on our broadcast tonight, whip lash. high anxiety and high drama on wall street where it was up, down and way up again. what's happening to the u.s. economy and how can americans weather what's going on? under siege in london. a fourth straight night of tension after fiery riots. under siege in london. a fourth straight night of tension after fiery riots. now there are thousands of cops on alert while parts of that tourist city look like a war zone. cover story, what we learned today about how this controversial photo was selected for the cover of "news week." and who doesn't love a good dog? that's the point. tonight, we'll show you the important jobs these dogs perform in the courtroom. "nightly news" begins now.

captiy nbc-universal television captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. you might want to be strapped in good evening. you might want to be strapped in and hang on tight if you're going to follow the u.s. economy and the market at least in the near term. it was a wild day today while nothing has changed about the fundamentals. the u.s. credit rating is not going to be restored to full strength any time soon and there are big problems from here to europe fueling all this but if yesterday was black monday on wall street today was a dizzying kind of temporary bounceback. the dow closed up almost 430 points, 4% of its value, after screaming higher in the last half hour of trading. all three of the major indices gained back at least some of the bad losses of the last two weeks. to start our coverage off tonight, sue herera is at the new york stock exchange. sue, can you tell us what's going on? >> reporter: it really defies explanation, brian. it was a wild, whipsaw day on

wall street following yesterday's trading session which was one of the worst in recent memory. the dow has lost about 1500 points in the last two weeks and investors were hoping today that the fed would throw them a lifeline. ahead of the federal reserve statement, stocks were up more than 240 points, on hopes that the fed might intervene somehow to stabilize the market. >> moments away now from that fed decision. >> reporter: but when it got word of that action -- >> no change in interest rates. >> reporter: that was not enough to keep the rally going. stocks fell more than 200 points. >> that wasn't what i was hoping to hear and there's nothing that he can say at this point. i'm very doubtful that he can restore investor confidence. and that's the major scare for the markets at this point. >> reporter: however, the dip was only temporary and stocks shot up another 600 points to end the day up nearly 430 points. >> incredible rally. a rip-roaring rally.

>> reporter: in its statement they confirmed what investors had decided. downside risk to the economy have increased and for the first time, the fed set a date for interest rates and said economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels, at least through mid 2013. >> the fed is hoping to encourage investors to come back in and buy stocks. buy corporate bonds. buy things that still have some yield left. >> reporter: but for many like this woman, a retired realtor in miami, it will take more than one day to undo the damage. >> what we were looking forward to in our retirement and having these funds to, you know, carry us on, it's just dwindling down and so, you wonder, where is it going to end? >> reporter: and some investors are fleeing to gold sending prices to a new record. and americans to their attics. leah mueller went to this store with old jewelry and left with $1400. >> that's very good for something i hadn't worn in

years. >> reporter: and you know you can't blame them, brian, giving all the volatility. people are putting their money into gold because it keeps hitting records almost every day. back to you. >> sue herera on wall street to start off our reporting on this wild day. thanks as always. now we turn overseas to london. one of the great vacation cities in the world where tonight, parts of that city, some neighborhoods, look like war zones or armed camps or both. there are thousands of young people out in the streets but tonight there are thousands more police officers as well. and we're looking at a possible fourth night of violence, riots and fires like the situation there last night. nbc's michelle kosinski is in london for us tonight. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. police are everywhere you look in london tonight because we've seen days of seemingly opportunitistic and contagious

violence and the theft by gangs of people as young as 11. embarrassing but admitted fact, the police have been no match for them. only tonight this show of force seems to be calming things down, at least here. yes, there are new flash points in britain tonight. but nothing like london. over three nights of the raw violence, out of control. the destruction, open attacks on police. almost celebratory lewding, of family businesses. the day after, it's heart breaking. >> i don't know why people do this. >> reporter: certain images linger. this young man throws rocks at officers and older citizen tries to talk him down and his answer was violence. looters intent on breaking in. the victims escaping burning buildings and some having to jump. >> these are sickening scenes. this is criminality, pure and simple.

and it has to be confronted and defeated. >> reporter: the prime minister cut short his vacation to deal with the rioting that spread to more than a dozen neighborhoods in london and beyond. tonight, 16,000 police are on the street. that force is versus angry teenagers, tearing up the capitol. >> the police have too much power and they're using that power. >> reporter: but many dispute there's any real reason behind this. >> just lazy and going around robbing trucks to make easy money. that's all it is. >> clearly, people will point to the deep background. causation and i have to say i don't find that a satisfactory explanation. >> is it embarrassing? >> i'll be honest. i feel furious. >> reporter: today citizens took their own action volunteering. some cheered as police rolled in. three days late, but many willing to understand they were unprepared. in the face of something no one expected or had seen before or fully comprehend.

scotland yard is launching. an operation to find as many as these perpetrators as possible in what will be the biggest investigation in its history. bigger than the 2005 london terrorist bombings, brian. >> michelle kosinski part of our team in london. this has rocked the people of london as you saw, and elsewhere. who want to know what it is exactly we're witnessing here. our veteran correspondent, martin fletcher, a london native himself, is there with more on the anger and hopelessness that's fueling a kind of tale of two cities. it's a painful week for londoners. >> reporter: we saw this man being mugged tonight. >> they beat you up? >> they beat me up and took my stuff. >> reporter: and this youtube video. a bleeding boy. he had been beaten. others appeared to help him and then robbed him. everyone is asking -- why? >> there's nothing more i can say. i'm really shaken up at the moment.

