Tonight, Trump transition chaos. The controversial cabinet pick spark blowback on both sides of the aisle. Growing fallout over RFK Jr. Being selected for Health and Human Services Secretary. Does he stand a chance of getting confirmed? The Director of Communications just named in the heated battle over a House Ethics Report into former congressman Matt Gates. Why Speaker Johnson says it should not be released. And Trump's economic promises won over voters. So who will lead the critical division in his administration. We'll break down the potential prospects and the key position just announced as we come on the air. Also, tonight, wildfires and tropical storms, Sarah, posing a dangerous threat. 40 million people under warnings as infernos rage along the East Coast. Emergency teams from other states rushing to help fight the blazes. And tropical storms, Sarah, lashing at Central America, the life-threatening flash floods and potential mudslides. Could the storm storm impact the US Mainland? Bill Karens tracks it all out. New documents revealing what life is like behind bars for the Monindez brothers. The first-hand account from prison guards as their fate hangs in the balance. Will a new district attorney help with their bid to walk free?
What he is saying about the case. Anger erupting on social media after an Iranian woman posted a video of her being harassed. A day later, she was taken into custody and has not been heard from since. Supporters now demanding to know, where is she? She posted this startling video online showing her fighting back after a man on a motorbike in a military uniform appeared to hit or grab her. She said it showed what it was like to be a woman in Iran. But Iranian police, they arrested her for not wearing a hijab shortly after. Her story now becoming the latest flashpoint over women's rights in the restrictive country. The turbulence nightmare caught on camera. Terrifying video showing passengers screaming as they're jolted from their seats The violent shaking forcing the plane to turn back. And underwater aliens, extraterrestrial talk taking over social media after Congressional hearing raised eyebrows with testimony on UFOs and revelations about objects in the ocean. We'll explain. Plus, the alarming surge in measles cases, the new warning about the number of infections and the reason behind the surge. Top story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom Yamis.
President-elect Trump capping off a whirlwind week, adding new members to his second administration. Just moments ago, Trump making a new announcement. The President-elect announcing Caroline Levit as his press secretary. The 27-year-old would be the youngest person to ever take the position. She was his national press secretary during his campaign. It comes as some of his cabinet picks faced potential headwinds in their nomination process. We will explain, But first, here's a look at Trump's pick so far. The President-elect has announced 12 cabinet selections, including the White House Chief of Staff, which does not require Senate confirmation. The most recent pick, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for interior secretary. Just Just today, Trump announcing his new Director of Communications. He's bringing his campaign spokesperson, Stephen Cheung, to the White House. Cheung is one of Trump's fiercest defenders. At this hour, RFK Jr, the President elects Pick for Health and Human Service Secretary be facing a lot of pushback over his controversial views about vaccines, fluoride, and food regulations. Also, new fallout over Trump's surprising choice for attorney general. Former Florida congressman Matt Gates at the center of a heated debate on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers arguing over whether the findings from a house ethics investigation into Gates, findings related to allegations of sex trafficking and illegal drug use, should be released to the public.
House Speaker Mike Johnson saying that report should not come to light. Do you think the public has a right to know, given that he will be Trump's top attorney?
The rules of the House have always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee, and so I don't think that's relevant.
Take a Look at this, Trump bolstering his Justice Department with his personal defense attorneys, tapping Todd Blanch as Deputy Attorney General. Blanch defended Trump in several cases, including the New York Hush Money case. Another Trump attorney, Emile Bove, is his pick for Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Dean John Sauer, who argued Trump's immunity case to the Supreme Court, was tapped for Solicitor General. Those decisions prompting Democratic Senator Dick Durban to release this statement, reading in part, Coupled with the announcement that he intends to nominate former congressman Matt Gates to be attorney general, these selections show Donald Trump intends to weaponize the Justice Department to seek vengeance. A familiar rallying cry from Democrats even before Trump won the election. At this hour, there are still a number of key positions that are open, including the ones you see here, who will carry out the President-elect's economic vision? Could we know more soon? We will get to the possible choices on that appointment in just a moment. But first, we're going to start with NBC News, Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles.
Overnight, President-elect Trump and Mar-a-Lago basking in the glow of his decisive election win.
We swept all swing states.
We won the popular vote.
