>> i don't think so. >> she's in shape. >> brian williams is next. thanks for joining us. >> we'll see you at 6:00. good night. on our broadcast tonight, the enemy. what the feds are telling us about the real threat of terrorism in this country as the u.s. unleashes another ferocious air attack overseas. is he to blame for the crash that killed a fellow driver on the track? the grand jury has made its decision in the case of tony stewart. joan lunden, the picture that got everyone's attention today. and what she tells us about her decision to share it. and royal treatment, a homecoming queen and her extraordinary gesture toward the victim of a prank that touched so many people. tonight, what has happened since. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams.

good evening. and for the third straight night now american pilots have been in action in the skies in the middle east launching another wave of air strikes, a big one this time aimed at targets inside syria targeting some oil facilities that isis militants had commandeered to help finance their operation. as this effort goes on overseas, we have an assessment from the feds tonight on the real risk from terrorism right now in this country. with the head of the new york city police department saying just yesterday the threat is as high as it's been since 9/11. it's where we begin this evening with our justice correspondent pete williams. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: the mere existence of the terror group whose leaders were struck by american bombs in syria was until just a few days ago one of washington's most carefully guarded secrets. suddenly the name is everywhere. >> the term is the khorasan group. >> khorasan group. >> khorasan group.

>> reporter: its goal, develop bombs that could be brought on passenger planes and detonated mid flight. >> we can't give them the space and time to plot and plan without pressure to disrupt them. that's what we've done. >> reporter: some members were close to bin laden, all thought to be hardened al qaeda veterans. protecting americans against all kinds of attacks means guarding against another al qaeda faction. >> al qaeda and the arabian peninsula in yemen has been for the past five years and continues to be really the al qaeda affiliate which is most sophisticated and most focused on attacking the u.s. homeland. but this is a group that has the best al qaeda bombmaker in the world and is very focused on not attacking yemen but going after the west and the united states in particular. >> reporter: another big worry, americans who would join up with rebel groups in syria then try to come back and carry out attacks here. a huge challenge to locate. case in point, moner, an american who carried out a suicide bombing in syria in may.

after going there in 2012, he came back to florida last year before returning to syria for the last time. the fbi admits it was unaware he had been in syria when he came back to florida. the fbi director told congress last week that tracking such people is not foolproof. >> sorting among that group to find the bad guys is something we spend every single day focused on. we've had good success, but i'm not overconfident given the nature of the challenge. >> reporter: the world police agency, interpol, says tonight it's working to spread information more quickly so immigration authorities can spot terror suspects on the move. and also today the governors of new york and new jersey ordered extra police on the streets on bridges, trains and elsewhere, no specific threat they say, just a precaution. >> pete williams starting us off from washington. what a world we're living in right now. pete, thanks. overseas as we said tonight this mission continues from the air

inside syria. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: good evening, brian. earlier you mentioned the u.s. air strikes targeted oil facilities, specifically what were hit were 12 modular refineries that isis used to export on the black market crude oil. isis raises between $1 million and $2 million every day selling black market oil. this is a rich group. it is well-armed. and it is becoming the model for other terrorist groups. isis now has copycats. in algeria a militant group claimed it beheaded this french national in revenge for attacks on isis. in the philippines another group threatened to do the same to two germans. but syria remains the isis headquarters. today there were more air strikes in syria. but these bombings according to the activists who filmed them were the work of the syrian regime. yet witnesses told nbc the victims don't know who's bombing them anymore. they feel under attack from both the assad regime and the

americans. the u.s. is in this now, and it's not stopping isis so far. the militants are closing in on syria's turkish border. sending refugees flooding across. some sleep on mats handed out by turkish charities, or in cradles twisted together from wire. more than 100,000 syrians have fled from into turkey just in the last few days. with nowhere to go new arrivals are forced to live in public parks with just the clothes on their backs. when a volunteer brings a box of cookies, you can see how hungry the children are. these refugees fear isis but worry the american strategy won't work. we want the u.s. to strike both isis and bashar al assad said this 40-year-old well digger. another refugee told us washington now seems to be with assad.

