about the war in afghanistan. flu fears. as swine flu spreads, the first doses of vaccine are rushed to market in what is shaping up to be a crucial week in the fight against the pandemic. stalking arrest. new developments in the case of a sportscaster who was secretly videotaped in her hotel room. a pesuspect is in custody tonig. and game changer. why times are changing for america's national pasttime, and why that could bring you a lot closer to the action. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. as the obama administration wrestles with finding a new strategy in afghanistan, american troops on the ground there were dealt an awful blow this weekend. eight u.s. soldiers were killed

when their outpost was attacked by hundreds of tribal militia fighters. the battle raged for hours and was the deadliest attack on the american forces in over a year. it happened just north of the pakistan border in kamdesh on the same day another american was killed in a roadside bombing elsewhere. today we've got the story covered from kabul to washington. let's begin with nbc's foreign correspondent jim miklaszewski, who is in afghanistan tonight. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. u.s. military officials tell nbc news the attack on that remote combat outpost began shartly after dawn, raged on for more than six hours, and the base itself came dangerously close to being overrun. the surprise attack came in the most rugged, mountainous region of eastern afghanistan. about 80 enemy fighters bomba bombarded the u.s. tpost with rocket propelled grenades and heavy machine gun fire from the surrounding mountains and a

nearby mosque. the fighting so intense, apache attack helicopters retreated under hostile fire. this hostile region with its soaring mountains and warlords has seen the frcest fighting of the war. in this weekend's battle, eight american soldiers were killed, but the u.s. military claims 50 enemy dead. >> i'm telling you there was some bravery up there, and they fought a hard fight and fought it very well. >> reporter: regional commander colonel took us by helicopter to the area. this battlefield briefing showed the rged terrain was as difficult as the taliban. it was on the top of a winding river valley surrounded on three sides by sharply rising mountains, where the enemy launched their attack from heavily protected positions. >> you've got very sheer cliffs around you, a lot of rocky mountainous terrain with some trees around it. hard to see people. and the enemy can move about

using that as protection. >> reporter: under his new strategy, general stanley mcchrystal has ordered the more remote bases shut down and moved to provide protection in more populated areas. even then, the violence and killing in the short run is expected to rise. >> we've got a stiff fight in front of us in the coming 18 months. whether embedded with the population or fighting in the frontier, these are very dangerous, tough people. >> reporter: the tranl di in this case is that the u.s. military had already informed local elders that they were preparing to leave, and those soldiers were all set to shut down their outpost and pull up stakes and leave that valley only two days from now. lester? >> jim miklaszewski reporting from kabul tonight. thank you. our chief foreign correspondent richard engels jt back from afghanistan. he recently spent time with u.s. troops in the area where the latest battle took place. richard, you have reported from these outposts, these small bases before. i know you, nikin fact, have an

msnbc documentary coming up about them next week. how critical are they to the u.s. strategy, and how do they operate? >> there are serious questions about how critical they are. they are in the mountains in order to keep the fight in remote areas. that is the goal of having these tiny little forward operating bases sprink ld in the mountains in eastern afghanistan. they are designed to attract fire fights to try and prevent the militants from getting into the major cities. general mcchrystal, however, is now deciding that some of them are simply not worth it, that they are too hard to resupply, they are too vulnerable, and they are not worth sustaining. so it's better to pull the resources back, keep them in the cities, and try and defend the cities instead of trying to fight for each different mountain pass in eastern afghanistan. >> it wa interesting today how the military described the attackers. they call them tribal militia. they did not use the term taliban. help us understand the difference, if there is any, and their motivation. >> reporter: the taliban is generally a movement that is strong in southern afghanistan.