I love that. And revealing new cabinet pics, including North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as his interior secretary.
He's going to head the Department of Interior, and he's going to be fantastic.
But there's growing scrutiny tonight over his selection of now former congressman Matt Gates as attorney general, with more lawmakers demanding the release of a house ethics investigation of Gates into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, which Gates denies. The investigation ended after Gates resigned following his selection. And now, House Speaker Mike Johnson arguing the report should not be released.
It is very important to maintain the House's tradition of not issuing ethics reports on people who are no longer members of Congress. I think it would open a Pandora's box.
But key Senate Republicans want it. A House Democrat on the panel telling me senators in charge of confirming Gates should see the evidence.
I think it's essential for them to get that information before they make a decision of this magnitude.
There's also new fallout tonight over Trump first pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. For Health and Human Services Secretary.
If you like health and if you like people that live a long time, it's the most important position, RFK Jr.
Bobby.
Kennedy says the food and pharmaceutical industries have too much power over the FDA. But it sparked backlash for promoting debunked theories linking vaccines to autism. He recently spoke to NBC's Von Hilliard.
I'm not going to take away anybody's vaccines.
I've never been an anti-vaccine.
Tonight, some Republican senators seem open to voting yes.
Putting him at the Department of Health and Human Services. To enact this make America healthy again agenda, I think makes a lot of sense.
But the growing list of provocative pics, leaving the possibility of a nominee falling Court in a confirmation vote, and Republicans are warning the Gates pick could already be in trouble. But the new Senate Republican leader said he is open to approving nominees during a recess without a Senate vote.
We also are not going to allow the Democrats to obstruct or block President Trump and the will of the American people.
A move Democrats strongly oppose. How concerned are you about the possibility of recess appointments, particularly for someone like Matt Gates?
I'm very concerned about it. It seems an end run around the confirmation process. Nbc News Capitol Hill correspondent, Ryan Nobles, joins us now. Ryan, we have some more breaking news related to an attorney telling NBC News that one of their clients had testified to the House Ethics Committee about possibly having witnessed Gates having sex with a minor at a house party back in 2017. Walk us through these allegations. What do we know?
Yeah, Allison, this is a significant aspect of the House Ethics Committee report, which has not really been made public. There have been allegations, there have been rumors about Matt Gates's conduct during this period of time that he was under investigation by federal authorities. But at this point, none of the witnesses have ever come forward publicly to tell their story, at at least not in a setting that has been released to the public. We know they met with investigators from the FBI and the Department of Justice over the course of that investigation. But this was the first time they sat in front of a panel like the House Ethics Committee, and the attorney involved in this telling our colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick, this is attorney Joel Leppard. He said that my client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Representative Gates having sex with a minor at a house party in Orlando in 2017. She said that she gave her testimony to the committee back in April of 2024. There is the possibility that if this witness testimony was given to the House Ethics Committee, that it is part of this report. Right now, this report is being held up by Republicans in the House of Representatives, in part because Gates surprisingly resigned his post from Congress right after he was given the pick as Donald Trump's attorney general nominee.
Ryan, can we also put Gates's road to confirmation here in in a bit of perspective or more perspective for our viewers, because Republicans are looking at a likely 53-47 majority in the Senate in January. That would mean if Gates loses four or more Republican votes, he would not be the next attorney general. Publiquely, we have heard a number of GOP senators either express skepticism about Gates nomination or simply just take a pass on whether or not they would endorse his appointment, at least at this point. Again, when he can only afford to lose three of these votes or his nomination ends, and no one has publicly come out against him. But walk us through your reporting and what you think actually plays out here.
Well, Allison, I think that there are a lot of Republican senators that would very much like to vote against Matt Gates' confirmation, and that could be north of 30 senators who are saying that privately. But there's a big difference between hand wringing and being upset about a nominee privately and then actually casting a vote against him publicly. What we've seen time and time again with Congressional Republicans is that they talk a big game behind closed doors. But then when Donald Trump pumps up the pressure and they're forced to take a public position, they often crumble. If they don't crumble, they end up being pushed out of the Republican Party. This appointment is something that Donald Trump has made a priority. He's even suggested that they would need to go the recess appointment route. If they need to, we'll have to see when push comes to shove, whether or not Republican senators will actually execute what they're saying privately.
