breaks dozens of heat records here at home josh lederman has more on the ground in greece >> reporterstopian vision of a future ravaged by climate change in this village west of athens, a sea of charred black and a chemical factory burnt to a crisp this is all that's left of this home outside of athens after a fire ravaged this village two days ago. residents here now picking up the pieces of their lives this resident lost six dogs, several chickens, and a goat when the flames devoured his family home how quickly did this house go up in flames? >> in ten minutes. >> ten minutes were you scared for your life here >> yes. >> reporter: it's not over. greek authorities say 52 new fires erupted today as firefighters play whac-a-mole. almost as soon as a fire is contained, the heat and winds pick up and th old fires are reignited. we have been watching for the last hour as firefighting helicopters like this one have been dumping water on this hot spot here in the outskirts of athens. while europe sizzles under some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded, the u.s. also grappling with trip

new details about one flight trapped on the tarmac for hours, boiling with no air-conditioning josh lederman has more from greece. >> reporter: tonight, misery in the mediterranean. southern europe shattering heat records at the high of tourist season on this week's ryanair flight from spain to italy travelers stuck on the tarmac as temps outside surge. look at this video posted to social media apparently from a passenger on that flight some people on board soaked in sweat, fanning themselves medics tending to others outside the plane. ryanair saying the flight was delayed due to a minor technical issue. earlier this week, some passengers and a flight attendant aboard a delta flight from las vegas fell ill waiting on the plane in triple-digit temperatures delta apologized and is investigating back in southern europe, this deadly heatwave just won't quit. >> how am i dealing with it? >> seeking shade. >> reporter: in greece, this could be the longest heatwave in the country's history. the entrance to the acropolis would normally be packed with tourists at this hour, but not today. the gates a

josh lederman joins me now. josh, what more are we learning? >> reporter: lester, current and former u.s. officials say this back channel includes a private meeting that russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov held in april during a brief trip to new york. on the american side were several former white house and state department staffers who have deep experience with russia. now these are not actual peace talks, but they are aimed at helping end the war. both sides testing out compromises for dealing with the toughest issues, like what happens to russian-held territories that ukraine may never liberate? the biden administration isn't directing these talks, but source tell us after that lavrov meeting, the americans briefed the white house about what they discussed. lester? >> josh lederman, thanks. >>> in 60 seconds, breaking news. a new drug just approved for alzheimer'r's disease. hohow it's giviving millionsns new hope.e. lming. but i nenever just f found my ; i mamade it. and d did all i i could to preventnt recurrencnce. verzenenio reduces

news foreign correspondent josh lederman is tracking all of these events.ell us about this latest wave of unrest. it's growing more violent. what's going on? >> you are right, lindsey. every night for the last four nights, authorities have put more resources on the streets and more restrictions in place, and yet every night, we've seen these protests grow bigger and bigger. in many cases, more violent. part of what's happening here is that this incident has really taken on a life beyond simply the killing of nahel an, this 17-year-old, said to be of north african descent. just like we've seen with many of these protests after police killings in the united states, this has taken on symbolic significance for many french citizens who have had long standing concerns about what they say is racism and discrimination by the french police, particularly they say, targeted at immigrants, targeted at people of middle eastern and north african descent. but allegations, of course, of the french government denies. what of what we're also seeing is that as these protests

nbc's josh lederman is following the trial. orter: that's right, chris. elton john and his husband both testifying remotely, and the reason is that one of the allegations against kevin spacey centers on an annual gala event that the singer, elton john, held at his home in windsor. a younger man has accused kevin spacey of while driving to the event in 2004 or 2005, this young man says kevin spacey grabbed him in an inappropriate way, forcing him almost to drive off the road. now, elton john and his husband were called in because they say that kevin spacey, in fact, did not attend that event in either year. they testified in court today that the actor only attended their annual event once back in 2001, and in fact, they said they had gone through all of the photos from the event that year to make sure that kevin spacey, in fact, was not there, and they have determined he didn't attend. so the defense making the case that if kevin spacey wasn't at the party that year, that allegation must be bogus. but of course, this is one of a

