down to earth in sochi. >> good night. on our broadcast tonight, our nbc news exclusive. president obama apologizes for promising if you like your insurance you can keep it. tonight he talks about how the health care rollout went so wrong. cutting the fat. a major change coming to the american diet. the fda moving to ban trans-fats. the ingredients that make so many foods taste so good. tonight dr. nancy snyderman on what this means. crippling disease. nfl legend tony dorsett goes public with a devastating diagnosis. what's happening to his brain after so many years in the game? and the power of one man's compassion. dedicating his life to saving others as the guardian of the great golden gate. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. we are all about to hear the president of the united states apologize, and not just for the troubled rollout of the new health care website but for the fact that his promise to the american people that if they like their current health insurance they can keep it has not held true for all. our chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd sat down with the president exclusively a short time ago at the white house. he's on the north lawn to start us off. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. the troubled health care rollout and the president's apparent broken promise about people keeping the plans they like has been weighing heavily on the entire white house. it was a chastened commander in chief i spoke with earlier today. i will start with health care. it's probably the most quoted thing or requoted thing you have said in your presidency. if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. >> if you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep

your health care plan. period. >> reporter: what happened? >> well, first of all, i meant what i said. we worked hard to try to make sure we implemented it properly. obviously we didn't do a good enough job. i regret that. we're talking about 5% of the population who are in what's called the individual market. they're out there buying health insurance on their own. even though it only affects a small amount of the population, it means a lot to them obviously when they get this letter cancelled. you know, i am deeply concerned about it. i have assigned my team to see what can we do to close some of the holes and gaps in the law because my intention is to lift up and make sure the insurance that people buy is effective. >> reporter: do you feel you owe these folks an apology for misleading them? even if you didn't intentionally do it. that at this point they feel mid

led. you've seen the anger that's out there. >> i regret very much that what we intended to do -- which is to make sure that everybody is moving into better plans because they want them as opposed to because they are forced into it -- that we weren't as clear as we needed to be in terms of the changes that were taking place. i want to do everything we can to make sure that people are finding themselves in a good position, a better position than they were before this law happened. and i am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me. we've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and that we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this. >> you have 21 days until november 30.

is the website going to be running smoothly enough? if it's not at that point do you sit there and say, okay, let's extend the enrollment period, let's delay the mandate? >> i'm deeply frustrated about how the website has not worked over the first couple of weeks. i take responsibility of that. my team takes responsibility of that. we are working every single day 24/7 to improve it. it's better now than it was last week. it's certainly a lot better than it was on october 1st. having said that, given that i have been burned already with a website -- well, more importantly the american people have been burned by a website that's been dysfunctional, what we have been doing is creating a whole other set of tracks, making sure people can apply by phone effectively, making sure people can apply in person effectively. >> reporter: do you have full confidence in kathleen sebelius? >> i think kathleen sebelius, under tremendously difficult circumstances over the last four and a half years, has done a great job in setting up the insurance markets. so there is a good product out

there for people to get. kathleen sebelius doesn't write code. she wasn't our i.t. person. >> reporter: she's still the right person to do it? >> ultimately, the buck stops with me. i'm the president. this is my team. if it's not working, it's my job to get it fixed. >> reporter: brian, to reiterate, the administration is working on a policy. they are not going through congress. they want to do this themselves to figure out a way to keep that promise for people who like their plans they can keep it. they are trying to see if they can fix the loophole and keep the president's promise. >> chuck todd with his conversation a short time ago with the president at the white house. chuck, thanks. now to the big health story that broke earlier today. the fda announcing the federal government plans to phase out trans-fats from the foods we eat over the next few years. the basic role of trans-fats is to make food taste better. they can make good cholesterol go bad and bad cholesterol worse and they make for heart trouble in all of us.