All right. Interesting stuff. Ryan Nobles on Capitol Hill. Thank you. We appreciate it. Turning now to the Trump cabinet positions that are still in the balance, from big pics like Treasury and labor to transportation and energy, and even the Department of Education. All seats in the cabinet still yet to be filled. Here with all of the reporting on the behind-the-scenes decisions that could shape the second Trump administration is NBC's Dasha Burns. She joins us now in studio. Dasha, before we get to the cabinet pics, let's start with that breaking news this evening that he has appointed a new press secretary, Caroline Lievet, and she's 27 years old. Leveret, it's Leveret or Leveret. Leveret, Caroline. I'm going to work on getting that moving forward. She is someone that we will all be very familiar with. She's 27 years old. She's not new to Trump and the team. Walk us through who she is.
No, she has been his bulldog behind the scenes and on the airwaves. She's been his National Press Secretary, a fierce defender of former President, now President-Elect Donald Trump. There's been a lot of jockeying for that role, but no surprise that you got it because she has been by his side throughout this campaign.
Okay, so let's turn now to the cabinet and one of the critical pics, one of the most critical pics, arguably, that would shape the economic and fiscal policy of the United States for the next four years is, of course, Treasury Secretary. A couple of names that have been thrown around, some on the screen here, Bob Lightheiser, who was the Trade Representative at some point during the first Trump administration, Lutnik and also Bessnet. Walk us through who these individuals are and who seem to be top of the pick right now.
Our reporting indicates that Scott Besson and Howard Lutnik are the top two in the mix right now. Look, Scott Besson would be the more traditional choice. His resume is more in line with past Treasury secretaries. He's a Wall Street guy. He would be a more stabilizing force. He does agree with Trump on energy policy, on deregulation. He's not as bullish, though, as Trump is when it comes to tariffs. The flip side of the coin is Howard Lutnik. He is a big personality. He is very bullish on tariffs, very much of the MAGA mold. He is someone who's a big cryptocurrency guy. He would not be as much of a calming force, but much more in line with some of Trump's more MAGA pics.
Okay, so between those two, it sounds like you're saying when you look at Scott Bessnet, he's the old-school Wall Street head fund manager, and then the other guy is this new wave billionaire CEO, almost like Elon Musk vein type person.
Yeah, and those are the kinds of personalities that we've seen Trump wave. Do you go more standard or do you go more controversial, as we've seen with several of his choices here?
Okay, so in terms of a pick that's very important, that's outside of the cabinet, FBI director. We know the current FBI Director is Christopher Ray. Likely going to see a replacement there. He's gone.
He's gone. And similar dynamic here. You have Mike Rogers, who is a former congressman. He ran for Senate in Michigan, lost that race. But he actually has experience as a special agent with the FBI in Chicago. He was actually considered for FBI director in Trump's first administration, ultimately didn't get the job, but he has more of the standard qualifications. On the other side, you have Kosh Patel, who would be a controversial choice. He is someone that some Republicans even are concerned about because he has really showing some disdain for what he calls the deep state, of which the FBI and CIA and DOJ are those agencies where he has cast a lot of skepticism, believes that they've been weaponized and would likely seek to really change how those agencies function. He's a true loyalist to President-elect Trump and someone who has amplified some of Trump's claims about a stolen election in 2020, some of his other more controversial positions. He is the other side of the coin to Mike Rogers.
All right, Dasha Burns, thank you so much. We appreciate it. We're going to keep on this and turn to more on Trump's possible cabinet pics, and particularly those individuals who may be in a position to shape the US economy. Let's bring in, NBC news business and data correspondent, Brian Cheung. Brian, let me just let you pick up where Dasha left off. Walk us through who these individuals are from the business perspective, who may be leading the Department of Treasury, and what you're hearing from your contacts in the business world about these three possible new secretaries.
