terror threat. a new year and a new front in the fight against al qaeda as terrorism tops the president's agenda. and late today, new rules at the airport, including which passengers are now guaranteed to get a patdown before boarding a flight. monster in a cage, says the father of a 6-year-old murder victim, as a massive manhunt and weeks of worry end with an arrest. the chill is on. sure, it's january. but talk about cold. snow and frigid temperatures put

this end of a holiday weekend on ice. and show me the money. how some car owners got rolled while their lawyers cashed in. how some car owners got rolled while their lawyers cashed in. an nbc news investigation. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. just hours after president obama named al qaeda in yemen as the source of that christmas day airline bombing plot, today the united states unexpectedly closed its embassy there, citing specific threats against americans. security, counterterrorism, and what to do about the rising threat from inside yemen topped the president's agenda this week as he returns to washington from his hawaiian vacation. late today, however, the u.s. transportation security administration moved forward on its own with some big changes in how it secures international airline flights bound for the united states. there are a lot of moving parts

to this story we want to get to. let's start with nbc's tom costello, who happens to have just arrived off a flight from europe. he joins us from our washington bureau with more on that breaking development from the tsa. tom? >> reporter: lester, good evening. the tsa is saying tonight that all international passengers traveling into the u.s. may well see enhanced random screenings, which will include pat-downs, explosive testing of luggage, and those enhanced body imaging scans before they board a flight. the tsa also says all passengers from or traveling through seven high-risk countries will receive full-body pat-downs and physical inspections of their luggage. those seven countries are yemen, pakistan, nigeria, syria, sudan, iran, and cuba. the state department considers the last four to be state sponsors of terrorism. the new rules take effect at midnight, which should affect most u.s.-bound flights coming from europe and africa tomorrow. this requires the cooperation, of course, of other nations and their airport security personnel. but the tsa has a strong working

relationship with most countries that have direct flights to the u.s. as for in-flight protocols, it will continue to be up to the pilot whether passengers are required to remain seated one hour before landing, whether they will have access to their carry-on luggage, and whether they will be allowed to have anything on their laps. lester. >> and tom, i mentioned that you just got in tonight from europe. what was your experience regarding security? >> reporter: yeah, every u.s.-bound passenger leaving brussels had to go through secondary screening. my wife, my children, myself included. security screeners patted us all down. in my case the officer patted me down from my shoulders down to my toes. he checked underneath my jeans, around my waist, and all of our hand luggage was taken apart and inspected very closely. you know, i've been flying to europe several times a year for nearly 15 years. this was the most extensive screening i've ever gone through, at least in brussels. on the flight itself, a united airlines flight, the pilot turned off the in-flight map system for passengers about halfway over the atlantic, and we were required to remain seated for about the last 25

minutes of flight or so. >> tom cost le, nice to have you back. thank you. >> thanks. now to yemen and an apparent new threat to americans from al qaeda causing the u.s. to close its embassy there. nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house with more on that. mike? >> reporter: good evening, lester. today a white house official says there are hundreds of al qaeda members within yemen, that middle eastern country where the fight against terrorism has taken on a new urgency. citing specific threats against americans, officials today closed the u.s. embassy in yemen. >> there are indications that al qaeda's planned to carry out an attack in the capital of yemen. >> reporter: employees were told to stay home. a journalist on the ground describes the scene. >> right now the government is putting out heavy security just in case that the al qaeda threats are real. and also the helicopters from the military are put on hold in case any attacks do happen. >> reporter: the british embassy was also shuttered, with prime minister gordon brown calling yemen a failing state while also

beefing up his nation's security at home. >> we've recognized that there are new forms of weapon that are being used by al qaeda. so we've got to respond accordingly. >> reporter: the moves come a day after president obama revealed that it was operatives based in yemen who were instrumental in the failed christmas day bombing in detroit. >> al qaeda in the arabian peninsula trained him, equipped him with those explosives, and directed him to attack that plane headed for america. >> reporter: a troubled nation racked by poverty and insurrection, yemen has seen more and more radicals operate within its borders as a weak central government struggles to contain the threat. >> that's worrying. the idea that yemen is turning into a base for international terrorist operations, not just regional terrorist operations. >> reporter: this weekend david petraeus, america's top commander in the region, was in yemen coordinating strategy and pledging to more than double the $67 million in counterterror american aid already being sent there.

