news at 6:00. >> bye-bye. on our broadcast tonight, the new warning from the people in charge of airline security. this time it is another warning about shoes, and tonight what passengers can expect. the violent standoff, the rising death toll in kiev as the main square continues to burn. tonight, there is talks of a truce as president obama warns of consequences, while russia warns the world to back off. the mean season, 2014, would you believe the new danger is temperatures quickly warming up and all the places bracing for flooding now. and they're out, there will be no re-match, no gold medal for the russians on the rink on a big day for the americans here in sochi.

good evening, and here we go again. the u.s. is warning of the possibility the terrorists may attempt to hide explosives in shoes. while this may sound familiar, this is based on new intelligence that terrorists are working on new bomb designs, the supplies to overseas flights coming into the u.s. so for example, it would apply to all the americans here at the olympic winter games who are about to fly home, or for that matter, anybody flying into our country from overseas. it means more checks, security, and like the toothpaste scare, just as these games got under way it is one more thing for air travellers to think about. it is where we begin our broadcast tonight with nbc's pete williams who is in our washington news room. good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening, recent intelligence says this could be a possible attempt to attack people with explosives hidden in shoes, the

officials familiar with the warning say it applies to airlines that fly from overseas to the united states. for flights at foreign airports that go directly to the u.s. passengers will see increased attention paid to their foot wear. shoes worn should be x-rayed. they're urging airlines to use the swabs to check for traces of explosives on passenger shoes, as well. it will be a new experience for many foreign fliers. >> this is a new change, unlike passengers who are used to taking their shoes off, at many airports overseas, that is not required. and this will, of course, require more screening of shoes both on people and potentially in their carry on. >> reporter: officials say the threat is not specific to any country or time or airline.

but airlines that fly from the middle east, north africa and some parts of europe are urged to be cautious. just two weeks ago authorities warned terrorists might try to hide explosives in toothpaste tubes. this new threat officials say is not connected to the olympics. the idea of hiding explosives in shoes has been tried before by an englishman, richard reid, who attempted to blow up a flight from paris to miami just before christmas in 2001. his shoes had a powerful high explosive hidden in the soles but the material failed to detonate likely because the fuses got wet. he is serving a life sentence in colorado. and because this involves intelligence about flights from overseas to the u.s., officials say tonight that passengers on domestic flights are not likely to see any changes in security procedures. brian? >> pete williams starting us off in d.c. tonight, thank you, pete. and now we turn to the violent standoff that continues to burn next door to russia in ukraine, just over 600 miles from where we're standing to be

exact. tonight, a large portion of the main square in kiev is in flames, amid the rising death toll. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us by satellite. richard, is there any indication there of this possible talk of a truce that we heard about late today? >> reporter: good evening, brian, i'm in the square right now. the fires are still burning, both sides are still squared off. we don't see any signs of a cease fire. protesters say their revolution is gaining momentum and passion. we watched as this woman confronted hundreds of riot police alone, holding her ground, even while pelted with stones. police rattled their shields for more. the ukraine capital's front line is drawn, with black helmets. on one side, the protesters

loyal to victor yanukovych, only yards away is another world. a strong protest camp of ski masks, armor, and filling stations for molotov cocktails. the demonstrateers were preparing for battle, lighting bonfires seen from above by a drone today. the protesters here put themselves in the center of this ring of fire, and say they will hold this square even if it costs them their lives. but why? >> to make a statement, i am a free man and i want to fight for it. >> reporter: he helps to bring in supplies like more tires to burn and scraps to reinforce the camp's perimeter. the protesters want strong barricades after what happened last night when police tried to storm in. the square went up in flames. dimitry expects it will happen again. >> it will be a hard night. that is all i can tell.

>> reporter: the uncertainty and fear have left the heart of this grand city emptied and shuttered. at a catholic church just off the square they prayed and set up a field hospital where they expect many injured. this american doctor just moved to ukraine and is now volunteering. >> i want to believe that it will end positively. i want to believe that the people of ukraine will get what they're hoping for. >> reporter: and the protesters spreading beyond kiev to other cities, government offices, torn up, a regional politician roughed up. and a confrontation outside a security office that left a protester dead. and no one seems to know where it will end. a truce would be significant, but this crisis, brian, has been going on for about three months. there have been truces in the past and they have not helped. >> richard engel in the fighting in the otherwise beautiful city of kiev. richard, thank you.

the u.s. has a big interest in how it all turns out for the ukraine. the violence has prompted a warning from president obama and u.s. sanctions on the ukraine officials. nbc's andrea mitchell has learned late information and is also in our d.c. news room. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, tonight's brian, the u.s. slapped the first sanctions on 20 ukraine official, banning them from coming to the u.s. and just now the white house warned to pill back the riot police and begin meaningful talks. the violence triggered warnings from the u.s. and europe and a warning from president obama at a summit in mexico. >> there will be consequences if people step over the line. that includes making sure the ukraine military does not step in to what should be a set of issues that can be resolved by civilians. >> reporter: this is no simple revolution. ukraine is divided. one foot in europe, the other, led by the government, lined up with its former parent, russia.

