this is what this is all about. that's where your opinion and my opinion must be based on. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. thanks for watching. have a good weekend. see you back here on monday. waiting for a verdict. the verdict in the george zimmerman back to deliberating in matter of hours. in texas, while you slept, a fight over an abortion bill that ends in a dramatic and sweeping way. we will take you to austin, where it all happened, just hours ago. and place your bets. london and the world anticipate a royal birth in some unique ways, including putting money on it. and in business news, do women pay more than men when it comes to car repairs? a new survey with some surprise results. good morning, everybody. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." i'm betty nguyen.

alex is off today. now here's what's happening today. the jury in the trial of george zimmerman begins its first full day of deliberations this morning. it was handed the case yesterday afternoon, but did not reach a verdict and recessed in the early evening. sarah deloff joins us now from sanford, florida. we understand deliberations get underway in just a couple of hours from now. >> reporter: that is correct, betty. deliberations begin at 9:00 a.m. this morning. and after that, the judge is really allowing the jury to set their own schedule. it is up to them to decide how late they want to deliberate tonight and if they don't reach a verdict, if they want to come in sunday. it was the final time for the defense to argue their case. >> he's not guilty of anything, but protecting his own life. >> reporter: followed by the prosecution's rebuttal. >> and it's not a case about self-defense. it's a case about self-denial. >> and we love our charts. >> reporter: friday morning saw a parade of visual aides by the

defense, including an animated reenactment and a chunk of concrete, presented to the jury to illustrate their contention that grrpz grreorge zimmerman s killed trayvon martin in order to save his own life. >> that is the sidewalk. and that is not an unarmed teenager with nothing but skittles, trying to get home. that was somebody who used the availability of dangerous items from his fist to the concrete to cause great bodily injury. >> reporter: during the rebuttal, an emotional recap of the state's case and a push to humanize 17-year-old martin. >> that child had every right to be traid of a strange man following him. >> reporter: prosecutors laying out one last time their belief that zimmerman was a wannabe cop, whose decision to profile and follow martin set off a

deadly chain of events that he then lied about to investigators. >> reporter: trayvon martin may not have the defendant's blood on his hands, was george zimmerman will forever have trayvon martin's blood on his. forever. >> reporter: and a case now in the hands of the jury. the jury is considering two charges in this case. second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. betty, both are felonies. back to you. >> okay, nbc's sarah dalloff in sanford, florida. thank you, sarah. ahead, who did a better job. we'll discuss the impacts of the closing arguments with our legal panel in about 30 minutes now. front page of politics now. and new this morning, president obama is stepping up his push for comprehensive immigration reform. the senate passed its immigration bill two weeks ago and the president is pressuring the house to do the same. >> democrats and republicans,

including president bush and i, can agree on something, that's a pretty good place to start. now the house needs to act, so i can sign common sense immigration reform into law. >> now, the president was referring to former president george w. bush, speaking earlier this week, highlighting the importance of immigration reform. also, president obama is praising janet napolitano for her work as secretary of homeland security. napolitano announced friday, she'll be stepping down from the position in about six weeks, to take over as president of the university of california system. meanwhile, former florida governor, jeb bush, and florida senator, marco rubio, will be speaking today at the annual maverick pac three-day conference in miami. the organization's goal is to engage young republicans in the political process. and in orlando, the naacp kicks off its 104th national convention today. it runs through wednesday. for more on the latest political headlines, i am joined now by congressional reporter for

politico, sung minh kim, and congressional reporter for "the washington post," ed o'keefe. thanks for joining us, guys. >> great to be here. >> ed, you heard the president on immigration. is immigration reform yet another effort that is going to fail in the house? >> well, you know, it's still pretty early in the process, in the house. they are just really starting to debate this in a bigger way. already, you've seen five different bills related to immigration approved by various committees, and it's believed that there'll be at least one more. we got word on friday that republicans are now beginning to work on a bill that would deal with the children of undocumented immigrants. it's not quite like the dream act that was defeated a few years ago, the elements of which are in the senate bill, but they do believe they want to find a way to sort of establish a way for those children to perhaps seek legal permanent residence and perhaps become u.s. citizens at some point. majority leader cantor has

