>> most impressive. that's the broadcast now. on our friday night broadcast, her side of the story. tonight what one of herman cain's accusers is saying as new poll numbers show the effect of the scandal on his candidacy. waiting game. tonight the fate of michael jackson's doctor is in the jury's hands. we are live tonight at the courthouse in los angeles. and congresswoman gabby giffords revealing for the first time what she remembers about the day she was shot. the new and extraordinary details about her struggle to recover and her plans for the future. also tonight, the freshman 15, the field of dreams and the week's other news. 15, the field of dreams and the week's other news. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. the iowa caucuses are 60 days away.

while it is early yet in the scheme of things, this presidential election season for republicans vying for the nomination, the time to choose is coming sooner rather than later. and all the while the sexual harassment drama has dominated at least the week's political headlines and overshadowed other aspects of the race. it's been a while since we heard about herman cain's 9-9-9 economic plan. instead and again tonight we are hearing about his past. one of the three women who complained of unwanted advances today broke her silence and said through her lawyer she indeed filed a complaint and received a settlement. we begin here tonight with nbc's lisa myers. lisa, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the woman's lawyer says there were several incidents of sexual harassment described only as inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances by cain. he charged that cain for all his denials knows what those incidents were. ♪ [ applause ]

>> thank you. >> reporter: in what had to have been the high point of herman cain's week -- >> love you all. love you. >> reporter: a conservative group gave him a rousing welcome today. >> i have been in washington all week. and i have attracted a little bit of attention. >> reporter: hours later the attention was focused here. lawyer joel bennett went public with his client's version of events, confirmed that she filed a sexual harassment complaint against cain in 1999 while he was ceo of the national restaurant association citing several incidents. >> she made a complaint in good faith about a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the ceo. >> reporter: bennett also confirmed that she received a financial settlement. what about cain's denials? >> mr. cain knows the specific incidents that were alleged. my client filed a written complaint in 1999 against him

specifically and it had very specific incidents in it. if he chooses to not remember or not acknowledge those, that's his issue. >> reporter: the cain campaign's response? we look forward to focusing our attention on the real issues impacting this country. bennett's client, now a spokesperson for a federal agency in washington, chose not to reveal details of the incidents. sources involved with the restaurant group at the time tell nbc that cain's inappropriate behavior was directed at young staffers and usually involved drinking. they say it ranged from comments about their appearance and flirtation to overt sexual overtures such as an invitation to his corporate apartment. cain denies any inappropriate conduct. >> did you tell a woman she looked good? that that dress looks hot? >> no. >> anything? any flirtation you can think of? >> no. >> reporter: so far the accusations are not hurting cain with voters.

a new poll shows his support increased in the last month and that most -- 55% -- thought the allegations were not a serious matter. and, brian, cain has more potential trouble on the horizon. today a watchdog group filed a complaint with the federal election commission accusing cain's campaign of improperly using money from a nonprofit to pay for ipads and other expenses of his presidential campaign. now the campaign says it has retained outside council to investigate. >> lisa myers starting us off on a friday night from our d.c. newsroom. lisa, thanks. all of this brings us to david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." the question for you on a friday night having worked the phones yourself today, two-part question. what does the white house make of the shape of the republican field and the status and what are republicans saying about this? >> well, let me start with that latter point including insiders within the cain campaign. they are trying to create an

alternative universe for this campaign to operate in where they deflect, deny, accuse the media or his rival campaigns of playing dirty and trying to set him up, even raising the specter of clarence thomas. that speaks well to the base, sharpens his anti-establishment credentials. the problem though republicans have been saying to me today is this going to create a cap for him at the 20% level of support? can he get anything beyond the conservative level of support in the white house wants fire trained on mitt romney. they think he's going to be the nominee. they are still waiting for somebody to really direct their energy against him. >> and as i said, 60 days to go before the iowa caucuses, but just two days to go before we wake up sunday morning and watch "meet the press." have a good weekend. now to southern california and the trial of michael jackson's physician, dr. conrad murray. tonight dr. murray's fate is in the hands of the jury.

nbc's jeff rossen covering for us. he's outside court in l.a. jeff, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian, good evening. still a fluid situation here. the jury has been deliberating all day and not a peep from them. not a single note, not a single readback from the judge. they took a one-hour lunch break earlier this afternoon and then a late afternoon snack break. now they are back in the jury room deliberating again. once again, still no word. keep in mind conrad murray is not charged with murder here. he's charged with involuntary manslaughter. that means the jury is not debating whether or not murray killed michael jackson, but rather whether murray was criminally negligent in leading to the death of michael jackson. that is what is happening inside the courthouse. i want to show you what's happening outside a bit as well. there are a couple dozen protesters, most of them michael jackson fans, chanting and yelling at passers-by. so far they have been peaceful but there is a large police presence here. there is a media frenzy inside

the courthouse as well as the international media arrives. we are still on verdict watch. it could happen at any moment. we are told they will be deliberating for at least another hour. >> jeff, thanks. now overseas to greece where the economic chaos has turned into a full blown political crisis. europe's plan to try to fix greece's debt problem is hanging by a thread now and so is the government. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has made his way to athens, is with us from there tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. it is now after 1:00 in the morning and the greek prime minister george papandreou has survived a confidence vote in parliament. that vote came after the prime minister tried to reassure international markets that greece will abide by its international commitments, pay back its massive debt, stay with the euro and accept a bailout plan.

