up next, "nbc nightly news." we'll see you again tonight at 11:00. tonight, attack at notre dame, an assailant attacks and opens fire inside the famed cathedral in paris. hands in the air. was it terrorism? top secret exposed. a mystery swirling around the young american charged about leaking information about russian election meddling. how she says she was caught. driven out, uber in investigation deep in allegations of widespread harassment at the company. face-to-face, bill cosby's accuser takes the stand for the first time, telling the jury the night she says the first time he drugged and sexually assaulted her. rock star, an exclusive with a rock

star who just pulled off an astounding feet many thought was impossible. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening, everyone. glad to have you here tonight. paris and one of its most famous landmarks has become the latest target in a wave of attacks to strike europe in recent weeks. french authorities say a man launched a brazen assault on a police officer use hamminger outside the notre dame cathedral screaming, this is for syria, the simple methods used in other terror attacks. police opened fire on the man as hundreds of stunned tourists ran to safety. the latest. >> reporter: chaos in front of the world famous notre dame cathedral, terrified students running from

gunshots. an algerian student running to attack a french police officer. >> we were running but we didn't know if it was gunshot what the cause of it was. >> reporter: the suspect seen here after being shot by other officers screaming, this is for syria, as he launched the attack, carrying kitchen knives in addition to the hammer. hundreds of visitors locked inside the cathedral told to sit with their hands up in the air, one of them a former u.s. terrorism official on vacation. >> the police made us raise our hands and searched us looking for a perpetrator and that's when everyone got frightened that we might be at risk ourselves. >> reporter: just a few days ago she was in london when a terrorists used knives. now, a call from isis for low tech attacks is being heeded. >> it's an effort by isis to get individuals to conduct an attack anywhere any time using any means. >> reporter: france

already under emergency after a stream of jihadist attacks, some at tourists spots, like the louvre and in july a deadly truck killed 86. and coordinated attacks in paris, 130 dead, more than 350 injured. whether this was an attack directed or inspired by islamic extremists or a man acting alone is the focus for police tonight. no group has claimed responsibility. the french prosecutor has opened a terrorism investigation. lester. >> keir simmons in paris. thanks. back home we're learning much more about the woman charged in the first intelligence leak case under president trump. prosecutors say a 25-year-old nsa contractor admitted about leaking a top secret document about russia's election motive to an online magazine. the motive is a

mystery. >> reporter: barely one hour after an only "the intercept" posted a story about online hacking, the justice department said a 25-year-old georgia woman, realty leigh winner was arrested. the parents said they're shocked? >> i'm worried about her. >> reporter: they say she wasn't highly political. >> she is a good person. she volunteers and does whatever she can to make the community better. >> reporter: reality winner spent six years in the air force intelligent expert and language expert giving her top secret security clearance. she's been working at this georgia military base. on twitter no fan of donald trump once calling him an orange fascist. they realized the document had been leaked when an intercept reporter called said in the news site had it and hackers getting into voter registration systems. because they sent a picture of the

document investigators concluded the leaker must have printed it. only six people had printed it out the nsa determined perhaps judging by a barely visible code that embeds printer information. they then discovered she had been in e-mail contact from desktop with the intercept. confronted at home saturday prosecutors say she admitted printing and mailing to it "the intercept." >> this is about as clear cut a leaks case can get. normally you have ambiguity and how damaging the information was. >> reporter: now, she could face prison time for leaking a highly classified document. >> in 48 hours, all eyes will be on the biggest moment of the russia probe, former fbi director james comey set to testify before congress. he was fired by president trump who days later told me he was thinking about the russia thing at the time and he had sharp words toward comey

back then today struck a new tone towards the director. al ally -- hallie jackson has more on what he is expected to say. >> reporter: less than three weeks after calling comey a nut job, president trump is sending a more magnanimous response today. >> i wish him luck. >> reporter: luck to the man he fired set to testify thursday. comey is likely to lay out a pattern of what he believed were inappropriate conversations about the russia investigation according to sources close to him but not accused the president of smirns and maybe something more online, too. >> the president is expected to be tweeting on thursday in response to comey not to stay quiet during the testimony because he himself wants to be the one driving the protest. >> the president is the most effective one

on his agenda. >> reporter: that agenda seems jammed up for now with the capitol consumed by comey. >> this will take all the air out of the white house. >> reporter: the president hoping to jump-start health care and tax reform meeting with gop leaders?. the senate, i'm sure, will follow suit and get a bill across the finish line this summer. >> reporter: that timeline striking some as ambitious. >> i think the president's agenda is at a virtual stand still because of all these distractions. >> reporter: when the senate might act on healthcare is leading anthem to pull out of ohio's insurance mark today leaving more than 10,000 people with no provider come 2018. one day after the president hit his own justice department on the travel ban the press secretary declined to describe president's confidence in his attorney general, jeff sessions. nbc saying the president felt frustrated with his long time loyal

