on our broadcast this monday night, under pressure. if the cap on the well is holding, then why are there new leaks being talked about in the gulf? not working -- washington fights over jobless benefits, but what do folks without work do in the meantime? a fighting chance for women facing a deadly disease. a new treatment that's being called a game changer. and making a difference for those left behind with great heartbreak by the families who have been forced to leave the gulf. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. for a couple days now there's been no oil coming out of that bp oil well in the gulf of mexico. it's not the permanent fix, we've been told. that can only come when those relief wells break through. but it's been a great relief knowing no new oil, at least, is flowing in on top of the three-month supply that has already ruined parts of the gulf. but then over the last 24 hours came the first hints of trouble, word of other leaks from somewhere down there. the question is, is there a problem with the pressure inside that same well? we begin our reporting tonight with our chief environmental affairs correspondent, anne thompson, in venice, louisiana, again this evening. anne, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. it's been a tense 24 hours for bp engineers and government scientists who have disagreed on how extensively to monitor that cap at the bottom of the sea and

just what the test results mean. but tonight they agree that this test will go forward for another 24 hours. what was a picture of hope is now a mystery at the bottom of the sea. the government says almost two miles from the troubled well head there is a seepage on the ocean floor, just one of several problems discovered during the test. >> we do know that there is some seepage around the base of the blowout preventer in terms of gas bubbles coming up. that's what we're focusing on now. it does not appear to be at this point a consequential problem. >> reporter: there's also a leak from the bottom of the new cap. issues that taken together aren't enough to stop the test, but casts doubts on the ability to keep the well plugged in until the relef wells are finished. >> i think it's premra tour to say the well is shut in until it's done. >> reporter: inside the cap the pressure level is now at 6,811 pounds per square inch, far lower than what government scientists expected. administration officials say two days ago they were very worried, but now they see the increasing

pressure as a positive trend. >> if we thought that the pressurization test itself potentially did damage to the sea floor, obviously we would stop that immediately. >> reporter: what does concern everyone is the fear of bad weather. tonight some experts say bp and the government should go back to containing the oil and save the ability to shut in the well for an emergency. >> if a hurricane comes along, it would be possible then to shut in the well just like it is today and disconnect all the surface ships and take them to safe port and leave the well shut in and not stress the well until that rainy day comes. >> reporter: and that rainy day may come sooner than most people would like. forecasters say there is some weather developing north of puerto rico that could become a tropical storm in the gulf of mexico by this weekend. they're keeping an eye on that while bp and government officials keep an eye on that cap a mile under water. brian?

>> anne thompson at her now three-month-long post in venice, louisiana, starting us off, anne, thanks, as always. with us tonight, a gentleman we've spoken to before on the subject, john hofmeister, a veteran of the business, former president of shell oil and currently ceo of citizens for affordable energy. john, first off, do you believe what you heard today? and what if they're wrong about the integrity of this thing? >> well, it all comes down to confidence and credibility, brian. there is a huge debate taking place among industry experts and bp experts about the quality of the well, whether it has integrity, whether it can withstand the pressures, whether it can withstand the kind of emergency blow-out that it faced and will that cap lead to more breaches, if there are breaches, or what exactly is going on in the well itself? it's a confidence game. and where do you believe, who do you believe and what they have to say? >> and what if? i mean, what if there's structural integrity problems

and we get, god forbid, into a situation where you've got oil coming up from more than one source and you're chasing these leaks on the ocean floor? how will that ever, all of it, be contained in our lifetime? >> well, here's the real issue that everybody is concerned about. and that is if the well casing has been weakened and is breached, will we see a perpetual seepage come up through the outside wall between the wellbore, the hole that was dug, and the casing itself? and will that oil continue to rise through that extra space that's there and that reservoir's a huge reservoir so it could leak permanently unless when they do the relief well they can find a way to cement both the casing and the exterior to the casing right to the wellbore itself. it's not over yet. i still have confidence that they can get this thing stopped and done or worst case they could produce it, produce the well and just forget about stopping it.