talked about that for quite some time. but at this point, it looks like settling the immigration issue really won't happen until the fall in the house. you've got a bunch of different fiscal issues that are facing congress that will have to get sorted out first. but in the meantime, it's expected they'll continue to debate these bills, hold votes on them, and somehow come to resolution with the senate if possible, perhaps later in the year or early next year. >> sung, let me bring you in. even if the house passes some type of immigration reform, will it resemble anything that the senate could agree upon? >> i think we see the two chambers are miles apart on immigration legislation right now. i think even the senate bill passed with pretty good majorities in the chamber last month, the house, house republicans, their leadership, their rank and file has made it repeatedly clear that they're just not going to take up this legislation. i think the big divide that we're right now is over that pathway to citizenship. the senate bill does include that in its bill. house democrats the made that a bottom line, that they have to have that in the bill.

but that's a difficult point for the house republicans. they're split on whether they should do a path to legalization or a path to citizenship, or nothing at all on that issue. that's something that house republicans have to resolve in the coming weeks. >> a lot to be sorted out. in the meantime, ed, i want to switch gears, briefly. because the farm bill republicans, they approved a scaled back version of the farm bill on thursday after stripping out really a popular food stamp program that 48 million americans depend on. and a "washington post" op-ed conservative columnist, kathleen parker, writes, quote, republicans managed to create yet another partisan problem, where none existed and opened themselves up for gratuitous criticism. ed, why not just pass the farm bill, as has been done just for so years with the food stamp provisions included in it? >> because they tried that last month and it didn't work. there were a bunch of conservative republicans who didn't like the amount of money being spent, and a bunch of democrats who didn't like that republicans were trying to make

big cuts to the food stamp program. so in an effort to get something passed, so the house can start talking to the senate about a final version of this bill, they went ahead and stripped out the food stamp part, which accounts for 80% of the overall farm bill, and got another piece of it passed narrowly with only republican support. the big question at this point, is will the house actually pass something in the next few weeks, dealing with food stamps, so they can discuss this with the senate. or whether the senate will force the house to put something about food stamps into a final version. at that point, it becomes a big question about whether republicans actually vote for something that has food stamps in it and whether house republican boehner would have to get something passed. >> it seems like this is just a lose/lose proposition for republicans. >> i think it's difficult to see where they're going right now. i think the stripping out the food stamps was the way that they were able to pass this farm bill. i think it's yet to be seen whether it's something can be conferenced with the senate, so we'll just have to see. >> all right.

thank you both for being with us. thanks for your time and insight today. >> great to be here. president obama and russian president vladimir putin have spoken about edward snowden who remains in the moscow airport today. the fugitive nsa leaker briefly emerged from hiding to meet with a human rights group. and snowden announced he hopes to stay in russia for the time being and actually had some harsh words for the u.s. joining me now to sort all this out from moscow is nbc's jim maceda. jim, thanks for being with us. i want to start with asking you, before we get to this phone call, it doesn't appear snowden's time in isolation has really broken his resolve any. >> reporter: no, it doesn't seem like it has, betty. some criminal profilers we spoke to earlier said that after about three weeks of being effectively under house arrest, snowden would begin to see his reality come crashing down on him, but he appeared to many in that room with him a little nervous, but

very defiant. the world hadn't seen edward snowden for three weeks, but there he was, meeting with human rights lawyers and officials inside the moscow airport, his temporary home. he looked perfectly fine to me. he looked a bit pale, but very neat. he came out swinging, attacking the u.s. and its allies for what he called unlawful actions, preventing him from traveling to asylum. >> i did not seek to enrich myself. i did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. >> reporter: he now says he wants to stay in russia, temporarily, until he can travel safely to venezuela, nicaragua, or bolivia. >> i do intend to ask for political asylum in russia. >> reporter: and the truth is that he needs russia, betty, to grant him asylum, just to be able to leave that airport, get some fresh air, some space, and

