economist and university professor, somebody most people consider serious, even understated. >> richard engle in rome tonight. richard, thanks. >>> in a surprise symbolic move, the arab league voted today to suspend syria, warning the regime of because sure al assad end the bloody crackdown on protestors or face tough sanctions. the president praised the move making those comments at the economic summit in hawaii where he announced the outline of an agreement to create a transpacific trade zone. he said that zone would increase american exports and help create jobs. meantime the republican candidates for president are gearing up for tonight's presidential debate in south carolina. the first showdown since rick perry's embarrassing memory loss moment. and newt gingrich's sudden rise in the polls. nbc's viqueira has our report. >> reporter: rick perry's wife, anita, going door-to-door today in south carolina where her husband's big debate mistake has hit home. >> thank you. thank you. >> let's see. i can't. the third one i can't. oops. >> reporter: after his now famous brain freeze in wednesday

richard engle, nbc news, cairo. >>> here in the bay area, hundreds of people gathered tonight to remember a vallejo police officer who was killed in the line of duty. it wasn't just close friends and family who attended the vigil. many high school students and others attended because they say the officer went above and beyond the call of duty for them. nbc's bay area lisa kirscher joins us with more on the vigil tonight. elise? >> to the steady stream of people who have come to the memorial, to the people who have brought flowers, it's clear that jim capoot will be missed in the community. standing in the cold in vallejo, clutching candles, they came to remember vallejo james capoot. >> reporter: the father of five was killed after chasing an armed man succespected of robbia bank in the afternoon. >> when you have a man like this who becomes a father to hundreds of children that gets killed the way he got killed, i mean, it's just so unreasonable. >> he was my hero. he was a true role model, and without him, i wouldn't be who i am today. >> reporter: the former marine and chp officer join

our chief correspondent richard engle is in rome tonight. >> reporter: buffoon, crowds shouted tonight in front of the presidential pal as in rome. -- palace in rome. and mafioso. the demonstrators hope their insults would reach inside the palace as silvio berlusconi handed in his rehis resignation. when word came that deed was done and berlusconi was out they sang, danced, and toasted the end of the political career of a man many considered an embarrassment. >> reporter: berlusconi has just stepped down as italy's prime minister. and tonight thousands are saying good riddance. >> we're happy because we want a leader who is serious, who represents us. >> reporter: berlusconi was brought down by italy's economic crisis, not his many scandals or sex parties as he called them. in rome, earlier today, "hallelujah" one woman said. finally we got rid of him, agreed this man. for years berlusconi, a media tycoon worth $9 billion, seemed untouchable. he's been in court 2,500 times by his own count, accused of attempting to bribe a judge, corruption and abuse of power. there was ruby, the dance

journalistically, i thought richard engle's piece while daring was about richard engle. i didn't see much news value there. i give them major credit for trying to be different, however, by having two live segments at the end with jon stewart. unfortunately -- >> we'll get to that in a moment. we'll get adam buckman to jump in. >> okay. >> are there any stories that stood out? television often does stories that -- anything that stood out as being just terrific journalism? >> well, i had not -- i had not seen the stories that gail referenced that the show apparently repeated or followed up on. so to me, the stories that she mentions were very interesting. i had not heard about birth tourism before. the story about boom times in western north dakota was interesting to me. i thought the quality was very high and drew about four million viewers. that seems to be in line with just about every other news magazine on network television except, of course, "60 minutes" which gets far more viewership. >> although that viewership, half of what brian williams draws for the "nbc night

we will get a live report from richard engle in tahrir square.n join our conversation online following "news nation" on twitter. ♪ ♪ let's go ♪ ♪ ♪ come with me, let's go ♪ ♪ come with me, let's go ♪ ♪ cruise like a norwegian ♪ ♪ cruise like a norwegian ♪ sen♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ut the second at she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ v.o.: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com pickle pickle blue mocking bird pronto! mom's calling an audible. head to bedding. [ male announcer ] black friday's here. deals start thursday 10 pm. more electronics start at midnight. and we're open all day and night so you don't have to wait outside. walmart. >>> to the republican race for the white house, the gop candidatings

man march against the country's military rulers where we find the chief foreign correspondent richard engle evening. >> good evening. there have been developments recently. a lot of people are complaining of intense tear gas in the center of tahrir square. this after people vowed to stay in tahrir square angry at the speech given by the field marshall in which he did offer compromises and moving up the date of the presidential election, but also in something the protesters are calling them effectively saboteurs and people who are trying to destroy the economy and insult the military. while he did offer consessions, he made no indication that he is willing to step down immediately which is what the protesters want and blamed them for pushing them into instability. >> the president repeatedly spoke of his support for protesters on the ground in egypt and cairo. is there anything at stake for the united states with all of this activity going on? >> i think that's what people are missing perhaps with all of the excitement in tahrir and the humans of thousands that are poring into the square. it

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for more on this, let's go to nbc's correspondent richard engle in rome.sconi, no mention of a woman. it's the economy! >> it is and a lost them are saying there is a degree of irony in this. this is a prime minister who has been accused of having sex with a 17-year-old prostitute and then using his authority to call police to get a release from custody, claiming she was a granddaughter of the former egyptian president mubarak. i have to look at the notes. embezzlement, tax fraud, attempting to bribe a judge by berlusconi's own account. he has been in court more than 2,500 times. in the end, the economy is bringing him down. he is just the latest european program to fall victim to a widening european economic crisis. berlusconi failed to get a majority in parliament in the building behind me. they went to the president and said he will step down after measures are passed by the members of congress here. that could happen next week. >> do you think that he has taken a leave out of the prime minister's approach in greece where he did the same thing and said