we have this big contest going on between the politicians on the one hand representing the white house, the government, et cetera, and we have the shareholders of bp on the other hand, and tad allen is in the middle trying to figure out what the right thing is to do. and in the meantime we're left to hope and pray for the best possible outcome. john hofmeister, as always, thank you for coming on the broadcast helping us to understand all of this. we have more tonight on the economic impacts of all of this. with an economy already bad, think of this. analysts say the gulf region could lose nearly $6 billion in tourism revenue alone and a lot of jobs along with it. our own mark potter is with us from pensacola. mark, when we were last down there with you, the businesses were already beyond suffering. >> reporter: absolutely, brian. good evening to you. no one is watching the news from the well site more carefully than the residents of the gulf coast. what happens there next affects them directly in so many ways

including their businesses. in florida, james patterson and eric curry are gambling their economic futures on the oil leaks soon being stopped permanently. this week they are opening a new pizza parlor. despite the lack of tourists scared away by oil. >> we kind of held off on our opening a little bit just to see what happened, but we couldn't hold off any longer. we had too much invested in this. >> we're just hoping we can't have seafood, hey, we have pizza. >> this business is totally dead. >> reporter: but on the gulf coast, even well-established businesses are struggling to stay afloat. eileen owns the oldest dive shop in pensacola, here nearly 30 years. business is down 90%. it's now bp hiring her dive boat. >> it would not be unusual for us in a month like this to do $60,000 or $80,000. so far the revenues this month excluding the boats is less than $3,000. >> i bought that hotel about

four years ago. >> reporter: jillian has bought two hotels and is building a third. revenues are down 50%. he and other hotel owners must rely on oil company relief payments to keep their doors open. >> i refer to bp as my new unexpected partner, you know, bringing in partners is something developers typically do. generally they keep control of the deal. in this case i've lost control. >> reporter: down the road in orange beach, alabama, c.j. goff runs a scooter shop for tourists. his business is down 80%. >> it's out of our hands. what do we do? what do we do? we're sick. we're sick to our stomachs. >> reporter: now business owners say until that well is sealed for good, it's really hard to make firm plans for the recovery for themselves and the entire gulf region. brian? >> what a grim situation down there. mark potter in pensacola again tonight, thanks. on this same general topic

of energy, there's been a shift between world powers. and while it happened quietly and without fanfare this reverses generations of history and it may tell us something about the direction of the world. china has surpassed the united states as the world's largest consumer of energy. the u.s. still uses more oil, but china's massive use of coal has now made it the biggest overall energy user on the planet. that fact points to how hard the recession hit the united states and the lingering effect of high unemployment was on the president's agenda today. he called again for an extension of unemployment benefits which republicans have blocked up to now because it would add to the country's huge budget deficit. our chief white house correspondent chuck todd is with us now from the briefing room with more. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. no one is feeling the effects of this sluggish economy more than those folks who currently can't find a job. and today the president stepped right into this political fight over how to pay for an extension of benefits for the long-term

unemployed. appearing alongside three unemployed americans, the president took to the rose garden to blame republicans for blocking an extension of unemployment benefits. >> for the past few weeks a majority of senators have tried not once, not twice, but three times to extend emergency relief on a temporary basis. each time the partisan minority in the senate has used parliamentary maneuvers to block a vote. >> reporter: the president said it was after senate democrats already secured the votes for an extension. instead republican leaders weren't objecting to it but they wanted the $34 billion costs to be paid for with budget cuts not added to the trillion-dollar-plus budget deficit. >> at what point do we pivot and do something about this? and we think if you can't pay for a program that everybody agrees we ought to extend, what are we going to pay for? >> reporter: as of last friday 2.5 million unemployed americans have lost their benefits.

