showdown at the southern border president biden and donald trump hold dueling events in texas, but couldn't be further apart with their message we're in d.c. with the growing divide over immigration. a funeral fraught with

ten tension. the historic inferno, the largest wildfire in texas history, torches over a million acres and counting inside the race to get the flames under control no friend to privacy advocates. the new trouble brewing for facebook's parent company. wake up this morning and get yourself a booth the restaurant from the final scene of the sopranos is auctioning off an iconic piece of memorabilia, and no cut to black here we're just getting started it's friday, march 1st "early today" starts right now hi there, i'm frances rivera we begin with the political congress roads at the southern border president biden and former president trump making visits to different border towns in texas. this split screen moment revealing very different approaches to addressing the immigrant crisis, the immigration crisis brie jackson joins us now. what were the dueling messages

delivered at the border? >> good morning, frances we did see a major contrast there on the southern border president biden criticized republicans but called for a compromise he blasted house republicans for refusing to take up a bipartisan border security bill, saying gop lawmakers tanked the measure at the urging of former president trump. the president revealed a new strategy, asking mr. trump for his support on this issue. >> here's what i would say to mr. trump. instead of playing politics with the issue. instead of telling members of congress to block thislegislati join me or i'll join you we can do it together. you know, and i know it's the toughest, most efficient, most effective border security bill this country's ever seen. >> and speaking several hundred miles away, former president trump argued that president biden could end this crisis on his own by taking executive

action mr. trump also spoke of recent high-profile crimes allegedly committed by migrants, including the murder of georgia nursing student laken riley. the former president revealed that he spoke with riley's parents, saying they are devasta deva devastated beyond belief crime has dipped in cities that received the most migrants but candidates did agree on one point, that the record number of border crossings we're seeing now is not sustainable frances? >> brie jackson for us, thank you. laken riley will be laid to rest this afternoon in georgia the 22-year-old was found dead after she went on a jog on the university of georgia campus last week. a furge sneral service will be d for her today in her hometown of woodstock. her friends and family remember her as kind and selfless in a few hours from now, alexei navalny will be laid to

rest in moscow the russian government has tried to limit public displays of mourning for the latest, let's go live to london and matt bodner who covers russia for nbc news do we know what this funeral will look like >> reporter: thank you, frances. it's still about two hours away from the official start of the funeral, as stated by navalny's team currently outside of russia but wh we're already seeing people start to show up it's not a small crowd the police have done a lot to try to discourage a larger crowd from forming looking at the live streams outside the church right now, they've really set up for a large scale opposition protest it's difficult to get a sense of numbers, but the police presence is obviously very strong as well the reasonable observer might say it's kind of overkill. there's not going to be 50,000 people coming out on this protest today, but the message from the regime is very clear.

the church surrounded by barricades they've not left a hlot of room for people to gather people are packing in to what little space has been made available. after the ceremony at the church, they're suppose the to take supposed to take a walk through town to the cemetery two very clear episodes show us where russia is at two years into this war, this consolidation of authoritarianism in russia it wasn't that long agao that mikael gorbachev passed away there was a very large funeral very different from alexei navalny, but not liked by this regime but there were thousands of people in the street there's not going to be that many today and the police obviously are not going to

tolerate that kind of march, frances. >> thank you for the break down. it the official death toll in gaza has surpassed 30,000. dozens of civilians were killed by israeli soldiers who fired into a crowd waiting for food distribution in gaza city. israelis are pushing back against some of the allegations. here's raf sanchez >> reporter: bodies carried away on donkey carts after a deadly encou encounter while palestinians gathered to receive humanitarian aid. but how it happened is in dispute. our camera crews were there before 4:00 a.m. as hundreds came to the coast waiting desperately for the delivery of food this drone footage was shown soon after, showing a crowd surging around aid trucks. a palestinian eyewitness tells nbc news, israeli forces started firing at people gathering in front of a checkpoint before the trucks arrived and kept shooting

later as the crowd rushed towards the aid. the hamas-run health ministry says more than a hundred people were killed. hospitals flooded with gunshot victims, but israeli military say many died not from a spray of bullets but from a stampede around the trucks. they say they opened fire later whether a specific group posed a threat to their positions. >> if you approach armed soldiers in a war zone and they fire shots, the best thing to do is turn around and walk away >> reporter: one in four gazans are just a step away from famine moussa is six months old, barely older than this war, but in his tiny body, signs of a short life with little food in a sense, he's lucky doctors say eight other children died this week from malnutrition and dehydration, all at this one hospital not far away, this woman trying

