President Barack Obama spoke proudly of his Kenyan heritage before a raucous and affectionate crowd in Nairobi on Sunday.

"I am proud to be the first American president to come to Kenya, and of course I'm the first Kenyan-American to be president of the United States," he told the packed sports hall in Nairobi. It is the time he referred to himself as such, NBC News reported.

The president recalled his first trip at the age of 27 when he arrived at the airport and tried to find his luggage. The personal quickly gave way to the practical and political, with Obama pledging to stand by Kenya as it battles terrorism and calling on all Kenyans to stamp out corruption.

Witnesses recalled intense heat and blinding columns of dark smoke above the Las Vegas strip when a fire broke out on the pool deck of the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino on Saturday afternoon.

Matthew Mills shot cellphone video from his room at the Cosmopolitan. He told NBC Los Angeles he was sleeping when he woke up to people screaming and the fire crackling right outside his pool-view windows.

"As soon as the fire started to erupt, the room-- it must have jumped up 20, 30 degrees in an instant," Mills said. "It was a big mess. The evacuation wasn't clean, that was for sure. People were just running everywhere."

Two people were treated for smoke inhalation and one of them was hospitalized.

Other cellphone video shows the fire burning trees and cabanas on the 14th floor pool deck, sending thick smoke across the strip.

At Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Southern Californians returning from Las Vegas described the smoke they saw from all directions.

"We were on our way and there was like a traffic jam, and you could just see this huge smoke. You couldn't even see the fire, it was just blinding," said Abbey Scott, who was visiting Las Vegas.

The fire torched trees and cabanas at the Bamboo Pool on the west side of the hotel, but made little impact inside the building, according to the Clark County Fire Department, NBC News reported.

"You would assume a whole high rise was going just from the smoke effect," said another man at Burbank airport.

The fire was extinguished about 45 minutes after it was reported. The cause remained under investigation.

Through muggy heat and the beating sun, dozens of local veterans came out to Mission Beach to spend their Saturday walking along San Diego’s coastline, raising awareness for a serious problem.

More than 50 active duty, retired and veterans Marines, Sailors and Soldiers hiked eight miles, carrying 22 kilograms of weight, raising awareness about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and veteran suicide.

“They leave the military and they don't have that brotherhood, and they don't have that comradery, they get really lonely. All of the issues, and all of the demons they have inside, they start to get worse,” said Donny O’Malley with Irreverent Warriors.

The group’s goal is to help combat veterans cope with the things they saw and did in war.

O’Malley, a medically retired Marine Corps infantry officer, said he thinks staying connected and getting together after leaving the military is important for combat veterans.

“The love that we have for each other, the brotherhood and comradery that we experience in combat, is the most intense thing we will ever have,” O’Malley said.

By showing people how much fun they can have on days like today, with fellow veterans, O’Malley said, he hopes to inspire others to host Irreverent Warriors pop-up groups around the country.

“A lot of guys leave the military, they’re away from all their brothers, and no one understands them,” O’Malley said. “But if I can get guys together and if I can inspire little Irreverent Warriors groups to start popping up across the country, then guys who are alone and lonely and in a dark place, will feel supported and loved.”

For more information, visit their Facebook page or visit their website.

Donald Trump is running strong in the early nominating states of New Hampshire and Iowa, according to two new NBC News-Marist polls. 

Trump leads the Republican presidential field in New Hampshire, getting support from 21 percent of potential GOP primary voters. He's followed by Jeb Bush at 14 percent, Scott Walker at 12 percent and John Kasich at 7 percent.

Chris Christie and Ben Carson are tied at 6 percent in the Granite State, and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are at 5 percent each.

In Iowa, Walker and Trump are in the Top 2 - with Walker at 19 percent among potential Republican caucus-goers and Trump at 17 percent. They're followed by Bush at 12 percent, Carson at 8 percent, Mike Huckabee at 7 percent and Rand Paul at 5 percent.

