among the hot spots, birmingham, about 100 miles from london, our own martin fletcher is there for us tonight, martin, good evening. >> reporter: birmingham city is almost deserted tonight. there's fear there could be clashes here over the killing of three young men. as fighting spread in the early hours in cities across the uk, liverpool, manchester, in whales. around 2:00 a.m., the violence peaked in birmingham and this morning the community picks up the pieces. pakistani muslims mourning two brothers and a friend killed by a hit-and-run driver while trying to protect their neighborhood. some blamed the police. >> i don't believe in the police no more. if they had done their job last night, these innocent kids wouldn't be dead today. >> the father of the two dead brothers had a hart attack today. the other father performed cpr on his own son in vain. yet today he said, enough. >> why are we doing this? i lost my son. step forward if you want to lose your son. otherwise calm down and go home. please. >> reporter: however, anger and blame and violence all spreading. the violence that

our report tonight from nbc's martin fletcher. >> reporter: london's worst riot since 30 years ended early this morning. and at day break, the cleanup began. fire destroyed this entire building, a carpet store, while 200 yards away police detained another youth. 48 arrested so far for arson, looting, violence. atm machines were vandalized, shops looted, stores destroyed in an all-night frenzy of destruction. this was a patrol car. but police now are hoping this will not be repeated tonight. but the people here, the young people, telling me they're going to destroy, their word, destroy two other areas nearby. this is what scares the police. last night's out of control fury in north london. only half an hour's drive from parliament. anger began growing thursday when police shot dead mark dugham, a 29-year-old father of four, who they described as a gangster. his friends doubted the police report that he allegedly fired first at an officer. saturday night, dugham's friends and relatives protested outside the local police station. they say they did not want violence. but young thugs seiz

nbc's martin fletcher has our report. >> reporter: it is so hard to imagine hosni mubarak on trial, but outside the court this morning, egyptians began hurling stones in anger, assuming the military wouldn't bring him. but the helicopter flew in from his hospital, and an ambulance, and then this shocking historic image, hosni mubarak, 83 years old, once america's great ally, called the modern pharaoh, helpless on a stretcher, locked in a metal cage. his two sons also charged with corruption, using their bodies to block cameras from filming their father. the key charge today read, mubarak is accused of killing demonstrators during the uprising against him. mubarak's response, he said, all these accusations, i deny them all. if he is found guilty of ordering the shooting that killed 850 protesters, mubarak could face the death penalty. good, this man said, watching the trial on tv. mubarak's men shot him in the leg. he says if i could strangle them, i would. mubarak will die in the end. just about everybody with a tv now is watching it. we're being taken now to the home of ahmed. your fri

martin fletcher, nbc news, london. >>> and there was more heart breaking news tonight from the horn of africa, where children and families are suffering through the worst drought and famine in decades. today, trucks loaded with desperately needed food were looted in the capital of mogadishu in a fight that turned deadly. the situation at the only children's hospital in the capital is dire. as we hear tonight from chief foreign correspondent richard engel, we caution you the images in his report are disturbing. >> reporter: it may be safer now not to come to mogadishu's hospital. amid the famine and war, disease is spreading. they already suffer malnutrition, now there is a cholera outbreak at the hospital. these two children are wasting away. i came because my kids have diarrhea, she said. i think it is from the hunger. the patients are given iv drips, but they can't hold the fluids. this is where new arrivals come at the only hospital for children in mogadishu. there is no running water, no electricity, no operating room or toilets even, yet people still come here, looking for medical

martin fletcher is in london with us. another good morning to you.s there fear that there are going to be more protests on the way? >> absolutely, alex. there is more and more police going into the area and local residents are gathering around the high road where the riots and looting took place last night. there is a scent of anger. first of all, the shooting of the local civilian who the police called a gangster, a 25-year-old father of two. that took place thursday night. last night that exploded in rioting, burning vehicles, and then 500 young people, mostly wearing hoods so you couldn't see their faces, began looting local businesses and shops and running off with cameras and liquor and they love iphones that were stolen. and the police are calling it mindless criminality. great fear that there could be more fighting tonight. >> and, martin, i know you were up there a while ago and live on the air. as they prepare for protests, the police are looking at these people thinking, are you going to come out at us tonight. are they increasing the numbe

