on the broadcast tonight, free fall. the bottom falls out late in the day, the dow drops more than 500 points. a scary day as americans watch their savings take a hit. tonight we'll look at the cause and how bad it's likely to get. tonight we'll look at the cause and how bad it's likely to get. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. this was a dark thursday for a lot of americans. look at the picture showing the faces on the wall street trading floor late today just before the closing bell. every time we see photos like these, it means something bad has happened. today was one of those days, and

their expressions mean it just can't be good for the rest of us. the numbers tell the story. the financial markets led by the dow fell off a clip, down 512 points. and what's troubling here is, while that means real losses for americans who can't afford to lose money right now, this financial trouble is being triggered from overseas. it's where we begin tonight, using the resources of our financial network, cnbc, beginning at the exchange and maria bartiromo, what happened today? >> what a day. the selling started in europe, where a crisis over debt is accelerating throughout the euro zone. then in the u.s. things happened quickly. right at the open, the focus was on the u.s. economy. it was going on throughout the closing. the final hour of trading, things accelerated. in fact, the market dropped 155 points just in the last hour of trading, as the new worry emerged that the so-called soft patch in the economy is quickly turning into quicksand.

>> reporter: today's dramatic plunge capped the worst ten-day period in stocks in more than two years, as panic spread through europe. back home, weekly unemployment claims showed little improvement.cc1: even the good news was bad. retail stores posted solid sales, but a lot of that came from heavy discounting, as retailers worked hard to get people to open their wallets. c: >> everyone in business wants to get more people working, wanting to more consumer spending. we haven't found the way out yet. >> reporter: gold, thought to be a safe haven, dropped more than $7. oil closed at $86.63 a barrel, as traders sold off whatever they could to cover their losses. >> there's an old wall street saying, when you can't sell what you want to sell, you sell whatever you can sell, including your grandmother's necklace. >> reporter: fears about market uncertainty spread quickly today. internet and blogs feeding the fire, sparking new worries about an already volatile stock market. nearly 2 billion shares were traded at the new york stock

exchange alone, much heavier than usual. that sell-off is global. markets in europe were down 3.4%, hitting the lowest level in over a year, as the financial crisis in greece spread to italy, one of europe's largest economies. >> every morning now we check in to see what's happening in europe, are the banks still okay? has there been any crisis? has anybody declared insolvency? until that uncertainty is resolved, it will be tough to pull this back together. >> reporter: from the stock market to this farmers' market in chicago, the uncertainty taking a toll. >> i worry about seniors. i worry about poor people. i think there's a lot of people in trouble right now. >> each and every day i'm catching absolute hell trying to pay my rent, trying to pay bills. the thing that scares me is i'll be on the streets. >> reporter: and tomorrow will be another big day as the market

is expecting weak jobs numbers for the month of july. that report no doubt, brian, will dictate whether or not this selling continues. back to you. boy, scary indeed, maria bartiromo starting us off from the exchange tonight. maria, thanks. we're also joined from cnbc by jim cramer for his thoughts on the day. jim, same question i started with to maria. i want to hear your version, knowing folks are watching right now in all 50 states with a stake in this economy. how would you put what happened today? >> i think this is the market trying to factor in a worldwide slowdown, if not a recession. we were factoring in pretty good times just a couple of months ago, brian, so obviously this is a ratcheting back. but i want to urge people, stay the course. i saw panic today. panic is not a strategy. i'm not saying i can hold your hand and we won't go down more. i think we will.