nbc's josh lederman is following all these developments from london. , prime minister netanyahu is under serious pressure from the extreme right -- of an extreme right government supporting expanding israeli settlements beyond any expansion we've seen in decades that i can recall. is the military operation partly a response to that pressure or a response to palestinian resistance? >> that certainly may be a big factor, andrea. as you point out, not only have the far right members of of netanyahu's coalition been supporting ex-expanding settlements, but putting extreme pressure to put a stop on what they see as violence and terror from palestinians who live in the occupied west bank. we have seen far right ministers in netanyahu's own government saying these pinprick raids are not sufficient. they want to see a full-scale military operation to put an end once and for all to the types of attacks that they have been seeing such as that shooting last week of four israelis in the west bank. now, netanyahu is under pressure including the political situation o

nbc's josh lederman is following the latest on this for us. josh, what more do we know about this?er: well, chris, the story of yevgeny prigozhin keeps getting weirder and more steers. the last we heard from ber goshen, the belarusian leader said he never had gone to belarus as planned, and we saw prigozhin in that bizarre three-hour meeting in the kremlin with president putin just weeks after he had mounted that attempted rebellion against the russian leader. now he apparently is in belarus, according to this video, which while we can't confirm when it was shot, it is believed to have been sometime this week. and in the video, he tells his fighters who are now apparently in belarus, that essentially we're done with ukraine. what's happening on the front lines he calls a shame, and says we don't need to be part of that. so what are you going to do instead? he says they're going to train the belarus military to be the second strongest military in the world. interestingly, he doesn't say who he's referring to as the first most powerful military, presumably he means his home country o

. >>> the "today" show's josh lederman is following developments on what we know about the secret talks with ukraine. you'll have the latest at 7:00, coming up after "today in the bay." >>> if you need proof the pandemic is mostly behind us and you want to have some fun, as well as some funnel cake action in the process, just check out one of our summer county fares. the marin county fair is calling its recent five-day run a success. organizers say revenue and attendance bounced back beyond pre-pandemic levels in 2020 and 2021. marin hosted only a virtual fair, and last year it was still taking pandemic precautions. if you're wondering, alameda county fair ends its run on sunday. >> can't get a corn dog virtually. >>> you can't, but you can get action weather-wise. meteorologist kari hall is tracking what we can expect. a cool start to the morning. >> you can see drizzle on the camera lens in emeryville and we're starting out with a deeper marine layer that means more clouds and fog that may hold on longer throughout the morning. as you drive across the san mateo bridge, both hands on t

>> josh lederman, thank you, josh.resident's decision to send cluster bombs, weapons outlawed by more than 100 countries, it's prompting mixed reactions from both sides of the aisle. they don't always immediately explode. children can step on them. >> russia has been using them all along. i think this fills a gap. >> russia is using them in ukraine in an aggressive war on another country. obviously, they have a very low done right. it will be using them to defend their own territory. >> i want to bring in a democratic representative for michigan debbie dingell to talk more about this. we just heard from one of your colleagues, beverley, not giving the cluster munitions to the ukrainians amidst their offensive. where do you stand on this when it comes to the president's decision? >> it's good to be with you. i'm not happy. i have deep concerns about our use of cluster bombs. the fact of the matter, almost won her 20 countries have signed an agreement not to use cluster bombs. they are in human. i'm not quite sure the pe

nbc's josh lederman is live where the heat has sparked wildfires.f europe? when i hear people say it's too hot in italy to eat pasta, you know it's bad. >> reporter: and all of those tourists flocking to europe finding a lot more than they bargained for. here in greece, the fires are truly a game of whac-a-mole. we spent a day driving through the region west of athens, you could see every couple of miles or so, these little fires igniting and that is a result of the fact that every time the greek firefighters are able to put out one of these fires, the heats pick up, winds pick up in areas that had previously burned, they are reignited officials saying there were 52 new fires that erupted just today. they are bringing in help from neighboring countries like italy, as well as france and israel to try to get ahold of this, but there's really no end to the problem in sight, with heat expected to continue to rise up until about 113 degrees anticipated on sunday, and yet another heat wave set to hit greece next week, chris. >> wow, josh lederman, get ins

nbc news foreign correspondent josh lederman is following the story. what more can you tell us about what happened and how each side is responding. >> israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been speaking after he convened a national security meeting about this crisis, and he describes this refugee camp as a nest of terrorist, and the city of janine, a city of refuge for terrorism. that speaks to the mindset of the israeli government right now, as they are carrying out this massive operation as they describe as a counter operation involving well over a thousand troops. the israelis saying that they have managed to go after a explosion at an explosives factory, as well as occupational situation rooms used by militant groups. this refugee camp has been a stronghold of opposition to the israeli occupation in the west bank. it has been the source of many of the exchanges of fire and violence between israeli military troops as well as palestinian militants over the last year. but the israeli government is signaling that this raid is different than the

