Friday, November 13, 2026

0:25To realize the future America needs, We understand what's needed from us to face each threat head on. We've earned our place in the fight for our nation's future. We are Marines. We were made for this. Breaking news right now. The U.S. grounding all flights nationwide after a major air traffic control communications outage. Plane after plane stuck on the runway. nowhere to go with the FAA issuing that extremely rare ground stop because of what they call extraordinary circumstances. Chaos at airports. Some 7000 flights canceled and delayed. Plus, the head of Homeland Security reassuring Americans don't be afraid.

1:08So how could this happen? Was it a cyber attack? And when will it end? Our reporters spread out across major airports now paralyzed. Also breaking tonight, miracle on the Mississippi, a tanker colliding with the river cruise in New Orleans. The boat tipping over, sinking within minutes. Look at that. People in the water. Incredibly, everybody now accounted for. We hear from passengers about the frantic escape. Powerful storms on both coasts. Monster waves crashing in the west. Hail and wind leaving a trail of destruction in the east. We're tracking it all. And look what is taking off tonight. SpaceX's Starship rocket just launching.

1:47What we know about the historic test mission. horrifying new video of that Brooklyn building collapsed walls crumbling with children inside an update on how they're doing tonight Microsoft meltdown email and apps slowly returning after that outage affecting millions our new reporting on what may have been behind the global disruption terrifying landing the plane tail hitting a runway twice passengers screaming on board What happened next? And Pope Leo's emotional Peru homecoming. More than a million people cheering for him in the city he served as bishop. His message tonight. Nightly news starts right now.

2:29This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yawas. Good evening. I'm Hallie Jackson in tonight for Tom. And we are coming on the air with a travel nightmare this Friday, the 13th. Flights across the country grounded for hours today in what appears to be a massive communications failure. Just in tonight, the ground stop is finally being lifted. But there are major questions now about what caused this outage. For now, top Trump administration officials say it does not appear to be a cyber attack, but they are not ruling anything out. Take a look at the view from above big national airports. Planes lined up, parked on taxiways, stopped from taking off.

3:06Some 13 ,000 flights were canceled or delayed, according to flight aware. And there's really not a clear timeline as to when things will get back to normal. Now, we had seen planes landing like this one in Boston, able to communicate with those air traffic control towers on the ground. And earlier, the Homeland Security Secretary appeared in front of cameras to reassure Americans no indication of a nefarious attack at this point. All of it coming as we're also tracking another major breaking story unfolding tonight. A disaster on the Mississippi River, a huge tanker smashing into a riverboat after it lost control, people ending up in the water.

3:41And incredibly, we're learning tonight everyone has been rescued and is accounted for. We'll get to what is still a very active operation in a moment. But we start with team coverage across the country and our Tom Costello, who covers aviation. Tonight, America's airport's at a sudden and stunning standstill. The airport feels more like the holidays versus a Friday night. There are just people everywhere. The FAA, in what it calls a response to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety, ordering a ground stop at every airport in the country. From Chicago's O 'Hare. It's crazy. I mean, it's a Friday night, too.

4:17To a hobby airport in Houston. NBC's Priscilla Thompson was there right after the FAA's emergency move. Yeah, we're getting another announcement right now of them again saying, making me aware there's this nationwide ground stop going on. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posting just after 4 p.m. The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all air route traffic control centers. This was a telecommunication outage throughout FAA. Out of abundant caution, we have grounded all the flights and all the flights are accounted for. as incoming flights, either internationally or the flights that are currently still in the air.

5:00We'll be dealing with those case by case. Late tonight, the Trump administration announcing the ground stop is over. And so at 8.15 tonight, Eastern time, we've opened up the airspace. Now, does that mean every flight is going to fly? Right now, it's going to be slow. With attention now turning to what caused it. Old switches, old routers. We use 1980s Little Copper Alliance. It's an old system that went down and went down everywhere. It got overloaded. Tom's back with us now. And Tom, there's been some attention tonight on this new AI assistance program intended to help air traffic controllers that's been rolling out.