but this is nowhere, nowhere, as bad as 2008. we have to keep that in perspective. >> jim, this debate we've just seen in washington didn't exactly fill the american people with confidence, but it's really scary when you learn that it's factors that's fueling this beyond our borders, beyond our control and overseas. >> yeah, it's this unseen contagion that worries us so much. people can't believe what happens in greece and spain, portugal or italy can impact us. but we're in a globalized world. a lot of what happens there can be imported here, but again i want to emphasize that most of the companies i talk to doing quite well, maybe not as well as a couple months ago, brian, but it's just not dire there. i urge people to stay the course. >> all right. your lips to the market's ears. jim cramer, always a pleasure to have you. thank you very much for being with us. we want to let our viewers know our friends at cnbc have prepared a special broadcast to air tonight called "markets in turmoil" live 8:00 eastern time. we want to shift our coverage a bit here from wall street to the real streets, and here is a very real and very urgent casualty of this financial downturn.

would you believe an american city filing for bankruptcy? they're blaming the same kind of thing we've just heard debated. out of control borrowing and pension costs, now it's left the people with very tough choices. nbc's ron allen has our report tonight from central falls, cc1: rhode island. >> reporter: it is the smallest city in the country's smallest state. 19,000 people tucked in a single square mile, crushed by massive debt. >> we were left with no other practical option. >> reporter: central falls declared bankruptcy after years of cutting services and raising taxes, up 20% last year, yet it's still swamped by $80 million in pension costs for cc: city workers, nearly five times the annual budget, and nothing but red ink in sight. >> i'm nearly 65. i don't have time for a do-over. >> reporter: deputy chief jerry conoyer says he gave his all fo: 35 years.cc1: now he and other retirees may

only get half the pensions they were promised. as a bankruptcy court balances the city's books. >> the american dream is being : pulled out from under us. cc1: >> reporter: it is a problem in cities across the country, millions owed to teachers, police, public employees past and present, and falling behind on the payments. >> if a municipality runs into bankruptcy problems, that can spread in terms of reduced credit ratings to neighboring municipalities and to the state as a whole. >> reporter: so how did central falls fall into so much debt? residents blame years of government mismanagement, patronage and chronnyism, while at the same time so many businesses and residents who pay taxes have left. >> that's where i was born. >> reporter: paul landry's family business is 108 years old. he's hoping hitting rock bottom finally helps central falls bounce back. >> we'll get to a point where they'll end up forcing, really, everybody out of business. >> reporter: back at the firehouse they're facing longer hours for less pay.

>> it's very sickening. it does not leave a good feeling in your stomach at the end of the day. >> reporter: with no one sure exactly what living in a bankrupt town will bring. ron allen, nbc news, central falls, rhode island. a development to report tonight about a story we've been following for days about those tens of thousands of furloughed construction and transportation workers left without work, without a paycheck, because of a dispute in congress over funding the faa. the stalemate was the latest example of what's been wrong with congress to a lot of people. well, tonight congress has reached a deal that means many of those workers will be back on the job by monday. more hot weather to contend with in parts of the country today.cc1: temperatures were well above 100 degrees from oklahoma city to dallas, touched the 100 mark in parts of the southeast as well. and some good news tonight for our friends in southern florida. they've downgraded topical storm emily after slamming into haiti where, remember, there's still so much suffering going on after that quake. the core of the storm has

largely fallen apart. it's now a big rain system. it could do some regenerating, but it's still good news after all those scary projection maps for this first big storm of the season. very scary situation in newport beach, california. a 17-year-old was buried in the sand. it started innocently enough with a big hole in the beach, but then it fell in on him, trapping him under almost six feet of sand. lifeguards, beachgoers, first responders all arrived, pitched in, dug in, digging with their hands, and after about a half hour, he was pulled out and revived. he said he was only able to survive by moving his head back and forth and creating an air pocket in the sand. pfizer pharmaceutical, the company that makes lipator, lipitor, reportedly plans to ask the federal government to allow the sale of an over-the-counter version when lipitor's patent expires this fall.

