on this saturday night. death of fidel castro. the passing of a dictator whose half century rule over cuba brought the world to the brink of nuclear war and forced generations of cubans to flee to america's shores. joy by cuban-americans andhe starkly different reaction to the president and the president-elect. severe weather could mean a treacherous trip for those heading home after the long holiday weekend. and the digital front line. how google joined the fight against isis using their latest technology as a weapon. "nightly news" begins right now.

headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening. fidel castro who turned a small caribbean island into an american foreign policy obsession is being remembered as a oppressive tyrant and savior of his people tonight. the very contradiction that defined his 50 years of rule. in havana where a nine-day mourning is underway people openly wept in the streets afte death broke. and people in little havana in miami celebrated. fidel castro goes to his grave as a dynamic figure of the cold war who once nearly nudged the u.s. and russia into a nuclear war. our team is reporting from around the region. we begin tonight with nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. >> good evening, lester. at miami airport cuban-americans are

visiting from the island. no place in america has been as affected by fidel castro's nearly 50-year reign as south florida. he's revealed by many exiled during his reign. even in his hay day he was admired by many around the world. to his followers, he was just fidel. to his enemies a feared dictator. one of the world's last communists. the legendary fire simply. the ill legitimate class of a landowner. he graduated with a law degree and doctorate. tried running for the national assembly in 1952 until bautista ceased power and cancelled elections. in 1953 castro lead a rebel group and failed. castro ended up in jail for two years. until an amnesty when he went into exile. in mexico, castro regrouped with his

fellow revolutionary. on new year's day 1959 they toppled but a but a tease draft. "meet the press" in april of 1959. >> i am not a communist. >> reporter: almost from the start castro confiscated the property of the wealthy, silenced newspapers, nationalized u.s. oil refinery and signed a pact with the soviet union. john f kennedy ordered the cia to invade cuba at the bay of pigs >> wednesday, april 19th -- >> reporter: the resulting debacle helped castro consolidate power. by then declared a socialist he dramatically improved health care and literacy. also accepted soviet missiles bringing the super powers to the

retaliatory response from the soviet union. >> reporter: until jfk's hard line got the russians to pull back. for 25 years, moscow helped castro arm latin america. but with the end of the soviet union, cuba's economy imploded. on makeshift boats, thousands of cubans fled the oppressive regime. elian gonzalez became the symbol of america's struggle with castro. in 2006 fidel castro temporarily turned over power to raul castro. two years later he stepped down and succeeded by his brother. he wrote columns about his life's experiences. emerging publicly for

xi jinping in 2014. this past march fidel castro was nowhere to be scene during president obama's meeting with raul castro. fidel castro wrote an editorial saying we don't need the empire to give us anything. fidel castro never tolerated free election or dissent but gave his people better health care and education. still, his real legacy may beholding power for nearly half a century. longer than any other modern leader. we went to cuba in 1999 to cover the anti-u.s. protest during the fight during elian gonzalez. in my first interview with fidel castro and over the years in many interviews, he was argumentative, he would talk all night, he would debate. he was on the internet even though his people could not, for the most part, be on the internet. he followed our newscast. he told me what he didn't like. and we had a lot of arguments over politics, in fact,

years. his final newspaper column was against the u.s. election only two weeks ago. >> andrea mitchell, thank you. back in the u.s. the news of fidel castro's death was largely met with celebration. it was a festival-like atmosphere in miami's little havana neighborhood with an eruption of joy pouring into the streets. kerry sanders has been there for all of it. ? ? >> reporter: celebrations style. >> it's opportunity! we're free! >> reporter: more than a million people waited fidel castro's death. >> i would call him a dictator. thug. murder. he's our version of hitler. >> reporter: the party began in the early morning hours on little havana's

>> they came because they want to celebrate. not the death of a human being but the death of a dictator. >> reporter: he fled cuba in 1961. she was 5 years old. her father and mother died in the united states in exile. >> those are tears of -- >> joy and sadness at the same time. >> reporter: cubans continue to escape the communist island more than 46,000 coming to the united states in just the last 12 it is the oldest cuban-americans who best remember what they lost when fidel castro rose to power. dr. garcia's father lost his farm and future. >> they took everything. they took everything from my father. >> reporter: the question now? what happens next? >> hopefully we'll have a future democracy in cuba and i'll be able to go back and visit the land of my birth.

