on the broadcast tonight from cairo, egypt remains on the brink. day seven of these the brink. day seven of demonstrations gearing up for a massive march tomorrow. chaos at the airport as thousands of people, a lot of them americans, scramble to get out. and we'll have the latest from top u.s. officials and the people on the ground here in egypt. "nightly news" from cairo begins now. now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good evening tonight from cairo in egypt where we

found a safe spot to do our broadcast tonight and cobbled together a few ways to get the pictures and sound on the air, though it may be something less than our usual broadcast quality. it's such an important story entering day seven of what may turn out to be a genuine top-to-bottom change, people's revolution, and in the process may rewrite the contemporary history of this region. each day we say it, but it's true. this enters a new stage again tomorrow, and that's because of the promised size of what they're calling the million person march in cairo. we've seen so many television pictures of the main public square there. never quite empty as people flaunt the curfew. a lot of that is going on in the highly populated areas. people are more respectful of the curfew, staying off the roads as you get to the outskirts of town. and then there's the exodus out of here. thousands of people hoping to

hop on commercial scheduled or special charter flights. oil companies getting their employees out, various countries, and that includes, of course, hundreds of americans at the airport trying to get out. we have all of it covered. we have the entire region covered. our entire team is here with us. that includes richard engle, who for days has been down in the thick of it in central cairo. he starts off our coverage tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. egyptians are bracing for what happens in this country when the sun comes up. the protesters are expected to gather here in cairo's main square and then march on the presidential palace. egypt is heading for its biggest showdown yet. tens of thousands flooded into tahrir square today, but this was just a prologue. organizers are calling for a million people to go to the square tomorrow to demand that

president hosni mubarak step down. this morning in cairo, the army was making preparations. reinforcements were called in to seal off downtown, check i.d. cards and prevent journalists from taking pictures. some soldiers fired warning shots in the air. but demonstrators kept streaming into tahrir, which in arabic means liberation. >> even if the army wins, we are not afraid. >> reporter: protesters are now gathering here from across egypt. this is becoming the first truly nationwide demonstration. the police also returned to the streets today, but stayed away from the demonstrators. they don't want to repeat what happened last friday. clashes with demonstrators amid clouds of tear gas and, as seen in this new footage from al jazeera, running over demonstrators. today some egyptians jeered and baited policemen, accusing them

of supporting a corrupt regime. president mubarak still seems to be looking for a compromise by reshuffling his government. mubarak's new vice president went on television to say he wants a dialogue with the opposition. but it may be too late. >> that's the end. that's the end of the mubarak era. >> reporter: the protesters are no longer just young people fed up with mubarak. the muslim brotherhood, a banned islamic group here, is now taking a prominent role. one of its leaders was a main speaker in tahrir today. the muslim brotherhood denounces terrorism, but supports islamic law, is anti-israel and opposes u.s. foreign policy in the middle east. tonight i visited the muslim brotherhood's main office to interview one of the group's most senior leaders. he just escaped from prison this weekend. >> the majority of egyptians are

muslims, respecting islam and the minority has its rights. they are citizens. we are calling for a civil state, democratic state, which respects religion, respects all religions and gives all the citizens equal rights. >> reporter: he lost his voice because he went from his jail cell straight to cheering in tahrir. he says the brotherhood can work with the u.s. and compromise but offered no specifics. >> if the egyptian government falls, isn't the muslim brotherhood just going to take over and isn't that bad for stability in the middle east? >> if they respect democratic principles, they must respect the choice of the people. >> reporter: the instability in egypt is terrifying foreign residents. in an apartment debbie alcala from phoenix was packing up today. she's lived in egypt for years

but decided to go after she spoke to her son. >> it's not the way i thought i would leave. but i hope i'll be back. i have a business here. >> reporter: so far the protests have not been anti-american, brian. and in tahrir square now you'll find young and old, religious and secular egyptians, but mostly people working class who are just tired of 30 years of mubarak's rule. brian. >> richard engle in the middle of it all again today and where tomorrow a new stage begins. richard, thanks. we can't understate the effort to get out of here. think of it, all these people from so many nations, people living here, tourists, academics, folks working for oil companies. we've all come in through the central airport where they're trying to leave from. lester holt here with us as part of our team came in through the same place. you saw it with your own eyes. >> i think you would agree it's like swimming upstream coming into this country.

anybody who has been to egypt knows what a remarkable, wonderful place it is in good times. so many of the americans fleeing tonight are doing so with heavy hearts, but frankly they are fearful for their safety. with chaos spreading through the streets of cairo, hundreds of american tourists and diplomats are getting out and a mad dash to the airport became more of a crawl. many commercial planes sat idle on the tarmac waiting for clearance to leave. among those who made it to the airport, debbie alcala the american woman richard engel spoke to in town. >> i am sad to be leaving. i wasn't planning to leave. so when i decided to go, i decided to go. >> reporter: steve and rocks ann peterson from illinois on vacation in cairo are now eager to get back home. >> i am so relieved. i feel that it is definitely getting more tense. >> reporter: just getting to the airport was an ordeal that took hours and travelers had to endure long lines once they got there.