nbc's josh lederman is monitoring developments for us. what more can you tell us about what led to this? >> this refugee camp in the city of janine has long been a flashpoint treene israelis and palestinians in the best bank. this ongoing raid according to the israeli military is one of the largest if not the largest israeli incursion into the west bank in well over 15 years, since the end of the last palestinian uprising. that is raising real questions about escalation with the israeli military releasing this video of one of the raids they conducted in the city of janine in that refugee camp. the israeli military saying they recovered several ieds that were gathering in that area. one of the real concerns here is while we have seen more like pinpoint operations by these israeli military in the past to go after what they say are these counterterrorism targets, this one appears to be much longer and much broader with the israeli military saying they could be there for days, that they're going to continue this operation as long as it takes

nbc's josh lederman is back with us.e reports of gunfights near a west bank mosque earlier today. what's the latest on the situation there? >> reporter: well, the israeli military held a briefing not long ago for reporters where they confirmed that. they said that palestinian militants were firing at these israeli forces from inside mosque and so the israeli forces entered that mosque. according to the spokesperson for the israeli military who also said that inside that mosque were not only weapons but also explosive devices and claimed that militants were actually using the mosque to try to build tunnels to carry out terror attacks, and so that is one vivid example of the type of exchange of violence that we have continued to see for close to 24 hours now in this massive israeli incursion, the largest in decades into the occupied west bank to carry out what the israelis are describing as counter terrorism with prime minister netanyahu a short while ago, describing the refugee camp as a nest of terrorists. the palestinia

that is where we find nbc's josh lederman, who joins us from athens. josh, you've got the, one-two punch. you've got wildfires and extreme heat. what's the latest? >> well, the good news, lindsay, here in the athens area, those fires aren't mostly under control. but the bad news is, firefighters are watching a crisis situation in the islands of roads, which is a greek tourist destination or there is a massive fire that it's really out of control. and today, some 10,000 tourists have had to flee their hotels, many of them on foot, trying to care either suitcases or leaving with nothing at all. all of the ships and boats in the area have been put on alert by the coast guard that they may be needed to actually evacuate people off of that island, if they need to flee, and aren't able to do so on atlantic to another safe part of the island. that speaks to how urgent that matter is in the island inroads. well here in athens, many of the tourist sites still shuttered during large parts of the day because including the acropolis just behind. we walked up to th

let's bring in nbc's josh lederman from rhodes. how dire is the situation in greece and specifically where you are? >> reporter: ana, i wish i could tell you the situation was improving, but unfortunately that's not the case. you can see the town just over my shoulder and just how close all that smoke is to the village. we heard from the dep tip mayor of rhodes earlier who said the number of acres of this island that has now burned has exceeded 380. earlier today we were in another coastal town where we saw the fire slowly creeping over the hill as the entire area was being evacuated. now we know the fire, in fact, ripped through that town. it went all the way to the beach, taking hotels and buildings along with it. this is a situation firefighters have been unable to get under control. you can see how windy it is. it's really windy here, whipping up the flames and changing the direction of the fire. i want you to hear from a resident who we spoke with a little while ago as i was watching this island burn. here is what he told us.

joining us now is nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell and josh lederman. >>eteriorate both militarily with more drone strikes by israeli forces even this evening in the occupied west bank, but also diplomatically with prime minister netanyahu emerging from an emergency security meeting to describe the camp as a nest of terrorists. we're hearing from the palestinian authority which has just announced it's cutting off all security cooperation with israel and all diplomatic talks with the israeli government. that will further undermine the ability for these two sides to work toward any resolution. the israeli government is trying to make clear this raid is different from the periodic raids of the west bank we have seen over the last several months. essentially this time they've gone in to get the job and intent to stay until they rooted out the terror threat that the israeli military has described as emanating from jenin. they're going to stay there, potentially for several days. >> israel describing this as a counterterrorism operation. andrea, we have heard fr

