new detales on the devastating inferno at the warehouse known as the ghost ship as the death toll continues to rise. >> we believe that a lot of our victims were in their 20s to 30s, and have 17-year-old victims. global reaction continues to pour in from donald trump's phone call with taiwan's leader, and the incoming president's tweets on trade. cheers from the dakota pipe liep as protesters celebrate a major victory, but not everyone is happy. a frightening incident involving a man who fires a

eagles, james taylor, and others. "early today" starts right now. good monday morning, i'm ayman mohyeldin. >> i'm frances rivera. thanks so much for being with us. more grim news over the weekend with the death toll rising. now a criminal investigation has begun into that tragic warehouse party fire that claimed at least 33 lives in oakland, california, on friday night. officials say some of the victims were teenagers. one was the son of a first responder. authorities are still iden entire building, which had been housing artists. nbc's stephen luke has the latest in oakland. stephen, what's the latest that we know this morning? >> reporter: well, good morning. you mentioned that criminal investigation under way, and that has a lot of people wondering whether there is some specific piece of information that they have not yet released that's pushed them in that direction or whether it's just out of an abundance of caution. either way, here at 1:00 a.m.

around the county have gone to sleep and are not waking up. but here behind me, behind those blue tents you see here, it is an around-the-clock recovery effort. the latest numbers, 33 bodies have been pulled from this ten-foot pile of rubble. the ghost ship warehouse basically a facade of unstable walls at this point. and everything inside is so dangerous for the investigators. they do think the death toll could rise to as high as 40, but ey of that building to search this morning. a very delicate and sensitive situation happening here in oakland. live in oakland, steven luke, nbc news. >> not to mention heartbreaking as well. steven, thank you very much. protesters at the dakota access pipeline are celebrating the federal government's decision to deny the controversial pipeline's current route. sunday's announcement is a victory for thousands of who have camped out in the cold near the construction site, arguing that the project would have

lands. but energy transfer partners, the company that's behind the project, claims the decision is purely political. nbc's tammy leitner reports from north dakota. >> reporter: thousands linked arms. cheers rang out. there were hugs, tears, and dancing as word spread across this sprawling camp in rural north dakota. >> we've gone through a lot, through thick and thin, through hot and cold. >> it's a good time to celebrate, you know? >> reporter: it was news many who have camped out for that an oil pipeline's planned route along the standing rox sioux reservation has been denied. it's a fight that began in the spring and in recent weeks escalated into violent clashes. at the heart of the balance, a $3.7 billion oil pipeline that stretches across four states and runs along the standing rock sioux reservation, including near sites considered sacred by the tribe. while proponents said the pipeline would be good for local

pollute their drinking water and requested that the route be changed. >> and there's disturbing news overnight of a section corrections officer being the target of shooters while off duty in new york city. 25-year-old al stay sha brian was off duty at the time when a man walked up to her car and shot her five times. police say she died at the scene, and they're still investigating whether she was intentionally targeted or if the shooting was somehow random. this comes just a week after another corrections officer, henry wright and his wife both shot by home invaders. they were hospitalized after the shooting and were expected to survive. police are not sure if there's any connection between the two attacks at this time. d.c. police have arrested a 28-year-old north carolina man who they say opened fire inside a pizza restaurant with an assault-style rifle. police say that man, ed guard welch, told them he went to the comet ping pong restaurant to, quote, self-investigate what's being called pizza gate. now, that is a fictitious online

parlor to child trafficking leld by hillary clinton of all people. it turns out the north carolina man is not the only person to have assaulted the restaurant. the owners say they have seen a spike in harassment since the election, largely due to fake online articles, and they're insisting the articles be taken down. no one was hurt in the shooting, and police were able to arrest welch on site. he's charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. this morning former utah governor and 2012 presidential hopeful john huntsman joins hunts mapp, who also served as president obama's ambassador to china, comes as mr. trump made news with a series of tweets that had china in the crosshairs. there was also trump's angry tweet against saturday night live and its lead star alec baldwin after the actor once again reprised his role as the president in waiting. >> next i'm going to do what i promised my whole campaign, and

