here's abc's nick watt. >> reporter: politicon, the unconventional convention. costumes. >> just the next president trying to get a hot dog. >> reporter: booths. >> comic-con but for politics. >> reporter: like a comic book convention but dragging political juchkies of every hue out of their basements. >> you wanted to star with iran and russia. that's insane! >> reporter: the daily drama in d.c. means there are more of those junkies than ever. interest is high. passions are hot. >> i'll take the question. >> reporter: anthony scaramucci, the president's brand new communications director here in spirit, was supposed to be here in person. pulled out friday morning. today the mooch, as he's known, resigned after taking office just 11 days ago, july 21st. >> i love the president. i obviously love the country. >> reporter: beleaguered spokesman sean spicer then resigned in protest and scaramucci, a swaggering multimillionaire wall street veteran, made the sunday show rounds. >> we're as strong as our weakest leak. >> what's going on right now is a high level of unpr

nick watt, abc news, los angeles. >> nick watt, a star in the making. >> who knew?et his next emmy ready to go. >> ducktails. >> i am so excited for that one. and we're going to have that song stuck in our heads. >> the only thing i can dream of is the thunder cats reboot. >> thunder, thunder, thunder cats! oh! >>> making news in america this morning, north korea responds to president trump with a new threat. guam is now at the center of the dispute. new reaction from people living on the island overnight. >>> a russian surveillance plane over u.s. government buildings flying near the pentagon. the capitol, even president trump's golf club where he's vacationing right now. what they're doing and why the country is allowed to even do that. >>> hurricane franklin makes landfall overnight slamming into mexico. we have a look at its new path. >>> and a poultry prop. this morning we know who plays the massive inflatable chicken across from the white house.

nick watt for nightline, pasadena, california. >> what?at do you i mean kind of lost me when that little kid was like l.a., there are a lot of mexicans bringing drugs over here and it continued. >> not his best moment. >>> coming up in this happened, the story behind the lay guy design. ialmost everything. you know, ke 1 i n 10 houses could get hit by an expensive septic disaster. but for only $7 a month, rid-x helps break down waste. avoid a septic disaster with rid-x. can this much love be cleaned by a little bit of dawn ultra? one bottle has the grease cleaning power of three bottles of this other liquid. a drop of dawn and grease is gone. ♪ >>> it's a fun edition of "this happened." should we start with satan? >> that's a great way to start. >> exactly. some folks on twitter did a little deep dive looking at the locations of outback steakhouses. and they connected the dots of where outback steakhouses are located all across the country, and do you see something familiar with what they're finding here? each of them seem t

nick watt, los angeles. >> interesting concept behind it. >> you know the key to a good movie?> what? >> have movies featuring bunnies? >> like playboy bunnies? >> no, like rabbit." all because of rabbits. >> so does that mean our rating on rotten tomato will go up? >> i don't know, how are we looking? >> we're 6.7 on imdb. ♪...from far away. but they only ♪harsee his wrinkles.♪ ... ♪if only harry used some... ♪...bounce, to dry. ♪he would be a less wrinkly, winning guy.♪ new deep hydrating eye gel with hyaluronic acid born to outperform the #1... prestige eye cream for better hydration. and your best look yet. olay eyes collection. ageless. it lifts more dirt and pet hair versus vacuuming alone. resolve carpet care with five times benefits ♪ >>> it is "insomniac theater" time. >> yes, it is. we've got lots to get to. we're going to start with a true-life tale of detroit. guess where it's based? detroit. it recounts a case of police brutality back in 1967 that sparked five days of deadly rioting and finding himself caught up in all of it? a security guard played by john boyega.

nick watt, abc news, los angeles. >> nick watt, a star in the making. >> who knew? we'll get his next emmy ready to go. >> des. >> i am so excited for that onec and we're going to have that song stuck in our heads. >> the only thing i can dream of is the thunder cats reboot. >> thunder, thunder, thunder cats! oh! >>> good thursday morning. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm diane macedo. here are some of the top stories we're following right now. >>> north korea makes another move. dismissing president trump's words as nonsense. >>> and the president called out senator mitch mcconnell on twitter. mcconnell said that the president had high expectations. and the president said i don't think so. after seven years of repeal and replace why not done? >>> a spokesman for paul manafort confirms that his home was raided two weeks ago. agents seized documents inn of the investigates into the russian meddling election. >>> and if you were hoping the powerball would make you a multi-millionaire, not so fast. the pot up for grabs last night will grow to more than $350 million by the