figure out what his next move is. and by the way, russian immigration officials today said that be they still haven't received that request for asylum from snowden. betty? >> speaking of russia, i want to get back to that phone call between president obama and putin, because jay carney also spoke about snowden yesterday. how has the white house been addressing this entire snowden issue? >> reporter: well, let's talk about the phone call. first of all, based on the press release after the phone call, it really didn't seem like it went very well. just a very short statement about the two men discussing a wide range of bilateral issues, including snowden, but there was no apparent breakthrough. the white house spokesman, jay carney, on the other hand, seems to be the hatchet man, if i dare use the term, for jay meanwhile, because he's had very tough words for putin consistently, saying that snowden may think of himself as a human rights activist, but, in fact, he's an alleged felon.

a fugitive from justice, and snowden's appearance yesterday, he said, was nothing more than a propaganda platform. so you've got really two competing narratives here, betty. snowden's and washington's. and it seems like snowden's is gaining more and more traction now. betty? >> thank you, jim maceda, joining us live from moscow. now to weather, where the weekend is off to a wet start for some parts of the country. in the southeast, residents are dealing with remnants of tropical storm chantal. look at this video. this is the scene in north carolina, where heavy downpour has caused some severe flooding. that storm has weakened, though, significantly, thank goodness, since it first swept through the caribbean. in arizona, well, you could say the opposite problem. no rain, but quite a dust storm. nbc meteorologist dillen drier is here with the latest. >> the middle of the country, that's where we're going to see our hottest temperatures today. we should get well up to around

100 degrees. it's already in the 70s and 80s, from parts of the dakotas right down into texas. you can see some of the steadier rain is trying to move into the minneapolis area, and that will spread eastward into wisconsin, but we also have a stream of moisture from new york city, right down into florida. and it's kind of the remnants of chanceta, which is producing some tropical-like downpours, especially across the coast of the carolinas, down through the panhandle of florida, and that is going to be the case throughout the day with off and on showers and some of those showers producing some heavier downpours. we are also looking at the chance of stronger storms through the dakotas, stretch into west central parts of minnesota and the biggest threat would be for isolated wind gusts and some larger hail, and no real tornadoes expected out of that. we are going to see, though, 100 degrees plus from dallas right up into kansas and parts of southwestern nebraska. the northeast is still going to be humid, but not as hot. 79 in boston today. 84 in new york city. 82 in washington, d.c., with

scattered showers and storms, and then on sunday, the sunshine returns. we'll lose the threat of showers and storms in the northeast, but the heat is on. we are looking at another heat wave with highs in the 90s across the mid-atlantic into the northeast as we head into next week. betty? >> the heat is on. well, it is summer, after all. thank you, dylan. investigators in france have ruled out one potential cause of a deadly train crash there. naex. it starts with something little, like taking a first step. and then another. and another. and if you do it. and your friends do it. and their friends do it... soon we'll be walking our way to awareness, support and an end to alzheimer's disease. and that? that would be big. grab your friends and family and start a team today. register at alz.org and after nine years of working at walmart, i know savings. and right now we've got everything you need for a great summer. this 5-piece dining set on clearance, save over $49!

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good morning and welcome back. we are learning more this morning about the cause of yesterday's deadly train crash outside of paris that killed six people is and left dozens injured. the train derailed at high speed, tearing apart cars and sending them crashing into a station. joining me now from the scene is nbc news's keir simmons. all right, keir, give us an idea

of what this scene looks like following this crash. >> reporter: well, it really is shocking. good morning, betty. you can see one of the cars overturned behind me. if i just step out of the way to give you a closer look, you can see that it has partially derailed. passengers described it as rocking like a boat, twisting back and forth. further down, there are other carriages that have completely derailed and slammed into a platform of the station that is further back down there. and as we pan up along the train, you can see where passengers had to force the doors in order to escape. others were trapped. others, further down, had to smash windows to get out. many, of course, injured, were medevaced out to local hospitals. but others, betty, just spilled out on to the tracks. where, by the way, there was live electricity, and then just sat by the side of the tracks, in complete shock. and as we pan up the train here, betty, just one incredible story. the conductor on board this plane had the sense to phone

