good morning, everybody, i'm betty nguyen in for tamron hall. we are awaiting a press c conference with president obama and chancellor angela merkelle. that is scheduled to be in about 30 minutes, and we will have that for you life and the topic should be the tougher sanctions of russia and the eu role there. and meanwhile, there was a major offensive launched today to take back one of ten cities in eastern ukraine that had been seized by russian militants. and gun fire and explosions could be heard. you are seeing that now. and the government said that the militants shot down two of the helicopters killing two of the crew. the militants say that one of the men was killed. and in a response, spokesman for

vladimir putin said that all hopes of a government settlement had been destroyed because of this. and this is all unfolding. we are joined by white house correspondent pete alexander, and also the correspondent to the white house for special affairs peter hollis. and peter, let me start with you, in getting the european i union to agree to stronger sanctions in rush sharks and is that what president obama is going to be pushing for the meetings with angela merkel today? >> well, she got here a while ago and i saw the motorcade arriving here, and they will have a private conversation prior to the news conference, but that is why angela merkel is so important, because she has been speaking to vladimir putin more than any other world leader, and president obama has

not spoken to putin since the 14th of april, and merkel has spoken to him multiple timesk and germany is pivotal, because they are reluctant to go further with the further ek sectorial sanctions, because of the impact on the german economy. the trade between germany and russia was $1 billion and u.s. and germany was only $38 million. and germany gets roughly one-third of the oil and gas from russia, so a real concern within the german industry that they are the ones putting the pressure on angela merkel to be careful of what she does next because of the ricochet effect, and anything they do in russia could come back to haunt the german economy as well. >> a lot of money is at stake. and ambassador holliday, i want to get to you, and what do you think about the sanctions, and could they really get vladimir putin to change course here?

>> well, it is going to be difficult to get him to change the course, but the increased sa sanctions could be twofold. one, we could get the europeans and germany in particular to escalate the sanctions on targeted energy companies, on that sector, but broadly speaking, we could go up to full sectorial sanctions which would target the entire energy sector and not just the individuals in the companies that have been mentioned so far. >> and that could be huge. peter, "the new york times" are reporting that the sanctions imposed on russia so far have had little effect. any response about that from the white house today? >> well the white house believes it is a significant effect, and the ruble in the stock market has been impacted and they have gone up a little bit since the sanctions were put into place, but the white house is insistent, and a lot of the economists are saying there has been an effect which is from the uncertainty that exists, and right now, the potential for the future sanctions going forward and that is so critical in this and key to all of this is what president obama said, and i was

traveling with him, when he was in asia last week, and he said that the xiangs are going to be more effective if with we are more unified, and that is clearly the primary focus over the course of the conversations today. >> all right. ambassador hollyday, we are getting new information that the u.n. security council is going to have a formal meeting on ukraine at noon eastern today, and what is happening as all of the key players are really trying to figure out some kind of a solution here? >> well, i think that the ukrainian offensive out of kiev is being viewed as basically, you know, leaving the geneva accords in the dust. so there needs to be a new framework of dialogue, and i don't mean dialogue in terms of the discussion, but there needs to be clarity in terms of what are the redlines that the security council, and of course, ru russia is a member, with the veto, but what are the red lines there that the international

community will not stand for, and obviously, they sense that there is going to be an imminent russian offensive into eastern ukraine, i predict. >> in the meantime, chancellor merkel holds a unique position here in the crisis in ukraine, ambassador, and she speaks reg you larly and in russian with president putin and in fact, spoke to the him yesterday asking for seven european persons being held and getting them freed. does she have influence on president putin? >> i believe she does. germany is noted as the strongest market, and germany holds the keys in terms of the decision to cripple the russian energy sector, but of course, germany relies on russia for the same energy needs, and so it would boomerang. and she has a lot of things on her plate to speak about. she speaks russian, and she has developed a personal relationship with putin and this

