we'll be back after it at 10:00. on this saturday night, damage control. the president heads home from europe to face reports that his son-in-law is now a focus in the russia investigation, including that he possibly discussed setting up a secret channel to communicate with russia. travel chaos. the ripple effects here and around the world after a computer failure forces british airways to cancel all of its flits from london airport. tens of thousands of people stranded. deadly train attack. two passengers killed in portland, oregon after trying to intervene when a man screams anti-muslim insults at two women. path to success. an alternative to four years of college. the new apprentice programs giving young workers the skills they need for well-paying factory jobs. and midnight

rider. ♪ remembering the man behind the song and so many others that were part of the soundtrack of a generation. gregg allman has died. "nightly news" begins now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc "nightly news" with jose diaz-balart. good evening. president trump returns home tonight after a whirlwind trip that saw him meet with dozens of world leaders in five different countries. when air force one touches down at andrews this evening, the president will be greeted by a storm of political controversy that has grown since he left more than a week ago. the epicenter of that storm, reports that his son-in-law and trusted adviser jared kushner asked russians about the possibility of setting up a secret communications link with the kremlin that would circumvent official u.s. government channels. our kelly o'donnell has been traveling with the president and

files tonight's report from sicily. >> reporter: in the air over sicily today the president capped his nine-day journey of nearly 30,000 miles with a visit to u.s. troops in italy. the most difficult miles ahead, maybe the trip back home, where he's returning to a growing controversy surrounding his son-in-law and top adviser's pre-inauguration contacts with the russian ambassador. the "washington post" reports that jared kushner asked for a secret communication channel to vladimir putin in early december. president trump steered clear of reporters' questions for the entire trip. while other presidents and prime ministers held news conferences, the white house tried to avoid any talk of the russia investigation. senior aides who briefed reporters off camera refused to discuss new scrutiny around son-in-law jared kushner. >> we're not going to comment on jared. we're just not going to comment. >> the only reason to go to the russian embassy and speak on secret russian phone lines is to prevent the u.s. intelligence community from seeing

that information. >> reporter: kushner's lawyer says he is willing to talk with investigators. the commander in chief declared his first foreign mission a success. >> i think we hit a home run no matter where we are. >> reporter: but president trump also stung close allies. first at nato, when he bluntly demanded member nations pay more. >> we're behind nato all the way. but we want to be treated fairly. >> reporter: and here at the g7 summit a diplomatic rift. all six other leaders reaffirmed support for the paris climate change agreement. but president trump, who has threatened to withdraw the u.s., tweeted he will decide next week. on matters like trade and terrorism president trump does get credit for brokering new agreements. >> together we will overcome this threat. we will win. >> reporter: as the president heads home, troubles await his return. kelly o'donnell, nbc news, with the president in sicily. >> much more on the

challenges facing the trump administration tomorrow morning on "meet the press." homeland security secretary john kelly and republican senator bob corker will be among chuck todd's guests. the weather could be a big factor this weekend for people traveling in the middle part of the country, where severe storms are expected tonight and into tomorrow. let's get the very latest now from nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. dylan. >> we have this setup, very warm humid air ahead of this cold front. we're going to see these storms continue to fire up overnight, possibly producing those dangerous tornadoes, the very gusty winds and the large hail as well. as we go into tomorrow, though, the heavier rain will exit the st. louis area and start to shift a little bit farther to the east. areas like the great lakes, the ohio and tennessee river valley, that's where we will start to see more showers and isolated severe storms begin to fire up. and then up and down the east coast on monday we'll see off and on rain. for those traveling on i-95 that could cause some slowdowns with some pockets of heavier rain likely. back to the midwest,

flooding will also be a concern as we could see some areas picking up as much as four inches of rain in a very short period of time. jose? >> dylan dreyer, thanks so much. there was a major evacuation tonight at newark liberty international airport in new jersey after a suspicious device was found. travelers in terminal a were evacuated after what appeared to be a pressure cooker in a bag was discovered at that terminal. law enforcement and airport sources say it was found in an area before passengers are screened. after police investigated the package was cleared. police say delays are expected at the airport. beyond newark on this holiday weekend, tens of thousands of air passengers found themselves stranded today from london to this country and beyond after a computer failure at british airways forced the cancellation of all flights from london. nbc's morgan radford has the latest. >> reporter: bags piled high. lines snaking through the terminal. >> we've been at the airport for three hours now, and we haven't made it through bag drop-off. >> reporter: passengers stranded in