ahead and to tell other trains to stop. and further up, you can see another train, about 50 yards away, it has stopped seconds from this train. >> that was some quick thinking, and thankfully. well, the french minister of transport spoke this morning. what did he have to say about a possible cause here? >> well, what they're saying is that further back, at a set of points, there was a broken track, so they think that may have something to do with it. there were repairs there, earlier in the year. so they're looking at that. they don't think it's human error. betty? >> okay, but along those lines, have you heard from witnesses? do they know anything about those crucial moments before the crash? >> well, i think their descriptions give us some idea. that description of the train rocking violently, others are saying that it was traveling at a fast speed. as we understand it right now, it wasn't going at a speed that

was unusual for this piece of track. it wasn't scheduled to stop at this station. so it was passing through. but from what passenger s have said, just before the station, it meets this particular point in the track and begins to really rock around, and then derail. so something, clearly, catastrophic has gone wrong there and that is what they're looking into. >> indeed, and we can see that from what's left of that train there. keir, thank you for that live report. we appreciate it. and after a long, drawn-out battle in the statehouse, texas is going to adopt one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country. after a late-night session, the senate passed a bill that will ban abortions after 20 weeks and also place restrictions on abortion clinics and the doctors who perform them. the bill now goes to governor rick perry, who is poised to sign it into law. now, both sides of the debate flooded the state capital in austin to voice their opinions. >> if i ever become pregnant, i

won't have the option of getting an abortion. it's my choice and no one else's. >> we'll push it all the way to the point where abortion is called what it really is, which is the murder of the child. >> and that's murder, and that should be illegal. >> nbc's charles hadlock is in austin, joining us to talk more about this. the first thing i want to ask you, charles, is walk us through this bill. what does it mean for women who are choosing to have an abortion? >> well, good morning, betty. first of all, there are about 41 abortion clinics in texas, and the critics of this bill say that this will effectively close all by a handful of them. it really restricts abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and it also requires that doctors be affiliated with a nearby hospital. they have to have admitting privileges to a nearby hospital, within 30 miles of a hospital. they also require that these abortion clinics be upgraded to ambulatory surgical centers. now, the supporters of the bill say that will make it safer. surgical procedures are always

complicated and could get complicated and they want to make sure that women are safe in texas. but, the critics of this bill say that it will effectively close these abortion clinics, because they can't afford to make the upgrades and that a lot of the hospitals in rural parts of the state would not allow doctors to perform abortions at their hospitals. so it's a quagmire that the legislature tried to work through. it passed last night, late into the night, senators debated this bill. all of the republicans have voted for it, except for one, who was absent. and all but one of the democrats voted against it. and governor rick perry, as we mentioned, said that he will sign the bill, and that could happen as early as next week. >> yeah, we've been looking at some of this video here. this is such a hotly debated bill. i mean, fireworks on both sides of this. and you said, governor perry could sign it possibly as early as next week. but what about democrats like winnie davis and other people, who are pro-choice. ion, advocates there. can day do anything at all, at this point, to stop this?

>> well, wendy davis spoke to the crowd last night on the south steps of the capital, and she said that we're going to fight this in the courts and we're going to fight it in the ballot box. and that's about the only option they have right now. of course, the other bills across the country are being pushed through state legislatures. they're being challenged as well. but supporters of this bill say that legal abortion started in texas with roe v. wade, and they say they hope that one day, it will end here in texas. betty? >> do you think other states are looking very closely at this, to see how it plays out, so they can determine if they want to do the same thing in their states? >> that's correct. that's one of the legal terms that they used here, to try to sell it, the republicans did, that it makes it safer for women. and if you look at it on the books, it does make it safer. who could argue with having an abortion at a surgical center? but the effect of the bill will close a lot of abortion clinics here in texas. >> and that could be the reality of all this.

