harbor, the fallen u.s. serviceman finally laid to rest casket. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening let s begin with the fallout and a look ahead at the political battle to come following word today of supreme court justice stephen breyer s planned requirement from the court. a formal announcement from the 83-year-old clinton-appointed justice expected as soon as tomorrow president biden tonight positioned to make his first supreme court pick, an opportunity to fulfill a campaign pledge to nominate a black woman. democrats preparing to move quickly to capitalize on their razor-thin senate majority and confirm a nominee before the fall midterm elections though even a left-leaning pick will not alter the court s ideological balance. a lot of moving parts here, and our team ready to break it all down starting with justice correspondent pete williams. reporter: people close to justice breyer say he made the decision to step down within the
president biden is now saying tonight about personally sanctions vladimir putin. ian pannell from ukraine. the system moving in tonight, the brutal cold from the midwest all the way down to atlanta, up to new york. wind chills plunging to 30 below zero in some places. and then the possible nor easter brewing for the northeast. ginger zee showing us both models tonight. the potential tracks. tonight, the u.s. navy racing to recover an f-35 stealth fighter. the pilot safely ejecting. but why the chinese could be very interested in this highly classified jet. in new york city tonight, news on the second nypd officer to die now after that deadly shootout. he was 27, on the force for four years. for the first time tonight, we will hear from capitol officer eugene goodman in his own words. what he did january 6th, the country and the world saw his bravery. your money and for the second day in a row, the stock market plunging, then recovering. dropping 800 points today, mo
announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good eveningwhe words have failed to deter, the u.s. and its nat splay of mil fire power in eastern europe might discourage a russian incursion into ukraine. the pentagon tonight placing 8,500 troops on heightened alert status many of them earmarked to join a nato response force should the decision to activate it come tonight russia again saying it has no plans to invade, but its posture, roughly 100,000 troops arrayed at ukraine s doorstep, may speak otherwise. as a precaution, families of american embassy workers have been told to leave the country amid worries russia is already planning the seeds of a political takeover it s where we start tonight with nbc chief foreign correspondent andrea mitchell. reporter: with fears rising that russia could invade ukraine, president biden tonight considering a major show of force near russia, putting up to 8,500 u.s. troops on heightened alert, mostly as part of a nato respo
countries to initiate a travel ban followed quickly by the 27 nation european union moving to contain the variant. taking no chances before it spreads around the world. the ripple effect has been swift with emergency meetings of health officials and the stock market plunging. the dow down 8 00 points at the open. 900 now. the world health organization meanwhile is urging caution on travel bans and u.s. health officials say while a ban is possible, it is too soon to know. well, i mean, obviously as soon as we find out more information, we ll make a decision as quickly as we 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 reason to do it. that s the reason why we re rushing now to get that scientific data to try and make an informed decision about something like that. you re prepared to do everything you need to do to protect the american public, but you want to make sure there s a basis for doing that
destruction. putin appearing today at a meeting with military industry leaders as his lower house of parliament with absolutely no warning approved a new bill cracking down on soldier who s refused to fight. this bill says soldiers who refused to serve or resist orders could face up to 15 years in prison. and this move is causing a widespread expectation that putin may even in the next few hours announce a form of a draft. in fact, there was an expectation he could appear today for national address just as he did right before his mass invasion of ukraine. and our matthew chance reports tonight that this widely expected national address from putin is now expected to happen tomorrow morning russia time, which means overnight here in the u.s. it is an address that could up the ante and change the stakes in this horrific war. the fears of escalation already sending russia s stock market plunging today in its worst drop since the start of the invasion. and if putin is going to sta