in all, 2400 americans have told the u.s. embassy here they want to leave egypt. the state department provided nine charter planes to get about 1200 of them out today, flying them to greece, cypress and turkey. among the first to arrive in cypress, american diplomat tom sanchez. >> a couple of our colleagues there, from their hotel, they could smell the tear gas and actually had to close their windows. >> reporter: many more made to it athens. ryan and joanna wyatt miller are headed home to san francisco. >> they had put a boulder through the bottom of the hotel, broken in, looted the entire mall next door. then burnt it to the ground, which was attached to our hotel. >> reporter: americans on a nerve-racking journey of a lifetime feeling much safer tonight but still a long way from home. once those evacuees make it to cypress or those european destinations, they then have to find their own flights back to the states. brian, they will have to pay the government the fair market value

of those charter flights getting out of here. >> i ran into the family from illinois. they tell me oh, we just talked to lester holt so they're still waiting to get out to cypress. but that's the scene at this airport. lester, thank you for that aspect of this story. this crisis of course being watched in world capitals and by world leaders very, very closely puts a lot of nations in a dicey situation. our chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell, watching that where the u.s. is concerned all day in d.c. andrea is in our washington newsroom tonight. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the obama administration is toughening its message to president mubarak, but this is an awkward diplomatic straddle, trying to support the protesters without undermining other arab leaders, fearful that they could be next. as the protests grow, so does the white house pressure on mubarak. without calling for egypt's leader to step down, the message is clear. >> i do believe orderly transition means change. what they have advocated from

the very beginning is that the way egypt looks and operates must change. >> reporter: the u.s. wants mubarak to negotiate with opposition groups, cancel a 1981 law outlawing political organizations, guarantee that presidential elections are free and fair, and free political prisoners. a message the president delivered to mubarak himself and is now being reinforced by a veteran retired diplomat, former ambassador to egypt, frank wisner. >> we have asked him to add his perspective to our analysis on current developments. he has traveled to cairo, is on the ground now. >> reporter: it is a delicate dance. at a white house meeting today, one official is quoted as saying we can't be seen as telling a leader to go. >> on the one hand, they don't want to tell president mubarak outright we want you to get out. but they have been telling him that he should introduce reforms and changes, which i think that if he were to introduce them, that would be tantamount to him

putting the noose around his neck. >> reporter: the administration has been trying to catch up as events move at a dizzying pace. >> but i think they understand very well that they have got to get on the side of history here. and i think you'll see that unfold in the next few days. >> reporter: senior officials hope that sending a highly respected retired veteran diplomat to cairo will reinforce the message that mubarak needs to do a lot more. they're avoiding saying publicly that mubarak's regime cannot survive. brian. >> they're under a lot of pressure from the demonstrators here. andrea mitchell in washington, thanks. now let's come back to this region to tel aviv we go next. a lot of people watching israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for what he does and what he says on this topic. our own michelle kosinski among them. she's in tel aviv tonight. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. israel is focused on its one key

ally in this region. will it turn more friend or foe. that is an uneasy feeling after more than 30 years of a cool peace. tonight the prime minister is voicing the concerns of so many, that egypt could become another iran. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu finally broke an official uncharacteristic silence here about the rage next door. >> translator: what could happen and it's happened already in iran is islamic extremism, which surely represses human rights, tramples them to dust and are a danger to peace, stability and all civilized people. >> reporter: the worry at the top, are things moving too quickly in egypt to stabilize. the press here has reported that israel wants the west to tone down criticism of egyptian president, hosni mubarak. public predictions are he'll be gone and the military is strategizing for israel's future in its neighborhood of high fences. they worry about the economic

fallout of long stable egypt suddenly shifting are stronger than fears over security. >> i know that we have a strong army and we have someone to take care of us and it's been always like this, so when it comes to that, i feel safe. >> reporter: and there are questions within israel. why didn't military intelligence see this coming and why is this nation focused on the actions and treaties of our governments without taking more into account the sentiment of citizens. brian. >> michelle kosinski in tel aviv. thanks. it's been said what's happening here in egypt started with the uprising in tunisia. people have used phrases like "prairie fire" to guess about how it might spread. tunisia was a modern day first in the arab world but it may not be the last, as our own veteran middle eastern correspondent martin fletcher reports for us tonight.

