good evening. when he was here in london just days ago in a conversation with us, governor mitt romney said he didn't want to be critical of the president or be fashioning foreign policy as he put it while he was on foreign soil. he wrapped up a controversial visit to london and then left here for israel, and tonight the romney campaign is doing a little damage control on the subject of foreign policy, another lesson that the politics of the middle east can be fraught for any american politician. it's where we begin tonight with nbc's peter alexander who's traveling with governor romney. he's in jerusalem tonight. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you from outside the old city. here today mitt romney insisted the u.s. has what he called a, quote, solemn duty and moral imperative to prevent an iranian threat to israel. >> we love you. >> thank you, thank you. >> we love you. >> reporter: surrounded by a crush of israelis and international press, mitt romney

made a pilgrimage to jerusalem's western wall, delivering a prayer in one of jerusalem's most holy sites and later a warning to iran. >> make no mistake the ayatollahs in tehran are testing our moral defenses. they want to know who will object and who will look the other way. we will not look away, nor will my country ever look away to our passion and commitment to israel. >> reporter: earlier romney's top adviser dan senor seemed to take on a tougher policy toward iran, insisting romney would back israel if israel has to take action on its own in order to stop iran from its capability of building a nuclear weapon. the campaign later released a statement softening that stance. during his speech to jewish supporters and american donors romney said while no option should be excluded he hopes diplomacy prevails. >> we should employ any and all

measures to dissuade the iranian regime from its nuclear course and it is our fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so. >> reporter: the romney campaign also hoped to employ the at-time tense relationship between president obama and benjamin netanyahu with a photo op of the old friends who met at a boston consulting firm in the 1970s. >> the sanctions so far have not set back the iranian program by one iota. >> reporter: declaring jerusalem the capital of the jewish state and vowing to move the u.s. embassy there, a bone of contention to the arab world, romney has enjoyed a warm reception, but the obama campaign attacked romney for offering few foreign policy specifics and tried to resurrect mitt romney's missteps aet the olympic games. >> and i think it's clear that voters in this country wonder aloud whether mitt romney's ready for the world, and i think the world is not yet ready for mitt romney. >> reporter: and with this visit mitt romney is hoping to peel

away some jewish voters back home, voters, brian, who overwhelmingly supported barack obama four years ago. after a fund-raiser here tomorrow morning, he heads on the final leg of his tour where he will arrive in poland. >> and, peter, i know there's some, let's call it, imagery that the traveling romney campaign was forced today to react to. >> reporter: yeah. he was asking a question specifically about a new "newsweek" magazine coming out this week. it calls him a wimp and asks if he's too insecure to be president. romney was asked about that today. he said he hasn't seen the magazine, referred to a similar cover 25 years ago about george h.w. bush. he said he was a pretty good present. he said he has never been called a wimp before and said he doesn't lose any sleep over the criticism. brian? >> peter alexander traveling with governor romney in jerusalem. peter, thanks. former vice president dick

cheney said it was a mistake for senator john mccain to pick then alaska governor sarah palin as his running mate back in '08. he says she just wasn't ready to take over the top job, a bomb line qualification for a v.p. selection. >> i like governor palin. i've met her. i know her. she's an attractive candidate, but based on her background, she'd only been governor for about two years. i don't think she passed that test. >> of being ready. >> of being ready to take over. and i think that was a mistake. >> cheney went on to say the mccain campaign didn't handle the vetting process well, which, of course, is a perception the romney campaign is trying very hard not to repeat. now we turn our focus to syria where violence continued to intensify today in that nation's largest city, aleppo. as we pointed out last night,

it's a city larger than chicago, illinois. and today dozens were killed. today there were also signs that some kind of paranoia might be setting in. the assad government lashed out at countries for conspiring to overthrow president assad. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel continues his reporting tonight from inside syria. >> reporter: good evening, brian. today the syrian government declared victory in its battle against the opposition in the syrian capital of damascus, and over the last several days, brian, syrian forces have been able to reimpose control over most of damascus. the government's strategy seems quite clear now. it's to move on from damascus and attack the city of aleppo, syria's second city, the commercial capital, and, again today, aleppo came under fierce attack mostly from helicopters and artillery. the syrian government is also offering something of a new explanation for this entire crisis. the foreign minister while

visiting iran today said that all of the rebels and this entire uprising is part of an israeli plot. from where i am in northern syria in areas that are controlled by the rebels, people here support the opposition, they support the rebels. people in this area just want to bring down the bashar al assad regime, restore their dignity, and bring freedom to this country. brian? >> richard engel, who, again, has been able to file reports for us from northern syria during this conflict. now let's switch our attention to this global gathering here in london for the 2012 summer olympic games and where the competition was concerned today and tonight. more surprising results in two of the marquis events here, swimming and women's gymnastics, both to be broadcast here on nbc in prime time tonight. now, veteran viewers may remember how we do spoiler alerts here. if you don't want to see the results, close your eyes or look away for a moment.