The polls were conducted July 14-21 - so before and after Trump's controversial comments belittling John McCain's war record on July 18. And they suggest the comments didn't affect Trump in Iowa (he was at 16 percent before the comments and 18 percent after), but they did hurt him in New Hampshire (26 percent before, 14 percent after).

In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Ohio Gov. John Kasich suggested that presidential candidates typically make "ridiculous" promises and focus less on solutions than on running "just to get elected."

"If we're running for these offices just to get elected, I mean, we're not running for class president," the 2016 hopeful said. "We're running to be the commander-in-chief and the leader of the United States of America. Grow up."

Kasich did not specifically name which 2016 candidates he believes to be leading offenders. But he suggested that he's willing to work across the aisle and focus on "problem solving" over rhetoric.

"We're not in this to get elected, we're in this to do the right thing," he said of his campaign.

Kasich, who is struggling to gain traction in national polls, isn't shying away from talking about his experience in Congress, and he's running on his ability to govern.

The Somali militant Islamist group al Shabaab attacked a Mogadishu hotel on Sunday, driving a car packed with explosives through the hotel gate and killing at least 13 people, a first responder and the rebel group said.

A Reuters witness said blood and pieces of flesh were spattered around the site of the blast targeting the Jazeera hotel. Nearby was the wreckage of four cars.

"We have carried 13 dead people and 21 others who were injured, some seriously," an ambulance worker Abdikadir Abdirahman told Reuters.

A police officer, Major Nur Osoble, told Reuters a suicide car bomb had rammed the gates of the hotel, damaging the facade.

Al Shabaab, which said it was behind the blast, frequently stages bomb and gun attacks in the capital in its bid to topple Somalia's Western-backed government. The nation is trying to rebuild after two decades of conflict and chaos.

The U.S. Coast Guard says a boat belonging to two missing 14-year-old fishermen from Jupiter, Florida, has been found off the Atlantic coast.

NBC affiliate WPTV reports the family of Austin Stephanos confirmed the boat had been found Sunday afternoon. Stephanos and his friend, Perry Cohen, went missing around 1:30 p.m. Friday.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Lehmann said the capsized boat was found 67 miles east of the Ponce de Leon Inlet near Daytona Beach. The boys initially went missing from the Jupiter area, more than 180 miles south of where the boat was found.

Lehmann said neither boy was found in or around the boat.

The boat will be anchored in place as search-and-rescue efforts continue. Lehmann said the Coast Guard is now re-calculating its search plans based on the boat's location.

NFL legend Joe Namath joined the families of the boys at a press conference Sunday, where they appealed to the public for help. Namath is the neighbor of Cohen, one of the missing boaters.

The families are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to their safe return.

The Somali militant Islamist group al Shabaab attacked a Mogadishu hotel on Sunday, driving a car packed with explosives through the hotel gate and killing at least 13 people, a first responder and the rebel group said.

A Reuters witness said blood and pieces of flesh were spattered around the site of the blast targeting the Jazeera hotel. Nearby was the wreckage of four cars.

"We have carried 13 dead people and 21 others who were injured, some seriously," an ambulance worker Abdikadir Abdirahman told Reuters.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed claims that his government is using chlorine gas and barrel bombs on Syrian citizens as "propaganda."

"We cannot win the heart and minds of the Syrians while we are killing Syrians. We cannot sustain four years in that position as a government," Assaid said in an interview that aired on CBS News' "60 Minutes" Sunday night.

Syria's civil war entered it's fifth year earlier this month with more than 200,000 people dying as a result, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A water main break early Sunday morning in a Southcrest neighborhood left 28 customers without water. 

Residents first called police just before 3 a.m. on the 3000 block of Boston Avenue.

San Diego city water crews worked to repair the eight inch main break. Six people had to be evacuated after mud filled the front of their homes.

City engineers were on the scene for hours trying to determine what caused the break.

The leak was expected to be restored at 1 p.m. 

