keir, good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian. good evening. another military helicopter was shot down over the eastern ukrainian city of slavyansk today. these pictures unverified by nbc news appear to show it being targeted. it is the third such attack in just a week. while four ukrainian soldiers were killed as the government here tries to wrestle control back from pro-russian militia. meanwhile, a mob of 2,000 stormed a military prosecutor's office smashing doors and throwing files on the floor as divisions deepen and spread. funerals have been held south of here in odessa where 40 people were killed in that union fire -- that union building fire before the weekend. while here in donetsk down the street at the city hall, it is barricaded. there are men in military uniforms carrying weapons vowing to fight if the ukrainian military come here as ukraine tears itself to pieces. brian? >> keir simmons reporting live for us tonight from donetsk, ukraine. keir, thanks. >>> back in this country, we have an update on the terrifying fall at the circ

nbc's keir simmons has the latest from ukraine. keir? >> reporter: hey, lester, good evening. pro-ukraine protesters have been seen on the streets of odessa south of here tonight carrying molotov cocktails, rifles, and even longbows. on those same streets earlier today, opposing gangs of pro-russians as ukraine descends into a spiral of revenge. lawless masked men opposed to the current government smashed the door of a police station in odessa. 30 pro-russian prisoners were freed, cheered by the crowd. heroes, they shout. and we will not forgive. more than 40 of their number died in a fire in a union building friday. today locals paid their respects, the hands of an unknown victim imprinted on the wall. the fire is the country's worst atrocity since february. the pro-russian protesters blamed government supporters. the prime minister visiting odessa blamed russia. >> this is the part of russian road map how to grab and to eliminate ukraine. >> reporter: and criticized his own police for failing to stop it. one group of officers responded throwing their shields to the floor. we

this time thankfully no one is inside. >> that was nbc's keir simmons reporting. the pressure is mounting to do more for the release of hundreds of schoolgirls. they were kidnapped nearly three weeks ago. while secretary of state john kerry vowed u.s. support, calling what happened an unconsciousable crime. at this point the u.s. is not so directly involved in the search and many nigerians have sharply criticized the government's slow response. meanwhile, the president spoke out for the first time since the kidnapping saying, quote, wherever these girls are, we'll get them out. >>> firefighters in guthrie, oklahoma, are battling a massive wildfire. according to kfor in oklahoma city, the fire department says at least one person has died. officials say the wildfire began after a controlled burn got out of hand. strong winds and dry weather are fuelling the flames and making it difficult for fire crews. so far some 3,000 acres have burned. busy weekend. especially when it comes to the nhl and nba. let's get @ latest from richard lui. >> very busy weekend, frances. g

our report tonight from nbc's keir simmons. ♪ >> reporter: she was one of the greatest beauties hollywoodas ever known. >> tonight you'll see one of the river ya's most fascinating sights. >> reporter: sharing the screen with great men but at the height of her fame, grace walked away sailed away, to marry a prince, a fairytale wedding and happy ending, or so everyone hoped. they first met here at the film festival almost 60 years ago in this romantic setting, grace kelly's life changed forever. here today the premiere of a new film about princess grace starring nicole kidman that gives a fictionalized account of an unhappy princess in a gilded cage. the portrayal created a fire storm and infuriated princess grace's children, albert, stephanie, and caroline. her biographer says the film got it wrong. >> politics the way the movie depicts it, no, never in a million years. grace was grace. that's all she had to be. >> reporter: princess grace who died in a car crash in 1982, would have welcomed all the attention. >> my private life was very much my own, and now my private life is very public

nbc's keir simmons has more. >> reporter: masked men opposed to the current government smash the door of a police station in odes odessa. 30 pro russian prisoners were freed, cheered by the crowd. heroes, they shout, and we will not forgive. more than 40 of them died in a fire in a union building on friday. the fire is the country's worst atrocity since february. the pro russian protesters blamed government supporters. the prime minister visiting odessa blamed russia. >> this is the part of russian road map, how to grab and to eliminate ukraine. >> reporter: and criticized his own police for failing to stop it. one group of officers responded, throwing their shields to the floor. we haven't entirely lost control, the prime minister said. they have in the east. here pro russians drive tanks through the streets, elections are planned in ukraine this month. now some are asking how can they be held among all this? >> the ukraine has been dismembered. the election on may 25th cannot go forward. >> reporter: in another recent town, a bank burned. this time thankfully no one is inside. but n

