our own john yang is in kabul and he's with us from there. john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. military officials say this appears to be an accident, not a shootdown. but still as you say, the worst helicopter crash since may of 2006. today's nine deaths bring the u.s. death toll to at least 351 for this year. still, more than three months to go in 2010 but already, it's the deadliest year for both u.s. and coalition forces. the helicopter that crashed today was a black hawk. the crash is under investigation. officials say there's no indication of any hostile fire. that, despite the taliban claim that they shot the helicopter down. meanwhile, another threat to the stability to the government of hamid karzai in afghanistan. mounting claims of fraud in this past weekend's parliamentary election almost on the scale of last year's tainted presidential election. so growing challenges here, both on the security front and on the political front, brian. >> thank you for all of it, john yang in kabul, afghanistan, for us tonight. >>>

our own john yang is on duty tonight in kabul. john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. tonight, general david petraeus, the top u.s. commander here, has reached out to officials in pakistan to offer his condolences for the deaths. but nato officials aren't yet ready to accept responsibility. pakistan wasted no time responding to the death of these three soldiers, killed at a border post in pakistan's tribal region by apache attack helicopters. the choppers were supporting ground forces in afghanistan, who thought they spotted insurgents firing mortars. nato officials say the apaches took small arms fire from inside pakistan. >> operating in self-defense, the aircraft entered into pakistani air space, killing several armed individuals. >> reporter: within hours, pakistan blocked u.s. and coalition supply trucks heading into afghanistan. late today, more than 150 trucks were backed up in the khyber pass. the border crossing is on a vital supply line. it handles a s about 80% of the military's supplies bound for bases in

>> john yang at our nbc news bureau in kabul tonight. john, thanks. >>> grim story in the news today in this country for the fourth time in the last few weeks, a teenager has taken his own life after being taunted and humiliat for being gay. in this case, a young man was recorded via hidden camera in what he thought was private was being play out over the internet. it combines the era of oversharing with the ultimate cruey. our story tonight from nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: he was an exuberant student and gifted musician who graduated high school with honors and scholarships. but the body of 18-year-old tyler clemente was pulled from the hudson river just days aft two of his rutgers college freshman classmates allegedly secretly videotaped him during a sexual encounter with another man and streamed that video live. three days later, reportedly wrote on his facebook page, jumping off the g.w. bridge, sorry. but there's a growing chorus of voices saying this is an incident of not just of cyber bullying but of cyber gay bashing. >> that'

nbc's john yang joins us tonight with more from kabul. john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. officials say at least 14 people were killed in taliban rocket and bomb attacks on this election day, but the taliban failed to stop the voting as they had promised to do. in fact, despite a recent uptick in violence here, today was calmer than last year's presidential election, but turnout appears to have been spotty at best. none of the long lines that marked last year's balloting. this was a key test of afghan progress today, not only security progress, but political progress. president obama wants to start withdrawing troops next summer. late today in a statement, top u.s. commander general david petraeus stressed that today the afghans were in charge, in charge of security and in charge of the voting process. last year's election, of course, was marked by massive fraud, and observers are already saying there was evidence of fraud again today. so the biggest test will be how the afghan government handles those complaints. and w

john yang in kabul, thank you very much. >>> hurricane igor swept past bermuda. jim is live in pajit. i don't know if i pronounced the name right. >> we're actually at elbow beach in paget. that's close enough. the good news, it still exists. we've received no structural damage and no injury or death. that is just huge. but the major power company said that we have considerable damage to our power system. 7/8 of the customers are without power. first responders are out there clearing the roads. and it's one time a category of category 4. back to you. >> jim cantore with the weather channel. thank you very much. >>> democrats trying to get organized. a daily rundown interview with president richard trumpca. >>> plus, the founder of facebook rip off the idea from his harvard classmates? a controversial new movie. >>> first, a look ahead at the president's schedule today. we told you about it. a town hall meeting with our friends at cnbc and then it's philadelphia. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. my name is vonetta, and i suffer from allergies. [ male

