thanks for being here. i m stephen romo in for yasmin today. it s a busy final day of 2023. just hours before the ball drops, the security is tight in new york s times square. celebrations are set to get underway, despite the heightened threat environment, following the october 7th attack on israel. we are live on the scene with the latest. of course, in many parts of the world, it is already 2024. we will show you the sights and sounds and the hopes so many have for the new year. meanwhile, tensions are high across the red sea at this hour, as the u.s. navy sinks three houthi boats and downed ballistic missiles fired from houthi controlled areas. we will have more on that. legal action in donald trump s world is not stopping. we will reveal that question special counsel jack smith has for an appeals court that took more than 80 pages to ask. and we begin this hour with a countdown to the new year. up to 1 million people are flocking to times square to witness new yor
they re striking over plans to raise the retirement age. rising tensions, tough new talk from china s foreign minister who warns that u.s. and china are headed for confrontation and conflict, unless the u.s. changes course. state of emergency. the situation increasingly dire in communities in the southern california mountains. residents remain trapped after that unprecedented snowfall. and we re about to get an update from the state department on the late news that two of the four americans kidnapped in mexico last week are dead. what we re learning now about the whereabouts and conditions of the other two americans. our nbc news reporters are around the country and world with the latest developments. we want to begin at the state department where we re about to hear from those officials for the first time since we learned of the american deaths in mexico. nbc s morgan chesky is in brownsville, texas, just north of where the americans were kidnapped. what are the big un
we can understand what happens in mexico. the problem is, what do you do about it? the mexican authorities, the marine corps in particular, army to some extent, will strike back at the cartels if the president tells them to. they tried that arresting a significant cartel figure in the last year. there were 700 armed mexican cartel members with automatic weapons, anti-tank weapons, armored vehicles, that came out to attack the army when they conducted the operation. control of the mexican countryside is in tenuous hands right now. it s a dangerous place. general mccaffrey and ken dilanian, thank you very much. florida governor ron desantis delivering his state of the state address, providing fresh clues about what to expect if he runs for president.
the horrific situation in mexico. four americans kidnapped, two murdered, one injured, all the two others are back, but as you heard him say, the bodies are not back yet. nbc s ken dilanian is with us with retired four-star general mccaffrey who served as the clinton administration s drug czar. both the white house, we heard from their briefing, and the briefing we re getting from the state department, they don t want to get ahead of things. this is very much an early and active investigation. but what do we know about what happened to those four americans and the state of the investigation? that was the first confirmation we have gotten from american officials that two of the four were killed and we ve learned that bodies of the dead have not been repatriated to the united states. the two survivors were taken to the u.s. according to mexican authorities believed to be in a hospital near brownsville, texas.
missiles or rockets have landed in poland, killing two people according to the associated press. and here s what we know so far. let s be honest. more questions than answers right now at 3:00 eastern. we ve got the pentagon spokesperson saying yes, they ve heard these reports of something, missiles perhaps, hitting poland, but cannot corroborate those reports. the pentagon is investigating. we are anticipating a briefing in a minute all of it as it s around 4:00 a.m. bali time where president biden has meeting with members of the g-20. i want to bring in molly hunter in kyiv. monica alba at the white house. andrea mitchell. former nato supreme allied commander and retired four-star general mccaffrey.