what's at stake here is not just is solvency of the greek economy, but the general economic health of europe and its potential impact on the united states, but at least tonight some signs of stability from greece. brian? >> richard engel in athens tonight. thanks. here at home the jobs numbers for october is in. employers added 80,000 numbers. that was below what economists expected. unemployment ticked down a notch to 9% which is the lowest it has been in six months' time. the jobs numbers were on the agenda as the president held a news conference in cannes, france, the site of the g20 summit where the main topic was the economy in europe and here in the u.s. nbc news chief white house correspondent chuck todd is traveling with the president. >> reporter: wrapping up his two-day trip to france for the

g20 economic summit the president argued europe must solve its debt crisis on its own or the u.s. recovery could falter. >> if europe isn't growing it's harder to do what we need to do scal house in order.ng our >> reporter: the president urged the world's other leading economies to pass new growth measures like his american jobs act. >> in the united states we recognize as the world's largest economy, the most important thing we can do for global growth is to get our own economy growing faster. >> reporter: the president took issue with calling his plan the " word stimulus but was pleased the collective focus of the g20 wasn't on austerity measure this is time. >> we didn't have a long conversation about stimulus measures. we had a conversation about what steps could be taken to spur economic growth. that may not always involve government spending. >> reporter: the white house believes the summit was a success for two reasons. one, they were able to force the europeans not to rely on help from the u.s. or chinese. two, they were able to shift the global economic conversation

away from austerity measures. chuck todd, nbc news, cannes, france. >> jon corzine is in the midst of a spectacular fall from grace. he was head of goldman sachs, a u.s. senator and later governor of new jersey. his latest job as head of financial brokerage firm mf global ended today. the firm failed four days ago. over $600 million in customer funds is missing and the whole enterprise is now under investigation. corzine hired a prominent criminal defense lawyer. still ahead here on a friday night, congresswoman gabby giffords, her story is now out. and tonight, what we now know about the shooting and the tough road for her since. and later, righting a wrong. they have the rest of their lives ahead of them but they were locked up for something they didn't do. tonight they are finally free. tonight they are finally free.

it has been ten months now since that awful day in a safeway grocery store parking lot in tucson, arizona. tonight because a copy of a long awaited book has gotten out, we are learning for the first time what congresswoman gabby giffords herself remembers about that day as well as some of the extraordinary details about her struggle to recover and come back. we get the story tonight from nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: two months after the carnage in tucson, the assassination attempt last january, gabrielle giffords

finally grasped what had happened telling her husband mark kelly she remembered the attack with three words. shot, shocked, scary. giffords and kelly write about her recovery in a book out this month. "gabby, a story of courage and hope." the associated press obtained an advance copy reporting that kelly had tried to tell his wife that six people had been killed, but for a long time she had not understood. six months after the shooting she wanted to know more. he began by explaining the two friends, aide gabe zimmerman and judge john roll had died. then he named the other victims including 9-year-old christina taylor greene. so overcome, giffords could not continue therapy. she was left with only 50% of her eyesight. it nearly took her ability to speak. kelly recalls how panic swept over giffords the first time she realized she couldn't talk. when george and barbara bush stopped to see her kelly said

she struggled and could only utter "chicken." with speech therapy she can now express herself. giffords writes a chapter called "gabby's voice" where she proclaims, i will get stronger, i will return. close friend senator gillebrandt has helped fund-raise for gifford giffords's next campaign. >> she's saying more, able to articulate and she's stronger. >> reporter: when it comes to politics she has time. giffords doesn't have to make her re-election ambitions known and official until spring. we learn about a more personal struggle. 41-year-old giffords and her husband were married in 2007 and hoped to have a baby. they write giffords had undergone fertility treatments before the shooting. brian? >> kelly o'donnell with a look at the story from our washington bureau tonight. kelly, thanks. up next this evening, three teenagers sentenced to decades behind bars for a crime they

