. new travel restrictions and government vaccination mandates for private businesses the delta variant continues to be the overwhelming cause for concern as the omicron variant gains steam. actor jesse smollett is a witness in his own trial and tells the jury, there is no hoax russia is amassing 100,000 strong along the ukraine border. today biden and putin go

face-to-face. a mysterious untimely death of the 2021 kentucky derby winner what happened? are we at the beginning of a possible santa claus rally for stock? "early today" starts right now good morning, i'm frances rivera >> i'm phillip mena. cases are climbing in at least 22 states. efforts are ramping up to slow the spread, including a sweeping new vaccine mandate for new york city and international travel restr restrictions now in effect here's nbc news' chris pollone. >> reporter: with cases of the new omicron variant growing in the u.s. and around the world, new rules are in effect for people coming to the u.s. from overseas travelers need a negative covid test within 24 hours of departure. pcr tests are send not all self tests are eligible a. teledoctor must witness the

test. >> safe check everything, yes. they're very strict. >> reporter: in an attempt to head off a winter surge, new york is now the first city in the nation to impose a vaccine mandate december 27th. >> a lot of people said they believe in vaccination they're not quite sure how they can do it, themselves. now we'll do it. >> reporter: children under five need shots to entertain in the city. >> it's clear where you have high pockets of individuals, including people up to date on boosters, you see lower cases. >> reporter: omicron has been found in 17 states early data suggests it spreads quicker. most cases appear less severe. omicron, it's delta that is killing americans. >> we have 90 to 100,000 cases

today right now in the united states 99.9% are the delta variant. >> reporter: health experts say knows dying from covid are the unvaccinated >> we are hours away from a critical meeting between president biden and russian president vladimir putin the high stakes calls comes amid growing concern russia could be thinking of imposing ukraine richard engle is in ukraine with more. >> reporter: new satellite images show russian forces at the ready near the ukrainian border u.s. intelligence warn russia's vladimir putin may be planning an attack on the u.s. ally officials estimate there are already 70-to-100,000 russian troops near the border an unclassified u.s. intelligence predicts another 100,000 could be called in for

an early invasion next year. president biden snast signalled the u.s. will oppose him. >> i am in constant contact with our allies in europe with the ukrainians. >> reporter: analysts expect the u.s. could likely confront russia with sanctions. though in the past, sanctions have done little to change putin's actions. fears of war are growing in ukraine. back in april during another russian troop buildup, we were with ukrainian troops who were carefully monitoring russians on the other side what are you looking at through this periscope >> its enemy. >> reporter: putin may be bluffing he does not want ukraine to join na that and nato to put advanced weapon systems into the country. perhaps it's saber rattling, either way it's drawn.

russia has been second troops to the border and pulling them back to keep the world guessing what it will do >> our thanks to richard engel for that report. now to a critical day of testimony in the jesse smollett trial. tell former "empire" star taking the stand for what they say he staged. >> reporter: this morning, jesse smollett continues testimony under the cross-examinations when prosecutors try to convince the jury, the actor was not the victim of a hate crime at all. nearly three years after jesse smollett reported he was a victim of a racist and homophobic attack. he is charged with six counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly faking the attack and lying to police about it smollett telling the injury, there was no hoax. he was seen told investigators

the noose attackers put over his neck after yelling slurs, throwing police chief on him and saying this is maga country. prosecution star witnesses, two brothers, aspiring actors, associates of smollett, who say he paid them $3500 to stage the attack one testified smollett said he wanted me to beat him up on the stand, spomollett sayingh paid for an exercise plan. police used four different cameras to show the two brother allegedly using $200 he gave them to buy supplies for the attack smollett insisting he is innocent the jury could get this case sometime later today or perhaps tomorrow if convicted, smollett faces up to three years in prison philip >> all right ron, thank you the biden administration

taking a stand ahead of the winter games the white house announcing a diplomatic boycott of the beijing olympics for the latest, we turn to abc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: when the olympic flame is lit in beijing, american athletes will be there. neither biden or u.s. officials will be attending. they announce a boycott to protest china's human rights abuses, including depressing the democracy movement in hong kong, what the u.s. calls gen side and feng shuai accused a top beijing official of sexual assault jimmy carter stayed home some members of both parties want a complete boycott including the athletes >> i don't feel that the burden of our international policies