we are joined by keir simmons who is reporting more violence there today as well. >> yes, that is right. heavy gunfire in the nearby town where we are hearing confirmed by the ukrainian defense ministry that another ukrainian held ko helicopter has been shot down we assume by the pro russian militia, and shot down over slov yansk, and at least part of it has landed on water and part of them have survive and no one has been killed, but it comes after two of the helicopters have been shot down in an area half a mile from here over the weekend and the escalating violence in odessa which is much, much south of here where we saw a large mob descend on the police station, and break down the door and pull 60 comrades if you'd like from the police station, and seeing them freed. we also saw despite prime minister here saying that that the police bore some of the responsibility with what is going on in odes sashgs asodess police officers throw down the rye yat shields and walk away. and the ukrainian government says they have control in parts, but in watching, this is difficult to believe. in ea

keir simmons is live in donetsk. putin saying he doesn't want the referendum publicly but private live he does but wants distance here? what's going on here? >> reporter: that's what everyone is asking themselves and inevitably with president putin, every time he makes a move, everyone gets subjected into the analysis and trying to figure out exactly what he is up to. as you mentioned, what's really perplexing is for him to announce that the military are pulling back from the border and then for that to be visibly clear according to the west anyway, that russia isn't doing that. and at the same time to make this announcement he wants these separatists here to delay the referendum and for them to then say, well, we don't want to do that, when they are pro-russian, when we always considered them to be very close to russia. we've seen the ballot papers, chuck, and they very clearly say that this is a republic, eastern ukraine, and it should be independent. it's very clear what they are asking for in this vote on sunday.

thank you, keir. the ukrainian official is scheduled for less than a money. but top officials in washington are skeptical it could go on. >> we already see the play book of what happened in crimea happening what happened in eastern ukraine. it's time to impose tougher sectoral sanctions to provide support for the ukrainian military. russia is not getting the point they're violating the so-called geneva agreement. >> the ukraine has been dismembered. the election of may 25th has not gone forward. putin has successfully dismembered the ukraine. >> i'm joined by former u.s. ambassador to russia, mike mcfall. ambassador, can you respond to senator graham just now, what you just heard, his remark that he thinks ukraine has already been dismembered by russia. what say you? >> well, of course if we remember that russia did annex crimea, let's not forget that because i think we have moved on and we just assume that's a fait de compli and ukraine is now fighting back. in the city of slavyanask, you've had more fighting this morning. that suggests to me the sovereigncy

eyes more -- keir simmons has more. >> reporter: hey, brian, 800 pro-russian militia are holding out in a town near here, about an hour and a half away, battles continue. we hear today there have been eight killed, 16 gunhot wounds. that number may rise, because yesterday we were hearing about 30 pro-russian militia and around four ukrainian soldiers killed. of course, we saw that helicopter downed. that was the third time in a week that a ukraine cran military helicopters had been shot down the. >>> down the road in donetsyk, there are military men in uniforms effectively running the city. for a while the regional airport was closed to flights today. to give a sense of the sensement here, we saw one long line at a bank, people demanding their money, weren't able to get it. the people said to us, maybe if russia takes over, they will be able to bring us stability. there's a lot of animosity in this eastern part of ukraine. it's not everyone's view, but there's a lot of animosity toward the west, toward the capital of kiev, and what is being talk about separation, they want to hold a

joining me now from the latest from donetsk is keir simmons. there's been a lot of violence and death on both sides. where does this go next? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. by the way that view repeated by the foreign minister -- russia's foreign minister lavrov calling on kiev to withdraw from the operation that they have under way here in this eastern region. andr andrea, as ever as things with the modern world, everybody is involved with trying to engage with the media. even the ma list sha down the street in donetsk, they have their own website and reporting their own casualties, eight have died and 16 with gunshot wounds today where the most intense fighting seems to be going on. we're understanding between 800 pro-russian militia in that town holding that town while ukrainian military surround it and continues to battle. that is where yesterday you saw the helicopter shot down and that of course of course raises concerns about the kinds of weaponry that these militia have if they are able to shoot down helicopters because remember that

keir take it away. tell me what the latest is from the ground. >> andrea, in slo vafrpgz, heavy gunfire has been heard today and the news confirmed by the ukrainian ministry that a helicopter was shot down. that will be the third helicopter down we assume by pro-russia militia and hear it landed in water and people on board were not killed. they did survive. the ukrainians also claiming that pro-russia militia were using civilians as human shields and we've heard reports on the outskirts of vehicles coming out with tires shout out of people terrified but remember as well, at the same time, the ukrainian military surrounding that town and threatening to try to take it from the military forces that are inside. we were at what is essentially the town hall a little while earlier today. it is barricaded. there are russian flags flying. they declarled it -- the republic of donetsk and inside we saw armed men in military fatigues walking around the corridors, effectively running the city from behind the barric