we won't say anything on the air to give it away, but it will be on the screen, and then we will tell you when it's safe to look back. so starting now. the first bit of news involves the two big names from our lead story here last night, lochte and phelps. late today they competed together in the men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay, and the results are on your screen. and in gymnastics, one of the olympic athletes favored to go all the way failed to qualify for the all-around title. she will still be able to compete in the individual events. if you need to know now, it's at nbcolympics.com, and it's now safe to look back at the screen. it will all be on tonight's nbc coverage in prime time. there was a lot of other news at the games here in london today, and chris jansing is here tonight with all of it. chris, welcome. >> good evening, brian. well, this is classic day at the olympics.

chills, spills, and those stunning upsets as you mentioned, and there was also controversy ore who gets tickets to the prime events. this day also marked the return of classic british weather. the brits are so in love with their team. the huddled masses braved downpours to come to olympic park today to watch the competitions on a big screen tv, but love of team did not extend to organizers. this weekend empty seats at some of the most popular events, gymnastics, swimming, and tennis, had sports fans fuming. >> we couldn't get anything for any of the events that we originally went in for. >> reporter: officials on the defense said the tickets belonged to members of the olympic family, sports federations, athletes, and sponsors. now unused tickets will go to the military and the students or be sold. >> i don't want to see the seats empty, and that's why we, you know, will make sure where we possibly can that we get people into those seats. >> for events where tickets weren't required, like women's

road cycling, stormy weather didn't stop huge crowds six deep from lining the streets. at the brits say -- >> they're called welling ton boots. >> -- weather for wellies, but not bikinis, unless you play women's beach volleyball. skeet shooter kim rhode embraced the elements and became the first american to win an individual medal at five straight olympics. >> you still have the emotions that hit you when you're standing on the podium watching the american flag go to the top of the pole. >> and royalty made an appearance today. king james and the dream team debuted with first lady michelle obama in the audience. prince william joined david beckham to cheer for great britain's soccer team. a proud grandfather and mother, the duke of earl and princess anne, came out to watch zara phillips ride.

and the man who would be queen, well, the stunt double who played the scene in the opening ceremony said it was the part of a lifetime and he only got one take. what's the size of the spot that you had to hit though? >> okay. the actual landing area that we had was very small. >> and have you ever jumped with a handbag and a skirt? no. no, but it might happen again. who knows. >> he wouldn't have been able to make that jump in today's windy weather. and showers are forecast and so britain, brian, for the rest of the week. >> he doesn't look remotely like the queen even with the pearls. chris jansing, thank you for yore reporting today. >> he's got the accent. >> that's right. we've got all the coverage, including women's gymnastics and swimming and diving events beginning at 7:00, 6:00 central time here on nbc. still ahead tonight, what happens when you drop 5,000 tons of sand squarely in the queen's front yard and then add athletes wearing very little clothing. and later, they're

ceremonial guards, but it takes some serious training to serve at what they call her majesty's royal palace and fortress.

we are back now from our broadcast location at tower bridge here in london where it's pretty quiet at this hour, but a short distance across the city from here, things have been going late into the night at the beach volleyball events, which have quickly become one of the hottest tickets of the entire olympic games. stephanie gosk is here with us. and let's get this on the table early. this was not one of the sports the ancient greeks played. >> yeah, probably not. in fact, it is one of the most

modern sports for the olympics, and it's being held in one of the most historic places in london. organizers knew it would get attention, and as you say, it's one of the hottest tickets in town. with precision and discipline, the queen's bodyguards, the household cavalry, get ready for the changing of the guard. the same daily ceremony for the last 350 years. with one exception. this little courtyard is not where it is supposed to take place. their real stomping ground, horse guards parade, has been overrun by very fit, scantly clad, barefoot volleyballers, a sport dreamed up on the beaches of santa monica now dropped in the center of london. one of the reasons this location was chosen was for its symbolism. the olympic games meets british tradition. this is about as traditional as it gets. horse guard parade is where the queen conducts the annual

trooping the color, where her grandson's procession passed moments after his wedding. a black dot on the clock tower above marks the same hour their ancestor charles i was beheaded in 1649. the parade ground is surrounded by the offices. and those lucky enough to work for army headquarters can look right out their window. >> you're going to try not to look behind you? >> i'll do my best, but i can't promise anything. after all, this is the olympic games. >> the players seem to appreciate the significance of where they're competing. >> i think beach volleyball is a sport that pushes boundaries anyways, so it's kind of perfect that we're in such a formal setting and we are going to shock people. >> the transformation of horse guards parade was daunting. builders only had five weeks to construct the 15-000 seat stadium because of the queen's schedule. 5,000 tons of sand had to be trucked in from a quarry in

