>> thanks for joining us here at 5:00. lester holt is next with "nbc nightly news." of. >> hope to see you back here at 6:00. tonight, whiplash as the meltdown continues on wall street. stocks surge, then come crashing back to earth at the bell. more money wiped out as jitters spread with a major wild card still to come. it was a terror plot. startling new details about the potential massacre stopped by those american heroes. the jihadi message the attacker played before grabbing his guguns. and prosecutors say he had help. a new war of words erupts as donald trump unleashes another tirade against megyn kelly. now fox news firing back, demanding an apology. and the guilt trip caught on camera. the boy who broke his fall by ripping a hole through a 17th century masterpiece. and what happened next. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: from nbc

news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. good evening. we were warned that this upsetting ride wasn't over, and the markets proved that in dramatic fashion today. what looked like a spectacular comeback run after monday's wall street wipeout stumbled badly at the finish line. the markets falling into even deeper negative territory this afternoon, with the dow shedding another 205 points. and so these are confusing times for a lot of americans trying to protect their hard-earned savings. on one hand, the value of their investments is falling. on the other, indicators that might suggest our economy's doing just fine. cnbc's carl quintanilla is here with the big picture. hello, carl. >> hello, lester. today was not encouraging. stocks are down six days in a row for the first time in three years and a growing sense that more dramatic days lie ahead. it was the biggest opening rally of the year. a quick 400-point gain

on the dow, seen here on the right. almost the mirror image of monday's collapse on the left. but it couldn't hold. and since friday the dow has fallen 6%, climbed 5%, and fallen again. that's a wider range than stocks have seen all year. >> you will see markets trading around -- up and down for several days. these things are rarely resolved on a single day. >> reporter: that early morning attempt courtesy of china, which cut interest rates overnight to give their slowing economy a boost. and some positive news back home. good earnings from best buy, a strong consumer confidence survey. some investors said monday's sell-off was so violent there's simply not much damage left to be done. >> i don't think it's going to have a very serious downward direction from here, no. i think there will be lots and lots of volatility. >> reporter: that's because of a wild card, the federal reserve. it's kept interest rates near zero for years, since the crisis. and while that's helped the u.s. recover, some argue it's created

too much risk as investors took advantage of all that cheap money, plowing it into oil drills, real estate, stocks, and even start-ups. if the fed hikes rates next month or next year, the economy will increasingly have to stand on its own. >> would not be surprising to me if we're sitting here a year from now and 25% of the start-ups are gone. >> reporter: now, very few on wall street expect a full-blown recession in this country, but if stocks continue to decline we may begin to talk about the effect on consumer sentiment and spending. lester? >> carl, let's go back to that wild card you mentioned that the feds may raise interest rates. do we think that's going to have a lot to do with whether people should refinance quickly or buy a house? >> reporter: well, fed officials have said they can envision a rate hike by the end of the year but that it would be slow and gradual. but yes, once rates begin to rise those mortgages will get more expensishive, too. >> carl quintanilla, thank you. officials in france have opened a formal terrorism

investigation into that attack aboard a high-speed train. they're saying now there's clear evidence the gunman stopped by those americans on board planned to carry out mass murder and has apparent ties to radical islam. and now authorities say someone was helping him. nbc's kelly cobiella has the latest. >> reporter: ayoub el khazzani, barefoot and blindfolded, was led into the french courthouse today, where he was charged with attempted murder, attempted mass murder, and membership in a terrorist organization. "this was premeditated and targeted," the prosecutor said, detailing el khazzani's alleged arsenal. an akm assault rifle, nine clips fully loaded with 270 rounds, an automatic luger m-80 handgun and a loaded clip, a box cutter, a bottle of gasoline, and a cell phone. the prosecutor said el khazzani bought a $170 first-class ticket and while on board listened to a youtube clip calling on the faithful to take up

arms. on what appears to be his facebook page one post calling france a terrorist civilization and a criminal state. investigators are still looking into whether el khazzani acted alone and who supplied the money and weapons. >> what we don't really know is the degree to which someone directed him to do this plot, the degree to which he decided to do this much more under his own volition, or what the kind of overarching plan was. >> reporter: two of the four americans credited with thwarting that plan kept a low profile today after a hero's welcome at ramstein air base. here in germany, airman spencer stone saw military doctors today. his mood described as upbeat. and he's expected to regain full movement in his hand. anthony sadler was on the red carpet for a movie premiere in paris last night. >> i feel like i'm in a dream. this is unreal. two days ago we were just on the train, and two days later all this has happened. it's pretty crazy. >> reporter: today it was back to reality.