keir, first to you.tained have been freed. what can you tell us about that? >> that's right. our person there tells us that around 30 activists have been released. what happened was the pro-russian protestors stormed the police station and released them shouting "russia, russia." and what people were worried about in the weeks gone by is whether or not russia might invade ukraine with owl all of military on the border. perhaps what they should have been worrying about the is rule of law disg.i. integrating, potentially the country splitting apart because oe zaesz -- oe zaes is in the south of the country. so it opens up another problem for the ukrainian government and these people were shouting "we will not forgive" because you remember what happens before then was that tens of protestors died in a building when it burned down. there are terrible, terrible stories of people in the street taunting those pro-russian protesters in the building as they were dying. people are clearly furious across southern u

>> nbc's keir simmons, and thank you. let me bring in the ambassador to the ukraine, mr. taylor.d as we see what is happening in odessa and in donyesk, is this continuing toward war? >> it is continuing the movement for war that the russians have been investigating for weeks ash wnd ve been seeing it in cry meeia, and alme -- in crimea and odessa. >> and obviously, this is a big topic of the sunday shows yesterday and i want to play for wow what republican senator ron johnson said. >> all of the sanctions and the threats of sanctions have had little effect. vladimir putin is only going to respond to action and strength and resolve, and that is what we hear when we go to ukraine. >> so do you agree with the p impact of the sanctions, and what further can be done at this point, and does it include arms? >> well, what further can be done? we can install further and stronger sanctions, and they can be implemented now, and i would think they are being implemented now, and they are to punish the russians for invading crimea essentially with the special forces, and to deter further move

and insurgents have killed at least 34, and we have the latest from eastern ukraine from keir simmons. >> hey, chris. ukraine is bracing itself for more bloodshed. just here in donetsk, at the airport, many flights are canceled, because yesterday the program militia managed to shoot down another helicopter with four ukrainian soldiers killed according to the government. the government says in return, their military killed 30 pro russian militia, but 800 russia militia are said to be holding out in the town of slovyansk, and meanwhile, they are battling to maintain control of their oun ki trchlt and meanwhile, the u.s. commander of the u.s. alliance says that president putin may be achieving the objectives on the ground here without having to invade. chris. >> and keer sir simmons, thank >>> and we have announced that harry reid has a senator's only briefing on ukraine at 5:30 eastern time. >>> and coming up today, we will dig into the preliminaries coming up, and the speaker of the house is on the ballot, but first the white house issues a dire warning on climate change. we will tell

police say deputies found him and his wife at a private home and he was receiving appropriate keir.dren claim his wife jeanne had been keeping them from seeing their father for months. >>> it has fired the person who leak the infamous video showing solange knowles. the person breached security policies by leaking the video to tmz. there's been no comment from jay-z or beyonce regarding the incident. >> new nfl player michael sam is getting his own reality show. the oprah winfrey network is showing his life as the first openly gay player, sam who was drafted by the rams says his focus is on playing football and he's grateful for the opportunity to share his story. >>> speak of sharing stories beautiful images of iranian women free of their head coverings and in some cases smiling boldly into the camera are being posted by the thousands. the women are taking enormous risk in breaking the law to post on the break called stealthy freed ochl iranian women. they can be punished with imprisonment or lashings if they're caught disobeying sharia law. it it chronicles some of these women and

reporter: for richard parsons, this is just the latest reclamation project in a long sometimes turbulent keirpent some time with parsons at the site of a very different reclamation project, a historic jazz club he's restored in harlem. >> what we try to do to sort of capture some of the history of the place was some of these pictures, dizzy gillespie who played here every monday night and helped create bee bop. >> reporter: he might sound like a jazz historian but he made his mark in business, first as the chairman and ceo of media giant time warner, then as chairman of citigroup. he has a reputation as a cool customer. a trait he says it cultivated growing up as the middle of five children. >> when you're in the middle somewhere, the older ones rain down on -- you know this, right? and you have to protect yourself from the other ones so you have to learn a lot of diplomacy. >> reporter: parsons grew up in queens, new york. his was the first black family to move into this lower middle class neighborhood. >> every house was basically identical. >> reporter: uh-hmm. and i remember my father bou

