nbc's donna friesen picks up the story. >> reporter: the last time bern nard harding was in germany it a very different place. it was july 1944, first lieutenant harding from new hampshire was leading nine other b-24s on a dangerous daylight bombing mission of a german aircraft factory. just 25 years old he was already a veteran pilot having flown 13 missions. his 14th was his last. >> we were attacked by a group of german fighters, and in less than three minutes all ten aircraft in our squadron were shot down. >> reporter: he bailed out and landed unhurt in a field near berlin. this week aged 90 he and his stepson went back on another mission, to retrieve his pilot's wings, wings he took off his uniform and buried in a cellar after being taken prisoner. >> i decided to take my wings off and bury them because i didn't want the civilians to know what position i was in the aircraft. >> reporter: didn't want them to know he was the pilot for fear he'd be beaten or shot. >> just scratched a little hole in the corner and put them there and covered them up. that's all. >> reporter: and so ce

donna friesen is live for us in switzerland. thank you very much, donna. >>> italy defense expected to rest in the trial of american college student amanda knox who faces murder charges for the death of her roommate in italy. the prosecution and the defense wrapped up over the weekend. but the contradictions in the forensic evidence so great that more crime scene investigators may be called to the stand in this case. >>> troops or strategy first? that is the big question when it comes to the war in afghanistan. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is said to want an additional 40,000 troops. last night, on "60 minutes" stanley mchrystal was asked if he is confident he will get what he is asking for. >> i will have an absolutely chance to make my assessment and make my recommendations. >> but you're already under pressure not to ask for more. i mean, how does that affect what you do? >> it doesn't affect me at all. david, take this extraordinarily seriously. >> our pentagon correspondent with "the new york times" joins us now. e

nbc's donna friesen is in london. donna, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, natalie.ade him quite a catch, but now as he turns 25, prince harry inherits part of his mother's fortune. there's no big party planned, no lavish spending, but there are rumors he may be rekindling an old romance. prince harry, like his brother, learned early that being a prince can be both a blessing to his every false move whether it was stumbling out of a nightclub, smoking pot or guzzling beer, harry has grown up in the spotlight. but with time, he's matured. being on the front line in afghanistan and now turning 25 seems to have found his feet. >> i think the experience on the front line and doing actual royal engagements abroad has benefited him. >> reporter: he showed his serious side recently in new york, his first solo trip abroad where he paid tribute to the victims of 9/11 and spoke to matt lauer. >> very, very, very moving in the couple of hours i spent. >> reporter: while in new york he raised $400,000 in a charity polo match. money that would go to orphaned children in africa. >

>> nbc's donna friesen in europe. thank you. fact that there was a civil settlement and that the victim doesn't want this to move forward. so many years later. at the same time, the crime, a rape, a terrible crime. >> a 13-year-old girl involved. you have a big hollywood actor. flees from justice, has a great career, gets away with it all. i'm not surprised the american people would come down and say bring the guy back and make him pay for the crime. >> bottom line is i agree with most of the e-mailers, a rape is a rape. >> if we covered the court system the way we cover the nfl or major league baseball, there would be riots in the streets if people realized that these sorts of things, people skipping on serious felony charges happens every hour of every day in every municipal court in this country. >> that doesn't necessarily make it okay. coming up, dr. oz and nicholas christoff. triple threat. owwww.... (announcer) not just sinus headache... but pressure... and congestion. (announcer) you need a sinus medicine ooohhh... that

donna friesen, nbc news, zurich. >>> polanski was arrested saturday when he arrived in zurich to receive an award from a film festival. >>> tonight's show host conan o'brien is on the job and joking about his stunned accident. take a look. obrian was racing teri hatcher down stairs when he got to the stage, he slipped, fell, his head hit the floor and hard. a rerun aired instead of the planned episode. in his monolog yesterday, o'brien told the audience he hit his head so hard that for five seconds he actually understood the plot of "lost." one thing he did not lose, hits sense of humor. >> he didn't. he really took a hard hit. glad he's okay, though. >> we all are. >>> still ahead, a mother is under fire from the state for watching the children of her friends each mother before taking the kids to the school bus stop. we'll explain. >> trouble at a parade when one of the elephants got scared and took off into the spectators. >>> it's the first step toward what could be systemwide surveillance on metro. cameras are being installed. >>> a green update, we update on the harvest that was pla

nbc's donna friesen is in london with the latest. donna, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. the results are in on caster semenya's gender, and there are unconfirmed reports they show she has both male and female sexual characteristics. but the international athletics federation is urging caution, saying medical experts have yet to interpret what those results actually mean. she is south africa's golden girl, a world-class athlete and now cover girl for this popular south african magazine. caster semenya at her most glamorous. she, her family and most south africans have no doubt about her gender. >> we are here to tell the whole world how proud we are of our little girl. >> reporter: she's been embraced as a national hero. but doubts about whether she really is female continue to plague the 18-year-old. after her victory in the 800 meters at the world championships, her masculine fizz zik raised questions about her gender. unconfirmed reports now say the results show she has both male and female sexual characteristics,

. >> nbc's donna friesen is in london. how is this playing out overseas?e waiting to see the documents. expected to be hundreds of pages of communication between the scottish and british government. important to point out they are not letters between the british and the libyans about all of this. these documents released to refute the allegations that megrahi's release has been related to this. the sunday times released saying it was in britain's overwhelming interests for megrahi not to be left out of this prisoner transfer deal signed by london and trip owe lee. the original plan to keep megrahi out of that prison transfer deal so he would never be sent back to libya. in the end, though, megrahi was included in that prisoner travers transfer agreement. six weeks after it was signed they ratified this massive oil and gas deal and that is why we are where we are today with the suggestions the back room deal was made. the british absolutely deny it. we'll be able to see in these documents what the communication was between the british government and the sco

let's go to donna friesen who is in zurich, switzerland.d an attempt to get secretary of state hillary clinton involved in this? >> the foreign ministers of poland and france have come forward and say they are going to request that the secretary of state hillary clinton grant clemency to roman polanski. i can't imagine where that's going to go. i'm not sure that the secretary of state necessarily would want to intervene in a case like this but nonetheless that is the request. the reason it's france and poland is polanski born in france and moved to poland when he was 3 and grew up there. both countries fighting in his corner. he is now in custody in switzerland. he came here yesterday to attend a zurich film festival and expected to receive a hiven time achievement award and very solid representation for his classic films and he won a oscar in 2002 for "the pianist." though he didn't go to the united states to pick that up. solid reputation in the film industry. people are shocked 32 years after the offense he has now been arrested particul

here is to get you ready, donna friesen reports. ♪ he was just 17 >> reporter: they were the world'sfluential and popular rock band. ♪ i'll always be true >> reporter: john, paul, george and ringo launched a musical revolution. ♪ love me do >> reporter: and 40 years after they split they're back, but not as we knew them. ♪ it's been a hard day's night ♪ can't buy me love, everybody tells me so ♪ >> reporter: it's the beatles rock band. the fab four digitally reborn in an interactive music game from the cavern clubs to suits and shoes and shrieking fans t means anyone -- >> one, two, three, four. ♪ >> reporter: and i mean anyone can, armed with a plastic guitar and the ability to follow colored dots attempt to be a beatle. yeah! george martin was the legendary beatles producer. his son, giles, in the same abby road studio helped to craft the music for the new game, a logical next step for a band always on the cutting edge. >> he loves the fact that you can get closer and further to what they did. >> we love the game, it's fantastic. who'd ever thought we'd end up as androids. >> repor