5:38What is the nexus, do we know, between that and this outage? Do we have a sense yet? Well, the new AI system is called SMART. It's been rolling out for a few months. went nationwide this week, designed to help controllers improve airflow to avoid weather, bottlenecks, congestion. AI would not make those decisions on its own. Now, the contractor tells us Smart is not involved in this outage, but Mark Wayne Mullen's suggesting they're going to look at everything tonight. Hallie? Okay, Tom, thank you. Let me get to Maggie Vesp, who is live for us at Chicago's O 'Hare Airport. Maggie, I have to imagine you're seeing a lot of lines and a lot of frustration.

6:15Yeah, Hallie, for sure. I mean, check out this line. This isn't a word, a mess, basically, here at O 'Hare. This is baggage services, and then we're going to pivot. Look how far back this goes. I've talked to multiple people who basically checked their bags before the ground stop was issued. They haven't taken off from O 'Hare yet, and now a lot of people who have gone through this line, I'm not saying this is everybody here, but they're telling me they've been told they can't get their bags back, that eventually the bags will just go to their final destination, so they're bracing to be stuck here all night, potentially without their stuff.

6:43Also upstairs, huge crowds there. People just confused as to what's happening. Those who haven't taken off yet as well. We talked to one man who said two hours before his flight to Philly, the flight time still hadn't been updated. There was no delay yet. Basically, the frustration and the desperation for answers here is growing at their airport like every airport alley across the country. And it may be a while before they get those answers. Maggie, thanks. Let me bring in Tom Winter who's joining us now. Tom, the intel community is racing to figure out if this was more than just a tech malfunction.

7:14Could it have been a cyber attack? That's right, Hallie. And the United States intelligence community does have sophisticated systems in place to monitor the types of suspicious Internet activity or potential surge of activity that could bring down potentially a system like this. And they have the ability to monitor that from a nation state or for some of these prolific hacking groups that have caused havoc over the years. Right now, tonight, they say they don't see any sign of that. So there's no initial indication that this could be a cyber attack. But there are other ways that somebody could conduct something over the Internet.

7:47And that's something that will take some time. Hallie, tonight, no indication that this is connected at all to that Microsoft outage. Tom Winter, thank you. More to watch tonight. To our other major breaking story tonight, what officials are calling a miracle on the Mississippi after a huge tanker slammed into a ship in New Orleans, the boat, tipping over and sinking within minutes. Here's George Solis on how all the passengers and crew on board were rescued. Miracle on the Mississippi. Squad 2, rescue 2. Watercraft in distress. Passengers in the muddy, frigid, and fast-moving water and a massive rescue response after a tanker ship crashed into the American Heritage cruise ship as it was docked near the French Quarter.

8:30Oh, gosh, hang on. Hang on, baby. Hang on, baby. A tourist paddle boat with at least 129 people on board. We have zero people unaccounted for, which truly is a miracle on the Mississippi. It happened at the Crescent City Connection near the convention center. That's just going down quick. This video shows the green tanker ship hitting the boat, then very quickly the boat tipping over and sinking. Immediately, boats on the water began pulling survivors out of the river as personal belongings floated by. All ship traffic on the river halted as rescue efforts continued. We have 32 passengers from the cruise ship who are in our local hospitals, none with any type of critical injuries.

9:20This video showing the tanker approaching as she scrambles for safety. Witness Randy Christie was there when the tanker T-boned the vessel. That thing just had so much power. It just went right to the back of it, just went right into that boat, I guess, leading the big gaping hole. Ship tracking websites show the asphalt came down the river, then struck the paddleboard at the dock. The investigation is still ongoing. There seems to be some type of a loss of steering. Tonight, the search for answers just beginning with a sigh of relief at one of the country's busiest ports. Officials say all the transported patients are expected to make a full recovery.

9:56An NTSB team has also been deployed and is expected to arrive tomorrow morning. Hallie? George Solis, thank you. With all of this happening, there's extreme weather affecting people on both coasts. In the east, they're cleaning up after multiple tornadoes touched down. While in the west, powerful wind and waves and heavy rain and snow are the threat. Steve Patterson is on the ground in Northern California for us tonight. Tonight, waves slamming the California coast. A powerful atmospheric river, supercharged by El Nino, now bearing down on the west. You can now see and feel the power of this storm with towering waves cresting over the pier here in Pacifica, and officials warning of life-threatening beach conditions.

