on our broadcast tonight, stealing secrets from some of the biggest companies in america. tonight, espionage charges as the u.s. fights back and wars with china. who is watching? when you think no one is around but strangers can see every move you make. tonight, an fbi takedown and a warning about a whole new kind of home invasion. in harm's way in tornado alley and the effort to make sure children have somewhere to run as a grim anniversary approaches. and breaking her silence after getting fired in a very public way, the woman who sparked the national conversation about the workplace offers graduates a lesson in resilience. "nightly news" begins now. >> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian

williams. good evening. the federal government today opened a new front in a war that's been going on for sometime, but for the first time ever, the united states is filing criminal charges against the chinese. specifically, five members of the chinese military for electronic spying, hacking into the computers of some of the largest american companies and flat out stealing trade secrets. the first time the u.s. has done this, filed economic espionage charges against officials of a foreign government. it's where we begin tonight with pete williams. >> reporter: the top federal prosecutor in pittsburgh says chinese hacking into u.s. steals computers played a role in the company's decision to cut 140 jobs after the chinese flooded the market with cheaper steel pipe. >> cyber theft impacts real people in real and painful ways, but the life blood of any organization is the people that

work, sweat and strive for it. >> reporter: the justice department filed the first ever foreign government for stealing economic secrets from a computer. inside this building in shanghai, five members of the chinese army, each named in an indictment hacked into the computers of u.s. companies. >> for the first time, we're exposing the faces and names behind the keyboard in shanghai used to steal from american businesses. >> reporter: a favorite technique the government says spear fishing, sending an e-mail that when opened, installs malware. among the targets, westing house. data equal to 700,000 pages of e-mails including its closely guarded plans for building nuclear power plants. u.s. steel's game plan for competing with chinese-state owned competitors, and confidential production and cost figures from solar world of portland, oregon.

inside information the company says gave the chinese a leg up in a highly competitive industry. >> we had many, many companies close, shut down operations or pull out of the business and lots of americans lots jobs. >> reporter: the chinese foreign ministry called the charges utterly ridiculous, a pure fabrication and says it never steals commercial secrets through cybertheft, but computer experts say china is unlikely to stop. >> part of the reason it's a hard habit to kick, it's incredibly successful. takes one fishing e-mail with a suspect link in it, one person in the company clicks on the link and it gives the attacker the foot hole to get into the network, take what they need. >> reporter: they conceit here it's unlikely the five men charged today will ever see the inside of a u.s. courtroom but it's a way to let the chinese know the u.s. is watching more closely than ever.

>> pete williams joining us tonig tonight. pete, thanks. along the same lines, the fbi has a frightening preach of privacy for anyone with a camera on their computer.reach of privacy for anyone with a camera on their computebreach of privacy for anyone with a camera on their computer.reach of privacy for anyone with a camera on their computebnreach of privacy for anyone with a camera on their computer.reach of privacy for anyone with a camera on their computer. officials say criminals perfected a new home invasion targeting families without ever physically entering homes and tonight the feds are fighting back on this front. our report from national correspondent peter alexander. >> you are the new ms. teen usa. >> reporter: just as cassidy was enjoying this coronation, her moments at home were being violated. >> i received an anonymous e-mail from an anonymous person, he was basically extorting me and blackmailing me. he attached nude photos he had taken of me in my bedroom. >> reporter: that blackmailer had hacked into her room and used her webcam to photograph her. wolf is more than 700,000 cyber hacking victims worldwide whose personal computer were turned against them. today, federal authorities announced more than 90 arrests in 19 countries, from the u.s.

to europe, a two-year investigation, one of the largest cybercrime crackdowns ever, among them, a swedish hacker living in muldova, who federal investigators say helped market the tool, called black shade remote access tool or black shades rat. >> black shades rat enabled anyone, anywhere in the world to instantly become a dangerous cyber criminal. >> reporter: they can be used to hijack computers and turn on webcams, access hard drives and capture key strokes to steal passwords. cybersecurity experts say be aware, hackers lure you to click on an attachment. >> when you do that, you downloaded the bad stuff and the attacker can take over. >> reporter: shut your computer when you walk away or put a piece of dark tape over the webcam. hundreds of other programs remain for sale online. peter alexander, nbc news, washington.

we have a health news up date on this new mers virus. health officials in florida say the second patient diagnosed within the u.s. recovered and left the hospital. in illinois another man tested positive for mers anti bodies, the first time the virus spread from person to person in this country that they know of, but doctors say that patient reported only mild cold-like symptoms and is no longer ill. tonight, one of the most powerful women in american media is breaking her silence after her public firing fueled a conversation about men and women and double standards in the workplace. jill abramson was abruptly dismissed from her position as executive editor of the "new york times" last week, and today she spoke about it for the first time in a commencement speech for graduates at wake forest.

