arkansas is appealing the rulings. if arkansas it prevails, it's slated to execute two men today, don william davis and bruce earl ward. they are the first of eight prisoners arkansas is vowing to execute this month. no state has ever sent as many prisoners to the death chamber in as short a period of time. arkansas is rushing to carry out the executions before the state's supply of the sedative midazolam expires. but midazolam has been linked to painful, botched executions. supreme court justice sonia sotomayor has described it as "the chemical equivalent of being burned at the stake." as many asas 700 palestinians imprisoned in israeli jails have launched a hunger strike, with the strike expected to spread. the prisoners, who are sometimes cut off from seeing their family members for years, are demanding more visitation rights and increased accecess to telephone. the e family visitations are impossible because palestinians living in the israeli-occupied territories must apply for a permit to even enter israel in orde

cocktail that arkansas uses for executions. but what has happened, as flurry appeals in the cases have gone up and down throughout the courts and arkansas state court the federal courts, is courts have realized that for of these men, they have lacked resources to develop really from the start, up until now on the eve of their execution. had cases thaten were supposed to already occur. don davis, stacy johnson had a case that was supposed to have a execution case was stayed on claim of actual innocence. e could have access to d.n.a. testing and then bruce ward's case was stayed on the first to be a e was supposed execution, both because he might be legally insane and because he access to any independent mental health expert throughout. ledell lee's ith execution last night. and i think his execution was micro-cosm for all the problems being exposed in the penalty in america right now. of r. lee in this flurry appeals that went up and down through the court, what we had conflicted council who tried to get out of trial.se at he ha

maybe protests as well focusing on the state of arkansas because on monday night, arkansas is due to start this remarkable series of doubleheader executions. we talked about this last night. you probably heard about this in the news. arkansas has scheduled eight executions. they plan to kill eight prisoners over the course of ten days. their plan is to kill two men a night on four different nights over a ten-day period starting on monday. so far the courts have blocked two of the eight planned killings, including one of the executions that was planned to be on monday night. no state has done a mass execution like this since capital punishment was reinstated in the 1970s. arkansas has not executed anybody in 12 years. arkansas has never executed anybody ever with one of the drugs they are trying to rush to kill all these guys with. the idea of a doubleheader execution, even just one doubleheader execution, let alone four in a week and a half, that is something that other states with more experience in capital punishment, they have warned against doing that. they say trying to do two i

an arkansas judge tonight blocked the state of arkansas from using one of the lethal injection drugs that it was planning to use in a spree starting monday night. that state wants to kill two men a night on four separate nights far total of eight executions in the span of ten days. nothing like that since capital punishment was reinstated in the '70s. as of this afternoon two of the eight executions had gotten themselves blocked by the courts. and now a judge just issued a temporary restraining order that will apparently block arkansas from using one of the three drugs they were planning on using to kill these men. it will block them from using vehicle roan yum bromide. it has asked the court to step in. the company is basically not consenting to the use of their drug for this purpose, for these executions. the company said when they realized what the state was planning to do with their drug, they objected and asked for their drug back. they say the state told them they would get the drug back. the drug would be returned to the company, but then apparently they renegged. tonight the

they share the arkansas river. they even share a fair. it's the arkansas-oklahoma state fair. runs about a week. rides, hog races, an alligator show, there's a milking competition. oklahoma and arkansas big long border joined at the hip. a few years ago, oklahoma issued some official advise. oklahoma just emerged from an especially grisly botched execution. after that ordeal which was a terrible ordeal and got them a lot of national attention because it went to terribly wrong, the state did a review. they looked into what had gone wrong. and they came out with a couple recommended fixes, for example, the state said it would be better to have a system of communication established among the staff during the execution since the one they sort of macgyvered during the botched execution literally involved a code where staff would push different colored pencils through holes in a wall in order to signal different medical information to each other. this didn't work so great. we should have a real communication system. they also advised everybody involved should in advance agree to use

