- today
Janai Norman has the latest on the more than 130 million Americans on alert as life-threatening heat shatters records from Newark to Providence and more than 100 people are taken to the emergency room in New York City, and Lee Goldberg has the forecast; Mary Bruce reports on Pres. Trump pushing back on the preliminary intelligence report on Iran strikes; Moran Lenghi has details on the fiery midair jet engine scare over Las Vegas; and more on tonight’s broadcast of World News Tonight with David Muir.
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00:00Tonight, the dangerous record-breaking heat, 103 in Newark, 102 in Boston, records set in New York City, roads buckling, a woman discovered dead in her home, no power, 20 people hit by lightning, including a dozen children, and a lifeguard impaled on the beach.
00:15This record-breaking multi-day heat wave, more than 130 million Americans on alert again tonight, from Louisiana all the way up to New York, right into New England, the number of emergency room patients soaring, 20 people hit at a heat-fueled lightning strike, 12 of them children, and that woman dying discovered after days without power.
00:35Tonight, at the NATO summit, with world leaders President Trump pushing back on that preliminary intelligence report that said Iran's nuclear program was set back by only a few months after the U.S. strikes.
00:48What the president is now saying tonight, and the moment today when the NATO chief referred to President Trump as daddy, how the president responded.
00:56The mid-air scare flames and smoke scene shooting from an American Airlines passenger jet, booms heard on the ground, flames shooting from an engine, 159 people on board.
01:07In New York City tonight, the political shocker in the Democratic primary for mayor, a 33-year-old self-described Democratic socialist, State Assemblyman Zoran Mamdani, defeating nearly a dozen candidates, including former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
01:20The reverberations tonight for the Democratic Party across the country, our voters sending a message, and what the winner told our Rachel Scott about the issue of affordability in New York City and the country.
01:32Tonight, the home explosion, the injuries including multiple firefighters, 10 fire departments rushing to the scene.
01:39The terrifying moment, the apartment fire, the woman forced to decide whether she would toss her baby from that window.
01:45Good Samaritans pleading with her.
01:46And late today, there's news of an Amber Alert coming in for two missing children now, a brother and sister.
01:52Police believe they were taken by car, their mother tonight, pleading for their return.
01:57And the NBA draft tonight right here on ABC, all eyes on some rising stars, including the pride of Maine.
02:07From ABC News World Headquarters in New York, this is World News Tonight with David Muir.
02:14Good evening, and it's great to have you with us here on a very busy Wednesday night.
02:18We begin tonight with the dangerous, life-threatening heat, the third day in a row, and it's now been deadly.
02:22More than 130 million Americans on alert tonight from Louisiana up through New York right up into New Hampshire.
02:28A Missouri woman found dead after days without power.
02:3020 people struck by a heat-fueled lightning strike, 12 of them children.
02:35Tonight, take a look at the heat index map, the feel-like readings when you factor in humidity as well.
02:39100 in Norfolk at this hour, 104 in Philadelphia, 96 in New York City.
02:44Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, all breaking records in this heat wave.
02:48New York City reporting a spike in emergency room visits because of this heat.
02:52Outside Philadelphia, hazmat crews responding in sweltering conditions to a roof collapse and ammonia release at a commercial food facility.
02:59It's unclear tonight if heat contributed to the collapse, but emergency crews across this country answering these calls in this heat.
03:06And in South Carolina, a single bolt of heat-fueled lightning striking a lake, injuring 20 swimmers, including those 12 children.
03:14Meteorologist Lee Goldberg is here with the forecast when this finally breaks and now the storm's coming right after.
03:20And ABC's Janae Norman tonight with the emergencies now playing out after several days of this record-breaking heat.
03:26Tonight, grueling temperatures taking a toll.
03:29Newark, 103.
03:31Boston, 102.
03:33Providence, 100.
03:34Multiple all-time June heat record shattered this week.
03:38In Philadelphia, it felt like 106, the third day in a row of triple digits.
03:43It's so hot.
03:44It's extra hot.
03:45It's like a thousand degrees out here, figure it's speech, but it's hot.
