on the broadcast tonight, murder charges against the man who shot and killed trayvon martin. tonight, he's in custody in florida. we'll have reaction to the prosecutor's decision. >> defiance. a report north korea may fire off the rocket as early as tonight, and we're there. the revelation. if you have ever wondered what was going on in that famous photo, tonight, hillary clinton reveals the truth of that night. and taking a stand. ashley judd, her first television interview fighting back against rumors and insults about the way she looks in a society she says is out of whack. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. tonight, george zimmerman, the armed neighborhood watch volunteer who shot an unarmed teenager named trayvon martin after a scuffle, has been charged with murder in the second degree. he has been free, released by police in sanford, florida. he was not arrested until just late today. after weeks of protests and national attention, the case of trayvon martin has now entered a decidedly new phase. our team is in place, and we begin our coverage of this still unfolding tonight with kerry sanders in florida. good evening. >> good evening. the special prosecutor has charged george zimmerman with second degree murder. george zimmerman, 28 years old, was taken into custody, according to the special prosecutor. he turned himself into the federal department of law enforcement. there was no issue in the fact that he was taken into custody. he is going to eventually be

brought here within the next 24 hours to sanford, to the seminole county court where he will be read the charges officially and also have his first appearance where he can ask for a bond to be released from jail. this is what angela corey had to say just a few minutes ago. >> today, we filed an information charging george zimmerman with murder in the second degree. a capias has been issued for his arrest. with the filing of that information and the issuance of the capias, he will have a right to appear in front of a magistrate in seminole county within 24 hours of his arrest and thus formal prosecution will begin. >> the special prosecutor says that if "stand your ground" becomes an issue, she will fight that vigorously. she would not give any details on if there were new facts that surfaced during her 20-day investigation. the authorities say that they

did a thorough investigation and that the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin on that rainy night here back on february 26th, was not simply self defense, but rather a crime. brian. >> kerry sanders, starting off our coverage from sanford, florida, kerry, thanks. >> with us in the studio, our chief legal correspondent, savannah guthrie. savannah, you're the lawyer here, not me, but as i understand it, other than premeditated murder in the first degree, this is the toughest possible charge. you also said also tough to prove. >> tough to prosecute. these facts are ambiguous. one person who was a witness to this, trayvon martin, no longer with us. it's a he said, george zimmerman's account, versus perhaps the accounts of witnesses. but as far as we know, even some of the witness testimony is conflicting. bottom line, this is going to be a very fact-intensive prosecution. where there is ambiguity, in fact, our legal system sets it up so the benefit of the doubt goes to the accused.

add to that, you have florida's stand your ground self defense laws, and actually, this defendant will have an opportunity to go before a judge before there's even a trial and argue that he was acting in self defense. if he can prove it by a preponderance of the evidence, a much lower standard, a judge could dismiss the case. >> how are you feeling if you're say, the former police chief in sanford, florida. he was walking around as late as lunch time this afternoon? >> it's an embarrassment for the police force because what they did is essentially say we can't arrest. there's nothing we can do here. george zimmerman said it's self defense and that's the end of the story. now we see this experienced prosecutor from out of the community saying these cases are hard, but we fight them every day and we're going to get justice for trayvon martin. it's a black eye for the department, and also what was lost in the early hours, evidence that was not collected that may have the prosecutor at a bit of a disadvantage if she tries to bring the charges.

>> savannah, thank you, as always. we want to go to nbc's ron allen, also in sanford, florida, where he has covered this story for weeks himself, with some reaction to the prosecution's decisions. ron, good evening. >> good evening, brian. i think the feeling here is one of relief that the special prosecutor has finally made a decision and made an arrest. this is a city of 50,000 that has been on edge and just been under siege by all of the protests, some people would say to you have been going on for so long. no one, of course, is more relieved than the parents of trayvon martin. here is some of what they had to say from washington after the special prosecutor's announcement. >> we simply wanted an arrest. nothing more, nothing less, just an arrest. and we got it. and i say thank you. thank you, lord. thank you, jesus.