is in the backyard, because the ukraine is frankly just as much to do with the future of europe, and united free europe as it does with the united states. >> all right. ambassador hollidaholliday and alex s alexander, thank you both for joining us, and we will bring you that news conference live when it happens. and the unemployment rate has plunged to the lowest level in five years, and the congress says that they have added 288,000 jobs in april, a nd the unemployment rate plunged frto 6. 6.8%. and the nasdaq is up a point there, and joining me in the studio is zachary who is a columnist of "slate magazine" and also a author of the leading numbers that rule our world. zacha

zachary, thank you for being with us, and speaking of "numbers a that rule our world" and we will put up numbers that we can dissect, and put the numbers in perspective for us as we see this, and what they saw as a half percentage point of march and april, and is there a trend to go lower? >> well, those who think that things are good and getting better or okay and getting good, we will see ample evidence, the unemployment dropped and statistically 288,000 the jobs, but those who see things highly problematic, it matters who is in the labor force, and so fewer people are looking for work last month, by 800,000, and it is not just how many people have a job, but it is how many people who are considered to be a part of the work fost which means that you are looking for a job or have one have a job last month. >> so are you seeing this number continuing? >> well, this number is one statistic to give you one way to look at the job market, and the

reality is that fewer and fewer of americans are part of the labor force over the last four years, and people have developed out whether they are getting the disability payments or the retired or for reasons that we don't fully understand. >> and looking at the big numbers we want to put up more, because business and professional services added 75,000 jobs last month, and the retail numbers spiked as well with the retail industry adding 35,000 jobs in april, and is this a sign that people are spending again, and spending more? >> well, it depends if you are a cup half full or cup half empty person. >> well, i am the cup half full, and there are reasons that we are an ambiguous part of the cycle of the economy, because a lot of the jobs are low paying and we had a minimum wage debate in the senate, because if you get a retail the or food service jobs, you may not be earning $10/hour. so a big difference of the job that i pas a living wage and one that doesn't, and what we are

trying to do in talking to numbers over the past month is to draw attention to the fact that one of the reasons that the americans look at the numbers and say, come on, and people respond, and say, things are not better for me, and they are not better, and it is because they are not capturing the real experience of income and wages, and it is a lot better than thae of the economy. >> and what about the teenager numbers? >> well, this is a silly one to repeat, because a lot of the companies won't hire the teenagers and they are seasonal, and i'm not sure why the teenage unemployment matters, because if you have a job at 16 or not, and if you go to college, where half of the american public does, it is not the career. >> and the adult thing, it does matter if you have a college degree, because it is well below 5% or 6% and if you have a college degree the unemployment numbers are kom plecompletely b

racial and gender component there, a as well. so if you have a degree, and in some industry that requires that skills, the picture is actually pr pretty good, and the wages are pretty good, but if you don't have a college degree, and working a service job for less than $10/hour, you are employed , but you are struggling mightily. >> and thank you for helping us to understand it all. >> and now no the controversy of odonald sterling. just as the nba co-owners are looking to oust him, we learn that he is battling something a lot bigger. we are hearing that he is battling prostate cancer, and one person tells the "new york post" that he is battling it extended period of time and they thought that he would die a couple of years ago, and after the team lost by one point to the golden state warriors, chris

paul and blake griffin and doc rivers did not know about it. >> i didn't know anything about it, but nobody deserves to go through something like that. >> and i am just learning that, but i hope it is not true. >> and there was a statement released shortly after that saying that the committee unanimously agreed to move forward as expedient ly as possible, an reconvene next week and meanwhile the president of the los angeles chapter of the ncaa is stepping down prior to outrage prior to the scandal planning to honor him with a lifetime award, and leon jenkins say saying that he is stepping down, because of the negative expose sure he has caused. and joining us is kostrik

