breaking overnight, fatalities mounting as a massive fire engulfs a 27-story apartment building while residents slept. reports of others trapped. the american college student held in north korea is back in ohio but his medical condition is concerning. on the heels of his attorney general's senate hearing, president trump is the focus of a lawsuit over foreign payments. overnight the reward raised as police hunt for two escaped georgia inmates. plus a passenger jet frightens passengers. and a propain tank explosion. "ear

good wednesday morning to you. i'm frances rivera. we begin with breaking news in london. a massive fire has completely destroyed a high rise apartment complex in london, sparking fears the building could collapse. officials say there are fatalities but could not confirm how many. the fire was reported around 1:00 a.m. local time. crews try to evacuate the 24-story building but residents say many may have been trapped inside. >> people were still sleeping on the highest floors so they didn't know what was going on. i'm not sure if half of them got out, to be honest with you. there was kids out the window, flashing their phones for help. >> nbc's bill neely is near the scene. bring us up to date on the latest. >> reporter: good morning. i'm looking at the building now and it is still smoking eight hours after this fire started. as you

1:00 in the morning and it started in the lower floors but it spread very, very rapidly. people talking about people upstairs waving flashlights from the top floors of the building, people throwing their children out, saying save my children, really terrible scenes and a lot of emotion here. you can see from the pictures just how intense this fire was. we know there are a number of fatalities. more than 50 people have been taken to five london hospitals. a couple of hundred firefighters, more than 50 trucks that scene 120 homes in this building and there were real concerns after a renovation earlier this year. it took a year, cost $11 million and they said a smoke detection system had been upgraded during that renovation. but local people are telling

here that there was no central alarm. no alarm went off. what they heard were smoke detecters and individual homes. so the local action group extremely angry. they say that their warningsign. there are fears this building could collapse. we could probably go in a minute to live pictures of the scene. this smoke can be seen right across the capitol, across london. a 24-27-story block. new floors were actually added during the renovation. hundreds of people were inside at the time, many, many old people and as i say the fire authority say there are a number of fatalities but exactly how many they don't know and they don't at this stage know the cause. but there is no reason at the

anything other than an accident. they're not ruling out terrorism but they're simply saying there's no reason to believe that it is anything but an accident. frances. >> certainly many bracing themselves for the number of fatalities to be released. bill, thank you. american student, auto is back in the united states after being held captive for 70 months in north korea. and he was visiting north korea in january of 2016 when he was accused of attempting to steal a propaganda banner. he was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor. his parents reportedly said they were told he had been in a coma since the trial. after landing in his home town of cincinnati, he was quickly taken to a hospital. the family plans to hold a news conference thursday. >> we continue our discussions with the north korean regime

three other american citizens that have been detained. >> his release comes as former nba basketball star dennis rodman lands in north korea. this is just a coincidence as rodman's visit is private. law makers are suing president trump in federal court today. they claim he accepted foreign funds from his businesses without congressional approval. they violate this violates the constitution's emuleiant clause. the plaintiffs includality least 30 u.s. senators and 166 representatives. they say this is the largest number of legislators to ever sue a u.s. president. they insisted president trump's business interests do not violate the constitution. this after attorney general jeff sessions testified before the senate intelligence committee. he

privilege, instead sessions sited an unnamed justice department policy to explain his limited responses. tracie potts is in d.c. what is washington's response to the testimony from sessions? >> reporter: well the white house response is that he did a good job and that he reemphasized there was no collusion going on between the russian government or officials and the trump campaign. but it's the things he did not say that really frustrated democrats and there were a couple of exchanges where they really pressed the attorney general for his basis. you mentioned executive privilege which only the president can invoke but why was sessions not talking about for example his private conversations with president trump? he sited justice department policy. listen. >> can you share those policies with us. are they written down at the department of justice? >> i believe they are. >> i'm asking you about the policy you

>> it goes beyond the attorney general. >> is that policy in writing somewhere? >> i think so. >> democrats clearly frustrated saying he was not forthcoming and he was stonewalling. what sessions did say is that any allegations of collusion between russia and the trump campaign and the trump transition were and this is the way he put it an apalling and detestable lie and he did not say anything improper happened when he met twice with the russian ambassador which we know he didn't initially disclose. >> thank you. now to the desperate search underway in georgia for two escaped inmates who killed two prison guards. they raised the reward for $70,000 for the capture. howard phil says the two were on a prison bus with 31 other inmates when they entered the driver's compartment and

shot both guards on board. >> i saw two brutally murdered corrections officers. that's what i saw. i have their blood on my shoes. >> police say dubose and russell car jacked a nearby vehicle. they're considered armed and extremely dangerous. day three of jury deliberations begins today in the bill cosby sexual assault trial. the jury spent 12 hours behind closed doors tuesday without reaching a verdict. he's charged for allegedly drugging and molesting andrea constan in 2004. they asked for excerpts cosby gaim gave. the 79-year-old could spend the rest of his life i

found guilty. one couple's honeymoon got off on the wrong foot when they looked out of their window and saw the leak. united eventually canceled the flight and issued an apology saying they were working to provide customers with hotel acomidations for the night and they would get back on their way to venice today. over 31 million people at risk today. are you one of them? here's bill karins with that and the forecast. >> we had another 11 tornados yesterday. over 40 in the last two days. not many today but we have a chance of large hail and damaging winds. around des moines, and for today here is the area of yellow where the slight risk is includes green bay, wisconsin, illinois, and from kansas city to st. lewis. we will

timing is typical. they fire up late afternoon and then some through the quad cities and up towards wisconsin through this evening. now here's a closer look at the day ahead. well, out ahead of these storms it's still very warm and hot from wichita to kansas city to chicago and there's no signs of the heat letting up in texas and it's building in the southwest. we're going to see the temperatures sore towards the weekend. propain tanks, when these explode, watch out. look at that in maine. a fire in a wooded area caused the tank to burst into flames last thursday. the blast knocked responders to the ground. volunteer firefighter pant says he's lucky to be alive and hopes to get back to work in a few weeks. >> so scary considering we have those in our backyard and our grills.