10:41Weather alerts now up along the entire west coast from southern California to Washington state. In Los Angeles, lightning illuminating the night sky as heavy rain moved through the area overnight. This after severe weather tore across the Northeast Thursday. This twister with 100-mile-per-hour winds touching down outside Trenton, New Jersey. As those storms roared through the New York City area, a tree falling onto a car in northern New Jersey, trapping a 70-year-old man rushed to the hospital with non-light-threatening injuries. Steve's joining us now from Pacifica, California. Steve, how long is all this expected to last?

11:22Allie, we're going to be feeling the effects of multiple storm systems through the weekend. Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, there are winter storm warnings where they could see 20 inches of snow or more at higher elevations. Meanwhile, back here, a bit of a lull. The sun is out. But as you can see, those massive waves still rolling in. Allie? Steve Patterson, thank you.

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13:23Tonight, terrifying video of a collapse unfolding. Resident Anderson-Velez sharing these images from inside that Brooklyn building as the walls cave in. Watch again as his wife covers their nine-year-old son and their two-year-old toddler remains on the floor. Incredibly, he told Gothamist all were rescued and expected to be okay. It's another view of a catastrophic event claiming eight lives. I could see my neighbors throwing out a picture. They were already dead. That's crazy. Like, what happened? We didn't deserve this. We didn't bother these people. They killed us. This was a very traumatic experience to see everything crumble down in front of us.

14:08Just to be in a state of shock, you'd be like, oh my goodness, what is going on here? Before the Diallos found out they lost two family members, Mamadou Njai and Mamadou Berry, we spoke with their loved ones. You've been going from medical facility to medical facility just hoping and praying that you might find one of your customers. That we'll go find them there and not here. Now demands for accountability hitting a fever pitch, with Mayor Zoran Mondani revealing today six companies were involved in that construction site next to the building, associated with 160 other sites around New York City, all of them being swept, according to the mayor.

14:42The Brooklyn DA's office opening a criminal inquiry as city leaders say change is coming. Grief without accountability is not enough. Buildings do not simply collapse without systemic failures. So many families left now with voids in their hearts and unanswered questions. We don't wish this on anybody. Sam Brock, NBC News, New York. Also tonight, some remarkable images coming into us with the emotional return of Pope Leo, a homecoming of sorts, massive crowds turning out as the American pontiff went back to the Peruvian city where he spent eight years as bishop. Anne Thompson is there for us tonight.

15:23What a welcome home. Pope Leo, the American they call Padre Roberto, returning to Chiclayo, Peru, its former bishop embraced with deep affection. Under a blazing sun, the Pope thanking the half million people at Mass today for their prayers as he recovers from lung cancer surgery, a time of trial he said he is overcoming. Laura Salazar traveled four hours to Chiclayo to see Leo. I know that Pape is from your country, but his heart is Peruvian. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are here this weekend, a blessing to the tourism business. From the moment he stepped off the plane, a cheer reverberated throughout the region.

16:10The Vatican says a million people lined the roads as the man who put Chiclayo on the map drove past. He is a son of Chicago. It is Chiclayo, Leo mentioned in his first remarks as Pope. Calling its residents a faithful people. Today, that faith was returned. Elizabeth Chapman and Susanna Regis, born in Peru, now living in Florida, had to be here. What is it about him that makes you want to travel that distance? Because he's a humble guy. You know, he gives his heart to people. He's so down to earth and he's here for the people, for us. The Pope will be here this weekend and then he will put his lungs to the test at two high altitude locations.

16:58this weekend. Hallie. Anne Thompson, in the thick of it, thank you. When we return in just 60 seconds, the Microsoft Outlook meltdown entering a second day. So what caused it? And the historic SpaceX launch, one of the few flights still able to take off tonight. Then the rough landing for this British Airways jet, the tail hitting the tarmac twice, forcing the plane to abort its landing. That's next.