our report tonight from our chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: it's dinner time in america and chances are something you're eating tonight contains artificial trans-fats. they are in most margarines, pizza, chips, baked goods and more. also known as partially hydrogenated oil they are used to increase the flavor, texture, and shelf life of many popular processed foods. today the food and drug administration took the bold move of announcing it wants to eliminate them from the american diet. >> everybody realizes artificial trans-fats represent a serious threat to health. they raise the risk of coronary artery disease. by working together, we can reduce artificial trans-fats further in the american diet. >> reporter: doctors say this move is a big step in the right direction. >> there is absolutely no nutritional benefit from trans-fats. they raise the low density lipoprotein count or the ldl

which is bad cholesterol. they lower hdl which is the good cholesterol. >> reporter: in 2006, trans-fat content was added to labels to help consumers make wiser food choices. the following year, new york city became the first in the nation to ban the ingredient in restaurants. other cities have since followed. even popular fast food restaurants across the country have eliminated, replaced, or reduced the use of artificial trans-fats in their products. today the grocery manufacturers association responded to the proposal saying we look forward to working with the fda to better understand their concerns and how our industry can better serve consumers. food industry experts say they expect manufacturers to get creative to keep customers satisfied. >> there is no question that their scientists are hard at work right now coming up with alternative formulations that will continue to maximize the allure of their product. they are not going to ship anything to the grocery store

that isn't as irresistibly tasty as they can possibly make it. >> reporter: the concern is the transition of eating trans-fats, changing cholesterol, and the link to 20,000 heart attacks every year and 7,000 deaths. but this isn't coming as a change any time soon. it's going to be months of conversation in public forums, brian, and then probably years in the making. >> to that last point, americans eat what they eat and like what they like, some of them knowing to the detriment of their health. will we notice the change when these start to depart from these very tasty foods? >> reporter: there's pretty good science that our brains become wired for salt, fat, and we like that texture and taste. so the question is are americans willing to go cold turkey and really go back to the farm? a lot of people argue that's where we should be. or are the chemists in the back room really being creative to introduce something new? and i think that's going to be the real push for americans. >> either that or i get into farming. dr. nancy snyderman, thank you as always. >> you bet, brian. tonight, the most powerful

storm on the planet this year has slammed directly into the philippines. some forecasters say typhoon haiyan -- actually a supertyphoon -- could be the strongest of any storm of its type at landfall ever. they are warning of widespread devastation, significant loss of life, maximum sustained winds of 195. gusts to 235 miles an hour. waves offshore have been measured at 50 feet. this storm is about 500 miles wide nearly reaching the capital city of manila from the point of landfall. to put it in perspective hurricane katrina was about 400 miles wide, smaller than this storm. katrina had sustained winds of 125 miles an hour. we saw what that did. far less than this storm when it made landfall back in '05. good evening. i'm miguel almaguer with

late-breaking news. we're getting our first images of the massive supertyphoon sweeping over that country. social media and nude agencies have captured some of the very first moments of impact. typhoon haiyan making impact in the eastern philippines. the damage we're seeing is now significant and forecasters say could be catastrophic. as you can see from these images, pieces of buildings flying off homes and other structures. with its 200 mile-an-hour winds, millions of people are taking cover in that country tonight. now back to brian williams in new york. made landfall back in 2005. now to what we witnessed on the stock market as twitter stock went public and buyers >> the stock market as twitter stock went public and buyers followed. the initial public offering for stock shares soared from $26 to almost $45. not even eight years old, twitter has already changed the way information travels around our globe. we get our report tonight from cnbc's carl quintanilla. >> reporter: wall street went wild for twitter today, sending

shares of the newly public company to nearly double within minutes, making it more valuable than the likes of macy's, three times the value of tiffany. >> if there's one thing everybody in the company believes, it's that we all have examples in our own lives of why this service could be useful and valuable to every person on the planet. >> reporter: already twitter has more than 230 million users around the world. 76% of them on mobile devices. a whopping 500 million tweets are sent each day. some breaking news like helicopter hovering above abbottabad, a rare event. a tweet about the osama bin laden raid hours before the world knew. politicians use it as a regular tool now, a way to talk to the public. twitter is a busy universe where tweets from the famous to the anonymous are exchanged all the time like this from pope francis thanking his followers. >> i check it every day. probably too much. >> reporter: but twitter's popularity and how in part it's

