on our broadcast here tonight, flight check. those tough new airport security rules, the scanners, the patdowns. apparently they're about to change for some flyers. was it a test run by terrorists? how else to explain the device that's caused a big air scare. crime draumi. a well known powerful hollywood player is gunned down in beverly hills. who did it and why? and royal ruckus. tonight, our interview with prince charles has made front page news in great britain because of what he said to a question he hadn't been asked before. "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. as we head into the last weekend before thanksgiving, the holiday travel season is officially upon us now. that means millions of americans traveling by air and a whole lot of them will encounter the new much more aggressive airport security methods for the first time. an increasing number of americans are pushing back against attempts to pat them down or scan their bodies right through their clothes. some airports have found alternatives to the tsa. an increasing number of people are wondering if there isn't a better way and are saying they shouldn't have to go through it. that includes some airline pilots who argue they're in a different category. we want to begin tonight with our own pete williams at reagan national airport tonight. pete, good evening. >> reporter: that argument by pilots has prevailed because the

rules are changing for them starting early next year. they will no longer be required to go through the full body scanners or the new more intrusive patdowns. they'll still have to go through the metal detectors, but these are the first changes and tsa says more they be coming. the new rules were just what pilots like ann po of south florida were hoping for. she stopped flying for continental two weeks ago and sued tsa over the full body scanners. >> it's just not right. i don't believe under any condition to be sexually molesting people and that's what i consider the aggressive patdown they're doing. >> reporter: know 80% of respondents say they do not object to the full body scanners, the internet is buzzing with calls for boycotts, some even set to usic. ♪ >> reporter: they're fodder,

too, for late night talk. >> we have president bush on the program tonight, so everybody gets patted down. >> even you? this is your show. >> makes no sense at all. >> tell me about it. >> reporter: a long-time republican critic of the tsa, congressman john micah of florida, is urging airports to switch to private screeners. one florida airport plans to make that change in january. the tsa administrator says while the new procedures are intrusive, they're necessary to close gaps in air security that the government's own tests showed were letting too much slip through. >> these covert testers, undercover agents if you will, were able to get through our security for several reasons, but one of the common denominators was the lack of a thorough patdown. >> reporter: more lawsuits are coming from passengers who claim the new rules are unconstitutional, violating the

fourth amendment's ban on unreasonable searches. >> in the past, there must be some reasonable suspicion that they're involved in some kind of criminal activity. >> reporter: courts have generally approved airport security methods, finding they're justified by the need to maintain security. and some legal scholars believe the new regime is likely to be upheld, too. >> that doesn't mean the judges give a blank check to the government, but it means they're cautious about stepping in and overturning a regulation that the executive branch thinks is necessary. >> reporter: for now, tsa is considering changes to the full body scanners that should show only an outline of a passenger's body, flagging hidden objects. >> sit a general image and the only display shown are the boxes which indicate potential threats found on the body. >> reporter: tonight, tsa says now that it's planning to xempblts pilots, it's starting to talk about whether it should do the same thing for flight

attendants. >> pete williams, thanks. we now know more about an air scare we reported on last night after a suspicious package turned up at the airport in africa. apparently bound for munich. germany was on alert for a possible terror attack. we now know the suspicious device was not a bomb. in fact, it appears to have been designed to be discovered. our own stephanie gosk has been covering this story for us. she's with us from our london bureau tonight. stephanie, good evening. >> good evening, brian. security officials confirmed today that what they thought was a bomb was actually a fake. and that it was made in the u.s. this photo obtained by german television of the alleged device shows wires, batteries and a clock. it has an attached note that reads nonhazardous and gives a name and contact number for a california based company. nbc news reached out to the owner who told us his firm is tiny and he made this model four

or five years ago with some help from his grandmother. soon after the device was found, the fbi visited his office asking him questions. no one, not the police, the germans or the fbi can figure out how the device got to africa. but the confirmation this was a fake does little to lessen terrorism concerns in germany. one official says the danger is a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. >> stephanie, thanks. president obama is on a whirl wind trip. it's all happening in portugal's capital lisbon and our chief white house correspondent chucked to is there tonight traveling with the president. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the president faces two big foreign policy challenges on this short trip to europe. one, work with nato to come up

with some sort of exit straity out of afghanistan. and two, reassure he has political capital at home to get a nuclear arms treaty with russia ratified. after a ceremonial welcome in lisbon, president obama set out his chief goal for this summit. nato agreement on an eventual exit strategy from afghanistan. >> i look forward to working with our nato partners as we move toward a new phase, a transition to afghan responsibility that begins in 2011. >> reporter: experts say there's no guaranty afghan force also be ready by then. >> make no doubt about it, this has nothing to do with the reality with the on the ground military situation in afghanistan. >> reporter: transition, not withdrawal is the key word now. both the president and vice president are using it repeatedly. >> so this summit is a perfect opportunity to align an approach to transition in afghanistan.

