boys in this country over the age of 9, and it's for hpv. the same injection a lot of girls get. and there's another health story tonight about the flu vaccine, and the folks it may not be as effective for. amazing rescue. they found a newborn in the earthquake rubble in turkey offering some new hope during desperate hours. for the defense, michael jackson's nurse takes the stand and tells of their emotional final conversation. and groundbreaker. the book that changed everything for american women. "our bodies our selves" is now 40. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. we have two big health stories tonight. one involving the flu shot. we're all urge the to get this time of year.

the other, and perhaps more important for a lot of families, is a new recommendation that all boys in this country as young as ages 9 and up get inoculated against hpv, the virus that can cause cervical cancer in women and is spread by sexual activity. hpv, as you know, has been in the news a lot lately. it's a dicey topic because of its lethal consequences and because preventing it involves parents working with their doctors, acting on behalf of their children, and we've already seen some politicians get involved as well. we want to begin here tonight with our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. nancy, good evening. >> we're talking about human papilloma virus. it's a commonly sexually transmitted disease that's escalating in the united states. in fact, at least 15 million americans are expected to be exposed to this in their life times. the vaccine, hpv, has been around to protect boys from 2009, but there have really been no firm guidelines about boys until today. millions of girls have already received the hpv vaccine, and today, the centers for disease

control expanded those same recommendations to include boys. under guidelines approved today, the cdc recommends all boys 11 to 12 years old be vaccinated, three doses over the course of six months to prevent hpv and hpv-related diseases. why so early? the vaccine needs to be given before a young person becomes sexually active. to give the body a chance to build antibodies to fight hpv if a person is exposed. each year there are 18,000 hpv-related cancers in women. mostly cervical cancers. 7,000 hpv-related cancers in men. last month the virus was linked to mouth and throat cancers and in a report released just yesterday, new research links hpv to the number one killer of women, cardiovascular disease. the hpv vaccine has been approved for boys since 2009 without any firm recommendation from the government, but many

pediatricians at umass memorial medical center in worcester have recommended parents get their girls and boys vaccinated. >> this is a vaccine that can prevent cancer. it's one of the first ones that's going to be able to do that, and that's why i really think that we should welcome this with enthusiasm. one of the reasons the parents have backed away from this vaccine in the past is that because it combines three shots spaced out over several months, and sometimes that means compliance is not so good, and insurance companies have backed away from covering it, but the hope today is that since the cdc has recommended this, it will be one step forward to getting our kids inoculated and having insurance coverage so parents don't have to bare the cost. >> that's a big development. nancy, thank you for that. as we mention, there's also news tonight about the shot we're all told to get this time of year for the flu. new research is suggesting it may not be as effective in warding off the flu as a lot of people have been led to think. especially for the people most at risk. our report from our chief

science correspondent robert bazel. >> reporter: the government has been recommending flu shots for 50 years. >> you had the flu shot before? >> reporter: today's study reveals they are often far less effective than many people believe. >> we don't have the data we need to support the kind of influenza programs in the elderly that we currently have. >> reporter: michael osterhomen and his team at the university of minnesota found that because the vaccine often differs from the virus and circulation, the effectiveness varies from year to year ranging from 16% to 76% with an average of 59%, and that is in relatively young, healthy adults, but in most flu seasons 90% of the hospitalizations and deaths are in the elderly, and it's in that group where the evidence for the vaccine's effectiveness is the weakest. there are no randomized trials of the vaccine in people 65 or older, and the best observation is that the flu vaccine reduces hospitalizations in that group by 8.5% and deaths by 4.6%.

the centers for disease control, which sets national vaccine policy, does not disagree with the latest findings, but points out the vaccine is the only one we've got that it is safe and does save lives. >> i hope that people won't be scared about the vaccine or worried about the effectiveness. >> reporter: osterhoms agrees that people should get the vaccine, but says research for a more effective one should be a higher priority. >> we need better vaccines and fast. >> reporter: for these people getting shots at a clinic set up by the hospital and others like them -- >> thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> reporter: the bottom line is get your vaccine, but know there's no guarantee it will always work. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. now, we go overseas tonight in turkey. the death toll hovering around 450. it's expected to go higher, so what happened there today? 48 hours after the earthquake is being hailed by a lot of people as a miracle.

