than 100,000 drug overdosed deaths in a 12-month period. now new york city is taking a controversial step to save lives jacob soboroff with our nbc news exclusive. reporter: since the beginning of last week, inside that facility across the street, the city of new york allowed people to use illegal drugs like heroin and fentanyl under the supervision of a professional to stop them from dying of an overdose. sam rivera is the facility s executive director some people might call it crazy. i use a different c word to be courageous enough to do this and we re seeing already 17 lives reversed. come on. reporter: 17 people overdosed since you opened last week. all of them survived. reporter: as kaitlyn took us on a tour of the number of lives saved grew by one. so an overdose happened just now? yes it is 100% reversible. reporter: new york city, a physician says opening the facility is based on science. have you talked to the
force. among the evidence the panel has reviewed, leaked documents alleging china s president authorized this treatment this uyghur gave evidence she has documented 232 re-education camps, 257 prisons. there is a genocide going on there are millions of people being locked up in this so-called re-education camps. reporter: we traveled to istanbul where thousands of uyghur refugees live in exile here a recreation of a chinese re-education camp the refugees say are being used in china right now. they call them concentration camps with torture rooms this is an interrogation room yes this is a tiger chair. reporter: a tiger chair? you call it a tiger chair. reporter: but even outside china, uyghurs don t feel safe. her husband was arrested in morocco earlier this year. she is left with their young children and fears he will be sent
reporter: lester, the white house described the call as warm, saying that it lasted nearly 90 minutes and that president biden reaffirmed the u.s. commitment to ukraine s sovereignty. it comes two days after the president had that video call with russian president vladimir putin warning him not to invade ukraine. but russian troops have not moved back from the border so far. multiple officials here say the u.s. is preparing tough economic sanctions if mr. putin escalates the crisis. lester okay, kristin and on the frigid border between ukraine and russia tonight, tensions remain very high richard engel is on the front lines with ukrainian troops. reporter: the front line between ukraine and russia is on high alert tonight. all leave canceled for the troops, who will be spending the holidays in the trenches muddy today. often frozen solid these positions are designed to stop or at least slow down a
reporter: today s cdc approval just two weeks until christmas means 2.6 million teens will be eligible to dramatically boost their covid protection before gathering with family and friends over the holidays. pfizer s booster now authorized for fully vaccinated 16- and 17-year-olds at least six months after their second dose. while those initial vaccine doses offer a strong defense against the delta variant, pfizer says its research shows the booster is essential to mounting a strong defense against the fast-spreading omicron variant. so far, younger kids are not eligible for the booster. i would think that at least for the next several, several months that the kids will be okay because in general they do better than adults when it comes to immune responses. reporter: children under 18 make up 22% of all covid cases meanwhile, at hospitals nationwide, many front line doctors and nurses say it feels like the worst days of the pandemic once again. icus filled with unvaccinated covid
before their fairytale marriage, meghan says her british friends warned her not to marry into the royal family don t do it because the british tabloids will destroy your life. reporter: the royal couple now suing tabloids i will not be bullied into playing the game that killed my mom. reporter: harry weighing in on rumors of a rift between he and william. we ll always be brothers. we re on different paths at the moment and i ll always be there for him at the moment and i know he ll always be there for me as brothers, you have good days and bad days. reporter: documentary is set to air on abc and follows the couple on their recent tour of africa harry and meghan clearly unhappy with the media criticism many askg heouple might just walk away from the spotlight. lester keir, thank you up next tonight, the emotional photo of a nurse, at the heart of tonight s those who serve.