>> reporter: the slogan today egypt, tomorrow yemen. yemen's president has been in power 32 years, even longer than egypt's mubarak. will a full-scale revolt erupt here too? many countries share egypt's problems. young populations, poverty, unemployment, suppression of human rights. to egypt's west look at algeria, worried about rioting islamic power, the government introduced a state of emergency, 19 years ago. the call is for freedom. so, following the revolts in tunisia and egypt, are other regimes in real danger? >> the conditions in egypt that caused this to come about do exist widely across the region. that's a big concern. >> reporter: jordan, first they called for food and now government change. jordan's muslim brother hed warned unrest will spread to other governments close to the united states.

libya, colonel gadhafi has ruled unopposed more than 40 years but could his time be up. he's cut taxes on food and basic products to head off trouble but is that just a band-aid. >> for some of these rulers, they're certainly scrambling to try to placate the people. for some it may be too little too late. >> reporter: more troubling questions, will islamic fundamentalists, well organized almost everywhere, fill the power vacuum, and is that good or bad? who knows. certainly experts, calling this an end of an era, it could lead to necessary policy changes and a drop in tension, or it could usher in spreading revolutions. it's a nervous time in the middle east. martin fletcher, nbc news, new york. and we continue our coverage from our team on the ground here in cairo. after a break, what city life is like these days in this city upside down. i have clients say it's really hard to save for the future

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>> back here in egypt tonight, a nation of 80 million, picture combining populations of california, texas and new york. cairo, a city of 18 million sprawling, teaming, but these days for the people who lived here, it's upside down. cnbc's erin burnett, part of our team here, spent the day out among them. >> reporter: brian, tonight we're all standing in a city where the law is on hold and literally it's every person for himself. we saw it firsthand last night, driving in from the airport. as lawlessness spread, people are protecting their own neighborhoods by any means necessary. young men armed with bats and axes stopped cars, looking for looters. egypt is better than this, one of them told us. in the outdoor market today, the effects of the chaos are hitting home. food supplies are dwindling. people waited more than five hours for bread.

in cairo, grocery stores, panic buying has begun. a far cry from the markets fully stocked just a few months ago. before the crisis, experts say unemployment was 20%. it's almost certainly worse now. i'm standing in the middle of cairo's biggest square. it's peaceful here and right now it's prayer time, but it's full. nobody has been going to work for days. how long can this situation go on? mohammed rasheed's barber shop now stands empty. >> this is a small problem, but you know everything has stopped here in egypt. >> reporter: everything has stopped? >> yeah. the bank, no working. >> reporter: store fronts are pad locked. gas stations closed. bank machines down. this man says "i want to go shopping but the atms don't have any cash in them." but amidst unrest and uncertainty, men gathered to fly kites on the banks of the nile today.

singing traditional egyptian songs of hope for the future of a nation in crisis. that peaceful image was echoed from shop keepers and even the most frightening vigilantes that we met, they don't want to use force. that's part of the reason that all eyes will be on that huge protest here in central cairo tomorrow. and, brian, we wanted to follow up on a story we brought you last night on looting at egypt's national museum. looters had broken in and tried to steal some of the national treasures. nbc news went to the museum today. we took the pictures that you're looking at right now as guards were cleaning up. brian, we can tell you that at least right now, the treasures are safe. back to you. >> erin burnett not far from our location in cairo here tonight. erin, thanks. we'll take another break. when we continue, some of the day's other news included some big weather on your way no matter where you live in the u.s. there's the life you live...

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here at home a colossal storm threatens more than 30 states. we're talking about a third of the nation's population, 33 out of 50 states hit by snow, rain and ice, potentially the biggest storm this country has ever seen, affecting some 100 million people. blizzard conditions are forecast across the upper midwest with up to two feet of snow and 60-mile-an-hour winds creating whiteout conditions tomorrow and wednesday. and from texas up into ohio, dangerous ice is expected and heavy thunderstorms will hit the southeast. you can check out the view from space. nasa is showing the storm system moving across the continental united states. a federal judge in florida ruled today that president obama's health care reform law is unconstitutional. the judge sided with 26 states which had sued to overturn the law, arguing the federal government cannot force people to buy health insurance. late this afternoon, the obama administration said it will appeal the decision. on wall street today, stocks gained back some of friday's big losses with energy stocks leading the way. the dow finishing up more than 68 points.

meantime, oil prices surged again today, up $2.85 to more than $92 a barrel. that's the highest price for oil since october, 2008. now let's head back to brian with more from cairo. hey, brian. >> ann, thanks. we'll be back with more from cairo right after this. b/ ♪ [ smack! ] [ smack! smack! smack! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds.

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back here in cairo with lester holt. lester, when day breaks here you and i are going to run into a new feature of life in cairo, these road blacks. >> at 8:00 the curfew comes down but there are still these roadblocks, checkpoints. sometimes army, sometimes police, sometimes neighbors just looking after their own neighborhood, willing to search you, ask to see your -- what's in your trunk to make sure that you're okay. it is a part of life here. no one really knows what the rules are here, brian. >> of course the life we enjoy in the states, internet, electronics, all of it down, remains down as this conflict enters day seven. on behalf of our entire team here on the ground, that's going to do it for our broadcast for this monday night. i'm brian williams. thank you for being with us. we'll see you right back here tomorrow evening. once again, from cairo.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now at 6:00, a disturbing sight out of the east bay. watch closely, the children are running from their classroom. it escorted by s.w.a.t. teams after reports of of a gunman. >> state of state, jerry brown time, the governor sums up his plan for california. you are likely playing a big part of it. >> good evening, i'm any jessica aguirre. >> terrifying scene in oakland. reports of a gunman enterin