nbc's michelle franzen reports again tonight from the town of ercis on the rescue against all odds of a newborn baby there. >> reporter: out of this jagged mountain of rubble, a tiny life saved. a fragile baby girl born just 14 days ago pulled alive from the collapsed apartment building that was her home. her name is azra. somehow she survived for two days and frigid nights. cradled by her rescuers, she was rushed to a waiting ambulance. nbc's john ray was on the scene. >> reporter: the baby is well? >> the baby is fine. very well. >> reporter: very well. that's a miracle, isn't it? >> yes. >> reporter: that's a miracle. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> reporter: azra was not alone. her family had been buried with her. her mother, sakin, still trapped, had managed to lift her baby to the arms of rescuers. she was pulled out soon after and rushed to the hospital. then azra's grandmother was

found, and she, too, was carried to safety. three lives, three generations saved. the exhausted rescuers were overjoyed. rescue after rescue, but searchers did not give up. they went right back to work in the hopes of finding others still alive. but rescue efforts have reached a critical point heading into a third bitterly cold night. hundreds are still missing, and crews are finding more bodies than survivors, but everyone's spirits were lifted by the lives saved today. especially the life of little azra, born a month prematurely. she's now a survivor several times over. late today azra and her mother were flown to ankara for medical care. we're told they're doing fine. in turkish azra means pure. today in the disaster zone, it also means hope. tonight crews down at the site

where azra and her family were rescued are using that hope and sense of urgency to search for another relative, azra's father, who is still missing and said to be at home when the earthquake struck. brian? >> michelle, thanks. michelle franzen on the scene in turkey for us tonight. president obama is headed to denver where he is set to announce a plan to help lower some monthly student loan payments, but it's what he said on his way there that got some attention today. kristen welker traveling with the president with us from denver. kristen, these comments, what i saw of them, seem to go to the core of american spirit and capability these days. >> reporter: that's right. they absolutely do. president obama talking about things like the hoover dam, and we'll get to that in just one second, brian, but for the second consecutive day, president obama is using his executive power to, as he says, help those that are struggling with this economy. yesterday it was underwater mortgages. today it's student loans. as we're saying, according to

white house officials, new graduate loan payments could be capped at 10% of the graduate's salary, and they say graduates could consolidate their loan payments at lower interest rates. president obama continuing on a three-day west coast tour which also includes some politicking and fundraising, and he got a little somber at a fundraiser in san francisco. take a listen. >> we've lost our ambition, our imagination and our willingness to do the things that built the golden gate bridge and -- hoover dam. >> reporter: now, president obama also encouraging his supporters not to get cynical, not to give up. he will appear on "the tonight show with jay leno" later on this evening where you will likely hear a more upbeat president obama. brian. >> as we can see there, he was talking about the golden gate bridge, hoover dam, projects like that in this country. kristen welker traveling with the president, thanks. texas governor rick perry is making some serious arguments about the economy, federal budget, and taxes today, but as nbc's andrea mitchell tells us, a problem developed for the

campaign when he got a bit in his own way and veered off topic. >> reporter: in south carolina today rick perry tried to reboot his flagging campaign by keeping it simple. >> this is the size of what we're talking about right here. taxpayers will be able to fill this out and file their taxes on that. >> reporter: his big idea, an optional flat tax, 20% for individuals and corporations. critics say dramatically reducing the tax burden for the wealthy and the size of government. perry would cut federal spending to 18% of the overall economy. $1 trillion a year less than current spending. how would he do it? >> for instance, you can take the secondary and elementary department of education programs that are in d.c. today, cut them in half, and that will save you $25 billion in one year. >> reporter: herman cain catapulted to first place with his 9-9-9 flat tax. at the same time, perry was plummeting. down to only 6% in today's "new

