bill neely is in london. ♪ come together right now over me ♪ >> reporter: they came together in thousandslook-a-likes too, to recreate the world's most famous album cover. the beatles stroll across london's abbey road shot outside their recording studio exactly 50 years ago paul mccartney today posting another image from that day, american fans flying in specially. >> it's nostalgia to me, but it's also damn good music. >> reporter: mccarthy himself posed here last year everyone it seems wants to, imitating the most enduring image of the world's most popular band a year after the photo was taken the beatles split up, but this crossing lives on. it's preserved by order of the government the abbey road album will soon be rereleased and the front cover, some fans will say just "let it be" this one bill neely, nbc news on abbey road ♪ >> look both ways. i think cars are still on that road when we come back a hero's emotional journey home strangers stopping to salute >> announcer: "nbc nightly news" is brought to you by weather tech, the ultimate american made vehicle protection >>> finally to

bill neely has details >> reporter: it's the miracle over moscow. passengers terrified but alive, their russian plane in a cornfield. just seconds after take off, one passenger filmed gulls clearly visible and large and the sound of the impact as the birds were sucked into an engine. the plane shook.e le engine fail the pilot reacted fast, steering toward a field silence in the cabin before a hard landing no wheels. the plane was skidding to a halt the crew directing passengers to escape through the cornfield 226 did. everyone survived. only a few injured the landing was good, she says the crew applauding the pilot, russian media hailing him as a hero echos there of new york's miracle on the hudson ten years ago. and tonight the kremlin is promising that pilot a national honor. lester >> amazing bill neely thank you. >>> breaking news tonight in the jeffrey epstein case five days after his death byed him recruit underaged girls has reportedly been seenosk. >> reporter: tonight an answer to the question where is ghislaine maell, the picture reportedl

testing site after telling a nuclear monitoring group to stay out of it we get more from nbc's bill neely. >> reporter: a growing mystery tonight about exactly what happened days after a nuclear explosion that killed five russian nuclear scientists at least four radiation monitoring stations nearby went silent and stopped transmitting data russia told an international nuclear watch dog today, mind your own business. russia admitted radiation levels did spike briefly after the accident, which was tied to the testing of a nuclear missile engine president putin said yesterday there is no threat, no risk of increased radiation. but the kremlin is also furious. an international nuclear watch dog tweeted this map of a potential radiation plume spreading across russia. the kremlin calls that absurd warning the watch dog to back off, claiming it can withhold any data nuclear experts say russia's real aim is to hide secrets about this, a nuclear-powered cruise missile that president putin boasts could evade american defenses. russia concealing from the u.s. exact data on its nuclear fuel >>> two o

. >>> now to nbc's bill neely. curity officials there on high alert in anticipation of potential protests. bill, similar situation, weather forecast for you over there on the beach, but i imagine things are fairly calm right now. >> reporter: yeah, calm right now, but extraordinary measures for any possible disruption it really is fortis. it's very small town in lockdown, 13,200 police officers here in a town that normally has a population of 25,000. the airport has been closed since thursday. airspace closed down. road checks both here and even across the spanish border which is just down the road. so police from two countries. and they're really looking for three things. first of all, terrorism, france has been hit by terrorism, perhaps like no other european country. also, france has been rocked by the yellow vest protests for the last year, protesting that the economic conditions in the country, but also protests against the g7. i mean, this goes back 20 years, if you remember, the battle of seattle in 1999. the

bill neely monitoring the protests. carol lee covering the president in france and david leventhal reporter with the center of public integrity. >> let's start with kelly in southwest france. kelly, the president made somewhat of an admission on an important issue. what was that about? >> well, it was striking. because we're so accustomed to the president taking a very tough talking style and in a back and forth with reporters, one. questions that came up was -- it was the phrasing of the reporter, do you have any second thoughts about ratcheting up your trade battle with china and the president said he might and he might have second thoughts and then another reporter followed up again, again, using the phrasing second thoughts and he said i have second thoughts about everything. we don't typically hear that kind of a mind-set from donald trump who usually be is usually the puncher, the fighter, talking about moving forward. this is a note al concession, at least in tone by the president. saying the trade war is high ri