msnbc's martin fletcher joins us live from cairo. in, what is mubarak facing in terms of potential punishment? >> well, ultimately a possible death sentence. he's being charged with three counts, corruption, strangely enough selling -- doing a deal with israel selling gas too cheaply to israel. that's also one of the charges. but the main charge, of course, is giving orders that led to the shooting deaths of 850 egyptians during the january-february protests. if found guilty, that carries a possible death sentence. by the way, his two sons are also being charged with corruption. they face between 5 and 15 years, martin. >> when i was watching some of the images, and we're seeing them in front of us, he looks as though he's fairly attentive even though he's reclining and in the prone position. he's actually quite aware and alert. >> yeah. well, you know, as you can imagine, different people said different things on why he was supposed to have been too sick to take part. his lawyer said that to attend trial, too depressed. he was lookin

martin fletcher has the latest from london. >> reporter: good morning.gan on thursday night when the police were trying to arrest a man in a mini cab. they say there was a shooting. the man fired and apparently the policeman's life was saved when a bullet hit his radio, his walkie-talkie. they describe the man as a gangster. he was a 29-year-old father of two. a protest outside the tottenham police station began with about 50 people calling for justice. great anger at the killing of the young man from this area known as one of the poorer areas of london. that quickly escalated. hundreds -- about 500 young men, many hooded, began shouting, throwing stones at police and burning police cars, a bus, a building. all hell broke loose here. police are now treating the area as a crime scene fearing there could be more violence tonight. >> martin fletcher, thank you. in israel, more than a quarter million people protested against the rising cost of living yesterday. demonstrators waved flags and chanted. some rylined up in front of benjamin netanyahu's home. >>>

neighbors's martin fletcher is in cairo with more. i've go the to ask you the reactions of this video and seeing hosni mubarak in that cage, on that hospital bed. what were people telling you there. >> reporter: one woman told me she lost her son who was killed in the process, and she said that she never believed she would see mubarak in a metal cage, humiliated, and what she said was is i thank god now. i can sleep again, and i think that's a sense that people have here. many people did not believe that this would ever come to pass, and seeing mubarak lying out in that -- in that -- on the stretcher and locked inside a metal cage, also with his two sons in the metal cage with him. they have also been accused of corruption. the father, of course, accused of giving orders that led to the deaths of 850 people, and he could face a possible death penalty if found guilty. tamr tamron? >> what is the next phase here, and how long is the trial expected to last? >> reporter: mubarak's case after today, the next meeting in his case will be augu

martin fletcher is in london with us. good sunday morning.r the rally started earlier in the week when a man died at the hands of police. >> reporter: that's right, alex. thursday night there was -- police say they were trying to arrest somebody in a mini cab. there was a shooting. they describe him as a gangster. he's a 29-year-old father of two. the shot hit the policeman on his walkie-talkie which apparently saved his life. they fired back, killed the man. that was thursday night. saturday night, last night there was a protest outside the tottenham police station. people calling for justice for the killing of the young men. 400 to 500 people turned up and things just turned to hell. they were throwing rocks as the police, throwing bottles. escalated into burning two police patrol cars, a bus, buildings. now today the police fear there could be more trouble tonight. >> pretty profound pictures we are seeing. the crowd behind you, what are they doing? >> reporter: there's just a lot of anger at what happened on thursday. there is anger at wh

. >> martin fletcher, reporting from tripoli. thank you very much. the white house has slapped new sanctions on syria and has banned americans from doing business with the president and foreign minister. a washington has frozen the assets of the three men. in syria, there are more reports of troops firing on protesters who are against the regime. >> they are singing for a new syria. ramadan and the days of fasting are over. the people here are still hungry for freedom. this internet footage was reportedly shot and a central syrian city. protesters across the country feel emboldened by events in libya. as usual, the government responded with violence. even on this important religious holiday, troops fired on crowds in the south and the central city. several peaceful protesters were killed and several others wounded. the president made his annual public appearance. he visited the damascus mosque named after his father. he ruled for three decades. another reminder for the demonstrators that it is time to end the family's grip on power. >> a true at mega

>> nbc's martin fletcher. thank you. >>> back here at home, nearly 50,000 verizon workers walked off the job after the contract expired at midnight. they want concessions on health care, pensions and work rules. the wireless business is declining and employees do not pay anything toward their health care. >>> a programming note tell you, tonight on "dateline," tom brokaw looks at how it's affecti affecting, while following a soldier for nine years. it is right here on nbc. >> some tourists got quite the scare when a glacier rocked their boat. large chunks offite started falling down and the collapsing iceberg caused panic on the boat. we had to bleep out some of the audio there. despite the terrifying moments the boat stayed upright and most of the tourists made it out okay. that actually looks like kind of fine. now back to lester, jenna and chris. >> have your drinks on the rocks. >> i love the guy, oh, my gosh, i think we're going die, and let me quickly take out my smartphone device and take video. tom, th

