under investigation, the current commander of the one of naef's most powerful warships facing tough questions about raunchy videos he took part in. changing of the guard. the vacation is over for president obama as he prepares to face a new balance of power back in washington. heading home after a week of sfms and consolations, weather-wary travelers are finally on their way. and "da vinci code." could that famous stare hold a secret message? tonight a new clue. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt.

good evening. the navy's powerful aircraft carrier "uss enterprise" will deploy overseas from its virginia port soon but likely without the current commander officer who tonight is at the center of a navy investigation over an embarrassing video that's gone public. cap pain owen honors was second in command when he starred in the raunchy tapes which featured shower scenes and anti-gay slurs. it was shot to entertain the crew. while some support the captain, the navy says the video crossed the line. we're working the story. he joins from washington with the details. >> reporter: over the past nine years we've seen many of these kinds of videos. american service members blowing och steam in the middle of a war zone, but few of them as offensive and none involving an officer so high up the chain of command.

at first glance it appears to be another comical video by u.s. sailors aimed at breaking up long deployment at sea. the raunchy content and apparent gay bashing on the tape have navy officials worried. the video was shot abroad "enterprise" while deployed on missions in iraq and afghanistan four to five years ago. at the center of it all was the ship's number two in command, executive officer owen honors. >> this evening we've got some different pics from the shower. >> reporter: in a staged fashion, he goes from stall to stall to find bothmen and then wem showering together, though there's no new did it and identities can concealed, but nevertheless offensive to some that saw it. >> it had landed me with the most complaints. >> reporter: through clever video editing he appears as three different people together

who have the gay barbing banter. >> why don't you go ahead and hug your spouse for 20 minutes or so, because there's a good chance you're going to be offended. >> reporter: he appears to make good on the promise with simulated sex acts by himself and others. while it involves innocent high jinxes aboard ships there's some segments too inappropriate to show or describe on broadcast television. the navy has launched a full investigation and in a written statement issued today, they said the vidindividuavideos cre clearly inappropriate, and were not acceptable then and are not acceptable in today's navy. approximate if that's true, how did captain honors get promoted to his country job, the top commander of the "enterprise." >> whethn you encourage people that did stupid things by promoting them, you do a disservice to the service and weaken the chain of command. >> today he received widespread

support from some of the very sailors he commanded. some still question his judgment and whether he should be in command of the "enterprise" when it heads back to afghanistan in a couple of weeks. no decisions have been made but it's highly unlikely he'll be on the mission. >> some ask if the navy knew about this several years why now if it's a source of investigation. >> that's a good question, and one that senior navy officials want answers to. since his immediate commanders knew about these videos that long ago, why hadn't they taken disciplinary action against him back then? >> thank you. president obama today enjoyed the last full dame of an extended vacation with his family in hawaii. tomorrow he heads back to washington, but he'll find that things have changed there since he left. the biggest change? the republicans are about to take control of the house. mike has more tonight. he's in honolulu.

mike. >> reporter: good evening, lester. the president returns tuesday to washington and a new political landscape, and after almost two weeks here in his childhood home of hawaii, it promises to be a chilly reception. with two days left on his hawaiian holiday, today the president signed a measure beefing up health benefits for 9/11 first responders and workers at ground zero. while back at washington there was talk of undoing much of mr. obama's agenda. >> the stimulus bill, bahama health care has made economic recovery more difficult. he'll find april partner if he'll come our way when it comes to creating jobs and controlling spending. >> reporter: coming together may be tough. congress will be sworn in wednesday with republicans taking control of the house. near the top of their to-do list, repealing the health care bill the president signed last spring. >> it's very costly. it's unwielding, so we will put fortd a clean repeal bill.

>> reporter: a top republican says attorney general eric holder must get tougher on rooting out government corruption or step down. >> if you're hurting the administration, stop hurting the administration or leave. >> reporter: a major battle looms on the nation's debt, now almost $14 trillion and rising. within weeks they have to vote on allowing it to go higher. today conservatives say without dramatic spending cuts to go with it, they will vote no. a top white house adviser called it a recipe for disaster. >> if we get to the point where you damage the full faith and credit of the united states, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity. >> reporter: the president came to hawaii riding a wave of bipartisan success. the chairman of the democratic committee says that has strengthened mr. obama's political hand and has headed off a possible 2012 challenge

