what a story to start our day. thanks, andy. thanks for joining us. i m john avlon. cnn this morning starts right now. good morning, everyone. so glad you re with us. i m poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. there s a lot going on on this monday, december 18th. happening right now defense secretary lloyd austin is back in israel, his visit part of the international pressure campaign for israel to change its tactics in gaza and restart the truce talks, pressure growing after the killing of three hostages by soldiers. republican front runner donald trump using darker more extreme rhetoric in that final sprint, the white house slamming trump for what it calls fascist rhetoric. right now storms gusting up the east coast and the travel delays it could cause this holiday week. cnn this morning starts right now. we begin with defense secretary lloyd austin meeting right now with israel s defense min minister. pressure is growing on israel to change its tactics
hey, everybody, i m yasmin vossoughian in for chris jansing reports. good to be with you this hour. anger building as israel releases new details about three hostages accidentally killed by the idf. what we know about their final moments, plus what israel just uncovered near the gaza border. a test launch for a ballistic missile capable of reaching anywhere in the united states, and a major announcement from the vatican, the pope will allow catholic priests to bless same-sex unions, the reaction that s getting. and if you had to commute anywhere today in the northeast, you know what a mess it was. a powerful storm triggering heavy rain, flooding, and travel delays, we re going to take a look at that impact as well. our nbc news reporters are following the latest developments. we want to begin with hala gorani in tel aviv where the israel government is facing pressure after three hostages were accidentally killed in gaza. hala, there were massive protests over the weekend
mayor already in financial and legal trouble, now owes money to two georgia election workers. the powerful storm making its way up the east coast likely bringing power outages and travel delays. the awful news out of gaza. the israeli military accidentally shooting and killing three hostages. these are the sites and the sounds of the holiday shipping season. we will show you how gifts get to where they need to go on t time. and in time to ship them is running out. it gave me joy helping pe people. it felt good giving something instead of getting something could a really their joy, that s the gift to you. norah: good evening, i am norah o donnell, and thank you for being with us on this friday night. we begin with breaking news about the man once known as america s mayor. rudy giuliani tonight ordered to pay a staggering amount of money, nearly $150 million to two former georgia election workers. a federal judge ruled donald trump s then personal lawyer def
leaders of the world s wealthiest democracies sent a message to russia and china during the second day of the g7 summit. ukraine president volodymyr zelenskyy is among the non-member leaders invited to the summit. he is boosting support for his country in the war with russia. zelenskyy is expected to address some leaders tomorrow, but today he held sit-downs with some leaders. providing military aid to ukraine was one of the items for the g7 leaders, but the leaders of japan, germany, italy, united kingdom and the u.s. issued statements on china to help end the war in ukraine and establish sustainable economic relations. ongoing negotiations over the debt ceiling have been a subject of interest at the gathering. during a meeting with australia s prime minister, president biden was asked about the talks and said negotiations are progressing as he expected. we have team coverage. jasmine wright is live in washington. nic robertson is standing by in ukraine. let s start with
you just heard from a former israeli hostage negotiator highlighting the mounting pressure that is facing israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. this as defense secretary lloyd austin is on the ground in tel aviv right now. he is pressing israeli officials for more clarity on the war efforts as the civilian casualties in gaza continue to mount. and will the election lies change things. a judge ordered rudy giuliani to pay $150 million. we ll talk to one of the attorneys that represented the workers about that impact. and just as airports prepare for millions of people flying for the holidays, the transportation department fining southwest airlines $140 million for last december s historic travel meltdown. what transportation secretary pete buttigieg just told cnn about that fine. this hour of cnn this morning starts now. and we begin with the defense secretary lloyd austin in israel, preparing to meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu at any moment. his trip t