03:48Commuters there sweating the heat and the delays.
03:51Trains slowed over fears of warped tracks and those overhead wires.
03:55Those can sag in this extreme heat.
03:58And if you're going too fast, the trains can sometimes snag that and pull those wires down.
04:04Outside Philly, hazmat crews braving the heat, responding to a roof collapse and ammonia release at a commercial food facility in Upper Deerfield Township, New Jersey.
04:13It's unclear if the heat contributed to the collapse.
04:16Emergency rooms in New York City seeing a spike in ER visits.
04:20Officials say the heat put 112 people in the emergency room Tuesday.
04:24So after days of this kind of heat, construction crews like this, they're taking breaks more often just to stay safe.
04:31Outside St. Louis, a 55-year-old woman was found dead Monday after going days without electricity.
04:37West of Columbia, South Carolina, 20 people hurt, including 12 children, after lightning struck near the Lake Murray Dam.
04:45And for so many hitting the beach for relief, a warning to secure those umbrellas.
04:51In Asbury Park, New Jersey, a female lifeguard's shoulder impaled by a flying beach umbrella.
04:56She's expected to survive.
04:59And New Yorkers asked to continue conserving energy.
05:01But, David, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
05:04Temperature is expected to break tonight.
05:05And, David, it will feel 20 degrees cooler by tomorrow.
05:08We can see the smile tonight, Janae.
05:11That's an improvement from the last couple of nights.
05:13We sure do appreciate it out there in this heat.
05:15Let's get right to Chief Meteorologist Lee Goldberg, WABC.
05:17Also, we're right up on the roof tonight.
05:19Lee, these temperatures set to drop.
05:21Of course, everyone wants to know how soon and then for how long.
05:25All right.
05:26So we're in the home stretch of this brief and intense heat wave, David.
05:30We're already seeing some storms just to the north and west of New York City, but still melting here in Manhattan.
05:35Well, those storms are coming in tonight, and we have some heat alerts still from the Gulf Coast into the northeast.
05:40Remember, we set all-time June records across the northeast.
05:43And I feel like readings this evening still in the 90s and 100s.
05:46And it's another dangerous night because the heat just doesn't drop.
05:48There's no relief.
05:49We still feel like 80s and 90s tomorrow morning.
05:51But then the heat really comes in.
05:53I mean, Boston will be off their peak readings by about 30 degrees tomorrow in the 70s, even 60s on Friday.
05:58New York into the 70s, maybe 60s Friday.
06:01D.C. actually gets into the 80s.
06:03Then we have severe weather.
06:04Now, there are severe storms over Pennsylvania with that heat breaking.
06:07But there's also severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings across southeastern Minnesota.
06:11There are more storm warnings across the Carolinas right now.
06:14So, David, these storms come together and move into the northeast, and they help the cool down as we go into the weekend.
06:19Bring on the relief.
06:20That's right.
06:21No question about that.
06:22Lee, we appreciate it.
06:23Tonight at the NATO summit, President Trump with world leaders pushing back on that preliminary intelligence report
06:28that had said Iran's nuclear program was set back by only a few months after those U.S. strikes.
06:33What the president is now saying tonight and the moment today when the NATO chief referred to President Trump as daddy.
06:40How the president responded.
06:41Our chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce, traveling with the president.
06:45Tonight on the world stage with America's NATO allies,
06:48President Trump insisting the U.S. strikes on Iran decimated the Iranian nuclear program,
06:54rejecting a preliminary Pentagon report that sources say showed the program was only set back months.
07:00It was very, very successful.
07:03It was called obliteration.
07:05But sources tell us the early intelligence from the Pentagon indicates at least two of the Iranian nuclear facilities targeted
07:11were not completely destroyed, and that Iran moved much of its stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium before the U.S. struck,
07:20but the president rejecting that conclusion.
07:22We think we hit them so hard and so fast they didn't get to move.
07:25Tonight, the Defense Intelligence Agency, which produced the report,
07:29calling it a preliminary low-confidence assessment, not a final conclusion.