should fall on the shoulders of these young people so let's make our statement loud and clear through not accepting diplomats to beijing. >> reporter: still beijing's response immediate and furious, a spokesman saying, if the u.s. is ensis tent on going down the wrong path, china will take necessary countermeasures. despite talk of a new cold war between the u.s. and china washington needs china to pressure japan to work on trade and climate change the white house is under pressure from both parties to get tougher with beijing. frances. >> okay. andrea, thank you. across the country, ski resorts are delaying their openings because warm temperatures are keeping the slopes nearly snowless erin mclaughlin has more. >> reporter: on slopes across the west, it's a winter no show. with little snow on the ground, ski resorts that usually open in

time for the thanksgiving holiday are still closed over the weekend, just over a third of the area ski grounds were partially resorts, three have been able to operate and it comes after october's early winter wallop. snow season high, now dry. >> it's been really warm since then we haven't seen the natural snow. >> reporter: it's the same story in colorado, denver has now gone 228 consecutive days without any measurable snowfall. that's the longest snow has stretched since 1887 california ski regions are the site of a so-called weather inversion. the phenomenon causes warmer air, which typically sits at lower elevations to rise, making temperatures in the mountains warmer it's kept it above freezing, meaning even man-made snow doesn't stick.

>> i can't remember in the 16 years i have been forecasting here when we've had no snow on the ground and no snow on the trails either from man-made snow. >> reporter: while the dry weather is slumping the early ski season, it's also raising red flags about a worsening climate crisis, like in the mountains of hawaii, bracing for a blizzard, pictures from nasa lights show a rapidly melting sierra nevada snow pack the drying reservoirs are amelie replenished by a slower snow melt they predict mountainous states throughout the west could go nearly snowless for years at a time. >> i think the tourist industry should absolutely be concerned these factors are with us already. we need to learn how to deal with them. in hawaii, residents are urged to prepare for extreme weather. the good evening declared a

state of emergency until december 10th after a storm swarmed the island sunday morning. the national weather service issued flash flood warnings that heavy catastrophic flooding. they are preparing for a potential landslide and road closures and home damage nbc meteorologist janessa webb has been tracking that threatening weather around hawaii good morning >> good morning. this is only the beginning we have been dealing with this the last 48 hours with blizzard warnings in place and then it transitioned over to predominantly rain now we still have a long night across hawaii. we will get an additional five-to-eight inches in that area so we're nearing 2 feet of rain in some of the southern slope areas. that will continue you see this is a flat out stalled out front sitting across

the area and its tropical moisture flash flood warnings are currently in place, additional three-to-five inches i will fought rule out the possibility across the big island an additional eight inches in some isolated spots. so we're going to be talking about this storm system the next couple days. we are watching another weather maker, predominantly dry it starts to make its way into the carolina into ths,bay, blus with, slightly warmer for the deep south houston today 64 man temperatures are just up and down, pretty much on my nerves we'll take a look at that forecast >> i like the way you put that a key white house operative

failed to operate with the january 6th investigation. what caused the kentucky winner derby winner to die during a workout in santa anita. thanks. if it's “out decorating the neighbors” season, it's walgreens season. ♪ ♪ what a pain in the- alice? if it's “lets wrap this up?” season, it's walgreens season. these are the faces of listerine. the face of millions of germs zapped in seconds. the face of clean. the face of whoa! some are of intensity, others joy. all are of... various: ahhh... listerine. feel the whoa! nyquil severe gives you powerful relief for your worst cold and flu symptoms, all are of... various: ahhh... on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling,

sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. leading the news, mark short, the former chief of staff for mike pence is cooperating with the house committee investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol. according to sources familiar, short has been suspended subpoena'd other allies are expected to participate including mark meadows and a long hef time trump adviser jason miller has been suspended to appear friday. leading congress to head up trump's new social media company devin nunes. nunes is originally a dairy