all right. nbc's charles hadlock in austin for us. charles, thanks so much. >> sure. a proposed rule change on capitol hill has touched off a firestorm as well. see why, next. ♪ [ slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium-rich tums starts working so fast you'll forget you had heartburn. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums [ herbie ] eh, hold on brent, what's this? mmmm, nice car. there's no doubt, that's definitely gonna throw him off. she's seen it too. oh this could be trouble. [ sentra lock noise ] oh man. gotta think fast, herbie. back pedal, back pedal. [ crowd cheering ] oh, he's down in flames and now the ice-cold shoulder. one last play... no, game over! gps take him to the dog house. [ male announcer ] make a powerful first impression. the all-new nissan sentra. ♪ the all-new nissan sentra. hey! totally got it all!m! don't forget your favorites, girls. hey girls!

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executive branch nominees could get through the senate with 51 votes as opposed to the 60 that they currently need, essentially ending republicans' ability to filibuster. reid says this is necessary, because there is unprecedented obstructionism, but minority leader mitch mcconnell has said that if reid moves forward with this, he could go down in history as the worst leader of the senate ever. so it certainly did get personal. the white house has signaled that it supports reid. but, look, the white house is in a bit of a tricky spot, because when president obama was a senator back in 2005, he said he opposed the nuclear option. he said it would only increase partisan fighting, and he pointed out that what might benefit one party one year, could change, as elections change the balance of power. so the white house a bit on the defensive on friday. white house press secretary jay carney fielded a number of questions about the nuclear option. here's a little bit more of what he had to say. take a listen. >> we have highly qualified

executive branch nominees, up on the hill, their nominations up on the hill today, who continue to be obstructed. who have been held up for over a hundred days. and, you know, that's not how the system should work. so when it comes to next steps, we defer to senator reid. >> reporter: so you hear carney there sort of defending reid and the white house's position and also, sort of agreeing with what reid is saying, which is that obstructionism is at all-new levels. now, it's not clear if reid were even to propose it, that he would get enough votes to end the filibuster. there are some democrats who say, they're not sure they can support it, including carl levin and mark pryor. so this is nothing something that has actually happened. it still remains sort of a threat that reid is holding out there. and as you point out, they'll be back at it on monday.

betty? >> you know it's a serious threat when they call it the nuclear option. all right, kristen welker at the white house for us, thank you, kristen. >> thanks, betty. >> sure. it is both inspirational and riveting. the words of a 16-year-old girl that brought an audience from around the world to its feet. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. [ male announcer ] some question physics. some question gravity. and some... even have the audacity to question improbability.

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the latest app from ink. so you can spend less time doing paperwork. and more time doing paperwork. ink from chase. so you can. welcome back, everybody, to "weekends with alex witt." alex is off today, i'm betty nguyen. in florida, a verdict in the murder trial of george zimmerman could come as early as today. jury deliberations are set to resume at 9:00 eastern this morning. the all-female jury got the case on friday, after closing arguments from both sides and a rebuttal by the prosecution. joining me now is nbc legal analyst, lisa bloom, and defense attorney, karen desoto, who is also a former prosecutor. good morning, ladies. thanks for being here. >> good morning! >> boy, we have been watching this so closely and so intensely. lisa, let me start with you. the jury's first request was all of that evidence. what does that tell you? because that's a whole lot that

they can sort through. >> so, they asked for inventory of the evidence. presumably, so they can go through it either piece by piece or if they have a question, maybe there's a disagreement among the panel about what a witness said or what the evidence showed. they can immediately find it and take a look at it. obviously, that's a good sign, because you want the jury to decide the case based on the evidence. >> it's a lot, indeed, to go through, though. and it means they're really thinking closely about this. i want to get to you, karen, about this slab of concrete that, you know, the defense hauled out there, essentially, and saying that, you know, trayvon martin, this is just not some unarmed teenager with skittles in his pocket, trying to make his way home. it seemed like a lot of, you know, theet atrics. do you think it's going to work? do you think it's something that the jury really latched on to? >> absolutely. because in self-defense cases, one of the problems is, okay, that you're going to create the defendant into the victim. and that was very difficult to do in this case, because you have a 17-year-old teenager. so how are you going to do that? you have to compensate. so you have to use theatrics.