york times"/cbs poll, trailing way behind cain at 25%, and mitt romney at 21%. but while hoping to sell his flat tax and revive his campaign today, perry stepped on his own message. instead reviving, of all things, the birther controversy. first perry told "parade magazine" i don't have a definitive answer about president obama's birth certificate. on fox karl rove said perry had gone off the track. >> you associate yourself with a nutty view like that, and you damage yourself. >> reporter: when given a chance to back down by cnbc's john harwood, perry didn't. >> it's a good issue to keep alive. i'm really not worried about the president's birth certificate. it's fun to poke at him a little bit. >> reporter: and for sheer weirdness in the campaign today herman cain's campaign put out this web ad with his chief of staff lighting up. >> because together we can do this. we can take this country back. ♪ ♪ i am america

>> perry now says that the birther issue is a distraction, but some suggest he was trying to give a wink and a nod to the most fervent obama supporters. that could backfire by undermining perry's defense that he is a serious candidate. brian? >> it's still a long political season. andrea mitchell in our d.c. news room tonight, andrea, thanks. when we come back here this evening, an emotional day in court at the michael jackson trial in l.a. his nurse almost too distraught to testify. we'll be live at the courthouse when we come back.

as we mentioned there was news today from the trial of michael jackson's doctor in l.a. the prosecution has rested. today was the first full day for dr. conrad murray's defense, and what we heard today was from jackson's nurse recounting their conversations just before his death. nbc's jeff rossen covering the case for us tonight in l.a. jeff, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. good evening.

watching dr. conrad murray's defense team at work today, and their strategy is really becoming clear, trying to paint michael jackson as an addict who needed drugs to sleep. and right off the bat today there was drama in the courtroom. >> i'm feeling really, really dizzy. >> reporter: first up today cherilyn lee, michael jackson's nurse. >> this is just a very sensitive for me. >> reporter: emotional as she told the jury months before his death, jackson came to her looking for propofol, brand name diprivan. >> he said "i know this would knock me out." >> reporter: defense lawyers claim michael jackson was desperate for sleep medication. ♪ and needed rest for his upcoming tour. so desperate, they argue, jackson essentially killed himself. don't blame dr. murray. but the concert promoter on the stand today said jackson didn't seem engaged at rehearsal. >> it was a concern that michael wasn't really taking it seriously enough or focused. >> reporter: sources close to the case tell nbc news murray's lawyers have developed their own timeline of the day jackson died.

♪ don't stop 'til you get enough ♪ >> reporter: 1:00 a.m. jackson arrives home from rehearsal. his caravan seen here on surveillance video. he takes a shower and a valium. 2:00 a.m., dr. murray gives jackson two milligrams of the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam. 3:15 a.m. jackson falls asleep, but by 3:30 a.m. he is awake again, now walking around the house aimlessly. between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m. murray's lawyers claim jackson enters his private bedroom where no one is allowed and swallows eight pills of lorazepam, never telling dr. murray. 10:40 a.m. dr. murray gives jackson 25 milligrams of propofol. murray claims jackson then wakes up when he isn't looking and gives himself more propofol. 11:58 a.m., dr. murray notices michael jackson has stopped breathing. >> the defense is presenting its theory of the case, and all they have to do is show that it's at least as reasonable as the prosecution's theory, and then under the law the jury has to acquit.

>> reporter: defense lawyers say they don't need long, just a few days to make their case, which means, brian, the jury could get this case early next week. >> jeff rossen in l.a. for us tonight, jeff, thanks. when we come back, two very rare encounters. one from the heavens and one at sea.

