Today, friday april 29, 2024, breaking news. Chaos outside court. Moments after the full jury was seated and former president Donald Trumps hush money trial, a man set himself on fire outside the courthouse. What we know and where the case goes from here. Remembering columbine. Tomorrow marks 25 years since the School Shooting in colorado. 12 students and a teacher were killed. My visit to columbine so see whats being done to remember and move forward. And israel retaliates against iran after that missile attack. The leaders urge for calm. And taylor swift fans are over the moon today as she dropped her new double album overnight. The surprise for fans and the songs millions are trying to dissect. Well, no shortage of stories for you as we end this week. Thanks for being with us. Happy friday to everyone. We do begin this hour with that breaking news and the chaotic scene at the first criminal trial of former president donald trump. Today, the complete 12person jury along with six alternate jurors were selected, and just moments after the full panel was selected, a man set himself on fire in an area outside the courthouse designated for protests. Police rushed to the man to put out the fire and transported him to a nearby hospital. Lets get right to nbc news correspondent vaughn hilliard. Hes outside the courthouse in Lower Manhattan in new york. Vaughn, what more do we know at this point about the person that set himself on fire, and whats happening inside . Reporter good afternoon, guys. A difficult, complicated few moments. Literally as the jurors were being escorted out of the courthouse, the sirens could be heard from inside because outside here just a mere 100 yards from the entrance of this courthouse where Donald Trumps criminal trial continues to proceed, a man lit himself on fire, threw pamphlets into the area before dousing himself in gasoline and lighting himself on fire. For multiple minutes, Law Enforcement were attempting to respond and put out the flames. The man was still moving when he was taken by an ambulance to a local hospital. This individual appears to be somebody who believes in a vast complex conspiracy theories involving the american government, universal players including the university, and this is somebody who have been posting online, and this is not in response to trumps trial, but because of the mass media here covering it. This is a complicated few moments that was taking place literally as the courtroom was being let out onto lunch break, guys. Vaughn, i mean, could this incident have some security implications for the trial . Any impact on this trial . Reporter the trial is going to be going back into session here this afternoon. At the same time, you see a major uptick in nypd as well as the Fire Department here now. This is an area that while its been secured, theres been a free flow of traffic including right down center street. Literally just steps away from the courthouse doors, and so were looking at a trial the last six to eight weeks, and it just calls attention to the level of scrutiny and the attention that is being paid on the trial and just the extent to which folks are aware of what is happening here. Again, we are still trying to get some details here, but at this point in time, it appears that the trial will be able to move forward. As i said, that jury empanelled 12 jurors as well as 6 alternates moments before this man took that act putting himself in harms way, guys. All right. Vaughn hilliard with the latest for us. Thank you. Israeli and iranian leaders are staying largely silent today after israel launched a retaliatory strike against iran overnight. A source familiar with the situation tells nbc news that israel carried out a limited strike inside iran. The strike was near a city that is home to a military base and a nuclear site. Its all in response to irans drone and missile attack last week. Secretary of state Antony Blinken says the u. S. Was not involved, but a source tells nbc news the u. S. Was informed ahead of time by israel. Nbc News International correspondent matt bradley is with us in beirut, lebanon, and also joining us is Tel Aviv Bureau chief, martin fletcher. Good to have you both. Matt, first of all, it seems like regionally speaking, they thought this could explode, but its deescalated in a sense. You spoke with hezbollahs second in command. Could we see iranianbacked proxy groups like hezbollah respond and make it worse again or what do you think . Yeah. I mean, you could kind of call this case the sum of all fears when it comes to the last six months of what we have been seeing here in the middle east. Once we see this escalate beyond just iran and israel, that was enough to cause everyone to really hold their breath. Once we see it spill out beyond the borders of those two countries and beyond the palestinian territories, were into very, very lethal and destructive and destabiling territory. Here in lebanon, you see just over my Left Shoulder here down the coast is where hezbollah has been attacking the israelis for the past six months. This has been very bloody. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced. Hundreds have been killed, and yet it has never really gone over the berm into what you might call a fullon war. There are rules of engagement, and i spoke with hezbollahs second in command and he made direct reference to those rules of engagement and how the israelis and he, hezbollah, have not exceeded them. So there hasnt been a fullon war like we saw in this country all the way back in 2006. So that is kind of in miniature, what were seeing in a much larger scale. The iranians do back hezbollah, and so far it looks like while everybody is fighting, and one analyst i spoke to today called this a dance fight, it looks as though everybodys playing by the rules. Martin, lets bring you in here. There were a lot of understandable concerns that this back and forth could escalate tensions in the middle east. What is the relative silence from israel and iran suggesting to you . Well, ive seen bad things, but this was as matt suggests, under precipice of a very, very significant, wider war which would have brought in so many countries, and a terrible conflict. I think whats happened is that the rather limited response by israel to that devastating iranian attack kind of put the genie back in the bottle in a way. There is much less sense now that a regional complication is going to explode. Israels response here was very lowkey. It was huge drones. Thats basically the weakest longrange weapon israel has in its arsenal. They could have used longrange aircraft with bombers. They could have used they could have fired missiles from israel, but they didnt. They chose to fire drones, and they did very little damage, and the target they chose was an airfield in iran which was used by well, we believe it was an airfield as far as we know which was used by the Iranian Air Force in isfahan which has some of the nuclear fachlt facilities there. They didnt choose to attack those. They attacked an israeli base in the south of israel. Israel retaliated by attacking an iranian base in the south of iran. Lowkey, limited, and thats good news for anybody fearing a wider situation. A mass in gaza, you could say theyre the only people in the region who actually wanted a wider war. It looks like they wont get it. Thanks to you both. Appreciate it. Lets turn now to the u. S. Economy. Americans looking to buy a home suffered a blow yesterday after Mortgage Rates took an unexpected jump. Freddie mac says the average fixed loan passed 7 for the first time this year. It comes on the heels of last weeks Inflation Report as well. Christine romans joins us to try to help us understand what all this means for you and me. So christine, for context, we should point out the rates were around 8 last fall. They were. This is not an alltime high when we talk 7 mortgages or home loans. Are we going in the wrong direction though . I think thats the worry. People saw them start to drift lower this year because the fed would at some point start lowering Interest Rates, but the economy is too strong to keep lowering Interest Rates right now. Thats the irony. You have a strong u. S. Economy. Inflation is not back down to 2 because of the strength in the u. S. Economy and that means inflation Mortgage Rates have to stay high. For context for you guys, in 1981, a fixed Rate Mortgage was 16 . In 2000, it was 8. 6 . This is a more normal level, but a couple of years ago, it was 3 . Its that nearterm memory thats easy, easy money for so many years that has people adjusting now. Its a big impact on those buying homes or Home Inventory . I think people may be not wanting to sell because they have these lockedin low Interest Rates. Both. The typical home payment right now is up 11 , a record high. Its more than 2,700 a month is a typical payment and thats because home prices keep going up and Mortgage Rates are above 7 . That makes it expensive, that typical home loan, and then for sellers, i call it the golden handle cuffs. If you dont need to move and you have a 3 mortgage, that doesnt mean anything to you. Youll sit in your house because you have an affordable mortgage and you probably have a lot of value in your home so when you do sell, youll make some money. Christine, is this this mortgage movement, the rates, is this possibly like a canary in the coal mine telling us that other rates like credit cards or other loans are also going to start creeping up . I think thats a really good point. Im more concerned about the credit cards. Those are between 20 and 30 for the cards in your wallet and thats very dangerous if you are carrying a balance and ill tell you what i hear from a lot of people. They say, i carry a bit of balance. Dont carry a balance. You have to pay it off or youre paying 20 to 30 of that money thats left over. Say that again. Do not carry a balance. I want to make sure people got it. Christine romans, thank you. Its time for todays cnbc money minute. China is cutting off messages to several apps. And tesla has recalls. Eamon javers is with us. Chinas top internet regulators made the request due to National