announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening. we ll get to the impact of that big sell-off on wall street in a moment. but right now we ve got details coming in from france where two americans are injured and are being called heroes in a shooting attack aboard a high-speed train from amsterdam to paris. without the intervention of the americans we re told casualties could have been far worse. french officials say a man opened fire with an automatic weapon in what s being called a possible terrorist attack. nbc s keir simmons is on the story. reporter: the attack left three passengers injured including two americans. at least one of them a member of the u.s. military. a woman s bag is left splattered with blood after a gunman reportedly opened fire aboard a high-speed train from amsterdam to paris. the french interior minister at the scene said the two injured americans intervened to stop the attacker,
american passengers overtake a gunman foiling an attack on a packed high-speed train headed to paris. on the brink. escalating tension on the korean peninsula, the north issues threats and prepares for war as the south rejects an ultimate i have risking military action. and state of emergency. this is an unprecedented cataclysm in our state. at wild fires devour large parts of the west. the president answers the call for federal assistants while local officials ask for any and all volunteers to help beat back the flames. notes notes. good he can, i am antonio mora, this is al jazerra america. we have begin tonight with a major market sell-off on wall street. this would not be a good day to look at your 401 k or other investments. the dow jones industrial average closed down 530 points, that s the sharpest one-day drop in almost four years. ali velshi has more on what s behind the turmoil. antonio, today s losses were bad. this week s losses were bad but let s put it
hurricane. the fearness pilots trying to understand the massive storm by gatt. rg data from hurricane hurricane danny. and stop that ball, an unusual scene in ohio. onlookers chasing a giant red ball rolling through the streets. what set it off? today, saturday, august 22nd, 2015. from nbc news, this is today live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. welcome to today on this saturday morning. i m peter alexander. it s the ball that has a lot of people talking today. you re that guy chasing after it. i m wondering what you think you re going to do at that point. it s like seinfeld. and you re thinking where are the cameras? it s candid camera, what is going on. and there s your clue. it s made out of the same material that they use for rubber lycra. our top story this morning is the americans who came to the rescue on a train bound for paris. thart authorities say it could have been an unspeakable tragedy if these men hadn t stopped the gunman. we re lear
the fearness pilots trying to understand the massive storm by gatt. rg data from hurricane hurricane danny. and stop that ball, an unusual scene in ohio. onlookers chasing a giant red ball rolling through the streets. what set it off? today, saturday, august 22nd, 2015. from nbc news, this is today live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. welcome to today on this saturday morning. i m peter alexander. it s the ball that has a lot of people talking today. you re that guy chasing after it. i m wondering what you think you re going to do at that point. it s like seinfeld. and you re thinking where are the cameras? it s candid camera, what is going on. and there s your clue. it s made out of the same material that they use for rubber lycra. our top story this morning is the americans who came to the rescue on a train bound for paris. thart authorities say it could have been an unspeakable tragedy if these men hadn t stopped the gunman. we re learning more a
french town of arah, the gunman taken away in bare feet is now in french custody. the french mayor handed out medals for bravery and president obama hailed their, quote, heroic actions. in the aftermath, we saw that a man s throat had been slit and he was bleeding profusely and spencer, who has some paramedic training, just clogged up his neck so he wouldn t die because he was losing a lot of blood. another attack that could have had a different ending. he leaves here a young man on an excursion and he comes back a france s national hero. still wrapping my head around that. spencer stone, his friend is still in the hospital this morning. he s expected to recover and so is the french-american passenger e he helped to save. just in the past few minutes, the french interior minister has spoken out saying they are not ready to identify the suspect, but they believe he may be a 26-year-old o 26 26-year-old moroccoen origin. kelly, thank you. there was a similarly scar