kennedy, how is this going to play out removing him as the own over the clippers? >> well, on one level, it does, because the clipper players and the doc rivers were right on the mark to express sympathy, but it is not go g ing to impact what owners intend to do in short order. >> and also, sterling was heard in 1982 when he bought the team making an incentive remark, and there is this in the los angeles times, when he was almosts toed out of the exclusive club three decades ago, though, he dodged, and then seemed to acquiesce. so what is different this time around? >> that is an attempt to mo the

clipp -- to move the clippers, the franchise, and that is different from what is going on here. it is not just and moral outrage, but you have the workforce, the players on the verge of revolt when this is happening, and it happened in the middle of the playoffs and all of that, but that is go gin to put the onus on the owners not to be around anything that he says or oaround him. if this has happen ed ed in the season, it would not be happening in the rapid pace. so we are in the middle of the playoffings. >> that is a big issue? >> yes, the fans could have boycotted or the players could not have played. >> and you think swept under the rug in the off season? >> no no,t at all, but the time frame, and think ant this, a week ago today, nobody knew who he was except for those in sports, and now look at where he is, all over the news, and we

learn about the kans canner, and -- cancer, and it would have gone much slow er er in the off season. >> and in is interesting, because "the new york times" points out, and widely story of pr prostate cancer is what assistant coach hughes had, and he contacted the clippers about the health insurance coverage, and he was told that the surgery is not covered, and if they made an exception for him, they would have to do for everyone. so he went ahead, and had the surgery, an unknown to him, four clippers' players ended up covering the cost of that, right? but what does this say about how sterling treats his staff? >> well, it says a lot about how he treats the staff. one of the issues with don sterling has not been simply that he is racist, and has racial views that the are abhorrent, but it is that he has not treated the staff all that well. this is another irony in all of this with the kind of money that don sterling has available, and that the nba makes available that he has privately that the issue of this man's prostate

surgery would have come up is ridiculous, and of course, he should have taken care of it, and it shows the fraternity as well of the nba that the players got together to help him. and so what is emerging is a picture of donald sterling that is not just -- it is representative in the comments, and the reprehensible comments. >> and now we are starting to see the full story. thank you, kostiya. and we have breaking pictures for you in queens where a new york city subway train has derailed. you can see the rescue crews on the scene right now. the new york fire department has reported heavy smoke conditions. so far now, we are not hearing any word of injuries, but we will continue to fol llow this breaking news story for you, and bring you the latest as soon as with we get it. right now, a minnesota teen is under arrest accused of plotting a terrifying attack on his own school.

>> by doing the right thing, unimaginable tragedy has been avoided. >> police say that the student was armed and organize and ready to attack in less than two weeks, and the tip that led to the arrest. and today, marchers will be demanding the arrest of those who kidnapped young girls. the outrage that has spread the globe. and now this -- this is almost like it happened in slow motion. shock video capturing the moment that the landslide swallow iing the cars and a road in baltimore, and now the investigation as to how it happened is under way, and one of stories around the nation. and joining our conversation on twitter, and you will find it on news nation. ows 2 in 1. it has exactly what i need for half of what i thought i'd pay. and i don't need to be online for it to work.

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a minnesota teenager is in custody after the police stop an elaborate plot to blow up two schools. the bombing almost happened before a teenager called police on a hunch. he had the explosives to fulfill the horrific goals and he planned to start the attack by killing his family. nbc's pete williams has more. >> and betty, police in minnesota say that the discovery of this plot proves the importance of what we are often told, if you see something. they say that the student they have arrested was deeply into the preparations for a deadly attack. >> reporter: police say it was probably no more than two weeks from being carried out and the plot to attack the junior high and high school in minnesota about 75 miles south of

