good monday morning.

it's continue:in the east, 7:00 a.m. in the west. today americans have been dreading the book end to one of the busiest travel seasons on record that has certainly seen its fair share of headaches for travelers. we're live from atlanta's airport as folks hope to start off the new year the right way. and overseas, russia unleashing a swarm of drone strikes on ukraine, showing no signs of backing down from the strategy of targeting key infrastructure amid the bitter winter cold. we're live in the region with the latest as we approach the one-year mark of russia's invasion. also ahead, the family of the suspect arrested in connection to the killing of those four university of idaho students is addressing that arrest. what the suspect's lawyer and the police chief there are telling nbc news. plus, new chaos on capitol hill with republicans set to take control of the house. how kevin mccarthy's bid for the speaker's gavel just got even

more complicated thanks to his very own party. and an unlikely pair. why president biden and republican senate minority leader mitch mcconnell are appearing together in the senator's home state coming up on wednesday. we do begin this morning with what we call the triple as, calling the busiest holiday travel season since 2000. yes, 23 years ago, back when they first started tracking this type of data. air travel up 14% compared to last season. that according to aaa, as well, and it's punctuated by the unprecedented travel meltdown we saw specifically with southwest airlines over the christmas holiday. so many folks grounded at the height of the holiday travel. nbc's blayne alexander is at hartsfield-jackson, international airport in atlanta. so nearly 113 million americans took to the skies and the roads this holiday. what are you seeing out there this morning? >> reporter: well, you know,

there's certainly a lot of people who are traveling. this is the final bookend of what has been an unprecedentedly busy holiday travel season. they were expecting, of course, more people to travel by roads, that's typically the case. but air travel is up some 14% this holiday season over last year. so for people who are still getting ready to head out, maybe watching this before they head to the airport, expect some traffic and make sure that you give yourself a buffer. especially because of what you were just talking about. that unprecedented travel interruption that came from southwest airlines last week. now here in atlanta we've been kind of watching the line, it's been ebbing and flowing. southwest officials apologized again to passengers over the weekend, essentially thanking them for their ongoing patience, saying they're going to try to make it up in reimbursements. a special portal that southwest started on its website to allow people to submit receipts and get reimbursed for meals, hotel, expenditures while they were

stranded. now only 130 cancelations or so. that's certainly good news. for people who are coming out and traveling, a couple of things that you need to know today. experts say there are tips to make your travel run smoother. one, get to the airport early. that's something that's across the board always get there early, but especially now as more people are going through tsa. give yourself extra time. the other thing is try not to check a bag if you can. if you don't have to check a bag, try ton do so. we saw mountains of unclaimed luggage. don't want to get caught in that. if you have to check something, put a geotag on it to track where your bag is. another tip that experts are saying, if you do check a bag, take a picture of the inside just in case you need it for insurance purposes if that bag is to get lost. >> a lot of great tips there. a lot of people still trying to get home and get back on track after that busy rush. blayne alexander, thank you. all right. now to new york city where three police officers are out of the hospital and recovering after being attacked during new year's

celebrations in times square. police say the alleged suspect, 19-year-old trevor bickford of maine, first approached an officer just after 10:00 p.m. near a security checkpoint. investigators say the suspect was armed with a machete-type weapon that he used to strike two officers in the head. four officers ended up shooting him in the shoulder, and he was taken into custody. nbc's kathy park is in times square now with the latest on this one. kathy, obviously tons of people packed out there during all of this. a lot of chaos ensued after that attack happened. what do we know about the suspect now and the investigation? >> reporter: hey there. so obviously the investigation is certainly ramping up, and we learned a lot of information over the past 24 hours. and as you said, the suspect has been identified as 19-year-old trevor bickford of maine. and our affiliate in maine actually saw fbi agents at his family home yesterday. so we should be getting some more information hopefully in the next coming hours. we do know, according to authorities, that he made his

way to the new york city area on thursday via amtrak. and when he arrived, we know that they were able to apprehend a couple of his belongings, including a backpack. inside that backpack included personal writings, terrorist propaganda. he also had cash in that bag as well as a pocket knife. meanwhile, he was already on the radar of law enforcement. a relative of his tipped off authorities several weeks ago. so they've been tracking him for several weeks now. but obviously there's still so many questions about what compelled him, what motivated him to carry out this attack. right now officials are saying that he was the lone attacker, and there is no threat here in the new york city area. but later on this morning, we anticipate hearing more about whether or not he will be charged. we've made phone calls about his condition, where he is right now. right now we still don't have that information. >> certainly a lot of questions to come on that one. kathy park, thanks for that update. turning now to ukraine where overnight russia launched a

