on our broadcast tonight, making history. the surprise phone call between the american president and the president of iran, the first time since the '70s. tonight what we know about how it happened and what they talked about. the deadline now three days until the government shutdown that would have real life consequences for millions of american families. can washington agree on anything? in-flight emergency. a united airlines captain suffers a heart attack in the cockpit. the crew and the passengers jump into action trying desperately to save him. and the closer. a final farewell for one of the greatest of all time. and even in the toughest town there is, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. the last time the leaders of the united states and iran spoke to each other directly half of the current population of this country had not yet been born. it's been a long time indeed. there's been a long history in between, but today president obama and rowhani of iran made it known they, indeed, spoke by telephone. this is all part of a new leadership effort by iran suddenly claiming they don't want nuclear weapons. what they want now is talks and transparency and good will. and while that would be enough to define a whole new era, skepticism is high and there's a good reason for it. we begin our coverage of all of this tonight with nbc's chuck todd at the white house. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. look, it's an encounter that the white house was trying to orchestrate all week long. but instead of a hand shake in new york, the president had to settle for a phone call with iran's new president initiating the first contact between these two leaders of these two countries in over 30 years.

the white house says the president called up his iranian counterpart at 2:30 p.m. speaking through translators, the call lasted 15 minutes. >> the two of us discussed our ongoing efforts to reach an agreement over iran's nuclear program. i reiterated to president rowhani what i said in new york. while there will surely be important obstacles to moving forward and success is by no means guaranteed, i believe we can reach a comprehensive solution. >> reporter: according to white house aides the call came to fruition after what they described as productive meeting thursday between secretary of state john kerry and iran's foreign minister. rowhani actually scooped the president's announcement of the phone call tweeting news of it just minutes before mr. obama spoke to reporters. later a smiling rowhani tweeted a picture of himself just before departing new york for tehran. rowhani has spent much of his week at the united nations

trying to dazzle the west with a new diplomatic tone including at today's closing press conference. >> translator: as a first step we can stop further escalation of tensions, then reduce tensions then move to understand each other. >> reporter: it's been more than 30 years since the leaders of iran and the united states have spoken. at that time jimmy carter was president and it took place just before the country's islamic revolution. this kind of outreach to an international foe is something candidate obama promised back when he was running for president in 2008. a pledge he was strongly criticized for at the time. >> and i have disagreed with senator clinton for example on meeting with iran. >> reporter: the president never did reach out to rowhani's predecessor, mahmoud ahmadinejad, but it was rowhani's new tone that changed mr. obama's calculus. >> but believe we have a responsibility to pursue diplomacy and we have a unique opportunity to make progress with the new leadership in tehran. >> reporter: the biggest skeptic of iran's new outreach is america's number one ally in the middle east, israel. prime minister benjamin netanyahu comes to the white house on monday.

brian, i'm already told the white house has briefed israel on all parts of the conversation that took place. >> chuck todd at the white house, which brings us right here to this very studio. our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is with us here tonight. also nbc's ann curry who interviewed the iranian president in tehran last week. the first interview he had granted to a western journalist. ann, there were seeds and signs of this in your conversation with him, and what are you hearing about what transpired today tonight? >> in fact, what we're hearing is that this is the sign of respect that president rowhani has been talking to us about when we were in iran talking, a sign of respect that he has been wanting for iran, that iran's been wanting. this is the biggest sign of respect that this country has gotten in 34 years from the united states. and president rowhani has said that without respect, there is no relationship and there is no nuclear deal. it is essentially a formal recognition by the united states of a president -- of a country

that the u.s. has no diplomatic relationship with. and it is much more important to the iranians than a handshake, because this conversation, we understand, lasted ten minutes, maybe even a few minutes more. it did talk about the nuclear topic. and so for the people at home in iran, it is a strong sign that now there is an actual discussion, that there's a movement into something they've been wanting. >> andrea, we're talking about a dangerous neighborhood of the world. it's tempting for peace loving people to get excited about all this, and it comes down to the question, can we trust the guy? >> there was a lot of conversation about the mutual distrust. they acknowledge it in their conversation, we're told. we were briefed by the white house on this today. they did, as chuck said, brief the israelis. they also had a talk with the saudis and others in the gulf who are enemies of iran and suspicious of iran. but the real payoff here could be if they can prove verifiably

