this morning on "world news now" -- flash floods in the west. the desperate search and rescue as people are swept away. the raw power of the water taking over a dozen lives. an emotional return for the news anchor whose fiance was brutally murdered on live tv. his powerful and moving message of love as he and his colleagues try to heal their pain. and also new this hour, an extremely unlikely duo. >> vladimir putin partnering with elton john. the phone call regarding gay rights and why the russian government is denying it all happened. and caught on camera. or is it? the downed drone at burning man landing right in the middle of a dance party. dumb luck or was the stunt planned? you decide on this wednesday september 16th. >> announcer: from abc news,

this is "world news now." hey, good morning, everyone. i'm reena ninan. >> and i'm kendis gibson. that drone video you do have to see and let us know on our facebook page whether you think it's fake or not. >> oh. you think there's something more going on there? >> there's a big debate going on, bigger than the debate taking place later on this evening. >> oh. >> we'll have to talk about that. >> the weather. we always start with a lot of weather these past few weeks. but the rain, the torrential rains that triggered deadly flash floods in southern utah have claimed even more lives. four hikers have been found dead in zion national park. three still missing. >> and so far that brings the death toll to 16, including 12 of the 16 women and children whose vehicles were hit by a wall of raging water and swept downstream. abc's nick watt is there for us. >> that van. >> the vehicle! >> reporter: in those vehicles three mothers and 13 kids, the youngest just 4 years old, cut off by the flash flood waters. >> there goes -- >> reporter: watch as the wall of water washes them away.

>> oh, my goodness! oh, dear. it went over the -- >> reporter: in just 30 minutes a staggering 1 1/2 inches of rain fell. flash floods washing families to their deaths. >> they're getting everybody out. >> reporter: further disaster narrowly averted as rescuers pull a group of women from this stranded vehicle. a 10-year-old boy was recovered 6 1/2 miles down stream. >> i knew the mothers. i knew them as they were growing up as young girls. >> reporter: this little town hildale is a bastion of the polygamist fundamentalist church of the latter day saints, once ruled by warren jeffs. >> this is an act of god, and this is something that we can't control. >> reporter: three children were rescued. the death toll now stands at 12, with one still missing. at one point this creek rose 3 1/2 feet in just nine minutes. two feet of water can sweep a car away. >> oh, my goodness. oh, my goodness. it's huge. it's getting bigger.

>> reporter: in zion national park four killed in the flash flood, three still missing. the same weather system that brought tragedy to hildale brought rain to much of the southwest. a dog and owner rescued from the l.a. river, a man airlifted in huntington beach. back here in hildale the rain has been falling on and off all day. the rescue mission is still ongoing. but the hope for that one person still listed as missing, that hope is all but faded. nick watt, abc news, hildale, utah. >> dramatic scenes there out west. in the meantime, mississippi police say they still don't know why a college professor shot his girlfriend as well as a colleague. police have released a 911 call in which the man admits he shot the woman he called his wife. they then say he drove to the delta state university campus and shot another professor and as they closed in on himself -- closed in on him he shot himself. he left behind a handwritten apology at the woman's home. a man already charged with

killing one college student in virginia has now been indicted in the death of another. jesse matthew is set to appear in court today for the murder of 20-year-old virginia tech junior morgan harrington. she vanished after a concert in 2009 and was found dead three months later. matthew was charged last year with killing 18-year-old uva freshman hannah graham and he was recently convicted of sexually assaulting another woman. the first formal charges linked to the hazing death of a new york college fraternity pledge have been filed. those five defendants are making arrangements to turn themselves in to the authorities. and as abc's linsey davis reports, more serious charges are set to come. >> reporter: 37 college students face a slew of criminal charges two years after the death of 19-year-old chun michael deng. the pennsylvania grand jury recommending that five of those fraternity members face charges of third-degree murder. >> this is a clear case of why hazing is not permitted. >> reporter: authorities say in december of 2013 members of the

pi delta psi fraternity at new york city's baruch college carried out what police called a brutal hazing ritual outside a rented house in the poconos where pledges were forced to run across a frozen field blindfolded weighted down with backpacks filled with 30 pounds of sand, all the while be's tackled. police say after realizing deng was unconscious it took students about two hours to drive him to a hospital 45 minutes away. during that time police say some of the students searched the internet for "concussion, can't wake up, pupils don't dilate." a forensic pathologist saying the delay in treatment of one to two hours significantly contributed to the death of mr. deng. the fraternity has been permanently banned here at baruch, and those five defendants are set to be arraigned on thursday. linsey davis, abc news, new york. it was an emotional return to work for the fiance of the virginia reporter who was shot and killed live on tv.