experts are skeptical that the fda will let so many people take lipitor to treat themselves in effect, for high cholesterol without the supervision of a doctor. still ahead on our broadcast, our team on the ground has expanded tonight in one of the saddest places on earth. richard engel reports on the race against time to save the children. and later, president obama, after a week that would give anyone gray hair, harry smith is with us tonight on what he can expect now that he's 50. cc1:cc1: :

we're back. now to our continuing coverage of the dire situation in the horn of africa, most especially in somalia, where at least 29,000 children under the age of 5 have died in a relentless famine that gets worse by the day. secretary of state hillary clinton today urged somali militants to let desperately needed food aid through to millions of starving people who need it. we have two reports from inside somalia tonight, and they come with our ongoing warning that this is tough to watch. chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in mogadishu, and kate snow made her way across the border from kenya. we begin with nbc's richard engel. >> reporter: inside somalia, 3 million are starving. thousands are fleeing famine in the south, desperate to reach camps in mogadishu. but now there's famine here, too. in one filthy camp we see a boy

in his father's arms, so weak he can barely keep his head up. we follow kalthum, she wants to show us her neighbor's sick boy. he has a fever, his mother says. he vomits whenever he eats. he's not able to eat? he can't eat? another neighbor aisha has already lost six children. only her 4-year-old daughter survive. as we speak, more women approach with more malnourished children. when you hold these children's hands and you look in their eyes, they truly seem and feel exhausted. they don't squeeze back. they're just listless, so tired. but they're victims not just of drought and famine, but somalia's political divisions. there's been no real government here for 20 years. relief efforts are severely limited by the political instability here. the worst-affected areas are controlled by al shabab, an al qaeda-linked group, and

people here say the militants aren't letting humanitarian supplies into those areas or letting starving people leave. al shabab are taliban-style islamic militants that don't want outside interference. they kicked out aid groups two years ago and banned immunizations, considering them foreign attempts to poison children. al shabab are holding millions of hungry people hostage, calculating it's better to let them die than allow outsiders and potential rivals to gain a foothold in somalia. richard engel, nbc news, mogadishu. >> reporter: this is kate snow in dobley, southern somalia, where pock-marked buildings and heavily armed men are evident the government just won back this town recently. we follow a convoy of aid groups, a grandmother of six says her grandchildren are starving. this is enough food to feed 14,000 people for the next two weeks. it's oil, sugar, water, all the basic essentials.

it's not going to help everyone, but it's a start. dhabu has nine children. i traveled ten days by foot, she says. i cannot even wash their heads. one convoy isn't enough, she says. send more help. kate snow, nbc news, dobley, somalia. >> i know a lot of you have been asking for ways to help. we have been compiling a list of charities on our website, that's nightly.msnbc.com. when we come back tonight, the end of and era in america for the muscular dystrophy telethon.

a solemn burial at arlington today that was long delayed. the remains of 12 u.s. airmen, the entire crew of a b-24 bomber from world war ii, laid to rest 68 years after their mission ended with a crash landing in the pacific. their remains were found decades later in new guinea. and just today their mission came to a final and formal end.

as air travel marches on, boeing has flown the last rehearsal, the last test flight, of its huge new cargo version of the 747. it's got a stretched fuselage, and the nose opens up for loading. well, to celebrate the occasion, the crew did something very crafty here, flying 10,000 miles over 15 states, 17 hours, in a specific pattern. do you see what that reads out? their route of flight spells out "747." the first of the new jumbos will be delivered next months. speaking of flights, new numbers are out, showing of the 100 most delayed flights of the last year. 40 of them come or go through newark. they include the most delayed flight in the country, the 5:00 p.m. delta flight to atlanta hartsfield. if you're ever on that one, just

go ahead and tell your loved ones don't wait up. as long as there's been a muscular dystrophy telethon it's been associated with jerry lewis, but no more. the 85-year-old comedian will not be a part of the show this year and is no longer the mda national chairman after raising over a billion dollars for the cause over the years. lewis has been sharply critical of the tv industry of late but is not commenting yet on his departure. and to mark what would have been lucille ball's 100th birthday saturday, take a look at these exclusive and never before seen "life" magazine photos of the great comedienne in her prime, starting with her exhaustion after a birthday party for fdr. desi and lucy formed the desilu studios at the height of the day and they were indeed a hollywood powerhouse. there's more of these photos at life.com. when we come back, a bold owner's manual on turning 50 and what it means for the president of the united states.cc1:

it's from a new member of the nbc news family.