nbc's john yang is in kabul now. john, are you able to learn anything new about the chopper crash?eporter: well, this was the deadliest chopper crash in about four years here in afghanistan. the choppers are used a lot in rugged and remote areas where it's hard to get around on the ground. this was in an area that was a taliban stronghold, but the territory controlled by the taliban, also an area where coalition forces have been pushing back against the taliban, escalating their efforts to try to drive the taliban out. this is the deadliest year for coalition forces, 529 now coalitions forces have died this year with still three months to go in the year. and 351 of them were americans, also a record contessa. >> john yang reporting from kabul, afghanistan. thank you, john. >>> we are seeing a huge jump in contractors building new homes, just getting the new numbers. new home construction jumped a whopping 10.5% last month. all the more surprising here because economists had expected that number to drop. the unexpected increase puts housing starts at their highest level in four mont

we go to john yang in kabul. john? >> reporter: good evening. it's not just kidnapping.re killed in violence. the taliban, of course, wants to disrupt the election. they're asking people not to vote and vowing violence to keep them from voting. president karzai asked people to go to the polls to try to rep e repudiate that effort, the taliban's effort. it's not just physical security in the first afghan-run election, it's ballot security. so much fraud at the presidential election they had to do do again, short-circuited when mr. karzai's opponent dropped out of the race. there are rumors of counter fit voter registration cards and counterfit ballot paper circulating. this is a big test, not only for the security that the united states has tried to make sure is secure here in afghanistan but whether or not afghanistan can stand up as a free-standing democracy by itself. contessa? >> john yang reporting from kabul. thank you. >>> that wraps up this hour with me. thankful you spent time with me. see you back here monday, 9:00 a.m. eastern. noon if you live in the west when

john yang, nbc news, kabul. >>> coming up -- the tech start up that definitely walks the walk.he robot could transform the future or your linen closet. >> ellis island of the west. now, taking a different turn. making new citizens. we are there as they take the oath and make a little history in the process. >>> bunt disgradget disgrace. awfoiama lawkersma redefine procrastination. [ male announcer ] as the ceo of hp, carly fiorina laid off 30,000 workers. when you're talking about massive layoffs, which we did... perhaps the work needs to be done somewhere else. [ male announcer ] fiorina shipped jobs to china. and while californians lost their jobs, fiorina tripled her salary. bought a million dollar yacht. and five corporate jets. i'm proud of what i did at hp. [ male announcer ] carly fiorina. outsourcing jobs. out for herself. [ barbara boxer ] i'm barbara boxer and i approve this message. >>> the governor and legislative leaders met up today and made little progress. that makes a record 79 days without a budget. democrats want to delay corporate tax breaks, passed in 2009,

nbc's john yang is live in kabul. john, do we know yet whether we're talking about an accident or whether this was actually, as the taliban claiming responsibility, which you know better than i they do all the time, for something that happened where there might have been a shoot-down? what do we think happened? >> reporter: well, the military, andrea, is saying there was no shoot-down. they say there was no evidence of any hostile fire before this helicopter went down. it went down about 4:00 this morning local time, late monday night walk time in zabul province in the southeastern part of afghanistan. this is a taliban stronghold, the taliban control s much of te territory on the ground, also where coalition fors have been ral ping up their efforts to try to drive the taliban out. as you say being the taliban did claim responsibility, the military saying debbing it, saying there was no hostile fire. this now makes this year, 2010, even more than three months to go, the deadliest year for coalition forces in this nine-

but as nbc's john yang reports, nato stays didn it doesn't have reports of hostile fire. >> reporter:ere were no reports of hostile fire before the crash. it took place at 4 p.m. in southeastern afghanistan in a p taliban stronghold. >> very sad, very tragic news to hear about that type of crash that type of incident. >> reporter: it was the worst helicopter crash in four years and it makes 2010 the deadliest year in the 9-year-old war. 529 coalition forces have been killed, 351 of them americans. john yang, nbc news, kabul. >>> today, president obama awarded a me ed dal of honor to man who died saving three fellow airmen 40 years ago. he had been hand picked for a top-secret assign nlaos during the vietnam warm he managed to get three wounded comrades into a helicopter and lifted to safety. he was struck by enemy ground fire and fatally wounded. his three sons send the award on their father's behalf. >> today, your nation finally acknowledges and fully honors your father's bravery, because even though it has been 42 years, it's never too late to do the right thing. >> etchberger's he