>> reporter: this is part of the answer. this building, 106 new bond street has been sold for $42 million, cash. what's more, there were 22 cash bidders on the property. a collision between two worlds. have's and the have-nots. on an average wage to buy a house, it would take a londoner 30 years. we found four boys looking on wise beyond their years. >> why are they looting and stealing? >> i think they just want to show power that they have. >> reporter: a final thought that may say a lot about our times. in this shopping center, every store has been looted except one, the bookstore. back to you. >> here in this country, president obama presided over a private military arrival ceremony for the bodies of 30 u.s. servicemen killed in the shootdown of that chinook twin rotar helicopter this past weekends. tom costello is with us from dover, delaware. tom, good evening.

>> reporter: brian, it was a somber and a heartbreaking day here at dover air force base in delaware. it was after 10:00 a.m. this morning when the remains of these 30 u.s. servicemen and eight afghan nationals arrived here on two air force c-17s. president obama arrived soon after to pay tribute to them and participate in the military dignified transfer proceedings and he then met for a few hours? private with several hundred family members and members of the military. there are no photos of the flag-draped remains out of respect for the family as the military must still identify everyone lost in the attack and the crash. with that pains taking process will be the job of a mortuary specialist. but we're told this was an extraordinarily somber and poignant and deeply-moving day. we're told that's how people reacted. back to you. >> tom costello at dover air force base, thanks.

this was a demoralizing crushing blow to all of us. retired four-star u.s. general barry mccaffree is here. 32-year army veteran including four combat terms. general, talk about these men. what kinds of men would have been on a mission like this, estimated six to ten similar extraction missions going on every night while we sit here. >> well, clearly, that special ops community has carried a disproportionate burden. to put it in context, there are 15,000 killed and wounded so far in the war in afghanistan so there's a real fight going on. the tier one, jsocs special ops, a ranger regimen, delta from the army and the navy s.e.a.l.s and the aviation regimen are the premiere fighting force so when their buddies were in trouble, they were ready to lay down their lives to rescue their friends. >> let's talk about the mission, the equipment, the tactics you've flown in thousands of these chinook duel rotar

helicopters. i've flown in far fewer. they were introduced in 1958. they are used as flying buses in both of these wars. they were sending, in this case, as you say, our top tier warriors. should anything about the practice be reviewed? >> well, i'm sure we'll do an review and try to sort out the tactics of it all. why did we have a ranger unit in trouble without a reaction for us to get in offset from the ground attack? where were the apache helicopters? where were the ac-130s? the central story is one of sacrifice and courage. that ch-47, the new f and g models particularly the ones flown by special aviation, 160 stationed at fort campbell are the best aircraft on the face of the earth for high altitudes. so they are really the aircraft of choice on many of these missions. but as they come in, rpg 7s, what 1960s technology.

a range of 950 meters. keep calling it a "lucky shot." it wasn't a lucky shot. they barrage fires, these rpg. or they use heavy machine guns. soviet machine guns. i've been on stage 47 and hit by a machine gun and it will bring you down. so, again, it's a tough situation. we're going to have to rethink the tactics of these operations because the taliban, there's no question are ferocious fighters. >> we've lost a lot of our treasure here. thank you as always, general, for coming in. >> good to be with you. still ahead as we continue this tuesday night, question is -- would they treat a male politician this way? and how about a democrat? we've learned more about the shot they chose for the cover of this week's "news week." helping to take a bite out of crime. man's best friend bringing new comfort to the courtroom. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

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everyday benefits from advanced formulas. discover the complete benefits of centrum silver. last night we showed you the last night we showed you the cover of "news week" magazine. it shows presidential candidate, michele bachmann and what looks like a misfire at a photo shoot. it's been criticized a media cheap shot. we've learned a lot more about how the photo made it way to the cover of a national news magazine.

a report on the fallout tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> come on up. tell everybody you can to come out. >> reporter: michele bachmann seemed to be feeling good in sioux city. aides say shrugging off a photoshoot that makes the candidate look anything but photogenic. many were surprised. >> i thought it was a tough cover, meant to be controversial and get some buzz. >> reporter: on the cover, bachmann is photographed from below, her eyes wide opened with the caption "queen of rage." news editor tina brown explained her intensity is galvanizing voters in iowa and "news week's" cover captured that. lois wrote the cover story. >> it's a very provocative photo. she's a very provocative candidate. she's stirring a lot of intense passions among the electorate and a lot of intense passions among her own party. and i think the cover reflects that. >> bachmann told a supporter at a town hall yesterday she hadn't