so i can't sue arkansas. they still get to maintain they have never put an innocent person on death row and life goes on. nute they arrested me, this? case was closed. they told us, whenever we took this plea, the prosecutor swore to us that whatever evidence we brought to him after this, he would be willing to look at. he would be willing to have an open mind, reopen the case. so far that has proved absolutely false. everything we've brought to him and given to him he he has refused to look at, says he has no time and as far as he's concerned the case is closed. >> glor: to the initial investigation and the arrest itself and how that was all handled, how different are cases handled today? >> unfortunately, there are still people like damien who are suspected for reasons that are independent of what they've actually done who don't have the resources to hire a good attorney, who don't have the resources to find witnesses, to get dna testing. there are still people who are going through today what damien went t

an arkansas judge tonight blocked the state of arkansas from using one of the lethal injection drugs that it was planning to use in a spree starting monday night. that state wants to kill two men a night on four separate nights far total of eight executions in the span of ten days. nothing like that since capital punishment was reinstated in the '70s. as of this afternoon two of the eight executions had gotten themselves blocked by the courts. and now a judge just issued a temporary restraining order that will apparently block arkansas from using one of the three drugs they were planning on using to kill these men. it will block them from using vehicle roan yum bromide. it has asked the court to step in. the company is basically not consenting to the use of their drug for this purpose, for tse executions. the company said when they realized what the state was planning to do with their drug, they objected and asked for their drug back. they say the state told them they would get the drug back. the drug would be returned to the company, but then apparently they renegged. tonight the co

oklahoma to the west, arkansas to the east. as you move along the border, there are parts of oklahoma and arkansas that kind of blend together, whether you are in westville or summers or remi or dora or octavia, as you hop across one side of the border to the other, it's hard to see where one state begins and one state ends. they even share a fair. it's the arkansas-oklahoma state fair. runs about a week. rides, hog races, an alligator show, there's a milking competition. big long border joined at the hip. a few years ago, oklahoma issued some official advise. oklahoma just emerged from an especially grisly botched execution. after that doral which was a terrible doral and got them a lot of national attention because it went to terribly wrong, the state did a review. they looked into what had gone wrong. and they came out with a couple recommended fixes, for example, the state said it would be better to have a system of communications established new england staff during the execution since the one they sort of mac gooifrd duri

does arkansas have a way of putting people to death? actually killing people that is constitutionally acceptable? what is the consequence of using these particular drugs? are there other drugs that will be available? those kinds of questions will have to be decided at the legislative level and at the judicial level. jeff: talk about how difficult it is for you to go back. if it comes to that, would you go back again? damien: i don't feel like i have a choice. i feel like i have to. if i just sat by and did nothing while the state of arkansas put these people to death, then i would regret it for the rest of my life. it is something i would never be able to forget. not only because these are people that i knew. i know these are intellectually challenged people. i know these are mentally handicapped people. some are probably innocent. after what was done to me, i am not comfortable being governed by a government that has awarded itself the right to kill its own citizens. something about that is just wrong. trying to kill people to show tha

in arkansas. president trump has walked back from demands that a government funding bill allocate $1.4 billion for border wall construction. the government faces the looming possibility of a government shutdown if a funding deal is not reached by the end of this week. on the campaign trail, trump had promised mexico would pay for trump's expanded border wall. this is white house spokesman sean spicer answering questions on monday. >> look, they are currently negotiating. we feel very confident that they understand the president's priorities and bill come to an agreement by the end of friday. i think the president has made clear initially, we needed to get the funding going. there are several mechanisms to make sure that happens. that funding will happen in due time. >> that is a promise in the campaign -- would pay for the wall. now we having the discussion -- amy: president trump is expected to unveil his proposed tax overhaul wednesday, which will reportedly include a plan to slash the corporate