Yeah, well, I mean, Scott Bessent and Howard Ludnik are both well-known names within Wall Street. But if we start off with Scott Bessent to Dasha's point, seen as the more conventional financier type that would potentially taking on this role. He has extensive experience as a chief investment officer of the Soros Fund Management, which is a huge firm. In fact, he got $2 billion from George Soros to start his own hedge fund where he's at right now, which is called Key Square Group. That's an important detail here because Soros is not a name that you tend to hear associated with those in the MAGA camp. But as we know, George Soros is a huge fancier to the democratic side of American politics. There's a lot of people, if you just search for Scott Besant's name on X that are saying, Why would we let this guy into the Trump administration? But again, Scott has been a strong advocate for the pro-growth, low regulation, low tax type of economic policies that really resonated among Trump voters who went to the polls with the economy top of mind. Even on the terrorist bit, he did actually pen an op-ed as recently as today for Fox News advocating for tariff.
Even if he's not as aggressive as perhaps other people in the mix, he is certainly supportive of raising tariffs on other countries.
Brian, when you look at the Dow Jones average over the last two weeks, I think we can show viewers this, there was a spike after Trump's election that lasted through Monday, but then the market has been tapering off throughout this week. What do you make of those numbers? For people at home, when they're hearing all these names, all this chatter, what is the financial takeaway the average person needs to know right now?
Yeah, well, look, the stock market either goes up or it goes down, but it went up a lot. We can basically attribute that to the Trump election win, a lot of optimism over what lower corporate tax rates would do, not just to those companies, but to the investors that hold stock in those companies. We blew through record highs in basically the four or five consecutive sessions of stock trading after the election call. But what we've seen since then, about midweek, was a deflation from those highs. Some of that could be just investors saying, You know what? At the same time, yeah, sure, we can get lower corporate tax rates, but if Trump does levy these tariffs, that would be bad for American companies that source abroad and have to import those goods into the United States because it would get a lot more expensive to do so. You do wonder whether or not that teetering is going to last into inauguration. But as I mentioned, trying to call or attribute any stock market move to one particular thing is always a bit of a fool, Aaron.
We'll just check in with you every day from now until forever to make sure we understand everything. Brian Jung, thank you. We appreciate it, as always. We're going to turn now to the ongoing battle against fires here in the Northeast. Tens of millions are under alert as firefighters from across the country prepare for what could be a hazardous weekend with winds forecasted to hit 30 miles per hour amid very dry conditions. Nbc's Emily Iketta is on the ground with the latest.
Smo covering over New York and New Jersey as firefighters make headway on the Jennings Creek fire. But officials cautioning the wildfire risk for more than 40 million remains. Forecasted 30-mile-an-hour winds could spark new flames this weekend, with crews from across the country now joining the fight. It's welcomed to help amid an unrelenting fire season. Of the roughly 1,300 wildfires in New Jersey this year, nearly half of them have broken out in just the last six weeks, including this one, now encroaching on homes just 50 yards from here. All while crews are still battling some fires from months before. Have you ever seen a fire burn this long? I have not, no. We followed Fire Ward and Ben Brick into the Wharton State Forest to monitor a fire that has been burning since July. High, thriving in the parched roots and debris underground.
We never got the rainstorms. We never got the tropical moisture this year that we normally rely on for the summer, the summer months. So we have this on our hands now amongst other incidents.
Those dry conditions prompting drought warnings and watches across the northeast, where officials are urging residents to conserve water. Jim McGill's family relies on well water in Hopewell Junction, New York, and now rotate shower days.
One of us was in the shower and the water stopped because the well had run dry.
Griffin Pumps Service says they're not alone.
I haven't seen this many existing wells go dry and not come back in a very, very long time.
Rivers and reservoirs are drying up, too, limiting where the firefighter's helicopters can pool water from to douse flames in hard-to-reach places.
We're stretching our resources to the limit with all the fires that we've had, not one at a time, but they all seem to be following each other.
Adding to the risk is that the forecast simply shows no signs of rain in the coming days, which means progress on containing the fires around here could quickly be reversed. Ellison.
Emily Iketta. Thank you. And for more on those dangerous fires and tropical storms, Sarah Let's get right over to NBC's chief meteorologist, Bill Karens. Bill, first talk to us about the weather conditions this weekend and where things stand in terms of these fires and where they could go.