and transparentally that they are not developing a bomb. just a year ago when netanyahu was here he was talking about a six-month window before military action would be taken. now there is really the prospect if they can prove that we can trust them and it will be u.n. inspectors who have to prove that. the other piece is this could be a breakthrough on syria because they are holding up the prospect that iran could join peace talks. iran has 10,000 hezbollah fighters on the ground supporting the assad regime and weaponizing the assad regime. that could be a breakthrough as well to end that ifl war. >> andrea mitchell and ann curry, thank you to you both. the other issue the president addressed this afternoon in the briefing room appearance is this looming government showdown. we also heard from one of his most outspoken opponents today, texas senator ted cruz. now, three days until the deadline, both sides continue to blame the other, digging in their heels in the fight over funding the health care law. >> so over the next three days house republicans will have to

decide whether to join the senate and keep the government open or shut it down. i realize that a lot of what's taking place right now is political grandstanding, but this grandstanding has real effects on real people. >> the house of representatives last week showed remarkable courage standing up and fighting to defund obama care. the house of representatives listened to the american people. and i am hopeful, i am confident that the house will continue to stand its ground. >> so a lot like we said here last night and the night before, here we go again. can anything save our government from itself? at this point let's bring in david gregory, moderator of "meet the press" in our d.c. newsroom. that's the question of the hour for you, david. >> i've been talking to republicans, brian, on capitol hill, people close to speaker boehner who are asking the same question. what's likely now is that the house will kick it back over to the senate till we get closer

and closer to a shutdown. you have a relatively small group of legislators. you have tea party conservatives in the house who don't want to give up on this obama care defunding fight. ted cruz, who you just mentioned, has been personally calling members of the house getting them energized about this saying let's stand our ground and keep this going. you have a lot of republicans who are worried about the political fallout falling all on them. and yes, this is even before we get to the debt limit fight which the president addressed today as well. >> our government at work, here we go. david gregory, thanks. we should tell you as all of this plays out through the weekend, senator ted cruz will join david exclusively on "meet the press" sunday morning on this very nbc station. now to some of the very, very tense and dramatic moments in the sky over idaho last night when the captain of a 737 with 161 passengers on board suffered a fatal heart attack midflight. as flight attendants and passengers tried to save the captain, the co-pilot took over

the flying, declared an emergency in flight and landed at the nearest airport available in boise. nbc's tom costello has our report. >> reporter: it was just after 7:30 last night when the first officer radioed boise airport. >> united 1603 emergency. >> reporter: united was flying from houston to seattle when the 63-year-old captain apparently suffered a heart attack at the controls. >> we got man down, chest compressions going on right now. i'm not sure too much right now status, but an ambulance and maybe some air stairs meet us off the runway? >> we'll get that going. >> reporter: an off-duty pilot jumped into the cockpit while two army doctors performed cpr. >> they kept the cpr going the whole time we were in the air. >> reporter: despite the efforts the captain died at a boise hospital. in-flight medical emergencies are actually fairly common. nearly 50 each day in the u.s.,

but most involve passengers and aren't so serious. according to a recent study, 37% are related to fainting, followed by respiratory and air sickness. just over 7% of all emergencies require the plane to divert. >> no chest pain, no shortness of breath. >> reporter: 27 times a day flight crews call the university of pittsburgh, one of two med centers that assess the patient's condition from the ground. >> patients in whom we have a high suspicion that they're having either a heart attack or a stroke would be diverted to the closest airport and then subsequently to the closest hospital. >> reporter: as for pilots they undergo physical checkups once a year under 40, twice over 40. they check their eyesight, equilibrium, mental state and neurological and cardiac health. >> one of the reasons there are two pilots in the airplane is in case one is incapacitated. it's part of the redundancy system we use in aviation safety. >> reporter: back on flight 1603 -- >> a good thing we had a good co-pilot.

