it is good to see you. thank you for being with us. i m geoff bennett for another hour of msnbc reports. how a texas restrictive abortion law is driving patients to neighboring states and how residents are stepping up to protest the law. and now, how the death toll of hurricane ida is continuing to climb. up to 70 in multiple states. the president is going to new jersey to tour the devastation after he visited louisiana where hundreds of thousands are without power after a week after the storm. also, this hour, the latest on the covid pandemic, and the u.s. is hitting 40 million cases over the weekend, and the number of people dying daily is rising amid another surge from this holiday weekend. but we start with the staggering damage and devastation from ida. joining us now from louisiana is nbc s vaughan hillyard in lafayette, and we have john in st. jhn parish and anne is our msnbc correspondent reporting on the devastation. so, we go to you, vaughan, what have you seen?
cdc mandate for travelers as airports brace for mass confusion and chaos. let s go out front. good evening, everyone. i m kate baldwin in for erin burnett. the offensive is on. russia s widespread attack in eastern ukraine under way at this hour. ukrainian officials are calling it the second phase of the war. this as the ukrainian president zelenskyy warns the russians are stopping at nothing. translator: the russian army is not slowing down the use of missiles against ukraine. they are pressuring, looking for a weak spot in defense of our state find and enter there with the main forces. as the violence continues, there is a fear the worst is still to come. we do believe they reinforced the number of battalion tactical groups in the east and the south of ukraine. they ve added now more than ten to what they already had there in that part of the country. we still assess that in general they have the vast majority of their assembled combat power available to them. and
races speaks to the bbc. live from our studio in singapore this is bbc news. it s newsday. welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we start with events in russia following the deadly attack on a concert hall in moscow, which killed 137 people. the four suspected gunmen in the moscow concert hall attack have appeared in court accused of committing terrorism. they ve been ordered into custody pending a trial set to take place in may. the authorities said one of them a citizen of tajikistan has pleaded guilty. a nationwide day of mourning was observed on sunday with president putin lighting a candle in a church at his residence outside moscow, in memory of the victims. the islamic state group said it was responsible and has posted graphic videos online of the attack. russian officials, without evidence, have tried to implicate ukraine which kyiv has rejected outright. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, has the very latest. in mosc
an attack on a the islamic state group has claimed responsibility for the attack but russian officials have stated, without evidence, that there was ukrainian involvement. kyiv says the claim is absurd . well, there are a number of reasons. one is syria. so is have in the past put out statements and quite recently saying we will never forgive and forget because in syria, russian air force and russian forces are fighting. and russian forces are fighting isis, is, islamic state, as are the americans. secondly, there s afghanistan where the taliban are fighting isk, which is the khorasan wilayat, that s the province of or the branch of isis that operates in afghanistan in that area. and back in september 2022, isis attacked the russian embassy in kabul. so they consider that the russian government is an ally of the taliban and the taliban is their enemy. and also there are a number of disputes that they ve got with regimes in that part of the world. the third reason i think, wh
houthis. ireland is set to have its youngest ever prime minister with 37 year old simon harris declared as fine gael leader. and jasmin paris the first woman to complete one of the world s most gruelling races speaks to the bbc. live from our studio in singapore this is bbc news. it s newsday. welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we start with events in russia following the deadly attack on a concert hall in moscow, which killed 137 people. the four suspected gunmen in the moscow concert hall attack have appeared in court accused of committing terrorism. they ve been ordered into custody pending a trial set to take place in may. the authorities said one of them a citizen of tajikistan has pleaded guilty. a nationwide day of mourning was observed on sunday with president putin lighting a candle in a church at his residence outside moscow, in memory of the victims. the islamic state group said it was responsible and has poste