farmer and has no apparent experience working as an executive. the congressman said he is humbled and honored to lead the mission. the death of this year's kentucky derby winner, medinah spirit collapsed and died following a workout at santa anita park the horse suffered a probable cardiac event. he made headlines after testing positive for a steroid back in may. the california horse racing board will conduct a necropsy to figure out the death. the patriots battled for control of the afc east. the quarterback threw the ball three times for the night. the run game turned up the heat on buffalo a 64 pass run in the first they responded in the air,

making it an 8-7 game. one last chance, down by 4, josh allen's pass gets swatted down the top team win it 14-10. still to come, whiplash on wall street. stocks surged back to life as investors shake off concerns about omicron. and have no schmear. cnbc's steve sedgwick ll twiell us about the supply chain hitting bagel lovers everywhere. and dealing with a bulky vacuum.. . is such a hassle. uchhh!!! so now we use our swiffer sweeper and dusters. the fluffy fibers? they pick up dust easily. grabbing it in all those hard-to-reach places. gotcha!!! and for our floors, sweeper's textured cloths lock all kinds of dirt, dust and pet hair. unlike my vacuum, it sneaks under and around places. look at that!! dust free and hassle free. stop cleaning and start swiffering. ♪yeah, yeah, yeah♪ real fruit... and whole grains. ♪yeah, yeah, yeah♪ doing something good for yourself

has never been this easy. just do what's delicious. kellogg's special k. got lingering odors? grab febreze small spaces. just do what's delicious. press firmly to activate... and small spaces continuously eliminates and prevents odors... ...to freshen up any small room... ...for up to 45 days. febreze. ♪la la la♪ motrin works fast to stop pain where it starts. like those nagging headaches. uncomfortable period pains. and disruptive muscle aches. you can count on fast, effective relief with motrin. don't settle for products that give you a sort-of white smile. try crest whitening emulsions... ...for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets... ...swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. shop crestwhitesmile.com. when they're sick, they get comfortable anywhere and spread germs everywhere. wherever they rest protection nothing kills more viruses,

including the covid-19 virus, on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray. lysol. what it takes to protect. introducing the all-new gillettelabs with exfoliating bar. it combines shaving and gentle exfoliation into one efficient stroke, for a shave as quick and easy as washing your face.

it's a rebound on wall street as investors shaky off concerns about the new omicron variant. the dow surged nearly 650 points yesterday while the nasdaq climbed about 140 points the s&p also closed in the green. futures are pointing towards another rally at the open. >> can that rally turn into a big finish for 2021?

plus the supply chain train has it spread too thin steve sedgwick joins with us more on that hi, steve. good morning >> reporter: a very good morning. we'll come to the key story. i'm very worried u.s. markets are surging no doubt about it. yesterday it was on the biggest rise of the year 647 points and you said the futures are looking good the dow futures caught up 300 points, very encouraging comments from dr. anthony fauci about the omicron fought being quite as severe as many feared but these markets as you know, we got some really big inflation data on friday cpi. that might ultimately be a big market but a big rally, a santa rally on hand at the moment. we can take shortages on semi conductors when it comes to our green tea, we're now getting worried. for three weeks, apparently the

bagel shops of new york city especially have been running low on stock the shops are blaming supplies supplies are blaming the manufacturers. the manufacturers are saying because of greater demand at home and problem getting ahold of truckers. we want cream cheese at lot of shortages we can take. if we can't get our salmon and green cheese bag else, they're worried. this one got me worried. >> i hear you. that means the schmear has to be extra schmeary authorities are dealing with chicken tender issues, steve all right. thank you. >> still ahead some santas hit the slopes for charity. >>o, h ho, hold up why this picture of santa is sparking outrage on twitter. sparking outrage on twitter. >>

the ref going to the rule book here. what, wait a minute! harris is off to the races! we don't need any more trick plays. touchdown!! but we could all use more ways to save. are you kidding me?? it's going to be a long bus ride home for the defense. switch to geico for more ways to save. new vicks vapostick. strong soothing vapors... help comfort your loved ones. it's going to be a long bus ride home for the defense. for chest, neck, and back. it goes on clear. no mess just soothing comfort. try new vicks vapostick. air wick air wick scented oils are infused with natural essential oils to create authentic seasonal scents that fill your home with holiday spirit all season long. connect to nature this season.