john yang is live for us in kabul. john, explain why pakistan took this measure. >> reporter: well, this happened, savannah, just hours after an apparent -- well, there was a helicopter strike on a checkpoint on the pakistani side of the border. killed three pakistani forces. they say the pakistani government officials say it was a nato helicopter, a coalition helicopter. nato forces say, yes, there was a helicopter attack in the area, but that the helicopter never crossed the border into pakistani airspace and that the targets were insurgents preparing to fire rockets on coalition bases on the afghan side of the border and that the insurgents were on the afghan side of the border. there's still -- nato officials say they're still trying to figure out exactly what happened. but it's clear that the pakistanis are very angry about this. this is the second helicopter attack, cross-border helicopter attack this week. this has long been an issue with the pakistanis, having u.s. forces and coalition forces carrying out milita

nbc's john yang is live in kabul with the latest. john, good morning. what happened here? >> reporter: good morning, savannah. this was the worst helicopter crash in about four years for u.s. troops. nine troops dead. this happened in zabul province, which is in the south-southeastern section of afghanistan. an area where the taliban controls much of the territory and where coalition forces have been stepping up their attempts to push the taliban out. we are told this crash happened about 4:00 this morning, local time. the military says that there were no reports of enemy fire. that the crash is still under investigation. now, despite the fact that there were no reports of enemy fire, the taliban has called news organizations, including a call here at nbc news in kabul, to claim responsibility for the attack. they say they shot the helicopter down. the taliban often does that, claims responsibility for things that turn out to be accidents. and indeed, most of the helicopter crashes here have turned out to be accidents. maintenance problems, the incredible amount of dust in

i got her. >> and that's a nice feeling for anybody. >> time for your close-up, daisy. >> john yang, columbia, missouri. >> that is cute. >> i was thinking that would make you a whole lot less home sick. >> ten years from now when they go to college, they better take the dog with them. >> just don't send the pits to classes. >> we had 90s for more than half of the area. look at that, san jose 93. 84 san francisco. now the seabreeze starting to pick up. 8 oakland. santa cruz 73. trivalley soaring to the mid-90s. right now, san francisco, we got the seabreeze going. we still are waiting for the low clouds to come back at this hour right off the monterrey bay and should move northward an on the coast tonight. 77 degrees around the embarcardero right now. san jose t-shirt weather for the last few hours of labor day weekend. northwest wind at 15. the seabreeze is starting to pick up. this is going to lead so-to-real wholesale changes in our weather over the next 48 hours as the fog sets up. the coolant for the ocean air conditioning. inland spots 70s and 80s. that is a big time drop in te

john yang is in kabul. what is the latest? polls closed awhile back. are things settling down? >> reporter: polls have closed a little bit ago. things have been quieting down. there were taliban attacks in afrg. in a relatively scattered area, areas away from kabul, places where the taliban had been traditionally strong. international observers say the tax didn't do anything to disrupt voting on a wide scale. they expected the violence. they stay voting is a process that could reduce the violence in the long run. >> hopefully, over time, as i said earlier, it's not going to be a factor. i think the more people that participate in a process like this, the more inclusive it feels and perhaps that's going to have an impact on reducing the violence over time. >> reporter: voting turn out today was a little bit scatter shot. there was some places relatively low. there were none of the long line that is marked previous elections especially last year's presidential election. some say it may be because of last year's presidential election because of the voter fraud, the voter irregular

nbc john yang joins us live in kabul. how widespread is this alleged fraud?or u.s. troops in afghanistan? >> reporter: the complaints about the votes are coming in faster than returns. this is a big issue for the united states, of course, because after last year's presidential election, filled with fraud, another tainted vote would call into question president obama's goal beginning to withdraw troops from a stabilized afghanistan next summer. i sat down with u.s. ambassador karl eikenberry, u.s. ambassador to afghanistan. he acknowledged there would be some fraud, probably some froau found in saturday's balloting but the standard should not be perfection. >> i am impressed with the -- to the extent which the afghans have come together, government, ngos, the citizenry, the afghan national security forces and a serious way to say, let's do better, is better going to be a perfect election? no, of course not. but an election that is not perfect, does that mean it's not a good election? no, it doesn't. >> reporter: ike eikenberry poi out with 25,000 candidates fo