southern england. captain alex owen and his regiment have had their own experience struggling with sand. how many members of the household cavalry played beach volleyball? >> actually a surprising amount of them do play in afghanistan. that's one of the only things we can do out there. there's lots of sand. >> the household cavalry is one of the most senior regiment in the army. they're not often told what to do, but this is a very different kind of mission. >> it's a bit different, yeah. it's a little bit different, but we're quite happy to adapt. we are reconnaissance soldiers after all. >> centuries of tradition gracefully stepping aside so olympic athletes can kick up some sand, and the world can see london like never before. to clarify a little bit of controversy, brian, when the temperature dips below 60 degrees, they don't have to wear the bikinis. they can cover up. it's below 60 right now. not bikini weather. >> my favorite quote is, we are reconnaissance soldiers after

all. i hope that lives forever. great job of reporting down there. we were down there today. it's unbelievable. steveny gosk with us here in london. and up next, you're looking at the moon over london. in a moment we're going to tell you what they discovered on the surface of that moon.

william staub has died. he was famous for developing the modern treadmill. that means for all the folks who have ever sweated it out on one, he's the guy to blame. of course, the truth is we owe him a huge debt of thank because his product made people more fit all over the world. he developed it in a factory workshop in new jersey, understanding it had to be affordable. his early models were the first to come up with adjustable speeds and inclines. william staub was 96 years old. his family reports he was on the treadmill as recently as two months before his death. at 4:30 p.m. eastern time

today a small piece of american history shut its doors. gray's store in the adamsville section of comptocompton, rhode island, was believed to be the oldest operating general store in america. having opened in 1788 it was in business 224 years. owners say it wasn't sustainable anymore. the supermarket down the street took away a lot of business. it was owned by one family for seven generations. it appears we have an answer to a question we space geeks have wondered about for years. are all the american flags that our astronauts left behind on the surface of the moon still standing? well, thanks to new photography looking down on the moon from a lunar orbiter and some of the photos are sharp enough to show boot prints from our astronauts, the answer appears to be all the flags are still standing except for the first one at the "apollo 11" landing site. astronaut buzz aldrin wrote years ago he thought the flag blew over from the rocket thrust as they were leaving the moon's surface, and since there's no

wind or atmosphere there, it would appear he was right, but all the other flags still remain along with everything else we left up there. when we come back here tonight, the few, the proud, the brave, the men who serve here from where we serve and the americans who come here to try to stump them.

finally here tonight, a word

about our beautiful location here in london. that's tower bridge behind us while we are over here broadcasting from the tower of london. while not a tower in today's terms, it was in william the conquerer's time, and this is where it all happened. the beheadings, the torture, the debauchery. it was a fortress. it was a prison. king henry viii executed two of his wives here. it was his favorite. and our broadcast straddles one of the moats on the grounds. the crown jewels are housed here. so are the olympic medals. there's a lot of history and only a few people are allowed to tell the official story. >> led you to trace it. it was at those -- >> when you first walk by this man shouting at the top of his lungs, you think to yourself as we did, he's one of those people, until you find out he's a very important person in training. >> to escape the formidable

defenses -- >> he's training to be what's called a yeoman warder at the tower of london. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. >> yeoman warders are more commonly known as beefeaters who are more commonly known as the ceremonial guards here. >> for the next hour i'll be your guide. >> his name is clive towell and he is the newest recruit, and he will do this, practice his routine for upwards to a year in the evening after closing time with no crowds around to hear it. in fact, he mostly performs for an audience of one, his coach, trainer, and mentor, paul cunliffe, is a 12-year veteran and takes his work seriously. >> "believe." you missed "believed," and you

missed "on duty," but very good. very good. >> clive has to learn the routine cold, including all the history and every conceivable fact because the questions from tourists, especially americans and especially texans for some reason, can be withering. >> a gentleman from texas asked me does it hurt to have your leg chopped off, all right? how can you answer that? three weeks later, a lovely woman from texas, where was sleeping beauty a prisoner. >> these men should not be confused with tour guides, in fact, far from it. there's one big qualification for this job, and that's more than two decades of prior military service, and that makes this job an honor. paul served in the falklands and the first gulf war, and when princess diana died, he acted as pallbearer in front of her coffin. and the new man, clive, is just finishing 19 years with the british military.

he's an iraq veteran whose unit is now in afghanistan, and while he misses serving with them, he knows he's serving in a different way. >> i'm a people person, and to come here to the tower and spread the word about our fantastic history, warts and all, i couldn't, you know, think of anything better. >> these are great men, and so if you visit the tower during a visit to london, remember you'll be in the capable hands of a veteran. that is nbc "nightly news" for this sunday evening. i'm brian williams reporting again tonight from london. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. for all of us here, good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

right now at 6:30, athletes are getting some much-needed rest in london right now after a busy day two of competition. one southern california woman made history today, and several bay area athletes were able to celebrate as well. >> you have to, you know, stick with the decision and be supportive. >> plus, raj mathai one on one with natalie coughlin. why the bay area native says she was benched by her coach. and the mysterious deaths of dogs. is there a link to a particular dog treat? nbc bay area's vicky nguyen investigates.