just a handful of weeks we have proved we can slow this pan pandemic. our death toll is half a million and counting. the work far from over. the biden white house knows it as it sets off on one of its most important weeks since inauguration. here is the schedule. tomorrow, a vote in the house budget committee on whether to advance the administration s rescue package. also tomorrow, confirmation hearings begin for the president s nominee for attorney general merrick garland. we ll hear testimony regarding the january 6th attack on the capitol and by week s end we would key a vote on the president s covid relief bill reach the house floor. there s a lot going on. time is of the essence and assistance runs out for off, ne nationalndent. we reached the milestone, half a million deaths from covid really underlining the urgency on biden s covid relief bill. there s sense it could pass through the house but then what happens in the senate? well, that s the number one question th
omar jimenez, menendez and the president of the transportation safety board. reporter: they were picking up pieces from this engine, and pieces were actually flying from the sky to neighborhoods below. while there were some fragments, these were large pieces, chunks that were falling, damaged trucks as we saw, but also could have destroyed homes, people or at least injury them, and somehow that never happened. while people were focusing on the ground, they haieard a boom and saw that engine was obviously missing. the flight was bound for honolulu but luckily they weren t over the ocean when this happened, so they promptly turned around and were able to land safely. i know people get made fun of when they re clapping, but this time they were being guided by the passengers and crew through all of this, and now it lies in the hands of the national transportation safety board to figure out how this could happen. mary, investigators want to get their hands on all the pieces be
live once the witnesses start talking and have a report coming up in just a moment. we re also following some breaking news overseas. president biden now briefed and monitoring that attack on an iraqi military base hosting american soldiers. what we know about who is responsible. that provocation another challenge for the president as he makes a surprise announcement on the one here at home, promising enough vaccine supply for every american months earlier than expected. we will talk about why some states are not waiting to start rolling back their restrictions. our live report from texas coming up. we have a lot to get to in the next few minutes, i m hallie jackson in washington with nbc s garrett haake on capitol hill and new york times reporter zolan is with us as well. garrett, talk about what we can expect to hear today and what we are hearing from some of those witness statements that have been released in the last couple of minutes. reporter: that s right. so rem
better understand a new covid variant begins. the fast spreading strain currently known at b-11529 was the first identified in south africa and is now in botswana, israel, and hong kong. the two biggest concerns right now, the variant may be more transmissible than delta, and current vaccines may be less effective against it. those warnings coming directly from the uk s top health official traveled to and from the south african nations and now restrict by the uk. several other countries joining that ban, but not the u.s. here s dr. fauci. obviously as soon as we find out more information, we ll make a decision quickly as we possibly can. you always put these things on the table but you don t want to say you re going to do it until you have scientific reasons to do it. that s the reason why we re rushing now to get the scientific data to try to make an informed decision about something like that. fears over the variant also rattling markets today. u.s. stocks tumbling roug
themselves and have a go, that s huge. this hello, welcome to the programme. we start this hour in the middle east. the head of the united nations agency for palestinian refugees says israel has told him it will no longer approve its food convoys to enter northern gaza. in a post on social media, unrwa s head philippe lazzarini described the move as outrageous. he said israel s decision meant many more people would die of hunger, dehydration and lack of shelter. there s been no word from israel. it comes as the country s defence minister yoav gallant is set to travel to washington, with israel leadership under increasing pressure from the us to halt its planned assault on rafah in southern gaza. israeli forces continue to carry out ground and air attacks in northern and central gaza, including around al shifa hospital. juliette touma is from unrwa. she says if aid from the organisation is blocked from entering gaza, famine will take hold. it is simply outrageous. the clock is