on our broadcast tonight the back lash here in london about what mitt romney said here yesterday about the olympics. it erupted today in public and now the question is, how did a romney campaign overseas trip end up offending so many people here in london? burning up. just when you thought it couldn't get worse what we learned today about how bad the record drought of 2012 really is and how it's hitting home for so many american families. a royal reception for the olympic flame today in this final countdown to the games. also tonight, the microsystems rmaestro john williams gives a rare interview and performance. something very special for "nbc

nightly news." tonight's broadcast from london nightly news." tonight's broadcast from london begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. here in london with the opening ceremony now just 24 hours away, something mitt romney said during our conversation with him here yesterday exploded here in london today and actually caused a bit of tension with the british prime minister and then late today the mayor of london exhorted a huge crowd in hyde park to prove mitt romney wrong by pulling off the olympic games without a hitch. this all started during the one moment yesterday when our exclusive interview with him turned to these london olympics and some of the security problems they've had. in the short time you've been here in london do they look ready to your experienced eye? >> you know, it's hard to know just how well it will turn out. there are a few things that were

disconcerting, the stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials. that obviously is not something which is encouraging because in the games there are three parts that make games successful. number one of course are the athletes. that is what overwhelmingly the games are apart. number two the volunteers. they'll have great volunteers here. but number three are the people of the country. do they come together and celebrate the olympic moment? and that's something which we only find out once the games actually begin. >> and so suddenly with just that comment what was supposed to be a low impact, upbeat, good will, three-nation overseas trip turned into quite a challenge today for the traveling romney campaign. peter alexander covers the campaign for us. he's traveling with the candidate here in london to start us off. boy, this got interesting in a hurry. >> sometimes a small thing concerning a big deal, brian, especially overseas. mitt romney certainly did not expect this when he planned his trip to london and now on the

eve of the opening ceremony he spent the day on the defensive. it wasn't the cheering british welcome mitt romney was hoping for. >> mitt romney has turned on the charm during his visit to britain by questioning the country's ability to host the olympic games. >> reporter: but the message that he wanted to get out on this trip has been obscured. >> if he is here to make a friend he's got a funny way of showing it. >> reporter: criticism explode onondaga newspaper headlines. "the guardian," "the times," and the telegraph fired off this commentary. mitt romney is perhaps the only politician that could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive. touring the olympic park in london this morning prime minister david cameron weighed in. >> well, we are holding an olympic games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world and, of course, it's easier if you hold an olympic games in the middle of nowhere.

>> reporter: that middle of nowhere phrase appeared to be a not so subtle shot at salt lake city where romney directed the 2002 winter games. late tonight the spokesman for salt lake city's mayor ralph becker playfully responded david cameron can stop by any time. we'd love to have him and are happy to send a map so he doesn't run into any trouble locating the middle of nowhere. the "new york times" put the entire episode like this. new olympic event. cameron vs. romney. romney had hoped these would be the lasting images of the day. official meetings with british leaders including cameron. >> governor, did you intend to criticize the way london has prepared for these games? >> reporter: but instead, he was forced to try to smooth things over. >> of course there will be errors from time to time, but those are all over shadowed by the extraordinary demonstrations of courage, character, and determination by the athletes. >> reporter: romney's misstep today was a reminder that everything he said on the foreign trip is going to be put

under a microscope. >> reporter: tonight the controversy hasn't died down. at an olympic lighting ceremony this evening london's free speaking mayor boris johnson wasn't appeased. >> a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether we're ready. he wants to know whether we're ready. are we ready? [ cheering ] >> yes we are! >> reporter: and today back in washington the white house tried to capitalize on mitt romney's gaffe and the president's spokesman jay carney declared the president has the, quote, utmost confidence in our close friend and ally the united kingdom in hosting these games. >> it got interesting in a hurry. safe travels as you go on now to israel and poland. peter alexander here with us in london to start us off. there was of course much more to our conversation with governor romney, including talk about the economy, his plan to fix what ails the united states is, after all, the crux and motivation of his campaign.

