and no new taxes, without voter approval. >> closer to the people. and no new taxes without voter approval. we have got to pull together, not as republicans or as democrats, but as californians first. at this stage of my life, i am prepared to do exactly that. on our broadcast tonight, security scare. suspicious cargo, a toner cartridge tampered with. the president calls it credible. so what was this? and how safe are the skies? what travelers may be seeing now at airport security. four days to go until the midterm elections. tonight, the role of those awful negative ads. and the role of a certain former president. "making a difference." for 60 years, the halloween tradition alongside the candy that has changed the world. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. the president of the united states called what happened today a credible threat. but here's the evidence. a couple of toner cartridges, the kinds we all have in our offices, with at least some form, some amount of explosives on them, apparently, sent via cargo from yemen addressed to some synagogues in chicago. a strange series of events that received blanket news coverage today, as we learned several u.p.s. cargo jets were stopped and searched at a number of u.s. and uk airports. this story stretches from yemen to great britain to philly, newark, new york, chicago, our justice correspondent pete williams has been following it all day. he's in our washington newsroom to start us off. pete good evening.

>> reporter: the amount of the explosive material in one of these packages was five times larger than what the underwear bomber was carrying on that plane to detroit last christmas day. it's the latest word on a day full of tension at airports. by 10:30 last night, the u.s. security community was alarmed enough to notify the president. acting on a tip from an overseas intelligence service, authorities in england searched for and found a suspicious package addressed to the u.s. inside, a photo copier toner cartridge, obviously tampered with, protruding wires, a circuit board coated with white powder, containing explosives. >> this is stephanie gosk where that package was intercepted. a freight distribution building was evacuated and the package examined before being turned over to the london police for further testing. >> reporter: a second similar package also addressed to the u.s. was intercepted in dubai. both were sent from yemen, and

u.s. officials suspect they originated with the same al qaeda group that was behind the attempted bombing of the u.s. passenger jet on christmas day. >> u.p.s. plane searched at several u.s. airports and in the uk. >> reporter: after a day of intensive cable tv coverage of planes stopped and searched, the first definitive explanation came from the president himself. >> i want to briefly update the american people on a credible terrorist threat against our country, and the actions we're taking with our friends and our partners to respond to it. an initial examination of those packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material. >> reporter: the packages were addressed to two chicago locations. a jewish community center and a synagogue, neither of which knew anything about the packages. as a precaution, planes carrying any cargo from yemen were searched the moment they landed in the u.s., about 15 packages in all. and a passenger plane from the united arab emirates was escorted by fighter jets because

it too was carrying a package from yemen. nothing hazardous was found. officials say they don't yet know precisely how the two packages were designed though they assume for now they were meant to detonate. >> the materials that were found and the device uncovered was intended to do harm. >> reporter: one possibility is whoever sent the packages didn't know for certain how they would fly to the u.s. >> we shouldn't assume that cargo planes was the intended mode of transportation. they may have believed these packages would have been placed on passenger airliners. >> reporter: both u.p.s. and federal express have suspended all shipments to the u.s. from yemen. and british authorities stopped shipments to the uk, as well. officials stress only two hazardous packages were found both overseas and tonight they believe they've have theed for all packages from yemen intended for delivery to the u.s. and the white house has acknowledged the original intelligence information came from saudi arabia, brian.

>> pete, devil's advocate here. a whole lot of people watching tonight may wonder why the evidence here doesn't white match the words being used, even by some of our public officials. it may not add up. when is someone going to explain how these toner cartridges equal a threat to national security? >> reporter: what i'm told, brian, is what was sent in these packages is the entire laser printer. that was what was sent to these two addresses. but it was the toner cartridge inside the printer that had been tampered with. we still don't yet know how much explosive material was in there or how they were supposed to work. we believe it was the explosive material walled petn that was in the shoe of richard reid and the underwear bomber that came to detroit on christmas day. we still don't know the mechanism, how these were supposed to work, when they were supposed to go off. those are big questions, brian. >> pete williams, who has been reporting out this story all day in our washington newsroom. pete, we appreciate it, thanks. michael sheehan is a veteran