in the east, you have fighters who have crossed over from pakistan, but you also have many villagers who are simply angry that there are american troops in afghanistan, and they are -- they're fighting to defend their own territory. they're hostile to outsiders, and they don't want the bases there. so it's not that it's such an organized movement, a taliban militia. in many cases you just have fighters who are angry that there is a u.s. base, in this case, at the bottom of the hill. >> richard engel, nice to have you back. thank you. let's turn now to nbc's mike vaquera at the white house, where today's violence underscores the hard choices facing president obama as he reassesses the course of war in afghanistan. mike, when might a white house decision come on whether to deploy more troops to afghanistan? >> well, lester, administration officials say today that that decision on a new strategy will be set to announce within a matter of weeks. to that end, the white house has two more high level meetings scheduled in the situation room here at the white house in this coming week. all this is playing against a

very unusual back drop, lester. general mcchrystal, you just saw in jim miklaszewski's piece, has come forward with a plan that includes the very controversial option of adding 30,000 to 40,000 more troops to the u.s. presence in afghanistan. that's an option that the president hasn't even embraced himself, and yet general mcchrystal has made a major foreign policy speech in london just this past week promoting that plan. now, the president did meet with general mcchrystal aboard air force one while the president was in copenhagen. they met on the tarmac, and the president spoke with the general for about 25 minutes. there was also a very high level meeting earlier last week, three hours the president chaired and the general participated in via video conference. today the president's national security adviser says they haven't even gotten to the question of how many troops to put in, how many more additional troops to put in. they say they want to develop the strategy before the resources. meanwhile, the politics are very difficult in washington. members of the president's own party, leading members of congress are against sending more troops.

meanwhile republicans say follow mcchrystal's advice now or risk losing afghanistan to the taliban, lester. >> thank you. and now to another national security test facing the president, iran. according to "the new york times," the u.n.'s international atomic energy agency has concluded that iran has acquired the information necessary to design and produce an atomic bomb. the administration has been pressuring iran to come clean about its nuclear program, and u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice said on "meet the press" today that the u.s. is in what she called intense negotiations with iran, but the clock is ticking. >> the onus is now squarely on iran to adhere to the commitments it has made. if it doesn't, time is short. we're not interested in talking for talking's sake. we're not interested in interminable negotiations. they have to demonstrate conclusively that their program is for peaceful purposes. >> u.s. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice today on "meet the press."

the latest on the unfolding tragedy in indonesia, where heavy rains are hampering rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of thursday's earthquake and landslides. hundreds are dead and hundreds more still missing. ian williams has made his way to a remote village just north of padang, a heavily damaged village where help has only now arrived. >> reporter: brown stains on the mountain side mark the spot where the villages used to stand, three of them home to hundreds defender stated by a landslide triggered by the quake. some helped us navigate this sea of dirt and rock. twisted tin that once were houses. survivors kept vigil over the muddy pool that had consumed their homes and families, still waiting for help. he told me he'd lost five family members, including his mother. survivors told us of a ferocious

wall of mud rapidly sweeping everything in its path. it came in seconds like a bullet, he told me. damaged though they are, these houses are perhaps the luckiest in the village because the landslide, the tsunami of mud, stopped just inches from their back walls. this is where we found arman retrieving his possessions. he said the mud stopped just short of where his baby son was resting. it stopped here, right next to him. it must have been a miracle, he told me. four days after the quake, and rescue teams have only just arrived here, bringing in some heavy equipment. until now, the villages have been using simple tools or their bare hands in a desperate effort to find survivors. up to 400 are thought to be buried. today they were extracting a steady stream of dead bodies from the rubble. would it be possible to get all

these people off this island? an international team, british rescue experts, arrived here this afternoon, but could offer little hope for those still missing. >> all that mud and ruin, and it's been moving around. we've had some rain as well, and it's compacted. so, yeah, very, very difficult. >> reporter: but the search does continue tonight across a desolate landscape that once was a thriving cluster of villages. ian williams, nbc news, in what remains of this village. back in this country, in southern california, the threat of wildfires, one of the worst burning out of control in the mountains northeast of l.a., threatening the town of wrightwood and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. the governor has declared a state of emergency, and firefighters are struggling to contain the blaze which has already burned more than 3,500 acres. the week ahead promises to be a critical one in the fight against the swine flu pandemic, now rapidly spreading across the country. hundreds of thousands of doses of h1n1 flu vaccine will arrive over the next few days, two

weeks ahead of schedule. the first of some 250 million doses expected to be administered by the end of the year. our report tonight from nbc's chris jansing. >> can i have your attention, please. >> reporter: at cook children's hospital in ft. worth, texas, suspected cases of swine flu are flooding in. >> he's running a fever. >> reporter: it's an increasingly common sight. >> most states do have quite a lot of disease right now, and that's unusual for this time of year. >> reporter: cdc has confirmed swine flu in all 50 states, widespread cases in 27, a situation they call uncharted territory. the first 600,000 doses of the h1n1 spray vaccine are set to arrive by tuesday with the injections arriving by the end of the week. they'll initially go to health care workers, children, and pregnant women. 100 pregnant women have been admitted to intensive care units with swine flu. 28 have died. dr. anthony gregg's patient was one of them.

