east. israel and hezbollah launching major attacks on each other over the weekend stoking fears of a wider conflict, but there are signs that both signs are deescalating, we have a live report. a presidential debates debatable, donald trump suggesting overnight that he might pull out of his first face-to-face showdown with kamala harris. we are in d.c. with the new twist in the race for the white house, plus the staggering new fundraising numbers after last week's dnc. a hurricane dumping a deluge on hawaii, the damage left behind by the category 1, while out west the search for a missing hiker comes to a tragic end after flash floods swept the grand canyon. how restaurants are fighting back against the ftc's crackdown on junk fees and what it could mean for you the next time you dine out. and a big league thriller at the little league world series, how florida came out on top against chinese taipei in extra

innings. it's monday, august 26th, early today starts right now. and good morning to you, itch richard lui. we are going to start this morning with rising tensions in the middle east. israel striking hezbollah in lebanon in what the idf is calling a preemptive strike. the militant group responded with rockets and drones. let's go straight to nbc's claudio lavanga following developments for us. the question, are the tensions escalating or deescalating at this hour? >> reporter: good morning, richard. well, that's right, at least according to both sides hezbollah and israel, it is deescalating in the sense that after what happened on sunday morning they said they do not want a further escalation of the conflict. there is absolutely no doubt that what happened on sunday yesterday was the heaviest

exchange of fire between israel and hezbollah since the tensions have been rising since the beginning of october at the start of the war in gaza at the border between israel -- the northern border between israel and lebanon. let me recap wrapped on sunday. sunday morning israel said that they carried out preemptive air strikes against positions or thousands of rocket launchers from -- or managed by hezbollah in the south of lebanon. hezbollah responded by firing hundreds of rockets and drones into the north of israel and the israeli-occupied goelan heights. israel said they were preventing an imminent large scale attack by hezbollah while hezbollah said they carried out the attack in response to the killing of one of its founding members at the end of july in an air strike in beirut. now, both sides said they only

targeted military sites, civilian -- well, not civilian casualties -- casualties were limited, there were three militants dead in lebanon and one israeli soldier. as i mentioned, they said they don't want escalation but the fear is that this could raise the prospect of an all-out war that could spiral into a wider regional conflict. all of this is happening while the talks for a hostage release and ceasefire in the war in gaza continue in cairo. there was no deal between hamas and israel but a u.s. official told nbc that the talks were constructive and that they will continue. >> claudio, thank you for the latest on that. now to a man in custody in connection to friday's deadly knife attack in germany. police saying the 26-year-old suspect turned himself in yesterday. he was a syrian citizen who had applied for asylum in the country. the stabbing spree killed three people, wounded eight others, four are still in

life-threatening conditions. isis has claimed responsibility for that attack. we also have this for you new this morning, the founder and ceo of the messaging app telegram has been arrested in france. pavol durov is accused of failing to stop his platform to be used for fraud, cyber bullying and promotion of terrorism. he has been a vocal proponent of freedom of speech. the messaging service was founded in 2013 and has 800 million users. telegram has attracted criminals and terrorist groups but he insists the app is a neutral platform. while the harris campaign is seeing a boost of enthusiasm from the convention, former president trump is now suggesting he might not show up to the september debate. nbc's alice barr joins us now. alice, good morning to you. what are we hearing? >> reporter: good morning, richard. this is the only debate that the

two candidates had agreed to up until this point, but late last night former president trump on his trump truth social platform hinted that he may back out. he wrote that he had been watching abc news and he complained about biased coverage, as he described t and asked why would he do the debate on that network. he raised several questions about the network and asked why the vice president had turned down offers from other networks. the harris campaign has not responded to that, but they did release major fundraising numbers on sunday, saying they had raised $40 million since the convention and more than half a billion dollars since the launch of the campaign just five weeks ago. the trump campaign for its part says it raised nearly $139 million in july. donald trump's running mate, ohio senator j.d. vance, appeared on nbc's "meet the press" where he insisted that mr. trump would not impose a federal ban on abortion.