london and across the globe after a sudden i.t. failure crippled british airways. >> it's quite difficult to estimate how long we'll be here. >> reporter: forcing the airline to cancel all flights from heathrow and gatwick airports. >> i knew something was wrong when we were boarding, they did a manual -- had a manual map of the seats and they were ticking off people. >> really disappointing really because we were hoping to go away, weren't we? >> reporter: british airways officials tell nbc news this outage, the third for the airline since last june, was not an intentional attack, vowing to get to the bottom of it quickly. >> we are extremely sorry for the huge inconvenience this is causing our customers. we believe the root cause was a power supply issue, and we have no evidence of any cyberattack. >> reporter: passengers trying to take the inconvenience in stride. >> good luck to you. >> everybody's been quite good-natured about it in the queue. we can't do anything about it, can we? >> reporter: as the effects of the outage ripple across the pond. london is the third most popular destination for

americans traveling this weekend. which is why damon ince isn't ready to let british airways off the hook. i'm looking forward to them making up for this situation. and if not, they will definitely be hearing from me via social media, twitter, instagram. i will be very vocal. >> reporter: delays complicating an already hectic holiday weekend. it's still unclear just how many flights have been affected, but so far here at new york's jfk airport the last flight arriving here from london came at 11:15 a.m. that's why british airways officials say they hope to have things back up and running tomorrow. jose? >> morgan radford, thank you very much. in portland, oregon a man is in custody tonight charged with aggravated murder after the fatal stabbing of two men on a train. police say the men were killed when they attempted to intervene after the suspect made racist and religious slurs at passengers. nbc's steve patterson has more on that story. >> reporter: a hate-fueled tirade on a portland train

ending with two brutal deaths. >> one was stabbed in the neck and the other in the stomach. >> reporter: portland police say late yesterday afternoon three men were stabbed by a man yelling ethnic and religious slurs. >> i was so scared. he was saying something about america, this is a free country. >> reporter: police say the suspect, identified as 35-year-old jeremy christian, harassed two girls, one wearing a hijab. >> two younger girls believed to be muslim. >> reporter: two people who came to the girls' defense were stabbed to death. they've been identified as 53-year-old ricky best and 23-year-old taliesin meche. on facebook meche's mother posted "he was a hero and will remain a hero on the other side of the veil." >> it's horrific. there's no other word to describe what happened. >> reporter: one witness says this video shows the suspect's confrontation with police before his arrest. >> shoot. >> reporter: christian has an extensive criminal past including convictions for kidnapping, armed robbery, and weapons

possession. he also has a history of hate speech. on his facebook page he praises oklahoma city bomber timothy mcveigh, calling him a true patriot. just last month christian was at a free speech rally, armed with a baseball bat and apparently giving nazi salutes. >> i'm not here to join anyone. i'm here to be heard. this is a freedom of speech rally. >> reporter: the portland attacks come on the first day of the muslim holy month ramadan. >> it was incredibly shocking. >> reporter: muslim community leader harris zafar says portland is a tolerant city of 50,000 muslims, not used to this level of hate. >> two people lost their lives. and two families now have an empty seat at the dinner table. >> reporter: christian was booked on multiple charges including aggravated murder and attempted murder. he's being held without bail. steve patterson, nbc news. britain remains on high alert tonight, five days after a suicide bomber attacked a concert arena in manchester killing 22 people. nbc's blake mccoy has more from london on

the security build-up and the investigation. >> reporter: tonight armed military stand guard outside buckingham palace. police with guns patrol streets and trains. a rare show of force in england which like the u.s. is beginning a long holiday weekend. at this soccer final, one of two major sporting events here today, fans told to arrive early. >> security's like more amped up than usual. >> reporter: inside wembley stadium prince william on hand for a moment of silence for the 22 victims of the manchester terror attack on an ariana grande concert. a bomb scare saturday forced the evacuation of this busy london theater. police have reviewed security plans for more than 1,300 events across the country. >> when you're talking about soft targets, you can't protect everywhere. >> no. absolutely not. we've got to rely on the police and security service to be in front of the these people, be in front of the attackers, have the intelligence in advance. >> reporter: tonight