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i'm nick watt for "nightline," burbank, california. >> nice work, nick.oduced by our parent company, disney. thanks for watching abc news. and as always, we're online at abcnews.com and our "nightline" facebook page. good night, america. ♪ ♪ award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. this august visit your local volvo dealer to receive sommar savings of up to $4,500. this august visit your local volvo dealer ♪ strummed guitar you can't experience the canadian rockies through a screen. you have to be here, with us. ♪ strummed guitar travel through this natural wonder and get a glimpse of amazing. with a glass of wine in one hand, and a camera in the other, aboard rocky mountaineer. canada's rocky mountains await.

i'm nick watt for "nightline," burbank, california. >> nice work, nick.s produced by our parent company, disney. thanks for watching abc news. and as always, we're online at abcnews.com and our "nightline" facebook page. good night, america. >> here at "millionaire," there are no second chances. if you get a question wrong, you're done. except for this week, because every day, we're bringing back some players whose first time here didn't go so well, and we're giving them another try at the million dollars. it's second chance week on "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, welcome to second chance week here on "who wants to be a millionaire." [cheers and applause] today's second chance contestant is the ultimate "millionaire" fan who's been dreaming of a second chance for the last year. from louisville, kentucky, please welcome back my man jerry ellis. how are you, buddy? >> hello, chris. >> good to see you. >> good to see you too. thank you. >> now, jerry's been trying to get back here for second chance week for a while. how ba

nick watt headed to northern ireland to check it out. >> reporter: winterfell castle last seen on hbo's in real life. not quite so alluring in person. >> they've taken this image, copied and pasted it and stuck it on the other side. >> reporter: cgi. no matter, the fans of arguably the greatest television show ever made, this is like a pilgrimage to the principal location, northern ireland. >> this is where it all began, the very opening sequence of "game of thrones" was filmed here. >> reporter: just one of many tours milking the connection. and you can see it all from the dark hedges to the iron islands. this is changing the society in this once restive province. >> people come along and they say, are you a protestant. now so many people involved in "game of thrones" you're more likely to be stopped and asked if you're a lamester. >> reporter: it is worth $260 million plus to northern ireland in production and tourism. lights, camera, travel. tv and film tourism is booming worldwide. destination number one, new zealand, far away and oh, so filmy. want to fly over a "lord of the rings"

. >> shelters are reporting an increase in abandoned huskies and nick watt has the details. >> reportergi, and had is an actual husky. >> a lot of people are adopting, because they do see the popularity and, you know, game of thrones. >> reporter: sounds absurd, it's for real. please, to all game of thrones, wonderful fans, we understand due to the dire wolves popularity, many people are going out and buying huskies. pet peter ding college reported they're being abandoned. >> a husky puppy, who doesn't want this face? >> reporter: sophie turner adopted her dire wolf in real leave, but remember, these dogs pull sleds. >> huskies are a very high-energy breed. they're very intelligent. so if you don't keep them busy and exercised they become disruptive. >> reporter: yes, the starks adopt a runt on tv. in real life, it's a bouncing beast actually in your living room. >> you know, it speaks to a really great point. when you adopt a dog, you need to understand the breed. a friend of mine with a husky in new york says one of the toughest things is the heat, the weather. he has to make sure he'

here's abc's nick watt. >> reporter: rotten tomatoes ratings now cast such a long and large shadow thatie just banked a heavy $24.5 million opening weekend, despite a tomato meter rating operating around a dismal 7%. >> wait, what? >> reporter: how? sony marketers cleverly embargoed all reviews until just hours before the movie actually opened. so that awful rating posted so late it couldn't destroy opening weekend. >> monkey business. >> reporter: 7% means a critical 7% of critics liked it. ouch. that should matter. a national research group suggesting 7 in 10 people say they're less likely to watch a movie with a very low score. this summer, they watch, baywatch pummeled by a low score? wonder woman helped by a high one. last year fandango, where a lot of us buy movie tickets began feature tomato meter scores. the influence of the tomato has since soared. cue delayed reviews for the emoji movie. take the tomato out of play. nick watt, abc news, los angeles. >> interesting concept behind it. >> you know the key to a good movie? >> what? >> have movies featuring bunnies? >> like playboy

takes to raise a husky and shelters are seeing more of those dogs abandoned so we have more from nick wattick. >> reporter: good morning, david. well, i'm here with the huskies and the volunteers from hollywood huskies. this is a rescue organization. as you guys mentioned these are now "game of thrones" fans favorite dogs and that is causing some problems. >> the direwolves of "game of thrones," a bit siberian husky, a bit german shepherd. a bit cgi and this -- >> hi, boy. >> reporter: is an actual husky. a lot of people are adopting because they do see the popularity on "game of thrones." >> reporter: sounds absurd. it's for real. terry lann nisster just got involved. please to all "game of thrones" many wonderful fans we understand due to the direwolves' huge popularity many folks are going out and buying huskies. peter dinklage just posted. shelters are reporting many of these huskies are being abandoned. more than one shelter telling us they've seen a doubling in the number of abandoned huskies. >> the husky puppy. who doesn't want this face? >> reporter: she adopted hers in real life

