on our broadcast tonight, brink of war. a devastating bombing campaign and the deadliest day yet in gaza tonight signals that israel could launch a ground invasion at any time. spy fury. did the cia just get caught red handed by one of our closest friends in the world? a major ally expels one of america's top spies. caught on camera tonight, our team covering the wave of humanity heading to our southern border captureses something we have rarely ever seen in a very dangerous place. and american beauty. remembering an icon that made so many women super stars and defined the look for a generation. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. while what we are watching in the middle east is not all out war -- the at least not yet, it is so far a rather lopsided conflict. while hundreds of rockets fired by hamas continue to rain down on israel causing a huge number of israelis to take cover every single day their air forces and defenses are far superior from their warning sirens to their jets and bombs and helicopters and drones and the rocket shield they call iron dome paid for, in part, by close to $1 billion u.s. the palestinians are more or less trapped in gaza with no sirens to warn civilians of an incoming strike. as the israelis continue to hit back when struck. the palestinian death toll in gaza stands at 90. mostly civilians. right now the question is when or if this becomes a ground war, that may be why tonight president obama called prime minister netanyahu offering to broker a cease-fire.

it is where we begin our coverage tonight with nbc's ayman mohyeldin in gaza. >> reporter: another night, more strikes and a rising death toll. before dawn, one of those strikes hit this home. the target destroyed. was the home of the suspected hamas militant. he wasn't there. his neighbors next door were and they paid the price. today, ali and his family came back to sift through what remains of their home. grabbing food they can't afford to leave behind. his dad's heart medicine, still where it was when they ran out the door. the israelis fired a warning shot, he told me. then minutes later they levelled the building while they were running away. in the ensuing chaos, he managed to save his 20-year-old pregnant sister-in-law, resting in bed surrounded by her paper trail over the years to conceive a

baby that cost her the family savings. her first sonogram and a handwritten note from the doctor saying congratulations. she saved all of oh them to one day show her son and tell him, look at everything we did to have you, she said. three years of trying and thousands of dollars in debt, last night she lost her home. in the shock, she miscarried and lost her baby. today the family that lived in the same building for years is scattered across gaza taking refuge with neighbors and relatives. some of the children still in shock unable to understand the war around them. ayman mohyeldin, nbc news, gaza city. >> reporter: this is martin fletcher in the deserted children's ward in southern israel just seven miles from gaza. now the beds are all stacked up and abandoned. it's almost spooky here. where is everyone? they're in the bomb shelter. past thick concrete behind steel

doors is the emergency preemie ward keeping babies safe from bombs. we had only been there a minute when red alert. sirens warning of yet another rocket attack from gaza. more than 170 today. >> at least we're safe in the bomb shelter with the premature babies. [ explosions ] does that sound close? just moving the babies out of harm's way can be dangerous. >> you have to protect their brain and all of these movements can do some concussion. >> reporter: along the corridor in another bomb shelter more babies a day or two old. they need all the comfort they can get. so do the parents. again, we only just entered when there was another siren. the bunker was too small for all the mothers to fit in. >> it's very weird and also scary but this is our reality. >> reporter: it's all written in

heaven, nasim says. what can we do? his twin girls were a day old. ten minutes after they were born, he said, the first things they heard were a siren and an explosion. the rain of rockets from gaza is pushing israel toward what it least wants -- an army assault on gaza to find trohe rockets a launchers. everyone is speculating will they or won't they go in. the israeli army is ready to go in but if they do it will be bad news for both sides. brian? >> martin, that gets to my question. i am hoping the fact that you covered this region for so many years gives you more insight when we ask where do you think this one is headed? >> reporter: nowhere good, brian. first of all, it looks like the hamas in particular in gaza are continuing with their assault. today was the worst day so far of palestinian rockets. 170 rockets fired from gaza into israel. so no sign of the palestinians