massive drone attack on kyiv, that's according to ukrainian officials. ukraine's armed forces say they shot down nearly 50 drones that were targeting kyiv, and the russian ministry of defense says that 63 russian military personnel are dead after what they say was a ukrainian missile strike. ukraine's armed forces claim that this attack may have resulted in the biggest single loss of life for russian forces so far. joining us from kyiv is foreign correspondent matt bradley. matt, what's the latest on the ground there today? >> reporter: yeah, here in kyiv we're seeing once again rolling blackouts throughout the city, throughout the region, and really throughout the country. you mentioned how all of those drones have been shot down, at least something around 50 drones according to the ukrainian military. now they said it was those u.s.-provided systems, air defense systems, that managed to shoot them down. now this is the fifth straight day that we've seen of this sort of style of attack. but this is something that's

been going on, this same pattern, which is blanketing the country with drones, with missiles. this has been going on since the fall. but we saw about a two-week reprieve just a couple of weeks ago, and that might have been because the -- the russians were trying to store up their munitions, preparing for this -- five straight days of this same style of assault. and i've spoken with the air force today, the spokesman for the air force, and he mentioned it's not necessarily that the intensity of the attacks have increased, but the frequency has definitely increased. before during the fall we were seeing these sorts of attacks maybe once every week. maybe with a little more frequency than that. but it was pretty spaced out. now we've seen five straight days. this makes it very difficult, of course, for authorities here, for workers to try to bring the lights back on. but they're still doing that. and you mentioned that attack in the eastern part of the country, in the donbas region. this was the ukrainians using what they said were

u.s.-provided himars system, a multiple rocket launching system that the u.s. has given to ukraine. the ukrainians have been using with devastating effect against the russians. it struck what was kind of a vocational school the russians had turn into a barracks. there were presumably tons, hundreds maybe, of russian troops, newly enlisted troops, who were just sleeping there and were struck by missiles. we've heard from russian pro-military bloggers now, a fresh round of recriminations, condemnations of the russian ministry of defense. these are bloggers who tend to have connections with the military and with russian intelligence. they were normally cheerleading the war at its outset, and ever since now they've been harshly critical. this set off another round of anger from these bloggers who, again, have some connection with the russian military. criticizing the russian military for what it sounds like is -- storing munitions in the same

place where all of these recruits were sleeping. so this was considered to be a massive mistake. the russians owned up to this, they said as many as 63 men were killed. the ukrainians said it could be as many as 400 deaths even though the ukrainians didn't necessarily claim having done this attack. that's typical. they said, sarcastically, we heard from ukrainian authorities that this was gone awry. that's a sarcasm because russians tend to blame massive attacks and major defeats on their own mistakes rather than the effectiveness of the ukrainian forces. >> and matt, if i could ask you, we're entering a new year now, and we're quickly approaching the one-year mark since this invasion started. where do we stand on any type of negotiations? i know zelenskyy had the ten-point peace plan, of course russian quickly dismissed. where do we stand overall on that? >> reporter: you know, we've heard from the ukrainian foreign minister, he spoke with the

"associated press" a couple of days ago, and said that he wants to have a peace conference hosted by the united nations. sort of moderated by the head of the united nations. but you know, this is something that it sounds like they wouldn't even be inviting the russians to. and we've heard from vladimir putin. he made similar statements saying they're ready for negotiations -- it's hard to take either side seriously when they make these claims. even vladimir putin, he wasn't necessarily saying he wanted to negotiate with the ukrainians, he wants to negotiate with the west which is fitting in with his constant statements that he's not really fighting against the ukrainians, he's fighting against nato, against the united states, against the sort of western power that he sees as encroaching on russia and sees them, the west, the collective west as having started this war, not russia. so it doesn't really seem like either side is willing to go to the table in 2023. we have to remember from the ukrainian side, they feel like they're winning, so why would

they negotiate? >> good point. potentially a long way to go for peace. thank you so much. still ahead this morning, we're learning more about the suspect in the murder of those four idaho college students. how authorities say they tracked him down. first, new reporting about how congressman kevin mccarthy's ascension to house speaker is in jeopardy. more on that straight ahead. at . you see, son, with a little elbow grease, you can do just about anything. thanks, dad. that's right, robert. and it's never too early to learn you could save with america's number one motorcycle insurer. that's right, jamie. but it's not just about savings. it's about the friends we make along the way. you said it, flo. and don't forget to floss before you brush. your gums will thank you. -that's right, dr. gary. -jamie? sorry, i had another thought so i got back in line. what was it? [ sighs ] i can't remember. my husband and i have never been more active. what was it? shingles doesn't care. i go to spin classes with my coworkers. good for you, shingles doesn't care.