we're seeing these new images of suicide bomber salman abedi taken from a security camera the night of the attack. raids to unearth a terror cell continue. 13 people arrested so far. investigators say significant progress has been made in the last 24 hours, leading prime minister theresa may to lower the terror threat level from critical to severe. >> the public should be clear that a severe threat level does mean that an attack is highly likely and everyone should remain vigilant. >> reporter: gail comar is visiting from kansas with her family. >> did you think twice about continuing the vacation? >> we were concerned. but i don't want that to stop us from being here. >> if we don't come, if we stop our trip, then they win. >> reporter: determination to continue life as normal against a backdrop of heightened security. blake mccoy, nbc news, london. the music world is paying tribute tonight to a legend of rock and roll, gregg allman, a founder of the allman brothers band, has died.

♪ ♪ baby gregg allman helped create the sound that defined southern rock. ♪ run down a bluesy hard-jamming style heavy on guitar, keyboards and driving vocals. >> we play rock and roll just a lot of other people. we play a style of rock and roll. a lot of bands that came after us were playing similar music. it's just -- it's honest music. >> reporter: honest music that influenced generations of musicians. gregg and his older brother duane founded the allman brothers band in 1969. their first big hit, a live album, "at fillmore east," made for commercial and critical success. duane died in a motorcycle accident shortly after the album's release. gregg then led the band through four more decades marked by more hits. ♪ lord, i was born a rambling man ♪ ♪ not gonna let them catch the midnight rider ♪ >> he married and

divorced pop icon cher, just one of his six marriages, and had public battles with drugs and alcohol. many rock stars took inspiration from the sound. his death today inspiring a wave of condolences. allman was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in 1995 and honored with a grammy life yn time achievement award in 2012. >> greg allman died at his home in savannah, georgia today. he was 69 years old. still ahead tonight, a new formula for training young workers for highly paid jobs in manufacturing. apprentice programs as an alternative to college. a remarkable display of water and light as a famous fountain garden gets new life.

there's been a great deal of talk about bringing back manufacturing jobs to this country. but increasingly, those jobs require a higher level of skill than in the past. and that's where a new kind of training comes in, apprenticeships, that are becoming a path to success for some young people. abc's anne thompson takes a look at how they work at one company. >> reporter: this is the sound of manufacturing in 2017. at siemens energy hub in charlotte, north carolina. >> i don't see or hear those big machines that i think of manufacturing. >> yeah. today's manufacturing is pretty different. it's custom. it's quiet. and it's all based on

computers. >> reporter: siemens ceo judith marks says that enables her company to be more efficient and competitive. but finding workers to build gas turbines was one of her biggest challenges. >> we actually moved the product line from canada here. and when we moved here, we needed about 800 employees. we were coming up a little short. >> reporter: she says only 15% of those who applied had the skills needed. to bridge the skills gap siemens started an apprentice program to develop the mechanical and technical abilities called middle skills. a gap so big an estimated 2 million jobs may go unfilled in the next decade. >> i've always had an interest in engineering, mechanical engineering. >> reporter: instead of going to a four-year college, chad robinson chose to be an apprentice. >> they pay for my tuition. they pay for my books. and then on top of it all i'm getting paid to stay in class. >> reporter: robinson works in the factory and attends community college. after four years he will have an associate's degree, a journeyman's certificate, a salary

of at least $50,000, and skills crucial to the larger economy. >> if we don't provide a labor force that can fill that work, technology, foreign companies, outsourcing are going to replace the opportunity to earn your living in those occupations. >> reporter: taking a page from successful apprentice programs in europe, siemens now has similar training at three more u.s. factories. >> it is an investment. and you have to start there. it's a strategic investment in people and talent and our future. >> reporter: benefiting the company and the economy. anne thompson, nbc news, charlotte. coming up, the meeting in london today between the prince and the president.