this extension expected to pass the senate tuesday afternoon gives most of them an extension through november. but not everyone is eligible. the so-called 99ers, unemployed americans who have received benefits for 99 weeks won't be helped. beth clark of nashville, tennessee, is one of the long-term unemployed. a single mother of two boys, she is struggling to make ends meet. her unemployment benefits expired in april. >> i want to work. i want to work. and i never thought in a million years i would be completely, at my age, unemployed. it is extremely scary. >> reporter: tuesday is a busy day in the senate. besides this vote on unemployment benefits, national security will be an issue as the committee takes up the nomination of james clapper to be the next director of national intelligence. but that hearing could also end up being about deficit spending. in the wake of a two-year-long "washington post" investigation into the costly and complicated

$75 billion intelligence bureaucracy created after the 9/11 attacks. and brian, terrorism will be on the agenda when the president meets here with british prime minister david cameron tomorrow. as you know there is an issue over bp and the role they played with the scottish government and its release of the lockerbie bomber to the libyans. michael isikoff reports secretary of state hillary clinton has written a letter to the scottish government asking them to revisit the issue. the government has said it is not going to do that, brian. >> something tells me we'll talk about that again tomorrow evening. chuck todd from the white house briefing room in the west wing. chuck, thanks. secretary of state hillary clinton arrived in kabul today for talks with the afghan government. she's attending a big summit conference there tomorrow and there was a reminder right after she landed that she landed in a war zone. so as our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is traveling with the secretary of tonight, andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. only hours after clinton arrived here in kabul, rockets were

fired at the airport killing at least one afghan civilian and a child. hillary clinton came to kabul tonight pressing for afghanistan to show it can start defending itself and fight corruption. the goal of a summit conference here tomorrow. 72 foreign ministers including iran, the largest conference ever held in afghanistan during war or peace, an inviting target for insurgents. officials say the threat level is high. the blast tonight, a suicide bombing and foiled plot over the weekend, but the capital in lockdown. clinton still dove straight into a round of briefings. do you have good news for secretary clinton? >> we always have good news for secretary clinton. >> general petraeus is filled with good news. >> reporter: the conference is a big test for hamid karzai to prove he is taking more control. clinton told us she is wary of karzai's efforts to reconcile with the taliban. >> there are a lot of members of the taliban who will not renounce al qaeda. they have a very close working relationship with al qaeda.

they will not agree to give up violence and integrate into the society. >> reporter: all of this after clinton spent two days in neighboring pakistan urging its government to go after the taliban and al qaeda. she also expressed frustration at widespread resentment by pakistanis against america even as she brought $500 million in new aid. >> the idea to, say, an unemployed autoworker or a laid off secretary somewhere in the united states that the aid we provide to a country may not be appreciated raises the question in their minds, why are you sending money to a country that doesn't want it? >> reporter: and tonight's blast only underscores how hard it's going to be for tomorrow's summit conference here to prove that the war strategy is working. brian? >> andrea mitchell in kabul. we'll talk to you again tomorrow night. andrea, thanks. when we continue here in just a moment, new protection for women.

what's being called a breakthrough in the fight against a deadly disease. later, a story you've got to see. the people who saw it once already and stepped up to make a difference.

tonight we have the results of some major research that could help millions of women around the world and is a gel women can use themselves to protect against infection from the virus that causes aids. there's a broader meaning to this story. this news comes from an international aids conference and our chief science correspondent robert bazell has details. >> reporter: the trial was conducted in south africa which has 5.7 million of the 33 million people infected with hiv, the virus that causes aids. the majority of new cases in south africa are among heterosexual women. the study found that a vaginal gel containing an anti-aids medication inserted with a simple applicator cut the