you have to use other avenues to get your point across. so, yes, i think it was very effective. >> but every time we walk down the street, we're armed if concrete is a weapon. >> well, it's definitely a weapon if somebody's slamming your head against it. anything can be a weapon, a pen. and this is one of the problems you have in defense cases. if somebody's using a pen, now it's aggravated assault. this is a big issue for criminal cases. >> yeah, well, lisa, the prosecution came back saying, well, let's just look at this. how in the world could zimmerman have, you know, gotten his gun from behind him, which was holstered, if trayvon martin was on top of him? >> right. >> the positioning of these two men in george zimmerman's story, is, i think, a problem for him. because he says his gun was holstered inside the back of his waistband. the gun and the holster were both black. all the witnesses said it was a very, very dark night, and zimmerman said he was lying on his back with trayvon straddling him, knees to elbows, and then trayvon saw the gun.

physically, that just doesn't work out. so i suppose the only thing the defense could say was, well, maybe they weren't exactly nah position, it was a dynamic situation, it was a fight, they were moving around, at some point, trayvon martin saw the gun. but i think this is a problem for the -- >> do you think it's a problem as well? >> well, no. i agree, i think it's a wonderful point for both sides to argue, but at the end of the day, when somebody's in a tussle and they're going from 30 feet and they're struggling and they're -- a normal juror is going to say, common sense wise, that you're fumbling around, that maybe the gun went from the front to the back. at least, the defense is going to do that. they're going to say, that doesn't matter, maybe he was straddled at one point, maybe he wasn't at another. >> but this is his place statement, five times. >> he said he saw the gun, reached for the gun, and that's the most critical part of the case, the moment zimmerman drew the gun and fired it in self-defense. >> a defense attorney is saying,

listen, at one point his gun was some place, but you have stressors, you have adrenaline, you have all these things going on. the fight lasted, even if it was a few seconds, that's a long time, a lot can happen. that's what they're going to argue. it's a great point, obviously, and that's one of the reasons we have jury trials. >> this was -- the defense, i thought, gave a terrific closing argument. but the one weakness was his failure to address george zimmerman's many inconsistencies. and that was the prosecution theme, the web of lies. and really, the only thing the defense attorney said in response to that was, well, when people tell a story over and over, there are some inconsistencies. and that's true. but there were some big once for george zimmerman, like whether or not he followed trayvon martin or whether he was innocently going to look at a street sign, in a neighborhood where there are three streets and he lives there and he's the neighborhood watch commander. that was never addressed by the defense. >> we're looking at second-degree murder and manslaughter, do you think the state proved its case here?

>> no. no, because there's so many -- and we saw this on closing arguments. there's so many open questions, so many assumptions that it's really hard to find depraved mind when you're inferring it into somebody's mind, okay? that's one of the issues here. maybe the jury might be one of those cases where you have a lesser included offense and maybe they'll compromise, but, normally, if you find the self-defense for the higher one, you're going to find it as all-inclusive, you're going to apply it to everything. you'll never know, this could be one of those cases where you have a compromise. >> you know, the prosecution pursued a risky strategy in closing arguments, and that was essentially raising a bunch of issues and letting the jury figure it out for themselves. you know, most prosecutors really hammer their points home with declarative sentences, rather than questions. >> a solid theme. >> a solid theme, a theory of the case. we didn't have that here. but we'll see how the jury responds to it. >> quickly, one-word answer. quick verdict or not? >> no. i think a quick verdict would have been yesterday. >> too many emotions, too much passion. i think they're really going to take their time and go through

the evidence and we can see that, because they've already asked for an inventory list. >> all right. ladies, thank you so much for breaking it down for us. we do appreciate it. lisa bloom and karen desoto. well, the young pakistani woman who was almost killed by the taliban for advocating education for girls is sharing her courageous story with the world. malala youssif spoke at the united nations. ♪ happy birthday to you >> reporter: a birthday on a world stage. >> so here i stand, one among many. >> reporter: at a special assembly of teens for malala u