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welcome back. house republican leader kevin mccarthy still appears to be short of the votes he needs to become speaker. something he's wanted to do for a while now. nbc news obtained this letter signed by nine current and incoming republican house members expressing their skepticism over mccarthy as speaker saying he has not done enough to address their concerns. this letter was written on sunday, just two days before the house is set to vote on their new speaker. with us here to talk about all of this, nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake, former florida

congressman david jolly, and joyce vance, a former u.s. attorney who is now professor at the university of alabama law school. both david and joyce are also msnbc contributors. thank you all for being with us. garrett, want to start with you here. what does this letter potentially mean for kevin mccarthy's path to get the votes he need to become speaker? >> he's going in the wrong direction. the nine signatoies are in addition to the five republicans who have already come out and called -- calling them the never kevin caucus. the five house republicans who said they're hard-nosed, now add this nine, softer nose on top of it, and you've got a huge math problem for kevin mccarthy. most likely he can only afford to lose four votes. he's got to come up with the next in 24 hours. the signatories are rule hawks, they want specific changes in how the house functions so things can be run more small d democratically, more input from members.

those are things mccarthy can give them, but the five hard nos are a much tougher nut to crack. they may want to block mccarthy and let the chips fall where they may, let there be chaos until a consensus pick can be named. if there is not a one vote tomorrow, a single vote to select the speaker, it would be the first time in 100 years that that's been the case. that's the direction that it appears like we're headed unless mccarthy can pull back room horse trading today. >> history mccarthy didn't want to be part of. david, you said you don't think mccarthy does the votes he need to become speaker. so if he doesn't get it on this vote, how do you see this playing out? >> yeah, that's right. he doesn't. and the important thing here is it's about crossing the threshold of 218. kevin mccarthy has more votes than -- than anybody else. math is math, if he can't get to 218, then what? if he loses on a first ballot, you'll see the house recess. house republicans will meet privately, and they will see if

there's any last dealmaking that can be done to get kevin over the line. if not, then it's wide open. the question is who could get to 218? steve scalise has wide confirmation in the conference but only have a four to five-vote margin. so no successful speaker can lose those four republican votes. expect a multiple ballot situation, perhaps a steve scalise comes through, there's dark horses like richard hudson and others. you know, this wild card scenario of a unity pick, that could be weeks away if the house is unable to reach concurrence this week around either kevin mccarthy or steve stah lease or one of the more likely candidates. >> quite a time on the hill. joyce, want to talk about the january 6th committee. we know retiring illinois congressman adam kinzinger, also a committee member, was on cnn yesterday morning talking about how trump needs to be held accountable to all the evidence that's been raised, held accountable for his actions.

let's listen. >> if this is not a crime, i don't know what is. if a president can incite an insurrection and not be held accountable, then really there's no limit to what a president can do or can't do. and so yeah, i do think ultimately when we get to where we're going to go, i think the justice department will do the right thing. i think he will be charged. and i frankly think he should be. >> he says the justice department there will do the right thing and charge donald trump. so what do you make of those comments kinzinger made? >> i think what he says is incredibly important in the sense that if a president can get away with the conduct that we all saw and have now learned more about donald trump engaging around the 2020 election, then as a country we would be in a very dark place. as a practical matter, though, doj faces constraints that the committee doesn't face. the committee's able to put out its narrative without having to grapple with any potential

defenses the former president might have to offer. they don't have to worry about admissibility of evidence or whether witnesses will hold up under cross-examination. so it may take doj a fair bit of time to get to the point that the former congressman would like them to get to, but i agree that ultimately they will do the right thing based on the evidence and the country's need to take care of our democracy. >> the doj is certainly expected to take plenty of time for this one. garrett, i also wanted to ask you about representative-elect george santos. the hits keep on coming, the headlines keep on coming about -- he's already facing calls to resign even though he hasn't even been sworn in yet. after he admitted those -- what he called embellishments on his resume, should mention nbc news has tried to reach santos and republican leadership for comment on this, but we've not received a response about it. so is there any sense of what republicans, though, may do about the situation after he takes that oath of office