>> they don't have obvious strategy. we want them to target the regime. and they don't have -- >> reporter: but isis has a clear strategy, to use american air strikes as propaganda now that america is a participant in syria's widening civil war. it's too early to know, brian, how effective the american air strikes in syria have been. but the u.s. has been striking isis in iraq for weeks and the group is still strong. brian. >> richard engel on the syrian border for us tonight. richard, thanks. in the meantime the president delivered a high stakes address to the world community in front of the u.n. general assembly here in new york today making the case for more nations to join in this fight. our senior white house correspondent chris jansing traveling with the president covering at the u.n. for us tonight. chris, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. and this was a very different president obama than we saw just a year ago here at the u.n. when he was talking about moving the u.s. away from a perpetual war footing. well, today for just a second

time in history a u.s. commander in chief chaired a meeting of the u.n. security council right after that big speech before world leaders. >> and for america -- >> reporter: before the largest diplomatic gathering in the world, president obama made a forceful case that global crises require a global response. >> humanity's future depends on us uniting against those who will divide us. >> reporter: he touched on challenges from ebola to russian aggression, but his main message was a call to join the fight against what he termed the cancer of violent extremism. >> the brutality of terrorists in syria and iraq forces us to look into the heart of darkness. the united states of america will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death. we want to thank you very much. >> reporter: just two days after assembling a coalition with five arab nations to launch air strikes in syria, this was a high stakes speech, one he largely wrote himself looking for firm commitments from more countries. and he sent a direct and pointed message to the terrorists.

>> those who have joined isil should leave the battlefield while they can. those who continue to fight for hateful cause will find they're increasingly alone. >> reporter: it was a centerpiece of a crowded three-day schedule for the president including high-level meetings with world leaders like iraq's new prime minister. and he took the rare step of chairing a meeting of the security council on the problem of foreign fighters amid worries the u.s. and its allies are losing the propaganda war to sophisticated social media tactics by isis. >> there are no easy answers or quick fixes. and i believe we'll be dealing with the effects of this threat for years. >> reporter: late today the president got something tangible. >> the draft resolution has been adopted unanimously. >> reporter: approval of a u.s.-backed resolution compelling countries to keep their citizens from going abroad to join terror groups. and british prime minister david cameron said today he's recalling parliament later this week to take a vote on authorizing air strikes in iraq. brian.

>> chris jansing at the u.n. thanks. in other news across our country tonight. a lot of people watched the initial youtube video in horror showing nascar driver tony stewart hitting and killing a fellow driver during a local dirt track race in upstate new york back in august. potential criminal charges have been hanging over tony stewart's head ever since. tonight the grand jury is back with their decision. we get details from nbc's ron mott. >> reporter: today a grand jury in upstate new york cleared nascar driver tony stewart of any criminal wrongdoing in the death of fellow driver kevin ward jr. at a sprint car race on august 9th. the 20-year-old ward was killed when he got out of his car to confront stewart after the two collided. >> after listening to and questioning all of the witnesses and reviewing all of the evidence, the grand jury has determined there is no basis to charge tony stewart with any crimes. >> reporter: the district attorney said a toxicology

report found marijuana in ward's system. stewart was not tested for drugs or alcohol the d.a. said adding stewart shows no signs of impairment. this afternoon stewart released a statement saying in part while much of the attention has been on me, it's important to remember a young man lost his life. kevin ward's family and friends will always be in my thoughts and prayers. >> tony stewart will not be criminally prosecuted, however, a civil case could still be ahead if the family of mr. ward decides they want to sue him for wrongful death. >> reporter: ward's family released a statement saying it is not at rest and we will pursue all recommendeds in regard to kevin. as a result of ward's death, nascar instituted a new rule barring drivers from getting out of their wrecked car unless given the okay unless it's on fire. >> out of a tragic accident the sport grew and became safer and is a better sport because of it. >> reporter: ron mott, nbc news, boston. in business news after an outstanding launch that saw more

