deadly tornados wreak havoc across the south. carving out a path of

destruction for millions in its wake. easing tensions between washington and beijing. how the critical overseas trip ended for secretary of state antony blinken. a race against time, inside the desperate search to find the missing crew after a "titanic" expedition went off the radar. the suicide hotline, the growing problem crisis centers are facing. and proof that laughter is the best medicine. how one son isn't holding anything back in a viral tribute to his father. "early today" starts right now. good morning, i'm frances rivera. >> i'm phillip mena. we begin with more severe weather ripping across the southeast. another tornado touched down in mississippi last night. the small town of moss point appears to have take and direct hate.

hit. one person was killed by another tornado in mississippi. our blayne alexander has more on this wave of extreme weather. >> reporter: across the south, it's the unforgiving sound of summertime severe weather, striking in the dead of night. its latest target, mississippi. >> whoa, that was big. >> reporter: a reported tornado tore through this community, an hour outside of jackson where people were rushed from their mangled homes on stretchers. daylight reveals the true scope of the devastation. trees torn to shreds. homes now unrecognizable. all of it leaving more than two dozen people injured and claiming at least one life. 67-year-old georgine hayes. >> a good person. a good church person, you know. >> reporter: her cousin lester lives right across the street. he helped pull her from the rubble. >> her house where the black jeep at. >> reporter: it was right there. >> it was right there. it's gone. nothing there. >> reporter: it's the latest in a deadly storm system sweeping

across the south and central plains, producing 17 tornados in four days. among the towns hit, perryton, texas. killing three people. oscar hernandez lost his four businesses in a matter of minutes. he spoke to nbc's priscilla thompson. >> hard. it's really hard. all the loss. all the people that lost their lives. >> reporter: severe weather continues to sweep the south. a confirmed tornado along the florida panhandle and flash flooding in alabama. an ominous sign of what's to come. >> our thanks to blayne for that report. youtube has remove add video after p presidentntial candididr what itt callss vaccicine mmisinformation. the platfoform said m monday itk down a 90-minute-plus interview bebetween d democratitic presid candidate robert f f. kennedy juninior and j jordadan peterer peterson's channelel.

kennedy, who is challenging joe biden for the democratic nomination has long held an anti-vaccine stance. in a statement, youtube said the video violated their general vaccine misinformation policy, which prohibits content that alleges vaccines cause chronic side effects. kennedy questioned the website's actions in a series of weets, even going as far to tell them election interference. the full interview can still be seen on peterson's twitter page. house republicans are trying to clamp down on the public availability of u.s. mily records. a bill introduced by the hse apprprations committee would prohibit any funds from being used to release personal information about current and former service members. these pentagon record the are typically used by news organizations and employers to verify a person's service history. the new proposal would require the filing of a freedom of information request to obtain the desired information, which could take years to fulfill.

this bill follows a number of incidents in which the pentagon erroneously released the information of former service members. a hundred lawmakers received letters containing suspicious white powder. the kansas bureau of investigation said that preliminary tests indicate that substances presumptively negative for common biological agents of concern. similar letters were addressed to former president trump and supreme court just physical justice clarence thomas. nbc news has not been able to verify these reports. the clock is ticking at the site of the "titanic" disaster. five modern adventurers are missing in the ocean. our boston station has the

latest on the search. >> reporter: the website describes the trip of a lifetime. taking tourists to see the world's most famous shipwreck up close. but now the search is on for the missing submarine that set out to explore the "titanic" and has yet to return. the submersible owned by ocean gate. canadian authorities say the vessel was reported overdue sunday afternoon near newfoundland. and now the u.s. coast guard first district, which covers all of new england, is leading the search and rescue mission. john mager is the real admiral rear admiral >> we have brought all assets to find the submersible. >> reporter: he's been told there are five people on board, including the pilot, and they are using everything they can to find them, knowing there's only a four-day oxygen supply on

board. >> and so that gives us some time to effect a search. but when something happens on the high seas, it gets complicated quickly, because of winds, oceans, drift, all that stuff. >> reporter: ocean gate only releasing this statement, saying, quote, our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families. we deeply thankful for the extensive assistance that we've received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible. >> our thanks for that update. secretary of state antony blinken yesterday met with chinese president xi jinping in beijing. no talks had initially been scheduled but the meeting came together hours before blinken left china. josh, good morning. what came out of blinken/xi