today a top official says american help won't stop there. >> military action is possible in yemen? >> everything is possible as far as our cooperation with the yemeni government. >> reporter: as he wraps up his time in hawaii, the president plans to meet tuesday in washington with the nation's intelligence and security leaders to review what he has called human and systemic failures that almost led to a disaster on christmas morning. and lester, john brennan, you saw him there, he's the president's top adviser on homeland security. he says that while there was no smoking gun that would have foiled that attempted bombing of the airliner on christmas morning there were enough points of information where the intelligence agencies of this country should have connected the dots. they did not. and they consider that here a failure across the board. lester? >> mike viqueira at the white house tonight. thank you. and let's turn now to nbc's chuck todd, who is traveling with the president in hawaii, and our chief foern correspondent richard engel here in new york. richard, let me begin with you if i can. how and why is the nature of the al qaeda threat in yemen

suddenly changing? >> the al qaeda threat in yemen is getting bigger and the militants in that country are also on the forefront of developing a new kind of strategy for al qaeda, a more do-it-yourself model. al qaeda for years has been trying to outdo 9/11, organize another massive attack that al qaeda could be proud of, if you could call it that. al qaeda in yemen has a different philosophy. they're encouraging people all over the world to go onto the internet, to download explosives, and to carry out many, many smaller kinds of attacks. so it's a different approach and one that seems to be coming out of yemen. >> the last eight years we've been accustomed when we hear a place referred to as a front in the war on terror, we think u.s. combat boots on the ground. why won't that likely happen here? >> oh, i don't think you're going to be seeing any american divisions going to yemen. what we have in yemen is a friendly government that wants to cooperate. and the reason that general petraeus was there, to try and increase this cooperation. so you'll see more intelligence

sharing, maybe some more equipment, potentially even some firepower lent to the fight. but you're not going to see american forces invading yemen, but just trying to beef up their cooperation and support. >> chuck todd, let me turn to you. when the president left on this vacation, it was health care, health care, health care. now terrorism, national security. we've seen a fundamental shift now in the priorities of this administration. >> reporter: well, i think the white house is going to argue a little bit this week that they've always had a priority when it comes to national security. i think you're going to hear them try to tell their story a little bit more when it comes to what they've done, for instance, in yemen. they think it's a pretty good story to tell overall. and you heard john brennan this morning on the sunday shows, in particular "meet the press," begin that. but i wouldn't call it a fundamental shift. don't be surprised. you know, friday is going to be the new unemployment figures. and as much as the holiday season has taken this up, the white house expects that it isn't going to be just national security on their plate. it certainly will be tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. but they wouldn't be surprised

if suddenly, you know, they've got to show public focus on the economy, they still want to get health care, but that state of the union that's coming up at the end of january, beginning of february, it's probably going to have a lot more national security in it than, say, on december 24th, when they were starting to do the outline for that speech, lester. >> and we reported a moment ago the tsa this evening has come out with these new procedures for international -- arriving international traflvelers. is there some pressure, does the white house feel some pressure to come up with very tangible action very quickly? >> reporter: they do. i wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow, as soon as tomorrow, you heard the president, after he holds that review session, come out with these reforms themselves. they've already done a few things when it comes to database management, what the state department is doing differently. the thing that we're told not to expect is some sort of heads to roll, finger pointing. you heard even republicans michael chertoff defending janet napolitano. they think the administration is pleased by that.

they feel like some of the political pressure is off of her. there still could be some political pressure on, say, dennis blair, the director of national intelligence, or michael leiter, the guy in charge of the national counterterrorism center. but again, it's going to be weeks, maybe months before we know for sure if somebody individually gets held accountable, lester. >> chuck todd and richard engel tonight with us. thank you very much. now to the weather. and this year is getting off to a cold start across much of the country, even by january standards. and the cold snap came just as many americans are on the move after the holidays. from the great plains to the northeast, ice, snow, and frigid cold were the order of the day. we get more from nbc's jeff rossen. >> reporter: whiteout conditions in buffalo, new york as the bills battle the colts. fans could barely see the players. >> yeah! >> reporter: perhaps the players could barely see these fans. the weather channel's mike seidel was there this morning. >> let me tell you how cold it is. my face feels like it's going to crack, my eyes are watering up

and i can't even feel my fingertips this morning. >> reporter: record-breaking temperatures are gripping the plains. in parts of minnesota it's 40 degrees below zero. >> you know we have some very cold temperatures when we break overnight lows in the beginning of january in the heart of winter. >> reporter: here in new york city the cold snap continues. with the wind chill is feels like single digits. >> it's unbearable. actually, it's unreal. it's a blizzard. it's a freaking blizzard. >> my earrings are freezing my ears off. >> reporter: north of here in boston, the triple threat. cold, snow, and high winds. in some sections of massachusetts they could see up to ten inches of snow by tonight. they're also dealing with massive waves, as strong winds combine with unusually high tides. in providence, rhode island this weekend homeowners dug out from under seven inches of snow. and they didn't seem to mind. >> i pushed the driveway with a broom the first time. and now i'm just going over it again. you know, you keep up with it, it's not so bad. >> reporter: even florida is

