Today (NBC) - 2006-07-17 - 1 of 2

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Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] Good morning. No end in sight. Israel

[0:04] batters the Lebanese capital of Beirut

[0:06] and the rest of the country for a sixth

[0:08] day as Hezbollah fires rockets deeper

[0:11] into Israel than ever before.

[0:14] Heatwave record temperatures hitting the

[0:16] nation from coast to coast today. It

[0:18] could hit triple digits in many places

[0:20] and the results could be deadly.

[0:23] And a today exclusive, Brad Pitt on a

[0:25] housing project in New Orleans he's

[0:26] passionate about and how having kids has

[0:29] made him a new man.

[0:30] Completely changes your perspective and

[0:33] and uh

[0:34] certainly takes the uh focus off

[0:36] yourself which I'm really grateful for.

[0:38] I'm really grateful for that. I'm so

[0:39] tired. The new and improved Brad Pitt is

[0:42] talking to us today, Monday, July 17th,

[0:44] 2006.

[0:49] From NBC News, this is TODAY with Matt

[0:53] Lauer and Natalie Morales, live from

[0:57] Rockefeller Plaza.

[1:00] And good morning. Welcome to today on a

[1:02] Monday morning. I'm Matt Lauer.

[1:03] >> And I'm Natalie Morales and watching the

[1:05] situation develop over the weekend in

[1:06] the Middle East, it just went from bad

[1:08] to worse and today again no letup in

[1:09] sight in the fighting between Israel and

[1:11] the Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Both

[1:14] sides firing at firing at each other

[1:15] again today.

[1:16] >> Let's take a look at the very latest.

[1:18] Here's what we know. Israeli fighters

[1:19] attacked the Lebanese infrastructure

[1:21] again today in attacks that killed at

[1:23] least 17 people. Hezbollah fired more

[1:25] rockets into Israel this morning hitting

[1:27] the port city of Haifa even sending them

[1:29] 5 miles south of that city. That is the

[1:32] furthest they have ever gone. And

[1:34] British Prime Minister Tony Blair and

[1:35] United Nations Secretary General Kofi

[1:37] Annan are calling for the deployment of

[1:39] international forces to stop the

[1:41] violence. For his part, President Bush

[1:43] is on his way back from the G8 summit in

[1:45] Russia. He was speaking to other world

[1:47] leaders this morning when he thought no

[1:49] one was listening but microphones caught

[1:51] him making a very candid comment about

[1:53] the situation in the Middle East and

[1:55] Syria. We're going to tell you what he

[1:57] had to say and of course we'll have

[1:58] complete coverage from throughout that

[2:00] region coming up. And the fighting in

[2:02] the Middle East means gas prices are

[2:03] still through the roof but you may be

[2:05] shocked to know that the world's largest

[2:07] oil supply could be right underneath the

[2:09] continental United States. It's a

[2:11] reserve larger than anything even

[2:12] belonging to Saudi Arabia. So, question

[2:14] is why aren't we pumping it out? We'll

[2:16] have much more on that just ahead. Plus,

[2:18] there are some reports this morning,

[2:20] Matt, that another tsunami has struck

[2:22] Indonesia just off the island of Java.

[2:24] This one much smaller than the one that

[2:26] hit in December 2004. Apparently, there

[2:28] was an earthquake of a magnitude 7.2

[2:30] then an aftershock that triggered this

[2:32] tsunami.

[2:33] >> talking about the tsunami of about 2 m

[2:35] which would be something 6 ft. We're

[2:37] going to have more on that. And health

[2:39] news.

[2:39] >> That's right. We're going to sort out

[2:40] fact from fiction when it comes to your

[2:42] diet.

[2:43] >> But first we want to talk about this

[2:44] crisis in the Middle East. The violence

[2:46] is still raging there today. NBC's

[2:48] Middle East Bureau Chief Richard Engel

[2:50] is in Beirut with the latest. Richard,

[2:51] good morning to you.

[2:56] Good morning, Matt. Even as Israeli

[2:57] airstrikes continue in the city, there

[2:59] are reports of some diplomatic progress.

[3:01] A senior UN envoy said that he will now

[3:04] bring concrete ideas for a ceasefire to

[3:06] Israel but today was another day of

[3:09] intense Israeli bombardments.