he is one of eight men arkansas had planned to execute over 11 days. before one of the drugs used in the lethal cocktail expires. our correspondent was in arkansas last week and has been following the case. i spoke to him a short time ago. i went right to the wire and actually went to the supreme court involving neil gorsuch for the first time. reporter: it really did. the death warrant for ledell lee was only valid for yesterday, so it had to happen yesterday. and right until basically half an hour before the death warrant expired, it was all in the balance, and then suddenly the supreme court said you can go ahead and execute this man and that is what arkansas did come -- arkansaslted did, just with 15 minutes to go. there were various arguments going on about one of the drug companies saying they did not want this drug used to kill somebody. there was another argument that this lethal injection caused suffering. and there were other traditions about his case in particular, but all of those were rejected. we were in arkansas last week and managed to

we begin with breaking news in arkansas. the state's executioner went back to work overnight for the first time in over a decade. >> the state ignored criticism for its plan to carry out several executions by the end of this month. la dell lee was executed just before midnight as his death warrant was about to expire. abc's danya bacchus with the latest. >> reporter: in arkansas inmate put to death. >> earlier this afternoon ladell lee received as his last meal request communion. >> reporter: his attorneys making one last push to save his life filing a civil rights lawsuit to prove his innocence, but to no avail. >> these are lawsuits being filed are a sense to delay the executions, the lawful executions of these individuals who have been convicted by juries of abs crimes. >> reporter: ladell lee's execution was on hold due to a temporary restraining order on the state's use of a drug, one of three used in the lethal injection protocol. medical supplier mckes son claimed they purchased them last year under false pretenses wi

the flurry of court action came after protests at the state capitol in arkansas friday. an attorney for three of the inmates had called it assembly line killing. >> it is unprecedented that the state is trying to execute this many people in this short a period of time. >> reporter: drug manufacturers have been reluctant to provide states more drugs used in legal injections since a botched execution happened in oklahoma three years ago. >> it's been a 25-year nightmare for the victims that have had to deal with this. and now it's time for that justice to be carried out. >> reporter: the arkansas attorney general's office says it will try to get the latest court decision halting the executions overturned by the state supreme court. chris pallone, nbc news. >>> not guilty is the verdict for former nfl star, aaron hernandez, in the murders of two men in 2012. prosecutors say hernandez fired on the men's car in boston because he thought that they were being disrespectful to him when one of the men bumped him and spilled his drinking. the jury deliberated six days before acqui

. >> while arkansas try to rush several executions before their lethal drugs expire overnight the united states supreme court spared a death row inmate for now. >>> also overnight in japan a vow from the vice president to defend our asian allies as north korea ramps up its nuclear missile program. >>> let me be clear to you mr. prime minister and to all the people of japan, we are with you 100%. >> good morning. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. well the search for the suspect in a fatal shooting that was pasted on facebook is entering its third day. authorities are trying to find 37-year-old steve stephens who is wanted for murder after a 74-year-old retiree was gunned down in cleveland on sunday. what began as a multi-state manhunt is now nationwide with billboards across the country like this one in l.a. urging anyone who may have seen stephens to alert authorities. >> reporter: the search area now includes five states but so far authorities say they've received no credible sightings. in a series of videos, stephens talked about his gambling debts, problems with his girlfrien

a spokesman for the arkansas governor said justice has been carried out. >> reporter: arkansas put 51-year-old ledell lee to death overnight. a united supreme court rejected the convicted murderer's appeal hours before his execution. those against capital punishment held a individual vigil outside the governor's mansion. lee wanted it reversed hours before the execution of the drug expires. that set off a firestorm of debate about the state's protocols and the use of capital punishment in general. arkansas's first three executions were definitely delayed because of court action. one more is in doubt because of legal rulings. lee was sentenced to death for beating deborah reese to death with a tire iron in 1993. joseph lucky was just a child when his mother was murdered. >> lidell lee showed no mercy, no lean jens to any of the victims that he encountered. he is the embodiment of the evil that should never have to exist in this world. >> reporter: but kevin young says that's not the brother he knew. >> he has a heart. he's not what they're portraying he is. i don't know what they're ta