>> reporter: -- the passengers landed safely in seattle just after midnight. tom costello, nbc news, washington. overseas now to this story we've been covering all week, the massacre at the mall in kenya. the complex heavily damaged of course during that assault to retake it is now getting a very close examination by investigators, that includes dozens of fbi agents. kenyan officials tell nbc news the attackers had rented a store in the mall perhaps upwards of a year ago giving them a staging area and a place to store weapons in preparation for the attack. now to the big headline from climate scientists tonight. the u.n. international panel on climate change says we are hurtling toward the day when climate change could be irreversible with catastrophic consequences, they say. this group is now 95% sure that humans are responsible, and it's only going to get worse if we don't take drastic measures. our report tonight from our chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson.

>> reporter: we are warming our world by burning coal, oil, and other fossil fuels. today the world's leading climate scientists warn it will get worse, with fewer very cold days and more very hot ones. heat waves will be more frequent and last longer. rising sea levels already altering this nation's coast and making storms like sandy more destructive could go up nearly three feet by the end of the century swamping parts of new jersey and dramatically changing florida's coast. and glaciers, a key source of drinking water for parts of the world are losing ice everywhere but new zealand. >> we've seen an increasing number of regions over the decades starting to lose ice, but this is the first time we've seen it almost globally. >> reporter: most ominously, the report says we are in real danger of exceeding our carbon limit of 1 trillion tons. scientists say that would warm the earth more than 3 1/2 degrees fahrenheit making the impact of climate change much more dangerous. how much longer can we go? >> the rate of emission has been

accelerating. it's been up about 50% in the last 20 years. at this rate we've got 30 or 40 years before we have to completely stop and go to zero. >> reporter: there are ways to slow the damage. increasing energy efficiency, using renewables such as solar and wind instead of fossil fuels and setting limits on carbon pollution can all lower emissions. but if we persist, scientists say the real challenge will be taking the global warming gases out of the atmosphere, and no one has come up with a workable solution for that yet. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. still ahead for us tonight the nurses on the front line of delivering health care. trusted voices in their own communities trying to cut through all the confusion, plus dr. nancy snyderman answers big questions for those who rely on medicare. and later, the emotional salute for one of the greatest of all time.

back now as promised with more on this new health care

law. politics aside, a lot of americans are feeling confused and uneasy about this prospect of signing up for insurance so they're counting on some of the more trusted voices in their communities and that means nurses to help explain all of it. our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman has our report. >> you can get on that -- >> reporter: at this barber shop near phoenix, arizona, there's always a lively debate. same across town. and lately the conversation has been about the new health care law. >> translator: it's something i hear often. my clients are very afraid. >> reporter: that's why nurses are coming here and other places where people gather. >> the most questions that come up are about not having insurance. >> reporter: explaining the changes coming to those who may never have had health insurance before. >> people that have never been

insured don't no what a co-payment is, don't know what a premium is. because we are nurses that will be taking care of these families that are going to come into our care, we want them to be prepared. >> how is everything going? >> reporter: it's a major push by the national association of hispanic nurses and the national black nurses association. there are more than 3 million registered nurses on the front lines of american health care. >> wanted to talk to you a little bit about the affordable care act. >> reporter: they say it's better medicine and cost effective when people are insured and don't need to rely on the emergency room for the treatment of chronic conditions. >> my goal is to go out and teach those if you prevent something from happening, especially if you know that it's in your family, if you know that there's a way that it's going to be paid for prior to getting that disease, will you get it? >> reporter: one group we've been hearing a lot from is older

americans worrying about medicare. walt rosenberg asked, what will i gain or lose if i am on medicare? walt, if you're on medicare, you're already covered. you don't have to worry about signing up for insurance and you may even see some expanded benefits for checkups and even prescription drug coverage. you can find more information at healthcare.gov or on our website, nbcnightlynews.com. >> we'll stay at it, nancy. thank you, as always. we're back with a big grand opening today hundreds of years in the making.

