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Early Nightly is up

Brian anchors the broadcast tonight, where the top story will likely be President Bush's speech to the U.N. Chief White House Correspondent David Gregory will cover that, and offers a preview in today's vlog. Click here to watch.

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House Divided

It's not often the President chooses to speak to a crowd that includes his friends and his enemies. But that's what he's doing in 30 minutes at the United Nations General Assembly.

Today all of us will spend equal time listening to Bush and watching the crowd to see the likes of Iran's volatile President Mahmound Ahmadinejad reacting.

For all the build up, White House sources say there won't be any direct provocation. But it's still high drama. The two have openly challenged each other, and while Ahmadinejad would love to debate the President, Mr. Bush has refused to meet with him until Iran agrees to end its pursuit of a nuclear program.

The General Assembly has never been a friendly place for this President. He made the case for war against Saddam here and has since done little to hide his distrust of the international body.

But things have changed now. Critics say the President can't afford to isolate the U.N. He needs U.N. action to confront Iran, North Korea and to help in Iraq.

And so Bush will keep it friendly today. I'm told the major theme will be supporting moderate governments in the Middle East to combat a wave of Islamic extremism.

We'll hear from Ahmadinejad later.

Editor's note: You can watch President Bush's 11:30 a.m. ET speech at the U.N. live by clicking here.

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TOP OF THE WEEK

If you didn't know any better, judging by the cross-town traffic alone, you'd think the whole world had descended upon New York this week. Come to think of it, that's partially true. At some point in tonight's broadcast, we'll raise the curtain on the General Assembly gathering at the United Nations, and the tricky job that is ahead for President Bush, who speaks tomorrow. It has to do with the status of world powers, and America's position in the world.

We'll also update the situation in Iraq, and the continuing fallout from the Pope's speech. In this country, we'll have an update on the Western fires (the Day fire in California, burning since Labor Day, is only 15% contained thus far) and some special reporting tonight on women and girls. We'll also take a look at something we usually don't see: the outtakes from a piece correspondent Mark Mullen recently prepared for Nightly News. One of our sharp-eyed employees noticed that the material we were forced to leave on the virtual, digital "cutting room floor" was as good as the story that Nightly News viewers saw. So tonight, in a nod to complete transparency, we'll show you what only we on the inside were able to see... until now. We're also keeping an eye on the business world: from Apple to HP, we'll take a look in the coming days at the companies that have made news of late... though not intentionally in all cases.

We're back from Cuba, just slightly worse for wear, and hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.

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Early Nightly is up

As Brian explains in today's vlog, many of this Monday's stories are updates on stories we first reported on Friday... from the E. coli spinach scare to Pope Benedict's apology to Muslims. You'll also want to click here and watch today's 'Early Nightly' to find out why the back of the broadcast will feature a unique story that, in Brian's words, "never would have normally" made air.

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Pope's Apology?

This has been a busy weekend for news.  The story that is capturing much of the attention around the world is the Pope's controversial speech last week that has prompted outrage among many Muslims.  After the Vatican issued a statement yesterday that stopped short of an apology, the Pope today went a bit further... saying he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction to his speech.  Still some said it wasn't enough.  Tonight NBC's Ned Colt is following this story and he'll have the latest.

We are also following a developing story from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh where five members of the school's basketball team were shot on campus after a party last night.  Right now, the search continues for the suspected shooter.  NBC's Michael Okwu will have more on that.

We're also following that E. coli outbreak.  As we reported last night, the government is now warning against eating all fresh spinach products.  The question now… what else should Americans be worried about?  Ron Allen has some answers. 

Just some of the stories we are covering tonight.  We hope you'll join us.

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Faces from the Gulf: South Plaquemines High

"OHHHHH, TEAM, BREAK IT DOWN! OFFENSE! BREAK IT DOWN! DEFENSE! BREAK IT DOWN! HURRICANES! SPELL IT OUT! H-U-R-R-I-C-A-N-E-S! CANES ON THREE, CANES ON THREE! 1,2,3, CANES!"

Those were the sounds of the South Plaquemines High School football team on a recent Friday night during their first game of the season. This "Friday Night Lights" moment was not unlike thousands of others playing out in small towns across the country. But it differed in one respect. These players were making a comeback a year after Katrina destroyed their homes, school and community. You can see Martin Savidge's inspirational story on the Hurricanes tonight on Weekend Nightly News.

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