infection rate among women by 39%. researchers wish the effectiveness rate was 100%. they believe that a different combination of drugs might do an even better job in the future and even at this rate the gel has the potential to save millions of women from infection with the aids virus. >> it represents a major victory for the field of hiv prevention research. >> reporter: the two-year trial on almost 900 women also found that the gel cuts the rate of infection of genital herpes by 51% and herpes infections can increase the risk for future infections with the aids virus. the drug called tenofovir used in this gel is usually a pill for people with aids. the maker, gilead sciences, donated it for the trial and promised to make it available free of royalties for uses in a gel in four nations meaning this new prevention could be very inexpensive. these results are critically important because for the first

time they give women control. a gel provides women a means to protect themselves against infection. all too often men do not take precautions and that, brian, is a reason why this horrendous plague continues to grow. a big breakthrough tonight. bob bazell, as always, thanks. when we come back, former presidential candidate, age 88, jumps out of an airplane.

a huge landmark to report in the book business. amazon.com which set out 16 years ago to become the nation's top online bookseller reported today it's now selling more books digitally to users of e-book devices like the kindle and ipad than they are selling actual books on paper between two covers. the number one movie in the country this weekend was not animated nor was it another sequel or superhero adventure. it was the fantasy dream-based thriller "inception" pulling in just over $60 million and giving its star leo dicaprio the biggest opening weekend of his film career. former south dakota senator and democratic presidential nominee george mcgovern has gone and jumped out of an airplane. he was a world war ii aviator. he said he wanted another notch in his belt. he thought it was a thrill. he jumped from 10,000 feet above titusville, florida. he says he did it to make a statement about children's hunger around the world.

so we figured this means george mcgovern, now age 88, holds the new record for the most senior man among those who have run for president to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. george h.w. bush, 41, was only 85 at the time of his last jump.

now to our "making a difference" report tonight, we aired portions of this story this past saturday night and it's really a story everyone ought to see. in fact, since we first aired it, and you'll see why, there's been an overwhelming response from our viewers. it's about some innocent victims of this awful oil spill and people who are forced to leave their lives to make a living and have to leave their pets behind. others are now making a difference by stepping up and providing a loving home. the story from nbc's michelle kosinski in violet, louisiana. >> reporter: if only they could get the words out. alex and majerle, big benny -- >> that's okay, benny. there's somebody out there that

wants you. >> reporter: would tell a story of human pain behind those eyes of masters who had to make an excruciating choice. to give up soulful friends and puppies hungry for play from more accustomed to laps than cages. since may, starting with this little guy, this shelter has seen hundreds of pets surrendered by owners, at least ten times the normal rate. they're at double capacity. >> i continue to be surprised. i just keep thinking it's going to end soon. and it just doesn't. >> reporter: well, today things did change thanks to you, our viewers. after many saw our story, the faces over the weekend, the phones started ringing this morning before dawn. >> the chihauhau's name is lucky. >> reporter: two days ago lucky was unlucky indeed. now spoken for. meadow, terrified. today is heading home with a new best friend so happy to help she cried.

>> she was sad, like she needed a home, she needed someone to love her. like she missed her family. >> reporter: by far the biggest crowd pleasers have been these little puff balls, purebred maltese puppies brought in only days old with their mother. now, though, they've been getting dozens of calls to adopt them from as far away as massachusetts. and, benny, yep, someone does want him, 130 pounds of gentleness. he was about to be sent to another shelter in texas but now no need with a ten-person waiting list to adopt him. a lot of heart out there. many who can't adopt are sending money to this shelter and a brand-new program here that's helped people keep their pets. an unspoken comfort for families to know the friends they loved first will be petted and pampered again. michelle kosinski, nbc news, violet, louisiana. good dog. if you want to help, as so many already have, or to see our

original report, please go to our website nightly.msnbc.com. that is our broadcast for this monday night as we start a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. as always, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com duelling protests over the b.a.r.t. shooting verdicts sparked by a rally to support johannes mehserle and new pictures just into the newsroom show us what happened at the b.a.r.t. station in walnut creek. supporters of oscar grant led the counterprotest to the mehserle supporters outside the