tomorrow? >> well, george santos made one politically prudent decision here in the last couple weeks. after these stories first started to come out, he went on twitter and endorsed kevin mccarthy for speaker. and that may very well have frozen mccarthy in place here. he has said nothing about santos to us or to anyone else. he needs every vote, as we just laid out. so i think what we might see over the next couple of weeks is a potential referral to the ethics committee after that speaker's vote is decided. we've heard from some republicans suggesting that might be the case. but the reality is it's not against the law to be a serial fabulist and lie to voters. margins are so tight, the conference may not not want to punish him internally. he could be less of an outcast unless he were indicted. an indictment might force republican leadership's hands. for now i think we'll have an interesting time trying to play cat and mouse here catching george santos as he comes and

goes from his office here on the hill to see what if anything he's going to say about each of these additional allegations, these drip, drip, drip that keeps coming out. again, until he votes for kevin mccarthy on the floor tomorrow, i don't think we're going to hear anything from the presumptive should be, could be speaker on this account. >> yeah, makes sense. mccarthy has a lot to lose with even one vote there. david, wanted to bring you in on this. here's what retiring texas congressman kevin brady had to say about santos during an appearance he had on "fox news sunday." >> i think this is troubling in so many ways. certainly he has lied repeatedly. at the end of the day, though, this is a decision, whether he resigns or stays, that needs to be made between he and the voters who elected him. he's certainly going to have to consider resigning. >> so you heard him there saying santos is going to have to consider resigning. so what does it mean to hear something like that from such a high-ranking republican, even though he is retiring now?

>> i think the whole world knows that santos is a fraud, and you could argue a despicable fraud based on manipulating facts around the death of his mother and some other deeply personal items. what kevin brady is pointing to is the house itself is always reticent to interfere in the will of a congressional district. new york's third congressional district did elect santos, and so it is not the place of the house to replace their judgment with the voters unless, as garrett pointed out, there is strong precedent should santos be indicted than the house can protect the integrity of the house by ejecting santos. there is one thing they could do, though, right now which is after the election of the speaker, they could refuse to seat him on any committees. democrats did that to marjorie taylor greene. there was one party against a member of another. republicans could police themselves in this situation and say santos does not -- is not worthy of holding the public trust, we do not want him serving in a place of jurisdiction. they could do that internally as a -- as an act of good faith.

i doubt they will. but let's watch. >> definitely something to watch. joyce, did want to ask you quickly here, running out of time. it's been a long road for the january 6th committee which has issued reports and, of course, the recommendations and transcripts. what do you think the historical impact will be of the committee? >> the committee has done an incredibly solid job. i think they've outperformed everyone's expectations for them including their own. they've compiled a historical record that all of us who have struggled to take it in over the last week recognize will be a historical document of enormous significance documenting the insurrection and the inner workings of the trump administration. >> all right. garrett haake, former congressman david jolly, and vance, thank you all. ahead, we're live at the vatican as catholics around the world are paying their republics to pope emeritus benedict. we'll be right back. we'll be right back.

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university of idaho students speaking out. in a statement the kohbergers said they will, quote, continue to let the legal process up fold. we have fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence. on friday, police announced they had arrested bryan kohberger in albrightsville, a town in northeastern pennsylvania. kohberger is a doctoral student studying criminology at washington state university, just miles from that crime scene in moscow, idaho. law enforcement officials have not yet released, though, key information about this case, including a question many people have -- what was the motive? moscow's police chief speaking to nbc news is sounding confident. >> i am certain this is our guy. >> reporter: no doubts? >> no doubts. >> you heard it there. nbc's dana griffin is in moscow, idaho, now with the latest. so where does there case go from here? and more importantly, are we learning anything about this

suspect from members of the community there? >> reporter: we are. good morning. we spoke to a washington state university student who says bryan cole brerg was one of his -- cole burger was one his teaching assistants. we spoke to one who lived on the same campuses as him and said he would make noises that sounded like he was cleaning or using a lot of water. we spoke with a brewery owner in pennsylvania that kohberger frequented when he was living there and attending de sales university. he said that he would make very off putting comments to some of the female staff members and customers. they even had to put notes in their system so that when kohberger's i.d. was scanned it alerted the staff to keep an eye on him because he's, quote, creepy. so what happens next is