>> we are going to begin to transition. we're keeping that -- that commitment will be kept. >> reporter: the president's battle to persuade the senate to ratify new start, the latest arms reduction treaty with russia. >> the message i've received since i arrived would not be clearer. new start will strengthen our alliance and it will strengthen european security. >> reporter: key republican john kyle is blocking senate ratification, drawing fire from the republican's lone republican ally. >> i'm not ascribing motivations to anybody. at this point, i'm simply trying in as civil a manner as possible to say, please do your duty for your country. >> reporter: and biden says u.s. relations with russia hang in the balance. >> the reason why the -- we're having such success in real sanctions against iran is because russia is cooperating. medvedev stuck himself out on line for this. >> reporter: the stakes couldn't

be higher for the president. >> it would make the president look weak internationally if he's declared this to be his top priority, if it's a simple, straightforward agreement, which it is, and he still can't get it through the senate. >> reporter: back to john kyle, who is the republican holding this up, brian. there is some very close allies of the white house that would like the president to get tougher with kyle. this is a moment they think he could personalize this and declare a political war on this. but there are others in the white house who think that's risky, because it could unite republicans. there's an outside group tonight that's got a new tv ad up in arizona using the daisy mushroom cloud to hit kyle on this. >> chuck todd traveling with the president tonight. you heard what chuck just reported about, afghanistan. at the same time the u.s. is escalating its on the ground war tactics in afghanistan by bringing in some big ticket

hardware associated with more conventional ground war. tonight, lester holt is in afghanistan for this weekend's broadcast. he's at bagram airfield tonight. lester, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. the marines are bringing in 16 m 1 a 16shgs battle manks. the marines tay this gives the commanders on the ground more flexibility to strike start and fast and not wait for attack aircraft. meantime, i just returned from helmand province earlier today where i had a chance to visit with the general in charge of operations there, general richard mills. he took me to the town of marjah, which early this year was the scene of a major marine offensive. they took the town back from the taliban. we were able toalk around the central parts of marjah safely. the edges of the town still having problems, still ied

attacks. but they claim success in the center of the town. and to underscore the arrival soon of those big tanks, major general mills told me there could be no letup in the winter fights. in his words, the taliban will get no rest. >> lester holt in afghanistan. we'll look for your reporting all weekend. our interview with prince charles airing tonight on nbc is making big headlines tonight in the uk. all because of a single question we asked him, which apparently had not been asked directly before, will camilla, his wife, ever become wife? so back to our london bureau we go. nbc's jim maceda. jim, this has apparently set off a big reaction tonight. >> brian, all the focus in london was supposed to be on the dated venue for the wedding of kate and william. but instead the buzz is about prince charles and his second wife, camilla.

it all started with an honest question. >> will she become queen of england? >> reporter: clearly catching the prince off guard. >> that could be. >> reporter: those three words "that could be" set off a media firestorm. leading the news on britain's main tv channels. and reigniting a 5-year-old controversy. will camilla ever be queen? at the time charles married camilla, britons expressed little support. many here saw her as a factor in the breakup of his marriage to princess diana. so instead, camilla could be given the title princess consort, not queen, and the matter was laid to rest. until the question was asked in an unscripted interview and the controversy has blown up again. >> charles admit for the first time that camilla could be

queen. >> reporter: and as charles paid a visit to flood victims in cornwall, already banner headlines in some of tomorrow's british papers are not about the wedding of principle and his fiance, kate, but about camilla and questions that have divided the nation. just the kind of headline the house of windsor doesn't need. tonight, clarence house is saying there has been no change that camilla is and will remain prince's consort. but there's no question this will overshadow preparations for the wedding of a prince and his indisputable queen to be. >> more from that interview later on. thanks, jim maceda in our london bureau. when rehear from the prince later, as we continue on a friday night, we'll hear how he's using his high profile and making a difference for the planet, which he cares about deeply. but first, the awful,