nick watt, thanks so much, nick. >>> coming up on our big board as we count down to the solar eclipsemals from the zoo to your pets at home? come on back. paul and bongo march a very different beat. sfx: cymbals they break only for the 100% complete and balanced nutrition of meow mix cat food. come on back. a penny it's ourr back to school one cent event at office depot office max. notebooks! one cent! rulers, glue and 12-pack pencils! all one cent each! hurry to office depot office max! ♪taking care of business i kept looking for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i was doing okay. then it hit me... managing was all i was doing. when i told my doctor, i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease even after trying other medications. in clinical studies, the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous

big winner kendrick lamar and an emotional speech by video vanguard award recipient pink, abc's nick wattit all. good morning, nick. >> reporter: good morning, lara. well, these awards are always fun and free-wheeling but last night we got a lot more. the music industry could not, would not ignore everything else that's happening i host katy perry gave a nod to the devastation happening right now in houston. >> all of us here at the vmas are sending love to the people of southeastern texas and everyone affected by hurricane harvey right now. >> reporter: there was a new award category this year. >> best fight against the system. >> shared by the six nominees, logic, john legend and taboo highlighting issues from racism to immigration and native rights. >> here with the frequency of love and just positivity. >> reporter: then came pastor robert lee. >> i'm a descendant of robert e. lee, the civil war general whose statue was at the center of violence in charlottesville. today i call on all of us with privilege and power to answer god's call to confront racism and white supremacy head on. >

here, with some bad language, is our political editor, nick watt. although usually with mixed results. our foreign secretary's habit of ending up in scrapes his —— is prompting questions about how long he can last. but is borisjohnson a hopeless buffoon or is he actually a statesman of the new world order who acts and communicates in a way befitting these times? we are now able to fly the union flag once again. and perhaps that new style is all too much for diplomatic grandees from the past, most of whom can never forgive his role in taking the uk out of the eu. one withering assessment was penned last week. the intervention by the former head of the foreign office unleashed a flurry of criticism. over in brussels, they have long memories of the man they remember is the daily telegraph's troublemaking correspondent. it is always wonderful to talk to him and he is a very intelligent man, we like in germany his churchill biography. but we are not very clear that we can really rely on what he will do next day. he sometimes has in europe the image of a

for "good morning america," nick watt, abc news, los angeles. >> larry hackett here.ion from fandango says it's pretty powerful. >> a study done three years ago or this year that three years ago would look at it and now u.s. 36%. one-third of the people are checking it out before they see a movie. >> "the emoji movie" had a bad rating but did well at the box office. >> people wanted to go, it was a family movie and it becomes review proof. >> that strategy that they used in releasing the embargo on all that. >> this has been going on for years. sometimes they embargo them so they don't have reviews. they know if they're not reviewed it won't be good. they've been doing it for a long time. what's fascinating if you look at yelp or tripadvisor, if you don't want to serve my bad food for a couple of days before they find out. >> have other movies defeated a rotten review from rotten tomatoes. >> "suicide squad" did. studios have massive marketing departments where they have, you know, all kinds of ads. they have excuse me people on morning shows who come to talk about th

here's our political editor, nick watt. there must be something magical about the alpine air.emboldened theresa may has returned from her summer holiday to reset the dial on herfaltering premiership by making plain, i am not a quitter. do you intend to fight the next election? yes, there's been a lot of speculation about my future which has no basis in it whatsoever. i am on this for the long—term. there is realjob to be done in the united kingdom. it's about getting the brexit deal right, it's about building that special partnership with the european union for the future but it is also about leading global britain, trading around the world, yes, dealing with injustices that remain inside the united kingdom. the number of votes cast... all a far cry from the rather diminished figure who emerged shell—shocked from her disastrous general election campaign. a prime minister who briefly contemplated resigning. and struggled to connect after the grenfell tower disaster. theresa may's remarks today stand in contrast to her sheepish declaration to tory mps in the early summer that sh

nick watt, our political editor, is with me now and has some intriguing new details.in brussels. the uk hearing figures of 100 billion euros to pay to leave the eu and david davis says you must bejoking. i was told by quite a senior eu official a number of months ago that they would settle for a figure of around 3a billion euros. what i have learnt is that in whitehall they would be willing to look at a figure of around 30 billion euros. 0ne senior source said to me, if we talk seriously about that, then we are going to the races. how do you achieve that? you would use the transition period of two or three years after we leave the eu, use that transition period to settle the accounts. essentially what would happen is the uk would continue to pay roughly the amount it is paying, around 10 billion per year, 30 billion over three years, allowing you to do the transition and it would settle the accounts. what that would do is solve the problem for the uk and also ensure the eu would not have a black hole in its accounts because the uk is responsible for 13% of the eu budg