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ou combine select essilor® brand lenses. visit transitions.com for more details. teachers in columbia took the streets of bocata. they're demanding a 16% raise. according to local reports, teachers earn less than $1,000 per month. the president offered a nearly 70% raise but the teachers say that's simply not enough. the strike has kept 8 million public school students out of class since may 11th. tyson is recalling 2 1/2 million pounds of breaded chicken. the milk isn't disclosed on the packaging and some people may be allergic. they

restaurants and cafeterias in 30 states. so far no reports of illnesses. visit our facebook page. now on nbc news.com, the university of virginia fraternity has agreed to settle its defamation lawsuit against rolling stone magazine. rolling stone will pay the chapter just over $1.6 million associated press reports. the lawsuit stems from the november 2014 story a rape on campus, about a woman who claimed she was raped by frat members as part of an initiation right. they found no evidence to back up the account and the story was later retracted. they suffered a similar defamation lawsuit with a administrat administrator. and after it was passed with overwhelming support by the house. reforming the va and improving accountability was a recurrent

theme throughout his campaign. it would make it easier to fire employees for misconduct and encourages whistleblowers. just ahead investors around the globe are keeping an eye on one woman. plus the latest on the massive london fire that engulfed a 27-story apartment building. the alligator floaty. plus, the snacks and drinks are gone, people. and one of us used up all the sunscreen! i wonder who... . we're gonna need some reinforcements...quick. copy that. walgreens makes it easy when summer needs a little help. your summer base camp is just around the corner so you can get in, out and back to those summer shenanigans. walgreens. at the corner of happy & healthy®. this week, redeem balance rewards points and get a coupon for 10 times everyday points.

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victory parade through downtown pittsburgh. miley cyrus will co host along side jimmy fallon. she'll also be performing some of her new singles. and president trump turns 71 years old today. no word on what his birthday plans are. also boy george turns 56 and actress marly gibbs from the jeffersons and 227 is 86 years old. investors around the globe are focussed on just one woman, chair janet yellen. here to tell us why this morning. good morning, gemma. >> well, that's because expectations are really high. the fed is expected to raise interest rates to between 1 and 1.25%. there's a press conference this afternoon and janet yellen is expected to give details on how the fed plans to stop winding

sheet. and there's a consumer price inflation report due later this morning and all eyes will be on that as well. offer around 1.9% of inflation, which will be in line with april. let's remember that was the first time since 8/20/15, it's tracked below the fed. and meanwhile they've been hashing out a plan to make social media companies legally liable for the extremists material on their websites. the idea is companies such as facebook and twitter will be encouraged to quickly remove after having located extremists materials in a bid for radicalization. >> thank you so much, gemma. still ahead the twitter in

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now at 4:26 we are following several developing stories. including this inferno in england. several people dead. also new overnight, university of virginia student imprison instead north korea is now back on u.s. soil. the latest on how he's been in a coma for a year. two candidates for virginia governor are claiming victory this morning. another wicould soon be asking r a recount. a lot of ground to cover this morning. good morning, everybody. >> still on assignment and you are going to notice a big difference when you step out the door this morning.

it's humid. >> before we check in with melissa and look at the commute, dew point must be really high right there. >> you know what it is, it's 71. i looked it up right before i came in. >> this will be improving weather trend and eventually. temperatures in the 60s and cooler rural areas. look at that, still 79. still 80 in national airport. 80 degrees by the bay and indianapolis. very muggy start here this morning. heat index of 85 in the predawn hours. if you're planning out your day, a lot of mugginess here. nothing on radar. plenty of warmth and humidity will lead to storms this

finally put some rain in the books for the month of june. we'll take a little bit closer look at hometown highs. that's all just minutes away. for now all clean and green. on the beltway, inner loop and outer loop, no big issues. earlier issue near branch avenue cleared out of the way. see what else sl happening right now. northbound 295, we do have single lane getting by. take a look at this, 66. westbound after the left lane getting by. >> melissa, thank you. 4:28. incredibly scary breaking news. just found out people died in a massive fire that will droid a high-rise in london. >> continue to get new information through the morning. news 4 eric gonzalez is at the desk right now with the very latest. >> the images are incredib

people are expecting the worst, but believing for the best. this is the scene this morning. a massive apartment fire in london that started about midnight our time. i believe these are live pictures. firefighters on the ground say they have never seen anything like this. flames consumed all 24 floors of this building. this is what it looked like last night. people heard creaming through the windows. we are learning that deaths are in fact being reported and at least 50 people reported injured. the apartment had been upgraded last year. residents had been long complaining about the fire safety standards and now this. from the live desk, i'm erica. >> thank you erica. 4:29. also breaking, university of virginia student detained in north korea is now back on u.s. soil. in a coma right now. that new video showed him going straight into an balance from the plane at the airport. was arrested for stealing a propaganda banner

sentenced to 50 years of hard labor. just released yesterday. >> it was a lot tighter than expected, but the race to become the next governor of virginia is set now. former republican national committee chairman ed giless my and cory stuart to win the republican nomination. ralph anymore thnortham. ralph northam and tom will stand side by side. they and other top democratic leaders will hold a unity rally. the northam celebration started early and ended early. declared winner at 8:00 at night. arrived at victory party, bounded on the stage with a big