stephanie gosk, nbc news, pakistan. >>> in iran tonight, a significant step towards becoming a nuclear nation. engineers today loaded fuel into the country's first nuclear power plant despite united nations sanctions. iran says the plant will produce power, not a nuclear bomb. russia, which helped build the site, says it will make sure nuclear fuel isn't redirected to a weapons program. >>> president obama is settling in for a long break this weekend in martha's vineyard where he is vacationing with his family in what he hoped would be a recovery summer with the american economy. with conflicting signs whether that is happening, the president's team finds itself trying to manage public perceptions. mike viqueira is in martha's vineyard. mike? >> reporter: the president and his family have come to this upscale vacation spot for a second year in a row. while aides are quick to point out a president is really never off the clock, it's clear mr. obama is here in martha's vineyard for time away from the spotlight. the president in vacation mode, on friday shopping at a martha vineyard books

stephanie gosk, nbc news, northwest pakistan. >> and we have posted information on how you can help the people in pakistan on our website, that's nightly.msnbc.com. >>> turning to iraq, our series, the long way out, within the next two weeks, the u.s. will finish the withdrawal of its combat forces, leaving behind just 50,000 support troops. our richard engel is embedded with the last american combat unit in the country. and he joins us now live from baghdad. richard, what are you seeing and hearing? >> good evening, kate. we are at camp liberty, on the edge of baghdad. we are embedded with the 42 striker brigade. they call themselves the raiders. they're based at fort lewis in washington state. now they have a unique place in the history of this war, the raiders will be the last american combat troops to leave this country. some of them have already started to leave. earlier today, i spoke with the raiders' commander, colonel john norris, and he said it is an honor to bring american combat troops home. >> well, i think it represents closure. it represents the end of a chapter. seven ye

we begin our reporting with nbc's stephanie gosk in pakistan. >> reporter: in pakistan, desperation. 19 days of monsoon rains turned into deadly floods, millions still don't have enough food or clean water. in the heartland today, angry protests at the lack of help. in the rugged northwest, cut off after bridges washed away, a mule train packed with rice and cooking oil tried to make its way around falling rocks. where the water is still rising, some of the stranded escape by zip line, others by raft. today, the u.n. said 3.5 million children were at risk from deadly disease. in the children's ward at mardan hospital, there aren't enough beds and the patients keep coming in. dr. akram kaan says this 2-month-old girl may not have long to live. diarrhea and fever are more than her vulnerable system can handle. nearly every child here has the same symptoms. all sick because they drank dirty water. kaan worries that some may have cholera, but the test is expensive and takes too long. >> it is getting very much worse. we can see these poor people dying in front of us because of lack of fa

is part of the aid effort, but as nbc's stephanie gosk reports from one of many small towns hit hard, there are simply too many desperate people and not enough help to go around. >> reporter: when the river surged on the small farming village, the houses didn't stand a chance. the villagers, 4,000 of them, scrambled and found higher ground but little else. over a week later, life has not improved. there are still few real tents. some improvise with plastic sheets, scraps of cloth, and twigs. once a day a charity group delivers a meal and a little clean water. but it is not enough. there is real hunger here. so when a small truck with the promise of more food rolled in today, everyone took chase. it was filled with a random and meager mix, juice boxes, plastic water containers and toilet paper put together by local volunteers because they say the government isn't helping. >> when the flood came here in the start, only the local people had support for these people. >> reporter: fearing mobs, organizers forced everyone into a line. it very quickly fell apart. the problem right now is tha

nbc's stephanie gosk has made her way to the flood zone in southern pakistan. >> reporter: water as far as the eye can see. the unrelenting monsoon rains have unleashed the worse crisis in pakistani history. with more than 13 million people struggling just to stay alive, the fight is especially desperate in sindh province where army helicopters are trying to rescue victims and deliver aid. but most people had to fend for themselves, grabbing whatever they could -- livestock, beds and now useless electric fans. home is the side of the road. that is where we found neme. she's been here for four days along with the rest of her village, but it is not safe. the bridge under them is straining against the raging water. >> we have no food, no water. the government is not helping us. >> reporter: seeing the desperation, some pakistanis are doing whatever they can to help. for more than a week makbub ali has been out on his boat searching for the stranded. >> translator: these people belong to our village. i'm doing this on my own. we have not taken any help from the government. >> reporter: toda

nbc's stephanie gosk rode along and has our report. >> reporter: u.s. helicopter pilots flying aid missions in pakistan's swat valley say the terrain there is beautiful but deadly. the gorges are deep and the weather changes quickly. it is also where an estimated 100,000 people have been trapped since the floods hit just over two weeks ago, washing away every bridge. most of the 1,400 people killed by the raging water died here. >> translator: there's no clean drinking water here, no food, nothing. everything has been swept away by the floods. >> reporter: disease is spreading. today the first case of cholera was confirmed and thousands of children are sick with diarrhea. the pakistani military has asked u.s. forces to focus their relief effort in swat. in the last nine days, u.s. helicopters have evacuated more than 3,000 people and delivered 180 tons of food. >> our guards will sit in the back. >> reporter: major dan rice is the commander of the task force. when they got the call, his unit was on tour in afghanistan. >> they're thrilled. i have more v

