of financialcc1: john yang, nbc news, new york. >>> we will have much more on the tragedy in afghanistan and the economy tomorrow morning on "meet the press." senators kerry and mccain are among david gregory's guests. >>> when "nightly news" continues this saturday, our own richard engel in africa on the ground for what could be a turning point in the effort to feed the starving. >>> and later -- decay, now of urban cc1: a bright spot in the neighborhood, and going for top dollar. cc1:cc1:cc1:cc1:cc1:cc1:: : cc1: >>> we want to show you dramatic pictures out of london where hundreds of people have gathered to protest the death of a young father reportedly killed by police. the march through the streets urned violent with protesterscc setting storefronts and1: bus on ce cars and acc1: fire. >>> for millions of people starving in the heart of africa, a stunning development today in the first ray of hope in months. islamist rebels who had been blocking desperately needed aid deliveries appear to have pulled out of the somali capital of mogadishu. could be a turning point. our chief foreign

we get our report tonight from nbc's john yang. >> reporter: in this gritty neighborhood on chicago's west side, fresh fruits and vegetables take the bus. >> what did you get today? >> i got greens. >> can you show us? >> corn. >> wow, look at those greens. >> i got a honeydew and green tomatoes. >> reporter: this bus stops here once a week. a produce market on wheels selling items often hard to come by in urban markets like this one across the country. liquor stores and convenience stores dot the streets selling processed foods that may not provide the healthiest of diets. >> what you can't afford is an affordable, quality set of fruits and vegetables in these communities 365 days a year. >> reporter: supermarkets are miles away. studies estimate that 31 million americans live in these so-called food deserts. >> residents of the food desert are more likely to die and suffer prematurely from diet related conditions such as diabetes, certain kinds of cancers actually, cardiovascular disease. >> reporter: steven casey lives in a food desert, but he has a car. for those who don't, he dec

john yang, nbc news, new york. >>> we turn now to the weather and the heat wave that seems like it will never end. temperatures reached well above 100 degrees today from oklahoma city to dallas to shreveport and valdosta. and the huge part of the central and southern u.s. has been coping with 100 degree temperatures for the past 24 days straight. life has to go on, but it is not easy, especially for the young and elderly. here's nbc's janet shamlian. >> reporter: high school football, up against a punishing opponent, unrelenting triple digit heat. at st. john's school in houston, they're on defense. >> when they're tired, you're not going to get anything out of them anyway. so it is time to get them out, let them get a sip of water, get somebody else in there and work the drill. >> reporter: in georgia, a solemn memorial for a football player who died after collapsing at practice. doctors say 16-year-old forest jones was a victim of heat stroke. >> just walking around, checking on seniors to make sure they're all right. >> reporter: in baltimore, volunteers are checking in on the elderl

>> john yang in chicago tonight. john, thanks. >>> we saw some astounding new numbers that came out today. they showed the number of americans relying on food stamps has hit another all-time record. these numbers would come as a huge disappointment to president lyndon johnson, who launched his war on poverty back in 1964. nearly 46 million of your fellow citizens are receiving food stamp assistance. that represents 21 million american households. numbers went up in 49 out of 50 states. nowhere more than alabama, which saw 120% surge in food stamp use. listen to this, 36% of the state's population now receiving government food aid, over a third of the people in that state. the department of agriculture suspects the increase can be attributed at least part time to the tuscaloosa tornado. >>> and we are continuing to track the path of tropical storm emily tonight. it has now brushed past puerto rico, targeting the dominican republic and haiti where more than half a million people, remember, are still living in makeshift

thank you very much, john yang for that.course, with these latest job numbers and credit down, there is a lot of speculation right now about whether the u.s. is entering a double dip recession. >> where he starting a double dip recession in your mind? >> we are at risk of one. i don't think the evidence is there that we're actually -- the economy is contracting at this point, but some of the numbers we've seen, the economy grew at a 1% pace. it might be better than the second half, but not that much better. so that leaves uz vulnerable to any kind of shock that comes along and could send us reeling and back to an economic contraction. >> on the heels of shock and reeling there with regard to the dow, we look at the stock market. all over the place. it was certainly down this week. dow 5.8% down. nasdaq 8.1% down. s&p down 7.2%. >> yeah. >> how does all of this affect the every day person? >> when you see the headlines, it's a couple trillion dollars in the second day. the knee jerk reaction is to panic and sell everything. t

nbc's john yang reports. >> reporter: the more than 66,000 new job cuts announced in july were the most layoffs since march 2010 when the impact of the recession was hitting full force. >> these big layoffs are putting more fear into everybody. that's reducing job security, consumer confidence, that's not good for the economy. >> did you need some help. >> reporter: things aren't better at small businesses. they survived the earthquake and fire but second generation owner worries about surviving this economy. >> sometimes i lose sleep at night wondering will i be able to fund my payroll tomorrow and i don't want one of those checks to bounce. >> reporter: a new survey out from the small business association found that 88% of business owners expect the economy to be flat or in a recession over the next 12 months. only 29% say they expect to hire in that time. >> because they're not hiring, individuals don't see a chance to get jobs in the future so they're not spending. >> i want to delve deeper into the mood of small business owners. you have an interesting take in your small business c

>> all right, john yang. john, thank you. stocks, and that credit rating caught the big picture, definitely troubling. but what does it mean for you? joining us this morning is cnbc's brian chatman. brian, good morning. >> hi, jenna. >> let's talk about this s&p downgrade. we know what it means for the country. it's now going to cost us more to borrow money. what does this mean for me and you? >> people are waking up and watching today and think, this is more minor league baseball. aaa to aa. the bottom line is we don't know 100%. there is a certain unknown. the borrowing costs are the key thing for the consumer because it's not just government. it could be businesses. it could be the consumer. that means if you have to pay more for your credit card, more for your mortgage, that's less money in your pocket to spend on other things. on top of that if the borrowing costs of the government go up, the government's going to spend more money on servicing its debt and your tax dollars don't go towards the services you expect. >> we

nbc's john yang has the details. >> good morning.ve long criminal records and friends and families fear they're headed for a violent end. surveillance cameras captured the initial moments of the sibling's flight from justice. >> white four-door vehicle failed to stop. shots were fired at the police officer at different locations on state road 54. >> reporter: in fact, at least 20 shots during the five-mile police chase at speeds of up to 100 miles an hour. police say 21-year-old ryan dougherty, his sister lee grace dougherty, 29, and 26-year-old half-brother dylan dougherty stanley escaped when they shot out a police car's front tire. >> i thank god the officer is safe, the deposition tuties inv okay. >> reporter: authorities believe the trio is responsible for a brazen bank robbery hours later in voaldosta, georgia, firing shots in the ceiling and ordering everyone to the floor. the bandits escaped with an undisclosed amount of money. >> we're not talking about three youths driving around the state of florida, we're talking about th

john l. will be meeting president to meijer medvedev for talks in a few days time the visit comes as plung yang struggles under a set of western sanctions while military tension on the korean peninsula rumbles on artie's jacob group's reports it's thought that energy cooperation is largely sensu to these discussions is david summit at present made it his self as champion quite recently and when it comes to these two countries always in the background this is issue of the denuclearization of north korea and russia heavily involved here in the six party talks are ongoing trying to meet that end goal becomes kim jong il himself wolf packs this is his third visit to russia is first occurring in two thousand and one and i was under the quest of prime minister vladimir putin then president stay for three weeks came back in two thousand and two it's the third time this time he's been invited by president better if that's the first time these leaders are going to meet face to face and that's expected to occur next week in the russian republic but the reason for this timeline while kim jong il he likes