the scene at longwood gardens near philadelphia where a spectacular fountain garden reopens tonight after a $90 million renovation. the five-acre garden first opened in 1931, created by industrialist pierre du pont, inspired by classical water gardens in europe. the number of fountains has been increased from under 400 to more than 1,700, and 6,000 pieces of carved limestone were cleaned and repaired or replaced. in london today prince harry welcomed former president obama to kensington palace. mr. obama offered condolences to the victims of this week's suicide attack in manchester. the two men also discussed a range of common interests

including support for veterans, mental health, conservation, and the work of their foundations. jim bunning has died. the hall of fame pitcher played for four major league teams in the 1950s and '60s. he was one of only 18 major league players to throw a perfect game. after baseball bunning entered politics, serving in both the house and the senate from kentucky. he was considered one of the senate's most conservative members, serving two terms before retiring in 2009. jim bunning was 85 years old. and a towering figure in american foreign policy has died. zbigniew brzezinski, who came national security adviser under president jimmy carter, played key roles in bringing about a number of international agreements in the late 1970s. they included the camp david accords between egypt and israel. normalizing this country's relations with china. and the salt 2 nuclear arms treaty with the soviet union. he was also among those behind the failed mission to rescue the american

hostages held by iran in 1980. the influence of the polish-born brzezinski continued for decades as a scholar, author, and television commentator. brzezinski's death was announced by his daughter and our colleague, mica brzezinski, show host of "morning joe" on msnbc. zbigniew brzezinski was 89 years old. when we come back, another part of our history. the amazing collection one woman has gathered right in her own home.

finally, tonight it has been one woman's lifelong passion, collecting what has become a treasure trove of african-american history and memorabilia. it's worth millions and takes up just about every inch of her home here in new york city. why does she do it? here's nbc's ron allen. >> this is slavery and abolition. >> reporter: it's an astonishing collection, marking some of the most significant people and moments in african-american history. >> this is a letter written by rosa parks. >> by rosa parks. >> wow. >> reporter: as many as 50,000 items. >> here i have a tribute to women who were involved in aviation. >> reporter: all packed into elizabeth meaders' modest new york city home. >> have many people seen this? >> no. i can't really have people trapezing in and out of my house. >> reporter: year after year this admittedly eccentric retired school teacher searches for more treasure and believes it's the most comprehensive collection gathered by a single individual. >> i spent every penny i have, every penny i hope to have, every penny that i ought to have.

>> reporter: everything from slavery to freedom. in her living room, dining room, and garage. all of it appraised at some $10 million. >> why collect 50,000 items in your home? >> i come from a family where african-american history is very important. and i hold it in a high place in my heart because i know the significance of this neglected history. >> reporter: over the years she's loaned items to museums but refused to sell pieces individually. >> this is a teaching collection. every item has a story, and every story teaches and heals. >> reporter: her most prized possession, this butler medal, a rare military honor awarded to black civil war soldiers by a white general for bravery. fewer than 200 exist. but now she's reached a turning point. >> you're ready to let go of it. >> ready to let go. >> why? why now? >> because of my age and because of the times. we are in a turmoil in this country.

>> reporter: she's hoping someone will come along who can help preserve her life's work and share it with the public. >> keeps a smile on my face like i have a secret. >> it's no longer a secret. >> no, it's no longer a secret. >> and certainly among the finest museums in anyone's home. ron allen, nbc news, new york. >> and no longer a secret. that's nbc "nightly news" for this saturday. tomorrow on "nightly news" with kate snow, three brothers. all of them graduating this weekend from west point. i'm jose diaz-balart reporting from new york on this memorial day weekend. thank you for the privilege of your time. good night.

right now at 6:00, skir audio slip on a water slide caught on camera at a water park's grand opening in the east bay today. the news at 6:00 strts right now. gooenk good evening, everyone, i'm terry mcsweeney. an unkppd end to a trip down the water slide during the grand

opening of multiple million dollar water park. one boy makes a hard landing. sergio this was all caught on camera. what is the water park saying about this accident tonight? >> reporter: right now they are seeing that they are really happy about the way the park personnel responded to what happened. of course this was supposed to be a smooth rollout of this aquatic park. just hours after people started going on, this accident and lots of scrapes for a 10-year-old boy. let's somehow you the video shot by a photographer from the east bay times covering the opening. you can see the boy jet down the slide and fly over the edge of the green you tube. he landed on the concrete. he suffered minor scrapes. he was not transported to the hospital. this is a $43 million aquatic park that had just opened for business today. there had been some controversy from its start because it was under construction during