wdvj news anchor chris hurst was back on the air for the very first time since a shocking attack claimed the lives of alison parker and cameraman adam ward. he told viewers he's still grieving but the healing process has begun. >> through many, many tears and questions there have been laughs, smiles, and answers. i know the answer to what we all must do. it is to profess love, not hate. to love one another and to love strangers. alison and adam projected a love and peace into our world that can never be taken, even if they were taken from us. >> hurst said he and alison fell in love in the newsroom. the gunman, a former colleague, fatally shot himself hours after the attack. the focus of tonight's republican presidential debate will be foreign policy. the top 11 candidates in the polls will be included. with donald trump at the center, flanked by ben carson and jeb bush. carly fiorina joins the 10 men featured in the previous debate. a new poll finds more republicans now think trump has

the best chance of winning the presidential election, followed closely by carson, while all the republican candidates are denouncing the iran nuclear deal tonight's debate is likely to bring out their differences on american intervention overseas. one of the major routes refugees have been using to get into europe, the european union, is now closed. hungary has all but shut its borders with serbia, slowing the flood of migrants to a trickle. nearly 300 people were arrested at the border for trying to cross illegally. the eu will hold an emergency meeting next week to discuss the refugee crisis. well, the russian military is conducting more drills as the u.s. expresses concern over moscow's support of the syrian president. the latest exercises were aimed at checking the troops' combat readiness, and they followed the delivery of russian battle tanks to syria. the u.s. has warned that helping the syrian government will only prolong the conflict there, but russian president vladimir putin says the islamic state cannot be defeated without cooperating with damascus. well, meanwhile, it looks like president putin may not be

ready to embrace gay rights after all. elton john has said that he wanted to talk to the russian leader about his "ridiculous stance on gay rights." the pop star then posted on instagram that putin reached out to him by phone and he was looking forward to discussing the issue with him face to face. but the kremlin had another story. they're denying that putin contacted the singer. they say no such conversation took place. and they hinted that the call would have been a hoax. >> and i can kind of believe that. it was probably a hoax. i just can't imagine -- >> putin calling? >> yeah. that elton john will be the one that would get putin to come to the other side and be okay with lgbt rights. >> you know, i really believe that sometimes artists and people -- you remember when we saw with kim jong un -- i'm blanking on the basketball player now. >> dennis rodman. >> dennis rodman. >> yeah. >> who could forget dennis rodman but me? dennis rodman. the white house is against it.

he's crazy, a lot of people think it's crazy. but sometimes unconventional means can win. >> so pop stars can bring the world together. >> maybe. my money's on elton john. some pretty amazing video, by the way, that has surfaced purported to be from a gopro camera mounted on a drone. we talked about it. now, it fell smack into the middle of the burning man festival. >> the video starts by showing a lovely aerial shot. then the camera falls to earth. it was then retrieved by revelers who document ongoing before returning it to the lost and found. >> and as you can imagine, the video has gone viral but online skeptics are questioning whether the video is real or fake saying it seems unlikely that a camera could fall that hard from so high up and still function. let us know what you think. >> yeah. >> log on to our facebook page. i'm a doubter. all right. well, coming up, a gambler's fantasy. sports betting finding a loophole through daily fantasy football.

but is it a double standard? and move over, will and kate. the other royals are in town. look at them. spanish king and queen taking washington by storm. that's later in "the skinny." but first, a look at today's weather. you're watching "world news now." look at todayti's weather. you're watching "world news now." i know blowdrying fries my hair but i'm never gonna stop because now, i've got pantene. pantene shampoos and conditioners have the pro-v formula that locks moisture inside my hair and makes it stronger. the damage from 100 blowdries is gone. i love it. now my hair is so strong i can always take the heat. strong is beautiful.™ pantene.