changed the way we communicate hasn't yet translated into making money. >> it will absolutely make money. it definitely can make money. the question is how much money can it make? >> reporter: the way twitter makes money now is via sponsored tweets and trends promoted on its home page. >> twitter will try to make a lot of new announcements about revolutionary new partnerships, products, and acquisitions. it's going to be a battle of whether you can keep the dream alive. but it's going to be a difficult battle. >> reporter: as powerful as twitter is, we may not know for years if it makes money. that's because it's plowing cash back into the business to get more users. this is a high risk business the tech companies are in. brian, as we have seen, a lot of internet companies debut big but eventually get lost and fade away. >> we are happy letting others take the risk. carl quintanilla, thank you very much for being with us. word tonight of movement toward a deal with iran over its nuclear program. nbc's ann curry is in geneva and learned secretary of state john kerry will travel there tomorrow

taking a detour from his middle east trip to meet with iran's foreign minister. talks are under way already. kerry's arrival is a strong sign of agreement on the first step of a potential deal. ann's been told by both sides tonight that an announcement could come as early as tomorrow with iran agreeing to nuclear controls in return for an easing of some sanctions. in his interview with chuck todd today, the president said any deal with iran would be subject to verification. there are some big and bad new numbers out tonight about sexual assaults in the u.s. military. new data showing the number of reports has spiked dramatically. nearly 50% from july of 2012 through june of this year. in all five branches of the u.s. military and the national guard. this is according to the pentagon. what's not known is whether the rise in complaints signals an increase in assaults, an increase in reporting of them or

both. there is a fight in congress over taking the complaints out of the military chain of command. still ahead for us tonight, nfl hall-of-famer tony dorsett going public about a devastating diagnosis after years of hard hits. a potentially crippling disease threatening his brain. and later, the founder of a big women's clothing company under fire after offering him his thoughts about women's bodies.

we mentioned this before the break. an nfl legend is going public about a frightening diagnosis we are now seeing more of. a career of hard hits to the head has apparently taken its toll now on hall-of-famer tony dorsett. more on his revelation from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: when running back tony dorsett had the ball, very few players could touch him. but those who did delivered crushing blows. the worst came in a 1984 game against philadelphia, he told espn's "outside the lines."

>> it reminded me of a mack truck hitting a volkswagen. he just blew me up. >> reporter: after years of concussions, researchers at ucla now tell the hall-of-famer he's suffering from cte. chronic traumatic encephalopathy. a degenerative disease of the brain linked to head injury. among his symptoms, depression, loss of memory and uncontrollable outbursts at his family. >> for my daughters to say they are scared of me -- >> reporter: the only known test is performed after death, but researchers at ucla say they may have found another way looking at the protein deposits in the brains of living patients. they're focusing the testing on retired nfl players like dorsett. >> we look for players that had a history of concussions. >> reporter: hall-of-famer joe delamielleure heard about the study and wanted to be first in

line. >> no one in our era knew about brain injury. we didn't know what concussion is and we never thought of this. then all of a sudden when guys started turning 45, 50, they start dying or they're really messed up. >> reporter: after years of depression and sleepless nights ucla researchers told him he has cte too. >> there's no other way i got this other than playing football, period. >> reporter: since 2009 the nfl has instituted new rules to protect players and settled a lawsuit with some 4,500 players including delamielleure and dorsett for $765 million. the nfl pledged, we will continue our work to better the long-term health and well-being of nfl players. for now tony dorsett says he and his family are coping. >> i'm fine. i've gotten a whole lot of love. i thank all the people around the city here that reached out to me. >> reporter: a whole generation of athletes only now beginning to understand the potential price of playing a punishing sport. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. we're back in a moment with

a big show that took people by surprise on the west coast last night.