sadler and his parents flew back to the united states. a parade is being planned for sadler and his friends in sacramento. but as for that fourth american, mark moogalian, french media reporting tonight that his condition is worrisome. lester? >> kelly cobiella tonight, thank you. a new war of words has erupted between the gop front-runner donald trump and fox news after trump went on another tirade against fox news host megyn kelly and the cable network's man in charge is now firing back, calling trump's words disturbing and demanding that trump apologize. our national correspondent peter alexander has more. >> reporter: a combative donald trump. >> excuse me, you weren't called on. sit down. sit down. sit down. >> reporter: trump silencing an anchor who is accused of spreading hate on thinks controversial remarks on immigration. >> go ahead. no, you don't.

you haven't been called. >> i have the right to ask the question. >> go back to univision. >> reporter: the anchor escorted out of the room by security, insisting he had the right to ask a question. >> yes, go ahead. >> reporter: he was later allowed back in. the fierce back-and-forth followed trump and fox news re-igniting their feud that began at the gop debate three weeks ago. this afternoon fox chief roger ales demanding trump apologize to megyn kelly just back from vacation. >> welcome to "the kelly file." i'm megyn kelly. >> he feet ee eed . >> reporter: kelly's colleagues rushed to her defense on air -- >> something totally out of control yesterday. he started tweeting against megyn kelly, totally unwarranted. >> reporter: and online. "leave megyn kelly alone." and "this needs to stop." it started here. >> you've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals. >> what i say is what

i say, and honestly, if you don't like it, megyn, i'm sorry. >> reporter: it went downhill. >> you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. >> reporter: the two sides had seemingly reached a truce after the debate in a phone call, trump calling ales a great guy, ales insisting the air had been cleared. apparently not. calling it an unprovoked attack that's as unacceptable as it is disturbing. trump shot back insisting he totally disagrees with ales' defense of kelly and said he doesn't think she's a quality journalist. at the same time touting his lead in polls in south carolina. and feuds not unlike those on reality have come to define the trump campaign. how real is this one? that's anybody's guess. but everybody's watching the spectacle and at least for the moment, both sides seem to be benefiting. lester? >> peter, thank you.

a scary scene at a west virginia high school today. police say a 14-year-old boy with a gun held 27 students and a teacher hostage in a classroom. the rest of the building was evacuated as authorities negotiated with the teen, who eventually let everyone go before giving himself up. police say he's been taken to the hospital for an evaluation. there's no word on what sparked this incident. the racing world is in mourning tonight after indycar driver justin wilson died from injuries he suffered in a horrific crash on the track sunday. this is obviously a high-risk sport, no doubt, but this tragedy raises the question what can be done to make it safer to give drivers a bit of an edge? nbc's craig melvin takes a look. >> reporter: at 6'4" justin wilson was indycar's tallest driver and one of the sport's most popular stars. >> justin's elite ability to drive a race car was matched by his unwavering kindness, character, and humility. >> gone! karem is gone!

>> reporter: during sunday's race another driver lost control of his car and slammed into a wall. a heavy piece of debris from the front of that car struck wilson's head as he drove by, knocking him unconscious. >> justin wilson. >> reporter: the england native was airlifted to a nearby hospital. he never came out of a coma and died late monday. the way wilson was injured here at pocono is raising new questions about safety in a sport where drivers hit top speeds of more than 200 miles per hour. >> here we go. huge crash. >> reporter: for indycar it's the second death in just four years. in 2011 fellow british driver dan wheldon died of severe head injuries in a terrifying crash. new measures like impact-absorbing barriers and head and neck protection can help, but some drivers want more. >> with the open cockpit like that it's one of the most dangerous forms of motor sports. we know we go out there every day taking that risk with our head exposed. >> reporter: indycar officials have considered changes like a canopy shielding the cockpit. but racing experts aren't sure it would have saved