meeting? >> reporter: good morning, frances. the immediate effect seems to have been to stop the downward spiral in relations between the u.s. and china that we've been seeing for many months. in a way, just the pact that fact that blinken got that meeting with xi was a victory in itself. he had an opportunity to discuss the full range of issues between the u.s. and china, including fentanyl coming to the united states, trade tensions and of course the issue over taiwan. what he did not get was a commitment that he had been seeking to reopen military-to-military communications between the u.s. and china that the u.s. says is necessary to prevent any kind of a potential catastrophe or misunderstanding in the future. but he did get an agreement to reopen some diplomatic channels. he invited his chinese counterpart to come visit in the united states. his chinese counterpart

apparently agreed to that meeting in the coming weeks, frances. >> blinken is now in london where you are. what's on the agenda there? >> reporter: well, the big focus of this stop will really be on the war in ukraine, with secretary blinken set to attend a major donor conference of the nations supporting ukraine diplomatly and economically. but while's here in the united kingdom, he'll be able to meet with his counterpart and with king charles. >> josh, thank you. in new zealand, four people are injured after a series of ax attacks on diners at chinese restaurants in auckland. local media report that the rampage began monday around 9:00 p.m. local time. a total of three restaurants were targeted with the assailant

apparently attacking people at random. the person was arrested and had appear in court today. of the four people who were injured, one has already been released from the hospital. the other three are in stable condition, authorities say. lawmakers in the uk have overwhelmingly endorse add report that found that boris johnson lied to parliament about his role in the so-called party gate scandal. 354 mps voted in favor and only seven voted against. british police found that johnson and his staff illegally flouted their own strict covid lockdown restrictions in a series of boozy parties in 2020 and 2021, including several at the residence at 10 doung downing street. he now loses access to parliament. tropical storm brett is brewing. >> the third-named system of

the year has officially formed. those winds coming up to 40 miles per hour. just barely at tropical storm strength. we expecting intensification here as the system eyes parts of the caribbean. specifically, the lesser antilles. notice how we see it intensify wednesday, becoming hurricane status. as we move eventually to the weekend, as it moves through the caribbean sea, that's where we see it potentially acting with wind shear and we see potentially weakening. either way, there's still a lot of uncertainty with the forecast. meanwhile, in parts of the south we once again have the potential for strong storms. 5 million at risk, including parts of louisiana, new orleans included in that, and not to mention we've got heavy rain focussed into parts of really the

the 90s in new orleans and mobile. and ha a look at your forecast, guys. back over to you. >> thank you, angie. up next, hate crime investigation, another act of vandalism against a pride monument in new york. and a tap on the tarmac. the plane collilision cauaught cacamera.. back in 6060 seconds.s. i don't. new cascade platinum plus... withth double ththe dawn greae fighting power and double the scrubbing power. for a no rewash clean... and a cabinet ready shine. upgrgrade to new cascade platinum plus. dare to dish differently. hey hon.n. hey dad.d...(sniffs)s) that smemell could b be 8,000,0 ododor causingng bacteria.a. gogood thing a adding lysol lalaundry saninitizer kills 99.9.9% of bacteteria thatat detergentnts leave bebe. clclean is gooood, sasanitized isis better.

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and everyone was rebooked. the delta flight was delayed for five hours. growing concerns for the 988 hotline. it connects people with over 200 crisis centers nationwide. the crisis centers are struggling to keep up with calls. while calls have gone up, staffing hasn't. the new hotline launched last year replacing a ten-digit numberer. a number of pride flags were vandalized again in new york. 33 pride flags were broken and tossed to the ground. the third time in eight days that this landmark is targeted. in all nearly 70 flags have been destroyed. police have not made any arrests and the hate crimes task force is investigating whether the incidents are connected. still to com emotional scenes from across the nationn s americanss commememorate thehe f

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across the country, americans marked the now-federal holiday of juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery in the u.s. the day was filled with marches, performances and calls to action. here's aaron gilchrest with a look at the coast-to-coast celebrations. >> reporter: america marking 158 years since the end of slavery. >> black history is american history. >> reporter: events around the country celebrating june 19th, 1865, the day troops to arrive to ensure enslaved africans in galveston, texas were freed, two and a half years after the emancipation problemla make declared freedom. >> it means victory, black pride, celebration, happiness, love, joy, for our black community. >> reporter: that joy echoing across the nation.