letting up. all the hints are that israel is going to invade. it doesn't mean there will be a full ground invasion and long occupation of gaza but israel needs to stop the rockets being fired at israel. especially the long range rockets which can hit almost double the distance from gaza. to tel aviv. israel needs to stop that from happening. if there is no negotiated agreement, a ground invasion of some kind is very much on the cards, brian. every day getting closer. >> martin fletcher for us tonight. thanks. now to a story from today that's enough to make you check the calendar. is it 1940 or 2014? germany expelled the top cia man in germany and the result is a bit of a mess between two allies and major powers and another major embarrassment for u.s. intelligence accused of being caught red-handed at something usually done privately -- spying. we get the details from our chief foreign affairs

correspondent andrea mitchell. >> reporter: it is an unprecedented breach of trade craft. america's top spy in germany the cia station chief expelled from the u.s. embassy in berlin. sent packing by america's close ally angela merkel after not one but two cia agents, germans were caught spying on her government last week and this, right under her nose. merkel, privately furious, said pointedly today spying on allies is a waste of energy in the end. this after edward snowden's revelation last year that the nsa was listening in on merkel's cell phone. only two months ago president obama was still apologizing for that. >> it has pained me to see the degree to which the snowden disclosures have created strains in the relationship. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> translator: we have a few difficulties yet to overcome. >> reporter: even worse, white house officials claim the cia didn't warn president obama that an american agent had been

caught by the germans more than a week ago. so when the president called merkel asking for help against vladimir putin he didn't know to apologize. in other words, mr. obama was blind-sided by his own spies. just as the u.s. needs merkel to pressure putin over ukraine. >> if the white house didn't know, and i guess it is possible, then certainly, you know, something needs to be done. so that the president of the united states has a full briefing. >> reporter: top german lawmakers in washington this week complained angrily to congress. tonight the senate intelligence committee called the cia director on the carpet. >> i am concerned that we are sending the wrong message to a key ally which is germany. >> reporter: and tonight, u.s. officials say that everyone spies including germany spying on the u.s. perhaps the difference is they don't get caught. so far the president has not called merkel to apologize for this episode. brian. >> imagine this kind of thing going on all the time. andrea mitchell with us tonight. andrea thanks as always. in this country, an awful

story near houston, texas. authorities say a man went on a rampage at the home of his sister-in-law killing her along with her husband and four children. the sole survivor here, 15-year-old girl critically wounded still managed to call 911 after being shot in the head. that set off a wild police chase before the 33-year-old man was finally cornered. his car pinned down by armored vehicles. he has been charged with murder. sadly, another tragedy to report. this one in lowell, mass. seven people including three children killed when a fast moving fire moved through an apartment building. nine others are hospitalized. tonight investigators are trying to determine how the fire started and whether the alarm system there was working. before we head to the front in the current fight over immigration, the political fighting continued today. president obama in texas though pointedly not traveling to the mexican border continues to hammer republicans in washington to give him a comprehensive bill.

today he continued that line of attack and then received a sharp counterattack, as you will see, from the house speaker john boehner. >> when folks say they're frustrated with congress, let's be clear about what the problem is. i'm just telling the truth, now. i don't have to run for office again. so i can just, you know, let it rip. >> this is a problem of the president's own making. he has been president for five and a half years. when is he going to take responsibility for something? >> house speaker firing back at the president today and while that very political fight plays out in d.c., our own team continues along their journey toward the southern u.s. border. and through some very dangerous places. tonight they have captured on camera a transaction we have rarely gotten to see and it's a big factor in this crisis. nbc's stephanie gosk reports tonight from her most recent

stop in guatemala. >> reporter: the trip north in guatemala leads to a lawless stretch of border and a one-road town called el nerano. a remote outpost home to drug runners and human traffickers known as coyotes. an economy catering to immigrants thrives. dozens of small hotels line the street charging $5 a night. hundreds make their way here on buses daily. >> even with the military here just steps away, immigrants from all over central america come here and this is where in this town, they cut their deals with coyotes. their negotiations with immigrants have been right out in the open. right out in the street and everyone knows it's going on. we visited for just a few hours. our cameraman shooting mostly from the car. this is not a place where outsiders linger from here, the river san pedro, flows through mexico. every day just before dawn central american immigrants pile into wooden boats like this one. the owner didn't want to show