vladimir putin has warned the u.s. to stop meddling in what he considers his backyard. >> the thing that keeps putin up at night is the idea that somehow street revolution you have seen in kiev and georgia and tahrir square, that this would somehow come to haunt him in moscow. and he will do absolutely everything he can to avoid it. and he also thinks the west encourages it. >> reporter: putin was furious when america's top diplomat victoria nuland, showed solidarity in december, bringing the people bread. the u.s. believes russia struck back by bugging her phone, and posting it on youtube. >> i don't think the government should go in, i don't think it is necessary. i don't think it is a good idea. >> reporter: and this week they interrupted olympics coverage, linking america to the nazis.

>> he is bound and determined not to let ukraine begin to work with the european union or to begin to work more closely with the united states. he believes because he has a soviet mentality, because he was formed as a professional during the cold war. >> reporter: indeed, this crisis in ukraine has turned into a battle of wills between the u.s. and putin feeling very much like the cold war. brian? andrea mitchell in washington tonight, thank you. and back here in russia, something else that is personal for vladimir putin, these olympic games. and aside from pulling it off and proving to the world these games could be successful and safe, another thing that was elreally important to putin and russia was winning the men's gold medal in hockey. but we learned earlier today that will not happen. russia is out. and that heads up the news here today. anne thompson is here in the mountain venue high above us in sochi, good evening, anne. >> reporter: good evening, brian, it has been a big and successful day for team usa here in the mountains and on the ice ring in sochi. but here is a spoiler alert because i am about to talk about results that have been widely reported.

in an impressive demonstration of speed and skill, usa hockey easily beat the czech republic. but there will be no re-match of 1980s miracle on ice. russian's gold ambition, once player pegged it at $50 billion, the price of these games, crushed by finland, eliminating the home team by 3-1. dstsyuk captained the russian squad. >> we did everything, we can't score today. >> reporter: this proved too much for the sochi mascots and the fans to bear. >> it is not a good day for hockey today. >> reporter: in the giant slalom, ted ligety capped a dominating performance. how sweet is this? >> this is really awesome. i've worked so hard. >> reporter: ligety had had a lackluster olympics until today. >> it is really good to be out there competing for your

country, and on this kind of scale it is huge. >> reporter: among those watching, the 1984 slalom gold medallist, phil mahre. on this day 30 years ago he won his gold medal. today, he saw ligety claimed second. the first alpine men's skier to do so. >> he embraces the work that it takes to be the best in the world and continues to do it. he strives to be the best. >> reporter: and more history on the bobsled track. for the first time, two u.s. women medal. jamie greubel and aja evans taking bronze. williams, the silver. the long track speed skating woes persist for the u.s. even in the old suits. maria lamb finished last, and in the women's 5,000 meters final, then the team's leader blasted the leadership. >> obviously the high

performance. failed terribly as a whole. i'm sure you are aware of the suit issue, honestly, the tip of the iceberg. >> reporter: and one final development, skier bode miller who finished 20th in the giant slalom says his olympics are over. he has a nagging knee injury and will not race in the slalom. and there was more trouble today for the members of pussy riot, the musicians whose work is hypercritical of president vladimir putin. when they tried to perform in a public plaza today, we saw again what russia means by zero tolerance for protests during the games. members were attacked by the militia men we see throughout the weekend. they first used pepper spray, then a whip to stop them. they were performing a song, by the way, called putin teaches us to love the mother land. the new danger of the season

of extremes. the big melt meaning a lot of places worried about flooding. and later, hot, cool, yours, that is the official olympic slogan. and it is one of the things we'll attempt to decode and translate here in russia.

back in the u.s., to what was our lead story, time and time again for a while there that long and brutal cold wave that has made life miserable for so many people across the united states this winter. finally, some relief arrived today. take a look at some of the temperatures. the high temperature a week ago today compared to the predicted high for today. in some places, from the 30s up into the 70s, a 40-plus degree swing. and what could go wrong with a welcome burst of warm weather? well, for starters, everything melting at the same time. nbc's katy tur is live in front of the famous falls in pattererson, new jersey tonight

with more. >> reporter: good evening, brian, in terms of significantly better temperatures today, 50s tomorrow, through saturday. but with all of the warm weather comes a very big melt. with many feet of snow across the northeast and midwest officials are concerned about all of that water. and chicago workers packed sandbags in preparation for the floods. and in new york city, traffic was snarled for hours when ice started falling off one world trade. meanwhile, an indiana security camera captured an avalanche as melting snow slipped off the roof of an industrial building. no damage there, but in other spots not so lucky as the weight caused collapses from michigan to mass, including this barn. but the warmup will only last a couple of days, brian, i have two words for you, brian, two words that nobody wants to hear. polar vortex coming back next week. brian? >> yeah, that is what we heard all the way over here, from katy tur, from patterson, new jersey, thank you.