even seen the cover. >> is it a close-up? a wild-eyed photo with the headline "queen of rage." >> ahah. we'll have to take a look at that. >> reporter: today the campaign told us that the picture was taken during a lighting test, before the formal portrait and bachmann preferred other choices. not so says "news week." a spokesman told us the photographer's assistance sat in for the lighting test but these pictures were among the alternatives they rejected. bachmann was never given a choice. they say bachmann is focusing on iowa where she's the frontrunner and might get a sympathy vote because of the unflattering portrait. >> she's a very attractive woman, to see her in person it didn't represent her very well. >> reporter: andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >> michele bachmann and others going after support in the christian conservative wing of the gop have their eyes on one man these days. texas governor rick perry will travel to iowa on sunday, day of an event in south carolina and what's widely expected to be a

declaration that he is running for the republican nomination. and you may recall back in the summer of '09 health care exploded as a grassroots' issue at town hall meetings all over the country as a lot of voters exploded at their members of congress. well, this summer, the voters are just plain angry at congress. senator john mccain got a taste of that back home in arizona yesterday. >> everybody, please -- >> there may be a lot more of that. mccain has his own trouble with the tea party. he chose to criticize them during the big debate in washington over the debt ceiling. and voters went to the polls in wisconsin today and one of the biggest recall elections ever. six republican state senators face recall votes, fallout from the brutal fight over the state budget that led to a standoff in the state capitol building earlier this year.

public employees ended up stripped of their collective bargaining rights. two democrats will face a recall next week with the state majority leader hanging the -- the state majority i should say, hanging in the balance. when we come back, the exact moment it arrived. stunning new video inside the epic tornado in joplin, missouri. but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition

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you're looking here at newly-released video from a security camera inside a high school in joplin, missouri, that shows the power, the fury and the intensity of the tornado

that ripped through town earlier this year. ten buildings at the high school were destroyed by that twister. it killed over 100 people in the process. school is scheduled to begin next week. students will be attending classes at a nearby shopping mall. the video here was released to help raise funds for rebuilding. we've sent our cameras back to joplin, missouri. tomorrow night we'll have a special report on their progress. well, it was intended to be our feel-good story this week but it didn't quite turn out that way. veteran long distance swimmer diana niad was trying to complete a 103-mile swim from cuba to the florida keys at the age of 61 but she had to give up this morning when her galan effort failed because of large ocean swells, a shoulder injury and asthma got her about halfway through the journey. have you ever been to geddysburg?

you've heard them say, once in a while they find bullets and artifacts from the civil war to this day. well, it's happened again. back on august 4th, an oak tree fell on culp hill which saw some intense fighting in 1863 when they went to cut a fresh stump they discovered the tree was full of bullets. trees like this are called "witness trees" because still some of them witness the fighting. all being preserved in the nearby museum like all gettysburg battlefield artifacts. >> up next, we'll meet rosy and we'll tell you about her important job. if swollen joints,l, i've been in your shoes. one day i'm on p of the world... the next i'm saying... i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel. i'm surprised how quickly my symptoms have been managed.

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gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. it's often said and you may know, a dog's job is unconditional love. that's what they do. and in a whole separate category are service dogs. working dogs that take their work very seriously. tonight, we have a special story about dogs that work in courtrooms to provide comfort to those that need it. those who suffer trauma and may not be able to get through the legal system without it, without them. the story tonight from nbc's anne thompson. >> reporter: in the criminal justice system, the people are

helped by four paws, these are their stories. elly is an unlikely fixture in seattle's king county courthouse. today, the lab works with the special assault unit, not to sniff out trouble, but to help those in it. just looking at these dogs, allows people to feel more of a sense of calm. >> reporter: especially young victims. prosecutor o'neil stevens says the dog helps children abused by a parent or authority figure find the courage to tell their stories. >> the presence of a dog during the course of a stressful trial can sometimes make the difference between a conviction and an acquittal. >> reporter: in at least ten states, dogs aid in investigative interviews or courtroom testimony. the newest is new york. rosy is new york's first dog to sit at a witness' feet. >> she'll know when you need her. she'll know, she'll come up and see you and she's very gentle. she'll never tell your secrets.

>> rosy and other courthouse dogs are professionally trained, calm, quiet and reassuring when a victim is stressed. in june, rosy sat be side a 15-year-old rape victim as she testified. the assailant convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life. rosy is now an argument for his appeal. but it's not allergies or smells or even behavior that the defense attorney objects to. he says rosy gave the prosecution an unfair advantage. the advantage is sympathy from the jury. >> the dog's presence impacted their ability to decide the issues in the case based solely on the evidence. >> reporter: prosecutors say the soothing presence of the dog is not about sympathy, but getting reluctant victims to talk. four-legged friends that provide comfort and unconditional love. >> good boy. >> reporter: anne thompson, nbc news, dobbs ferry, new york. what good dogs. that's our broadcast this tuesday night. thank you for being with us.

i'm brian williams and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now at 6:00, police say they are closing in on a gunman who killed a young oakland child caught in the crossfire. plus we go in-depth with the surprising look at who's most likely to be hit by a stray bullet. and a popular amusement park is facing a lawsuit. the connection to a gay couple and a roller coaster. and promising news for the victim of a hit and run following a giants game. the news at 6:00 starts right now.