his face but he did show us the points where the boats leave. coyotes charge $7,000 per person he tells me. the illegal journey to the u.s. begins here. on the street we see a negotiation taking place. four hondurans, two of them only teenagers, strike a deal with the man in the white hat. our producer overheard the conversation. this is a trip for men he told them. with no guarantees. we leave on saturday. i spoke with the soldier on duty standing feet away. he told me there are few immigrants and definitely no coyotes. our stay didn't last long. we felt pressured to get out. a pick-up trailed our car at high speed until we were clearly out of town. the u.s. government may be trying to stem the tide of this migration but there's nothing being done to stop it here. stephanie gosk, nbc news, guatemala. more news from this country,

a big and disappointing set-back to report tonight in hiv research. a babies who was born to an hiv-positive mother and who was thought to have been cured of the disease with an aggressive course of anti-viral meds starting at birth, this case was so encouraging it was reported last fall in the new england journal of medicine. but then today an announcement the child who is now four years of age is ill with hiv. news that one researcher called a punch to the gut but another top expert said despite this disappointment and setback, a clinical trial aimed at treating infected newborns will proceed as planned. still ahead on our broadcast tonight, the changing face of american beauty, and the woman who launched countless household names. and later, high drama tonight over a big decision that could come at any moment.

an icon of american beauty has died. eileen ford built her family name into the family business. ford models.

it became an empire and in the process introduced us to so many famous faces while defining the look for a generation. we learn today she has died at the age of 92. tonight, nbc's anne thompson has a look at her legacy. >> reporter: she put an american face on fashion. christie, brooke, lauren may have never been possible without eileen. eileen ford, the brains behind the beauty. the new york native built one of the most successful modeling agencies with her husband jerry. he ran the business. she was in charge of the talent. a power house spawned from necessity in 1946. >> see i couldn't get a job because i was pregnant. >> reporter: so ford took bookings at home for two models who paid her $65 a month. by the 1990s the ford modeling agency took in $40 million a year. a big business with a family touch. many of their young clients moved in with ford and her husband as she explained in this hbo documentary.

>> i forget how many models lived with us. they had to live by my rules. it was like having a bunch more children. >> you had to be in the house by a certain time. >> reporter: ford's idea of beauty, long neck, long limbs and wide set eyes stretched all the way to hollywood. actresses candice bergen and ali mcgraw found their first work in front of cameras at ford models. ford's client list acquired an international flair with jean are shrimpton and elle macpherson. but as important as the faces she discovered and promoted it was her influence on the business of modeling that may be ford's lasting legacy. >> i do think that eileen ford was instrumental in allowing models to come into their own as women who were making a substantial living. >> reporter: eileen ford always claimed she herself had no talent but as the world could see, she sure knew how to find it.

anne thompson, nbc news, new york. we're back in a moment with a big summer change on the way across a big part of the country. plus, the strange thing happening tonight in one of the most beautiful places in our country.

movies have the oscars, television has the emmys and the nominations were announced this morning. we put the entire list on our website tonight. there were the usual complement of surprises and snubs. hbo got 99 nominations. almost twice as many as the nearest of the big four networks while still relative newcomer netflix got 31. your 66th annual emmy awards will be monday night, august 25th. the weather is in the news. in terms of extremes and in some of the places where it now really feels like summer, here are today's daytime highs. perfectly average for july but wait, next week, what one forecaster is billing the polar

vortex sequel. a pool of cold air from the gulf of alaska flowing over the great lakes down on to the east coast and upper midwest bringing temperatures way down. if you have been to the stunningly beautiful confines of yellowstone then you know the ground beneath the park is in some spots prone to steaming and buckling and bubbling and changing and there's no telling where. in this case, a hot spot that bubbled up to melt part of the roadway. they have seen it before under roads and walk ways there. next week it is likely to be in some other spot. video tonight from japan shows just part of the flooding and landslides caused by tropical storm neoguri. this is a big one. this landslide responsible for at least one death that injured three members of one family, buried a slew of buildings in that settlement. you have heard the phrase when someone is accused of cheating or changing the rules they are called out for moving the goalpost.