minneapolis in waseca, minnesota. >> we have escaped what could have been a horrific experience. >> reporter: the student has been charged with attempted murder. police say that he amassed a huge supply of explosive ingreed yepts and made working bombs and practiced setting a few off outside of a elementary school in august. they found 180-page notebook in which low dew had been recording his events for the last few months. he planned to shoot his parens s and sister at home and set a fire nearby to is throw off first responders and then shoot students as they left the school. they say he was quiet and a loaner,loa loner, and a neighbor who grew up by him was shocked. >> he is passive and not follow the leader, and say, hey, let's go do this. >> reporter: and the plot was discovered when someone saw him

with a backpack enter this storage unit, and called the police and reported it to an emotional police cap pain. >> by reporting it, we have avoid avoided the unimaginable. >> and there have been no comments by his parents, but a grandmother said that she never saw any science of trouble in miz life. and we are also following this breaking news for you, and these are live pictures from queens, new york, as a new york subway train has derailed. it was heading into manhattan and right now, with we are not sure of the injuries or the cause, but we will return to the scene as soon as we get more information on that. and also, several colleges and universities are vowing change changes after the feds announced an unprecedented investigation. 55 schools, large, small, and even ivy league are accused of mishandling sexual assault complai complaints, and the list of schools could grow longer.

and you could see calorie counts on almost everything everywhere. there is a new proposal that includes movie theaters and grocery stores and even airplane s. up next, we will talk live with ali from the food network about what this this could mean to you. and vice president joe biden is going to speak at the creativity conference present bed by the motion picture of america, amend michelle obama is going to be the keynote speaker at the university of texas the at san antonio today at a college signing. good is swinging to get on base before swinging for a home run. [ crowd cheering ] good is choosing not to overshoot the moon, but to land right on it and do some experiments. ♪ so start your day off good with a coffee that's good cup after cup. maxwell house. ♪ good to the last drop

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all right. a new push by the federal government could make you think twice before ordering the double cheeseburger at your favorite restaurant. calorie counts are required on menus in new york since 2008 and soon they could be popping up on chain menus everywhere. the goal is to help people make better choices and the menus

could be mandated in other places such as supermarkets and movie theater movie fda is writing new menu labeling rules and sent them to the white house so they could be released soon. with me is ellie krieger of the food network "healthy appetite" and the whole point here is to get people to eat healthier, and if they know the calories they are consuming, they could do that. and i want to talk about the last november, there was a lunch and dinner menus examined at mcdonald's and burger king, and customers showed them what this trend is going to lead to, because what they noticed is that less than half of the consumers even noticed the calorie labeling, and really, already up there, and they are not noticing it. 49% at burger king, and 34% at mcdonald's, and with that being the case, is it going to make a difference, because if it is up there, and people don't care, it is going to make a difference? >> well, according to the study,

if one half to one-third of the people notice and make a change, that is going to make a difference, and there are a number of studies that all point to on average, people choose about 100 fewer calories per meal when the calories are labeled. so it is making a difference. there are many studies that show that it is making a difference, and ultimately, this could make a big difference in the health, and what is very important also is that what happens is that the companies are now responding to this and they make more healthier options, and they are incentivized. >> i like that, because if you see the item, you say, that is what i want, but too many calories, and you are forced to make better choices, but if the companies make things that are healthier, and things that we do like, that is going to be a bet better habit, right, and good for everybody. >> yes. >> and what about the grocery stores and the movie theaters and everything, and does that make sense? >> yes, it does, because first of all, the grocery stores are act

acting more like restaurants than ever before, and a lot of them have seating areas, and extensive buffets and so on, and so more people are getting the meals from the areas, and they should be able to make an informed decision, and that is what it is about. taking responsibility for your own health. >> with that said, we have to give you the stats, too, because the supermarket estimates that it is going to cost them $1 billion to put the rules in place to have rules to pass them on to the consumer, and pizza hut says it does not force franchises to order expensive menu boards when people walk into the brick and mortar franchises, but ultimately, they will have to and everybody is going to have to get on board? >> well, it depends upon how the rules come out. this has been a law since 2010, but we have been waiting this long, because these things have to be sorted out, but when you think of the cost, think about the cost of the health, because if it makes a significant difference in the health, and people who eat out a lot are more likely to be obese, and if