and we talked about it here in london. >> for me this campaign is overwhelmingly about getting more good jobs for middle income americans, getting them rising incomes. when that happens, they'll have more money to buy the things they want to buy. that helps the economy. they can pay more taxes with higher incomes. that gets us to a balanced budget. we're at a point here where we have two different roads we can go down. one leads to europe. the other leads to the kind of prosperity which has always characterized america. >> europeans would argue we were europe before there was europe back in '08. but we went first of course. >> well, there is no question but that the collapse of our housing and our financial system was what precipitated the trauma that you're seeing throughout the world. what has made it last so long is the improper decisions made over the prior decade where nations abroad and nations in the united states borrowed far too much

money and put themselves if you will at the brink of a precipice. when something came along that caused them to slip it's hard to stop the fall. i understand what it takes to get america back ontrack. we've dealt with some of the tough things that needed to be dealt with but we're unfortunately not headed in the right direction. trillion dollar deficits, massive increases in regulation. proposals to raise taxes on job creators, all businesses in particular, these things will make it very difficult for america's economy to create the jobs we so badly need. mitt romney and his wife ann are here in london in part because they have a competitor in these games. mrs. romney is an investor in a dressage horse that is competing here at the olympics. the romneys will appear together live from right here in london tomorrow morning on today. weather is making news tonight. a rough and active line of deeply embedded severe storms moving across the country this evening stretching from oklahoma all the way up through new

england. a total of 36 million americans are in the path of these storms tonight. tornado watches and warnings posted now throughout the northeast and reports of a tornado this evening in elmira, new york. weather channel meteorologist eric fisher is in the path of this weather in white plains, new york. eric, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we spent most of the day under the sunshine. clouds have overspread though and that severe weather is not very far behind. a line of severe storms has been racing across pennsylvania, new york, and ohio at up to 60 miles per hour knocking down trees and well over 100,000 customers already without power. right now that number expected to go up. take a look at the severe threat area. new england down across the ohio valley all the way to oklahoma a large swath of folks will see damaging wind gusts in excess of 70 miles per hour. the chance for tornadoes which is highest here in new york state. also into western sections of new england and of course the

large hail, torrential rain that goes along with the big, severe weather outbreak should be one of the largest we've seen so far this year. of course when you have that many storms on the map you've got big delays and for a lot of the northeast airports those delays are mounting. brian, i think those folks are probably going to be there for a while. >> eric fisher watching the skies in the northern suburbs of new york city tonight. eric, thanks. turning back overseas now to the crisis in syria, it's been another day of bad and escalating violence in that nation's largest city aleppo and reporting from there has become very difficult. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is on the ground there covering this conflict working in some very dicey conditions today. he was able to file the following report late today from northern syria. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the syrian government is launching a major counteroffensive and rebel sources tell us about a hundred armored vehicles have been sent to join the attack on the city of aleppo. witnesses say that aleppo has

come under a ferocious assault. it has been bombarded over the last 48 hours and there are helicopter gun ships and fighter jets. we've heard the fighter jets in the air heading toward aleppo and also heard what sounds like consistent heavy machine gun fire. the syrian government's main priority right now seems to be retaking control of the major city. aleppo, the commercial capital, and damascus the political capital. at least in damascus the government does seem to be making progress. but all of this comes at a trade-off. the syrian government doesn't seem to have enough troops to both hold all of the country and go on the offensive. while it is focusing on attacking the cities, damascus, and in particular aleppo, it's having to withdraw from rural areas like this one focusing on the cities but abandoning the countryside. brian? >> richard engel in northern syria for us tonight. thanks. back here in london with tower bridge lit up so

beautifully behind us with less than 24 hours to go now until the opening ceremonies, the olympic flame took a majestic victory lap today all around this beautiful city. nbc's chris jansing was stride for stride with that flame and has recovered enough to join us here tonight. hey, chris. >> good evening, brian. well, london has spent seven years and $14 billion preparing for these games. it's no secret that the brits have complained about everything from noise and traffic to costs in these tough economic times. but today that seemed a distant memory as the city threw itself a party. on a glorious day in london, the entire city seemed to bask in the glow of the olympic torch winding its way through packed streets. >> are you happy the games are here? >> oh, very much so. >> reporter: past iconic landmarks from 300-year-old st. paul's cathedral to shakespeare's globe theater to 10 downing street where prime minister david cameron was

nearly lost in the crowd. thousands of people have been lining the streets leading to picadelly circus. 13 million people over the last 70 days. >> i think it's fantastic. >> pretty amazing. >> reporter: union jacks were everywhere. in serious danger of losing their reputation for a stiff upper lip. the torch got a royal welcome at buckingham palace. it was that kind of day. earlier, at a charity event, trying their hand at sports, william and harry missed. kate impressed. across town america's prince of the pool had his say. >> as soon as we get to the village we want to start competing. >> reporter: at the olympic village the u.s. team was officially welcomed at a flag raising ceremony. with anticipation building to

the top-secret opening ceremony, a tease. a brief clip of the rehearsal was officially released. tonight the olympic flame burns in hyde park where 60,000 people affirm london is ready to welcome the world. but the big question tonight is who will be the final torch bearer? the british olympic committee will only say that it was a unanimous decision, brian. >> always over the top, tomorrow night promises to be absolutely over the top. >> it will. >> we'll be watching with you. chris jansing, thanks for that tonight. still ahead for us this evening as we continue what this devastating drought back home could mean for families across the country if it doesn't rain very soon. and a huge raid going after dangerous drugs that are marketed as something else entirely on store shelves in america. if you have copd like i do,