maybe it's because it's often called the northern lights, but there were a lot of surprised folks in the american south last night when the skies lit up from the carolinas all the way south to mississippi. a rare aurora borealis thanks to a big solar flare far, far away, and a bombshell from the business world. it looks like barring a reprieve, steuben glass is going away. since 1903 it was once the gold standard of hand-crafted american lead crystal. corning glass sold the business

to an ohio company years ago, and they've since fallen on hard times. again, barring a reprieve, they'll close up shop, fire the employees the week after thanksgiving. well, folks at netflix have now admitted they learned a big lesson recently when they lost 800,000 customers by clumsily hiking prices, and now the folks at necco wafers have learned the same thing. protect your customer base. about two years back necco switched to all natural ingredients like cabbage and beets, but it's supposed to be candy, and really if we wanted a salad, we'd buy one. so after a lot of hate mail from core customers, necco is thankfully going back to artificial flavors and those great colors not found anywhere in nature. take a look at this from southern california. being on a whale watching boat ride is one thing, but then having a blue whale surface this close to the vessel is another. people shrieked and freaked out. it passed very close to the

glass bottom boat and then came back for a second pass just in case anyone missed the money shot the first time. and watch this wedding video from florence, arizona. really has to do with weather as well. their vows probably should have read "in sickness, in health, and in dust storms." at first everything was fine, and then minutes later, they were overcome, but they hung in there. so did most of their guests. they kept going in the blinding dust until they were married. you've got to believe that means good luck and a long life together somehow. when we come back here tonight, the book that was a game changer for american women when it came out 40 years ago.

finally tonight, the book that was a landmark for a lot of american women is turning 40 years old. "our bodies our selves" was a groundbreaker, a game changer. it got its start in life as a short pamphlet 40 years ago this month. then it became a book. started arriving in american homes, and it was a revelation for women for what it talked about, like sex and plumbing and menopause, information a lot of women at the time weren't getting from their mostly male doctors.

for some, it quickly became a kind of bible for the female body in terms of health and empowerment. so for this 40th we asked some high-profile women what the book meant to them in their own words. >> back in the very early 1970s there was nothing like "our body our selves." in the beginning it was primarily about demystifying health care for women. >> "our bodies our selves" was a book that you had to own in the '70s if you were a woman, period. my strongest memory is not something i read in it. it's of me reading it, and i remember where i was sitting when i read it. i remember where it was on the first bookshelf it was on, and i remember that i went to it on all sorts of occasions to find out what -- what some of my choices were in the situation. >> personally "our bodies our selves really set the stage for my whole career, because in

medical school i was being taught one thing, but i saw the light. there really was another way you could deal with these issues. you didn't talk about having breast cancer. that was still a big secret. other taboos about talking about lesbianism, talking about birth control, abortion. none of those things were talked about in books, much less in polite conversation. >> the women who wrote "our body our selves" sacrificed a great deal because they were challenging deeply embedded taboos. they were ridiculed. they were scolded. they were verbally abused. we sometimes don't realize that what we have today came about through very difficult circumstances. >> the political message is what i found offputting, because it was part of a movement, a larger movement was in our society that was attempting to de-link sex from love, commitment, marriage, fidelity. it does not respond to what the average woman is most concerned about in her life, which is, you know, the stability of her family life and her love

relationship. >> i'm latina. i was raised in a catholic way. my daughter is not going to have to sneak it out of the library or sneak it off the top shelf of my closet. i'm trying to raise her and teach her about her body and that she is in control of her body. >> there are now 26 foreign edition of "our bodies ourselves." it's really amazing in some ways that a project like this has survived 40 tumultuous years, lots of obstacles and challenges, and yet the core of the book remains the same and reaching an ever wider audience of women and girls. >> some of the many women strongly affected by a powerful book, now 40 years old. that is our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

good evening. we begin tonight with breaking news. occupy oakland protesters on the most tonight after being dismantled and moved from their encampment at around 5:00 this morning. they are on the move tonight heading towards the police station. they want to talk to authorities about the fact that they were forcibly moved from their encampment. >> you're looking at live pictures now in downtown oakland as they march towards city hall, but the police have stepped in the way. let's send things down to the ground level. nbcbayarea cheryl hurd is alongside the protesters in downtown oakland. we're looking at it from the vantage point of our helicopters now. a lot of different forces around the town what. are you seeing there where you are? >> reporter: you can hear the screaming around me. i am right in the middle of what's going on right now, where i am