week. [ speaking gibberish ] that damn icelandic volcano which for the record is pronounced roethlisberger. want to see something cool? the ash fell over europe well into the week stranding thousands of restless travelers and causing an outbreak of antiiceland sentiment among drunk scottsmen wearing hooter sweat shirts. i hate iceland! the relentless spewing of ash reminded some of europe s most famous encounter with an angry volcano. it s the worst volcanic eruption i ve seen since i spent the summer in pompeii. that was 79 a.d. the volcano finally backed down later this week after a
washington. and nasa scientists are getting a better picture of what happened on the sun. literally. they unveiled the first images from a new solar satellite. that s cool. it s goal is to predict solar storms, which can disrupt satellites and even knock out power grids on earth. let s go to willie geist. willie, a lot to talk about in sports. baseball last night, the yankees keep winning. the red sox are, i guess, second night in a row, late-night heroics but you re looking at big ben. he could be in big trouble. very interesting. remember, the district attorney in georgia last week announced no charges would be brought against roethlisberger in that case where a 20-year-old college student accused him of sexual misconduct in the bathroom of a nightclub. no charges, but the nfl not quite as forgiving. commissioner roger goodell suspended roethlisberger for the first six games. that is a big suspension in a six-game season of this season without pay for violating the
national football league that bad behavior won t be tolerated and if you do it you re going to pay a price. you have fans of roethlisberger who will say he wasn t arrested. he wasn t charged. the da said there was not enough evidence so what are you punishing him for drinking, partying too much, hanging out in the wrong place? it s a different standard. you know, in a court of law it s beyond a reasonable doubt. very hard to prove. this is like an employment relationship and if you break the rules of your employer you face the consequences. in the letter roger goodell sent to ben roethlisberger he explained the whole environment of being out at a bar, giving alcohol to somebody under age, excessive drinking leads to situations where people may make false allegations and that s what they re trying to avoid. what do you make of this comprehensive behavioral examination? they re saying he has to go to a therapist. and he is barred fromnist off-season activities, they have weight
about 83 miles south of the new orleans airport. we re going to speak with someone live about this story coming up very shortly here on msnbc. meantime, nbc news has learned that five pirates who fired on a u.s. navy ship in the indian ocean are being brought to the u.s. they re going to face criminal charges there. the pirates were captured last month. normally they would be taken to kenya to stand trial. but because the kenyan jails right now and their court system are so overloaded, the military has decided to bring those pirates back to the u.s. we re also getting some breaking news at this hour on quarterback ben roethlisberger and his future there in the nfl. we re getting word from espn the pittsburgh steelers quarterback will be suspended four to six games for violating the league s personal conduct policy. of course, the story comes from last month s most recent run when a 20-year-old college student accused roethlisberger of sexually assaulting her. prosecutors decided ag
service. governor arnold schwarzenegger was among the 600 people paying their respects. the off-duty state trooper who acted as ben roethlisberger s bodyguard on the night he was accused of raping a college student is under investigation by his department. witnesses claim the pennsylvania trooper, ed joyner, blocked the entrance where roethlisberger and the alleged victim were. prosecutors have said there s not enough evidence to press charges against roethlisberger. here with me now former federal prosecutor jay fahey, good morning. we have the pennsylvania state police investigating ed joyner. if he was preventing anyone from getting into that hallway and subsequently the bathroom where roethlisberger and the accuser r were that night, you would say that s suspicious, wouldn t you. it s more than suspicious. if he thought something bad was going on, if he knew that girl was drunk and if he thought that a sexual assault was going on, he s committing a criminal act. the state polic