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yyou think it smells fine, butur your guests smell this... febreze fabric refresher eliminates all the odors you've gone noseblind to break out the febreze and breathe happy. police in new jersey looking into this violent incident that took place at a high school football game. take a look at number 73 in white and number 1 in black. number 1 gets his opponent's helmet off and seems to swing it back at him, hitting him in the head. number 73 wound up with 10 stitches. wow. the player from linden, new

jersey high school, number 1, was penalized but not ejected from the game. school officials say the player could be disciplined and charges of course are possible in that one. >> why do they have to get so rough like that? >> they get wound up in the game but no excuses there. while we are talking about football, of course you know week 2 of the nfl starts tomorrow night. >> and that means plenty of people doing lots of research because nfl games means fantasy football and increasingly fantasy football means big bucks. i wonder if david wright is investigating any of this. he reports. >> draftkings.com combines one-day fantasy sports with winning life-changing amounts of cash. >> reporter: if you watch football, you've definitely seen the ads. >> pick your team and get your cash winnings after monday night. >> reporter: promising big bucks for being a monday morning quarterback. >> we're making a millionaire every week this season. >> reporter: how does it work? just like regular fantasy football. you win or lose based on how well the players you picked perform. except that in daily fantasy football you don't have to stick

it out for the full season. supporters claim it's more skill than chance. >> if someone gets hurt, it's luck. but if it's just coming down to that day, you know, then it's actually harder to win at daily fantasy than it is for season-long fantasy. >> reporter: the nfl is all for it because it's a money maker. not only do they have their own fantasy leagues, studies show fantasy players watch more games and watch them for longer. but critics say it's gambling and ought to be treated the same way as other forms of sports betting. one congressman now calling for hearings on capitol hill. >> how is it any different from sports betting? i don't see it. why, because you call it fantasy? >> reporter: fantasy sports are hugely popular. the industry says more than 50 million fans play every year, spending an average of $257 each. fans like scott lewis, with some skin in the game. >> the top prize is a million dollars. >> reporter: some sports fans

really do hit the jackpot. travis spieth won a million bucks and was able to quit his day job. >> it's very comparable to stock trading. and if you ask somebody that's been dealing in stocks, they're definitely not going to tell you they're gambling because there's a lot of research involved. >> reporter: david wright, abc news, new york. >> you into this? >> not really. but obviously i need to be. a million bucks. i guess. well, speaking of more sports, it was a big day for the defending champs of women's college basketball. i've always said 2015 is the year of the female athlete. these you see here are the uconn huskies at the white house to celebrate their third consecutive national title with president obama. >> the team presented the president with a number 10 jersey because it was the school's 10th championship overall. mr. obama ked that the team has been there so often they are now certified to provide white house tours. >> oh, man. look at them. i just -- they are incredible. these women.

i would one day love to be able to train with them. i'm not going to say that i'm going to play against them. just train with them. because they're remarkable. >> just to see how they do. >> yeah. i would love that. >> of course the president joked that he has two tall daughters and of course malia's looking for a school next year. possible. >> i can't believe they're 14 and 17 now. >> grown women. >> yeah. when we come back, the world-class athlete taking over new york's fashion week. and bradley cooper says no stunt doubles are needed. "the skinny," up next. "the skinny," up next.