>> her symptoms were present during her delivery, and she deteriorated really shortly after that. >> reporter: and 60 children have died since april. that's more than in a typical full flu season. >> it's scary, you know, when you hear about kids who are very healthy that are dying for no reason. >> reporter: state health departments are battling fear with information. >> thank you for calling the connecticut department of public health, h1n1 flu hot line. >> reporter: setting up hot lines and getting the word out through the media to encourage people to get vaccinated. a new study warns that emergency rooms would be overrun in 15 states from here in california to new york and new jersey, if one-third of the population comes down with swine flu. in some areas there's already trouble keeping up with seasonal flu vaccinations. a massive traffic jam built up at a drive through flu clinic near baltimore today, and people had to be turned away. >> we do expect some bumps in

the road over the course as we begin this process together. >> reporter: a process health officials expect to smooth out in the coming weeks to help minimize the misery. >> i feel just terrible, awful. >> reporter: chris jansing, nbc news, los angeles. when "nightly news" continues this sunday, chilling new details from prosecutors about just how far an alleged stalker apparently went to secretly videotape a popular sports reporter. research institute..

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details on what they think happened. >> reporter: for months popular espn reporter erin andrews hoped authorities would find the suspect. now they have. tomorrow 47-year-old michael barrett is expected back before chicago judge who will decide if barrett will be free on bail to face charges in los angeles or if he'll be taken there in federal custody. arrested friday night, the insurance executive is accused of interstate stalking, a charge his attorney and friend calls surprising. >> i don't think mike's ever had had a parking ticket before in his life. >> reporter: but the criminal complaint against barrett tells a different story. he's accused of secretly videotaping andrews while she was alone and nude in at least two hotel rooms, one in milwaukee and this hotel in nashville. the criminal complaint says barrett traveled to cities where andrews was working, called hotels to find out where she was staying, and when he made his

reservation, barrett asked specifically for a room next to andrews, identified ds in the complaint as individual "a." authorities allege barrett rigged the peephole on andrews' hotel room door to record secret cell phone videos of her. >> sometimes someone will do something like this just for the excitement. >> reporter: authorities also say barrett posted the videos on the internet after trying to sell them to california-based celebrity website tmz via e-mail messages. those e-mails, according to court documents, turned out to be vital links in a cyberman hunt. detectives followed the digital footprints to michael barrett. the videos reportedly viewed millions of times humiliated andrews, who told oprah how shocked she was to see them. i opened up the computer. i could feel my heart pounding. thought for two seconds, and was hysterical. >> and knew it was you.

>> reporter: if convicted of the charges, barrett could face up to five years in prison. rahema ellis, nbc news, new york. when we come back here tonight, what sonia sotomayor and her fellow justices have waiting for them when they head back to work tomorrow. already g significantly improve my lung function. so today, i've noticed a significant difference in my breathing and i'm doing more of what i want to do. so we're clear, it doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. my doctor said symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. my copd often meant i had to wait to do what i wanted to do. now i take symbicort and it significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort has made a significant difference in my breathing... now more of my want to's are can do's. ask your doctor about symbicort today.

