we have a report tonight on some of the families and children at risk from nbc's keir simmons who is on the ground in damascus. >> reporter: this is the face of the war in syria, and this is the awful reality. children are increasingly its victims. killed and injured on both sides. in this case in aleppo, struck again today by barrel bombs, a . it's the fear of when the conflict will come to them. it's the fear of what will happen to their family, their children, their women. >> reporter: millions of syrians have been driven from their homes. damascus is packed with those who have fled. smiles for the camera, but privately people share blood-curdling stories and rumors of extremists opposed to the government carrying out executions of entire families. war is now part of life here. as we're filming there's a power cutoff. nothing unusual. they've seen far worse. just a few weeks ago, people were going about their ordinary business shopping in this ancient market when a mortar bomb fell in this very street. that bomb injured one man. mortars don't compare to the destruction of barrel b

>> keir simmons in damascus for us tonight. keir, thanks. >>> a new honor for the departed nelson mandela today. a 30-foot statue of him was unveiled at the capitol in pretoria at buildings once the seat of the apartheid government. the same place mandela was sworn in 19 years ago as south africa's first democratically elected president. just yesterday when the sun was at its height in the sky and keeping with local tradition, nelson mandela was buried in qunu, his ancestral home. >>> back here at home, it's not even winter yet and again much of the northeast getting ready for another snowstorm overnight. dylan dryer is watching from east rutherford, new jersey, tonight. kind of the calm before the storm. dylan, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. it certainly is. it's the timing of the storm that's going to affect so many people across the northeast on tuesday. now, right now it doesn't look like all that much. we have snow coming down through wisconsin into illinois. the whole great lakes region will see about one

keir simmons, nbc news, damascus. >>> still ahead tonight, the countdown to a high stakes, high risk mission in space. >>> and up next, the underground mystery that has baffled a big american city. a lot of folks wondering what lies beneath. a >>> there is something weird going on underground in one of america's big cities. underneath the streets of seattle something is standing in the way of progress, but what is it? nbc's joe fryer has our report. >> reporter: in a city known for a giant needle that stretches toward space, everyone is now talking about a massive machine stuck beneath the ground. >> the fact that so many people are focused right now on something underneath the streets i think is fascinating. >> reporter: they call her bertha, measuring 57 feet in diameter, she's boring a tunnel beneath seattle to replace an aging road along the water front. 1,000 feet into the 9,000 feet journey, bertha came to a grinding halt. >> we are puzzled about what's preventing us from moving forward. >> reporter: there is speculation about what stopped bertha from boring. >> it could be jim

keir simmons, nbc news, damascus. >>> still ahead tonight, the countdown to a high stakes, high risk mission in space. up next, the underground mystery that's baffled a big american city. a lot of folks wondering what lies beneath. you're talking to the guy who hasn't approved a new stapler purchase in three years. but then i saw the new windows tablet, with a real keyboard, usb port, and full office. it's a tablet that works for work. plus, it's got apps and games, for after hours, of course. compared to an ipad -- way more value. these tablets are such a steal; i couldn't find a reason not to buy them. ♪ honestly, i wanna see you be brave ♪ [ male announcer ] when you feel good, no one is immune. emergen-c has more vitamin c than 10 oranges plus other antioxidants and electrolytes to help you come down with a serious case of healthy. emergen-c. making healthy contagious. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. crest

nbc's keir simmons is inside damascus tonight. >> reporter: good evening, brian. tonight in damascus you can hear the sound of explosions. fighting continues around this city and across this country in a war that has claimed more than 100,000 lives according to the u.n. just this weekend, a devastating attack in the northern city of aleppo. carnage in syria's largest city. amid smoke and burning cars, desperate attempts to rescue those buried by a massive barrel bomb like this one, dropped from the sky. children cling to parents, a badly injuried man is carried away. a boy trembles in shock. opposition groups say 26 children were among the dozens killed. the attacks continued today. barrels packed with nails and explosives dropped from government helicopters as seen in this cell phone video of an earlier attack. the death toll climbs on both sides of the war. just last week more than a hundred were killed when opposition fighters reportedly used civilians as human shields. we arrived in damascus at dusk. our journey from lebanon just over 50 miles took seven hours

keir simmons, thank you very much. the empire state building was lit on friday night in the colors of the south african flags as tributes from every corner of the world continued to pour in. ♪ >> reporter: across the country, and across the globe, people have been sharing both their grief and their gratitude for nelson mandela. >> he was the icon of the revolution. >> reporter: a normally bustling wall street took a moment of silence on the floor of the new york stock exchange on friday. while in england, tears for the anti-apartheid leader and make-shift memorial in london. memorials sprung up in literally every corner of the globe from paris to pakistan buenos aires to china. they paid respects in ukraine. the soccer stadiums even had tributes. iconic monuments like the empire state building and eiffel talker and others shine the colors of the south african flag. back in atlanta, the memorial was small, but a woman born in south africa says it makes her feel connected. >> it reminds me i'm not the only one that is gr