john yang is there with the very latest. what can you tell us?well, they're counting those votes right now, the ballots right now. there were at least ten deaths, as you say. three civilians and seven afghan security forces. but the violence was a lot less than people had feared, a lot less than the taliban had threatened and a lot less than in last year's presidential election. that presidential election, of course, ended with about a million votes being thrown out for voting irregularities. so today was also a test not just of security forces but a test of the government's ability to carry out a free and fair election. already complaints have been coming in about irregularities today. there are commissions, both government and independent watchdogs who have watched over the elections today and will be taking a look at those complaints as the days go on. )ñ249 seats in the Ñiparliament. the losers will outnumber the winners at the end of it about 10-1. so they expect a lot of complaints from those losers. >> you are seeing what the end of octobe

was responsible for the sinking of a south korean warship in march which killed forty six sailors john yang denies any involvement and views the joint exercise as a military provocation. a passenger bus has overturned in southeastern turkey killing three people and injuring fifty the bus was on route from iran to syria local police are still investigating the cause of the accident a world health organization report on road safety put turkey among the world's most dangerous countries to driving. and coming up next it's the business news with stephanie after just a short break. this is more a region is economically and socially one of russia's better developed provinces the region has a significant scientific and industrial capacity that will realize its full potential after the construction of the. park and tell ya he has completed the i.g. parco has r. and d. projects in the spheres of automotive construction aerospace and oil chemistry high tech data center furbished with cutting edge servers and communication equipment will be constructed at the core of the park the project has been perso

>> john yang reporting from kabul this on this accident. john, thank you very much. >>> now let's get a check of some of the morning's other top stories. >> good morning, everyone. the national guard says it is deeply sorry about a wildfire that destroyed at least three homes in utah and forced the evacuation of hundreds of others. that fire started during a live ammunition military exercise. >>> today the senate takes up the matter of whether to ban gays in the military. >>> and a california judge has issued an arrest warrant for lindsay lohan after she admitted failing a drug test. she'll remain free until friday's hearing. >>> and dramatic video to show you, a man on board a sinking boat in croatia. >>> and officials in brazil are trying to figure out wthe stand at a car race collapsed injuring hundreds of people. >> into. good morning, everyone. we are off to a cool start. maybe a light jacket to start the day. we will see a lot >> and that's your latest weather. >>> it will come as little comfort to millions of out of work americans, bu

. >> thank you john yang. >>> hurricane karl is blamed for the death of two people. storm caused widespread damage including power outages. it's now a tropical depression. hurricane igor gains strength in the atlanta. bill karecar karins has the lat. >> the storm is going to head to bermuda sunday night. it's a huge storm. it's not as intense as it once was. this storm is very large in size. it's texas big. it's going to bring wind and waves to bermuda today. itis not going to hit until tomorrow night. the area in orange is the wind field. it's huge. it's going to make its way to per buddha. the swells will be on the east coast of the united states. the rip current will be high saturday and on sunday. let's take a look at the forecast from the national hurricane center. it's going to a major hurricane, a category 3 tonight, during the day tomorrow. as it approaches bermuda, a category 3 or category 2 hurricane. it's enough to do significant damage. the computer models have been this way for four or five days in a row. it's bermuda. it's going to go over the top of th

john yang is in kabul with the latest for us. john, good day to you.nflicting numbers as to how many people are dead. what do you know? >> reporter: well, the government officials are trying to down play this. they are not talking officially about the death of the taliban attacks. one report the associated press says at least two, another report sayses at least ten. these are scattered reports in areas with the taliban has been traditionally strong in the south, for instance, near kandahar and to the north as well. overall, voter turnout across the country seems to be relatively light. we don't have a long line of voters that marked the previous elections here. certainly last year's presidential election. it is uncertain, it is unclear whether the taliban threats and warnings urging people not to vote, threatening the violence is keeping the turnout down or also whether it is lack of confidence in the system. as i said, last year nearly a million ballots were thrown out because of voting irregularities in the presidential election. and there was a rand