>> would he veto a federal abortion a ban. >> i think he would. he said that explicitly that he would. >> i don't think he said explicitly that he would. >> no republican, at least no republican with reasonable power is saying that we should have a complete national abortion ban. >> reporter: former president trump is set to visit michigan and wisconsin this week, while vice president harris and her running mate, governor tim walz will kick off a bus tour of georgia. richard. >> thank you. officials confirm that an apparent cyber attack hit the port of seat this will weekend and brought down websites, email and phone services at the port, as well as the city's airport. according to flight aware over 200 flights were delayed and several were canceled yesterday. port officials are still working to restore internet and web-based services. extreme weather canceled flights in hawaii. hurricane hone brought powerful

wind and heavy rain and knocking out power to more than 20,000 customers. nbc's dana griffin has the latest. >> reporter: a close call for hawaii after dodging hurricane hone. >> you see how large this system is. >> reporter: it churned close to the big island, whipping winds up to 75 miles per hour, dumping heavy rain, cutting hour to thousands and grounding flights. mean while, a popular tourist spot at the bottom of the grand canyon is closed after a weekend-long rescue effort. more than 100 tourists and residents had to be airlifted after violent flash flooding ripped through on thursday, washing away this camp site, hikers losing everything. this canyon wall disintegrates, carried away by a raging river. >> that was crazy. >> we were the first ones to get out of the bottom of the canyon.

>> reporter: letitia was also in that canyon. >> the waters were rising, bridges were watching out, there were a lot of people who were trapped in caves. >> reporter: she says she's alive because a friend warned her what to do if they heard thunder. >> they said if we heard thunder we should head out of the canyon because it was monsoon season and i heard thunder and it was really cloud. i said maybe we should head to higher ground. he saved my family's life. >> reporter: like so many there that weekend, grateful to make it out alive. >> those floods in the canyon were so strong that a couple was swept away in the end. shanoa nickerson and her husband were washed into a creek during the flash flooding on thursday. he was rescued by rafters. park officials reported that her body was found 20 miles downriver from where she went missing. millions are under a heat alert this morning as well. nbc meteorologist brittany ship

joins us tracking the temperatures for us. a lot to watch. >> a lot to watch for us and this is as a lot of students are heading back to school and it's going to be right in the middle of this seat. 39 million people under heat alerts, affecting places like cedar rapids. we could see heat index values up to 115 degrees, alerts will extend into tomorrow as well. chicago up to 96 degrees, that's 15 degrees above where they should be for this time of year. charleston 96 degrees and if you look down towards huntsville 96 as well. these are warm temperatures. you can see this heat is going to continue to shift to the east as we head into tomorrow. so places like cincinnati, almost at that triple digit mark, and then if you are closer to baltimore 91 degrees. the heat sticking with us throughout most of the week. for new york we will see relief as we head into thursday and friday, but for others down south the heat will continue for this ,

salt lake city with daytime highs right around 78 degrees. this is a situation that we will continue to monitor. we will keep you updated on the heat alerts. we will keep you updated on the heat alerts. we will send it over to you, richard. >> brittany, thank you for that. up next, why restaurants are serving up a fight to the ftc over a service fee crackdown. and spacex rockets toured a pair of critical missions, one eicluding to bring back the bong astronauts stuck in space. we're back in 60. 0%? try dawn powerwash dish spray. it removes 99% of grease and grime in half the time. dawn powerwash has 3 cleaning boosters not found in traditional dish soaps that remove food and grease 5x times faster.

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is not on the menu when it comes to the crackdown on junk fees. arabile gumede has the details for us. good morning. >> good morning, richard. look, those surcharges have been very interesting to look at here because of course the ftc is trying to crack down on these because ever since the pandemic you've seen a lot of costs rise out with regards to when you go to a restaurant, whether by way of inflation or surcharges that have been charged by some of the retailers. the ftc saying they would like to do away with a lot of those. the restaurants say in order to stay alive, one, during the pandemic and now they needed those surcharges to be in place. restaurants fighting back. some of these restaurants including the likes of mcdonald's and starbucks have struggled with regards to their profits now for the first time with the revenue draw down coming in substantially for those businesses. that will be one to really look at and how the ftc manages to clamp down on this quite a lot.

on the other story you made note of. sports gambling taking a toll particularly on american consumers here, really just what we've noted is that a lot of states have been able to see a lot of bankruptcies increase then because of gambling as well and residents' aggregate credit scores on the decline because of the amount that people are actually spending while betting. so that increase in sports betting has certainly had detrimental influence when it comes to how consumers spend their money. richard. >> arabile, thank you. go and have a good week. nasa will bring on spacex to bring home two astronauts who have been stuck on the international space station since june after their boeing spacecraft ran into problems with its thrusters. as marissa par reports it's one of two big missions ahead for spacex. >> reporter: spacex counting down for two critical missions, the company tapped to bring

astronauts back to earth in february. the duo has made the international space station home nearly three months after launching on boeing's starliner. that spaceship set to return home without them because of thruster issues that left the two stranded. boeing saying in part we continue to focus on the safety of the crew and spacecraft. and in just days -- >> it's been a really exciting journey. >> reporter: dr the polaris dawn mission will include the first all civilian space walk and a walking orbit 870 miles above earth. together scott, sara and two others will do star links come tests. two astronauts will step out of the dragon capsule and test human bounds in space. >> above us we will go out into the vacuum of space. >> reporter: the risks in space are what eileen collins knows