supporter recusing himself from the russia investigation. >> we will have comey's testimony before congress beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on nbc. tonight, new fallout at uber. 20 people have now been fired after an investigation into a culture of harassment and sexual misconduct by current and former employees. we get late details from nbc news business contemporary, jolene kent. >> reporter: at least 20 terminations at uber after a law firm investigated 215 claims of sexual harassment, bullying and inappropriate workplace behavior by current and former staff. the action sparked by former engineer, susan fowler who described repeated unwanted sexual advances by her boss in a february blog post. she said it was clear he was trying to get me to have sex with him. when fowler reported the incidents to human resources, she says that were swept under the rug and her boss was called a high performer who management wouldn't feel comfortable

punishing. uber ceo, travis kalanick launched an investigation and said his actions were abhorrent from anything uber believes in and says any who thinks this is okay will be fired. he was later count on camera losing his temper with his own uber driver. leading an investigation into the 12,000 company. >> there is no organization in this company. they didn't bother to put into place. >> reporter: yesterday, uber hired francis fri to oversee an organizational transformation and ceo kalanick dealing with a boating trillion, his mother killed in the accident last week and father badly injured. >> reporter: so far the drama hasn't hurt business and rides are up 3,000% from last year. jolene kent, san francisco. seen in a courtroom outside philadelphia today as

bill cosby's accuser came face-to-face with the man she says drugged and sexually assaulted her inside his home. andrea constad speaking publicly the first time. >> reporter: andrea arrived at court today serious and determined. sitting across the courtroom from bill cowboys, she described her initial impressions of him while working at temple university, a friend, somebody i trusted. a mentor. in january 2004, she went to cosby's house to talk her career. the comedian offers her three blue pills saying these will help you relax. moments later, feeling unsteady and panicking a bit, she said cosby moved her to the couch. with a shaky voice, she told the jury i was trying to get my hands to move and my legs to move but i was frozen. unable to fight back, she says cosby molested her. i wanted it to stop

she told the courtroom. lily bernard and victoria say they were sexually assaulted by cosby as well and were here to watch the trial. >> i thought she was extraordinarily authentic. >> for me, it was an emotional moment. >> reporter: he is facing aggravated indecent assault. dozens of women have accused the once beloved actor of unwanted sexual contact and many say they were drugged. cosby denies all the charges. >> this entire case will come down to credibility and the defense needs to know every single statement she made inconsistent with one made later. >> reporter: she also admitted she talked to cosby several times after the alleged attack and even attended one of his shows with relatives. she says, i did not have the courage at the time to tell my family so i just went along with it. the cross-examination is going to be tough. it has already begun and will resume again tomorrow, look for a

focus on contact she had with cosby after the alleged assault as well as inconsistencies she gave law enforcement. >> thank you, stephanie. tonight, state officials in georgia are sounding the alarm about a killer drug making its way through communities already taken four lives and caused dozens to be hospitalized in as many days. overdoses and a warning to the public. >> reporter: public health authorities in central and southern georgia have never seen anything like it. dozens of drug overdoses in just 48 hours, at least four people dead. >> we have had more than a dozen cases of opioid overdose in the emergency room. >> reporter: patients said they bought yellow pills they thought were percocet, an opioid pain medication and turned out to be something else yet to be identified. >> we do not have the toxicology back and don't know the source of the drug in these

patients. >> reporter: across the country, death from drug overdoses have skyrocketed now the leading cause in americans under 50. in akron, ohio, 1-year-old died after a suspected drug overdose and issuing a warning to police to help stop the drug fentanyl. they killed more than 700 people nationwide from late 2013 to early 2015. >> fentanyl is 30 to 50 times more deadly than heroine. >> reporter: and a growing danger for first responders. some got sick on evidence. >> the amount that can fit on the tip of your finger. >> reporter: tonight in georgia this urgent plea agreement. >> we wanted to let the community know there is a new drug that surfaced in our community. >> reporter: there are fears the death toll could grow, gabe

gutierrez, nbc news, atlanta. the crisis erupting in the middle east, five nations cutting ties with qatar accusing them of supporting terror. they are a key ally with isis, today, president trump decided to side with its accusers. more with our chief foreign affairs contemporary, andrea mitchell. >> reporter: tonight only week after the present heralded his success at niting the world in saudi arabia, a greowing crisis among the arab leaders. the president lavishly praising the amir of qatar. >> we are friends and have been friends for a long time. >> reporter: today, the president turning against him praising the saudis in a sudden move are leading an arab coalition cutting off qatar by air and sea including no commercial flights saying they support islamic extremists,