Security concerns. According to an apple statement, the company is required to follow the laws in the countries they operate in even when they disagree. Tesla is issuing a voluntary recall of about 4,000 of its cybertrucks. The reason, a potential issue with the accelerator pedal. According to the national highway Traffic Safety administration, when a lot of force is applied to the pad on the accelerator pedal, it could dislodge and cause the pedal to get stuck. And wayfair will open its first ever physical store next month in illinois in an effort to attract and retain customers. The 150,000squarefoot store will also feature an onsite restaurant called the porch, taking inspiration from ikeas setup. It comes adds the Online Furniture retailer has struggled with slowing sales. That will be interesting. I guess thats why i get emails every single day from wayfair. Sitting on the porch. Thank you. Thanks. Coming up, another close call on the runway. Why this one is raising even more red flags. Plus, more than a hundred people arrested at Columbia University. University. What were hearing from students uhhh. Katie its future you. Constipation with belly pain again . Our doctor figured it out. She said. Its ibs c and linzess could help you get ahead of it. 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Stop reporter a frantic warning at dca directed at a southwest plane which the faa says had just received permission from controllers to cross runway 4 while a jetblue plane was beginning its takeoff roll on the very same runway. The source says the planes came within a thousand feet of each other. Stop. Stop. 2947, stop we stopped. We were cleared to cross runway 4. Reporter Teresa Hoffman was on board the jetblue aircraft. You were about to lose the ground underneath you and right before thats has been to happen, we slammed on the brakes. Reporter thankfully a potential disaster was averted, but there are many questions about what might have caused the mishap in the first place. It appears that you had two different airplanes talking to two different controllers, one ground controller and one tower controller. It appears to be an operational error. Reporter hoffman also received an email from jetblue that stated in part, this disruption is considered an out of control disruption. Theyre promising to cooperate fully with the federal government. Even though runway incursions have dropped, a string of close calls have raised significant concerns. Southwest, abort. Reporter like a cargo plane last winter coming within 100 feet of a southwest passenger plane about to take off that was carrying 128 people on board. Sam brock, nbc news. Swifties are tiredly rejoicing today because taylor swifts new album highly anticipated is finally here. Its called the tortured poets department, and its full of surprises. Heres emilie ikeda. Reporter taylor swift fans are dropping everything now after a shocking 2 00 a. M. Surprise. Hi, everyone. Im zinhle essamuah. Nbc news daily starts right now. Today, friday april 19, its all yours. We were forever running her 11th studio album includes the lead single fortnight featuring post malone. Sharing the new music video ahead of its debut. Taylor also sharing her thoughts about the album in a social media post overnight, describing it as an anthology that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure adding, this period of the authors life now closed, boarded up. Swifties loving the new record already. Superfans stayed up late for a first listen. Theres a whole community here of swifties. Reporter students taking a taylor swift course at harvard that we visited earlier this year, meeting up at midnight for a listening session. I thought it was lifechanging. Reporter its all taylor all the time on sirius xms channel 13 which plans to play her new music through the weekend, and overnight, iheartradio sharing special messages from the musical mastermind herself. Taylor discussing the inspiration behind florida, her collab with florence and the machine. Im always watching, like, dateline, people have these, like, crimes where they immediately skip town and they go to florida, you know, they try to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, blend in, and i think when you go through a heartbreak, theres a part of you that thinks, i want a new name. I want a new life. Reporter after a week of interactive installations and easter eggs that fueled excitement, the big drop comes amid whats already been a bejewelled year for the 14time grammy winner including her hugely successful eras tour. Welcome to the eras tour. Reporter the new track the alchemy is filled with football references, perhaps a nod to a very special person in swifts life that got a sneak peek of her latest album, boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs star, travis kelce. It is unbelievable. I cant wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops. Reporter and thats just what taylor is doing with the tortured poets department. Emilie ikeda, nbc news. 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