i've been telling everyone... the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. crest advanced gum restore. detoxifies below the gumline... and restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days. crest. the #1 toothpaste bnd in america. lisa here, has had many jobs. and all that experience has led her to a job that feels like home. with home instead, you too can become a caregiver to older adults. apply today. cheez-it snap'd! they're on a mission to save every sandwich from a boring bag of chips. noooo! sandwiches meet your cheesy, thin, crispy cheez-it snap'd savior. so chey! so cheesy. cheez-it snap'd. level up your lunch. goodbye chippies for the power of a deep clean in minutes try mr. clean clean freak unlike bleach sprays, clean freak begins deep cleaning on contact with 3x the cleaning power to break down tough messes in seconds so, it's perfect for stovetops, tough bathroom soap scum, and even stainless steel. mr. clean clean freak

ready to shine from the inside out? try nature's bounty hair, skin and nails gummies. the number one brand to support beautiful hair, glowing skin, and healthy nails. try jelly bean vitamins with two times the biotin. wet dishes? try jelly bean vitamins residue? spots? it's not your dishwasher's fault. simply add finish jetdry 3in1 to rinse, dry and shine your dishes. solve 3 problems at once wit finish jetdry 3in1. introducing the all-new gillettelabs with exfoliating bar. it combines shaving and gentle exfoliation into one efficient stroke, for a shave as quick and easy as washing your face. . it's going to be another cold one across the east coast but you have to join me tomorrow rmp wgoa gelking about hu

wa-uase into the weekend. enjoy your day we'll be right back. what the- henry? thanks. if it's “out decorating the neighbors” season, it's walgreens season. ♪ ♪ what a pain in the- alice? if it's “lets wrap this up?” season, it's walgreens season. psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff,... ...swollen, painful. if it's “lets wrap this up?” season, emerge tremfyant®. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about

tremfya® today. today marks 80 years since the attack on pearl harbor on this day if 1941, hundreds of japanese bombers sieged the naval ship yard in hawaii. the surprise strike sunk or damaged 21 ships, which lost 1,100 crewmen. more than 2400 americans were killed over 1,000 more injured. the u.s. declared war on japan one day later leading to our full engagement in our second

world war. in today os top stories, bob deal will lie in state at the u.s. capitol rotunda thursday. the u.s. nominee spent a lot of time in that i would being during his career. deal represented kansas, serving in both chambers of congress he was a republican leader in the senate for 11 years. deal was known as a world war hero and fierce advocate for veterans only 34 other marines have been chosen to lie in state they are suing texas over the redistricting map. the federal lawsuit says it discriminates against minority voters, particularly latinos the suit alleges that the republican-led state violated part of the voting rights act with a new jerry mappederred boundary, forming bizarrely shaped districts, one described as sea horse states to preserve seats for white republicans. the state attorney general called the lawsuit absurd. the lynching of emmett till has been closed once again he was

14-years-old in 1955 he was murdered in mississippi after witnesses say he whistled at a white woman the probe was reopened in 2017 after a book claimed she recant her story. version closed it after they couldn't prove she lied. tim's family members said they were disappointed by the results but not surprised. santa claus is coming to town, packing heat in colorado this man dressed up as kris kringle with a caption guess who came in to receive his concealed handgun permit today that got a backlash on twitter the sheriff's office in colorado issued an apology for the insensitive message. how about some jollier old st. knicks in maine. they traded a slay for a pair of skis over 230 santas took to the slopes they stuffed a $20 donation into the stocking before dashing

through the snow the annual event raised several thousand dollars for a local charity in maine >> there is no snow out west >> there is no snow out west at least they can do healthier is seeing a healthcae pro whenever you may need one. doctor: the fever should break... or...trying to. ♪♪ ♪ this is what healthier looks like ♪

right now at 4:30 a surge of retail thefts across the bay area forcing action. new omicron cases every day. this is "today in the bay." good tuesday morning to you. i am kris sanchez. >> i am scott mcgrew. laura and marcusav