>> okay. don't you mean drain the swamp and build the wall? >> no, that's too many things. just smush them together. smush. smush. >> trump responded, just tried watching "saturday night live." unwatchable. totally biased. not funny, and the baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse. sad. and not to be outdone, baldwin also responded, posting simply, release your tax returns, and i'll stop. well, there was announced via several tweets that his administration would put a 35% tax on u.s. companies that moved jobs overseas. it stipulates that any company that, quote, leaves the country, our country for another and fires its employees is now forewarned prior to making a very expensive mistake. however, it was the news regarding trump's protocol breaking call with taiwan that's still making headlines. while trump defied decades of u.s. policy and communicated

cabinet appointments and senior appointments, building a legislative agenda. >> and trump also managed to comment on politics here at home, specifically a michigan recount effort by green party nominee jill stein. it is expected to get under way today at noon. this as her pennsylvania effort hits a roadblock with the green party dropping its statewide suit there, instead taking the matter to federal court. and reacting to the news, trump tweeted, quote, the green party just dropped its recount suit in

in wisconsin recount. just a stein scam to raise money. we now go to politics overseas where the trump phenomenon seems to have hit a bump in austria at least for the time being as the far right candidate there loses his fight to lead that country as a major shift in italy, as the prime minister in that country prepares to resign following a referendum. bill neely joins us now from vienna. what can you tell us about these two seismic political shifts in >> reporter: good morning, ayman. good morning, frances. italy's prime minister, matteo renzi, was known as demolition man, and he pledged to kick start italy's economy. well, he's been demolished in a referendum, and he's being kicked out. he'll resign this afternoon after losing a referendum, and not just losing it, but losing it by 60% to 40%. it was really a howl of protest from italian voters against italy's stagnant economy. you talk about the trump effect. there was some evidence that

what happens next? well, it's widely expected there will be a financial, possibly even a banking crisis in italy. certainly there will be new elections and a political headache for the leaders of europe's establishment. they had been heaving a bit of a sigh of relief after the result here in vienna when a far-right candidate, norbert hofer, who had threatened to become the first far right head of state in europe since world war ii was defeated in a s but as i say, that sigh of relief didn't last too long after the vote in italy, which really does give europe's established leaders a bit of a headache. ayman, frances. >> bill, thank you. a lot of developments there in europe suggesting that it's still far from settled what's happening there in the political scene. it is a miracle in the air to tell you about, a southwest plane flying from philadelphia to orlando took a detour when a woman went into labor on board.

video on twitter capturing the baby girl's first cries. [ baby crying ] you can see all the heads in the plane. they're trying to figure out what's going on, trying to see something. medical personnel on the flight helped with the delivery before the plane safely landed in charleston, south carolina. mom, dad, and baby were all brought to a nearby hospital, and the other 132 passengers proceeded to orlando. the question when it comes to

from hartford and also right through the areas of the hudson valley up into the adirondacks. the rest of the country looks pretty quiet. that's the big national story. now, here's a look at the weather near you. so we'll quickly watch that rain and snow in areas of new england and the northeast exiting during the day today. so the afternoon will be just fine after a little bit of a slippery morning drive. we also have to deal with a chance of some strong storm ntz the deep south, maybe some tornadoes in severe weather threat later on tonight for areas of the southeast coming up. just ahead, influencing american culture. president obama's final kennedy center honors. plus could a couple's pet parrot actually testify against this woman in a murder trial? a parrot, the only witness apparently. a judge decides. that's next.

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join me in saluting our 2016 kennedy center honorees. >> stephen colbert introducing president obama's final class of kennedy center honorees in washington, d.c. the five recipients are recognized for their lifetime contributions to american culture through the performing arts and each of them showed no signs of stopping yet. airs on december 27th on cbs. leading the news, a suspect charged in the charleston church massacre is asking for his defense team to be allowed back on the federal case. with opening statements scheduled to begin this wednesday. dylann roof was granted permission last week to act as his own lawyer, but is now requesting help only on the guilt phase of his trial. he seeks to do the sentencing phase on his own. the 22-year-old is facing the death penalty for the 2015

that south carolina church. a murder case we've been following is back in court in michigan. it involves a woman, her late husband, and a parrot. glen na durham faces first-degree murder charges for the 2015 death of her husband, martin. the couple's parrot, bud, is the only witness to the alleged murder. family members say that the african gray parrot mimics what is believed to be martin durham's last words, saying don't expletive shoot. prosecutors are confident there's enough evidence for the case without the bird, but t parrot on the stand. a date has not been set for the second day or preliminary hearings just yet. wall street fallout from donald trump's weekend tweets. european stocks rise on political unrest. you're watching "early today." ,. so graceful. the corkscrew spin, flawless... ...his signature move, the flying dutchman.