thousands of people. it'll be a party that will go on for hours. most people here found out about fidel castro's death on social media. but in a nod to the old school, "the miami herald" rehab -- ran a special edition. it brought to the forefront the difficult relationship with president-elect trump seems to have a different view. ron allen has more from the white house. >> reporter: today vastly different responses from the president and president-elect. in a statement, mr. obama extending a handle of friendship to cuba. avoiding any mention of fidel castro's humanitarian abuses. >> between our two countries.

to castro's family. from president-elect trump, first a blunt tweet. "fidel castro is dead"! then a statement recalling a brutal tick they or it with a legacy of firing squads. >> we'll cancel obama's one-sided cuban deal. >> reporter: mr. trump threatened to undo obama's orders. and allow more travel and trade between cuba and america. steps taken by the obama administration on cuba. top republicans calling on mr. trump who vowed to repeal mr. obama's policies to take a hard line because the castro family remains in charge. >> don't expect fidel's death to usher a new chapter, a happy chapter of freedom. >> reporter: around the world, the communist revolutionary allies weighing in on his death. putin calling castro a

here in washington, congress has no intention of lifting the sanctions while the obama administration and the final weeks continues trying to deepen america's new relationships with cuba we fidel castro's death, cuba higher on president-elect trump's agenda. >> ron allen at the white house. thank you. stay with nbc news and msnbc for continuing coverage for death of fidel castro. our team will be on the ground in cuba starting tomorrow the week leading to the funeral next weekend. if you thought the presidential election was behind us, word came today from the hillary clinton campaign that it will back the state-wide election recount effort put on by third party candidate jill stein in three key battle ground states. kristin welker has more. >> reporter: good evening. it started when a group of computer scientists, including a voting rights

three states and that's what is prompting this. and the three states donald trump has a combined margin of victory of about 100,000 votes. today, on medium secretary clinton's lawyer posted that the campaign has received hundreds of messages, e-mails, and calls urging her to do something, anything to investigate claims that the election results were hacked and altered in a way to disadvantage secretary clinton. clinton's campaign lawyer also stressed they have not found any evidence of hacking, but some skeptical after u.s. officials said they uncovered evidence of russia hacking the e-mails during the campaign. president trump vacationing here in florida. noting that secretary clinton conceded on election night. you may recall in the weeks leading up to the election, it was donald trump who said the entire system is rigged. that is why this is getting so much attention and one of the reasons why democrats so frustrated because right now secretary

million votes in the popular vote. >> kristin welker, thank you very much. a quick programming note. much more on that recount plus a look at the trump promises tomorrow on "meet the press." the army corps. of engineers ordered activists at the site of the dakota access pipeline to shut down one of the camps. increased violence between protesters and police combined with harsh winter conditions means the area will be closed, according to the triable chairman expressed disappointment but insisted, "our resolve to protect our water is stronger than ever." the long holiday weekend comes to a close tomorrow. for many americans it means time to start packing for the drive or flight home. dylan dreyer has us covered on travel conditions across the country and the potential trouble spots. >> we're keeping an eye on spots around the country for travelers on sunday. a storm system will make the way on to the west coast. we're looking at

that stretches from seattle to l.a. also, snow through the mountains. mountain passes could be tricky, too. a cold front will bring heavier downpours from minneapolis to st. louis. it's not until late in the day on sunday. hopefully if you're traveling early you shouldn't have too much trouble. that will be an area through the midwest we're watching sunday. it's out through the rockies and extending over into salt lake city where we could see minor delays with the snow coming down. po in the afternoon. if that front moves in a little bit sooner. also, l.a. we could see some isolated delays. mostly because of the occasional showers and gusty winds we're expecting. it you're driving, we could be slow going on i 80 and i 70 and i 15 in the pacific northwest as the storm system continues to make the way on shore. >> dylan dreyer, thank you. still ahead tonight, google versus isis. how the tech giant is helping in the war against terror. plus, a movement that

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believe they could be on to a new way to confront isis. >> the islamic state has a new era. >> reporter: the head of research and development at jigsaw. it's latest challenge? reaching a new generation of radicals. people drawn into violent extremism online. like many of the estimated 30,000 foreigners who have joined isis from around the world. >> we believe there get to those potential recruits before isis. >> reporter: they call it redirect. >> we have the experience of searching for something like a pair of sneakers and then finding an ad for the sneakers pop up later. we have used that same principle instead to find potential consumers of isis' messages online. >> reporter: if i'm a young person out there somewhere maybe sympathetic to joining isis, what is the process i go through?