joining me now is nbc news correspondent josh lederman, first off, congratulations on the scoop. tell me who was involved. i believe it's a familiar face on this show. >> reporter: that's right, one of the people who was involved in this meeting with lavrov was richard haass, the outgoing president of the counsel on foreign relations, someone well known to fans of this show. he was joined by other former white house and state department officials who have a lot of expertise on russia, and have been keeping the door open to communications with not only the russian government, via lavrov, but also the others who are in the foreign policy sphere in russia, the heads of their major think tanks, academics, research institutes, people who talk to the kremlin about foreign policy. we should say, this is not a substitute for actual peace negotiations involving the ukrainians, the americans, and the russians but that's not happening right now, and so this is an effort by these former officials to at least start to feel out potential solutions to some of the trickiest solutions that can be

among them, russia's top diplomat, nbc's josh lederman broke that story, and he joins us now, along withly cobiella, reporting from kyiv, ukraine. formal diplomatic talks between the united states and russia are few and far between to say the least, but apparently there have been some secret unofficial discussions. what more do we know about this? >> yeah, that's right, yasmin. there's no substitute for actual peace talks which are going to be needed to end this war. you're right, that's not really on the table right now. and so in the meantime, these former u.s. officials we have learned have really stepped up on their own to try to keep the channels of communication open with russia. to lay the ground work for ultimately peace negotiations to actually end the war and to feel out where there could be room for some compromise. so one occasion of this type of back channelling involved a secret meeting that foreign minister sergey lavrov of russia held in april in new york while he was in the u.s. on a short visit, and there were several former white house and state department staffers who

nbc correspondent josh lederman, in kyiv, kelly cobiella, and with me, "new york times" chief white houserespondent peter baker. everybody, welcome. josh, let me start with you. walk us through the meeting with president zelenskyy and the assurances that were made? >> well, katy, the elephant in the room here for the ukrainians is that fear that you just alluded to, which is that as this war surpasses the 500-day mark that western support for ukraine is going to begin to erode, and so what the ukrainians and president zelenskyy got today was a commitment, not from nato, but actually from the g7 nations that they are going to make their security assistance long term. because over the last yearand a half or so, there have been billions provided to the ukrainians in weaponry and security assistance, but those have essentially been oneoffs, and now what ukrainians are getting is a commitment for the first time on paper that this is going to be a recurring thing, the u.s. and its allies are going to continue for the long haul to provide security assistance, weaponry, economic assistance, help

nbc's foreign correspondent josh lederman who broke this exclusive is joining us now. r's back with us as well. josh, who exactly is involved in these talks? and what has been discussed? >> reporter: ana, it's no surprise that relations between the u.s. and russian governments right now are really at a low, and that can make it difficult for washington and moscow to really be able to discuss potential end games to this conflict, particularly as the u.s. and its allies are signaling they would like to see this enter some type of peace talks by the end of the year. that is where these track two back channel negotiations can really be productive, allowing for more informal conversations involving former u.s. officials who in many cases are still in touch with people in the white house and the state department and russians who are believed to have the kremlin's ear. including this meeting that nbc news now can reveal that sergey lavrov, the foreign minister of russia held secretly in new york in april with several former u.s. officials who are affiliated with the council on

. >>> now to greece, josh lederman is live. what can you tell us about the evacuations, a nightmare for greece and the many people who go there this time of year, once this a lifetime evacuation, they are too among the evacuees, right? >> reporter: those evacuations you mentioned, they are continuing to grow. the flames that you see in the distance behind me, they are basically all around the center of this island, pushing in some instances all the way to the coast. a few hours ago, we were in the town of calathos, when we got a text message saying evacuate now, the fire is headed this way. that's what people around the island are experiencing. i want yo tow hear from two vacationers who we spoke with here who recounted their harrowing flee from the flames. >> my dad went up stairs to get the passports. he saw the fire. they told us to evacuate from the beach. from the beach, we walked an hour and a half to a different resort, and the fire started to catch up to the other resort, and then we hopped on a truck. >> smoke was ever

across the globe extreme temperatures fueling epic wildfires in greece, where our josh lederman reports thousands have been evacuated. we're watching the flames slowly creep up over this hill behind me the heavy winds kicking up those flames this area being evacuated. it is now eerily quiet here with dangerous triple-digit temps expanding across much of the u.s., tonight a new study says the risk of a fatal heart attack may double on days with both extreme heat and high levels of air pollution a dramatic rescue was captured on the citizen app in los angeles as firefighters airlifted two hikers overcome by heat 24-year-old kai torres bronson lost his life after helping others on a trail while mountain-biking in san diego. >> it brings the family some comfort knowing that our kai-pie died the way that he lived, going out of his way to help others >> reporter: doctors warn older adults are at greater risk but even the young must take precautions >> when our core body temperature raises to above 106, which is our definition for that heatstroke, that stresses all systems on the body. >> repo