. president obama turned 50 today, an event way too many of us know all too well. his wife, the first lady, said today he's earning every one of his gray hairs. but that's nothing. he's just getting started. we thought what better way to introduce the newest member of the nbc news family, our friend harry smith, who's here with an owner's guide really to turning a half century old. harry, welcome. >> brian, good to be here. as of today, president obama has become a man of a certain age. along with the concerns of the country, he will have some other things to worry about. >> reporter: happy birthday, mr. president. once upon a time, when you were a young man, all you had to do was show up. >> the next president of the united states! >> and teeming throngs of people would gather to cheer you on. ♪ nothing's standing in the way ♪ >> reporter: they even wrote songs about you. >> yes, we can. >> reporter: as a young person yourself, you were convinced anything was possible. but here you were this week, all by yourself in the oval office, signing the debt ceiling bill,

looking for all the world like a guy who is chagrinned, resigned, fatigued. with all due respect, you look like a guy who is turning 50. >> you'll never be cool again. >> reporter: dave barry is the author of "i'll mature when i'm dead." he has sobering news and a tip. >> please, mr. president, whatever you do, keep your pants low. i don't mean -- not too low, the way kids do, but don't get them too high. they seem like they keep going up, up, up, when you're 90, they're up to your neck. you don't want to get to that. >> reporter: the culture will tell you 50 is the new 40, mr. president, but don't be fooled. gray is okay, bald is beautiful. and the golf course will become infinitely preferable to the basketball court. when playing golf, you can go to the hole and you don't have to worry about some kid blocking your shot. you'll notice a few other changes, mr. president, like memory lapses. soon you'll find it hard to remember people's names and names of places. i like to call it proper noun loss. others refer to it as a senior

moment. oh, and soon you'll get something in the mail from the aarp, an invitation to join. do not rip it up in a fit of rage. look it over. you'll find they have favorable rates on motel rooms and a terrific supplemental insurance policy for medicare. mr. president, beware. middle age is fraught with peril. some of your contemporaries have found solace in sports cars or motorcycles. >> oh, yeah, now, this is a biker bar. >> reporter: but you can skip the midlife crisis. you've already married up. as for your daughters becoming teenagers, two words -- prayer and patience. so a little advice from someone who's been down this old road -- yoga. it's good for relieving life's aches and pains. and lord knows you've been taking a beating. don't despair, mr. president. 50 is a state of mind. it's a moment to assess the doable, to know you are only as old as congress makes you feel.

>> so i know -- i'm new to this 50 game so i actually -- i found this so helpful. there's a lot you were classy enough not to get into. >> well, you know, there are certain medical procedures that everyone in the medical profession says you must have, including one that involves a tiny little camera -- >> really? >> -- that goes to a place that is almost unimaginable. >> so not one of the cameras that covers the president every day. >> no, not one of those. and i'm so old i've had it done twice. >> you know, this is exactly where i didn't want to go, except for one bit of news. i read today he will still be younger at 50 than all of the foreseeable candidates for president. >> who are running right now. >> so there's solace in that. useful information, harry. welcome, pal. >> thank you. >> harry smith with us tonight. that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thanks for being with us.

i'm brian williams. we hope to see you tomorrow evening. we hope to see you tomorrow evening. good night. captions by vitac www.vitac.com right now at 6:00, brush fires ignite in the east bay. what sparked them still a mystery, though. >> it has the south bay rocking for nearly a quarter of a century. tradition could come to an end this month. and the sexting mom learns her fate. tonight a verdict is in for the bay area mother with a history of sending lurid texts to a troubled teen.