i want to bring in bill neely who is watching all of this unfold. he's been watching the story as well. bill, for folks who may not have been following the story as closely, what precisely are these protesters, what are they looking for? what do they want? >> well, i think at the very heart of what they've been looking for for the last number of weeks is that china honors hong kong's special status. it is one country and two systems. and initially their protests came about because china wanted to be able to extradite anyone they liked from hong kong virtually for any reason. now, after the initial runs of protests, china backed off. they've suspended that request or that proposed law. but they haven't got rid of it altogether. and they haven't addressed one of the things that the protesters dislike most, which is the heavy handed, as they see it, the heavy handed actions of the police. so the chinese, once again, have not set up any kind of inquiry into the police actions over the last few weeks. so week by week the protests are becoming -- have beco

we'll begin with bill neely, our global correspondent on the ground in france. bill, it's a big deal this ir iranian plane's arrival. who was in it? >> the g7, the plane landing about three hours ago. he's been in talks with the french foreign minister. i say gate crash, but the french know about it. macron has been working quite hard over the last few weeks talking on the phone to iran's president and, indeed, directly to the foreign minister himself. what he wants to do according to statement from the presidency a short while ago is to deescalate the tensions between washington and tehran. and the iranian foreign ministry saying the foreign minister will not be having any discussions or negotiations with the american delegation. what's it all about? president macron sees a narrow window. he wants to create space so that the iran nuclear deal which europe supports and the united states has pulled out of, can be renegotiated. he wants to do that by creating a window giving iran incentives to go back to the negotiating table and he thinks persuading the united sta

bill neely, this is why it's all so remarkable. ken delainian here, covers national security and foreign policy with me. in talking with american officials, they've been watching president xi and watching his responses. the president was just interviewed and we'll turn that tape very quickly. he was in new jersey transferring from the helicopter to air force one on route to pennsylvania. he hopes no one will get hurt among the tensions and hopes it will work out for liberty. this administration has been notably silent on the human rights issues all along regarding china. they've viewed china as an economic and strategic partnership or adversary -- in all of their relationships with totalitarian regimes speaking out on behalf of human rights. >> that's why there's a dangerous context in washington in which the situation is playing out. you have a trade war with china. you have donald trump imposing tariffs and his previous comments about hong kong, calling it an internal chinese matter. mitch mcconnell has been more aggressive, sayi

joining us now from the site of the summit is bill neely. kind of thing where these world leaders who share certain concerns would get together and they'll hash out some k-9s inds of plan. trade and climate are both issues that the host country, france once want on the agenda. they're not feeling like america is on the same page about this. >> you are right, ali. >> g-7 used to be a cozy club with a cooked up agenda and a nice communicate at the end of that. president trump has changed the g-7 forever. hl chan he'll change it as well. a tweet storm this morning. that storm is headed for france and with those threats again and this afternoon there will be some retaliation for china's retaliation this morning and european leaders, i imagine the leader of japan and canada watching what will come out of washington with real anxiety. of course, as you said g-7 is all about the world leading industrial country. trade and the economy is absolutely at the hard of what this organization or what this meeting does but i would say ali, apart from 2003 w

bill neely has late details. >> reporter: buried today, five nuclear scientists, described as the elite of russia's nuclear test site, killed with others while a small nuclear reactor exploded they were testing an engine, a weapon president putin boasted about last year, capable of outsmarting american defenses. russian officials say radiation levels spiked to 20 times normal levels people in nearby cities stocked up on iodine to reduce the effects of radiation president trump tweeting tonight the u.s. is learning much from the failed missile explosion which has people worried about the air there and far beyond initially, though, moscow has denied a leak as it did covering up the chernobyl blast 35 years ago. the world's worst nuclear accident this blast last week isn't on the same scale, but moscow can't hide an embarrassing set back to a weapon russia sees as critical in its new arms race with the u.s. one american nuclear scientist told me tonight this new cruise missile might never work u.s. intelligence officials now analyzing it's not likely and that the radiation leak is over. le

nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely joins us now from biarretz in france where the summit is going to take place. bill, this is a very unusual setup to the g7. we generally don't go into it saying this one is set to go off the rails. i don't think i've ever thought about a g7 being so fraught with difficulty before it even starts. >> reporter: you're absolutely right, ali. there are so many tripwires here, foreign policy things like iran. and now this fire being set just before president trump takes off. and about. way in europe they are stunned that he would question the chairman of the federal reserve as a possible enemy and compare him to president xi of china. so i think the u.s./china trade war, which has just increased this morning by china's actions and president trump threatening retaliation, i think that really will have an effect here because europe and japan and canada have their own worries about recession before president trump and china weighed in today. and of course the e.u. and the u.s. don't see eye to eye on trade anyway. never mind china with president t