Yeah, Ellison, this will be another really tough weekend for the firefighters. They're not going to get any rest, especially tomorrow. So the things that they've been dealing with has been, it hasn't rained, we all know that. But when it's windy and the relative humidity is low, the fires can burn quickly and they can burn fast. So even at this hour, the relative humidity is very low. During the day today, it was like desert-like air over Southern New England, and that just helps things burn really quickly. So that's going to be the case tomorrow. Today, it was breezy. It wasn't that windy. Tomorrow is actually going to be windy. So that's why we have red flag warnings for 41 million people. So from Southern New Jersey all the way to Central Vermont and back to Massachusetts and Cape Cod, all under red flag warnings. Wind gust tomorrow, mostly in the 20 to 30 mile per hour range with those low relative humidities. So we need the rain. And this is what's changed. We think, fingers crossed, Wednesday Every Thursday, we may actually have our first rainstorm in almost two months in the northeast, somewhere possible of over an inch of rain.
Ellison, that would be gold if it happens.
All right, we'll keep our fingers crossed for that. I mean, let's talk also about the possibility, the worry surrounding tropical storm, Sarah, where is it headed?
Yeah, Sarah is never going to be a problem for anywhere in the United States. This is Honduras' issue. They've had one spot that had 22 inches of rain. There's life-threatening mudslides and flash flooding. It is drifting at 2 miles per hour along the Coast. So a nightmare scenario for all the northern locations here in Honduras. Then it's going to weaken and dissipate over the Yucatan. And as I mentioned, no issue whatsoever for anyone in the US.
All right, Bill Karens. Thank you, as always. We appreciate it. Still ahead tonight, the latest twist in the Monendez brothers fight for freedom. The new Los Angeles DA, weighing in on the case, what that could mean for their resentencing and the new insight into their prison life, we'll explain. Plus, the terrifying plane ride, violent turbulence, sending passengers flying out of their seats. We'll tell you what happened next. And the warning tonight about a surge in measles cases, what could be behind the rise in infections. Stay with us. We're back now with the latest on the Monendez brothers, Eric and Lyle now looking to prison employees as character witnesses to try and help with their resentencing. This as LA prepares for a new DA to take office. Nbc news correspondent Liz Croid sits down with that new DA to discuss how he is as he is reviewing the case.
Tonight, new details on the Monendez brothers' life behind bars, a 600-page legal filing, including letters answers from Eric and Lyle about how prison has changed them, as well as from some correctional officers, one, highlighting Eric's work as a caregiver mentor, helping disabled and elderly inmates, another, saying Lyle has shown a remarkable commitment to self-improvement and the rehabilitation of others. This coming as LA's incoming DA is preparing to make his own recommendation.
I just wanted it to stop.
Criticizing those who have formed an opinion on the murders based on the Netflix series, which dramatizes Eric and Lyle's story and their claims they killed their parents after years of sexual abuse by their father.
Do you believe that the Monendos brothers were sexually abused?
Again, I have not done the thorough review, and I'm not going to base my review, and though I haven't seen it, on some Netflix documentary or limited series, as many people have.
The original prosecutor on the trial telling Dateland they should stay in prison.
If in fact, Jose Monendos was sexually abusing Eric, that didn't give Eric the right to kill his mother.
It didn't give the right to kill either his mother or his father under the law.
But their supporters, including the outgoing DA, arguing 35 years ago, the public had a different view of sexual abuse. The incoming DA saying that's not a factor as he reviews the case.
Whether or not there's a cultural shift or not, that's in some ways irrelevant for whether or not the facts in the law in the Menendez case justify a resentencing, and if so, what that resentencing should be.
Liz Kreutz, NBC News.
For more on the potential resentencing of the Menindas brothers. Let's bring in NBC's legal analyst, Angela Sinadella. Okay, Angela, so we heard from the incoming DA for LA there. He does have a really long resume that includes former prosecutor and assistant US attorney general. Based on what we heard him saying in that interview with Liz, it seemed like he was telling people, Hey, I know what the other DA was saying. I'm aware of the Netflix and a lot of the discussions, the Netflix show and discussions around this, but I haven't made a decision yet. What did you take from that interview?
Well, look, his entire Another platform has been oppositional to Gascon. So he's had this entire tough on crime platform where he says that he is not going to do pretty much anything that Gascon had done. He's going to overturn bands that he had, policies, blanket policies, things like not prosecuting minors, not prosecuting misdemeanors, not prosecuting misdemeanor theft under $950. So all of these policies that Gascon had in place, he ran saying he was going to change all of those. So this makes in perfect sense that with regard to what Gascon was doing with the Monendos brothers, he's also saying, I'm going to re-review that personally and make my own decision.
