eyewitness accounts describe a helicopter assault and number of fatalities of both hostages and terrorists. none of which can be confirmed by abc news. intelligence officials say the situation is tense. it is a very serious matter when americans are taken hostage, along with others. reporter: the terror strike came without warning wednesday morning, when an estimated 20 gunmen, first attacked a bus carrying workers, escorted by two cars carrying security teams. at least one worker was killed. then, the terrorists moved on to the compound, where they are now holed up with the american and other western hostages. intelligence officials believe this is the mastermind of the attack, mokhtar belmokhtar, a ruthless, rogue al qaeda leader, who also runs an organized crime network that reportedly has made tens of millions of dollars from ransom from kidnappings and smuggling of diamonds, guns and cigarettes. his nickname is mr. marlboro. he s very, very cold. very business-like
it in my private study just off the oval office. and every time i look at that painting, i think about how when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now for grace. the nra is getting ready for battle, raising money and e-mailing supporters to upgrade their membership for, quote, the fight of the century. we re not saying that your rights are at risk. the president of the united states is saying that. so where do things go from here? nbc s tracie potts is in washington for us. tracie, how is the president going to get the public and congress to support this legislative agenda? reporter: with a very public campaign, mara. started last night with an op-ed the president published in the connecticut post. the newspaper up there where the newtown tragedy happened. in it he said that congress needs to help and not hinder bypassing this ban on assault weapons and on magazines, but it looks like that s iffy here on capitol hill. the white house al
reporter: the new york times connected stanford to the name lennay kekua. he says he is dismayed they didn t fact-check the story earlier. if someone had told me manti te o s girlfriend was a stanford grad i would say absolutely not. how would i not know anything about this. tragic car accident, leukemia, i would have wanted to write an article about that because it would be a great story. reporter: and yet another strange twist, our sister station in los angeles is reporting that there could be a connection to te o s friend in palm dale and the friend may be implicated in the hoax. and just when you thought the story couldn t get anymore bizarre, someone claiming to be the girlfriend started sending tweets last night, saying that te o would address questions about their relationship today. notre dame has said te o was the victim of the hoax. smith bennett and others aren t so sure. as much as i believe this happens to people all the time, because i ve seen it on tv
sweeping gun control efforts. the national rifle association is vowing the fight of the century to block that. we ll talk to the nra s president coming up. an inside look at scientology. an exclusive interview with oscar winning director and former scientology member paul hagut says he thinks the religion is a cult. the church dismisses him as the hypocrite of hollywood. we ll speak with him and talk to the author of a new book that explores the link between scientology and hollywood. we want to get to breaking news. nbc s nichelle cokosinkski liven london. reporter: this has been changing by the moment. first, the report that a number of hostages has escaped. now that algerians have raided the facility and a number of have been killed, including hostages. 41 people held, among them americans, british, norwegians, and they called this retribution for french intervention in neighboring mali against militant there. at this hour scattered reports out of the algerian desert
structures are in danger. this comes after hurricane katrina which killed thousands and caused billions in damage. after hurricane katrina, california budgeted money for improvements. the study doesn t identify any levees in the bay area but it is up to a local government to improve their levees so if one is found to be unacceptable it could cost a community millions. live in east palo alto, elissa harrington, cbs 5. this morning, almost every boeing 787 dreamliner jet is now grounded until further notice because of safety concerns. air safety authorities in europe, japan and india have joined the u.s. in ordering the grounding and safety review of a plane following a series of incidents involving the aircraft in recent days. yesterday the federal aviation administration said the 787s should remain grounded until the risk of battery fires is resolved. the key is to be able to understand what s going on with these aircraft, get them fixed, and make sure that if it s a desi