we get our report tonight from rehema ellis in south carolina. >> reporter: although jill abramson started out with humor. >> i'm impressed your achievements attracted so much media attention. >> reporter: she was direct saying she had been fired and the wake forest graduates could learn lessons from her experience. >> now i'm talking to anyone whose been dumped -- [ laughter ] >> you bet or received those horrible rejection letters from grad school. when that happens, show what you are made of. >> reporter: abramson was abruptly forced out last week as the first female executive editor of the "new york times" after less than three years on the job, an act so controversial, the publisher of the "times" released a statement this weekend, saying he had heard from men and women who criticized her for arbitrary decision making, a failure to consult and bring colleagues with her, inadequate communication, and the public mistreatment of colleagues.

abramson didn't respond directly but her daughter fired back with pictures of her mother kissing a puppy, learning to walk again after being hit by a car and this one in boxes gloves. her supporters say she's an aggressive manager held to a sexist standard. students had mixed views on what's become a national debate. if she was a bad manger, whether she was a woman or man, should she have been fired? >> yes. if she's a bad manager, then she should be fired. >> i can see both sides of the argument. >> reporter: abrahmson tried to connect with the students. >> what is next for me? i don't know. so i'm in exactly the same boat as many of you. [ laughter ] >> reporter: she told them in the real world they will need to be resilient. rehema ellis, nbc news, north carolina. overseas tonight, a grim new accounting of the civil war in syria, an activist group says

the death hole has topped 160,000 since the fighting started in march of 2011. last year the u.n. stopped updating its own count. they said they can no longer verify the information from sources inside the country. and an awful natural disaster unfolding in serbia and bosnia. history-making floods destroyed entire villages and towns and disrupting land mines. they were left over from the war two decades ago. dozens of people have been killed in this flooding. rescue evacuation operations still run around the clock. officials there say a power plant that supplies about half of serbia with electricity is in danger of being scuttled, inundated with water. to the story of those missing nigerian school girls, it's been 35 days now, 276 students kidnapped by islamic militants. their plight has received worldwide attention. but so far, no real progress in

finding them or their captors. the search goes to neighboring cameroon where stephanie gosk takes us inside the hunt riding along the border with that nation's special forces. >> reporter: these special forces have been getting intense training for a couple years now and say there are half a dozen u.s. military personnel in a nearby city training them in things like urban warfare and close quarter combat. on the lookout for the missing school girls and terrorist group that kidnapped them, boka haram. the hard part is finding them. >> it can be difficult but you cannot know at the first sign know that this is boka haram. >> reporter: so they blend in? >> yeah. >> reporter: local experts say cameroon is a staging area for boka haram. a place to regroup, rearm and attack. this border office got hit two years ago.

that was your office? >> of course, that is my office. >> reporter: that is still your office? >> yeah. >> reporter: but it doesn't have a roof. some here support the militants but many others are too afraid to speak out against them, making this mostly muslim border town a good place to hide, perhaps with the girls they took hostage. the border is so porous in places it's unrecognizable and they are in fear they could take the kidnapped girls over without being detected. in the time that i've been talking, i just walked from cameroon into nigeria. vi lajers say they hear fighting on the nigerian side almost every night. this 6-year-old has a hard time sleeping. at night do you hear the shooting? yes she replies. the village chief shows us a mortar shell that landed near his house. it doesn't take long for problems in nigeria to be felt here, he says, especially in the refugee camps where hundreds more arrive daily. this girl is 14, nearly the same age as the kidnapped schoolgirls.

she's alone split from her family during an attack on her village just a week ago. i heard the bullets and i ran she says. but in this region, few places are safe, and boka haram keeps slipping away. stephanie gosk, nbc news on the cameroon, nigeria boarder. still ahead, the battle in tornado ally after an awful disaster, so many calls for emergency shelters, what we found when our cameras went back and the high-stakes decision that has an american champion and millions of supporters breathing a little easier.

tomorrow marks one year since that awful devastating tornado in moore, oklahoma as the death toll grew and following word two schools had been hit, a lot of people wondered where were the storm shelters. a year later they arrebuilding one of the elementary schools with a storm shelter, but there

are more than a thousand schools across the state without one, and there's a battle over that getting changed. our report from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it was an ef-5, 210 mile per hour winds. plaza towers elementary didn't stand a chance. >> it is, like you see, completely destroyed. >> reporter: 9-year-old christopher legg was among seven children who died here when the building collapsed. a year later, his parents watch every day as construction crews rush to get the new school up and running. >> this didn't have to happen. >> reporter: across oklahoma, 1100 schools don't have tornado shelters, half a million students and teachers potentially at risk. christopher's mother dani is on a crusade to put a shelter in every school. >> it's not a matter of if a tornado is going to come to oklahoma again it's a matter of when it's going to happen. >> reporter: one architect recommends a gym with outer

walls that are 12 inches and reinforced steel rebar, a four-inch concrete roof over a layer of metal and steel doors with three-point anchors. the school is being built with a safe room but retro fitting every school in oklahoma would cost nearly a billion dollars, money the state says it doesn't have. neither oklahoma nor the seven other states in the part of the country the government calls tornado alley requires storm shelters in new schools, leaving millions of students exposed. >> the chances are, we're going to have another f-5 and are we going to be prepared? the answer is no. >> reporter: the governor insists voters in local school districts should decide whether to build shelters and raise property taxes in order to pay for them. with half a million kids potentially at risk, is this not a state priority? >> the better way to do it is allow local control like we build local schools because they know what is needed in the community itself. >> reporter: another elementary school in moore does have a tornado shelter, steel doors,

reinforced concrete walls and ceili ceilings, all built after the school was destroyed by a tornado 15 years ago. >> we can fit pre-k through second grade in here and the other kids go to another safe area. >> reporter: the entire school? >> yes. >> reporter: more than 60% of schools go without playing the odds in tornado alley. tom costello, nbc news, moore, oklahoma. back with the news about one of the greatest entertainers of all time that a lot of people found hard to believe.