nbc's martin fletcher is in london with the very latest on the world reaction. saturday morning to you, martin. >> hi, good morning. well, it is saturday, of course, and the stock markets don't open until monday, and that's a good thing, too. shock waves through europe. although the downgrading wasn't too unexpected. the italian prime minister, silvio berlusconi says finance ministers from the g-7 would meet in just a few days to seek a common plan of action, and in china which holds about $1.2 trillion in u.s. debt, the new china news agency, china's official voice, said today that america should "live within its means." japan had a bit kinder reaction. its trust in the u.s. treasury remains unchanged. trying to calm the markets, in doubt. australia, south korea, they also warned against overreacting to the downgrade. monday will be the day of reckoning for the american dollar which could face strong selling pressure. >> we'll be watching it very closely starting this time tomorrow, getting the indication from there. martin fletcher in london. thank you for tha

>> martin fletcher, thanks. >>> michele bachmann has been electric in iowa, drawing big crowds as shecrosses the state ahead of this weekend's straw poll. but can she attract a broad enough appeal within her own party outside of iowa while staying true to her staunchly religious conservative background? that's a key question. according to a new profile of bachmann in this week's "new yorker." we are joined by the author of that report. ryan, fascinating details that you found in all of your reporting, in your interviews with michele bachmann, because there have been religious candidates before but she seems to have a fiercely religious view. is she trying to soften that now that she eventually, were she to become competitive, wants to appeal to more mainstream voters? >> yeah, you're right. we've had pat robertson in 1988 do very well in iowa. we have had candidates with this sort of ideological makeup that bachmann has. so she is trying to broaden her appeal, right. ever since she got to washington in 2007, she has taken more of an interest in some of the economic issues. she was one

an extraordinary scene in cairo today, con tesz ya. >> martin fletcher, thank you for the update. >>> developing news in australia where a bizarre scene played out this morning in an exclusive sid nye suburb. police say a man entered a home and fastened an explosive device around the neck of an 18-year-old girl. threatened to blow it up. the bomb squad worked for nearly ten hours to remove the device. police say it was a hoax. so far they've made no arrests. >>> it's been a mystery for nearly 40 years. who is the legendary sky jacker d.b. cooper? the fbi thinks it knows. we'll talk with the boy now a grown man who found the only piece of evidence linked to the crime. >>> plus, a state's controversial new law about who every day, all around the world, energy is being produced to power our lives. evwhile energy developementorld, comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using sta

>> nbc's martin fletcher reporting for us from birmingham, england. thank you. >>> the pentagon says a u.s. airstrike has killed the taliban insurgents who shot down an american helicopter in afghanistan. over the weekend. general john allen, the u.s. marine commander in afghanistan said the bombing by an f-16 fighter jet did not, though, kill the region's taliban leader. general allen declined to comment on why so many elite troops, including navy s.e.a.l.s and army rangers were involved in the initial firefight. the news comes as defense officials now update the death toll from last week's attack. they say 17 navy s.e.a.l.s died along with five members of the navy previous report had said that 22 s.e.a.l.s were killed in that incident. >>> still ahead here on "way too early," big news in the world of business. as steve jobs and his various addictive devices push apple past exxonmobil to the top of one impressive list. we'll tell you what it is. >>> plus, why, why would you do this? the los angeles dodgers forced to release a statement after an usher

our veteran correspondent, martin fletcher, a london native himself, is there with more on the anger and hopelessness that's fueling a kind of tale of two cities. it's a painful week for londoners. >> reporter: we saw this man being mugged tonight. >> they beat you up? >> they beat me up and took my stuff. >> reporter: and this youtube video. a bleeding boy. he had been beaten. others appeared to help him and then robbed him. everyone is asking -- why? >> there's nothing more i can say. i'm really shaken up at the moment. >> reporter: this is part of the answer. this building, 106 new bond street has been sold for $42 million, cash. what's more, there were 22 cash bidders on the property. a collision between two worlds. have's and the have-nots. on an average wage to buy a house, it would take a londoner 30 years. we found four boys looking on wise beyond their years. >> why are they looting and stealing? >> i think they just want to show power that they have. >> reporter: a final thought that may say a lot about our times. in this shopping center, every store has been looted except