kohberger is going to be in a hearing tomorrow in pennsylvania. it's an extradition hearing. we're told by his public defender that he plans to waive extradition which is going to help get him to idaho a lot sooner, and he could be here as early as tuesday night. i spoke with the public defender, and he's had several conversations with kohberger. here's what he says his client is saying. >> he believes he will be exonerated. >> reporter: how are they feel being the things they're reading about their son? >> they're trying to stay off of the media. what they're hearing is not the bryan they know and love. so's out of character. >> reporter: so we are told his parents are asking for privacy, but they will be at that hearing tomorrow in pennsylvania, according to his public defender. >> so bizarre. so many questions about this case. thank you so much, dana griffin. all right. turning to the latest out of vatican city where preparations are under way for the funeral of pope benedict emeritus benedict

xvi. this morning mourners traveled to st. peter's basilica where benedict is lying in state for three days ahead of his funeral coming up on thursday. pope francis, who was elected pope after benedict's historic decision to step down in 2013, prayed for his predecessor as he presided over new year's day mass on sunday. joining us now from rome is nbc correspondent molly hunter. so molly, what more can you tell us about preparations for benedict in this unprecedented situation? >> reporter: completely unprecedented. i want to make sure that you can see these huge crowds behind me. this is the line that is snaking into st. peter's basilica. we have been talking to people in that line all day about why they decided to come, what they believe the legacy -- his legacy will be. they've been telling us a little about the emotional moments once they get inside with the body of late pope benedict xvi. they say they have about 30 seconds once inside st. peter's basilican to kind of give their

final prayers, whatever private moments are going to be. we've been talking about the legacy, of course, as a someone who couldn't shake the scandal that's he inherited, a traditionalist who broke centuries of tradition by retiring, of course, in 2013. what's interesting is we're meeting a lot of people who actually feel really personally connected to him, who talk about him as a fatherly figure. and we met one man, arthur eskamila, from australia, who lives in rome. take a quick listen. >> just before -- he rested for three days in a center. and i was with him for three days. so i ate, spoke, walked with him. >> reporter: what was he like? >> he was just like really fatherly. my father had just died, and he took an interest in finding out about his illness, me and my family. i'm quite moved. very happy to be here.

>> reporter: and arthur spoke about the personal legacy that for him is going to keep on. and another talked about he's coming because it's what sons do when their fathers die. we are expecting, according to home an authorities, 30,000 people to get inside every day until the funeral. the funeral itself, the funeral mass will happen right out here in st. peter's square. as you mentioned in your intro, pope francis for the first time in 600 years will be presiding over his predecessor's funeral. >> so many people feeling this personally. thank you so much. this hour, thousands of soccer fans are saying their final good-bye to one of the sport's greatest players. pele who passed away last thursday at the age of 82 is lying in state in sao paolo brazil at the stadium of his former club. mourners will be able to attend his memorial service to pay their respects today and tomorrow. pele led brazil to three world

cup victories and is now tied for the most goals scored for brazil. brazil's new president, meanwhile, is promising change across the country. leftist leader lula de silva was brought to tears after he was sworn in. the 77-year-old narrowly beat airbolsonaro sparking violent election-denying protests we saw there. bolsonaro traveled to florida this week while facing potential legal problems back in brazil. in a speech, lula appeared to be sending a veiled threat to bolsonaro saying those responsible for anti-democratic acts would be held accountable. up next in an unlikely event this week, how president biden is beginning the new year with a new push for bipartisanship. that's next. next.

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with a bipartisan show of support to tout one of his major legislative achievements. he will be appearing with -- there he is right there -- mitch mcconnell, an unexpected pairing to start off the new year. nbc news white house correspondent monica alba joins us now for more on this one. monica, honestly, this is not the pairing i was thinking we'd see to start off 2023. >> reporter: well, that's right. and president biden has said that he does want to focus on bipartisanship this year. of course coming back to a divided congress when he returns from a vacation in the caribbean for the last week or so. and that news came just over the weekend that he would be in his first big event of the new year joining forces with minority leader mitch mcconnell in kentucky and other key officials from ohio, as well, to talk about a major interstate crossing bridge that really had needed a lot of help and is going to be the beneficiary of