terrorism analyst, richard engel, our chief foreign affairs correspondent, both with us here to talk about this. richard, you compared it to your time in iraq when there would be fake ieds for the purpose of watching to see how the american military responded. >> this kind of attack is a very low probability of success. you're sending a device, almost inept, i think too inept. it doesn't make sense. you're sending something suspicious, addressing it to a synagogue. you know you're going to get caught. you know that red flags are going to go up all over the world. you're sending something that's been tampered with from yemen to a synagogue. so the question is, is the intention to create harm to that synagogue or create a big diversion and a lot of attention has been focused on this today that ties the united states up. it costs money. this attack or this diversion may be cost a couple hundred dollars to do.

and look how much attention has been focused on this today. by sitting back and watching it happen, you can learn a lot. >> michael, it's fair to say you had a more skeptical view today, applying your years with the nypd, your years advising the feds. this reminded you of really nothing. >> right. this was another case -- first of all, it reminds me they're still out there and focused on civil aviation and also incompetence being demonstrated by al qaeda. even if it is just trying to scare us, they again show an ineptitude in bomb making capability and the intelligence services of saudi arabia picked up on this cell. so even with they were just trying to scare us, this only flies so far. >> so this could be just one face of modern terrorism. terrorism, of course, that is still capable of a spectacular act against us. >> clearly, and that's their intent. but i don't think we should protect too much on al qaeda, that because they've been lowered to these half baked attacks that they're somehow -- this is a thoughtful way of

scaring us, and that way we're diverting our resources. civil aviation kept going. yes, a lot of bomb squads were sent to the scene. but our country kept moving, it didn't divert us. i think this is a failed operation by al qaeda. it reminds us to keep vigilant we shouldn't amplify their failures into things that are scaring us unduly. >> two guys who have been on this story all day and know the region very well and the subject matter, thanks. because of this latest scare, homeland security has said that passengers may see some changes in security once again at the nation's airports. tom costello covers aviation for us. he's at reagan national in washington tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. 100% of cargo on u.s. domestic passenger planes is screened by tsa certified shippers. but all cargo worldwide and all international flights, it's up to the airlines themselves to screen the cargo. security experts believe that al qaeda is still aiming at

passenger planes. enhanced security at the nation's airports is likely to include a show of force, including specially trained, heavily armed teams of officers. stepped up scrutiny at checkpoints. more bomb sniffing dogs in terminals and behind the scenes, checking cargo. more officers trained to spot suspicious behavior. more undercover air marshals. security experts believe passenger planes remain the prime target. >> the effective way to attack a plane and the vulnerability we have as an aviation system is to the terrorist who brings a bomb on the body to the checkpoint. that is the number one priority to stop al qaeda. >> reporter: after the so-called underwear bomber tried to bring down a delta plane last christmas, the tsa quickened the rollout of full body scanners that can peer under a passenger's clothes looking for weapons. now in 65 airports. while any passenger can opt out, he or she is then subject to a full physical pat-down. well aware of what a carefully

placed explosive can do to a plane, the tsa is constantly training its officers what to look for. >> two, one! >> reporter: as we saw at a tsa training session in maryland this past summer. >> very small amount can do a lot of damage to an aircraft in flight. >> reporter: every day 2 million passengers go through what the tsa calls a curb to cockpit approach to safety that's evolved since 9/11. >> layers are indispensable for security in aviation. >> the watch list, connecting that at the checkpoint, the technology, the alertness of the people, all of those things go into it. >> reporter: this week, the tsa announced that those pat-downs will involve the full hands. no longer the back of the hands. they believe the full hands are the best way to feel for any explosive or weapon that a passenger may have. brian? >> tom costello, washington national for us tonight. tom, thanks. of course, there's no hiding the