at least they're making them taller thanks to a rule change starting this season which means all the nfl stadiums in our country are retrofitting their familiar yellow hardware. it appears last year's government shutdown in washington had at least one positive development nine months after the fact. the folks at sibley hospital in washington are reporting live births are up right now on average by about three per day. how long until someone on television points out that during the shutdown the folks in washington are apparently doing at home what washington has been accused of doing to the american people. we're guessing someone will say that on television before long. when we come back here after a break, as topics go, it was hot in cleveland today as an entire city sweats a big decision.

finally tonight, the big drama in the world of sports. lebron james broke heartses in cleveland when he announced four years ago ago he was taking his talents to south beach where he promptly helped miami win two titles. question all day has been will he take those talents back to cleveland and the cavaliers? while meanwhile, the post break up city of cleveland is going on

about its life and seeing other people. our report from there tonight from nbc's jenna wolf. >> reporter: he was the pride of cleveland. dubbed the king, lebron james arguably one of the best basketball players of all time. did he make the city better? sure. but this was already a town with a few mvps on its own. the place that coined the term rock and roll and now houses the rock and roll hall of fame. the cleveland clinic. do you recognize this guy? yeah, al roker earned his stripes here. and you know the voice that says this -- >> you've got mail. >> reporter: -- that guy is from cleveland. >> file is done. >> reporter: but despite the town's greatest it was still a punch in the gut when the six-time all star decided to pack up and head out. >> i'm going to take my talents to south beach and join the miami heat. >> reporter: four years later rumors are swirling. could the king be coming back and would cleveland take him back? >> it's been kind of split. it's almost been close to 50/50. >> reporter: in this town,

forgiveness starts young. >> guys, who is the best player on this team? he is? what's your name? hubert. if he left your team and went to play for this team and then four years later decided you know what i think i'm going to come back and rejoin this team? would it be okay? would you forgive him? >> yes. >> there you have it. >> reporter: forgiving kids turn into forgiving fans. >> have you ever had an ex-girlfriend? >> i have had plenty. >> have you ever forgiven them? >> no. >> reporter: and you're going to forgive lebron james? . >> of course, for a championship. >> it's like a cheating husband. once you do it, you'll do it again. >> reporter: why would he want to come back to cleveland? >> i think he would like to right what went wrong four years ago and that's pretty cool if he does that. it would be one of the greatest sports stories ever told. i are really do. that a guy would leave a town, break its heart and then come back and win a championship. >> reporter: whatever he decides, this town still rocks with or without the king. jenna wolf, nbc news, cleveland.

and that is our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now at 6:00, is it a pattern? new details into the history of a car girl accuse of killing a bay area tech executive. good evening. thanks for joining us. >> the google executive who was married and had five kids ruz involved with a call girl who had a checkered past. this case now stretches well past the bay area and santa cruz and into the state of georgia. she's linked to another drug-related death. nbc bay area is joining us in santa cruz with the latest twist in this bizarre case.

robert? >> reporter: well, there are definite connections to both cases. police want to find out is if those connections will have an impact on the case here. this picture alex posted on twitter shows her with atlanta nightclub owner 53-year-old who died last year in georgia after overdosing on heroin while with her. the 26-year-old alleged prostitute was charged in a similar death in santa cruz yesterday. she faces felony manslaughter for the death of high tech executive forest hayes who police take she ingested heroin with him on his yacht last november. they will now collaborate with police in georgia. >> the bottom line is we both want the same thing. we both want to understand the truth of what happened. we want to protect our victims. and we want to ensure that the suspect is accountable. >> reporter: deputy chief clark also revealed when tickleman was arrested in the police sting by detective posing as a prostitution