the new bipartisan infrastructure law. i'm told by white house officials that this year is really all about implementing some of president biden's economic initiatives. so when you're talking about something like this, they figure no better way to do it than to show we can work with republicans on issues like this, or on issues like the chips manufacturing bill which was also passed into law. so the president is going to be heading to kentucky to talk about the more than $1.6 billion that will go toward this bridge in particular, but also to talk about these 20,000 new projects that have been funded since the infrastructure law became reality. so this is a president who is going to acknowledge that he wants to reach across the aisle and work with republicans even though, of course, this is going to become a little bit more complicated when it comes to that relationship in this gridlock that the white house is also expecting. but i think you can also probably plan for bipartisanship to be a big theme of the president's state of the union. that will be, of course, in the coming weeks, and it's all with

the backdrop of what could happen with 2024. we know president biden said he was going to take the holidays to meet with family members, huddle together, talk about that decision to run for re-election. it seems like all signs are pointing to yes. we didn't get much more indication from his discussions with family, but i think this theme of bipartisanship is something he's going to be talking about as he does point to the future and his plans for a potential white house bid. >> we've heard president biden talk about the need for bipartisanship so many times even though we now have this divided congress. wondering running again, what are his thoughts on this? it's a strategy that doesn't necessarily pay off -- there's so much pushback, and now we have republicans coming in and taking the house. does he really think this is a strategy that can work? >> reporter: they're going to point to what they feel were these major victories in the last year as an example of an opportunity to work with republicans in some subject areas. when you ask the white house,

well, what are some of the other places that they could work together on, what's some other future common ground this year, that list may be a little bit more difficult. they are trying to use examples of something that was already successful. but i think this is a president who is going to talk about his own time, of course, a veteran of capitol hill saying that you shouldn't underestimate the ability to work with the other party. and he's going to certainly try to do that even as house republicans are going to certainly, they've said, launch all these investigations into the president even touching his family members. >> all right. certainly more to come on that. thank you so much. at a time where the united states is hoping to slow the number of people entering from the southern border, our neighbors to the north are pushing for a huge increase in the number of immigrants in the coming years. facing nearly a million job openings across different sectors, canada is hoping to bring in about 1.5 million immigrants by 2025 to fill those critical positions. nbc has more on canada's

pro-immigration push. >> reporter: it's the most diverse city in north america. more than half of toronto's residents are born outside canada, and that number could soon explode. sean frasier is canada's immigration minister. >> the number of newcomers that we welcomed the year prior to forming government was about 240,000 annually. and by 2025 we'll be increasing it to 500,000. >> reporter: by 2025 canada's government hopes to bring in nearly 1.5 million immigrants to fill critical jobs. >> we are currently in a health care crisis and in a significant nursing shortage. so we really needed to get creative and innovative. >> reporter: at toronto's largest city hospital, the recruitment push is on. >> hello. how are you doing? >> reporter: 25-year-old amandi was a nurse in india. she arrived in canada just as the pandemic began. >> i never thought that i would be at this place like working in a world-class hospital.

>> we currently have about anywhere between 400 and 500 vacancies in nursing alone. >> reporter: toronto is a multicultural city. one of the most diverse in north america. but people here say they need even more immigration to fill key labor shortages. in 2022 immigrants made up 23% of canada's population. the largest proportion in more than 150 years. that's compared to just 14.6% in the united states. >> it is a nonpartisan issue in canada. it really is. all the political parties support immigration. >> reporter: and with a rapidly aging work force, business leaders have been pressuring the government to up the number of immigrants for years. >> we need more people, we don't care where they're from. if they've got temperature skills, if they're -- technical skills, if they're willing to work, if they're able to work with numbers, bring them in. >> reporter: did you run up against any of that opposition in canada? people saying that we should preserve canadian jobs for canadians? >> look, that narrative comes up

every once in a while. we still have almost one million vacancies in the canadian economy where businesses need workers. >> reporter: workers like amamdeep who call this country their home. >> personally i've felt so, i've gotten support because i was alone here. i've gotten support from all the communities that are here. >> reporter: julia ainsley, nbc news, toronto. >> our thanks to julia ainsley for that report. new covid concerns in china. we'll get a live report from beijing. plus, what you need to know about the latest strain of covid that's already spreading here in the u.s. the u.s. ♪limu emu & doug♪ hey, man. nice pace! clearly, you're a safe driver. you could save hundreds for safe driving with liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance... ...so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] whoo!