lester >> all right, bill neely in london tonight thanks >>> this was an explosive night in hong kong where riot police clashed with pro democracy protesters inside that city's airport. it's a new phase in the protests that have been going on for months now nbc's janice mackie frayer is there for us >> reporter: tonight's chaos inside one of the world's busiest airports after riot police rush in, clashing with pro democracy protesters at one point striking an officer with his own baton he then pulling his gun to get away the new violence coming after hong kong's airport was is shutdown by protests a second straight day the crowd turning on suspected chinese spies. and ramping up anger against what protesters call police brutality. after officers this weekend fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd a young woman apparently shot in the eye. other protesters beaten. chinese authorities have blasted the protests as signs of terrorism. over the past week, state media has shown videos of chinese military drills on the mainland less than 20 miles away. protesters tell us they're undet

bill neely with me in new york. maria hinojosa the president of futura media group. and a. bar association. bill, let me start with you. you're usually stationed in london. you're in france. we talked on the show yesterday and today, about donald trump on that stage. help us understand the importance of this debut for the new prime minister of the united kingdom. this is boris johnson's first step on the world stage. ? general, president trump is putting such a positive spin on things, you have to question if he's willingfully changing the realities. there's a positive atmosphere among the leaders and that may be true. you asked about boris johnson. this morning at their breakfast, president trump suggested that none of the leaders really had any problem with his trade war with china. and he said, they respect the trade war. no one has questioned it. almost immediately, boris johnson, probably felt he had to, contradicted that. he said, we favor trade peace. and as far as the u.k. is concerned, we don't like tariffs. and i think this has been a theme for president trump alre

investigations move forward additional actions may be taken stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york >>> this is bill neely in london, where the queen's second son, prince andrew, is being dragged deeper into the epstein scandal. unusually cutting short his vacation they'd been friends and partied together for years the prince now denying again accusations he had sexual encounters with girls lured by epstein. buckingham palace stating "any suggestion of impropriety with underaged minors is categorically untrue." the prince denied this before. >> i just wish to reiterate and to reaffirm the statements which have already been made >> reporter: but he's never explained why he was photographed with virginia giuffre then 17. she alleges epstein asked her to have sex with andrew >> politicians and academics and people that -- royalty >> reporter: last week legal documents revealed a second woman accusing the prince at epstein's new york apartment of putting his hand on her breast the queen publicly showed support for her son this weekend, but the headlines that have dogged him for years are back epstein is even

nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely joins me now live from france. t these talks behind the scenes? it was a quick visit from the iranian officials. >> reporter: yeah, a quick visit. a surprise visit. and now a dispute between the u.s. and france on who knew what and when. so iran's foreign minister jahvid zarif rived on an iranian government plane. he spent a few hours here. principally he met france's president, the host of the g7, emmanuel macron. in fact, he even tweeted out a couple of photographs of that meeting. all smiles as you can probably see from these photographs. then underneath he said the road ahead is difficult, but worth trying. so he met emmanuel macron. he met the french foreign and finance ministers. and then he says he briefed the british and american -- british and german, i'm sorry, delegations here on those talks. he did not meet with the u.s. delegation. in fact, the iranian foreign ministry said that they would not have any negotiations with the american delegation here. so what was it all about? well, the french say that it

bill neely is joining us now. >> reporter: joy, zariff crashed the g-7 meeting. france wants to deescalate tensions between teheran and washington. iranian foreign ministry says they will not have discussions or negotiations with the american delegations. basically president macron has been working hard at this. he's trying to allow iran back to the negotiating table to re-negotiate the deal if the united states backs off some of those sanctions because he does not believe the american maximum pressure campaign will lead to iran in any sense surrendering. national security adviser john bolton is here with the president and it will be interesting to see if president macron can sweet talk him into talking to the iranians. no sign at the minute there will be a handshake between president tru trump, we don't know how long it will last or how long he'll be here for. president macron is trying to open up for possible negotiations. >> looks like macron is stepping up to the leader of the free war world. >> reporter: that's correct and in the absence of you like of angel

