very good wednesday morning to you, i m jim sciutto. and i m erica hill. happening right now, more than 4,500 civilians are stuck in the ukrainian city of bakhmut, this as russian forces launch a barrage of attacks on the fiercely contested area, president zelenskyy calling it the country s most difficult situation. as of now, though, ukrainian forces are still holding the line. cnn is on the ground in eastern ukraine and we will bring you the very latest. plus a political sorry, go ahead. it s all yours. plus a political shakeup in chicago. mayor lori lightfoot the first mayor in 40 years to lose an election bid in that city as concerns about crime and public safety rattle voters. we re also watching the alex murdaugh murder trial. take a look at this, aerial images from southern california where a winter storm has already dumped feet of snow, that s southern california, another 12 to 24 inches expected today. we do begin, though, in ukraine where 48 children
the entire memphis police department after the brutal beating of tyre nichols. plus, the man behind the decision to shoot suspicious balloons out of the sky testifying on capitol hill. congress is demanding some answers today to a long list of questions about how all of that went down. also, what we re learning from the wife of one of the four americans kidnapped in mexico, as her husband is being treated in a texas hospital. and trip delayed, the massive protests in israel, so big, so disruptive, the u.s. defense secretary just pushed back his planned trip. our nbc news reporters are all around the country and the world with the very latest. first, we begin in the middle east where the defense secretary will now be going, we believe, tomorrow, but as that latest round of violence leaves at least six palestinians dead, raf sanchez in te aviv, tell us about this delay, what we know about it, and what will he be walking into? reporter: well, chris, secretary austin s plan
and i m rosemary church. just ahead, moments of terror for passengers on a united airlines flight after a man allegedly attacked a flight attendant and attempted to open an emergency exit. more on this and a string of unsettling article incidents ahead. in ohio, investigators have gun looking into a second norfolk southern train crash, we will discuss what went wrong and what needs to happen to make rail systems safer. plus, kidnapped in mexico, cnn learned the identities of the four americans taken at gunpoint as the fbi asked the public for help finding them. live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with rosemary church. thanks for joining iu.s. aviation safety is in the spotlight after a series of near disasters, one man was arrested monday for attempting to open an emergency door on a plane. after he tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck way broken metal spoon. that man francis for res was tack kel by passengers zip tied according to a woman on the flight a
top of the hour on cnn newsroom. good to have you along. i m victor blackwell. the fbi is searching for four americans assaulted and kidnapped in mexico. we are getting new video of the attack into cnn but we want to warn you, it is disturbing. you can see people being loaded into the back of a pickup truck by armed men. it is unclear if they are americans. according to the fbi shortly after the group of u.s. citizens drove across the border friday, the car crashed with another vehicle and they were taken at gunpoint. authorities believe that they were not the intended targets. the u.s. ambassador to mexico said an innocent mexican citizen was also killed. cnn rosa flores is following this for us. rosa, what are you learning and make of the mexican president and authorities saying these were not the intended targets? reporter: you know, the president of mexico saying these four americans were actually in mat morore mexico to purchase medicine, which is something peo
recent storm, plus up to 8 inches of new rain, and that s got a lot of people worried. nbc s niala charles has more from the hard hit mountains of san bernardino. how worried are they there? right now there s an avalanche warning on a ten-mile stretch of the mountain. that s what officials are monitoring closely as more rain could be expected by friday. so right here i m at one of the only places in crest line residents are able to get food and water thanks to the nonprofit kitchen center and also mcdonald s here giving that food for free. the past two weeks, chris, have been a grueling process for the people who live here. in many cases they ve been snowed in, hit by a lot of snow in a small amount of time. we have met some people who have been able to come here finally getting their cars from out from under the snow and can participate in this, but others have to walk here. listen to what this couple had to say that we met.