. >> nbc's martin fletcher is live in london with more on all this. t was a british school's exploring society adventure meant to teach young people the excitement of the wild. but early friday morning a hungry polar bear woke them up in their tents looking for food. it's one of the most hostile places on the planet, the arctic circle. and home to one of the most hostile animals, the polar bear. 10 feet tall, weighs half a ton, it will hunt man for food. and that's what happened early friday morning. in this camp site, a party of british youngsters and their guide slept. woken by roars. a polar bear, hungry for food. terrified the boys fought back. two guides badly injured. one boy hurt. and 17-year-old horatio chapel killed. he had wanted to study medicine. >> by all accounts, he would have made an excellent doctor. >> reporter: patrick flinders here with his father preparing for the trip of a lifetime is now in the hospital with head injuries. >> the polar bear got into the tent where patrick was, and horatio and just, for some reason grabbed onto ho

martin fletcher in london. >>> a case of a missing nursing student holly bobo. in on what this new information means to the investigation, next on "msnbc saturday." these are our neighbors putting their lives on the line. and when they rely on a battery, there are firefighters everywhere who trust duracell. and now you can join with duracell to help. just buy specially-marked packs & duracell will make a battery donation to local volunteers. these days don't we all need someone to trust...? duracell. trusted everywhere. that i put on my children's plate. that's why we use all-white meat, breading that is whole grain with omega-3 and no preservatives. it is my goal to make the highest quality, best-tasting nugget on the market. i want consumers to go, "dang, that's a good nugget." >>> breaking up a school shooting plot that was supposed to take place on monday. three 15-year-old boys are under arrest in covington, louisiana. a detailed plan to bring weapons to school and kill any police who tried to stop them. an alert school administrator notified officials abou

. >> nbc's martin fletcher is live in london. what is that, doing whatever it takes?porter: well, doing -- the rioting is pretty much over. what he means is now is a time of reckoning. today, police are operating all over the capital, arresting suspects identified as looting, stealing, setting fires, attacking police and other crimes. cameron said the police will find and punish the guilty. he also said, by the way, he will ask america for help, that britain can benefit from america's experience fighting gangs. 1200 people have been arrested so far, half of them under 18. security camera pictures are being circulated with the public being asked to identify hooligans. that's old school technology these days. they are also going to be using facial recognition technology that was developed for the olympics next year. it feeds suspects' faces through an updated face-matching program. the prime minister also criticized the police. he said when the rioting broke out, there were too few police on the streets and the tactics were wrong. he said now they're facing a new unique

. >> nbc's martin fletcher, long-time correspondent in the middle east, good to have you.ou. >>> here at home, there is a remarkable story unfolding across the country featuring a new generation of american heroes. u.s. troops are returning from the battlefield with a distinct sense of ambition and optimism that's shaping everything from the economy and politics to public service worldwide. it's the cover story in this week's "time" magazine. joining us to talk about it is columnist joe kline and also one of the veterans featured in the story, retired army captain and best-selling author, wes moore. welcome to you both. so nice to read this article because so often what we hear about veterans returning from these wars is inability to find a job, some of the struggles to readjust even in the worst cases, suicide. you have found stories that show how remarkable our veterans are. >> all the bad stuff is true, but you know, over the times when i imbedded over the last four or five years in iraq and afghanistan, i saw these kids doing remarkable things. this is a very new kind

nbc's martin fletcher is in cairo with more. martin? >> reporter: natalie, it's almost unbelievable. a dramatic historic day here. after 30 years of total power, hosni mubarak, 83 years old, wheeled into the courtroom on a stretcher, checked inside a metal cage with his two sons who also, by the way, are accused of corruption with him. mubarak didn't seem frail despite his lawyer's claims he was too weak to stand trial. the charges, corruption and the ordering of killing of protesters, 860 killed by security forces in the protests in january. for this, mubarak faces the death penalty. today he said he categorically denies all charges. the opening of the trial was on egyptian tv and achieved many things here that they say, this is not punishing mubarak, this is a warning to whoever follows him as a leader. whatever you do, you're honorable to the people. this is a revolution. natalie? >> all right, martin, such a striking image there in cairo, egypt. >>> as lawmakers on recess for the next month the government stands to lose more than $1

martin fletcher is in london with details on this.ing. >> matt, good morning two british survivors of that horrific attack by the polar bear returned home this weekend, two in the hospital in norway, attacked at dawn by a bear looking for food. they're adorable at a distance and when well fed. when the polar bears are mean killing machines. ten feet tall, they weigh half a ton and they can be ferocious. today in the arctic circle one of the most beautiful places on the planet, it's warmer than usual. there isn't much food for the polar bears. so when a group of british youngster on a wildlife adventure trip set up camp for the night they became bait for a bear. they woke to a roar, a polar bear burst into a tent, slashing with razor claws, snapping with razor teeth. terrified, the boys fought back. two guides badly injured and 17-year-old chapel killed, a schoolboy who wanted to study medicine. >> by all accounts, he would have made an excellent doctor. >> reporter: patrick flynn is here with his father preparing for the trip of a lif