to feed remher kids by frying pancakes out of feed meant for dfor donkeys. words can't describe the tragedy we're living in, she says. president biden no longer thinks a cease-fire by monday is likely >> our thanks to raf for that report it appears that the government will keep the lights on for at least another week congress cleared a stopgap funding bill last night to avert a partial shutdown it will keep much of the government up and running through next friday. and the rest until march 22nd. republicans and democrats are far apart on funding decisions for major departments like the pentagon and homeland security in alabama, lawmakers have passed new protections for ivf treatments the newly-passed bills are meant to shield patients and doctors from potential civil suits during fertility treatments if embryos are damaged or

destroyed. many clinics paused the treatments after fear of prosecution. the governor is expected to sign new protections as soon as next week turning now to texas where the raging wildfires have now claimed two lives. 83-year-old joyce blankenship and cindy owens, believed to be in her 40s the smokehouse creek fire is still only 3% contained and has torched more than a million acres, making it larger than rhode island it's now the largest blaze in texas history, according to the a&m forest service entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble and the houses can be rebuilt, but for paul blankenship, home will never be the same the flames took his mother joyce while she was in her home. >> they had already blocked roads off, so i wasn't able to get in there to her. >> snow has helped firefighters. more high winds are forecast in the coming days. michelle grossman is here with what we can expect this weekend.

>> great to see you. we're going to see critical fire weather once again tomorrow into sunday we're tracking a lot today and into the weekend so today we're looking at really heavy wind into the west and inner mountain west. blizzard conditions, whiteout conditions and possible travel we could see snowfall totaling five, even ten feet of snow in some spots that's today tomorrow we'll see the same story, snowfall rates of one to two inches per hour. and then we're going to see rounds of heavy rain soaking the coastal parts of california, also seeing rain along the coast of oregon and washington by sunday, we'll see the snow starting to taper finally in the sierra range but heavy snow in the northern and central rockies where we could see feet of snow there. we have winter weather watches winter storm warnings. and that's because we're looking at heavy, heavy snow it's really cold, too. we're going to see the winds

gusting. we're looking at snow, even five, ten feet in the highest elevations there with really heavy snow coming down really heavy rain as well. where you sigh ee darker colors the heavy amounts of rain. mild throughout the middle of the country. lots of sunshine into the south central states, but again we'll and we're looking atfire temperatures in the 70s in texas. 75 in san antonio with lots of sunshine all right, that's your friday forecast >> michelle, thank you we'll see you in a little bit. a piece of soprano's history has made its way to the auction block. and it's one fans have not

forgotten. >> onion rings. >> we're all still wondering what happened. meanwhile, the legendary booth where tony soprano sat in the last moments of the series finale could be yours. it will be up for auction on e b bebay bids are already above $60,000 miley cyrus fans old and new are about to get the best of both worlds. play on her new track. r new tra. fast-acting relief i can apply it to more areas of my body. and it's nsaid-free. cool the pain so i can get back on the court. did you know most dish soaps don't remove all the grease, even with scrubbing? whaaat? i just cleaned those! try dawn platinum. it removes 99% of grease and food residue.

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sealed properly. the bottles were made between october 2010 and december 2023 according to a new study, eating a lot of ultra processed foods can raise the risk of dozens of illness, including heart diseases, cancer and diabetes ultra processed foods include sugary drinks like soda as well. and also they say frozen foods and packaged baked goods were also affected. after nearly ten years, oprah winfrey is stepping down from the board of weigh weight-watchers. the announcement comes after she revealed in an interview she was taking a weight loss medication. ihop is teaming up with girl scout cookies to debut thin mints packages for the march flavor of the month. the stack of four buttermilk man cakes comes with cheesecake mousse and whipped cream