secondly, i just want to speak from my heart to your heart, because a heart has no color. it's not black, it's not white. it's red. and i want to say thank you from my heart to your heart. >> this is just the beginning. we have a long way to go. and we have faith. the first time we marched, i looked to the sky and i just told myself, when i walk, i will walk by faith. we will continue to walk by faith. we will continue to hold hands on this journey, white, black, hispanic, latino, we will continue to walk. we will march and march and march until the right thing is done. thank you. >> there's also been a lot of positive reaction from the advocates and civil rights

activists marching and rallying with the martin family saying this is a good first step. there's still a long way to go as mr. martin just said. we just heard from the mayor of sanford, mayor jeff triplette, who was urging calm, urging the people to let the justice system take its course, urging paceance, and this is just the beginning because the charges face a lot of charges for the police department here, the police department that accepted george zimmerman's claim of self defense at the scene and didn't arrest him. the police chief has stepped aside, but the mayor is trying to bring stability back to the city, and there will be no threat of economic boycotts which is one thing that the marchers have threatened to esckate if there was not justice for trayvon martin's family. now we go forward, but the beginning of a long process. a trial that could be months if not longer, away. still a federal investigation of what went on, still investigations of the police department, how they handled the

matter, so a long way yet for sanford, florida, as this case continues. brian. >> ron allen in sanford, florida, a community he's become familiar with over the last few weeks. >> a program no, nbc news will continue to cover the latest developments in the story, and trayvon martin's parents will be in our nbc studios tomorrow morning on "today." the other big story we're watching tonight, north korea may fire off a rocket as early as tonight. despite global pressure not to, and global attention because of it. >> richard engle remains on the ground in pyongyang. >> earlier tonight, we were taken to see the main mission control room here in pyongyang. 16 enj noors in the entire room. the big screens were showing a live transmission of the rocket, but there were only about six

televisi telephone lines, and experts we were speaking to said there's a real risk this sat lyle will never actually make it into orbit and that the rocket could actually come crashing down, and that would be an enormous embarrassment for north korea because one of the main motivations for the rocket launch is to establish the credentials of the new leader, kim jang-un. >> richard engle, thanks. >> there was a big scare today in a part of the world where memories of the devastating '04 tsunami are still fresh. today's 8.6 earthquake struck off the coast of indonesia in mid-afternoon, touching off a panic in the streets of banda aceh. it was felt across the region, in india, thailand, singapore. two hours later, again, a powerful aftershock, further rattling nerves. tonight, tsunami warnings have been lifted, thankfully.

it's relief, and it's enormous relief after what they have been through. still ahead, as "nightly news" continues this evening, that look on hillary clinton's face the night the u.s. went after bin laden. tonight, for the first time, she talks about some of the details, what was going on that we didn't know about then. and later, the story behind what they're able to charge for ebooks. tonight, the government has come down hard on apple. all right, let's decide what to do about medicare and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us, but they never really listen... listen...it's not just some line item on a budget; it's what i'll have to live on... i live on branson street, and i have something to say... [ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation on medicare and social security out from behind closed doors in washington. because you've earned a say.

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secretary of state hillary clinton was in annapolis last night. she talked in dramatic detail about what happened the night osama bin laden was hunted down and killed by the team of navy s.e.a.l.s. her reflections were prompted by a question by a mid-shipman who asked her what we all wondered at the time, what were you thinking as you watched it happen? andrea mitchell has more from secretary clinton. >> it is a white house photo that captures all of the drama of a command decision fraught with risk. in the situation room, concern is high. what if they fail? >> it was a pretty intense, tense, stress fful time. and i'm not sure anybody breathed for 35 or 37 minutes. for me, the worst part was when one of the helicopters, the tail got stuck, and it was not flyable. >> she thinks about jimmy carter's failed iran hostage

rescue in 1980. >> we got the word they thought they had killed bin laden, but think about what they had to do because it was imperative that we take the body. >> they needed bin laden's dna to prove he was dead and had to get out before pakistan's military knew they were there. but first, the downed chopper had to be blown up. >> the s.e.a.l.s had to take the women and children out of the house to get them away from the site of where the disabled helicopter was. all of this is happening, you know, the bodies going out, the women and children are coming in. the reserve helicopter is on its way, but it's not there yet. you know, there was a lot of breath holding. and then finally, you know, all of the helicopters were up and out and on their way to -- back to afghanistan. >> then, as they walked to the east room for the president's address to the nation --

>> we heard these incredible cheers and shouts and all of these students from around the area had just spontaneously come to the gates of the white house. >> two years earlier, clinton caused a ruckus telling pakistan's government she couldn't believe none of them knew where bin laden was hiding. it turns out she was probably right. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. up next, what a card carrying member of congress said today that harkened back to another time, and not our proudest. when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule.