nbc's josh lederman is standing by in greece outside of athens.om galveston, texas. priscilla, nbc news is reporting that cases of second and third degree burns have significantly increased during this heat wave filling up emergency rooms? >> reporter: yeah, ana, filling up emergency rooms and burn units, and this is something that we're hearing from ems officials in nevada and arizona, and you might be thinking, well, how does that happen? they're saying that people are falling or passing out on the pavement, and that is how they're getting those severe burns. and of course it is often -- as is often the case, it is in these vulnerable populations like the elderly, like children, like people who are unhoused. so an elderly person may have fallen on the pavement and been unable to get up, and then they're suffering these burns or a person also had a seizure, fell on the pavement, was not able to get up and so just another one of the safety concerns that we're seeing as these record-setting temperatures continue across the country. we're also seein

. >> reporter: josh lederman, nbc news, castle ford, england >>> back in this country, if you didn'tin last night's mega millions jackpot, don't be discouraged, because nobody did. and it just grew even bigger it's now at $640 million, which is among the highest in the game's history and the jackpot for tonight's powerball, $875 million, the third-highest in that game's history. >>> in the sports world, wimbledon has a new women's champion, and she's also making history. marketa vondrousova became the lowest ranked and first unseeded woman to win the tournament. it's her first grand slam title ever >>> when we come back, there's good news tonight. how this emotional dance was 25 years in the making. e♪ >>> there's good news tonight. so many heartwarming moments of people doing good or overcoming the odds starting with an unexpected friendship this was a summer 6-year-old weston made a new friend he'll never forget >> see me do a spin? >> yeah. >> all because of a chance meeting with hannah huntsley >> whoa! >> there you go. >> weston, who has cerebral palsy, was inspired by hannah, w

more and more firefighters fled to the island, including now from the country of slovakia. >> josh ledermansh, thank you. next, a case out of nebraska that has the attention of abortion rights activists. we're gonna talk it all. later, i sit down with the stars of a new show at lincoln center theater taking issue of reproductive freedom head on. freedom head on the long-lasting scent of gain flings made it smell like dave was in his happy place... ...the massage chair at the mall. but...he wasn't. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little b

our josh lederman showed us this scene. >> reporter: this looks like what you see after a hurricane or refugees fleeing a war, but these are all tourist who had to flee their hotels and have nowhere else to go now desperately seeking information what comes next. >>> also, canada is badly hit by heavy flooding in nova scotia. four people are missing, including two children the governor called the damage to homes, quote, unimaginable. the storms started on friday, dumping three months' worth of rain on the province in just 24 hours. >>> the state of texas's latest attempt to deter immigrants from crossing the border is being met with resistance. it has until this afternoon to remove the obstacles or face federal consequences for more on this, we go to brie jackson in washington. brie, good morning tell us more what's leading up to this potential battle >> good morning, frances this stems from actions taken by republican governor greg abbott at the u.s.-mexico border. as part of operation lone star, the state's $4 billion effort to counter migration, texas has constructed a series of larg

josh lederman has the latest. >> reporter: tonight, more violence in france on the fifth day of riotinggrenade exploding, and more arrests dampening hopes that the worst may be over. this after more than 1,300 people were arrested last night alone, with 45,000 police officers on the streets. hundreds of them have been injured so far, authorities say. amid the chaos, looting overnight, hundreds of cars set on fire. and the state department urging americans to stay away from the protests for their safety. the unrest coming in response to tuesday's killing by police of a 17-year-old boy identified as nahel m. of north african descent. he was shot during a traffic stop after police say he tried to drive away and officers feared for their safety. but prosecutors charging the officer preliminarily with voluntary homicide, saying the conditions to discharge a weapon hadn't been met. the killing lighting a match under long simmering complaints about racism and discrimination by french law enforcement, an allegation the government denies. president macron calling it unjustifiable. macron cancell