this man spent 18 years on a death row in arkansas. dna evidence exonerated him in 2011. >> i still have nightmares about this place. >> reporter: family members want no more delays. >> i've been promised this 25 years. >> reporter: the arkansas governor plans to meet with officials monday to determine the next steps. >> this has been a 25 year nightmare for the victims that have had to deal with this and now it's time for that justice to be carried out. >> reporter: a pause in what would be the state's first executions in more than 12 years. nbc news, atlanta. >>> in syria today at least 100 people were reported killed in a suicide car bombing that targeted buses carrying people evacuating government held towns. the dead included children, government supporters and opposition fighters. the evacuations were part of a controversial population transfer program to move people from villages under siege by rebels. >>> here in new york penn station is back to normal after some terrifying moments during last night's rush hour. a stampede of c

jane daniel in rogers, arkansas. the woman was killed in her home after davis broke in and shot her with a. 44 caliber revolver he found there. two inmates are still set to be put to death on thursday. >>> charges are expected against inmates at an illinois jail after they were caught lighting uniforms on fire. authorities believe a lack of corrections officers contributed to the incident getting out of hands. they say nearly 20% of employees assigned to work over saturday didn't show up. for corrections officers -- four corrections officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries. >>> all right, we admit this is a bizarre story that a lot of are you talking about right now on an 18-year-old could be going to jail for allegedly using the f. word. police arrested jared dylan smith because the 75-year-old woman claims he was swearing at her and apparently disturbing her peace. no witnesses and smith denies the charge but it still landed him in jail. he's been released on bond but could go back for 90 days, that's the pu

>>er the circuit court judge in arkansas blocked executions from taking place there. the judge issued a temporary restraining order on friday evening after they said it wasn't meant to be used in executions and asked the state prison system to send it back. arkansas's governor had originally scheduled eight executions over 11 days because another dru u the end of april. a federal judge already blocked one execution earlier this month. and by friday night, that number had fallen to six after the arkansas supreme court stepped in granting bruce earlwa ward a stay of his execution. the flurry of court action came after protests at the state capital in arkansas on friday. the attorney for three of the inmates had called it an assembly line killing. >> it is unprecedented that the state is trying to execute this many people in this short period of time. >> reporter: they have been reluctant to provide more drugs used in lethal injection since the botched execution in oklahoma three years ago. >> it's been a 25-year nightmare for the victims that had to deal with this. and

. >> reporter: ace the arkansas governor tried to get these done before the execution drug expires. jacob rascon, little rock, arkansas. >> also this morning, attorney general filed an emergency petition with the state supreme court asking that today's injunction be lifted. she said it's unfortunate that a u.s. district judge has chosen to side with the convicted pris nors in one of their last attempts to delay justice. thanks for being with us, kamela. with the emergency petition filed by the attorney general, what is expected to happen? will this ruling be reversed? >> well, i don't want to speculate on what the judges and justices look at this will be doing moving forward. what we can say right now is it's unclear what the status of these executions is going to be. the governor has said that he's committed to fighting to carry out these executions, that they will work to reverse these decisions. there are two court decisions

this time in arkansas, where the state wants to execute eight inmates by the end of the month. an unprecedented pace, before one of its lethal injection drugs expires. the accelerated execution schedule that was supposed to start tonight is hung up in the courts and nbc's gabe gutierrez has details for us from arkansas. ♪ >> reporter: after days of protests, today the first two of the unprecedented executions have been blocked by the arkansas supreme court. the state wanted to put to death eight inmates over the next 11 days and the attorney general is fighting to overturn the court orders. >> these sentences will be carried out and these families of the victims will be given closure. >> reporter: among the legal challenges, lawyers for the death row inmates say the rapid schedule increases the likelihood the executions will be botched and the drugs used amount to cruel and unusual punishment. drug companies are also objecting to the use of products in the lethal injection. arkansas's batch of one of those drugs will expire at the end of this month, so the state says the exec