fact all this is happening four days before people go to the polls in the midterm elections. so to the white house we go, and our chief white house correspondent chuck todd, who was covering this, as well as the political scene today. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the president is quickly turning his attention away from national security matters and back to politics as he heads down to virginia tonight to try to save a house seat for the democrats. first term democratic congressman tom perriello was swept into office two years ago. on president obama's coat tails, handing a safe republican seat to the democrats. a loyal obama vote in the house is behind the republican challenger robert hurt in this conservative district. but hurt has had a hard time building a majority because of a more conservative third party challenger in the race. it's a problem perriello is exploiting in tv ads. >> no wonder hurt is afraid to debate jeff clark. >> reporter: he's one of about a

dozen democratic candidates the president is going to campaign for this weekend. in connecticut, pennsylvania, ohio, and illinois. with voting less than 96 hours away, candidates campaigns and interest groups are pulling out all the stops, including what's being called the stomp ad in the kentucky senate race. the democratic party trying to help jack conway catch rand paul is airing a new ad featuring footage of a campaign supporter getting stepped on by a paul supporter. the ad is only airing after 10 p.m. when children aren't watching. in florida, with democrats desperate to prevent a republican takeover of the senate, bill clinton failed to persuade the florida democratic nominee, kendrick meek, to pull out of the senate race there, which democratic strategists think would make it possible for charlie crist to defeat marco rubio. >> we've never seen anything like the last 18 months. >> i never once said i was going to get out, never once seriously considered getting out of the race.

>> reporter: former president bill clinton parsed his words carefully. >> he's my friend and he's the candidate and he wanted us to talk, as we always have. i have to let him say whatever he wants to say about our conversation. it would be wrong for me to discuss it. >> reporter: republican confidence in picking up the house is only growing tonight, brian, as the two leading handicappers, charlie cook and stew rothenberg estimate that republicans may pick up as many as 65 house seats come tuesday night. they only need 39 for control. >> chuck todd after a busy friday at the white house, thanks. and when our broadcast continues in just a moment, heading into this final campaign weekend, we hear from some americans who have had all they can take of these negative ads. and later, our friday "making a difference" report. you may hear it when you answer the door this weekend. it is a beloved 60-year tradition.

we have been reporting throughout this political season on the astounding amounts of money being spent in this campaign. an estimated $3 billion on television ads alone. if you watch any television at all, you know how nasty the ads have gotten lately. our own john yang reports from a small town in illinois where they just want it to stop. >> reporter: in decatur, illinois, autumn means caramel apples at dell's popcorn shop. pumpkin pie at debbie's diner and politics on main street. but this year -- >> this has got to stop. >> helping herself at our expense. >> he lied. >> reporter: it also means wall-to-wall nastiness on tv. >> what about us? >> you can't avoid them, they're everywhere. >> if you listened to all of them, you would never vote for anybody. >> reporter: on one television station here, 80% of the ads are political.

and most of them are negative. on every program at every time of day, not just candidates for congress. or governor. but for local races, too. >> sorry, charlie, no more. >> reporter: after newspaper editor gary sawyer wrote a column complaining about the ads, he got nearly twice as much mail as usual. >> most of them say they're just tired. it's like voter fatigue, they're tired of the whole process. >> reporter: analysts say negative ads are so prevalent because they work. but not for small business owner kemper wilcox. >> they're more comic relief than they are anything. they're 20% truth, 80% inflated. >> reporter: decatur is the center of corn processing. this massive plant towers over debbie's diner, where larry and his wife are lunchtime regulars. >> there's enough mud slinging and negativeness that it's hard to find anything positive. >> reporter: to owner debbie hill, it's a vicious cycle. >> it's not going to stop till

probably what, monday night, tuesday? >> reporter: for many here, it can't stop soon enough. john yang, nbc news, decatur, illinois. when we come back, is an american institution, the girl scouts, about to ship some of its business to china?