dealing with the cold. in pinellas park as temperatures were expected to dip below freezing shelters opened their doors. >> we can do up to about 200 folks. right now i think we're hovering somewhere around 50 or 60. >> reporter: but there's some good news. ski resorts in maine are hopping with eight inches of fresh powder this morning at sunday river. >> it's like a winter wonderland. >> reporter: 2010 is off to quite a start. jeff rossen, nbc news, new york. still to come on this first sunday of the new year, catching a killer. weeks after a thanksgiving massacre triggered a massive manhunt, police say they have their man. and we spend a day at the office with the blue angels on a wing and a prayer. >> i was really at the edge of blacking out. ...kept coming back... ...or that i could help prevent them in the first place. the problem was that my controller medicine... ...was treating only 1 main cause of asthma symptoms. but there are 2. airway constriction. and inflammation. unlike most controllers, advair treats both main causes.

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florida is breathing easier tonight after a long manhunt has now ended with the arrest of a man believed to be responsible for a family massacre. as the father of one victim put it, the monster is in the cage. the murders took place on thanksgiving in jupiter, florida. and the suspect was still in the state. arrested last night in long key. nbc's michelle kosinski has our report. >> reporter: paul merhige faced a judge for the first time today. after five long weeks being hunted and managing to elude federal officers. accused of gunning down his own family after sharing thanksgiving with them. >> just trying to get out a massive campaign -- >> reporter: terrorized neighbors had tried to help. no one knew if he was around the block or across the country. described as armed, dangerous, and unpredictable. the man his family says sat pleasantly through thanksgiving dinner, then went to his car, came back with a gun, and opened fire, killing his twin sisters,

one of whom was pregnant, his elderly aunt, and his 6-year-old cousin makayla, here in home video. ♪ this christmas who was asleep in her bed, set to perform in "the nutcracker" the next day. >> i think he shot my 6-year-old daughter. >> he what? >> please hurry. >> reporter: investigators say merhige had carefully planned out his attack and his escape. he had his passport, a lot of money, and several guns, including a sniper rifle. here he is caught on tape in the days leading up to the shooting, getting cash, having his getaway car serviced, and buying guns. but for all of that his family living in fear he would return, paul merhige did not go far. >> he's armed and dangerous. somebody knows where this guy is. >> reporter: seconds after the airing of a preview for "america's most wanted" saturday, the owner of this florida keys motel recognized merhige and his car and called police. >> that made me feel like oh, my god, i've got a serial killer,

you know, next to my daughter. >> reporter: now merhige's family, who had been under 24-hour security and constant worry, can start to grieve. >> this does not bring my daughter back. so i'm not jumping up and down in jubilation. but you know, at least now i'll be able to sleep know the monster's not right outside my door, hoping to finish what he had started. >> reporter: they describe merhige as brilliant but unstable and say after the attack he announced he'd been waiting 20 years for this. tonight, thanks to one observant citizen, they know he cannot come back. michelle kosinski, nbc news, miami. when we return after a short break, they were supposed to help the owners of cars like these. so why did the lawyers end up with all the money? nbc news investigates. next. ♪ with the centers for disease control and prevention saying... that vaccination is still your best protection, walgreens and take care clinics... now offer h1n1 flu vaccinations...

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if you buy a faulty product from a big corporation and want it held accountable, you might think there is strength in numbers. ban together with others in the

same boat and have your lawyers pursue what's called a class action lawsuit. but what happens when the only real winners are the lawyers? nbc news senior investigative correspondent lisa myers has our report. >> reporter: the suit grew out of all those rollovers a decade ago. a ford explorer suvs equipped with firestone tires. >> another kind of face-off today, this one over the safety of ford suvs and firestone tires. >> the ceo of the ford motor company faces safety questions on -- >> reporter: families of those injured or killed individually sued the companies and collected millions of dollars. but enterprising lawyers also filed another lawsuit against ford, claiming that millions of consumers had been hurt financially because rollover problems diminished the resale value of their explorers. after seven years of wrangling and a 50-day trial a proposed settlement was announced. owners of explorers would get a