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18:24Hey, I'm doing it right now. But home projects? I second guess everything. Is that noise normal? Is that water damage? Who do I even call? That's where Thumbtack comes in. Just upload a photo or voice note and it uses AI-powered search to match you with the right top-rated local pro. So instead of guessing, you get clarity and can hire with confidence. For your next home project, try Thumbtack. Hire the right pro today. Back now with a live look at Reagan National Airport outside Washington. People checking those flight boards, willing them to change passengers affected by this massive nationwide outage.

19:02But somehow one of the few flights taking off tonight, SpaceX's Starship rocket. Gotti Schwartz is joining us now from South Padre Island, Texas. And Gotti, this really is a split screen here. How is it that SpaceX was still allowed to do this launch tonight? Yeah, they had prior approval. So exactly on time, SpaceX launching the largest rocket humans have ever made from right over there, about five miles away. Skyscraper going up into the sky. It was absolutely incredible to see and hear. Then we saw the stage separation. We saw the booster come back down. SpaceX actually diverting it into the ocean because they want to protect the pad for the main event.

19:42That is Starship. This is Starship still circling above us. It's set to come down tomorrow for a historic catch attempt. This is Elon right here. What's that going to look like here? Can you show me? Boom. That's what he's hoping happens tomorrow. That's what everybody here is hoping that happens tomorrow. If they do that, they will make absolute history. First reusable rocket. Back to you. We'll be watching Gotti. Thank you to that other major tech disruption. Now that Microsoft outage stretching into a second day. Christine Romans is joining us now. Christine, we all started seeing our inboxes fill back up again.

20:15Any indication of what this is coming from? Yeah, Hallie, a question everyone is asking here. The director of Homeland Security is saying that there's no relationship between the FAA stoppage here and what happened over at Microsoft. And what we're hearing from Microsoft, same thing tonight. There's no indication these two things are related here. The company blaming a technical issue tied to a network capacity upgrade, saying this is not the result of a cyber attack or AI. Microsoft says it does not have an ETA for full recovery, but there are signs of progress. Emails are hitting inboxes. You can chat via Teams.

20:48And the AI helper, a co-pilot, is coming back online, Hallie. The outage began yesterday afternoon, knocking out services like Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Co-Pilot. These are platforms used by some 450 million people around the world. The disruption causing headaches for police departments, banks, hospitals, schools, even government agencies around the world, Hallie. Christine, thanks for keeping us updated. We are back in a moment with the new terrorism charge filed against the man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondence Dinner. And maybe you've caught a fish this big, but what about this yellow?

21:23We'll explain right after this.

21:29We're back now with the new charge added against the man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondence Association dinner back in April. The Department of Justice today announcing Cole Thomas Allen will face an additional attempted terrorism charge. He's now facing a total of five counts. Allen previously pleaded not guilty in connection with the incident. And overseas, this British Airways plane making a rough landing. Watch this here. The tail seemed to hit the ground as it landed at London Heathrow Airport yesterday. The flight had been traveling in from Amsterdam. The airline says the plane did land safely and that a government investigation is happening now.

22:03And take a look at this one in a million catch in upstate New York. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists reeling in this rare, bright yellow burbot in Oswego Harbor. The vibrant color caused by a genetic mutation. Officials say the fish was sent to Cornell to take a closer look. When we come back, we've got some breaking news just into us out of the White House. The major meeting just announced with President Trump, President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia just days away.

22:34Welcome back. More breaking news coming into us tonight. A major announcement from the White House with President Trump set to meet with both the presidents of China and Russia. Monica Alba is joining us now. And, Mon, this meeting is going to happen next week. Yeah, Hallie, this will be a significant meeting next Thursday when the president is in Shenzhen, China, for a global summit that he will cap off with a sit down that includes Chinese President Xi and Russian President Putin. This is the first ever trilateral for the leaders of these three countries, and senior officials are calling it an entry point discussion that will include, among other topics, the reduction of nuclear weapons worldwide.

23:08But officials are also lowering expectations, saying they don't expect any kind of official agreement on that. But two wars in Ukraine and Iran are also likely to be raised, while the president did say earlier this week that he doesn't plan to bring up the controversy around Jensen Huang. Hallie. Monica Alba, thank you very much that does it for us tonight, I'm Hallie Jackson for all of us here at NBC News thanks so much for watching and have a great weekend

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