nbc's stephanie gosk is there. >> this river, normally the lifeline of this country has carved a 600-mile path of destruction. the raging waters tearing through the south, ripped down houses and sent people scramling for their lives. we've lost everything, this woman said, for god's sake, help us. the navy launched rescue missions to save people who couldn't get out. this young boy was bitten by a poisonous snake. hundreds of thousands of people, many of them poor, rural farmers have been evacuated. the lucky ones were able to save livestock. but most have nothing left and almost everyone is hungry. >> translator: floodwaters reached our village. the children are dying and others are dying from hunger. >> the government is overwhelmed. aid organizations say the country needs hundreds of millions of dollars of humanitarian relief now. and possibly billions to rebuild later. southern pakistan is considered the country's breadbasket. 1.4 million acres of crops have been destroyed. and the destruction isn't over. torrential downpours continue to deluge the country. near this city, the riv

stephanie gosk, nbc news. >>> back here at home the brutal heat wave across the south and midwest has claimed nine lives as triple-digit temperatures have dug in across the lower mississippi valley, texas and arkansas. the heat index, the temperature and relative humidity, was measured at a staggering 113 in parts of the south today. no significant relief from the miserable heat is expected until saturday. >>> we've got a lot more to tell you about here tonight on "nightly news." when we continue, it's the president's birthday. he's back home in chicago, but where's the rest of the first family? >>> and later, a remarkable boy who's making a difference with every step he takes. >> announcer: "nbc nightly news" with brian williams brought to you in part by honey nut cheerios cereal. >>> the senate today stopped a republican filibuster holding back a bill that would give $26 billion in aid to strapped state governments. that means they won't have to lay off firefighters, police officers and teachers in some cases. speaker nancy pelosi says she will call the house back from a break to gi

stephanie gosk, pakistan. >>> here in the bay area, the pakistani community is pulling together to sendelief to flooded areas. today the san jose-based foundation is sending a 40-foot container to pakistan full of blankets, medical supplies, clothing and other items. this is the second large container the group has sent since the flooding started over three weeks ago. you can drop off donations at 1991 montague expressway, or go to hadia.org. >>> earlier today, iran introduced its first domestically built, unmanned bomber aircraft. president mahmoud ahmadinejad calls it, quote, the ambassador of death to iran's enemy. it can carry four cruise missiles, and has a range of 620 miles. the goal of the nation having such an aircraft is to keep its enemie enemies, quote, paralyzed in their bases. today's unveiling comes a day after iran fueled its first nuclear power reactor. that is causing world nations to be concern that iran is beefing up facilities for military purposes. iran says it is only interested in generatesing electricity. >>> coming up on "the bay area sunday." going green is go

nbc's stephanie gosk reports from islamabad. >> reporter: amazingly the numbers of people affected in this country continue to grow. the united nations today announced that eight million people in this country are in dire need of shelter, food and water. just to give you a little bit of perspective on that, that's about the population of new york city. we've started to see the international community responding to the scale of this crisis. secretary of state hillary clinton will announce a substantial increase in the amount of aid the united states is going to be giving to pakistan. right now they're giving $nientd milli -- $90 million. it's expected to double. she's going to compel countries to do the same. there are two big concerns. the first is the humanitarian need. they have to get food, water and shelter to people in this country. the second is one of stability. already we've seen because of desperation and anger towards the government and the lack of help here, people in the streets protesting. they have blocked streets, they have burned tires. for the moment those protests ha

nbc's stephanie gosk is in islamabad. stephanie, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. it's been about three weeks since the flood hit, but we're really just now beginning to understand the human toll here. the united nations is now warning that because of wide spread illness, there could be a large second wave of deaths. in pakistan, it's survival by any means necessary. helicopters unable to land toss clean water and food to the stranded. where the river continues to rise, some escaped by zip line, others by raft. in the northwest, mule trains navigate dangerous valleys to reach people cut off in the mountains. there are millions left homeless and aid is sporadic. sparking angry protests against the government. there is little food and in some places no access to clean water. the most vulnerable are getting sick first. in the children's ward at the hospital, there aren't enough beds and the patients keep coming in. dr. kahn says this 2-month-old girl may not have long to live. he worries that some here

stephanie gosk has more on the international sensation. >> reporter: there's something about swedishthe u.s. by storm. just look at what happened with abba. and now sweden does it again. 40 million copies of the books have been printed worldwide. last week in the u.s. one was sold nearly every second. american tourists are walking into stockholm, people like bernie from dallas. >> kind of just didn't want to put them down once i got going. >> reporter: this man read all three books in a week. >> first page, second page and just quick, quick, quick. >> reporter: with that kind of excitement movie directors couldn't resist. sweden has already turned the books into films. and now it's hollywood's turn. craig will play michael blumquist. >> it is the biggest star making opportunity for a young actress in perhaps as long as i can remember. >> reporter: for many of the readers we spoke to salander is the series. >> she is strong. she's smart and yet if you looked at her you wouldn't, of course, think that. >> i loved her photographic memory and intellect. she could be one thing to one grou

. >> stephanie gosk, nbc news, england. >> director of the memory and aging research center at ucla andming book, the naked lady who stood on her head. good morning to all of you. hi, michelle, how are you doing? i was shaking my head when i started to read the research on this last night. because it's hard for us to get our arms around this. how soon after today, after sitting here with me this morning will you forget that you were ever here? >> because this is a special occasion, i don't think i'm going to forget this one, i'll forget when it was, because to me this is so unique and amazing to me. >> so this will register perhaps in a slightly different portion of your brain? >> and it will stay there. >> we have some photographs of you last night in and about town that were taken. when you look at these photos, what do you think? do you remember them? not really? >> no, not really. >> so when you see this that just happened last night, you draw a blank? >> yes. >> so are there -- this is obviously terribly frustrating and terribly inconvenient, are there times when it's dangerous, mi