A 560-pound man with a blog called "Fat Guy Across America," hopes his 3,200 mile bike ride from Massachusetts to California will help him win his wife back. 

Eric Hites, 40, was inspired to make the trip while listening to his favorite song, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)," by The Proclaimers.

I didn't think I could walk 500 miles," Hites told NBC News on Sunday. "But I could ride it."

Hites started pedaling mid-June from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and hopes to make it to Orange County by the end of the yea. 

The blogger said he and his wife's relationship is on the mend but he is having fun.

"I get to lose weight and have fun doing it," Hites said. "It's all about the journey."

One person had to be rescued after a pickup truck crashed into an apartment building in Elkridge, Maryland, on Sunday morning.

Capt. Stephen Hardesty, with the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, said crews responded to the 6800 block of Old Waterloo Road to find the truck in a ground floor apartment around 9:30 a.m. A woman inside the apartment was trapped by the crash.

The victim, Marilyn Schmeits, 40, was stabilized and rescued by firefighters and paramedics. She was air lifted to Shock Trauma, in Baltimore, and is in stable condition.

The driver of the pickup truck, Mynor Jehovani Monterroso, 40, of Silver Spring, was not injured. Markings on the truck identified it as belonging to W&D Contractor Services, in Montgomery Village, Maryland.

Monterroso was arrested and charged with driving without a licence, negligent driving, and failure to control a vehicle in order to avoid a collision.

Special operations crews worked to secure the apartment building to prevent further damage and collapse. After an inspection, residents were allowed to return to their apartments.

What one Pennsylvania family believed was a tragedy turned out to be a miracle after two dogs were found alive following a devastating house fire.

A fire started at a home on Bridle Path Lane in East Fallowfield, Pennsylvania Saturday around 5 p.m. While the family inside the house escaped unharmed their pets were nowhere to be found leading to fears that they perished in the blaze.

The next day, as Modena Fire Company Chief Frank Dowlin was finishing paper work on the fire, he received a call from the East Fallowfield Police Department saying, “they’re alive.” An officer told Dowlin the dogs were found inside a second floor bedroom and they needed a ladder to get them.

When firefighters arrived at the home they saw the two dogs standing at the back of the house looking through a large hole. A firefighter tied to a rope entered the unstable structure and grabbed the dogs one by one. After being reunited with their owners they were cleaned up and given water and food by neighbors.

“The event was truly a miracle to witness,” Chief Dowlin said.  “Our crews were glad to bring a little happiness to the family.”

Investigators say the fire was caused by smoking and it was ruled accidental.
 

Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of late Grammy-winning pop star Whitney Houston and R&B singer Bobby Brown, has died at age 22.

"Bobbi Kristina Brown passed away July, 26 2015, surrounded by her family. She is finally at peace in the arms of God.  We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months," a spokesperson for the Houston family told NBC News. Brown died Sunday at Peachtree Christian Hospice in Duluth, Georgia.

The aspiring actress and singer was the only child of Houston and the fourth child of Bobby Brown. 

Brown was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub in a suburban Atlanta townhome on January 31. Brown's long term partner Nick Gordon, who she referred to as her husband, along with a friend found her. CPR was performed at the scene and Brown was placed on a respirator when admitted to North Fulton Hospital the same day.

It remains unclear why Brown was unconscious. An investigation into the incident remains open, according to Roswell's chief of police. The investigative file was handed over to the Fulton County District Attorney who will determine whether any charges will be filed, authorities said in late June.

Brown was moved from North Fulton to Emory University Hospital in Georgia, and then to a rehabilitation facility on March 20. Throughout, her father remained optimistic about his daughter's recovery, even going so far as to tell a Texas concert audience in April that "Bobbi is awake. She's watching me."

Only days later Cissy Houston, the grandmother of Bobbi Kristina, issued a statement saying her granddaughter remained in an unresponsive state and "while she is no longer in a medically induced coma she has a tracheotomy and according to the doctors she has global and irreversible brain damage." Brown was moved to hospice care on June 24.