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take the activia challenge. it works or your money back! ♪ activia! at washington's st. matthews cathedral today, six justices of the supreme court, including five of the court's six catholics attended so-called red mass with new justice sonia sotomayor among them. the mass, named for the red vestments worn by the clergy, is a washington tradition going back decades. that mass is held every year on the sunday before the first monday in october, the day the supreme court goes into session. the court has plenty of work waiting, including questions regarding freedom of speech and religion. our justice correspondent pete williams has a preview. >> reporter: the court will decide what's to become of a seven foot tall cross in southern california's mojave desert, now a national preserve.

crosses have stood there since 1934 as a war memorial, but the current one is covered with plywood, caught up in a court fight over whether it's an unconstitutional religious symbol on federal land. the former employee of the desert preserve is suing. his lawyer says it's improper government favoritism toward one religion. >> a number of high ranking military officers have come in and said, this is not a message the military should be sending that we honor our christian veterans but we don't honor our other veterans. >> reporter: but the vfw and other veterans groups are fighting to keep it. >> to most americans, the idea of tearing down a war monument that's been up for 75 years is something that is highly distasteful, and that is inappropriate. >> reporter: the court will referee a freedom of expression battle brought by a virginia man over a federal law that makes it a crime to sell videos of dogfights and other dictions of animal cruelty. the government says such material is like child pornography, encouraging illegal

behavior and deserving no free speech protection. >> hi, i'm bob stevens. >> reporter: but a lawyer for robert stevens, who sells the videos, says banning them goes too far. >> under our first amendment, we let the people themselves decide what the value of speech is. we don't have the government decide it for us. >> reporter: in a case that could change the landscape of political campaign, makers of a documentary attacking hillary clinton's run for president urge the court to strike down laws that restrict corporations and aunions from using their own money to buy campaign ads. the justices will also decide whether the second amendment's right to own a gun should apply nationwide that would apply a new round of challenges to gun control laws. and the government will decide whether it's constitutional for the federal government to continue holding people deemed dangerous sex offenders, after they've served their sentences. and all eyes will be on justice john paul stevens. he has hired fewer law clerks than usual for next year's term,

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finally tonight, it's called america's national past time, but baseball is certain not immune from tough economic times. many teams are now scrambling to find new ways to make money off the old ball game and make some dreams come true for fans along the way. nbc's peter alexander has more.

>> inside part, inside, inside. good job. >> reporter: on the mon cured grass at dodger stadium, these boys of summer are getting a taste of the big leagues. >> always hustle. >> reporter: guiding them through the fundamentals, coach larry bowa. >> i think it's a great opportunity for these kids to learn some tips. >> reporter: and an opportunity for one of the game's most storied franchises, now willing to market once priceless ballpark dream. >> you're out here in front of all our parents and everything. you're on the dodger stadium. it's not every day you get to do that. >> reporter: at $250 a head, junior dodgers training day brought in $25,000 in an afternoon. >> we started to think about camps, fantasy camps, fishing trips, you name it, and we hit a home run. >> reporter: with baseball facing its steepest drop in attendance in more than 50 years, team owners knew they had to make a dramatic shift, selling not just the game, but a baseball experience. for the dodgers, that means

slumber parties in the outfield and yoga lessons aimed at female fans. >> the wave of the future. this is just the beginning. >> reporter: wayne mcdonald is a professor at nyu's tisch school of sports management. >> revenue stream in baseball with the fans are exhausted. now we need to repackage the product to make it more appealing to new audiences and also to rekindle the relationships they had with their old audiences. >> reporter: the kansas city royals host diamond of dream dinner parties for $100 a person. for $1,500, the chicago cubs will let you work as a groundskeeper for the day. and fans of the philadelphia phillies can take a caribbean cruise with their favorite players. >> it's the phillies. who wouldn't go on a cruise with them? >> reporter: total cost, $1,600. >> you build a fan base, build the fans, get them having good thoughts about the phillies, and get the payoff on the back end. >> reporter: baseball has set sail on a new mission, expanding the brand to keep fans coming

back. peter alexander, nbc news, new york. that's nbc nightly news for this sunday. stay tuned for "football night in america" followed by nbc's sunday night football, san diego at pittsburgh. brian williams will be here tomorrow. i'm lester holt reporting from new york for all of us here at nbc news. good night.

what is it to lead? at pnc, it's doing what most benefits our customers. whether that's building more certified green buildings than anyone on earth. creating online banking tools for the next generation. or making a 10 year, $100 million investment in kids. it's how we've always done business. and will for a very long time to come. pnc. leading the way. captions paid for by nbc-universal television