Do you think public pressure or public opinion in this case will impact the incoming DA? Because Gascón, the last DA, was not very well liked in LA. I remember somebody from Los Angeles saying to me, Well, yeah, I bet he's going to come out and talk about the Menindez trial right now because it is such a hot topic and he has an opinion that people are going to like, and he's not well liked. Do you think that public pressure or public opinion is going to impact this new incoming DA, or is he just going to say, No, I'm fully in a different way?
It sounds like it's really not going to affect him. Now, I say that all prosecutors, though, are affected by the media. Why? Because it reflects what's interesting and important to the community. Prosecutors like this who are elected are meant to serve the people and respond to the community's needs. It makes sense that a prosecutor like this would listen to what the public sentiment is. But that's what he has said, that he is not going to pay attention to that. He's not going to pay attention to the documentaries. He's going to make his own decision, which you hope would happen in a case like this. Also, most importantly, the judge will make his or her own opinion that is not based on documentaries, but it's based on the law.
Because ultimately here, the DA can make a recommendation. The judge would be the one that decides yes or no on resentencing. Is that right? Yes, exactly. Okay, so let's go back to some of the evidence that has been presented, because ultimately, what they're going to be considering, at least in some of the court documents that have been filed, is new evidence that the Menindez's attorney say they have uncovered in the form of a letter that one of the Menindas' brothers had written his cousin prior to the murders, where he alluded to and mentioned being afraid of his dad and saying he's doing it again. Then also information that was unearthed where there was a individual from the boy band Menudo who had accused the Menindas' brother's father who was killed of sexually abusing him as a child. That was all new evidence that was mentioned. Then we're also hearing about witnesses, character witnesses from prison guards. Would that factor in at all, or is this surely going going to be like, Okay, we're reviewing this evidence.
Okay, so this is very confusing. This new prison official evidence is very important for the re-sentencing. There's three tracks right now that the Monendos brothers are pursuing in their quest for freedom. The first is clemency for the governor, and the governor can make whatever decision he wants at any point he wants. The second is a haviest petition, and that is where all of this new evidence is very important because the brothers are arguing that that conviction would not have happened had that evidence at that time been presented to the jury. There they're asking for the conviction to be vacated based on that evidence. But now the third track here is the resentencing, and that's what Gascogne focused on, and that's what here this new DA is saying that he also will decide whether or not he's going to support or refute. Now, this third path, though, almost has nothing to do with the new evidence. Gascogne based it on the behavior of the brothers behind bars, said they were model inmates, that they helped people. When they got out, they would not recommit crimes, but they would be model citizens. In that light, how they acted behind bars is imperative.
So prison officials who would testify to their model behavior would be very important for the resentencing track. So all three tracks are a little bit different.
Interesting. Okay, so all three different avenues we need to watch, and this one, mostly the resentencing for now.
Yes, and this is also the one that by far has the highest likelihood of succeeding. The other two are real long shots.
Really interesting stuff. Angela Snadella, thank you. We appreciate it as always. Coming up next, Iran's crackdown. An Iranian woman arrested after posting a video on line of a man harassing her. Authorities say she was taken into custody over not following the country's hijab laws. But human rights groups say no one knows where she is and if she is okay. The details up next. Back now with Top Story's news feed, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled a death row inmate can be executed for his daughter's shaken baby death. The ruling overturning a Texas lawmaker maker subpoena for Robert Robertson's testimony that paused his death sentence. Robertson, who maintains his innocence, will become the first person in the United States sentenced to die in a shaken baby case. Severe turbulence, forcing a Miami-bound flight to return back to Europe. Video from inside of the cabin shows passengers panicking and being thrust out their seats when the Scandinavian Airlines flight hit rough air over Greenland. The plane was safely rerouted to Denmark's Copenhagen Airport with no one seriously hurt. The aircraft is now being inspected. And General Motors laid off roughly 1,000 employees as they attempt to cut costs and adjust to changing market conditions.
