♪ kicking off your february with a snow emergency. this may be the biggest nor'easter of the year with blinding snow and high winds ahead. transportation halted along with vaccine distribution, folle u.sf the population has been vaccinated for covid but in israel, 50% of everyone over the age 16 has had the shot so how did they do it so quickly? today, president biden will meet out the white house with ten gop senators to try to

hammer out a bipartisan stimulus plan plus, president trump hires a new team to represent him at impeachment. and myanmar's leader in a coup and what happens next to gamestop and is silver is the next stop for regulators "early today" starts good morning, i'm phillip mena >> glad you're with us, i'm frances rivera a lot of morning commutes won't be happening today, about 100 million americans, 1 in 3 people are expected to be impacted by the major nor'easter at least states have issued snow for heavy snow these snow days have been welcomed at the pod at the zoo in d.c. the giant pandas are having a blast sliding down hills. the concern is for the northeast. new york city could see 18s the

continues until at least tuesday. let's get to times square where nbc's meteorologist jana uary janessa webb is standing by. good morning >> reporter: good morning, frances and philip things transitioned after midnight we did see snowfall rate 1 to 2 inches per hour things are kind of dying down right now. we have the snow that's on the ground, but we talked to officials treating the roadways they have plowed here in times square over three times so the roadways are still very dicey in the area also getting reports out of new jersey, 5 to 6 inches and this is really just the beginning of the storm system the nor'easter really does develop into about 7:00 to 8:00 a.m., we'll watch the coastal flooding and the big time accumulation that's going to

start to happen. you can see roadways people are starting to take heed of that warning where the governor is asking everyone to stay offoa starting atl with a e definitely a dangerous travel. let's take a look at exactly what's going on for your forecast for today across the area, from our satellite depcomposite radar, te storm system is making its way across the northeast pretty quickly. and our winter weather alerts, they have died down now to 70 million people that's still a good chunk of people across the northeast and some sections of the mid-atlantic you know, something that could possibly change around that noon hour is a blizzard warning for new york city where we could see gusts for 35 miles per hour, for a prolonged period of time along

with heavy snowfall rates. so, just in the last 24 hours, our forecast has really started to come together and now we're saying there's that potential of 17 inches of snow, some isolated spots could see up to 20 inches of snowfall. on top of the snow you that can see that we're dealing with, already in times square, you can imagine, another foot on top of that this is going to be definitely dangerous driving conditions across the area. and it's really going to expand even for the boston area for more than 36 hours it could be up to wednesday afternoon. in that area even though they're going to see lighter accumulation a factor i have not touched on that is going to be very vital i want you to make sure you have your cell phones and any devices that you need charged, starting now. because these winds, we're going to the possibility of losing power where we could see gusts up to 50 miles per hour.

so, dangerous conditions, they are going to continue to evolve with the storm system. this is just the pregame the show starts in a couple of hours, guys. >> wow, what a warmup act that is, janessa, thank you the fight for coronavirus relief takes center stage in washington this week sense of urgency only growing as the death toll crosses 442,000 in the u.s more than 26 million people have been infected since the start of the pandemic and we have now lost a pioneer in this pandemic new jersey governor phil murphy announced that rutgers research doctor dr. andrew brooks has died at the age of 61 from a heart attack he developed a saliva test back in d.c., president biden will welcome ten republicans to the white house to talk about bairn deal our correspondent, tracie potts, joining us with the latest tracie, what do we know about

this republican proposal >> yeah. it's a different plan than the $1.9 trillion that president biden proposed and republicans are pushing him saying if he wants to make good on that inaugurati pf unity, he'll listen. the white house says he' ears the republican plan, though, is quite different, because it's less expensive they'd spend about a third of what the president is proposing. the same amount for vaccine distribution, but a lot less, nearly 90% less, to reopen schools. and another big difference those stimulus checks, they'll be a little smaller, about $1,000, more targeted towards families with lower incomes that would phase out for higher income families. that meeting happening between ten republicans and the president this afternoon the white house says he is ready to listen. >> the president has said repeatedly, he is open to ideas, wherever they may come that we could improve upon the approach