for a term like "valor" you would enter that. . we would show you a ad directly relevant to your search. you click on the ad and would be taken to, for example, a video like this. >> reporter: videos of religious scholars potentially credible to isis sympathizers but preaching against isis. not supporting it. >> anything is worth trying. at least make it harder. making harder for them to save our children. evans grew up in a london suburb. >> he was just a normal little boy. he was on his computer. >> reporter: like many online recruits, he drifted away from family and friends. eventually joining the terrorist group al shabaab. he was killed in this terrorist attack. the group used video of his death as propaganda. >> no mother should have to see that. that was awful.

have done. >> i could have done worse. >> reporter: also falling into radicalism online. >> people need to know that anyone can become radicalized. >> reporter: he was considering a bomb attack in london but pulled back. >> what pulled me back was kind of listening to more relatively more moderate scholars. >> reporter: he was not a part of redirect but thinks it could discourage others. it appears some may be listg. program jigsaw said redirect watched half a million people. all aimed at undermining ice sis. we're back in a moment with black friday numbers. record-breaking online spending in the u.s.

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back with new numbers tonight with the black friday shopping blitz. americans spent a record amoun yesterday. it's still a make or break weekend for those brick and mortar stores. >> reporter: thanksgiving discounts driving huge numbers of shoppers to open their wallets this holiday weekend. >> we tried to save about $500. >> you get out early and get the best deals. >> reporter: online americans shelled out $3.34 billion on black friday. up more than 11% from last year.

merchandise purchased on tablets. >> wall to wall traffic. it means the economy is headed in a better direction. >> reporter: the deals did not necessarily mean more people heading to stores. shopper track said visits to brick and mortar retailers were down 1% from last year. today shoppers skipped big box stores in favor for the little guy of small business saturday. >> you want them to stick around. it gives the neighborhood >> reporter: the deals won't stop this weekend. consumers turn their attention to cyber monday said to be the biggest online shopping day in history. >> we're able to get to something that is 40% off you normally can't. >> reporter: retailers like amazon hocking at least 75,000 deep discounts. analyst forecasts shoppers will shell out this weekend. >> you'll see more

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finally, this holiday season with so many americans shopping during the next month, temporary workers are in high demand.

of the jobs. janet shamlian has more on the group called work campers. ? ? >> reporter: when dollywood turns on 4 million lights for the holidays, it's transformative for more than the guests. betty gill, a former bank vice president runs a cash register. >> sign that for me, please. >> pork tenderloin and smoked turkey. >> we'll get you fixed up. >> rep executive is boss of the buffet. >> we got the gravy. it goes on top of it. >> reporter: after their six-hour shift they head home. a 38-foot rv currently parked in the shadow of the smokey mountains. >> i've got gypsy in my blood. >> reporter: they're mostly baby boomers

9:00 to 5:00. traded seasonal jobs for a lifestyle change. >> we were both in corporate 60 to 80 hours a week. when we leave dolly wood, they close it up. >> reporter: they are embracing the work campers. some are retired. >> so far we've been up the east coast from florida to maine and back. >> reporter: now in texas the leonard family is camping until christmas. david makes $11.25 an hour at amazon warehouse and daniel children. >> reporter: how long do you think you'll keep doing it? >> as long as we can. as long as life lets us. >> reporter: at dollywood the part-time jobs end next month. >> we're living on 20% and we haven't starved yet. we haven't gone to bed hungry. >> reporter: a craving for something different as work camps trade money for memories.

janet shamlian news. that will do it for us on this saturday night. i'm lester holt from nbc news. thank you for watching and good night. you're watching 12news. winner of the rocky mountain emmy award. our big story tonight on 12news at 6, long-time cuban leader fidel castro's death bringing out raw emotion from people. supporters mourning the 90-year-

people here in the u.s. are celebrating in the streets of miami. many cuban-americans had been waiting for this day. the reason castro's rise to power almost 60 years ago for families apart as millions fled the dictator ship. >> this is something that we are celebrating because he has caused pain on all generations of cubans. >> for those who have suffered castro's oppression for decades, his a glimmer of hope. for one valley man whose parents are cuban refugees, castro's death means there is a future to look forward to in cuba. nico joins us live in the newsroom. >> while some are dancing in the streets and celebrating the official end of fidel castro's dictatorship, some are actually looking ahead to the possibilities for their homeland that has been frozen in time for decades. the ceo of maline a fine