than 10 million new iphones sold in just three days, it's now become clear apple is still working out some bugs on its new iphone 6 and 6-plus. and tonight some of their customers are less than satisfied. we get this story from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> good morning. >> reporter: the launch was a big success. >> they are the best iphones we've ever done. >> reporter: the reviewers praised the iphone 6 for everything it does well, but now criticism over something it shouldn't do. bend. >> for the sake of science, today i'm going to bend this iphone 6-plus. >> reporter: some new users say the phone with a sleek aluminum case is too fragile. unhappy customers are venting under a new hash tag #bendgate. greater flexibility than ever before. the new range of super thin wide screen smartphones have shown a tendency to bend before. samsung as he galaxy had a similar problem.

>> if you put them in a high stress area like your rear pocket, they're likely to be at higher risk for bending. >> reporter: unfortunately for apple the woes extend beyond the phone to the software. an update to the new operating system ios8 is triggering new problems with the thumbprint reader and phone service. tonight, the company says it is investigating the reports and pulling the updated software. while no official comment on bendgate. at apple there are still some things that don't bend under pressure. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. and still ahead for us this evening, television veteran joan lunden. a powerful cover we woke up to this morning. tonight her conversation with hoda kotb. and later a remarkable story of a homecoming queen that has inspired so many into action.

we are back with easily the most powerful image of the day in popular media. joan lunden fighting breast cancer and making the decision to appear without a wig on the cover of "people." tonight we hear from joan lunden in an interview with nbc's hoda kotb about her diagnosis and her decision to wage a very public battle. >> reporter: in a brave image on the cover of "people" magazine our friend joan lunden gives us a glimpse into the fight of her life. joan, a mother of seven, the youngest twin 9 years old,

hosted "good morning america" for 17 years, traveled the world and shared her life with millions of viewers. and when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she shared that too. joan and i spoke last week before the cover shoot for "people." i mean, i can't imagine that wasn't the first thing you thought, oh, my gosh, my kids. >> you know, you think i'm needed. you know, i have twins who are 9, twins who are 11. i have three grown girls in their 20s and 30s, but i feel just as needed by them. they're just getting married and having babies. yeah, you just feel like nothing can happen to me. i have too much to do. >> reporter: joan told "people" magazine, you have all these decisions to make and you have to make them quickly. i had no choice but to go into warrior mode and take this head-on. >> i think for a lot of women the takeaway here will be if joan can do this, if america's mom, sister, daughter, can do

this, then i can do it too. >> reporter: it has not been easy. joan decided to take this journey publicly and shared a very private family discussion about the cover. what do you guys think? should mommy do this picture without hair? or should i have them just do the one with the wig on, be safe and just talk about it? >> reporter: right. >> my little max, 11 years old, hand shot right up. >> reporter: what'd he say? >> definitely do it without hair. i said really? absolutely. you can make a difference and save lives. you have to do it that way. >> reporter: for many women including those in the breast cancer survivors network in georgia, joan's very public fight is an inspiration. >> back in the days if you had breast cancer, you really didn't tell anybody. it was kind of a hidden disease. >> she's a beautiful woman with or without hair. >> reporter: hoda kotb, nbc news, new york. >> we're going to be hearing much more from joan lunden.

all next week on "today" she's joining the gang as a special correspondent for a series of reports on special coverage they are calling for good reason, pink power, during breast cancer awareness month. we are back in a moment with what we've learned tonight about the video that rocketed across the web today showing the heroic beagle with a big job.

in the self-inflicted wound department this was an unintended consequence for the white house because they're the ones who took and then released these pictures of the president disembarking from marine 1 here in new york this week. and the image of the commander in chief saluting marines without putting down his cup of tea first has caused all kinds of web hubbub. it was quickly dubbed siemper latte. nothing illegal about it, some folks recalled president bush once saluted with his dog. president obama recently told chuck todd he sometimes forgets the optics of his job as president. this trend of presidents saluting is still relatively new.