keir simmons, nbc news correspondent in ukraine. up period comes to it p a he sait . futures with a flattish start. at delta we're investing billions of dollars, improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we'll raise it yet again. >>> 40% slump of fixed income sends barclays into the red. mixed picture for swiss banks. ubs trades hire. credit suisse shares take a hit after reports it will pay a big p perger than expected to fine to resolve the tax proeb. and hollande trying to get better offers for alston. and japan's prime minister says the nation is truly on the verge of moving out of deflation. >> for nearly 20 years, japan has suffered under deflation. merely by owning an asset, its value increases, deflation is a terrible demon. >>> good morning. ism helping markets to a positive close last night. slim gains in dow, 17 points. this morning we have slim gains at the start. nasdaq currently just around five points above fair value but pretty much on fair value for the s&p 500

we know that washington is key of spec but when keir forces used heavy weaponry and tanks to storm a regional police headquarters where officers had refused to take orders from key if and when the forces then shot at civilians who flocked to support the officers trapped in the building when it's all shot on camera for the world to see you would expect a little less biased reaction from the u.s. state department but here's what we have we condemn the outbreak of violence caused by pro russia separatists this morning pool which has resulted in multiple deaths it seems no matter how many people get killed as a result of what key of calls and in tight here terrorist operation in the east of ukraine we won't hear a word of condemnation from washington instead whatever happens the u.s. blames for the key have called russian separatists many of them want to be part of ukraine but on their own terms but the u.s. has already painted a black and white picture of good versus evil in ukraine and there seems to be no room for all the callers one could only imagine what the reaction here in washin

. >> keir simmons with the latest there. this is following the german response and anne is with us in frankfurt. this call for putin with angela merkel, annetta, what more response are we getting from the chancellor? >> reporter: for now that's it from angela merkel and the chancellor, but it seems as if at least that is custom with the german media. if angela merkel is more and more shifting in the hard liners, remember, she sided with barack obama over the weekend and said, well, if those elections will not happen and if by the time of the election at the end of may, the national order in the east of ukraine is not secured by the russian forces or by russia at least, then there will be more sanctions, so-called economic level sanctions. that's the first time that these kind of sanctions have been tied to the elections and that angela merkel also signed up to that threat. before the rhetoric was always that only when russia invades the ukraine, then angela merkel will also say yes to a tighter economic sanction. of course,

first with the latest, nbc's keir simmons on what knox has had to say. >> i -- i did not kill my friendd not wield a knife. i had no reason to. >> reporter: for close to seven years, amanda knox and her then boyfriend raffaele sollecito had been accused of killing british student meredith kercher. convicted, acquitted, then reconvicted. >> there's this huge weight and there's this huge struggle, and trying to learn each step of the way what's so wrong and how i can fix it. >> reporter: in an interview with cnn, she talks about her fear of going back to prison. >> it's way too overwhelming for me to even conceive. >> reporter: this week, the italian court that reconvicted her of killing meredith kercher claimed there had been a heating up of an argue between amanda and the english student involving increasing aggressiveness. amanda knox and raffaele sollecito were the killers, the judge said, but she says the court ignored a lack of evidence. >> if i were there, i would have had traces of meredith's broken body on me, and i would have left traces of myself around meredith's corpse. and i

willie. >> keir, thank you. >>> closer to home. to that terrible accident at a circus in rhode island. was it a tiny piece of equipment that caused that rig to collapse during the act this weekend? nbc's ron mott has the latest in providence. nine people were hurt. ron, good morning to you. what can you tell us? >> reporter: hey, savannah, good morning to you. circus officials know what happened. now they're trying to find out why this all happened and they're focusing in on a small piece of equipment that looks a little bit like this. as the ringling brothers circus packs up, headed for hartford today, officials have pinpointed a broken clip as a leading cause for sunday's dramatic crash of a human chandelier that injured eight human performers, dangling only by their hair, and a male performer hurt on the ground. authorities say that the intricate rigging was attached at a single point. a providence fire chief said that the hook about five inches long was well within its rated design load of 10,000 pounds when it failed, sending

keir, thank you very much. >>> coming up on "trending," a surprise hit. best mother-son wedding dance ever. we'll show it to you. >>> and next, how to tell if you're 30, in honor of one young >>> and next, how to tell if you're 30, in honor of one young mogul's mileston we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. which means you get it's stunlimited talk,eless - text and data for only $45 a month... ...no contract - no surprises. what about hidden fees? nope. what about funny business? no. bamboozling? what is "bamboozling"? it's like, uh, malarkey. nooo. good! come to "the world needs more straight talk event" at walmart. get america's largest and most dependable 4g lte networks for half the cost. and for a limited time, get a $25 gift card when you buy a samsung galaxy centura. straight talk wireless. only at walmart. [ telephone rings ] how's the camping trip? well, the kids had fun, but i think i slept on a rock. ♪ the best part of wakin' up what are you doing? having coffee. ohh. ♪ is folgers in yo