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and protect abortion rights and our democracy. because he sees a better future for all of us. i'm peter dixon and i approved this message. facebook's parent company not making any friends with privacy groups in the european union, but first, rethinking the theater, paramount is looking to cut costs by bringing back mid-budget movies. arabile is here to break it down for us good morning, arabile. >> good morning, frances it certainly is an interesting one, right if we just start off with the writers guild, those strikes were happening last year, right? all these companies are trying to find a way. the streaming companies, the production companies, all of them trying to find a way to cut costs as best as possible. that's what they're all focussing on even getting paramount to say they're reducing their programming spend. that has now become their

primary and their main objective. the top corporate priority as they put it. in fact. that's according to the ceo bob bakish they're saying that they want to save crosses across the tv and streaming business we've just spoken about it as well the european consortium releasing a scathing report accusing them of using privacy smoke screens, with a massive illegal data collection scheme according to euro news, the program charges users almosts ut tenure 10 euros a month. certainly a few question marks for meta they may be having to head on the legal way. >> mm-hm

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cool the pain so i can get back on the court. the ultimate power >> i want you to know, i will love you as long as i breathe. >> you will henever lose me as long as you stay who you are >> silence >> he who controls the spice controls the cinema. hollywood is looking to the highly-anticipated sci-fi epic, dune part two to kick start the sluggish 2024 box office this weekend. analysts are projecting the sequel to open as high as 80 million. no film released this year has made over $100 million in the united states. they are banking on this, sending these huge mega stars all over the world to promote this so much red carpet leading up to

it >> this cast is stacked. from one of the most anticipated movies of the year to one that might never even see the light of year. will forte took to x to give a message to films about his film coyote versus acme he shared he was able to see the movie and called it incredible, despite claiming to know nothing about hollywood business, warn are bwarner brothers shelved the movie he didn't know how it turned out, but he was able to see it, and it was incredible. and he's sad that it's not going to see the light of day. >> he said okay, they're not doing it, it must be a big hunk of junk. it's not miley cyrus is not slowing down ♪ i need to rock you, baby ♪ ♪ before your body burns ♪ ♪ let he work it out ♪ ♪ let me work it out ♪ >> i'm lovin' it

i'm lovin' the moves, too. she released the latest single right after midnight the track is produced by pharrell williams. i'm calling it right now that's going to be the song of the suer >> i love it, yes, yes "early today" will be right back ly today" will be right back. could be a sign that your digestive system isn't at its best. but a little metamucil everyday can help. metamucil's psyllium fiber gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down and also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic. lighten everyday the metamucil way. feel less sluggish & weighed down after just 14 days. sign up for the 2 week challenge at metamucil.com even the most chill of parents know when it's time to go into protect mode. nothing kills more viruses on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray.

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becoming college basketball's all-time leading scorer revealed she's taking her talents to the wnba she announced she'll be foregoing her seniorie year at iowa to enter the wnba draft she's held to be a first-evoverl pick shohei otani revealed that he's a married man the announcement came in an instagram post that didn't include the lucky lady but did feature as us his dog decoy. he told the press that his new wife ais just a normal japanese woman. and he was happy to take his vows before the season began now to a nbc news exclusive with the nfl's damar hamlin and a surprise for a young athlete priscilla thompson tells us about a connection they share.

>> reporter: zeke had big dreams of becoming a military pilot and playing football but around sixth grade that all changed. >> it hurt to breathe. it hurt to sleep >> reporter: the cause a leaky heart vachllve that woud have to be replaced with a mechanical one what went through your mind in that moment? >> i felt that his world was going to come crashing down. >> reporter: on blood thinners for life, zeke's football dreams were over. what was that like for you >> problem i will one of the most devastating moments of my life >> reporter: now 16, zeke is a track star with new passions, like marching band and choir. and dreams of becoming an airline pilot. his story inspiring someone else so how are you feeling about this surprise? >> i'm feeling super, sited. >> reporter: buffalo bills' safety damar hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field last year >> i'm super proud of him being

able to shift gears and display your passion for other things that you love in the world where's zeke >> reporter: hamlin inviting zeke to join the heart mates team >> you're the first pick of the draft. so here you go >> reporter: for those impacted by heart conditions. >> it's just a community that we built to allow people to know that you're not alone. >> reporter: did you experience any of that loneliness or isolation? >> yeah, i still do. something ongoing. >> reporter: a your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve memory. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription.

the way. ews on the way. dueling border visits. donald trump and president biden in texas, address one of the major issues of the 2024 campaign mr. biden welcoming his predecessor to work together on a border