they can order 100 fewer calories a day, that can translate into 10 pound ss a ye, and that is ultimately less costs of in terms of health care and in terms of having a better life, and think of the costs in that way too. >> thank you for the insight, too. >> good to be here. and developing, we are keeping an eye on the white house where president obama and german chancellor angela merkel will hold a joint press conference in a few minutes. we expect their talk to include the crisis in ukraine and the tougher sanctions proposing for russia. we will bring that to you live. >> and now, nigeria resident s are demanding action from the government to bring back those kidnapped girls. ...for all day relief.

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minutes president obama and german chancellor angela merkelle wimerkel will hold a joint news conference at a crucial point in the crisis in ukraine can and we will have more of that and bring you the news conference as soon as it begins. in the meantime, major new developments in an agonizing story that we have been reporting all week long. authorities in nigeria say that the number of schoolgirls missing after being abducted from the boarding school last week has risen to 276 and that number sup by more than 30 from the previous estimate. and also, the police have revised the number of girls who have escaped to 53. meanwhile, the nigerian president who is accused of not doing enough to rescue the girls met with a senate delegation from northeastern nigeria where the kidnappings took place, and that as the parents of the supporters marched for the third straight day demanding that the government do more to win the release. andrea mitchell talking to a top

senate official about what the u.s. is doing to help. >> what are we going to, drones? surveillance? other ways to help find the girls before it is too late? >> well, andrea, at this point, we have not been directly asked for that kind of specific assistance. >> and all right. so in addition to all of this, deadly new attack in nigeria's capital by the extreme group boko h haram 19 people were killed right across the road from a bomb exploded across the road killing 75 people. and joining me is the executive dr director of the nigerian american leadership council which is head kwart quartered i washington. thank you for joining us today, a samuel. >> thank you, betty. >> i want to get your reaction to the attack on the capital and how it could affect the purported negotiations between the government and boko haram to

get the girls released? >> well, boko haram have not been determined to be trustworthy in any negotiations, and the people of nigeria have to take charge of this in addition to the government acting. people have to be ready to call in suspicious activities, and the fight has to be the entire nigerian populous that should be involved at this point in time. >> and samuel, the u.s. spends $20 million a year helping the nigerian government fight terrorism including the be ingi ra and what should and could the u.s. be doing at this point? >> well, some tof the offers of the united states are welcome and if the officials of nigeria

can pick up on all of the varied opportunities as quickly as they can. there is no time to sit around and do a lot of talking. you know, the government has to be an action mode 100% at this point in time. and we cannot fault the officials until this matter is resolved to the end that it should. >> and i want to get your opinion on the latest numbers, because we are hearing that this numbers announced today by the nigerian authorities say that 276 girls are being held, and over 300 were kidnapped on april 15th that is, and 53 managed to escape. that is higher than the previous numbers, and so what do you make of that? >> well, yeah. it is certainly something that is evolving, because the military and the government officials are scamper iing in a mapper whereby they need to get

all of the pieces of the information colated and that may also, you know, tell a little bit about the preparedness or the lack of to deal with these things, but surely all hands need to be on deck. we are not seeing that, because the government alone should be held to having all of this under control, because everybody has to be involved now. and boko haram cannot take nigeria hostage and because it is too big of a region in the sub saharan to be held hostage. >> thank you. >> and a big debate in congress over the minimum wage and the war on poverty. a former president vigorously defend his record. a republican fire brand called on the secretary of state to step down, and the white house teed up harsher sanctions on russia. this is a look back at the week

that was. >> 3 of 4 americans support raising the minimum wage. >> it is time to give a raise to the american workers. >> it could cost up to 1 million american jobs. >> the republicans in congress said no, and not even allowing a vote. >> it is my belief that secreta secretary kerry has proved unsuitable for the position he holds. >> you can can say that clinton is lucky and he caught the tech boom, or clinton was lucky coming out of the recession, but one thing that you can cannot explain isway is the difference of the poverty reduction members. >> we appreciate the chairman coming to the meeting, and we did not get a lot accomplished -- >> we need to talk about getting to the root causes of poverty. >> well, he has a lot to learn. >> the goal here is not to go after mr. putin personally, but the goal is to change the calculus.