not something you see every day in the steel city of pittsburgh, a 40-foot-tall rubber ducky floating downtown drawing crowds to watch it go by. it's there to open a local arts festival. it's the idea of a dutch artist. other ducks have floated in other harbors around the world since '07. what would jack lambert have said about that back in the day? george washington has been out of office for 216 years. finally today he got his own

presidential library housing his books and papers on his mount vernon estate near alexandria, virginia. 45,000 square feet supported by a $100 million fund-raising campaign in private donations. and a better than average week for our friend tina fey. she started it off winning an emmy for her work on "30 rock." she will end it by hosting the 39th season premiere of "snl" featuring six new cast members this year plus strong will be joining seth meyers at the weekend update desk. don't forget musical guest arcade fire. when we come back here tonight, the moment that brought tens of thousands of people to tears. a final good-bye from one of the good guys in all of sports.

because nobody goes out at the top of their game any more. maybe it's because so many of our sports role models have ended up breaking our hearts, soiling their names, their own stats and their careers. in order to appreciate this story, you don't have to be a new york yankee fan, and lord knows they made it tough to be one of those this season. this story is about one of the best to play the game, mariano rivera in a send-off last night like no other after a career like no other.

>> greatness coming into the yankee game for the final time here in the bronx. >> reporter: he came into the game late. he always works late. that's the life of a closer. but in our lifetime, there's never been a closer like him. children alive today will tell their children they saw the great man play, the all-time leader in saves, a physical specimen at age 43. a religious man, a family man, the son of a panamanian fisherman. it was time to hand the ball to mariano rivera one last time. and when he had retired two batters, when it was time to go, it was two of his original teammates who did the deed, andy pettitte and derek jeter. they all came up as kids together and just the sight of those two men got to the man on the mound as it got to everyone watching. and then mariano rivera dissolved in tears.

it seemed to go on forever. rivera then headed off, went in the dugout and came back out for the longest sustained applause in modern stadium history. last night takes its place alongside the great yankee stadium moments of all time, the farewells of gehrig and ruth and mantel and now the man new yorkers call mo. >> i was bombarded with emotions and feelings that i couldn't describe knowing that again, everything hit at that time, and i knew that that was the last time, period.

>> as a player, it was fun. and as a manager, it was easier. >> reporter: at the end of the night, mariano walked out to the mound and collected some clay, something to take home from the place that's been his office for 19 years. if you had to form the perfect baseball player from a lump of clay, you'd come up with a figure remarkably similar to the man they celebrated in the bronx last night. mariano might have one act left. manager joe girardi says he is thinking seriously about putting rivera in the outfield just for an inning maybe in the last road game of the season to satisfy a longtime secret dream of the great pitcher to play the outfield as he does during batting practice. that is our broadcast for this friday night and this week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. lester holt is here with you this weekend. we, of course, hope to see you right back here on monday night

37 in the meantime, have a good weekend. good night. in the meantime, hav weekend. good night. good evening, thanks for joining us on this friday. i'm raj mathia. >> less than 1,000 officers on the street of san jose. today the department welcomed a new class of academy grads. word is out some are already planning to leave the sjpd before they even ever fight crime in san jose. nbc bay area's marianne favro is live at the department with a closer look at the planned defections. >> reporter: jess, it all comes down to money and benefits.

while many of the san jose graduates are now wearing the san jose badge, some of them are already interviewing at other bay area police departments. 0 men and women celebrated a milestone today. they completed san jose police department's four-month academy. today they received their badges and will begin 16 weeks of intense field training to prepare them for solo patrols on the streets of san jose. the question now is how many of them will end up patrolling the streets of other bay area cities. the president of the police officers association says he knows of several graduates who have already applied for jobs in other cities. >> there are some in backgrounds with other cities. i know that for a fact. >> reporter: jim also says he knows why. >> they're actually going to receive the worst police pension in the state. >> reporter: he predicts by this time next year, fewer than 10 of these 40 new officers will still be with the san