nbc's josh lederman is on the island of rhodes. >> reporter: the beachside resorts are normally packedr, but tourists are fleeing by the thousands. package holiday companies now canceling trips while airlines bring in more airplanes to ferry people home. >> reporter: jim arrived friday from michigan, then escaped on saturday. >> we were able to evacuate by car rather than head down to the beach like a lot of the tourists. and be evacuated via boat. >> reporter: 104 temps have forced the acropolis to close early, while a delta plane flying from milan to new york hit turbulence over italy with softball-sized hail, causing serious damage. high temps whether in greece or arizona can affect airline departures. >> in extreme heat, it will take longer to take off, and some airlines may have to cut weight with less passengers and baggage. >> reporter: before leaving for vacation, travel pros advise checking the extended forecast. monitor news of potential strikes or political instability, and consider cancel for any reason trip insurance. >> if you invested a lot of money in a trip and your mo

our josh lederman showed us the scene. advisers this looks like what you see after a hurricane or people fleeing a war, but these are all tourists who had to flee their hotels and have nowhere else to go now desperate to find information what comes next. >>> canada is heavily hit, four people are missing, go two children the governor calls the damage to homes, quote, unimaginable the storm started on friday, dumping three months' worth of rain on the province in just 24 hours. >>> chicago saw yet another weekend of deadly gun violence over the span of 48 hours, at least six people were killed and 26 others injured as bullets flew across that city. a 16-year-old boy later died after being found on a sidewalk with gunshot wounds to his chest. the youngest victim was a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the leg while riding his bicycle. he is expected to be okay. according to the begun violence archive, there have been more than 400 mass shootings across the united states so far this year >>> it was also a dangerous weekend on t

our josh lederman is on the ground in greece. >> reporter: workers here at the acropolis are walking job, refusing to work in 103 degree heat, while west of athens a massive fire is still that has tore through villages and ravaged homes is still raging. >> reporter: what is making spain, italy and greece so hot? an anti-cyclone trend from north africa. across the globe, a severe weather picture that only continues to worsen. >> and sam, at the top i mentioned this is all expanding. it's going to get worse, especially in south florida. >> lester, you know it. the heat index peak in miami is not until august 8th, which is to say it is definitely going to get worse. but we are expecting potentially a break in this dangerous heat some time next week. lester? >> all right. sam brock in miami starting us off. >> reporter: one week after the arrest of a suspect in new york's gilgo beach killings, authorities are expanding their investigation, looking at unsolved cases in other states. stephanie gosk has the latest. >> rex, did you do it? >> reporter: accused serial killer rex heuermann sits

the headlines from london to washington to right here in new york and we're going to begin with josh lederman in london ahead of the arrival of the president there. josh, a long distance welcome to you, my friend. what does the president hope to accomplish during the big trip to europe? >>, well, alex on, his first stop, president biden will aim to really show u.s. already with its closest ally, the united kingdom, including with a meeting at downing street tomorrow morning with prime minister rishi sunak. at windsor castle, president biden will have an opportunity to hold his first meeting with king charles since the new king was coronated. during that nato summit in lithuania, president biden really has a difficult task ahead of him to try to show the ukrainians that this western alliance has won supporting ukraine is really standing just as strongly as it has just as the war has surpassed 500 days with the ukrainians very concerned that the western support is eroding. you heard how the ukrainians are very upset about the fact that they are insistent that they should be admitted to nato imm

nbc news correspondent josh lederman is joining us from rhodes, greece. josh, good to talk to you.ing on with this fire there. >> well, yasmin, if you want a sense of just how fast this fire is moving, take a look at what's happening behind me. this is the town of masari, and just a few hours ago, this fire was nowhere near that town. now, it is coming down this hill fast, threatening the village. it's unclear whether masari is going to survive the night. this is happening all over this island. we were in another town earlier this morning, where a few hours after it was evacuated, the fire sweat through, made it all the way to the beach in some cases, and every time they evacuate another town, there are more people stranded, particularly tourists, because this is a holiday hot spot. now, i want you to hear from two tourists who we spoke to who are trying to get flights home out of the airport after their hotels were evacuated. listen to what they told us. how much time did you have to evacuate? >> like seconds, like seconds, like it was in a matter of seconds. we don't have our clo