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is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. republican congressman allen west of florida retired 22 year army veteran of iraq and afghanistan, serving his first term in congress, today made an allegation that while false, harkened back to a dark time in american history when senator joe mccarthy became synonymous with a red scare, an effort to

root out communists, real and imagined, from the u.s. government. the congressman was asked today about those he serves with in the house. >> what percentage of american legislature do you think are card carrying international socialists? >> a good question. i believe it's about 78 to 81 members of the congress. >> the congressional progressive caucus, as you might imagine, was surprised and offended. they issued a statement saying in part, quote, calling fellow members of congress communists is reminiscent of the days when joe mccarthy divided americans with name calling and modern day witch hunts, end of quote. it's kind of like mcdonald's

growing their own potatoes for french fries. delta airline is trying to buy its own refinery to supply jet fuel. the conaco philips plan and trainer pa could go for $100 million or more. but since delta airlines is one of the biggest buyers of jet fuel in the world, the company thinks it would be a worthy investment. the justice department is suing apple and two big book publishers accusing them of conspiring to raise the price of ebooks. the action comes at a time when millions of americans continue turning to ebooks. recent studies said 1 in 5 americans has read an ebook in the past year. now the government says they have been paying too much for the convenience. our report from nbc's pete williams. >> jumping into the exploding market for electronic books, the justice department accused publishing company executives of illegally agreeing with each other to raise prices and limit

competition. >> we allege these executives knew full well what they were doing. that is taking steps together to make sure the prices consumers paid for ebooks were higher. >> the government said the publisher panicked when amazon started selling ebooks for its kindles for a reduced price, $9.99. prices, $9.99. they feared they were demand lower prices for all books. and they teamed up with apple as they were about to launch the ipad and agreed to charge more for ebooks and stop allowing amazon to undercut them. >> as a result of the alleged kin spiracy, we believe consumers paid millions of dollars more for an assortment of the most popular titles. >> government lawyers said it jacked up ebook prices by as much as $5. the government accuses apple of conspiring with five of the nation's largest book publishers, three of them insisting they did nothing wrong, nonetheless, settled with the government and agreed to change their conduct.

apple and the other two deny the charges and say they'll continue to fight in court. a separate lawsuit brought by the state seeks money back. for consumers who were overcharged. they could get checks or discounts on future ebooks. >> people who remember the time when the prices of ebooks seemed to go up overnight, as in next morning, they were more, is that what we're talking about here? >> precisely. that's what the justice department said led them to investigate this in the first place. in one three-day period, the prices suddenly took a big jump. that's when they began taking a look at this in 2009. >> pete williams with his ereader in our d.c. newsroom tonight. thank you. up next for everyone who has ever been insulted for their looks, ashley judd has taken a stand. and tonight, in an exclusive interview with us, she tells us why. protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong,

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that put her in the news. specifically, rumors she had work done when what she had was a round of steroids for a sinus infection that wouldn't go away after the flu. attacked on the web for having a puffy face, she took to the web in an essay in the "daily beast" and fought back. tonight in her first television interview since it all began, she talks about what motivated her in her own words. >> i don't think that being a public figure makes it legitimate to criticize people the way they are currently criticized in this cultural climate. i got sick in february. i just did everything i could, including steroids, because we just could not get ahead of this infection. and i had a very early appearance on a monday morning and got up and went about my business, and the next think i knew, i was being slammed by

these extraordinary rumors. i started to catch the double bind where you know, my face looked puffy. she's had work. you know, and then look at the same image in a different interpretation by a separate set of people is, oh, come on. she doesn't even have any wrinkles at all. she's clearly had work. i look bad, i had work. i look too good, i had work. there was an incredibly nasty vitriolic and gloating tone about it. i think it's the objectification of girls and women and this hypersexualization of the society that invites the criticism. we're anesthetized by it, we're taught not to admit how much it hurts. just go buy more hairspray, get back to the gym, buy another, you know, butt clencher exercise dvd. you know, that's how to undo the hurt, when in fact that's just contributing to the pain. i want people to share their

puffy face moment and talk about being excoriated, being humiliated, being objectified, being ridiculed, and men as well. my husband and i watch a lot of motor sprt in our house, and the products that are marketed to men and the messages that boys are given about what it means to be masculine and sexy are so ridiculous. equally so. i think what happened to me is very common. it might look a little different in other people's lives because they may not be public figures, but we all go through it. >> and ashley judd will say even more on this topic. we will air that tonight on "rock center" at 9:00 p.m., 8:00 central. we hope you can join us for that later this evening. for us, for now, that's our broadcast on a wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. night.