meet the real meg whitman: serving on the board of goldman sachs, whitman was caught reaping millions from insider stock deals. after ebay shareholders sued and a judge cited the obvious conflict of interest she was forced to pay the money back. what kind of person would be involved in deals a fellow republican congressman called corrupt? and in her last year at ebay, whitman paid herself $120 million right before the company laid off 10% of it's workers. we're choosing a governor, shouldn't character matter? it was our lead story last night, halliburton blamed just yesterday for substandard cement and hit with a big piece of the blame for the oil disaster in the gulf of mexico. now, halliburton is firing back. in a statement issued last night, the company defended its work and said bp had ordered a change in halliburton's

customary formula for cement. no response yet from bp. the latest reading on the economy out tonight. gdp, the broadest measure of economic growth, grew at a 2% rate in the third quarter, a little better than the prior three months. still, however, pretty weak. a textile company in new jersey that's been making girl scout uniforms for the past decade said they're afraid the job will be shipped to china. the mayor said girl scout officials told him the uniform contract will be moved to a chinese company. the new jersey company says it can't compete with china's low costs and will have to close and lay off 90 people if they lose the contract. the girl scouts say they've made no final decision, and their objective is delivering the best value to their members. and it is now possible to have better cell phone service at the top of mt. everest than we have here in midtown manhattan. there's now service at the

summit of the world's tallest peak. so the hundreds of people on average who are making the trek every year can make video calls and surf the web on their mobile phones. a nepolese telecom company has installed 3g service at the 17,000 foot mark, all the way up to the summit. they say it will also contribute to climber safety. up next, as we continue, a halloween idea that's been making a difference for decades.

our "making a difference" report tonight is a halloween special. here's a number for you. americans will spend $2 billion on halloween costumes. and here's another number, 60. for 60 years now, we've been hearing "trick or treat" for unicef when we answer the door on halloween. and it has been making a difference for kids around the world. our report tonight from nbc's peter alexander. >> reporter: in san jose, california's silver oak elementary, trick or treating isn't just a halloween tradition, it's a teaching tool.

rather than collecting candy, here they're learning about giving back to other children with much bigger needs. >> us kids really need that water and medicine and education. >> i can help change the world. >> reporter: fifth grade teacher bill laroway first introduced his students to trick or treat for unicef and those unmistakable little orange boxes in 1999. >> finding a way that kids can give back to the world and apply all the skills they learn in school, to me that's what education really needs. >> reporter: in the last 11 years, they've raised more than $30,000. >> we can't just think oh, if i don't give money, someone will help that kid. because you don't know that for sure. >> reporter: unicef's campaign dates back to the days just after world war ii, bringing food and medicine to the children of war. >> trick or treat for unicef. >> reporter: as the effort expanded, numerous celebrities

got involved, even promoting their cause in primetime on "lassy." in its 60 years, trick or treat for unicef has raised more than $160 million, supporting programs from health care to nutrition in countries around the world. >> it makes me feel really lucky. now i just want to give away my toys to people who don't have them. >> the primary message is you're not collecting money, you're saving lives. while you are trick or treating, on halloween day and every day, 22,000 children will die from causes we know how to prevent. >> reporter: that's 22,000 children under the age of 5. not much younger than the students at silver oak. >> candy is not everything. helping kids is a lot. >> reporter: determined that halloween is also included in the season of giving. peter alexander, nbc news, new york. >> be safe out there either way. that's our broadcast this friday night and for this week. thank you for being here with us. it's not too early to remind you to be with us on election night

for our decision 2010 coverage. starting here, then in primetime, into the night, into late night, all night long with our assembled team with the very best in the business. for now, i'm brian williams. lester holt will be here with you this weekend. we hope to see you right back here on monday night. have a good weekend. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com three decades after he accused a priest of molesting him, a bay area man is arrested for nearly beating the cleric to death. good evening, everyone, i'm tom sinkovitz. iti