. >> nbc news foreign correspondent josh lederman is in london with more. >> he will suggest an opportunity to show off that special relationship between the u.s. and uk. but it will be the summit in vilnius, lithuania, with the war now surpassing 500 days. he will have to defend his controversial decision to provide cluster bombs to ukraine, but despite the fact that it could injure innocent civilians. he's going to have to work with nato leaders to paper over the ukraine's concerns about the fact that they are not ready to admit to ukraine as a member. he doesn't think that ukraine is ready. we are hearing from ukrainians who are very upset after nbc news exclusively revealed that former u.s. officials have been meeting with russians about the ukraine war, including the foreign minister of russia, sergei lab, raffa met with former american officials back in april. we heard this morning from john kirby, from the white house national security council about that meeting. take a listen. >> we were aware that discussions were happening at a private level, but we weren't passing messages throug

nbc's josh lederman is in athens. josh, how are people they're coping with this unrelenting heat?oo much. >> that's right, aaron. two words really come to mind. exhaustion and frustration. exhaustion, because people here in greece and southern european dealing with this for just so long. we heard today from the head of greeks, preece's meteorological institute, saying that they, are anticipating this could be 16 to 17 consecutive days of heat wave, which would be the longest heat wave in this country's recorded history. he says this weekend could be the hottest july weekend in some 50 years. so, this is something that people have been dealing with for so long, and really struggling to find ways to safely live in this type of climate. the frustration kicks in, because of how this has really impacted peoples lives. people are being told to stay indoors if they can, to work from home if possible. and here at the acropolis, just behind, me we walked up to the entrance to see whether people were able to get in, and we saw all kinds of tourists who have showed up. they are being turned

joining us now is keir simmons, also with us is josh lederman keir, you had a really rare opportunity belarus, and talk to the president, what more did he say? >> reporter: we're seeing two things, kate, i think we're seeing the autocratic leader of belarus here distancing himself for prigozhin and the rush is shan media looking to discredit prigozhin. some of these photos overnight. not verified by nbc news. evidence of a police raid on prigozhin's house in st. petersburg, dollars piled up. private helilicopter. insiside swimmingg pool. wigs apparently for disguise. that all put on russian media suggesting that prigozhin has led this kind of charmed life. and then on the other hand, we were invited here to belarus as you mentioned, one of the few international news organization to the presidential palace to be told he's not here in belarus that he would be here, that he's a free man in russia and he may never come here as you can imagine that was surprising and i ask the leader of belarus, you know, how can that be? >> all is foriven, is that what we're saying? >> putin told us direc

europe, hundreds of millions are also suffering through extreme heat, including greece, where our josh ledermanorts thousands are fleeing destructive wildfires. >> the island of rods is a beachside paradise. imagine the terror as the fire swept through here. they had minutes to flee, some still in their bathing suits, walking mile after mile, to safety. and this fire is nowhere near out. >> reporter: in the u.s., health experts say high temperatures are especially dangerous for pregnant women, like kristen but, who recently moved from buffalo to sweltering fort worth, texas. >> i literally felt my skin burning. i'm, like, no, this doesn't feel right. >> reporter: but everyone, no matter how fit, can be vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. 24-year-old mountain biker khai torres bronson recently lost his life while helping dehydrated hikers in the desert, east of san diego. his passing, a sobering reminder of how quickly extreme heat can become deadly, even if you're young and athletic. and, of course, our hearts going out to the family and friends of that mountain biker. back here in minneapoli

josh lederman joins us now from lithuania. let's start with president's speech. what else did it say about ukraine and the support of nato. >> taking stock of the last year and a half with the president really praising the western nations for not losing their strong support for ukraine, praising the ukrainians for their resilience saying that despite a year and a half of what he described as crimes against humanity by the russians the ukrainians haven't crumbled. a major focus of the speech today was really at looking at what comes next. watch. >> the defense of freedom is not the work of a day or a year, it's the calling of our lifetime. of all time. we're still for the struggle ahead. our unity will not falter, i promise you. >> reporter: president biden also meeting here with president zelenskyy of ukraine just after the ukrainian leader had come out on twitter sharply critical of nato's reluctance to immediately allow his country into the alliance, but after that meeting zelenskyy saying it went great, it lasted twice as long that had been scheduled. focused

josh lederman, thank you for that update. appreciate it. we have more breaking news, everybody, at this time coming from the middle east. u.s. officials confirming an air strike has killed -- the strike was conducted in eastern syria on friday, a pentagon statement saying there are no indications any civilians were killed, were also being told is carried out by aircraft, u.s. central command says were harassed by a russian aircraft earlier today. talked about it a bit earlier, former prison on the campaign trail this weekend as he maintains a commanding lead in the 2024 primary. on average, leads florida governor, ron desantis, by nearly 30 percentage points. vaughn hillyard is following this in las vegas for us with the -- von, he is not on desantis, even as his lead seems to be growing. it certainly seems he has as i am more on the general election. >> right, along with some attacks along the way against ron desantis. donald trump yesterday here in las vegas, his first stop as a presidential candidate in 2024. putting his focus on democra