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the makers of the painkillers of darvocet have agreed to pull them off the market. new data links the drugs to abnormal heart rhythms that can be fatal. darvon has been on the market since 1957. strong warnings about heart risks were added to its labels. los angeles has been consumed this week, not with any latest movie release or bad celebrity behavior. this time it's a real-life murder mystery involving one of the most powerful publicists in the entire movie business. our report tonight from nbc's george lewis. >> reporter: it was an unlikely spot for a street shooting. beverly hills. and she was an unlikely target. ronnie chasen, 64-year-old movie

publicist, well known in the movie industry. >> people in hollywood are more than horrified. they are in absolute shock. >> reporter: she was the go-to person if you wanted to get your movie promoted for oscar contention. last year's oscar winners "slumdog millionaire" for example. monday night, chasen was hobnogging just off the red carpet. afterward, she drove into befrry hills. about at 12:30 as she was turning towards home, officials say another car, perhaps a big suv, pulled alongside her and someone opened fire, shattering the passenger window of chasen's war. last night, the mayor of beverly hills visited the crime scene. >> from the angles of shattered glass and all that, we think that it was at a higher angle than just straight. so it could have been an suv or a little higher car. >> reporter: from here where the

shots were fired, chasen continued down this side street, until her car hit a light pole. police are reviewing surveillance camera video from homes on this block. chasen was still alive when paramedics arrived but pronounced dead an hour later at the hospital. on sunday, a hollywood who's who will turn out for her funeral. george lewis, nbc news, beverly hills, california. up next here tonight, a television legend gives out some early christmas gifts. you can imagine the reaction during a recession. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week,

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a former president and former first lady from two different administrations. in this case, george w. bush and nancy reagan. they were together last night at the reagan library in california, where mr. bush was talking about his new memoir "decision points." we haven't seen much of mrs. reagan lately, but she's doing fine at age 89. looks like the latest harry potter movie is a monster, piling more millions into a franchise worth billions. hollywood.com says it earned $24 million from midnight screenings alone. that puts it third in the record books for midnight debuts. the weekend is just getting started. if you had tickets for the oprah winfrey show for any day of this year, this was the day you wanted. this was her final favorite annual favorite things. audience member also need a wheel barrel to take home all

their stuff. they had honest to god medics standing by. people came close to collapse. among the things every audience member got, your diamond watch, digital camera, cashmere, five years of net flicks, a 52-inch flat screen tv, a royal caribbean cruise. that's not yet half the list. there's a ton more. like every year it started with a reuss. the audience came in, they told today's show would be about meditation. when we come back, more of our conversation with prince charles and a side of him many americans haven't seen. it's tonight's "making a difference." [ male announcer ] an everyday moment can turn romantic anytime. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. ♪

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[ female announcer ] why wait? ask about toviaz today. finally tonight, here covering two things. we've been covering our planet here all this week, and on fridays, we look at those trying to make a difference. so that brings us back to that interview with prince charles. a one-hour special airs here on nbc tonight, followed by his own documentary on the environment, which is and has been his passion. and at his getaway home in scotland, and yes, his home is a castle, he spoke to us with great passion on that topic. >> we've ceased to understand, i think any way, the need, not

only do we take from nature and what she gives us, but we need to give something back. >> he wants nothing less than for people, each one of us, to rethink our place in the natural world. and to re-evaluate literally what nature does for us. >> we don't even, for instance, value properly the vastly important services nature provides us with. >> like? >> like the rainforest, for instance, which provide billions of tons of water vapor every day, which provides rainfall, which we all depend on. they act as a gigantic carbon sink. trillions and trillions of dollars worth of services completely gone. >> he calls it natural capital, placing a dollar value on nature's services and factoring those dollars into our decision making. >> if we construct a inknow

vative market mechanism which can regard the protection enhancement of ecosystems, whether on sea or land, which produces the income from natural capital, then we might get somewhere in the future for our grand children. >> in case you missed it, prince charles wants nothing less than to remake the world's economy. >> everybody is terrified. that to suggest looking at economics in another way is a threat to capitalism itself. but if capitalism itself doesn't take into account natural capital, we're all stuffed. i mind about your children and grandchildren, and i think we are failing miserably in our duty if we don't take these matters very seriously indeed. because by god, their lives are going to be in misery. >> and a reminder, you can see my full interview with prince charles in a "dateline" special

tonight, 9:00, 8:00 central time. that broadcast will be followed by "harmony," the prince's own documentary on the environment. for us, for now, that's our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. lester holt will be with you this weekend, reporting from afghanistan. we hope to see you right back here on monday. in the meantime, have a good weekend. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com