. >> the syrian regime's latest weapon against the civilian population, our own keir simmons inside syria reporting on the latest devastation including an attack that killed 28 children leaving john kerry with few options as his negotiating strategy is near collapse. >> what is the alternative? there's no alternative other than continued fighting, continued destruction, continued growth in the refugee population, continued potential disintegration of the whole country, and the continued increase of the numbers of radical extremists who are appearing on the scene to fill the void. that is dangerous. >>> and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where the senate has just taken an important step toward passing the budget deal even as critics are hailing a major federal court challenge to the nsa's mass collection of telephone records. california senator dianne feinstein chairs intelligence committee and joins me on both these stories. we got the color right. we match today, senator. thank you very much for joining us today. first, on the budget. a million americans are going to lose lo

keir simmons is in soweto, south africa. what are you hearing?y made their voices heard. especially here in soweto. this incredible party happening behind me you can hear. it's important to remember, people dancing on the very streets where people died decades ago in the fight against apartheid. and now we have heard from the mandela family. releasing a statement through a family spokesperson and what they say really some of what they say is this, the pillar of the royal mandela family is no more with us physically, but his spirit is still with us. we have lost a great man, a son of the soil whose greatness in our family was in the simplicity of his nature in our midst, a caring family leader who made time for all and on that score, we will miss him dearly. so a really heartfelt tribute to any son mandela from his family, the man that south africa called the family of the nation and meanwhile, alex, the plans for the memorial's continue. tomorrow there will be a day of prayer and reflection in churches and stadiums across this country. then on tu

. >> keir simmons, thank you so much from damascus on this continuing tragedy in syria. >>> and backromise. the expectation today is there will be a senate vote and that the bipartisan budget deal will pass. how rare is that? well, freshman senator joe manchin says it's the first bipartisan bill he's seen since he was elected. senator, thanks very much. this is a rare sighting. a bipartisan budget deal on the floor today. >> andrea, i've been here for three years. we haven't had a budget conferee, a budget agreement on anything. we haven't even had a budget. for the last five years, no budget. to see this come to fruition, i give congressman paul ryan and senator patty murray all the accolades they deserve. it's their temperament, their whole approach to try and get something done but also to build a relationship. that's what this is all about up here. they've done that. i know there's a lot of people complaining. you're not going to find a perfect piece of legislation up here. but moving in the right direction in an orderly process, they've accomplished that. i think it's something

the reporting keir simmons has been as tounding. >> it has.want to put up the wall street journal poll of issues most important to people and view that is shaping the view of president obama health care, 58%, the most important issue shaping the views of people as relates to the president. the economy, 25%, government shutdown seems like years ago, right around the corner and we could be looking at another. i'll take you down to immigration and one of the things that we believe the administration will focus on in the next three years, particularly next year, some kind of compromise, some kind of comprehensive immigration reform, even though it's at the bottom of that list. >> right and of course the immigration is in the hands of john boehner on what kind of legislation he brings to the floor, is it comprehensive, piecemeal, how do you work that out? that is in his court. you mentioned the poll numbers on health care and that goes to show you how important it is for the administration to fix this, to get it right. reduce enrollment and have su

. >> let's go to nbc's keir simmons, outside of johannesburg, which was the epicenter of the anti-apartheidovement. can you tell us about the scene there, keir? >> reporter: good morning. there's thousands of people spilling on to the streets here in soweto and coming out on to the streets and singing and praying and dancing. people are moving up and down in large groups. at the end of the street is nelson mandela's home where he lived with winnie mandela before he was imprisoned and imprisoned for 27 years. he came back here after he was released and this place soweto was the backbone of the anti-apartheid struggle. the very name conjured up the struggle against oppression. it was here that people demonstrated. people's children lost their lives on these streets as they fought against oppression with nelson mandela in jail. and some of the songs they're singing here including "god bless africa." they sang that song in court when nelson mandela was jailed. they sang it when he was freed and they are singing it here again on the streets of soweto. >> that's a song ringing out worldwide this

nbc's keir simmons has the latest from demascus. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. damascus is a city of war. there are people in the streets, roads are busy, but overnight, we heard frequent explosions and a record $6.5 billion is needed to help people trapped by this bitter conflict. here in syria, armed rebels have turning on each other and innocent people. this morning, reports claim that 18 civilians were executed by an islamist group last week. but the death toll on both sides climbs. carnage in the largest city, allepo, last weekend, trying to rescue those buried by a massive bomb. children clinging to parents. a badly injured man is carried away. a boy trembles in shock. 26 children were killed, opposition groups say. barrel bombs are packed with nails and explosives dropped from government helicopters as seen in this cellphone video of an earlier attack. desperate to escape, millions have fled their homes. those who get out at camps like this one in lebanon now face a freezing winter in just tents. in a u.n. center, mothers crowd around me. "help me get to