>> and right now, we are looking at live images from the rose garden where we are awaiting a news conference by president obama and german chancellor angela merkel , and joining me live is the correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports" and msnbc political editor mark murray, and thank you for join g ing us. >> good morning. >> andrea, i want to start with you as we wait for the president and the german leader to emerge, the situation in eastern ukraine is deteriorating and two ukrainian held koicopters shot this morning, and several reports of journal itselves released, and then released in fact, they were, but andrea, what do you expect to hear as all of this is happening? >> i think that you will expect some tough talk from both angela merkel who is very earned can about german peacekeepers or the military monitors who have been held for some time now, and not released even despite an appeal,

and personal appeal she made to vladimir putin who she knows well sh well, and they speak a common language, german, and she has been an intermediary with the g-7 with putin, and he has resisted her appeals as well sh, and she is going to be tough on that. and you will hear the conversations between merkel and the president covering up the fact that there is a real divide on the sanction, and the white house is theying that everyone -- house is saying that everyone is together, but that is not the truth. germany has to look at the oil and fuel that they get from russia, and so some are saying that they should not go as heavily as the white house want thems to go. so there is a report in the new york times that the sanctions have not had a moderating effect, and the russian markets

are not as collapsed as the u.s. officials would like you to believe. >> so, andrea, are you saying that the divide is about money when it comes down to it? >> absolutely. about money, and the business investments and in their defense, the europeans will be affected much more seriously and immediately by really tough s g sanctions to russia, because they are so heavily intertwined especially in the energy sector the, and so angela merkel may have her heart on this and with the american people, but the fact is that the ur poon leapee peen -- european leaders may not have as much influence because of the energy factor. >> and mark, how do you believe it is going to play out? >> well, the united states wants to have a united front with germany, and the white house

wants more sanctions than germany or europe may want. but the conversations that the president had in asia made the point that they believe that it is so important to remain united with germany, and the european union even if it means a little weaker sanctions that they might want to have, because of the united front in the end is more powerful against russia than the united states going alone, and having some european german businesses end up disrupting the sanctions that the united states wants to have. >> and mark, a united front sounds good, but can putin and others see through this especially coming to the sanctions? they don't seem at this point to be making a huge difference. >> well, you might not say that they are making a huge difference, but it is important to know where vladimire putin d russia is three months after the olympic games, and at that point, right before the olympics, russia had tremendous influence with all of ukraine and its prime minister at the

time, and now all of the sudden, the influence is in crimea, and as well as trying to have pro russian separatists in eastern ukraine, and you look at europe as a whole, and i this they there is a more hostile attitude towards russia that perplexes people who are perplexed about what russia has done. so in the long run, it does seem that russia has made a miscalculation, and in the short term, people are focused on the activities in the militarism that has been occurring there. >> and andrea, you know, it has been a tough month for the white house when it comes to the foreign policy, and aside from the escalation in the eastern ukraine, there was also the collapse of the middle east peace talks, and so is there a sense that the president needs a public show of support as mark was talking about from one of the key allies today? >> el, that is for sure, it has been a tough month, and the collapse of the middle east talks while not central to what the white house is doing, it is a big setback and certainly a

setback for the secretary of state. today, the secretary of state went to south sudan which is the world's newest country, and collapsing in violence in recent months despite all of the efforts of the international community, and he went there to try to get the resumption of talks started and announce that, but as he was in south sudan in the very dangerous region, darrell issa was saying that his committee had subpoenaed the secretary of state to testify about benghazi which happened months and months before john ker can ri tory took over, and have to worry about the benghazi attack that involves not only hillary clinton, but also john kerry, and he has to explain why he has not produced documents in a timely way. >> we are standing by for the press conference and we want to