♪ ♪ >> reporter: starting in galveston, the birthplace of the holiday. >> general order number three. >> reporter: spirits high at a milwaukee, wisconsin parade. ohioans sounding off in cincinnati. crowds gathering in both new york city and los angeles. and back in texas, the annual opal lee walk for freedom drawing supporters in ft. worth. >> make yourself a committee of one. >> reporter: opal lee, the woman known as the grandmother of juneteenth leading the march at 96 years old despite sweltering temperatures. it was her walk in 2016 when she was 89 that helped convince lawmakers to recognize june teenth as a federal holiday. texas was the first state to make juneteenth an official holiday in 1980, but it wouldn't become federal until 2021 when president biden signed the law

marking juneteenth national independence day. this year, 28 states and the district of columbia legally recognized juneteenth as a holiday. connecticut celebrating it as a legal state holiday for the first time. and kentucky's governor declaring june 19, 2023, to be juneteenth national freedom day in his state. >> i will also continue to push for this day to be recognized at an official state holiday. >> reporter: celebrating the progress made and the work that still needs to be done. >> this is an ode to our ancestors and systemic racism is still real. black love and joy is real. wean have to ban together between government, community organizations, community-based organizations to do the work to radically change what we know freedom to look like. >> our thanks to aaron for that report. it was interesting, president biden called it national independence day.

it really was. and there are a million more slaves that were freed during the emancipation proclamation than there were people living in the colonies when we declared independence from england. >> how much more we're going to learn in the years to come and how much bigger the celebrations will become. we started schooling ourselves on juneteenth. and now kids will know all about it growing up in school. and these celebrations will be seen more and more. when we come back, angie are have more on your tuesday forecast. > and we havave an adodorab startt to yoyour tuesday. youu i wouldnn't want t to misss talenteded bababy seal. ...hello s summer! oh yeah, it's balall park seaeason. fefebreze! your batathroom... neededs febreze e small spacac. the e always-on,n, odor-fighgg aiair freshenener you set and forget. no oututlets used,d, no batters neneeded, no e effort reququi.

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warming hearts across the internet. our lexington affiliate shares more. >> i think i did okay. >> reporter: oftentimes laughter can be the very best medicine. >> i guess you can say this obituary helped out in the healing process, too. >> reporter: he had never written an obituary and was forced to do so when his dad died in pulaski county. >> he would have liked for people to talk about the fun stuff. so i talked about some interesting aspects of his life. >> reporter: so interesting, in fact, it's making the rounds all over the internet. >> more views today than in the history of ever. >> reporter: so, says the pulaski funeral home director. his life was a passion for beer, fried foods. he mused about it all. >> all those women's names, those are real women, really happened.

there are many more. et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. >> reporter: this is dad and mom from several years ago. they divorced when rocky was 2 but clearly remained friendly. >> took pictures together. got drunk together, that's why they're hugging all over. >> reporter: he's his second favorite son. sometimes we couch sadness in silliness. >> i always felt like i was the second favorite. even though i wasn't. he loved us both in different ways. >> reporter: the titan of the trailer park. he did truly try to break out of an emergency room while awaiting care once. rocky said everything he wrote in that obituary was true and there was so much more he could have added. but as we spoke to him, there was one element in that obit that wasn't true at all. >> i miss him a lot. >> reporter: spoken like he may have just been the first favorite son. >> fantastic.

our thanks to michael burke for sharing that story. that's what humanizes everybody. you read obituaries, and they're kind of the same. >> their dad is smiling, laughing, even, from up above. well done. before we go, we have video to share but to brighten your tuesday. this is a baby seal catching waves and hearts near san diego. the experience was caught on drone footage. you can see the pup popping out of the water and hopping from board to board. the baby seal made friends with the pacific group riding the surf. >> that's fantastic. >> than

♪ ♪ breaking now at 5:00, up in flames. a warehouse fire breaks out in the east bay overnight. ahead, the damage done and the investigation underway.

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