yousafzai. >> let me say the words that the taliban never wanted her to hear. happy 16th birthday, malala. >> reporter: it was ten months ago that the taliban ryed to kill her for promoting education for girls. her survival ignited a global movement. >> weakness, fear, and hopelessness died. strength, power, and courage was born. they thought that the bullet would silence us, but they failed. and out of that silence came thousands of voices. >> in fact, millions have signed her petition to provide education for every child around the world. >> she has experienced the discrimination. she has suffered because of her wle beliefs. and she has fought back. >> reporter: hard to remember, she's just a teenager. >> she was more worried about her geography homework than her speech. >> reporter: is that right? >> i was happy about that. >> reporter: still a schoolgirl,

but a powerful voice for others. >> one child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. >> reporter: nbc news, new york. >> and so can one girl. that was inspirational. now to our three big money headlines. one, big ben chimes. two, back in session. and three, the fix is in. joining me to break this all done, retail economy analyst, heetha. let's start with the markets. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke has vowed to keep the stimulus in play for the foreseeable future, actually had a huge effect on those markets. tell us about exactly how that did it. >> right, betty. huge is an understatement. ben bernanke on wednesday, to keep this momentum going with the markets, said that he was going to continue these quantitative easing policies for the foreseeable future and that basically means those record-low interest rates we've been seeing, we'll continue to see

that. now, the stock markets rallied. the s&p closed at its highest point in history, at 1680. the dow jones closed at around 15,500. it's inching closer to 16,000. we're not out of the clear yet. ben bernanke did say that floimt still remains pretty high, as well as inflation remaining low and the economy, we're still not out of the clear in terms of being completely recovered from the recession. >> speaking of the economy, it is that time of year again. oh, yeah, back-to-school shopping, a major event for retailers. what are the expectations this year? >> reporter: well, speaking of the economy, i think retailers are trying to get on that bandwagon, where people don't -- aren't necessarily so sure where the economy is going to go. now, i came up with this term. it's called back-to-school creep. it's not referring to the bully that's on the playground -- >> did you say back-to-school creep? >> it's not the guy that's harassing your 8-year-old on the playground. this is basically in reference to retailers that are starting to market to parents earlier.

we're talking -- >> oh, they're creeping up every year. it's getting sooner and sooner. >> exactly. the national retail federation is estimating that parents are probably going to spend $84 billion on back-to-school. and the consumer index has seen a 41% increase on education spending between 2011 and 2013. so, obviously, retailers -- >> that's like holiday spending, those numbers. $84 billion with a "b." >> second to holiday. >> by the way, big difference on who pays more to fix cars, men or women. let me guess, it's women, right? >> of course, betty. this applies to a lot of us. you go in, you want to go ahead and get the best deal on car parts or getting it fixed. it turns out that the study came out. it says that when people go in and say, well, i don't really know what the market value is on getting repairs or car parts, they tend to get overpriced. when men say they don't have any idea, men and women both say they don't have any idea, it's the men that get the lower price versus the women. now, one way to go ahead and fix

that, i say, let's, as women, lean in. go ahead and negotiate that, and make sure you tell them, listen, like, we're going to go ahead, you're probably going to get a lower price. >> ladies, you just really have to do it to keep from getting ripped off. thanks so much for being with us. it is a royal wait that has the british all abuzz and oddsmakers mighty busy. that's next. let's play:

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but there's been no indication she's gone into hospital yet. and the palace never gave an official date, only saying that she was due in mid-july. >> now, the speculation that the duke and duchess of cambridge' baby could be born any day now. royal watchers across the world are keeping st. firmly in their sights. >> reporter: this morning, people in britain and around the world are watching and waiting for kate to go into labor. it could be any moment now. although, as a first-time mom, it wouldn't be unusual for her to go past her due date. but if it drags on too long, doctors will induce her. >> the average time to induce is somewhere between 41 and 42 weeks. that's a week or two past your due date, if there are no medical complications. i would reckon, probably by about ten days time, she will be induced. >> reporter: ten days may feel like a long time for the princess, giving that london is going through a heat wave, and

nine months pregnant, she might be getting a bit uncomfortable in 80-degree weather. the reason is simple. it's just harder for heavily pregnant women to cool down. but interest in the royal baby is only heating up. >> it just seems exciting. like all my friends are starting to get married and have children, so i kind of feel like -- i know thar not my friends, but you know. >> it will be exciting to see how the queen reacts with the baby. that'll be nice. another generation coming through. >> reporter: the public enthusiasm has led to many placing a bet on the royal birth. over 20,000 people have decided to take a gamble on their hunch about the new royal highness. >> now we're betting on the name, the sex, what day it will be born on, what hair color it will have, this is easy. the biggest and most exciting betting event we've ever seen in history. >> reporter: for some, this is a way to take part in an historic birth, while the nation continues to play the waiting

game. this afternoon, prince william is due to play a polo match around an hour and a half outside of london, but don't worry, if the princess does go into labor, he's planning to rush back to be by her claims t back to be by her side. >> he can't miss that. i can't wait to see whether it's a boy or girl. i think it's going to be a girl. that's my bet. it's been one of those weeks. yes, since the asiana airline crash one week ago, but are the pilots saying much about what exactly caused this crash? investigators are looking into it, as well. we'll have those details. when you experience something great, you want to share it. with everyone. that's why more customers recommend verizon, america's largest 4g lte network.

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hospital officials in california say a child onboard asiana flight 214 has died. becoming the third person to lose her life following the crash. doctors say the girl died friday of her injuries. she had been in critical condition since arriving at the hospital last saturday. authorities also confirm one of

the two chinese girls that died at the scene of the crash was hit by a fire truck. is not known yet if that was the cause of her death, though. joining me now is jay rollins. thanks for being with me, jay. >> good morning, betty. >> asiana representatives refuse to blame pilot error. the associated press says this. the association indicates that the pilots fail to realize until too late that the aircraft was too low and flying too low. nothing disclosed by the national transportation safety board indicators reports any problems with the computers or automated systems. jay, from what we know so far, does it appear to you that pilot error had a role in this accident? and well, sadly, i do believe that pilot error is shaping up to be the very cause of this. we know a lot about the what and the how, now we have to

determine the why. these pilots, you had a captain in the left seat who had plenty of hours flying, but he was new to this aircraft. then in the right seat, they had instead of a regular first officer, they had an instructor/captain in order to instruct the first pilot. that pilot was well qualified on the aircraft, but he was new as an instructor. so, then they had a third captain who sat on the jump seat directly behind the first pilot that i mentioned. he's overlooking both of them. now, he is not in a position to take control of the aircraft. so, it really a falls upon the second pilot i mentioned, the one who is the instructor/captain under training to take the aircraft if he saw something going awry. and in this? stan instance we have a situation where they were required to do a visual approach, basically a

hands-on approach and they botched it. >> let's talk about the visual approach. the ntsb says the asiana pilot complained of a bright light that temporarily blinded him at about 500 feet in the air before the crash. what might that flash have been? >> well, the pilot also indicated that it may have just been a reflection from the sun. whatever it was, it was brief. and i don't think that that would have been the problem. i think the problem was that they lost their scan. the most important thing any pilot learns s in the very beginning is that air speed is absolute paramont. you have to keep total awareness of air speed. it got the behind the aircraft and they set themselves up for that. >> thanks for your insight. very good information. we do appreciate it. >> my pleasure.

that wraps up this hour of "weekends with alex witt" join us at noon for another edition. smart political talk up with steve kornacki and at 10:00 a.m. eastern it's melissa harris-perry. more special... with fancy feast mornings. mornings are delicious protein-rich entrées... with garden veggies and egg. each one perfectly designed... to start her day with a little love. fancy feast mornings gourmet cat food. the best ingredient is love.

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