wilson. >> it really was a freak accident. and debris flying around in indycars isn't a common problem. >> reporter: meanwhile, the tight-knit racing family is embracing wilson's. with drivers like nascar's danica patrick tweeting, "he was a good man. a great man. i had the pleasure of knowing him and pray for his family." wilson's brother and fellow indy driver stephen told family and friends tuesday his brother's donated organs saved six lives. craig melvin, nbc news, long pond, pennsylvania. we're keeping a close eye on a new tropical storm that has formed in the atlantic. tropical storm erika is forecast to strengthen into a category 1 hurricane as it moves west across the caribbean, where it could pass over the bahamas this weekend. from there the forecast gets a bit more uncertain. one model showing the storm dissipating. another showing it possibly becoming a threat to parts of the southeastern u.s. next week. we'll keep you posted on that. reinforcements from a hemisphere away are

now joining the firefight in the west. crews taking all the help they can get in this year of historic loss. it's been one step forward, two steps back for firefighters as several wildfires continue to gain ground. nbc news national correspondent miguel almaguer has more from washington state. >> reporter: in washington state they've never seen conditions like this. wildfires are exploding. as crews race to build containment lines. across the state 12 large fires. this year a record pace. 1,100 square miles torched and counting. more land than the entire state of rhode island. few know fire better than stewart turner. the 34-year veteran is a fire behaviorist. >> a lot of red on this map. >> there's a lot of red. that's all fire. and that's just our fire. >> reporter: turner predicts where and how fast this fire will go. >> this one is driven

by those dry, dry fuels out there. the rugged terrain and then the weather, the winds. they all make sure extreme behavior. >> reporter: turner works side by side with meteorologist christian casill studying maps, models and radars 16 hours a day. critical work to keep firefighters safe. >> winds here will change dramatically. they'll either go one way and then, you know, within ten minutes they're gusting pretty hard. >> reporter: in the field, gearing up, teams from australia and new zealand to help fight this historic fire. >> feels good to be able to assist you guys when you need a hand and hopefully you can do the same for us when we need one too. >> reporter: tonight with more homes threatened dorothy heinzelman grateful for what she still has. >> they did a wonderful job. a wonderful, wonderful job. and saved our house. because it would have gone. >> reporter: miguel almaguer, nbc news, chelan, washington. isis has released

images to back up claims that it destroyed an ancient temple in the syrian city of palmyra, sending it up in a mushroom cloud. other pictures appear to show militants rigging barrels of explosives around the site and also the aftermath, a temple reduced to a pile of rubble. awful scenes of destruction we're back with more right after this.

back now with our special series "isis uncovered." tonight an exclusive look at isis's child army. young people taken and brainwashed into the terror

group's twisted ideology. for those who manage to escape with their lives getting away comes with a hefty price. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel has the story. and we need to warn you, some of these images may be disturbing. >> reporter: when isis took over eastern syria last year, it started to hunt down the rebels who'd been fighting it. searching especially for their children. ahmed now 17 eventually turned himself in. "they said if i went with them, gave up my weapon, that i would be unharmed," he says. another boy, mohammed, tried to run. "after they found me," he says, "i faced all kinds of torture. beatings and electric shocks." both boys have now fled to the turkish city of urfa. syrians escape here to turkey to get away from the war. but they can't get away from isis. the group has members all over this side of the

border, which is why few here dare to speak about its crimes without hiding their faces. after surrendering to isis, ahmed went to an indoctrination course like this one, filmed by the group for propaganda. "they talked about osama bin laden and how he attacked the twin towers. they were saying that they need to do that again," he says. this is what isis does to those who refuse to bow to it. it's a gruesome public ceremony filmed by the group itself in which the victim's right hand and left foot are chopped off. that's exactly what they did to mohammed, who is only 14 years old. "i put my arm on a table, and they brought in the butcher, and he cut it," he says. this, mohammed says, is the man who disfigured him two weeks ago. an iraqi nicknamed the bulldozer. "the most difficult time is when i go to sleep," he says. "then the pain starts."