>> all right, keir simmons in donetsk this morning. thank you. >>> testimony has resumed at the murder trial of oscar pistorius after a 17-daybreak. there's some issues facing the defense team. "today" national investigative correspondent jeff rossen is at the courthouse once again. jeff, good morning to you. >> h, matt, good morning to you. this is the home stretch now. and the critical moment for oscar pistorius. his defense team has the case, trying to battle back. pistorius himself inside court today, he looks a lot more rested. sources close to him tell me over that two-week break, he spent time away from here on his family farm in the african countryside, but now it is back to business in a major way with his freedom on the line. oscar pistorius greeted by fans outside court today. but inside, it didn't take long, just minutes, to once again put his head in his hands. just after shooting and killing his model girlfriend reeva steenkamp, an accident, he says, pistorius's first call was to his friend johan. that friend on the stand

>> we, keir concewe're concerne. the election, things have been pretty calm. you know, the ukrainians are resolute about voting. i think they will be in eastern ukraine as well. people are eeg tore get out there. what we've seen thus far from russia is that the election will go on and will be a free and fair election. >> i'm going to shift from ukraine to thailand which is on the front page of every newspaper in the world today. this is a country that has been remarkably prone to coups over the course of its history. first of all, what explains that? and secondly, what's the impact of the coup in thailand on american? i've always considered you one of the most brilliant people i met, so i assume you know everything about everything. >> this is not -- this is an illegal coup. it's taking away the rights of the people to choose their own future like we're talking about in ukraine. why this happens, i can't say. i know the secretary has been -- is perturbed about it. there will be consequences about the relationship bet

offensive in the country's breakaway the nearest and lugansk the regions now the area's cut ties with keir after a referendum two weeks ago they refused to recognize the legitimacy of the coup appointed authorities the worry of a national isn't done years and the r d's policy here is in kiev. marina good to see you there the mood what's it like in the near. well it is a sunny day here today but the more that rains here all over the region seems to be more of a resistance to kiev the thought cheese as many believe they are illegitimate and illegal and also with tiredness ukraine's eastern south became the main target of what key have called a counter-terror gratian it launched several weeks ago against those who they described as separatists and terrorists sent in troops to read to these parts of the country to stop them the situation today remains very tense with clashes continued all over the region and casualties rising which many believe not the best a correction for a big and is significant events that year's presidential vote supposed to be just hours before it started and the leaders

being killed but what bothers me even more is that they whitewashed this truly disgusting regime in keir and you know in the center of europe after you know i was celebrated mainly here in moscow and i'm sure i can see from your lapel that you did to i mean how how in the world can the west continue to whitewash this because we because sooner or later like i said this can this revolution is going to consume itself and then they're going to have to start covering who really runs the place or is trying to run the place and certainly who is intimidating the entire country i don't understand how you're a person putting up with it i mean the united states has unleashed nazis real nazis in europe again who are openly calling for the hanging there. hanging in the street of jews and other ethnic minorities the elimination by mass genocide of just people for being pro russian now pro russian is some reason to kill people this is unbelievable and europe is just you know marching right along it's unbelievable i just can't believe this has been allowed to happen this long david how do you react to t

nbc's keir simmons is in london. >> reporter: kate and gerry mccann say the search for her abductor hasy bureaucracy in britain and portugal where she disappeared. it is hard to believe the differences wouldn't just be put aside to find out what happened when seven years ago saturday madeleine just vanished. >> it is still painful and living in limbo not knowing is horrible. >> reporter: this was madeleine just 3 years old and how she would have looked through the years. she'd now be 10. she vanished from a vacation apartment in portugal. her mom and dad desperately searched. they were arrested, then cleared but their little girl is still missing. >> we haven't found madeleine or we haven't found what happens then we haven't done enough. >> reporter: she says seven years later police in britain and portugal are still not working together closely. >> we want ideally a joint investigation team so the work can be streamlined, bureaucracy is reduced and progress can be made much quicker. >> reporter: scotland yard recently announced what might be vital leads. >> there's been a whole series