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janis mackey frayer is live in beijing with the latest on this. what's the takeaway on this speech and xi's tone admitting the toll covid has played there? we saw a lot of backlash. >> reporter: steven, as china begins to reopen, streets and cities like beijing are getting busy again, but sadly so too are the hospitals with china's own experts bracing for 800 million people to be infected with covid by spring. now, that speech by xi jingping also made a subtle reference to protests against the zero covid policy here when he talked of divergent opinions being normal in a big country. he's urged unity for this news phase of china's approach which he hasn't really talked about publicly after praising the zero covid policy for years. officials continue to downplay the severity of covid, despite what one doctor described to me as the medical reality which is

emergency rooms that are overcrowded. we want to several option ers where i saw mostly elderly people lying on gurneys, cots, lawn chairs in lobbies because there just wasn't enough room for people. and government figures are no guide for the scope of the covid surge here. officials have narrowed the way they count covid deaths, meaning for all of china, there have been only 18 covid deaths over the past month and that just doesn't match with what we're seeing. at the same time people who have recovered from covid already are getting out again. they're going back to work. we saw thousands of people jamming the streets for new year's celebrations in cities that just a few months ago were completely locked down. now, the concern going forward, especially beyond china's borders, is that there's so little data coming out of here that it's impossible to track

the potential for new variants which is why the u.s. and other countries are putting restrictions on travelers from china requiring a negative covid test to get into the u.s. steven? >> concerning stuff about the numbers we're getting out of china compared to what we're seeing there on the ground. janice, thank you so much. joining us now for more on this, dr. kavita patel, a physician and msnbc contributor. what are your thoughts? what do you make of this situation that we're seeing in china. a lot of concerning stuff here. >> yeah, steven, janice hit on the high points. the fact that we can't get reliable data. we know this is a population in china that has been undervaccinated. the vaccines they have used in their country have not been effective, that's already proven in data and many are not vaccinated whatsoever, especially some of the elderly which is where we can see them the hardest hit. so you are talking about so many infections that it can be overwhelming not just to their health system, but you can

imagine the global impact. thus, the testing requirements, we're probably not going enough, though, in the united states to catch some of those new variants even with our attempts at the testing and doing things at airports, because that's just a limited population. it only gets volunteers who offer their samples for genetic surveillance. people will come with a negative tests, but those samples are from before their flight. we want to get reliable data on genetic surveillance all around the world, including china, and we're not getting that. >> a subvariant of omicron ha become the dominant strain in the u.s. it accounts for 40% of confirmed cases. that's double from just a week ago. how concerned are you about this new variant and do we know about the severity? >> yeah, great questions. we do know there's an been uptick in hospitalizations in new york, in the metropolitan area of new york city and surrounding areas and that shows us for people over the age of

60, that this can be a very important virus to watch, but also for other ages, especially if you have not been boosted. 15% of americans have had the up updated booster. i'm probably going to expect more cases, hospitalizations and deaths, but i don't expect us to have kind of the winter of omicron last year or especially that summer of delta that we had a year ago where we had just an incredible surge in options and deaths. and a lot of that has to do with the fact that some of our immunity, even what little we have in updated boosters, will give us some defense and that variant that we're talking about, by the way, is not from china. that's actually a homegrown variant. it shows us that we have a problem domestically that we have to deal with. >> very important there. thank you so much for breaking down all that information for us. coming up in our next hour, new developments in the killing of four college students in idaho. what the suspect's family is now saying about his arrest.

plus, an update on the deteriorating of condition for women and their rights in afghanistan. stick around. afghanistan. stick around ♪ music (“i swear”) plays ♪ jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day... and forgot where she was. [buzz] you can always spot a first timer. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze.

well, we fell in love through gaming. but now the internet lags and it throws the whole thing off. when did you first discover this lag? i signed us up for t-mobile home internet. ugh! but, we found other interests. i guess we have. [both] finch! let's go! oh yeah! it's not the same. what could you do to solve the problem? we could get xfinity? that's actually super adult of you to suggest. i can't wait to squad up. i love it when you talk nerdy to me. guy, guys, guys, we're still in session. and i don't know what the heck you're talking about.

♪♪ good to be with you. it's 11:00 a.m. on the east coast, 8:00 a.m. on the west, i'm steven romo with another hour of news this mon