♪ skinny ♪ so skinny "skinny" time. starting with serena williams. we all did feel so badly for her when she didn't win the u.s. open and that special grand slam she'd been going for. >> yeah. but she was a total winner at new york fashion week. serena's second collection. she looks great. for her own fashion line. featured a lot of fringe leather and suede. her collection for hsn is taking high fashion to a wider base of fans as well. >> serena admitted that she's been busy juggling it all, also maybe juggling a romance. drake you see there in the front row right next to anna wintour. his music was also the soundtrack for the runway fashion show. afterwards serena all smiles saying she could finally breathe. and another a-lister the crowd would like to mention.

boom. there she is. look at that. look at that. looking beautiful and gorgeous as ever. a fan of serena's and her fashion line too. i love that outfit. looks great. she looks stunning. stunning. >> and it was a success despite drake being there. >> oh, come on. we love our drake. our robin roberts, as you saw right there. >> yes. >> yeah. duchess kate. she's not the only european with a reputation as a fashion trend setter. >> spain's queen letizia gets high marks for her style. feminine and elegant. she and her husband, king felipe i, are visiting the united states. they went to george washington's home in mount vernon. >> and stopped by capitol hill to meet a group of senators. the spanish royals also visited the white house. the queen got a tour of mrs. obama's organic garden. fashionistas say that she is someone to keep your eye on. i tell you, she is also always dressed to the nines, looks gorgeous wherever she is. >> so incredibly popular in spain.

>> and a first this morning. a remake of the movie "jungle book." fascinating look. live action cgi. a real 10-year-old boy as the lead character mowgli and some of hollywood's top actors are giving voice to the animals. >> scarlett johansson plays a python whose soothing tones lure the boy on his journey through the jungle. >> let go of your fear now. and trust in me. >> "the jungle book," a disney movie, will be in theaters next april. hey, bradley cooper says he's always been around kitchens, so for his next starring role he didn't need a stunt double. in the movie "burnt" cooper plays a once promising chef trying to come back. >> the kitchen's the only place i've ever felt i really belong. i love every minute of it. the heat, the pressure, the violence.

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♪ actress kim cattrall stirring up a debate after saying she may not have any children but she's not childless. >> the "sex and the city" star says there are a lot of ways to be a parent. abc's mara schiavocampo has her story. >> reporter: she's best known as samantha jones, the feisty pr maven on "sex and the city" who's not exactly kid-friendly. >> i understand that your child and i have to co-exist in this city. but perhaps you could take him somewhere more appropriate for a happy meal. so i could have a happier one.

>> reporter: but actress kim cattrall is raising some eyebrows after arguing she is in fact a mother, even though she doesn't actually have any children. >> i am a parent. i have young actors and actresses that i mentor. i have nieces and nephews that i am very close to. >> reporter: in an interview on bbc radio the 59-year-old saying it wasn't her first choice to not have children but when her life went in a different direction she began caring for the young people closest to her. >> there is a way to become a mother in this day and age that doesn't include your name on the child's birth certificate. you know, you can express that maternal side of you very, very clearly, very strongly. >> reporter: adding she's highly offended when she's described as childless. >> it sounds like you're less because you haven't had a child. >> reporter: while many online are supporting cattrall's message, some say using the m

word is taking things too far. one commenter writing, "you may play a wonderful role as a mentor, friend, and older confidant, but you are not a mom." >> on one side mothers feel that she's not really a mother because she hasn't given birth to these children and she hasn't paid her dues. on the other side they would say you don't have to have given birth and spent time with children on a regular basis to el like a mother. >> reporter: still, this actress is committed to her special role. >> there are many different ways to be a mom in the world. >> reporter: mara schiavocampo, abc news, new york. >> and there are many different accents to kim cattrall. who knew that was -- >> you know, i agree with her. i think other women, you don't have to physically give birth or have children to be a mother. and thank goodness for them because they give mothers a little bit more understanding and patience. >> and a break. >> and a break. >> announcer: this is abc's "world news now," informing insomniacs for two decades.

making news in america this morning, record rain. downpours on the drought-stricken west coast swamping roads and swelling rivers. dramatic video of a rescue and a home teetering on a cliff, washed away from floodwater, plus the search under way right now for people swept away in flash floods. >> donald trump on a battleship. big guns behind him taking shots. his harsh comments aimed at john remember kerry and hillary clinton. >> sole survivor gunned down on live tv. the woman shot during an interview talking about the terrifying ordeal. the one thing she did that likely saved her life. caught on camera. a semi truck losing control on a slick road skidding past a news crew.