tracy, has been serving soup, sandwiches and smiles for decades. >> if the walls could talk, it would have a complete story. >> reporter: with decades of home cooked meals served with love, she wanted to try something she saw on social media. >> think werey were paying it f. >> reporter: she already had a lot on her plate but wanted to have more. people can come in and prepay for a meal so others have something to eat. >> never in a million years would i think that me, tracy, would have all this limelight. never in a million years. >> reporter: since starting to pay it forward, the restaurant has raised over $3,000. >> i can't believe all the support we've gotten.

>> reporter: shawn ritter is p no stranger to the restaurant. >> nowadays it's lard to make ends meet, and sometimes people got to skimp on certain things and not have a full belly. and this is something that helps bring back to the community. >> reporter: now with a new spark at the restaurant, tracy wants people to know that they'll always be there. >> my slogan is, you're never alone at farmer's home. everything's welcome here. >> our thanks to mohammad for that report. a dog in denver has captured hearts. jessica's brother and his wife are saying good-bye to their sweet dog fifi, who is in their final days. to make them her best days yet they put out this emermessage o tiktok. >> we don't particularly care to meet strangers, but she loves meeting people. anybody you know denver,

colorado who loves dogs would love for to you come meet her. >> and denver did not disappoint. a whole crowd braved the snow to celebrate fifi, and just pllookt that tail wag. >> we are so grateful. hundreds of people came out. i love the honesty of my brother, too. got to appreciate that. coming up a little later on the "today" show, why your adorable goldfish is taking over major lakes across the country. >> who knew they were such an issue. they look innocent enough. we'll find out what the problem is. thanks for watching "early today." i'm frances rivera. >> i'm

story. stay right there more news on the way the way. a surprise move in texas' abortion rights fight. one mother crossing state lines for the procedure, after a