07:33The president today actually reading Israel's intelligence,
07:37which concludes the U.S. bunker-buster bombs that hit Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility, Fordow,
07:43destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.
07:49And today, that remarkable moment, NATO's secretary-general calling Trump daddy
07:53as the president described his approach to Iran and Israel, Trump seeming to enjoy it.
07:59They're not going to be fighting each other. They've had it.
08:01They've had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard. You know, they fight like hell.
08:05You can't stop them. Let them fight for about two, three minutes.
08:09Then it's easier to stop them.
08:10And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language.
08:13You have to use strong language every once in a while you have to use a certain word.
08:16Looking ahead, the president announcing the U.S. will resume talks with Iran next week.
08:21We're going to talk to them next week with Iran. We may sign an agreement. I don't know.
08:28To me, I don't think it's that necessary. I mean, they had a war. They fought. Now they've gone back to their world.
08:34I don't care if I have an agreement or not.
08:35I said, Iran will not have nuclear. Well, we blew it up. It's blown up.
08:40But the kingdom come. And so I don't feel very strongly about it.
08:47And David, while the president says they plan to talk, no face-to-face meetings between the administration and the Iranians appear to be set.
08:55We're told Trump's special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, has no travel related to this on the books.
09:00And tonight, Iran has not acknowledged any talks. David.
09:04It's been quite a NATO summit. Mary Bruce traveling with the president.
09:06Mary, thank you. Back here in the U.S. tonight to the mid-air scare.
09:09Just after takeoff in Las Vegas, flames and smoke could be seen shooting from an American Airlines passenger jet.
09:15Booms heard on the ground. You'll see the flames here shooting from the engine with 159 people on board.
09:21Here's ABC's Mola Lenghi tonight.
09:24Tonight, alarming video showing flames and smoke shooting out of this American Airlines jet mid-flight.
09:30American 1665, same sentence. It looks like you have some flames coming out of the engine.
09:37Yeah, we're going to have to return.
09:38The Airbus A321 took off from Las Vegas this morning, headed for Charlotte.
09:43The crew reporting an engine issue just after takeoff, forcing an immediate turnaround.
09:48There was a loud boom. It caused me to immediately look up.
09:53Mark Jackson filmed this video after first thinking he'd heard fireworks.
09:57It was still very low to the ground, so I immediately was like, oh my gosh, I'm about to witness a plane crash.
10:05American Airlines says the aircraft experienced a mechanical issue.
10:09It returned to the airport and taxied to the gate under its own power, where its 153 passengers deplaned normally,
10:16adding the aircraft was taken out of service to be evaluated by our maintenance team.
10:20Well, David, this type of incident usually signifies a compressor stall or a plane striking, a bird or other debris.
10:27The FAA is now investigating.
10:29Mola Lenghi with us tonight here. Mola, thank you.
10:31We turn next tonight to the home explosion outside Columbus, Ohio.
10:34Multiple injuries reported, including several firefighters, 10 fire departments rushing to the scene.
10:40Here's ABC's Stephanie Ramos.
10:41Tonight, multiple people injured, including three firefighters, after this fiery home blast in Ohio, just outside of Columbus.
10:50I have a report of a house explosion.
10:54Call or advise that the house is partially collapsed.
10:56Flames and thick smoke smothering the house before 7 a.m. today.
11:00I heard this boom, and I thought, geez, did something run into a house or something?
11:06So I came to the front door, and I looked across the street at their house, and it was half gone.
11:14First responders finding a woman and a man outside the home, the man with extensive burns.
11:19Both were taken to the hospital, fire crews working to extinguish the inferno.
11:24When this second explosion went off.
11:26We just had another explosion. We have multiple firefighters hurt.
11:29Debris from the blast injuring three firefighters.
11:32Their conditions were not immediately known.
11:35Tonight, authorities say the explosions appear to be accidental.
11:39David, the cause of the explosion is under investigation,
11:42but a spokesperson for the gas company says the blast was not due to natural gas.
11:47David.
11:47Stephanie Ramos, Steph, thank you.