As the news of her death spread across social media, many celebrities tweeted condolences.

"My heart is truly heavy. May u rest in peace with your mommy #BobbiKristina sending prayers 2 the Brown/Houston family," Missy Elliot tweeted. Oprah Winfrey tweeted, "Peace at Last!"

Brown's tragic passing comes little more than three years after her mother was found unresponsive in bathtub in a Beverly Hills, California hotel. She later died. Authorities concluded Houston, 48, drowned. Heart disease and cocaine use were listed as contributing factors in her death. Houston, who sold more than 50 million records in the United States and was awarded six Grammys, had struggled with addiction for many years.

A child star by default, Bobbi Kristina Brown grew up in the glare of the media spotlight due to her parents success and much publicized accounts of their combustible 14 year marriage. Houston and Brown divorced in 2007 with Houston retaining sole custody of their daughter.

Of her mother, Brown told "Access Hollywood" in 2011 that Houston "supports me, she loves me, she gives me good mommy hugs." Brown was in the hotel the day her mother was pronounced dead. The same evening the then 18-year-old was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where she was treated for stress and anxiety.

Houston's mother Cissy spoke with People in 2013 about how her daughter's death continued to adversely affect her granddaughter. "Of course I worry about her," Cissy said. "It doesn't mean that she is going to follow her [mother's] same path. She could but anybody could. I don't want to jinx her. I'm trying to make sure she doesn't."

Though her fame never matched the stratospheric heights of her mother's, Brown was familiar to audiences through appearances on reality television, such as the the 2012 Lifetime series "The Houstons: On Our Own," which followed Houston's family after her death. While still attending elementary school Brown featured on the 2005 Bravo docu-drama series, "Being Bobby Brown," in which she was often seen accompanying one of her parents on tour.

Prolific on Twitter, Brown wrote about moving her career to the next level only two days prior to her hospitalization in January. "Let's start this career up&&moving OUT to TO YOU ALLLL quick shall we !?!???!" she tweeted. Her Twitter feed was peppered with motivational quotes, images and mentions of Gordon and her late mother. On Instagram she shared images of herself and Gordon.

In the wake of her mother's death Brown made headlines for yet another reason, her relationship and subsequent reported marriage to Gordon, 25. The couple attracted much scrutiny due to Gordon's past association with Brown's family.

Houston opened her home to 12-year-old Gordon when his birth mother could no longer care for him, according to reports. Never legally adopted, Gordon was raised alongside Houston's daughter. Brown and Gordon went public with their relationship two months after Houston's death in 2012. The couple continued to court controversy when in 2013 they were evicted from their Atlanta apartment after multiple noise complaints from a neighbor.

The union drew criticism from both fans and family, including Pat Houston, Brown's aunt. "It just didn't sit right with me," Pat said during a 2014 episode of "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" "I always looked at them as being the brother-and-sister type. I just did not see the relationship moving in that direction." 

Brown publicly insisted her late mother would have approved of the relationship.

"I'm tired of hearing people say, 'Eww you're engaged to your brother or if Whitney was still alive would we be together or would she approve of this.' Let me clear up something. We aren't even real brother and sister, nor is he my adoptive brother," she posted on Facebook ahead of announcing she had married Gordon in January 2014.

But according to her father, the pair never officially tied the knot. Bobby Brown issued the following statement four days after her hospitalization in January: "To correct earlier reports, Bobbi Kristina is not and has never been married to Nick Gordon."

Reports of an ongoing feud between Gordon and Bobbi Kristina's father surfaced after she was hospitalized. Bobby Brown refused Gordon access to his daughter, asking her boyfriend to reveal details of exactly what happened on the day Bobbi Kristina was found unresponsive at home.

In March Gordon was featured on an episode of "Dr. Phil" alongside his birth mother. After appearing on the show–which host Phil McGraw described as an "intervention"–Gordon checked into a rehab facility.