to actually tackling this crisis what he's uncompromising with is the need to move with speed on a comprehensive approach here. >> and just one week before the senate impeachment trial begins, that's why they're trying to squeeze in this vote if possible, this week, that trial set to begin in a week former president trump has changed his legal team two lawyers dropped out this weekend. they have been replaced by two others our reporting is that the attorneys who left objected to former president trump wanting to use voter fraud as a defense >> well, we're going to hear a lot more about it ramping up to next week when that impeachment trial begins tracie potts, thank you. israel vaccination efforts seem to be moving at warp speed. the country says 50% of people over age 16 has at least gotten their first shot compared to the united states only vaccinated 7% against the

coronavirus. here's nbc's bill neely. >> reporter: nowhere on earth has seen anything like it. israel has now vaccinated a third of its population against covid. half of everyone over 16 and it has its eyes on a bigger prize. >> although we're able to vaccinate whole population within a few weeks >> reporter: it started just six weeks ago at 400 centers >> i want to be free >> reporter: with military help, most over 60 have had both doses of the pfizer vaccine. >> we're a smallnte. we bought it early >> reporter: 16 to 18 year olds of now getting it. the result, nearly 5 million vaccines have been given, the number in michigan, the state with a similar population, just under 1 million. and early results in israel are promising. >> 1 in 10,000 people who got the racks seen got infected with

covid. none have been hospitalized. we're hoping by the middle of march, it's able to return to normal life. >> reporter: but vaccines aren't the only weapon. israel's third lockdown is one of the world's strictest it's been hit hard by the rampant variants of covid. >> we're in a race, if it's not a race, it's a race against vaccination and mutation >> reporter: israel's advice to the u.s. >> it's a race and be quick try to vaccinate as many people as you can as soon as you can >> reporter: israel death and infection rates are now dropping slowly but not everyone riot police battled ultra their infection rates high it's a campaign the world is watching with hope. israel is a huge test case for the whole world.

and it's agreed to give pfizer all its results. the big question, for all of us, is exactly how long it's expected herd immunity will last back to you, guys. >> bill, thank you well, let's turn now to a tense situation in southeast asia the military of myanmar has seized control of that country the army has declared a state of emergency it says will last for one year the leader of the civilian government aung san suu kyi and other officials have been taken into custody the army claimed it was fraud in the recentt s not provided proof the white house has threatened to take action of any steps to alter the outcome of myanmar's election are not reversed. the showdown in the nation's third largest school district after the district failed to reach a deal with the teachers eun. mayor lori lightfoot threatening

action >> those who do not report to work, and i hate to even go there, but we're going to have to take action let's avoid that >> an estimated 62,000 students and 10,000 teachers were set to begin classes today. chicago public schools said teachers will be locked out of their teaching platforms if they fail to show up and a move that would lead to a strike a snowball fight in the mid-atlantic hundreds of virginia tech students held a massive snowball fight on the university drill field. it's a campus tradition there. meanwhile, the washington, d.c. snowball fight association sponsored another fun battle on the national mall. more than 100 people joined in on that fight. washington, d.c. has not seen a major snowfall in two years. i don't know what's more surprising that it hasn't seen a major snowball in two years. or there's a washington, d.c. snowball fight association >> right all of those associations are going to be busy with the snow

coming down. let's go back to times square with nbc meteorologist janessa webb and check in with her janessa, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, the element i haven't talked about this morning is temperatures it's going to start to drop. you'll start to seate the puddl that we're seeing of wetter snow you're going to have a black ice situation that we're watching out for. the winds have stirred up very cold conditions, but this will be a completely can different a foot northeast it's the perfect recipe for all of the snow that we're going to see, if you need sunshine and milder air, 50s for the upper

midwest. frances and philip, be better than me, get a real coat it is time >> you would think a meteorologist would have a really good coat out there but, hey, we'll just say you were so busy covering the storm. >> all right she freezes so the rest of us won't. this morning, two nasa astronauts will be venturing outside of the international space station. they're performing the second space walk in less than a week this time to install a battery backup plate and to remrplace components it's expected to last 6 1/2 hours. still to come, the new target for the arm chair investor as you took over wall street ovegastr me shares. street ovegastr me shares. and "saturda entresto helped people stay alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby.