11:49Now to the active manhunt late today outside Los Angeles in Santa Monica.
11:52Shots fired at a popular mall, an officer injured,
11:55and then officers with long guns searching for the suspect.
11:58Trevor Ralt with the images coming in from Los Angeles.
12:01Tonight, the massive police response after an officer was injured during a shooting at a popular shopping mall in Santa Monica.
12:09It happened near a parking garage setting off the manhunt.
12:12Police and SWAT teams swarming the scene.
12:14A helicopter hovering above.
12:16Officers with long guns searching for a suspect at the 3rd Street promenade.
12:20They were running around.
12:22They were checking the upstairs, the downstairs.
12:24They had their guns out.
12:26And late today, authorities arresting a person who they believe is the suspect,
12:30saying that wounded officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
12:33Investigators believe the suspect was also involved in the shooting of two teenagers in a Waymo vehicle earlier this week.
12:40And, David, the authorities just lifted the lockdown here at the mall just moments ago.
12:44There are still a ton of law enforcement vehicles on scene.
12:47It's been a terrifying scene here in a very popular portion of Santa Monica.
12:51David.
12:51Trevor Ralt with the late details.
12:53Trevor, thank you.
12:53In New York City tonight, the political shocker in the Democratic primary for mayor,
12:57a 33-year-old self-described Democratic Socialist, State Assemblyman Zoran Mamdani,
13:02defeating nearly a dozen candidates, including former Governor Andrew Cuomo,
13:05sending reverberations through the Democratic Party across the country.
13:08Our voters sending a message.
13:10Rachel Scott interviewing the winner tonight and what he said about affordability in New York City and the country.
13:17Mamdani! Mamdani!
13:20Tonight, the political earthquake in America's largest city reverberating for Democrats across the country.
13:26Tonight, we made history.
13:3133-year-old Zoran Mamdani, who just weeks ago was a little-known state assemblyman,
13:36pulling off an upset win in the Democratic primary for mayor.
13:40We have given our city permission to believe again.
13:44Mamdani defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo,
13:47who was hoping for a political comeback after resigning in disgrace amid a sexual harassment scandal.
13:52Tonight is his night.
13:54He deserved it.
13:57He won.
13:58Mamdani's campaign laser-focused on making New York more affordable,
14:02a strategy he tells me could be a blueprint for Democrats.
14:05I think there's a question of how we return back to what made so many of us proud to be Democrats.
14:10How do you do that?
14:11And I think it's that focus on an economic agenda,
14:13on ensuring that people can do more than just struggle.
14:16Mamdani, who proudly calls himself a Democratic socialist,
14:19campaigned on freezing rent, making buses free, and opening city-run supermarkets.
14:24In November, he'll face the city's current mayor, Eric Adams.
14:27He's a snake oil salesman.
14:29He would say and do anything to get elected.
14:33Adams was indicted on corruption charges, which were later dismissed by the Trump administration.
14:38Trump going on the attack.
14:40So, President Trump just waited and called you a communist lunatic.
14:45What do you say to that?
14:46You know, this is not the first time that President Trump is going to comment on myself.
14:52He ran a presidential campaign in part speaking about the necessity of making groceries cheaper
14:56and to make cost of living more navigable for so many.
15:00He's shown himself uninterested and unable to deliver on that.
15:04Former Governor Andrew Cuomo has conceded the primary, but he's not out of the race just yet.
15:08He is now weighing his options, considering whether to still run as an independent in the general election.
15:13Rachel, good to have you in New York tonight. Thank you.
15:16One more note overseas tonight.
15:17There was a moment from the NATO summit that's making news tonight between President Trump and a Ukrainian journalist.
15:22The reporter asking him if the U.S. is open to selling anti-air missile systems to Ukraine.
15:27The president then asked her if she lived there, and then he asked her about her husband, and here's how it played out.
15:31Are you living yourself now in Ukraine?
15:33My husband is there.
15:35Wow. I can see you're very, you know, it's amazing.
15:38And me with the kids, I'm in Warsaw, actually, because he wanted me to be.
15:43Is your husband a soldier now?