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as we mentioned, a lot of rain across the country tonight but not in the right places for folks caught in the grip of this year's history making drought. it's now covering officially more than half of the united states and latest figures from the u.s. drought monitor show that it's getting worse. it's intensifying and it's leaving a whole lot of american

and just ten miles up the road from here at the old town hall and gift shop they're taking a hit as well. charlene has been here 14 years. she says sales are flat right now and doesn't have high hopes for the rest of the summer.

>> you don't have to be a farmer to have the drought affect you. if it affects the farmer it affects everyone. >> it stacks up and affects everybody. >> reporter: as the drought drags on the misery widens. nbc news, brighton, tennessee. good economic news in both the u.s. and europe send stocks soaring. the dow was up and all three major indexes up more than 1% in total on the day. when we come back, rome alone. what that 11-year-old boy is saying tonight about the flight that triggered a massive investigation not too far from where we are this evening. [ male announcer ] considering all your mouth goes through,

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and then treats day after day, block the acid with prilosec otc.. and don't get heartburn in the first place. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. big story in the u.s. today concerning what have become the big illegal drugs of choice these days. a nationwide crackdown on the so-called synthetics. the products that are marketed as bath salts, sometimes even

plant food, but when taken illegally they make people high. they're mind alt ergo. they've been banned by law but are still available and the feds worry they're being marketed on the sly right at kids. we get our report tonight from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: around the country this week agents in hazmat suits burst into warehouses and home made labs to seize 5 million pacts of synthetic drugs and the dangerous chemicals used to make them. >> it's become a national problem and the nation should be very concerned. >> reporter: synthetic drugs burst on to the scene a few years ago and are sold in convenience stores and gas stations and online as incense and plant food purportedly not for human consumption but in reality authorities say they are powerful stimulants used widely by a growing number of young people for whom the packaging is des island. >> scooby doo, scooby doo. these are clearly marked to

target kids. >> reporter: many users as seen on this sheriff's video have suffered emotional and physical trauma, even death. >> these are substances that are known to be stimulants that can cause psychosis, agitation, paranoia. they basically turn -- can turn a person into a wild beast. >> reporter: the raids took place in more than a hundred cities after authorities warned synthetic drugs are spiraling out of control. >> we are seeing both domestic manufacturing of these illicit drugs and we're also seeing the drugs being manufactured overseas and illegally smuggled into the united states. >> reporter: earlier this month president obama signed a law banning bath salt drugs and other synthetics but officials complained that as soon as a new law is passed illicit manufacturers try to get around it by making slight changes to their formulas. as authorities begin to crack down, they are still coming to terms with the scope of the threat. mark potter, nbc news, miami. we have an update tonight on

the 11-year-old kid we told you about last night, the one who managed to fly from manchester, england to rome without a boarding pass o passport or anything else just by trailing along with a family right through security on to the plane where without a seat assignment he says his first stop was the lavatory. in an interview today with a british newspaper he said his adventure was easier than doing homework, quote, i didn't have anything on me and no one asked me for anything. several airline employees have lost their jobs over the incident. up next here tonight the man behind some very famous music takes a special request from "nbc nightly news." [ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot?

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the instantly recognizable olympic theme music. tonight we get to spend a few moments with the man who wrote that song and so many more, a man who seldom allows television cameras into his life. john williams has put so many of our favorite movies to music over the years. his work makes him probably the best known composer alive today. tonight we will profile john williams on "rock center" and

during our time with him a few days back we had one special request at the piano for a big favorite here at "nightly news." i would like to hear a work of yours called "the mission." it's a great title by the way and people don't know it by its title. >> here's "the mission." >> all right. ♪ ♪ >> now, that was lovely. how about that? the maestro, the composer of our theme song "the mission."

we truly hope you can see our conversation with john williams. it's on tonight's broadcast of "rock center" at 10:00 p.m., 9:00 central. bob costas, meredith vieira, tom brokaw will also be stopping by during the hour. that is "nbc nightly news" for this thursday evening. thank you as always for being here with us. i'm brian williams reporting tonight from london. we sure hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night..