bill neely has the story. >> reporter: prince andrew is being dragged deeper into the epstein's scandalshort his vacation. they have been friends and partied together for years. the prince denying again accusations he had sexual enkoune encounters with girls lured by epstein. bucki the prince denied this before. >> i want to reiterate and reaffirm statements that are already made. >> reporter: he never explained why he was photographed with virginia at 17. >> being lent out to politicians and academics and people that are royalty. >> reporter: the second woman accusing the prince put his hands-on her breast. the queen showed support for her son this weekend. the headlines that have dogged him for years are back. epstein is tied to the princess former wife, sarah ferguson. lawyers dismissed the possibility of prince andrews facing criminal charges in the u.s. buckingham palace has not explained why andrew and epstein were so close for so many years. >>> we are learning more of the investigation into jeffery epstein's death. an after action team from the bureau prisons will be at the jail

nbc's carol lee and bill neely are following the developments in southwest france. good morning, guys. >> i assume, bill decided to pick his picturesque setting in hopes that some peace will return to these leaders out there. why this particular area? and what exactly is your vantage point from where the meetings will be taking place? >> reporter: yeah, good morning. president trump expected to touch down here in biarritz very shortly. it's a surfing resort in the southwest of france, normally, 25,000 of a population, there are 13,200 police here. so an extraordinary security effort will greet president trump and the other g7 leaders when they arrive here. they'll have a dinner in biarritz later tonight. but biarritz is in virtual lockdown. even the surfers were ordered offer the beach. there is say special magistrate's court with 17 prosecutors. they're cells for 300 people. they are anticipating protests, because there have been a history at this summit, say world trade organization and european union sum thes of prote summits of protests. they are looking to lock

we also have chief global correspondent bill neely and dom chiu from cnbc. to see you. what should we expect today? >> hey, morgan. great to see you, too. thanks for holding down the fort while we are in france traveling with the president. so the expectation as far as the next thing we will see, president trump and president macron here at the podiums behind us at some point. we don't know when. we want the press secretary stephanie grisham said that the president is working hard. he is in meetings. so it is still sort of an open timeline as to when he will see him here. there is plenty to discuss at the president with this news conference.

we also have chief global correspondent bill neely and dom chiu from cnbc. hallie, good morning to you. it's great to see you. what should we expect today? >> hey, morgan. great to see you, too. thanks for holding down the fort while we are in france traveling with the president. so the expectation as far as the next thing we will see, president trump and president macron here at the podiums behind us at some point. we don't know when. we want the press secretary stephanie grisham said that the president is working hard. he is in meetings. so it is still sort of an open timeline as to when he will see him here. there is plenty to discuss at the president with this news conference. in particular, one of the big headlines driving the morning back home and driving the markets back on wall street. that is the president's comments on those negotiations with china. he is sounding really optimistic about that, outright declaring he feels they are in a much better position than at any other part in the negotiations with beijing partly because of the outreach of chin

. >> reporter: sergeant bill neely of the west palm beach police department lost his battle with cancer at home. >> he asked if we could take jake to his first day of school. >> reporter: so when jake and his mom heather showed up at crystal lakes elementary call last week this line of blue was waiting to cheer jake on. his dad's fellow officers accompanying jake to his classroom. >> crush it, jake! >> reporter: high-fiving him along the way. >> i want to say thank you for bringing me to my first day of school. >> i think that it made him feel special. which means the world to me. >> reporter: for sergeant neely's blue family, this is just the beginning. >> they already told me they plan on coming and having lunch with him a bunch of times this year. >> reporter: vowing to be there for important milestones in the years ahead. >> we're hoping that by the time jake graduates we'll all be back here. some of us will be probably retired by then, but nonetheless, we'll be back. >> reporter: honoring their friend bill and that special promise. >> i think brought a little tears to people's eyes

bill neely joins us with that story. >> reporter: good morning, everyone it is the mother of all custody in what is the most male-dominated society on earth. an american mom in saudi arabia faces losing her daughter, and she says, a ten-year travel ban and arrest, all because she was just too western to raise her child there. bethany vierra raised her 4-year-old daughter as a single mom since she divorced her saudi husband. reportedly described in court as abusive. now, the court has decided zaina should be taken from her writing on her facebook page, bethany says, the judge ruled i was unfit to parent simply because i am a westerner saying, zaina is my everything, my purpose, my side kick, and my joy. zaina is having nightmares she cries every time she leaves the room bethany lost custody after a saudi judge ruled she was new to islam, is a foreigner in this country, and continues to embrace the traditions of her homeland we must, he said, avoid exposing zaina to tse traditions. bethany has a masters degree in islamic studies, taught at a saudi university, and opened a yoga studio. what