15:45He's.
15:46He's there now?
15:47Yeah.
15:47Wow. That's rough stuff, right? That's tough. And you're living here?
15:52In Warsaw.
15:53That's a very good question. And I wish you a lot of luck. I mean, I can see it's very upsetting to you.
15:59So say hello to your husband, OK? Thank you.
16:03The president and that Ukrainian journalist today, the president also did meet with President Zelensky afterward,
16:09the president signaling a willingness to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine.
16:12When we come back on this busy news night, an executive for DoorDash and his parents killed in a boating accident.
16:18What happened in those rough waters?
16:20Also, a woman is forced to make the decision whether to toss her baby from a burning apartment building.
16:24The good Samaritans below begging her to, and you'll see it in a moment here.
16:28Next tonight, a DoorDash executive and his parents among eight people now killed in a boating accident.
16:34Josh Pickles, his mother Paula, and father Terry all died when their boat capsized in Lake Tahoe.
16:40Officials say thunderstorms and powerful waves moved in as the group went boating.
16:43They were celebrating their mother's birthday on that boat that the family owned.
16:47Tonight, we're also tracking a new Amber Alert in Idaho, an urgent search at this hour for two teenagers, a brother and a sister.
16:53Authorities are looking for 13-year-old Alan Fisher and his sister, 15-year-old Rachel.
16:58Their mother, Elizabeth Roundy, says someone hauled her teens away in a car outside a store in Montview.
17:03Police say someone might be taking those teens to an FLDS group, a religious group in Utah.
17:08They are looking for a gray Honda or Hyundai tonight, a sedan with Utah plates.
17:12When we come back here tonight, that mother had to make that decision about whether to throw her baby from high up in a burning apartment building and the good Samaritans below.
17:19And tonight, the NBA draft live right here on ABC, the top prospect causing a lot of buzz, the pride of Maine tonight in a moment.
17:27To the index tonight in the terrifying moment when a woman had to decide whether to throw her baby into the arms of rescuers from a burning apartment building.
17:35Take a look at the woman making that split-second decision, tossing the baby as flames grew in the apartment building there in Cleveland.
17:42The baby was caught by the good Samaritans.
17:44Both the baby and mother are okay tonight.
17:47Five other people were injured.
17:48Officials say an explosion in the building caused the fire.
17:52Tonight, scientists say swarms of aggressive killer bees are on the move and spreading across the U.S.
17:56The honeybees are now found in 13 states, primarily in the south.
17:59The bees thriving in arid climates, appearing to be advancing northward as the weather warms up.
18:04Researchers say Oregon, the Great Plains, and southern Appalachian areas could see swarms in the coming years.
18:09When we come back here tonight, excitement building at this hour for the NBA draft.
18:13We'll be live here on ABC in all eyes on one superstar forward who's getting a lot of the hype.
18:17ABC World News Tonight with David Muir.
18:22Sponsored by LaBrella.
18:24See the difference.
18:27Finally tonight here, the NBA draft.
18:29You saw it right here live on ABC.
18:30Rhiannon Alley is there tonight on the rising stars whose lives just changed.
18:35Rhiannon.
18:36David, tonight lives were changed and history was made at night one of the NBA draft here at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
18:43And joining a list of first-round draft picks, a very elite list.
18:4818-year-old Duke University star forward Cooper Flagg going to the Dallas Mavericks who had the first pick.
18:54Dylan Harper was the second pick.
18:56And if that name sounds familiar to NBA fans, it's because his dad is five-time NBA champ Ron Harper.
19:02Dylan and his teammate at Rutgers University, Ace Bailey, made history.
19:06The duo is the first pair of Rutgers teammates to be selected in the same first round, both going in the top five.
19:12It was certainly a night to remember for these players and their families.
19:16More lives will be changed tomorrow night at night two of the draft.
19:20David.
19:20All right.
19:21Thanks, Rhiannon.
19:21Right there at the draft tonight for us, I'm David Muir.
19:24I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
19:25Good night.
19:27Thank you for making World News Tonight with David Muir, America's most watched newscast.