our thanks to janis mackey frayer in beijing. >>> how does the u.s. investigate this?. this is an abrupt shift for the administration because they had support of the w.h.o.'s investigation but it seems now they have shifted. what do you think? >> i think the w.h.o. investigation didn't provide the answers we were hoping for. part had to do with the limited access they had. so the end result was that investigation ended up general rating more questions than offering any real answers. so as noted earlier 16 months into this pandemic, we still don't have the kind of evidence that tells us when and where and under what circumstances this virus made the way to the human population so i think president biden is trying to take a step to bring clarity to that question. >> i wonder if the intelligence community is the best place for this investigation. can you have a meaningful investigation without full transparency and should they lead this and not scientific community members? >> if we're going to get the answer as to the origins of this virus we really need to be in china a

china downplaying the risk nbc's janis mackey frayer is in beijing >> reporter: chinese officials are confident the falling rocket won't cause any harm, and they dismiss the criticism as western hype >> reporter: orbiting space junk around earth has increased dramatically and is closely monitored. most of the rocket is expected to burn in the atmosphere like controlled re-entries recently seen over the u.s. and could disintegrate to pieces the size of a basketball but last year another massive chinese rocket body may have struck near a village in west africa and other chinese rocket debris has fallen onto populated areas destroying buildings. right now the department of defense is monitoring the rocket's trajectory. >> we look at a lot of things but we don't have a plan to shoot it down as we speak. >> reporter: lester, we're told no matter where this comes down our tracking system should be able to pinpoint exactly where it will hit at least a couple of hours before impact lester >> in the meantime we'll all be looking up gadi, thank you. >>> the covid catastrophe in india is prompti

joining us from beijing, janis mackey frayer. hope of that happening, either. from china's perspective, they did their part with the w.h.o. join study that released that report suggesting that the lab leak was extremely unlikely. from china's view, not only did the virus not originate in a lab in wuhan, they don't believe that it started in china at all. if there is going to be mounting pressure on china to have the investigators on the ground, u.s. scientists come to look at the records, look at the databases, look at any safety audits, we can expect there would be a discussion around resip -- resip indication. china is fighting back. this belief that the world health organization needs to look elsewhere at other labs, at other facilities in other countries. in particular, in the u.s. nothing has changed in that position from china's perspective, except that now this lab leak theory has what we can call a mainstream variant with the u.s. intelligence community now having 90 days to try to come up with something. that, too, is go

nbc's janis mackey frayer is in beijing for us janis, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, craig. when the virus first spread from china last year, vietnam was one of those countries that was quick to act it had testing, it had quarantines, and it was able to largely avoid any surge in covid cases, until now this morning, a troubling new coronavirus variant in vietnam that authorities say is a hybrid of variants found in india and the uk, causing vietnam's first real surge of covid cases. the country now in lockdown. health officials warning the new variant spreads quickly by air no cases of it have been reported in the u.s. with covid variants driving new waves of infection especially across asia, there's renewed attention on the origins of the virus. >> there's going to be covid-26 and covid-31 unless we fully understand the origins of covid-19. >> reporter: president biden last week setting a 90-day deadline for u.s. intelligence agencies to get closer to knowing whether the virus spread from a bat through an animal to humans, or if it is possible it leaked from a lab. the worl

janis mackey frayer in beijing, thank you. >>> elon musk's much-anticipated "snl" debut.al revelation he made during the show, but first your local news plans for the long term, and plans for a long weekend. assets you allocate, and ones you hold tight. at thrivent, we believe money is a tool, not a goal. and with the right guidance, you can get the financial clarity you need, and live a life rich in meaning, and gratitude. to learn more, text thrive to 444555, or visit thrivent.com. ♪ ♪ this is my body of proof. proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage and clear skin in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new

. >> thanks to nbc's janis mackey frayer. >>> president biden will be in europe for his first foreignnce taking office in two weeks. one of his stops will be geneva for a meeting with vladimir putin. over the weekend, he hinted about one of the things he intends to discuss with his russian counterpart. >> i had a long conversation two hours recently with president xi making it clear to him that we could do nothing but speak out for human rights around the world because that's who we are. i will be meeting with president putin in a couple weeks in geneva, making it clear that we will not -- we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights. >> joining us is my colleague shannon pettypiece, senior white house correspondent. shannon, why is president biden making human rights a key part of his discussions with vladimir putin on top of everything else they have to talk about? >> reporter: such a departure from the trump administration, which intentionally was very hands off on human rights issues because they were concerned it could interfere in other issues where former president trump