A source telling BBC News, the layoffs were across the business, and the majority of employees impacted are in suburban Detroit. The mass layoffs are another round in August, when an additional 1,000 software and service organization employees were let go. And the CDC and World Health Organization sounding the alarm over a surge in measles cases. The agencies say cases It rose globally last year by 20 %, with about 10.3 million people infected. They believe worldwide vaccination gaps caused large outbreaks in nearly 60 countries. More than 22 million children did not receive the two-dose measles vaccine in 2023. More than 100,000 children dying from the disease. Turning overseas now, where an Iranian woman was arrested after she posted a video online showing a man in a military uniform appearing to harass her. Now, human rights groups asking where she is as Iran continues to crack down on women defying their mandatory hijab laws. Nbc international correspondent, Denyeha Mamdjid, has more.
Tonight, growing concern over the whereabouts of Rochanak Mola'i. The 25-year-old Iranian woman had posted this video to social media on November first. It's believed to show her walking in Tehran with her head uncovered when she's accosted by a man in a military uniform. She fights back in this heated exchange, drawing in several bystanders. She captioned the video, A scene from being a woman in Iran. Human rights advocates say the following day, she was summoned by Iran cyber police and eventually arrested. Her account was taken down, and no one is known to have heard from her since.
She has disappeared. We don't have any information about her whereabouts, her condition, whether she was re-arrested, whether she's in jail right now.
So there's not much information out there, which is very troubling.
In a statement, Iranian police acknowledged the confrontation, saying both the man and the woman had, quote, been referred to judicial authorities, and that Molayi is being prosecuted for not observing mandatory hijab laws. According to the human rights organization, Hengau, Mola-i has, in the past, publicly opposed mandatory hijab laws on social media. She was also arrested in 2022 for taking part in widespread protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Amini was detained in part for not correctly wearing a hijab. The UN says she was killed as a result of beating But Iran maintains she died of pre-existing medical conditions. Hengos says Molayi was only released a year later. Women in Iran have continued to protest the country's strict dress code. Earlier this month, another young woman protested the laws by stripping down to her underwear in public at a university in Tehran. A university spokesperson saying she was sent to a psychiatric hospital. Her current condition is unknown. Even with a new moderate President and a slightly more permissive morality police, the regime is still cracking down. A UN report, released earlier this year, flagged what called a deteriorating human rights situation for women and girls across Iran.
And just this week, the Iranian government announcing treatment clinics where women who refuse to wear the hijab may be referred for therapy that encourages compliance.
We're seeing a lot of small acts of resistance every single day, and we're seeing a quiet revolution happen within the society. When people want human rights and freedom, there is nothing that can really stop them.
And you're seeing We're seeing a younger generation leading this movement.
So long as hijab laws are in place, many Iranian women say they'll continue to defy them at any cost.
And Danielle Himanjan joins us now with more. Danielle, where do things go from here? Are we expecting to see protests inside of Iran?
Well, we haven't seen any protests in the streets so far. It's been mostly online. But if history is any indication, things can quickly spiral. You'll remember, of course, the case of Mahsa Amini. Women, girls all over the country in the streets, in schools were shouting, Women, life, liberty. It was for some time considered to be one of the biggest challenges or posing one of the biggest challenges to the rule of the Supreme Leader at the time.
Yeah, let's talk a little more about the rule of the Supreme Leader here because you mentioned in your piece, Iran does have a fairly new President, one that is typically described as more moderate than his predecessor, but the Supreme Leader of Iran hasn't changed. It's been the same person in that position since 1989. So ultimately, when we're talking about morality laws and the enforcement of them, who actually decides how that plays out in the streets?
Well, enforcement often or sometimes has depended on the political context. After the protest, the Mahsa Amini protest, the morality police eased off for a while. In In terms of Massoud Pazashkine, the fairly new President in Iran, they've tried to present him as a reformist. He has said in the past that he would stop the morality police from bothering women. But as many will point out, despite he can be very open to the West, his allegiance remains with the Supreme Leader who fundamentally holds power and controls the country, and he calls the shots. That being said as well, with everything going on in the region, tensions rising both with Israel and the United States, Iran is not going to want any dissent at home.