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in illinois tonight two men are free after spending almost two decades behind bars for a crime they did not commit. and a third is due to be released soon. their lawyers say dna proved their innocence, but not before they lost family, friends and the dreams of a bright future that other kids are allowed to have. the story tonight from our justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: first it was robert taylor, walking out of an illinois state prison and greeted by his father. >> i said i was going to be here if i had to drive. >> reporter: it came 19 years after he was arrested for a brutal crime prosecutors now concede he didn't commit. >> with a family like mine, they

refused to allow me to give up. >> that wasn't going to happen. >> them not teaching me how to give up -- >> i'm a fighter. he's a fighter. >> reporter: another man convicted of the same crime, james harden, released this afternoon. >> i want to drive a truck. do a little traveling. i have been sitting for almost 20 years. let me move. >> reporter: his brother jonathan barr was to be freed as well. now in their 30s they were teenagers when they were arrested in 1991 and accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl near an interstate highway in a south side chicago suburb though none of their dna matched evidence from the crime scene. the case began to collapse this year when a judge agreed to have crime scene dna retested. it turned out to match the dna of a convicted rapist, a man who was 33 at the time of the murder and lived about a mile from where the body was found. he's now in jail on other charges. while harden and barr were in prison both their parents' died and they missed out on high school and any chance at college.

>> they lose the best years of their lives. meanwhile the real perpetrator who was a convicted robber, a convicted rapist is at liberty out there committing more serious, violent crimes. >> reporter: defense lawyers say about one-fourth of defendants who were wrongly convicted gave false convictions and teenagers are easily pressured into signing something to make interrogations stop. now free, the men say they will try to make a fresh start after wrongful convictions took away nearly 20 years of their lives. pete williams, nbc, washington. it's as big as an aircraft carrier and it's coming our way. now the asteroid yu-55 will be close enough to get a picture of it. it's going to pass closer to the earth than the moon is, closer than anything has come since 1975. scientists promise it won't make impact though it's good to have your affairs in order. a lot of people reacted to our story about the giant

california sequoia that came crashing down to earth and the debate now over what to do with it. most say tunnel through the tree and leave it there. you can join thousands of others in this robust interactive discussion on our website -- nbcnightlynews.com. when we come back here tonight, some news about the new iphone, the field of dreams, the so-called freshman 15. as the week goes down to the wire, a few things we thought you should know. 15. as the week goes down to the wire, a few things we thought you should know. they offer me one-on-one guidance to help me choose my investments. not just with my savings plan here at work. they help me with all of my financial goals. looking good, irene. thanks to fidelity, i can stay on top of my financial future, huh? good one. why, thank you. whether it's saving for retirement, college, or anything else, contact a fidelity investment professional today.

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it was another busy week around here. while we were busy covering the big stories as always happens a few things got by. so in the waning minutes remaining in our broadcast week as we go down to the wire on a friday night, tonit we look at what else we learned in this first week of november. >> food fight! >> reporter: whatever actually happens at college, new research is casting doubt on the notion of the freshman 15, the reason so many kids come home heavy at thanksgiving. the lead researcher says it's more like three and a half pounds and it's more about transitioning into young adulthood than it is pizza at 2:00 a.m. or anything remotely connected to the meal plan your parents pay for.

speaking of homecomings, look at the joy in this dog's ears. that's a good girl named jezebel running to her dad, a british raf pilot home from libya. >> is this heaven? >> no. it's iowa. >> reporter: the field of dreams is being sold. the new owners of the iowa corn field in the costner baseball classic say it will now be preserved as part of a huge youth baseball complex including a practice dome. >> this is the iphone 4s. >> reporter: trouble in paradise. while the apple iphone 4s has shattered sales records and most owners seem to love it, some of the batteries are fading too fast. the company's reaction was classic apple to the core. silence at first. then acceptance. a sleek statement saying a fix is on the way. >> ask not -- >> reporter: most americans know the rest by heart but a new book by our friend chris matthews said it was a borrowed phrase from the headmaster of

the future president's prep school. we lost two great originals this week, men who entertained us. if you watched the oscars, you have seen this name for 14 years. gil cates took over and gave us memorable hosts like letterman, martin, crystal, whoopi and stewart. he won an emmy for the oscars and he taught at ucla where he died this week at age 77. if you have ever curled up on a saturday night with "a prairie home companion" the great garcon -- garriso garrison keiler radio show, then you heard the great sounds of tom keith. [ barking ] >> reporter: that's tom plague himself in the film about the show. cuums, babies and bagpipes and the crunch of minnesota snow like nobody else. you name it, he played it. he was a styrofoam symphony and king of the props. so props to tom keith who left

us too soon at 64. in other news we learned sitting around increases your chances for colon and breast cancer though we are pretty sure a half hour a day is good for you. we also learned the president is fit at 50 as his doctor put it. he says the president is now tobacco-free. in other health news an exhaustive european study set out to find exactly what it is about the sound of fingernails on a blackboard that is so awful. the answer seems to involve the mechanics of our ear canals. medical proof that that sound in particular is a genuine irritating pain. in a related story we made it through the week without mentioning kim kardashian. >> that is our broadcast on a friday night and for this week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. lester holt will be here with you this weekend. remember, we fall back tomorrow night. set the clocks back. we hope to see you right back here on monday.

in the meantime, have a good weekend. in the meantime, have a good weekend. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com