arkansas wanted to kill eight men over the course of ten days. they wanted to have already killed four of them by this time tonight. but over the course of this week, three of their four planned killings got blocked by the courts. and then last night as the u.s. supreme court weighed in on the fate of the fourth man at the very last minute last night, a few landmarks were reached. number one, the new justice neil gorsuch voted to kill his first man. he voted to kill, and it was a deciding vote. and that was his first significant vote on the united states supreme court. number two, justice stephen breyer dissented again, short, sharp, and to the point. less than two pages. it's pretty remarkable stuff, not particularly legalistic argument. he just puts it out there. justice breyer, quote, arkansas set out to execute eight people, why these eight, why now? the apparent reason has nothing to do with the crimes or are presence of absence of mitigating behavior or mental state or need for speedy punishment. four of the men have been on death row for o

arkansas's first three executions were definitely delayed because of court action. one more is in doubt because of legal rulings. lee was sentenced to death for beating deborah reese to death with a tire iron in 1993. her son was just a child when his mom was murdered. he is the embodiment of evil that should never have to exist in this world. >> reporter: but kevin young said he's a brother they didn't know. >> reporter: he maintained his innocence until he took his last breath. the others' deaths remain unclear. >>> this morning a man with possible links to a deadly shooting on the champs-elysees turned himself in to police. police searched a home in the paris suburb also believed to be linked to yesterday's attack that left an officer dead. two others were wounded. isis says it's behind the attack. hena daniels is here with the latest. good morning, hena. >> good morning, anne-marie. it's enforcing its security with 50,000 officers along with its elite units to ensure citizens' protection following yesterday's attack and this sunday's presidential election. they

. >>> this morning on "world news now" -- arkansas. becoming the first state to in nearly two decades to perform a double execution. the judicial back and forth playing out late into the night. we'll have a live report as more inmates on death row in the state await their fate. >> funding fight taking place in washington may see a glimmer of hope as democrats in congress are hoping that president trump will put the border wall up for negotiation. many more issues to tackle like tax reform and health care, so what will give? >> new this half-hour, destruction by the so-called mother of all bombs. >> new images are showing immense force of a massive weapon dropped on fighters in afghanistan as russia denies u.s. claims that they're supplying weapons to taliban fighters in the region the. >> shock and awe on the dance floor. as one of the top teams sent packing. it was a battle between the boys and girl teams last night on dancing with the stars. plus maks is back. everything you need or want few know in the "the skinny" or if you don't w

nbc's gabe gutierrez is outside the state prison in brady, arkansas. gabe, where do things stand right at the moment. >> hi, katy, good afternoon. the state, as you mentioned, had been planning to execute two inmates beginning at 7:00 p.m. local time. corrections officers are still preparing to execute one of those inmates just in case, even though all the executions at this point are currently blocked. now, state officials had initially planned to execute eight inmates over 11 days here in arkansas, but various legal challenges have put those plans on hold. lawyers for the death row inmates say the rapid schedule increases the likelihood that there might be some problem with the executions, that the executions might be botched. and they also say the drugs used in the lethal injections, in their view, amount to cruel and unusual punishment and are unconstitutional. now, katy, it's a race against time, because state officials have said that the state supply of one of the drugs, medazelam, that's used in these injections, that that will expire end of the

the authorities in arkansas insist what they are doing is right. the state governor said family and friends of the victims of the two executed inmates had seen justice carried out. david campanale, bbc news. a moment ago technology intervened in our connection with the world of sport. but i'm told that the re m na nts sport. but i'm told that the remnants are out of the system. thank you. apologies for all those issues. let's hear from thank you. apologies for all those issues. let's hearfrom anthony joshua who has been speaking to dan rowan about that big fight on saturday night against wladimir klitschko. he insists he is still the same guy as when he was a teenager growing up. it has been a long road. i have been here about 13 weeks now. it is what has been needed, i feel at peace and i feel confident because even with a few more days to go i have left no stone unturned. training is not easy at this level, it involves sacrifice. is it something that you enjoy? the coach tries to reveal your potential. they start pushing you to places you have ne