Brown’s court-appointed conservator filed a lawsuit June 24 against Gordon in Fulton County Superior Court, alleging that Gordon had physically abused Bobbi Kristina, and that Gordon had taken more than $11,000 from her bank account.

In March 2014 Bobbi Kristina came under scrutiny for her rapidly diminishing physique, which she proudly showed off on social media platforms. "I am my mothers child! Have you ever heard of a #fastmetabolism ?" she tweeted in response to questions and comments about her size.

Rumors and reports surfaced that like her parents, Brown was facing addiction issues. In July of last year a photo was reportedly posted to her Instagram account showing her allegedly smoking marijuana out of a bong. She denied the photo was hers.

Brown was back in the headlines again in late 2014 when she went public with her anger toward director Angela Bassett, who chose not to feature the budding actress in the Houston biopic "Whitney," which aired January 17 on Lifetime. Bassett told Entertainment Weekly there were "a number of reasons" why she did not consider Brown for the title role. "One being that she’s not an actress," Bassett said. Brown later apologized for a Twitter rant aimed at the director. Though approached, Houston's family chose not to participate in any aspect of the Lifetime movie. 

A resolute Cissy Houston discussed her granddaughter's ongoing medical condition during a March radio interview with New York's WBLS. She encouraged fans to continue to pray for Bobby Kristina, adding she would be thankful if God worked a miracle, but if it "happens the other way, I'm all right."

Bobbi Kristina Brown died Sunday at the age of 22, nearly six months after she was found face-down and unresponsive in a bathtub in her suburban Atlanta townhome.

As news spread of her death, celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O'Donnell, Missy Elliott, Taraji P. Henson, and more mourned the loss on social media.

A small plane crashed in a California neighborhood on Sunday, exploding in flames within feet of homes and killing the pilot, officials said.

There were no injuries on the ground or damage to nearby homes, Riverside police said.

"The pilot of a single-engine Beechcraft BE35 reported a loss of engine power before crashing in a residential neighborhood about a half-mile east of Riverside Municipal Airport," Federal Aviation Administration officials told NBC4.

The pilot, who was the only person on board, had made a request to land at the airport, but in another transmission said he was not going to make it, police said.

The aircraft crash landed in the 400 block of Adams Street, hit the curb, crashed into a home's chain-link fence and burst into flames, police said.

"(There was) a boom - it actually, literally shook the ground," said witness Christina Barrientos.

Butch Romero, another witness, says he swerved his car to miss the plane as it came down.

"When I jerked it, the plane landed like that and bounced into those people's yard," he said.

Images from the scene show bystanders attempting to put out the flames with a garden hose.

"You just see this big billow of black smoke and just flames," said neighbor Jessica Aviles. "That man (the pilot) had the good intentions at the very final moments. He knew something was wrong and he tried to divert it as much as he could without any other life except his own."

An Instagram user posted video of the fiery plane crash that came within feet of a home.
 

 

Dam saw this happen on the way to go eat, it's sad to know a guy passed in the plane crash but it was a miracle the he didn't go into the house. #planecrash#sadmoment#seenitgodown#crazy#loudnoise

A video posted by La_bestia (@1slowram_iest) on Jul 26, 2015 at 5:19pm PDT

The pilot's name was not released.

The FAA and NTSB was investigating the crash.

NBC4's John Cádiz Klemack contributed to this report.

Two children were taken to a hospital and several others injured when a tree branch fell on an inflatable bounce house at a party in Garland, Texas.

Paramedics were called just after 10 p.m. Saturday to a home in the 500 block of Alto Drive in Garland, where several kids were attending a birthday party, Garland fire spokeswoman Merill Balanciere said in a statement.

The children were in, or near, a bounce house when a tree branch fell on the inflatable house. Several kids were treated at the scene and two taken to Baylor Garland hospital.

All injuries were minor, Balanciere said.