we'll be right back after a break with an announcement that something the united states has not done in decades.

a sad discovery on board the ship made famous by the somali pirate hijacking depicted in the tom hanks film, "captain philips." two former u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s working for a private security contractor were both found dead on the ship. while the shipping vessel was moored in the shells. there was no evidence of foul play or no evidence they were murdered. officials say an autopsy will be determined to find out the cause of their sudden deaths. and another case of clear air turbulence in the news, just days after that montana-bound united flight. this time it was over japan, the plane out of san francisco, 12 injuries, including one crew member in serious condition. often the only warning that

pilots get is from aircraft that have just flown that same route and conditions change quickly. flight attendants are many times among the injured because they're on their feet mid-flight. and there is a first to announce in the u.s. going back many years. the obama administration announced today the approval of over $6 billion in loan guarantees to build the nation's first newly constructed reactor since the '70s. it is part of an expansion of a plant outside augusta, georgia, president obama has promised to expand nuclear power to cut reliance on fossil fuels, although there have been renewed concerns about nuclear power ever since the fukushima disaster in japan. and something of a fashion emergency for the uniquely dressed norwegian curling team here at the winter games in sochi. they won silver four years ago and long ago decided to embrace their fashion. this time they brought nine different pairs of pants for

each of their nine rounds in the round robin tournament, they didn't count on a tie-breaker against the u.k. they didn't know which pants to wear twice. the norwegian tv actually referred to this as a trouser crisis. we can't say for sure what did it, but the used pants might have been a factor. they lost to the brits and were eliminated in the closing stages of their sport. and this week, on jimmy fallon joining the fray of all the late night talk shows out there. we showed this graphic, which is incomplete. among others it left off the pete holmes show on tbs. and it excluded arsenio hall's talk show. he is a late night veteran. he took us to task. he took us to task on his own show and even urged his audience members to call our news room. so in apologizing to arsenio, we just wanted to point out at least you're in good company here. last july, we left the state of new hampshire off the map and

had to apologize to a u.s. senator. just last night on this broadcast we re-named the city of brotherly love, philadelpia. so chalk it up to being on the air at 4:00 a.m. in russia but it won't happen again. when we come back after a break trying to figure out what they mean at times here in sochi.

finally here tonight, after this 12th day of competition we're getting into the home stretch of these olympic games. and like just about everybody here we've tried to be good guests. we've managed the working understanding of some russian words here and there. but we've also found between english and russia, especially, there has been a lot lost in translation by athletes and spectators and even our own correspondents. and that would include kevin tibbles and chris jansing. >> reporter: it is the official motto of the sochi games, hot, cool, yours. what? can you explain the hot? cool, yours? [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> reporter: okay, we'll get back to her. does anybody know what hot, cool, yours means?

>> no, i was thinking that, i don't get it. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> reporter: still going? let's check in with kevin. >> of course, the head scratching goes both ways. for fans of usa hockey when the puck goes in the net, we hear this! score! russian fans shout something completely different. [ speaking in a foreign language ] what is that, you ask? >> well, that means puck. >> puck? >> yeah. >> well, what do you do with the puck? >> we score. >> reporter: so when the world comes to russia to celebrate the olympics there are bound to be a few language problems. >> although you have to admit the russians know a lot more english than we know russian. >> we're trying. [ speaking in a foreign language ] [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> how many words in russian do you know? >> six? >> by the way, that means thank you, in russian.

>> if you think that is confusing, just try translating snowboarder language from russian to english. sage kotsenburg was so excited at his press conference. 14 times he said stoked. translated 14 times in russian as under the influence. >> i think that got lost in translation. >> reporter: and back to hot, cool, yours. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> reporter: that is a long explanation for the word. but of course, some things need no translation. chris jansing. >> kevin tibbles. >> reporter: nbc news. >> sochi. i know this is where i'm supposed to say a word in russian. thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams reporting from these olympic winter games. as a reminder, prime time coverage begins at 8/7 central. and full coverage when america

wakes up tomorrow morning on "today". as for us we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. right now at 6:00 in a city struggling to meet required emergency response times, now there is a new fight over a program involving the san jose fire department. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. for decades fire departments responded to almost every emergency the same way, a big fire truck and a full crew arrive even if there is no fire. now a new pilot program could change that but the results could be tainted by local politics.

damian trujillo is live at the fire station where the pilot program is being tested. >> reporter: that's right, they are manned by two firefighters. the one is inside the last window on the right. is this program working? that's at the heart of this new fight. in parts of san jose these smaller squad trucks race to the scene when a medical call comes in. he wants to see more of them. >> they are 94% of the calls our fire department receives is for medical not fire. but we're still using 19th century deployment models. >> reporter: they are calling for the department to release the results of this pilot program. they want to see if sending two people to medical calls in squad trucks is