mohammed cries when his bandages are changed. he can't afford to go to a hospital. isis, he says, is turning children like him into human bombs. "they give a boy some money or a bicycle and then take him in a car to bomb himself. they target children the most," mohammed says. isis is creating a new generation of extremists and brutalizing those who don't go along with the plan. richard engel, nbc news, southern turkey. a lot more to tell you about as we continue here tonight, including a mysterious discovery at one of the most famous landmarks in the world, where there is an effort to turn back time.

a wrong-way driver led police on a dangerous chase on a utah highway and dash cams caught it all. at one point the woman behind the wheel drove right at a trooper's vehicle before swerving. another trooper hit her suv

finally, overturning it. she allegedly fled on foot before being tackled. drugs are believed to be a factor. turns out the most famous clock in the world hasn't been telling the right time. officials say london's iconic big ben has actually been running six seconds fast in the last few weeks. the problem happened after the 156-year-old clock first started running slow. big ben's caretaker says he doesn't know exactly why it happened, saying "it's not digital, it's not electronic, it does take a lot of love and care." i think six seconds slow we can live with. a major milestone for an album on many a desert island list. ♪ baby, we were born to run ♪ bruce springsteen's "born to run" was released 40 years ago today. it was the boss's third album, and initially he wasn't satisfied with it before its release in 1975. but it's the one that truly made him a star. when we come back, the boy who's very lucky this particular museum doesn't have a you break

it you buy it policy. wi evts at retedacss e b brge.rt

finally, the gasp-inducing museum video seen around the world showing a 350-year-old painting ruined in a split

second. great works of art must be guarded against so many things like time and dust and humidity and the occasional off-balance 12-year-old. here's kevin tibbles. >> reporter: in the world of the oops, this one's a masterpiece. watch as the 12-year-old kid in the t-shirt and shorts, obligatory drink in hand, stumbles and puts his hand right through a painting in a taiwan museum. not just any painting but a 350-year-old oil on canvas entitled "flowers." did i mention it's worth 1.5 million bucks? when it comes to museums, it seems bumbling inspector clouseau isn't alone in his clumsiness. an american tourist accidentally broke off a 600-year-old finger in florence. an italian student taking a selfie smashed this priceless statue. while some fellow in

england tripping over his shoelace shattered a trio of ancient chinese vases. then there's the 84-year-old spanish woman whose ham-fisted restoration turned a 19th century fresco of jesus into this. one man was so inspired he turned that disaster into a halloween costume. outside chicago's art institute the fear of mauling a master is palpable. >> i always imagine myself accidentally tripping and knocking something over. >> you come in and trip over your big feet, the next thing you know you just fell through a million-dollar painting. >> you break it you bought it, i guess. >> reporter: back in taiwan "flowers" has been restored and blooms again, while a certain 12-year-old may be sporting this expressionist expression. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. >> well told, kevin. that's going to do it for us on a tuesday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. nghbhoo tovoiat g

nbc bay area news starts now. >> we were told there were areas we couldn't go at night because it was actually quite dangerous. right now at 6:00, a violent crime in one of the most unique spots in world. a tourist shot on lombard street sparking a police chase across the bay. good evening. thank you for being with us. >> a shooting and chase across san francisco over the bay bridge, all over a camera. a tourist visiting the city from thailand gets a scary streets of san francisco experience.

you're looking at cell phone video of that tourist moments after he was shot. emergency crews are trying to stop the bleeding. the man is in the hospital right now, and we hear he is going to recover and be okay. but it almost didn't happen that way. it all started on lombard when his camera was taken. the suspect then led police on a chase way into the east bay. we have team coverage for you tonight. chuck, that poor tourist had only been in town like a day. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. a tourist from thailand was shot. this section of lombard street, we should say, at jones is something of a tourist highway. we learned that all afternoon by seeing a steady parade of people going up and down lombard street between russian hill and north beach. but few people who live in this part of town thought they would be vulnerable to robbers. residents were stunned as a