all too well. >> i think it's going to be fine but i also think that it's risky. >> reporter: but for the crew leader the risk is worth the reward. >> we're trying to inspire people to think about this extraordinary world we could live in tomorrow. >> reporter: one step and 870 miles closer to expanding home beyond earth. marissa parra, nbc news. still to come, the judge executes another historic home run season. and the pros of tomorrow deliver a finish for the ages at the little league world series. more on e lkfficry thwa o vto. why use 10 buckets of water when you can use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight heartburn, why take 10 antacids throughout the day when you can take 1 prilosec. for easier heartburn relief, one beats ten. prilosec otc. one pill. 24 hours. zero heartburn. when your clothes come out looking newer, longer... you get to take them for a spin. again... ...and again... ...and again. persil cleans and helps keep clothes looking newer, longer. get that new clothes feeling.

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it was a bunt alexander with the runner at second base, norton. he gets it down. oh, it's perfect. he threw it away! lake mary is going to win the little league world series championship! that was a big league bunt that certainly took the cake at the little league world series championship, sunday's final

between lake mary, florida, and chinese taipei had to go to extra innings after florida did just enough to tie up the one-run contest that led to that eighth inning bunt for hunter alexander, which sent norton home for the winning run. it's the first little league world series title for the sunshine state and boy do they deserve t that was a masterful bunt, and i don't play baseball but that looked great. >> how fun is it to watch them celebrate. that's a core memory that was made right there. that is amazing. now turning to the big leagues and another milestone for one of the game's best. aaron judge became the first player this season -- >> high fly ball, deep left sent te -- center, doyle back. 50 home runs! >> aaron judge became the first player this season to reach 50 home runs in the yankees 10-1 win over the rockies sunday. judge who followed up with his

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famously called his shot just sold for $24.1 million, making it the most expensive sports collectible of all time. the jersey was last sold in 2005 for under $1 million. a recent survey found adults without college degrees are more likely to have no close friends. almost a quarter of adults with only a high school diploma say they have no close friends while only 10% of college grads say the same. justin bieber and his wife haley welcomed their baby boy. justin shared the news on instagram saying welcome some jack blues bieber. we wl rhtac ilbeig bk. [♪♪] did you know, how you feel can be affected by the bacteria in your gut? try new align yogurt coated probiotic fruit bites. with a delicious apple and blueberry-flavored fruit center and yogurt coating, each bite is infused with added probiotics, to help promote a healthy digestive system every day. plus, they're packaged in individually-wrapped pouches, for daily digestive support on the go. look for new align yogurt coated probiotic fruit bites online and in the digestive care aisle of your local retailer.

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getting the surprise of their lifetime. nbc's gadi schwartz has more. >> the strength of this team is every single individual in this room. >> reporter: as college football season kicks off there is greatness on and off the gridiron for walk on players, guys who weren't recruited but tried out for the team. >> great job, ronnie, i'm excited and i'm so excited i'm going to put you on scholarship. >> reporter: university of south carolina dreams coming through for linebacker ronnie porter and bradley dunn. >> that's why he is on scholarship, too. >> hey. hey. another reason frank is going on scholarship today. >> reporter: across the country other walk-on's finding out their hard work has earned them a scholarship, too. >> you are now on --

>> reporter: these celebrations a bright line for guys like john adams a wide receiver at temple, leaning on teammates and his coach after a tough year losing two loved ones. >> the support that i have from this family and from these coaches is unbelievable. i wouldn't change it for the world. >> he by example, by actions, show people how to earn and get what they deserve by just putting their nose down and working their butts off. >> reporter: and at eastern kentucky university. >> miscrystal smith is going to come on in. >> reporter: defensive lineman brad gurley shocked when his mom showed up to announce the surprise. >> i am brandon gurley's mom and i am here to let you know you have a full scholarship, son. >> reporter: there's brad overwhelmed hugging the guys he calls brothers and falling into his arms of his mom crystal, so proud to be a part of her son's special day. >> he is my baby and we have worked so hard and i'm so proud

of him. his hard work is paying off. so it just makes me happy. it's happy tears. >> it is happy. gadi, thanks for do that for us. coming up on "today" for you former nasa astronaut mike masimo is live, he's going to break down the latest on the two astronauts stuck in space. here is look at what else is ahead. this morning on the third hour of "today" how to take care of our hair as we move from summer to fall. plus drugstore beauty buys to add to our routine. and from viral tiktok sensation to music star alexander stewart performs live. all this morning on the third hour of "today." >> looking forward to that. thanks for kicking off your week with "early today" i'm richard lui, have a great monday and a week ahead.

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