. >> josh lederman, thank you so much on that exclusive reporting. appreciate it. >>> joining us right now to discuss both of these story, david ignacious, foreign columnist and associate editor with "the washington post," also an msnbc contributor and peter baker, chief white house correspondent with "the new york times" and an msnbc political analyst. he's also the former moscow co-bureau chief for "the washington post." so, peter, first to you, if prigozhin is in fact still in russia, what do you think putin is trying to achieve here? do you believe the kremlin's statement that they're not tracking him? >> no. i mean, i think we should take everything the kremlin says at this point with a grain of salt to say the least. there is a whole lot of intrigue going on here that we don't fully understand. there is a whole lot of speculation now as to who is behind what and where this is going. i would be very cautious about taking anything that is official at this point from moscow at face value. prigozhin is, you know, he was, of course, for years a top

josh lederman joins us now.eration in jenin is nearing completion, what was israel's goal? >> reporter: kate, israel says its goal was to eliminate a extreme terror threat coming from that refugee camp in jenin. they've been able to track 50 terror attacks emanated from that one refugee camp. prime minister netanyahu described it as a nest of terrorists. over the last 36-plus hours, israel has confiscated more than 1,000 weapons they found in and around that refugee camp. the government has been able to go after operational situation rooms used by extremists as well as i.e.d.s, even tunnels they said were being built to carry out terror attacks. palestinians think this is a complete overreaction. they're calling for an emergency u.n. security council to discuss this. how violence could escalate. as we see when israeli/palestinian violence breaks out, a tit-for-tat response. the concern is, it could expand even farther, rockets that could come from gaza strip, lebanon where hezbollah is located. and potentially f

let's bring in josh lederman.wn for us and where do things stands now in. >> reporter: prime minister netanyahu has been speaking today, jenin revi camp is no longer a safe haven for terrorists. and that israel will continue to carry out similar type of actions as necessary. not the last time we see israel act in this way as israel has described as its self-defense. it seems that israeli government have been saying they've been able to go after the threats they saw, they had witnessed building up in this jenin refugee camp, the storage of ammunitions and i.e.d.s that militants were accumulating there, but they are also putting the palestinians noticeably on notice they may carry out more raise. the real question is, whether we'll see more retaliation, we're also seeing palestinians in the occupied west bank today really taking stock of that massive destruction that was a result of this israeli incursion, the loss of power, officials working to restore that although water is still to be out. >> based on what you ju

here is nbc's josh lederman. >> sergey lavrov head a private meeting in april in new york with several former u.s. government officials. a big part of the focus has been on dealing with potential solutions to some of the thorniest issues in the conflict, such as the fate of territories that have long been held by russia and that ukraine may never be able to liberate. we'll have much more coming up on "today." >>> the other big news is jobs. the labor department just released the latest numbers. the american economy added 209,000 jobs last month, that's less than economists were expecting, but continued growth. the unemployment rate falls to 3.6%. president biden was in the election battleground state of south carolina yesterday playing up bidenomics, a term he adopted as all the numbers do seem to go his way. >> this is what it looks like across the country. over 13 million new jobs since i've been elected to office, more jobs than any president has ever created in the first two years. nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs, including 14,000 in this state alone. this state alone. >> marcus

. >> with us now to talk all about this, nbc news correspondent josh lederman, with the president in lithuania, igo delder and retired admiral james stavridis, msnbc's chief international analyst. welcome to you all. thank you for joining us on this. josh, start us off if you will. we played a little sound of president biden and zelenskyy there. take us through some of the main takeaways we have been hearing so far between these two men. >> reporter: well, throughout this war, yasmin, the united states, its allies and nato and elsewhere have provided billions of dollars of assistance to ukraine. but what these leaders are announcing here in vilnius today as president biden meets with president zelenskyy and gets ready to give that major speech, they're going to make this a much more longer term commitment, essentially creating an umbrella agreement under which the individual nations in nato, including the u.s., are going to commit to make this a regular occurrence, they are going to contribute over the longer term to make sure that ukraine has the defense that it needs to be able to p