All right, Dineo Hamamdouan reporting from the Middle East. Thank you. We are going to be right back. We're back now with a topic you might have seen on your social media feeds, people saying there is now proof that not only do aliens exist, but that they live in the ocean. Take a listen. So apparently, aliens are in our oceans instead of coming from outer space. The government let us know that aliens are coming from below and not above. Color me not shocked.
There are aliens living on this planet inside the ocean.
I'm really surprised there's aliens in the ocean. All right, so where did all of this come from? The trend that was sparked by the latest Congressional hearing on UAPs, once known as UFOs, which are objects in the air, sea, or space that defy scientific explanation. People online fascinated by this testimony from a journalist describing a video that he says, Is a UAP Rising from the Ocean? Another source came forward who told me that they saw a roughly 13-minute long, high-definition, full-color video of a white orb UAP coming out of the ocean approximately 20 miles off the Coast of Kuwait. It was filmed from a helicopter. Then halfway through the video, the person said the orb is joined by another orb that briefly comes into the frame from the left before rapidly moving again out of the frame. All right, as much as we love TikTok, we thought, why don't we talk to some experts about all of this? With us is David Kipping, a professor of astronomy at Columbia University. David, let's just start with people being so obsessed with this ideas of UAPs and really being like, it's something that is coming from the ocean.
Just break this down for us. When you see this stuff on social media, you hear the clips from the hearing. What goes through your head? What do you wish people really understood here?
When I first saw some of the videos that were released by the Pentagon a few years ago, like everyone else, I was amazed. I was like, What is this? This is really exciting. But the more you dig into it, you realize there is some ambiguity still left in some of these videos and perhaps other explanations. It took many years, but there are lots of very credible alternative explanations to some of these things at this point. But I'm fascinated by everyone else, and the hearings we've just been having have been calling for, let's try and collect more information, more data. Let's try and destigmatize field so serious scientists can look at this, and I'm all for that.
So when people are referring to it in this hearing, at one point it was mentioned, nonhuman biologics. What is that?
I mean, your guess is good as mine. This is David Grush his term that he coined in last year's house hearings in interaction with Nancy Mace. It's not really obvious exactly what he means by this. It could be anything from microbes that are attached to these UAPs in some way. He was thinking of these recovered spacecraft, I guess, that he'd not directly seen himself, but was reporting second-hand information that this had been found. But maybe he means a fully formed humanoid body for all we know. It's really unclear. I think this is why we so desperately need more transparency and to get this data out there into the hands of scientists who can weigh in and give some more independent verification, what we're seeing.
Yeah, let's talk about that because a lot of times people come up with different ideas or have theories or talk more about what may be because they don't have just basically basic access to some information to be able to explore it either on their own or to have independent experts look at it. There have been a lot of witnesses in these hearings calling on NASA and the Department of Defense to share data on UAPs with the public. The DOD's annual report said there were 757 new UAP reports from May 2023 to June of 2024. What information do you think they have that could be released that would help experts and also the public understand or at least ask the right questions to get a better understanding of what's really going on here?
I'm an astronomer, so I work with NASA data all the time. The Hubble Space Telescope, we're actually looking at James Rebs' Space Telescope data right now. All of that information is public almost immediately. The reason isn't an issue with NASA's data. I think this is perhaps the intelligence services, the military data. That is all pretty much classified and behind closed doors. I certainly don't have access to that. The public doesn't. The question is, can these armed branches release this data without compromising perhaps some military concerns of adversaries getting hold of this information. I think that's the delicate balance. But certainly, when you look at NASA, I don't see any issues with data being accessible. It's all out there for people to look at.
You think there is at least a better version than just not a lot of information being out where we are right now?
Yeah, I would love to see maybe a repository where people with their phones, if they think they see something, they could upload it maybe to a NASA archive, and then scientists could look at it. We could collect the geo-location information on the phone. There's even magnetometers on those phones. We could collect all sorts of magnetic field information. It's building up that rigorous database that would help scientists have a better idea of what's really going on. Just having things posted on TikTok here and there, it's not enough. We can't really dissect as to what is really happening.
The universe is a massive place and so many unanswered questions. Thank you, David Kipping, for being here. We really appreciate it. Thank you at home for watching Top Story. I'm Ellison Barber in New York for Tom Yamis. Stay right there. More news now is on the way. Thanks for watching. Stay updated.
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