from the left. >> i think the likelihood of any serious challenge to the president is virtually nil. >> reporter: and lester, today yet another one of those incoming republican chairman and the house promised a vote to repeal the president's health care plan by the time of the state of the union, less than four weeks away. lester. >> thanks. it's been a week of wild weather for much of the country from christmas all the way to new year's leaving thousands frus straighted and stranded. air travel is now back to normal, but there's wary travelers playing catch-up tonight. we're at new york's laguardia airport tonight. mara, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. air travel is back to normal and running smoothly after a miserable travel week that stranded thousands. believe it or not, some flights were canceled during that monster snowstorm are trying to finish up trips they started in 2010. for travelers heading home

today, despite a few fog-related weather delays, flights were packed but mostly punk wall. full of post-new year's travel leaving the schedule and travel wary flyers reeling from storm-related cancellations. >> i want to go home and sleep. i'm tired. oh, well. >> reporter: in dell ray, florida, harvard university graduate student elana green prepared to leave her grandmother's house for the third time. >> my first flight got canceled and my second flight i went to the airport and spent the entire day there and it got canceled as well. >> reporter: she were rebooked on a flight after new year's, a week later than planned. >> it was exhausting. >> reporter: it was an exhausting week for lots of travelers. because of the storm airlines canceled about 9,000 flights across the northeast. many were precancellations as airlines tried to get ahead of the storm and avoid costly fines

and passengers stranded mid-trip. >> because this happened during the peak of the holiday season when planes were pretty much full with people traveling for the holidays, it made it more difficult for people to be rebooked on the other flights. >> reporter: this holiday season airlines operated at about 90% capacity. travel was up 3% from last year to an estimated 43.6 million passengers. those already booked on january flights are now getting out just fine. >> things were pretty smooth. >> reporter: airlines say they have managed to rebook virtually all of their stranded travelers, like elana green, who was finally able to leave florida for boston. this time, her flight was on time. and not a moment too soon. airlines say flights will be close to if not entirely booked for most of the week as they get through the new year's rush and finally accommodate the last of those storm-stranded passengers. lester. >> thank you. now to our horrific

shoot-out caught on tape. the community of western ohio is in mourning tonight over the death of police deputy suzanne hopper killed instant by a gunman after reports of shots fired yesterday morning at a trailer park. a shoot-out followed and policeman jerry bloom was wounded before the gunman was shoot and killed. the sheriff spoke of hopper's death. >> the person said fired one shotgun blast striking the deputy and fatally wounding a deputy. this is the worst day in my 24 years as the sheriff of clark county. >> the deputy joined the shefr's office in 1999. she was 40 years old and married with two children.

christian worshippers in egypt returned for morning mass a day after the crowded church was shattered by a suicide bomber. the moment of the explosion was captured on tape. at least 21 died in the blast. local muslim hard liners are reportedly suspects in the attack. in cairo hundreds protested the egyptian government's failure to protect worship erz. severe flooding has a disaster of biblical proportions tonight. thois have been forced to evacuate and more rain is on the way. we have a report from our british broadcasting partner ipn. >> reporter: the scale is simply staggering. more than 200,000 people affected across an area larger than france and germany combined. still, the floodwater is rising. distraught residents rescued with only the clothes they are

wearing. >> now you're saying no. >> reporter: attempting to drive has proved costly. this 41-year-old woman was swept from her car to her death. rescuers saved three children and another adult in the vehicle. it's one of more than 20 cities or towns cut off or underwater. the airport is closed because of the floodwaters could rise over 30 feet in the coming days. amid fears of further storms to come, it's thought restoring the region's devastated industries could cost billions of dollars. supplies are getting to isolated communities, but the authorities are warning of a threat from crocodiles and poisonous snakes. the rain has stopped now but the rising water still bringing misery to the states. this is nina from nbc news. when "nbc nightly news"

returns, he's famous for saying "i'll be back." what's the next step for arnold schwarzenegger? here's is one of the most famous faces in the world, but what secrets lie behind the eyes mona lisa? if you have high blood pressure, like me, and get a cold... ...you need a cold medicine with a heart. only coricidin hbp has a heart, right here. it's the only cold and flu brand that won't raise your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. powerful cold medicine with a heart.

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♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] every day thousands of people are switching from tylenol® to advil. to learn more and get your special offer, go to takeadvil.com. take action. take advil®. he's known for reinventing himgs again and again. he was a hollywood action star and for the past seven years the chief executive for the largest state in the nation. tomorrow california governor arnold schwarzenegger stepping down, and the question arnold watchers are asking now, what's next? george lewis reports.