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developing right, president obama and german chancellor angela merkel to hold a joint news conference at the white house. we expect them to discuss the crisis in ukraine and of course, we will bring you that news conference as soon as it begins. in the meantime a number of schools under federal investigation for the handling of the sexual abuse complaints are now vowing to evaluate the sexual assault policies and procedures and the schools were among the 55 schools and universities on a list released yesterday by the department of education institution. those institutions are being investigated for possible violations of the anti-discrimination laws and including the handling of sexual assault cases on campus, and the potential violations fall under title ix which is gender discrimination of schools

getting money which range from ivy league schools like harvard and princeton and dartmouth, and other schools like sarah lawrend swath more. this list is part of the obama administration's push to shed greater transparency on sexual assault in higher education and how it's handled and launched a website, not alone .gov. what else do we know about the cases and what's being done to curb sexual assaults on campus? >> we don't know a lot about these cases, part of the education department's release of this information includes not giving any case specific details and while that's protecting the privacy of the students involved, some advocates had wished there was a little bit more information involved like the duration of the

investigation when the investigation was launched and whether or not the investigation is based off an actual complaint or if it was something the education department initiated. but this is representative of the administration's push to curb sexual violence as a campus on whole. it is serving as a one-stop shop for students looking to find all of their resources in one place and want to find out how to file a federal complaint. they can do that there and find counseling services, you name it it's in one spot now. >> harvard says, harvard has taken a number of steps to foster prevention efforts and to support students who have experienced sexual misconduct. ohio state says, quote, the ohio state university unequivocally shares the department of education's interest in protecting our students from sexual harass. and assault and upholding the

aims of title 9. are we seeing a major change in tide regarding policies at schools? and will they adopt this new outlook with many schools citing new title ix policies? >> i think that remains to be seen. we heard from the university of connecticut as well saying they welcome this list, welcome the increased transparency and willing to comply with the law. a lot of it is sort of dependent on how the investigations go. usually as a result of title 9 investigation the school tends to take on a number of tasks and improvements to address sexual violence on campus and soon they have to do more. the education department currently is in the middle of writing a rule that would strengthen protections for victims of sexual violence on campus and that includes allowing students to have a lawyer advise them and disciplinary proceedings if they want, among a host of other

improvements. >> kaitlyn, thank you. >> thank you. developing now, we are keeping an eye on the white house where we are expecting to hear from president obama and german chancellor angela merkel in a joint news conference. you're looking at the live picture there outside the rose gard garden. we'll bring you that news conference live when it happens. ♪ when i'm halfway into your heart ♪ ♪ you have to let me know [ female announcer ] when sweet and salty come together, the taste is irresistible. sweet and salty nut bars by nature valley.

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that's going to do it for this edition of "news nation." up next, "andrea mitchell reports" and andrea will have live coverage of president obama and angela merkel's joint news conference. where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants stood tall and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real avo: whatever you can imagine,

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good day, we're waiting for president obama and angela merkel to hold a press conference at the white house. major developments in ukraine, which is top of mind, kiev launched the first major assault in hopes of fighting off

pro-russian forces. journalists were detained when they got too close to the fight but released shortly afterwards. joining me for our big journalist panel, chris sill list saturd cillizza and kristen welker and bob shrum. there's a lot to talk about at the white house. there's been a big divide despite what the white house says between merkel and rest of europe on how tough to be against vladimir putin. there's talk the incremental sanctions have not been working and the other issues, the confusion and disagreements over intelligence and eavesdropping that still have yet to be resolved. kristen? >> reporter: right, a lot to talk about today, andrea, but certainly the key issue we'll be talking about is ukraine and