a dicey comment from the founder of lululemon may have added insult to injury for that company. you may recall they were last in the news for women's yoga pants that were unintentionally see-through. back then they suggested some women weren't wearing the right size. now the founder of the company, chip wilson said, quote, frankly some women's bodies just don't actually work for their product. his comments might be a test of brand loyalty for their otherwise loyal customers. right now the luxor hotel in las vegas, the one shaped like a pyramid, is housing the largest collection of "titanic" memorabilia ever assembled anywhere. but there's a problem. a sign at the exhibit captures on twitter announced without irony it's been closed due to

water damage. no word on when it will reopen. when we come back here tonight, a man who has given hope to so many when they needed it most.

finally tonight the power of

one man to save lives and lift spirits. the golden gate bridge is a landmark of the west, one of the most popular places in the world for tourists to visit and, sadly, it's also a place where people go because they have lost all hope and wish to end it all. few know it better than kevin briggs, a sergeant with the california highway patrol, and a guardian of the golden gate. his very unique and moving story tonight from our national correspondent kate snow. >> reporter: sunrise over the golden gate bridge. the anticipation of a new day. how many times do you think you have been on this bridge? >> thousands of times. thousands. >> reporter: after 23 years, sergeant kevin briggs has learned how to tell when someone is in trouble. >> how are you, try to strike up a conversation. oh, what are you doing tomorrow? >> reporter: why do you ask about tomorrow? >> because folks who are suicidal or contemplating suicide generally don't have plans for tomorrow. i want them to look at me and

see someone that cares. >> reporter: sergeant briggs is just one of many officers who guard the golden gate, but he thinks he's probably helped more than 200 desperate people. kevin bracia was one of them. >> he looks over and sees me and he goes over this rail. >> reporter: he was perched on a narrow pipe. he'd lost his job, had soaring medical bills for his premature infant daughter. he couldn't see a way out. >> he would be looking down a lot. i would say, kevin, how about you look up at the sky. look over at the city. >> reporter: you're on the rail trying to get him to look up at you, instead of looking down. >> right. >> i heard the voice. that voice is what stopped me. >> reporter: they talked for 92 minutes before sergeant briggs convinced him to come back over the rail. >> i have told officer briggs that day that i have never said, never knew i was dealing with. never knew i was feeling. he reminded me what was important to me. my daughter. >> reporter: eight years later his daughter is healthy. he has a son, too, and another baby on the way with his new girlfriend. >> i look in the mirror at the

myself now and the man that stood on that bridge is not the man that's standing in front of you right now. >> reporter: what if he hadn't been there? >> we wouldn't be here. it's that simple. >> this is why we keep doing this. there is hope. there's going to be more kevins. we're going to talk to them and reach out and say, hey, brother, i'm here for you. >> hey! >> good to see you again. >> you, too. >> reporter: sergeant briggs will retire this month to work full-time on suicide prevention. both men share the same message. >> just getting up in the morning is a blessing. just waking up. i want people to see that. it's a gift. don't throw it away. >> reporter: the power of one voice that's convinced so many people to start another day. kate snow, nbc news, san francisco. that is our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

good evening, thanks for joining us on this thursday. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. new at 6:00, kids involved in sexual assaults and sexual hara harassle. a new federal report say it's happening at a staggering rate inside high school, middle schools and even elementary schools in west contra costa county. one investigator calls it one of the worst cases she's ever seen. nbc bay area's jodi hernandez caught up with school officials for a look the problem. what's being done to stop it? >> reporter: well, jessica, this

17-page report paints a very disturbing picture. it says students at this school district are subjected to both physical and verbal sexual harassment at a level that's simply shocking. at school i do feel safe. we have all these amazing security here, and surveillance cameras. >> reporter: but while 17-year-old iris wong feels safe at dianza high school, that hasn't been the case for many students in the west contra costa school district prompted by a gang rape of a 15-year-old richmond girl and rape of a 12-year-old that same year. a federal investigation concluded sexual harassment and sexual violence are huge problems at the district's elementa elementary, middle and high schools. >> i'm enormously dismayed about the prevalence of sexual violence and sexual harassing conduct in