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greensboro sit-in when they chose to sit at the white counter in woolrich the bold move sparked more sit-ins, by 1960 more sit-ins happened stocks are coming off the most turbulent in weeks after riding the gamestop roller coaster as reddit exchanges changed directions weeks ahead geoff cutmore. good morning >> well, you're absolutely right. it was a terrible week last week, the worst since october. but the futures at the moment are suggesting a very positive start to the trade the question about the reddit speculators is fascinating because they seem to have moved on from gamestop and they are now very focused on silver so, we've seen silver stock prices up around 10%

and some of the minors like fresnelo are up as much as 15% in trade here in europe. probably worth saying to you there are those skeptical. tobias levkovich from citi said he thinks this is signs of a bubble all i know, if you've got any silver dollars or quarters or dimes, now might be your time, if his reddit community continues to drive the price of silver higher. back to you. >> i'll be digging behind those so much fall cushions. all right. thank you, geoff, for the update >> anything but the dollar, right. those choins still to come, janessa is live itis n mesquare plus, the brutal crackdown in russia with thousands of putin anti-protesters arrested the only one of its kind

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in today's top stories, tens of thousands of protesters swarmed the street of russia demanding putin's critic alexei navalny are released in some instants, the crowd fighting back, over 5,000 people were arrested. our matt bradley joins us now from london. matt, th chanting things like putin resign so how is the kremlin handling it >> reporter: yeah, you can see they're handling it with brute force so far and so far, this really hasn't gone down well with a lot of the

protesting public, obviously you know, this is a big -- this is a very significant moment politically about 20 years that putin has run russia with really some sort of autocratic stance this is the biggest challenge, really, to his power, from domestic opposition. alexei navalny who was detained just a couple of weeks ago, he allegedly poisoned with novichok, were the russians which allegedly used to poison other spies. and so he went to germany with the fatal poisoning on an aircraft in russia after he returned to russia, he was arrested and that's what started this latest round of protesters as you mentioned 5,000 protesters were arrested this weekend, including alexei navalny's ife. this really adds up to arguably the biggest crackdown in russia in event memories. while it seems like this sort of

thing happens all the time in major russian cities this really does mark a high water pointsio. >> ws that does not escalate into more violence. thank you for the update >> you're talking about alexei navalny, a guy who had made the decision, he had gone to germany. >> he didn't have to go back >> he did. putting himself out there. now, he has unprecedented support. before we go, we want to revisit the real winners of this snowstorm that many of us are about to feel. that's right, we're talking about the giant pandas at the national zoo the panda cam caught them basically doing their version of sledding both of the bears taking their turns, sliding down the hill on their backs. so if it snows where you are and if it's safe, i hope you're able to get out there and enjoy the snow panda style >> that is living their best life the way they know more power to them when they got it, enjoy it

hopefully, we will too, to arrive in the safest way possible to enjoy it >> right >> thanks for kicking off the work week with "early today. i'm frances rivera >> and i'm phillip mena. please be safe out there coming up on "today," th

i think that that's probably reckless. maybe they shouldn't >> it's too soon, way too soon. there's too many cases. >> the first themed park in the state makes a goal to reopen in may, but will it be possible during the pandemic? the major roller coaster ride the bay area still faces. all of this as new covid-19 variants are being reported across the state, for travellers like sfo and what you can expect this week. plus it's clear across the