>> reporter: he campaigned as the action hero sweeping up sacramento. the former star of the terminator movies morphed into the governator. seven years later schwarzenegger who came into office with sky-high popularity leaves with his approval rating under 30%. there have been repeated demonstrations over threatened cuts in education and other public services as the state's budget deficit balloons to $28 billion. >> the issues are very complicated. >> reporter: schwarzenegger blamed it on the economy. >> we're in a disastrous situation here. you're absolutely correct. we have a national economic slowdown, the biggest one in 80 years. >> reporter: in coping with that, schwarzenegger has managed to alienate not only the democrats who run the legislature, but also his fellow

republicans. >> it turned out that there were weights even arnold schwarzenegger couldn't lift. >> he once referred to members of the legislature as girly men but toned his his approach. >> i realize after looking back, why did you say that? that was stupid. >> reporter: despite speculation about schwarzenegger and his wife, neither seems interested in holding public office in the future. he hasn't answered question about whether he'll write an autobiography. he said if the obama administration tapped him for a special job he might be available. >> if it was environmental things and other issues and feel they can utilize my talent, my personality, and my star power and all those things, i'm more than happy to help in any way possible. >> reporter: schwarzenegger has shown a clever capacity to reinvent himself, fro bold

builder to movie star to politician. >> i'll be back. >> reporter: and it's a good bet he will be back in some other prominent role. george lewis, nbc news, los angeles. when we come back here tonight, what facebook knows about you and how it's making them a fortune. [ male announcer ] one look can turn the everyday into romantic. ♪ an accidental touch can turn ordinary into something more. moments can change anytime -- just like that. and when they do men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven, low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications, and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. [ man ] don't drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache, or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help

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users' online behavior was headed by jeff who founded cloudera a software company in palaal toe. he built and led the data team from 2006 to 2008. >> it wasn't until we started watching eechl page view that we got the really tremendous bytes of data. >> one of the patterns important to be identified? >> how new users turned into active and how active turned into deactivated users. we really try to understand all the different variables. did you put a profile picture up or not? when you join, did you join a dense network of friends or loosely collected? if users come back regularly, we're building a new product. >> was the data you're looking for the thing used for targeted advertising? what people were buying and products they used? >> yeah, what users clicked through and things like that. >> at a presentation to advertisers in 2007, mark zuk

zukerberg pitched the benefits. >> on facebook we know the gender and exactly how old they are and interested in. >> facebook's lifeblood and the heart of the revenue model is the accumulation of data its users volunteer, including their interests or likes. advertisers who help boost facebook's revenue to an estimated 1$1.4 billion in 2010 by access to that gold mine of anonymous demographic information. recently it was uncovered that third party developers of some of its applications had been selling personal user data to advertisers. facebook says it corrected the breach, but this latest snafu illustrates how profiting from personal information and guaranteeing it won't be shared can come into implicate. facebook did not agree to an interview for this story, but hacker batcher is on good terms with the company and they agreed

to the interview with us. we'll bring you the real story behind the rise of facebook when i host the facebook obsession, a one-hour documentary this coming thursday night on cnbc. when we come back here tonight, why is this woman smiling? is there a da vinci code to the mona lisa after all? that i needed to quit or years bet and i went online to find a way. ♪ what really excited me about chantix -- it's a non-nicotine pill. i didn't want nicotine to give up nicotine. while you're taking the medication, for the first week, you can go ahead and smoke. [ male announcer ] prescription chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. when i was taking the chantix, it reduced the urge to smoke. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these symptoms or behaviors,

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finely tone how could something staring us in the face

for 500 years be a mystery? there's new questions about what da vinci had in mind when he painted the mona lisa. >> reporter: it's the most famous painting of all time and the most mysterious. we aren't seen sure who she is. one theory is a self-portrait of leonardo da vinci of himself as a woman. such a wistful, alluring smile. what does she know? those eyes follow you around the room. da vinci painting by numbers? italian research believe they discovered painting into her pupils numbers and letters, a secret code? was dan brown's da chin chi code right after all? this british professor appears unconvinced. >> the idea is pa tently absurd. you can find support for

everything if you look hard enough. >> reporter: professor kemp does see an upside. >> the fact that it is engaging people with one of the great human creations is entirely to be welcomed. it's a great thing. it's exciting and it's great fun. >> reporter: in the right eye visible only through a manage fiing class italians found the letters lv. that could be clear enough, leonardo leonardo da vinci and in the arc of the background 72 or an l and 2. professor kemp found nothing. so discovery for stunt? it isn't clear. it isn't as clear as sharp as it was in leonardo's day. it is known davda vinci loved t hide symbols and code. the mona lisa was he especially

dear to davin klda vinci. he never sold it. is there a message in the eyes? if so, what it is. italian police are investigating. there's more to this than meets the eye. that's "nbc nightly news" for this sunday. "football night in america" is coming up next, followed by "sunday night football," the rams versus the seahawks. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. from all of us here at nbc news, good night. frs -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com