arkansas is trying to resume capital punishment for the first time in more than a decade. omar villafranca is in the state capital in little rock. >> reporter: don davis is on death row for the murder of jane daniel. and when his execution was stopped, the state appealed to the u.s. state supreme court. minutes before his warrant expired, the supreme court weighed in. about 15 minutes till midnight, the supreme court weighed in, denying arkansas's appeal to let the execution go through. >> we were told that he was in a waiting cell. >> reporter: late monday night, the state was still preparing for davis' scheduled execution. bobby with arkansas public media was picked to be in the room. >> we were told that the prison was fully staffed to perform an execution at any moment. >> reporter: davis was one of a group of seven men on death row whose executions have been schedule over two weeks. governor asa hutchinson wants to carry them out before the state's supply of midazolam expires at the end of the month. the drug has been associated with botched executions in four states.

breaking news out of arkansas. the state carriied out its firs execution since 2005. inmate ladell lee was executed. he was convicted for the murder of his neighbor, debra reese. his execution came after the supreme court voted 5-4 against appeals that would have spared his life. the state originally said eight executions over an 11-day period, that would have be the most by a state in such a short period of time. three executions where canceled because of court decisions and legal rulings. the reason for the rushd timeline? the state says the execution tss need to be carried out before its supply of a lethal injection drug expires on april 30th. >>> the u.s. military on high alert for a possible nuclear test by north korea. president trumped arded this in a late news conference thursday. >> we're in very good shape. we're building our military rapidly. a lot of things have happened over the last short period of time. we're doing a lot of work. we're in very good position. we're going to see what happens. >> we're going to see what happens. nbc's kelly cobiella is in

arkansas wanted to kill eight men over the course of ten days. they wanted to have already killed four of them by this time tonight. but over the course of this week, three of their four planned killings got blocked by the courts. and then last night as the u.s. supreme court weighed in on the fate of the fourth man at the very last minute last night, a few land marks were reached. number one, the new justice neil gorsuch voted to kill his first man. he voted to kill and it was a deciding vote and that was his first significant vote on the united states supreme court. number two, justice steven briar dissented again, short, sharp and to the point, less than two pages. it's pretty remarkable stuff, not particularly legalistic argument. he just puts it out there. justice breyer, quote, arkansas set out to execute eight people, why these eight, why now? the apparent reason has nothing to do with the crimes or are presence of absence of mitigating behavior or mental state or need for speedy punishment. four of the men have been on death row for over

arkansas has not executed anyone in more than a decade. jonathan: after a failed missile launch, north korea now says it will test missiles on a weekly basis. when asked today, president trump said the country needs to "behave." vice president mike pence echoed that message during a visit to the demilitarized sewn between north and south korea. deception, broken promises, in nuclear missile tests. north korea's deputy ambassador blames the u.s. for escalating tensions and says the road could break out at any undocumented immigrants have been arrested since inauguration day, a large increase from last year for stop of those arrests, 5,400 do not have criminal records. hyattsville is deciding whether to be essential worry city. nancy: that would mean that it refuses to get involved in federal immigration matters. michelle marsh is live with the vote that happened a short time ago. michelle: a lot of strong opinions, hyattsville voted yes on becoming a sanctuary city just over an hour ago. the rules stop the city from giving information about

. >>> now to arkansas where starting next week the state plans to execute seven inmates in 11 days. it would be an unprecedented stretch of capital punishment, one of the state says is necessary because the lethal drug is about to expire. nbc's gabe gutierrez with details. >> behind these walls in rural arkansas, seven men are preparing to die, all convicted of capital murder. all scheduled to be executed over an 11-day span starting monday. >> it is unprecedented that a state is trying to execute this many people in this short a period of time. jeff rosenswag, represents three of the inmates and calls this assembly line killing. it is a race against time, because one of the drugs used in the lethal injection midazolam will expire at the end of the month. manufacturers have been reluctant to resupply the states after he was used in a botched execution in oklahoma. >> we've suffered long enough. >> but for susan connie, it can't come soon enough. >> i've been promised by the state. >> death row inmate, don davis shot her mother jane daniel in the back of a head during a robbery 27 ye