they deny. the president tweeted they say they would take hard line on funding for extremists and maybe this is the end of the terror. qatar home to a key u.s. base with 8,000 u.s. service members flying air strikes against isis and missions in afghanistan. secretary of state tourism has offered to mediate in a region where any new conflict not only impacts our military but called also impact oil prices. >> andrea mitchell at the state department. a trial making headlines after a teen took his own life. texts from his girlfriend are found allegedly urging him to do it. should she be held responsible? also, he ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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changes everything. so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even a coupe soup. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, two-thousand-nine. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ we're back now with a rare and tragic legal case raising very difficult

questions. in massachusetts, a trial began today for a young woman charged in her boyfriend's suicide. prosecutors say she encouraged him, via text messages to take his own life. is that a crime? morgan radford has the story. >> she pushed him to kill himself sooner rather than later. >> reporter: in opening statements prosecutors painted michelle carter as a monster. >> she used conrad in a pawn in her sick game of life and death. >> reporter: carter is facing trial for involuntary manslaughter after allegedly encouraging her 18-year-old boyfriend of, conrad roy to commit suicide. the emotional texts then 17-year-old carter sent him the week leading up to his death. tonight is the night she wrote, now or never. when roy texted i'm freaking out again, i wanted to do this. why are you freaking out, she responded. tonight is the night, you just need to do it. that night he went to

this k-mart parking lot outside of boston and filled his grandfather's parking lot with carbon monoxide. when he got outside, she said i told him to get back in. i couldn't live that way. he died the next day. >> reporter: she said she was simply trying to support her troubled boyfriend who had attempted suicide before. >> the cause of his death was not michelle carter, the cause of his death is a suicide. >> reporter: can one person be held for the suicide of another? 41 states have that law but massachusetts isn't one of them. >> did she cause his death when he acted autonomously that day alone in a car 30 miles away? that's the biggest obstacle for prosecutors? >> reporter: if convicted, michelle carter faces 20 years in prison. nbc news, taunton, massachusetts. nbc news, taunton, massachusetts. i can't wait for her to have that college experience that i had. nbc news, taunton, massachusetts.

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we're back now with an incredible story about overcoming fear not to mention the odds. rock climber, alex, just did something no one's ever done before reaching the top of yosemite's elkappa tan without ropes, 3,000 feet straight up. tonight, he talks exclusively to nbc's gadi schwartz about reaching new heights. >> reporter: it's a towering wall so enormous those brave enough to challenge its face aren't even visible to the naked eye. thousands feed above the valley, alex is etching his name into history using only the chalk on his bare hands. this is only a few seconds of his historic climb filmed by a documentary film, national geographic. look closely, you see no safety gear and no rope, could free soloing. he took the route that can take the most

experienced three to four days with ropes. it took alex four hours. >> i probably know every hole all the way up. >> reporter: seen here in the film "valley uprising," with his back up against a towering cliff or in mexico, finding his zen on a ledge. now, the world is celebrating his crowning achievement, movie stars bowing down to a different breed of rock star, like friends jared, sending this message at a concert. but he is taking it all in stride. >> has it sunk in? >> i don't know. honestly looking at the wall, it looks exactly the same to me. still the most amazing piece of rock. it is kind of hard to believe. >> reporter: for now, living in his van and spending time among the rocks, he is overjoyed, the climbing king of yosemite's majestic elcapitan. >> a breathtaking achievement. >> more bad news for

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finally tonight, the world's most anticipated newborns have arrived. george and amal clooney welcomed twins, a daughter named ella and son, alexander born this morning. everyone is said to be healthy and happy and doing fine although the couple joked saying george is sedated and should be okay in a couple days.

our congratulations to the new mom and dad. that is all. we want to leave you with a live look at the are here! a boy and a girl for george and amal. we have every new detail. >> now on "extra". ♪ extra, extra george clooney, a father at 56. breaking news on the birth of ella and alexander clooney. from julia's twins advice for george and amal to those who paid a secret visit. why george told us this would never be his life.

>> then days after the terror attacks, james corden takes the "late late show" to london. >> trying to find the right words to say is impossible. >> behind the scenes as he shoots his musical spoof. what he has been forced to scrap in light of the attacks. ♪ extra mudslinging. a bad boy return and showdown. we've got rachel on her crazy night on the bachelorette. >> what's the one thing that is a deal breaker? ♪ extra "extra" inside new york star-packed fashion awards. >> this is it. >> we break down the black and white red carpet. plus, heidi on her rumored feud with new agt host tyra banks. ♪ extra and the women on "the mummy." a.j. has them. ♪ extra