coupon worth up to $500 to buy a new ford. >> in my view, they were worthless. absolutely worthless. >> reporter: steve and julie weber, who owned an explorer, objected at the time. >> you had to know that within a year you'd be purchasing a new car. and secondly, you would have to purchase that car within a year. because the coupon then expired. >> reporter: the lawyers claimed the coupons would be worth 300 to 500 million dollars to consumers. but so far only 75 consumers have redeemed their coupons, for a total benefit of $37,500. and how much did the lawyers make? $25 million. professor john simms, who represented consumers against the settlement, calls it an abuse of the system. >> the lawyers were able to hijack the case and use it to earn $25 million for themselves even though they didn't get anything that was worth anything for their clients. >> reporter: auto safety expert clarence ditlow initially

supported the lawsuit but changed his mind. >> so the consumers -- they just got nothing out of it. the attorneys got $25 million. >> reporter: the lawyers declined to be interviewed but said they did their best. they said they were disappointed so few consumers used the coupons but that they fought ford alone for nearly seven years, paying $6 million in expenses and spending thousands of hours trying to secure justice. they also noted that they donated $900,000 of their fee to auto safety research. we also should note that the $25 million received by the lawyers included a bonus of more than $3 million awarded by a california judge who lauded their exceptional skill in a difficult case. we called the judge to ask if he still thinks the lawyers deserved a bonus. he declined to comment. lisa myers, nbc news, washington. call it a big gamble on its way to a big payoff. the 3-d epic "avatar," which cost a fortune to make, came in first at the box office for the

third straight weekend. the film has now pulled in just over $1 billion worldwide. that means it's already the fourth biggest grossing movie of all time and counting. we're back in a moment with a visit to the wild blue yonder and the angels who fly there. r e but nothing comes out! advil cold & sinus knows that the real problem isn't always mucus. it's often swelling caused by inflammation in your nasal passages. the right medicine for the real problem is advil cold & sinus with a strong decongestant that reduces swelling to relieve sinus pressure plus the power of advil for the pain. advil cold & sinus. the right medicine for the real problem. ask for the red box at the pharmacy counter.

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the u.s. navy's famed precision flying squadron is hard at work in the california desert these days, practicing for the spring and summer air show season. but before they packed up and left, we were invited to see how their amazing act all comes together, from the ground up. the paint job is right, but this is not the blue angels plane most people expect to see. the advance team has arrived. it's mid october, and with just six shows left in their eight-month-long season, the entire team soon makes its grand entrance at virginia's oceana naval air station. >> we have a standard approach -- >> reporter: the next three days will be a blur of media interviews and outreach. the excitement they create is a powerful recruiting tool. >> as a kid did you watch the blue angels? >> i did. that's actually why i joined the navy. at seymour johnson air force base when i was 9 years old i saw the blue angels fly. >> reporter: today jeff harper a crew chief on one of their fa-18 hornets. like those who fly them the team on the ground is hand picked and

they'll go over and even into every inch of the jets before they fly. >> i get up to the top of the jet and my crew chief says boss, this jet's ready to go, i know it is. and it's all about trust. >> reporter: the team's next hop is to fly a practice show and memorize critical ground reference points they'll need to safely perform their routine. flying this close together, much closer than in combat, is not dangerous, they say, just incredibly unforgiving. >> i place my head directly underneath here, and my head is, no kidding, about this close away from boss's aircraft when -- >> reporter: so you, the canopy of your airplane is from here to here? >> yep. >> reporter: not for the faint of heart, though at each show site selected civilians are invited to ride in a solo jet. often teachers, civic or business leaders. >> great experience that the navy gave me. great opportunity. >> reporter: people who can help share the navy and marine corps story. >> our primary mission is recruiting, with a secondary mission of, you know, public education. >> reporter: occasionally,

reporters are also invited up. >> flying lesson? >> let's do it. >> reporter: from their pensacola home base i was given a demonstration of virtually every type of maneuver the blue angels perform. >> that's what i'm talking about. >> reporter: pilots say the constant straining against high g forces in an actual show is equivalent to a hard 90 minutes in the gym. no disagreement here. >> first time i felt like i was really at the edge of blacking out. >> reporter: as their season ends, the blue angels head right into winter training. new pilots join the team, and others head back to their combat squadrons, where the flying may not be quite as glamorous but the stakes infinitely higher. my thanks to lieutenant ben walburn for a terrific and safe flight. that's nbc "nightly news" for this sunday. stay tuned for "football night in america" followed by "sunday night football." the bengals take on the jets. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. brian williams will be here tomorrow. for all of us here at nbc news, tomorrow. for all of us here at nbc news, good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com