♪ it was the nightclub scene in the masterpiece "good fellows."

we got to hear the great voice of the late jerry vale. he was born in the bronx, new york and legend has it he worked in a barbershop shining shoes and sang while we worked. he had such a beautiful tone, distinct sound, that led to supper clubs then columbia records. 50 albums, and a friendship with frank sinatra. for lovers of romantic italian songs, he was our guy, jerry vale was 83 years old. a note from the big screen a man that made some of the beautiful pictures of our screen has died. as cinematographer for "the good father" he created the equivalent of a beautiful painting on film. he did the same thing for eight of woody allen's films, including "manhattan." from musicals to = "all the president's men" he won 19 academy awards in all. thanks to his dream-like work, gordon willis was 82. the united states is about to get its newest medal of honor recipient.

it will be awarded to william kyle carpenter for his combat actions in afghanistan in 2010. he left the service due to the wounds he suffered. he's a full-time student at the university of south carolina. the ceremony at the white house, june 19. >> a lot of people wear breathe right strips, especially to avoid snoring at night and while we don't think it's a big problem, the horse named california chrome now competing for the triple crown wears the horse version of nasal strips. there was a question whether he would be able to wear it in the belmont stakes in new york june 7th. today permission was granted. he made it two in a row with the preakness just this past week. and this will either make you feel young or old, but think about what it means for mick jagger. he's now a great grandfather, his 21-year-old granddaughter gave birth to a baby girl today. jagger, who is 70 is also about to become a grandfather again soon. the prestigious peabody awards were handed out and while

nbc news was awarded for poverty in america called "in plain sight," we were proud to be there for tom brokaw who accepted a peabody for his life's work in television news. when we come back, a family we introduced you to on friday, who lost everything in friday's wildfire, tonight the amazing thing that happened when word got out.

our final story here tonight picks up where we left off after the wildfire outbreak in southern california last week. we introduced you to a family who escaped but lost everything they had. tonight we are hearing about the people that stepped up to make a difference. we get the story from nbc's joe fryer. >> reporter: no one likes a story about a homecoming without a home. >> that's a horrible sight to see. >> reporter: but stan and amanda are living that story after their rental house on the hill went up in flames during the

cocoas fire. >> our patio deck. >> reporter: with four kids and five minutes to flee, there is little they could rescue. the family lost nearly everything. >> we don't live in the past. we can't afford to. >> reporter: a heart-breaking story that couldn't end like this. so their community rewrote the script. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: overwhelmed by messages from those looking to help. >> it's run really quickly. >> reporter: jessica jones, a close family friend set up a time and place for people to drop off donations. >> look at this. >> reporter: and they came in droves. >> someone showed up in a u-haul full of stuff and unpacked it, a u-haul. >> reporter: truckloads of tools for putting lives back together. terry delivered 65 pieces of clothing for the kids, all of them handmade. >> they said they got out with

just diapers and baby wipes and it just tugged at my heart. >> reporter: the family also got gifts for their fifth child due in september. >> we're getting lots of love and support and i thank everyone that showed up today and brought things for us. it's amazing. >> reporter: they have received so much help they are filling one storage locker and will soon fill a second. >> thanks for giving me those wonderful things. >> reporter: and today the donations keep coming. >> how can i repay it? how can i do to them what they did to me? >> reporter: a family can rebuild a house but sometimes it takes a community to rebuild a family. joe fryer, nbc news los angeles. >> how about that? that's our broadcast for this monday night as we start off a new week. thank you for being with us. i'm brian williams, we sure hope you'll join us right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

nbc bay area news starts now. right now at 6:00, caught on camera. watch as a map calmly walks up to a home and begins taking things that don't belong to him. now several neighbors say they've been targets too. good evening, and thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang in for jessica aguirre. >> and i'm raj mathai. the midnight shopper, that's the name neighbors have dubbed for him. he's not taking packages or mail. it's happening in the julian st. james neighborhood.

kris sanchez is in that neighborhood. >> reporter: he's not taking anything of any particular value, potted plants and other items. but neighbors say that's enough for them to be rattled. and now they're putting out the the the the surveillance of the man they have dubbed the midnight shopper. >> it's so brazen. >> reporter: under cover of night, surveillance video shows a man walking up the steps and walking off with a large potted plants. not once, but twice, undeterred even with the porch lights turned on. a few streets over, joe says it happened to him. >> a very nice car. looking pretty dapper, and grabbing these things routinely. >> reporter: in fact, he says several neighbors claims someone swiped their plants and other items too. perhaps this man in the video who tve