john yang is live in kabul. the u.s. is watching this closely.could the proceedings affect the u.s. strategy of the troops in the region? >> well, thomas. the complaints about the election and how the government, the afghan government handles those complaints is going to be key in determining the future strategy of the obama administration. especially after the heels of last year's presidential election riddled with massive fraud, another tainted election that the afghan people have trouble accepting or maybe refuse to accept could be a fatal blow to the president's hopes of starting to withdraw u.s. troops from afghanistan starting next july. u.s. ambassador carl ikenbery says there was some fraud in this election and says he expecteds a lot of complaints. >> we also have to recognize there's 2,500 candidates competing for 250 seats. for every country satisfied candidate is going to be certified as voted into parliament x there will be nine unhappy. the candidates that didn't make it, there's going to be legitimate complaints. there's probably s

thank you, john yang. >>> can't alaska's governor make a trip to the midwest without a lot of hoopla, not if you're sarah palin. the former vice presidential candidate was in des moines for a closely watched speech to the gop faithful. good saturday morning to you, mike. >> good morning, alex. >> lots of speculation that sarah palin is testing the waters for 2012. >> everybody's asking the question, can she, might she, will she, won't she? none of those questions were answered by sarah palin last night, but there's no question that she went into iowa for the first time since she was a vice presidential candidate in 2008. she goes in now with rock star status. they sold out that annual reagan dinner. the most they've ever had in attendance at that particular dinner in des moines. but now the question is can she translate that popularity -- will she try to translate that popularity into a successful white house run? sarah palin in iowa. >> showing love to the home teams. >> reporter: getting a raucous welcome from party faithful at the site of the first presidential battleground. palin

john yang is live in kabul. what else can you tell us about the investigation to what happened there. >> this happened 2:00 local time, late on the east coast in the united states. it was in southeastern afghanistan. the taliban controls much of the ter tear in this area. it's also where coalition forces have been stepping up their efforts to drive the taliban out of the safe haven to try to get them out of the region. they are not giving too many details about the crash because until the families are notified back in the states, this now has made this year, 2010, even though there are more than months left. 529 coalition forces have been killed. 351 of them, tamron, are americans. >> and we had an alert come through saying the taliban is low on supplies and moral in northern afghanistan and that they're "thinking about giving up." what does that mean? >> this was a teleconference briefing back to reporters. the northern eastern part of afghanistan has never been the natural territory of the taliban. their stron

according to bob woodward's latest book, the cia has a much larger secret paramilitary and nbc john yangghanistan with more on that and also we'll talk about the partial election results because they're starting to come in, too, correct? >> exactly, thomas. let's take the paramilitary for force. the new book. "obama's wars" new hints that the wikileaks organization released. this is an organization about 3,000 afghan forces, the cream of the crop in the view of the cia, according to woodward's book and they pursue, they're paid for, sorry, they're paid and trained by the cia and they pursue taliban targets within afghanistan. i think the more controversial element is that they carry out missions across border. they cross into pakistan to carry out missions and u.s. military forces are prohibited from doing. this force was authorized by president bush and according to woodward's book, the cross border operations became a little more active under the obama administration, thomas. >> and, john, let's shift gears, though, and talk about the partial election results. as they are starting to t

here's nbc's john yang. >> reporter: meet members of steven's college class of 2014.ome are a little standoffish. a little camera shy are we? actually they're not students, their owners are. >> this is linda. >> this is chester. >> this is cory. >> reporter: this allows pets on campus since 2004. around here bags aren't always for books. the school's first dorm entirely populated by more than 40 students and their pets. pet central. there's a doggie spa in the basement. standard equipment in this dorm, a lint roller. freshman megan magill is away from her family for the first time. what does it mean to have your pet? >> kory, come here. >> reporter: nicole crow is cory's foster parent while he waits to be adopted from a local animal shelter. a transfer student from iowa state university. did you have a pet there? >> no, i did not have a pet. i had a roommate. >> reporter: which do you prefer? >> the pet. nothing against the roommate i had. >> reporter: classrooms are pet-free zones. when it's class time for students, pets can come down here to doggie daycare for a lit