. >> nick watt is with some of the more bizarre ones. he joins us from alliance, nebraska.o back to ancient times. >> reporter: they do. listen, george, until the ancient greeks figured out what a solar eclipse is, they were freaking human beings out for millenia. chinese thought it was a dragon eating the sun. they banged pots and pans to scare the dragon away. i think we celebrate this so much because we're just relie relieved. we embrace it. we love it. we get into it. >> and nick, when you're out there this afternoon, what are you going to be looking for? >> what am i going to be looking for? i'm going to be looking for lizard green men in south carolina. they might appear. the main thing i'm looking for is hopkinsville, kentucky, just down the road. it will be the place that experiences the eclipse for the longest. there's a weird coincidence. it's famous for an extra terrestrial alleged sighting in 1965. that happened august 21st as well. that's weird. here at carhenge this place was built 30 years ago this summer. 30 years ago, i think maybe there's some kind of conn

abc's nick watt has details from l.a. good morning, nick. >> reporter: good morning, michael.he combined jackpot now approaching 750 million bucks which has fools and dreamers like me thinking, what if i won them both? anything is possible but the odds on that happening, 75 quadrillion to 1. that's 15 zeros, so pretty slim but the luckiest state is california. 27 winners since 2010. including the last powerball and the last mega millions. unluckiest states i'm afraid we're talking maine, new mexico, north dakota, oklahoma, wyoming, vermont but maybe they're due a bit of luck. it is possible to overthink this. all you can say is if you buy a ticket you almost a zero chance. but if you don't buy it, zero chance, no chance. buy a ticket, maybe. just maybe, just maybe. >> 15 quadrillion. 15 zeros. >> so you're saying there is a chance. >> there's always a chance. >> nick talked me into it. i will buy my tickets. >> good advice from nick. rob, fires burning in the troit, 5500-acre blaze there. continued heat in seattle, stormy cities brought to you by carmax. >> reporter: good morn

passenger opened an emergency door on a plane, jumped out on the tarmac before being caught and nick watts in los angeles with the story. good morning, nick. >> reporter: good morning, george. well, other passengers described the teen as anxious and fidgety before he suddenly popped that overwing emergency door. >> he jumped off the plane. >> reporter: a passenger captured the harrowing scene inside the cabin just seconds after a 17-year-old jumped out of the moving plane. >> we just saw the person sliding off the wing and hitting the ground running. >> reporter: it landed at san francisco airport when the teenager opened an emergency exit door and leapt. >> just standard landing and everyone noticed that the door had come off. >> we have an over-wing exit that is open and a passenger get off to the wing. that's correct? can you see that from the tower? >> reporter: the teen grabbed on the airfield by crew. >> only guy standing there with the maintenance guys without a vest. >> reporter: more than a dozen law enforcement agents swarmed the plane. the man who was sitting next to the teen t

travel with huge savings for the airline area and maybe passengers as well but major questions and nick wattthis new research. what's going on with this? >> reporter: well, first of all, let's see what this will look like. we're talking no people in the cockpit of a plane, no fancy epaulets, no pilots, pilotless. ubs did this research and they say it could save the industry $35 billion a year. so there is real incentive to try and make this happen to save some cash, guys. >> i'm still just trying to let it all set in here. so you're saying there's -- how can -- how can that be, nick? i mean, how realistic is this? >> it's pretty realistic. one boeing boss recently said that the building blocks as he put it are already there. this could happen -- don't forget autopilot has been in some form or another for 100s not like the "airplane" movie autopilot but ubs says this could happen technically feasible by 2025. >> but yet autopilot but you still have a pilot there. >> somebody is taking over to take off and land. in the air is fine. put it on autopilot but the question is we know what the indus

saying he was transitioning to a woman and his lawyer speaking exclusively and sitting down with nick wattted to the oldies and disappeared more than three years ago and "the national enquirer" ran stories claiming he was undergoing, quote, shocking sex swap surgery based in large part on photographs and an interview provided by this man, marrow oliverio. >> what was he to him. >> he was a masseuse and had a relationship. >> still friends? >> i wouldn't bank on that. >> reporter: in a declaration he states although i may have said richard simmons' chest looks like the chest of someone who might be on hormones i never stated that richard simmons is now a woman, had breast implants or had sex-change surgery. >> they have hyped this into a whole other story with all these other details that are simply wrong and false. >> reporter: simmons' lawyers filed a defamation suit against the "enquirer" and filed a case to kill the case calling someone transgender not defamatory. >> look what happened to the president of the united states with respect to joining the armed services, discrimination, ostr