president reagan started it in the modern era. president eisenhower preferred not to because even though he was a former five-star general, as president he was a civilian. her name is barbara, and her place in music history was cemented years ago. you can now add another honor with her name with the release of her new partners album at number one on the billboard 200 chart. barbara striesand is now the first artist to achieve number one albums in each of the last six decades. finally, an answer to the eternal question, who's a good dog? his name is sherlock, he is the star of a new commercial for klm airlines. it's designed to show how hard they work to reunite their amsterdam passengers with lost items left behind on planes. the way it works is sherlock retrieves the items from the plane in his working dog vest. and using his keen dog senses then runs through the airport to return the items to passengers.

and so as you can imagine we were crushed to find out today this was the creation of the ad agency ddb. they have toyed with the hearts of dog lovers. they have added cynicism to a world with too much of it already. and at least beagle lovers can dare to dream that this kind of thing might actually happen some day in real life. tomorrow night here in new york weather permitting and if an approaching nor'easter doesn't interfere, there won't be a dry eye in the bronx. it will be the last home game for derek jeter, number 2, the future hall-of-famer nice enough to grant us his farewell interview. we will have that for you right here on our broadcast tomorrow night. when we come back tonight, an update to an incredible story, the homecoming queen and an act of kindness bringing out the best in people.

finally tonight, we have a follow-up to a hugely popular story first reported by our nbc station kxas in dallas-ft. worth. we first told you about it this past weekend. what started as a touching gesture at a texas homecoming is now growing into a larger effort

to diffuse the social minefield that students too often encounter at school. it's all thanks to three young women at the center of it all. their story tonight from nbc's janet shamlian. >> reporter: when they crown the homecoming queen at grand prairie high school, anna surprised everyone as she gave it away to a classmate. >> honoring a very hard working senior -- >> there's no way to describe how much good of a person she is because she just beats everyone. >> reporter: this small gesture on a patch of texas turf will stand against bullying that has people talking everywhere. >> mom tell me look inside that counts, not on the outside. >> reporter: lilian was a victim of a cruel prank, falsely told she was a homecoming queen nominee. not the first time she'd been teased. >> my teeth, my hair. >> reporter: two girls who were

nominees made a pact. if either of them won, lilian won. >> in all my time in school this is probably the greatest moment i've ever experienced as a principal. >> reporter: a moment that went viral. on facebook the story reached millions. twitter all but stood up and cheered. mean girls lose this round. kindness prevails, said one user. >> i just hope our story can really touch other people and that people may just think, you know, next time you have something that means a lot to you, maybe it means more to someone else. put someone ahead of you. >> reporter: this week the girls asked every student in school, all 2,600, to sign a pledge against bullying. they've already seen the difference. >> she volunteered to read the other day in front of the class. she's never done that. >> reporter: they won their homecoming game the night lilian wore the crown. but the bigger win was for doing the right thing. janet shamlian, nbc news, new

york. >> great message to end on on this wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we of course hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. . >> breaking news at ocean beach in san francisco. two surfers are in trouble. rescue crews are on the scene. good evening and thanks for being with us. >> frantic efforts to keep them alive. rescuers pulling two surfers from the waters off ocean beach in san francisco this afternoon. and performing cpr as stunned beachgoers looked on. the two pulled from the ocean not far from the beach chalet restaurant. ocean beach, known for being treacherous. >> reporter: the waves are really, really rough right now. this is possibly the third 911

rescue call under way here late this afternoon. take a look behind me. as you can see, rescue personnel, including the coast guard, are looking for someone who possibly needs help but it's difficult to see with the waves so high and so rough. earlier as you said, a couple hours ago, half a mile from here, according to the national parks service, two victims in the water needed rescue. they may have been swimming together in ocean beach. fire department pulled a second victim out of the water around 4:00 and started cpr on that person too. they worked on that person until he was stable enough to be transported to the hospital. but both were actually taken to the hospital where they are being treated. all this happened across the street from the beach chalet. it's unclear what the conditions were when the two were in the water. we know that a storm is coming and could be contributing to the ug