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now time for today's quick hits. an electric plant explosion sent foam pouring pepco's fire suppression system activated itself. no one was hurt, but it looks like a bunch of suds on the street. 2,000 customers lost power. an investigation is under way into what caused a massive blaze that has left 60 people displaced in cambridge, massachusetts. thankfully only a few people suffered minor injuries during that ordeal. a united airlines flight emergency crash lands at a san antonio airport with passengers

chute. luckily no one was hurt. european markets are in the green after early losses following the italian vote. that certainly sent some shock waves across europe. good morning, jeff. >> reporter: a very good morning to you. so initially we saw a 20-month low on the euro against the dollar on the back of this no vote, the italian referendum seen very much as a call on reform in italy. on the back of that result. markets, though, recovering. i tell you what isn't recovering at this point. diplomatic relations between the u.s. and china. donald trump doing his bit for those relations, taking a phone call from the taiwanese president. the chinese immediately enforced their own diplomatic freeze, saying they were very unhappy about the phone call. donald trump, for his part, tweeted that the chinese are currency manipulators.

few more rounds to go. we'll be watching very closely to see how that one breaks down. and finally, how do you feel about driverless cars? well, we may go one step further. bae systems here in the uk is now designing pilotless planes. i don't know how comfortable people would feel with the concept, but they think this is a viable technology going forward. how do you guys feel about being in a plane with no human behind the joystick? >> i have a feel we're don't do anything about just sit and get transported from one place to the other. >> i don't know about that. >> i'm not ready to put my -- >> no. i have to say there's something reassuring about when the dingos off and your pilot says now you can unbuckle your seat belts. still ahead, the five things that will age you the quickest. maybe it's a pilotless plane. >> yeah. >> we've got the list for you next. k.

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premature aging? soda, sitting in traffic, or your boss? can you guess? all of the above. don't say your boss, though. you don't want to get in trouble. soda, cola in particular, is bad for the bones, believe it or not. researchers found that older women that drank cola at least daily had lower bone density than those that drank one a month. drivers beware, traffic related accidents or pollution leads to age spots and overall skin aging. and of course a bossy boss can make your brain shrink. naturally, stress from that, scientists say a study of -- finally researchers found that a lack of exercise also causes premature aging. three out of five for me. i'm not going to say whether it's the boss or not. you're watching "early today."

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now on "news4 today," chaos at a popular pizza shop. what we're finding out about the man now in custody. to search the massive inferno that tore through a warehouse and a new investigation for investigators. the loudest cheers westernet for an award winner. it was for president obama and the first lady at their final kennedy center honoree. it's 4:26. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. it was raining when i came in, and now it's stopped.

kierein. >> good morning. it's still wet. the bulk of the rain is now pulling off to our east. this area in the green is the rain. you can see the cloud cover breaking up. clearing sky in the panhandle of west virginia and western maryland. we'll begin to see that clearing by mid morning but still a few sprinkles around hagerstown and martinsburg and southern area here. but it's continuing to track off to the east and gradually drying out. now let's check on an early morning crash in west virginia. >> it's still hanging around. this is the ramp to the inner loop of the beltway here this morn. the crash still blocking the right lane and the ramp here this morning. this has been hanging around for quite some time. we're hoping that gets out of the way soon. 66 is okay. so 195 here this morning. and the beltway overall looking all right. again, that rain is moving out of the area.

earlier and earlier. a popular pizza shop on connecticut avenue will stay closed today after a gunman came in and fired an assault rifle. edgar welch is now under arrest. police say he went to comet ping-pong to investi pizzagate. that's a false online election conspiracy theory. no one was hurt but a man describes what happened. >> when you come in for a place to eat, you ask for a host or go to the bar. he didn't make contact with anybody. >> police say welch fired a single shot into the floor.

those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened today and stop promoting these falsehoods right away. the restaurant will reopen tomorrow. developing this morning some families are praying their loved ones were not trapped inside that deadly fire in the oakland warehouse. 33 people died when that massive fire broke out. so far only seven victims have been identified. they have 60% of the building to died. >> we have no idea. we have no idea how many people were in that building that night. we don't even know how many people got out of that building. i would be speculating. you know, we're expecting the worst and hoping for the best. >> detectives say some of the victims were in their 30s. others were teenager. there will be a candlelight vigil today to honor all of the people who died. there's new reaction this morning to the army corps of engineers denying the current

paul ryan is calling it, quote, big decisionmaking at its worst while bernie sanders praises the decision. the decision is a victory for the standing rock sioux tribe. >> this is something that will go down in indigenous people. >> the tribe argued the pipeline would threaten the cultural sites. they reiterated its plan to complete construction without rerouting around the lake. it's 4:30 and donald trump is ee lektsing james mattis. he retired in 2013 as a four-star marine corps general.