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worse, a new pole on what americans think might happen if the government offers health insurance. how will it affect the quality of care? getting away for a whole lot less. see why the cost of travel is continuing to drop. it's a high stakes bidding war for the rights to michael jackson's final rehearsal video. we'll tell you where the bidding begins. the number is big. i'm chris jansing in for alex witt. 9:00 on the east coast, 6:00 pacific. here is what's happening on msnbc sunday. first, the pentagon now confirming that the young man seen in this taliban video is indeed an american soldier. the pentagon is not yet releasing the associatedier's name, saying only he went missing in afghanistan last month. we first saw this video late saturday after it appeared on a taliban website. the soldier answers his captor's questions about why he's in afghanistan. >> we were told when we got here

that we're supposed to do joint operations with afghan government, army and police, that are here. >> the pentagon says the soldier went missing on june 30th in eastern afghanistan. for the latest details and some perspective i'm joined live by retired army colonel military analyst jack jake ors. good morning, colonel. what's your take on this video? >> he's very, very young. there are a lot of new soldiers in this region. i've been up there, very difficult terrain. it's my understanding he was on patrol. when you're in difficult terrain, and maybe even at night, it's easy to get separated if you're not paying attention. so the kind of things we see on this video or at least partially are a function of the fact that he's very young and very inexperienced. >> obviously under a lot of duress. you could hear off camera he's being told in many cases what to do, what to say. what kinds of training and instruction are given to members of the u.s. military who might

find themselves in this situation? >> clearly they get very substantial training, tactical training. but their specific training about how to act or what to do in the event that you're captured, given the -- what's on this video, it's clear he didn't follow whatever instructions were given to him when he went through this training. maybe we need to take a look at how we do this training better. if you're older and more experienced, noncommissioned officer, the kind of ways you respond to a situation like this is very much different than somebody like he is who is clearly quite young and maybe the training didn't take, it wasn't intense enough, he forgot about it. but you do get extensive training on what to do in situations like this. >> we're sitting here, and we're watching this in the united states. we have somebody like you to analyze it. is this type of video more valuable to them in their part of the world? >> it certainly is.

the reason that he was captured and americans are targeted for capture in afghanistan and other places is so they can be used in videos like this for propaganda purposes. this is clearly a propaganda piece, and it will get far wider viewership in southwest asia than it will here. that's the reason they put it together in the first place. >> we're certainly hoping good things for him and for his family. colonel jack jacobs, always good to see you. thank you, sir. >> good to be with you. for more details you can logon to msnbc.com. another critical moment for the obama administration this week. the president will hold a nationally televised news conference to make another hard push for his health care reform plan. nbc's mike viqueira has more. >> president obama trying to keep the hammer dourn in the

face of opposition to his health care reform plan. that's coming from republicans and democrats as well. every day last week we heard president obama planned and some unplanned appearances coming out and talking about health care, the need to pass reform. on friday he appeared at an impromptu statement. he's been doing interviews throughout the week. now a prime time news conference as congress plans to go on recess for the entire month of august, not to return until labor day, house leaving january 31st and the senate a week after that. the plan was to have both the house and senate pass their own versions of a health care reform plan, but both the cost, the overall cost to the health care system, the way to pay for it through taxes on the wealthy is causing a lot of problems for president obama, a lot of resistance in congress. a big question of whether or not they can get it done by august at the very least, chris. >> that is the big question. let's talk about something that is a little lighter tomorrow. the 40th anniversary of man landing on the moon. is president obama going to mark that in any way? >> reporter: yes, he is. he'll be meeting with

astronauts, mike collins, neal armstrong, buzz al drinks some of us remember where we were on that day, having our parents force us to watch this historic event. very sketchy memory. smiles all around. >> some memories less sketchy than others. mike, thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> okay. there's a new poll that shows what americans think the health care fix will mean for them. we'll have those results for you in just a couple minutes. 65 high school students on a trip to china are under quarantine this morning after one of them was hospitalized with swine flu. the students from st. mary's school in medford, oregon, are being held in a beijing hotel until wednesday. the teams left home earlier this week for a language and culture camp sponsored by the chinese government. new questions today for san francisco transit authorities over what caused two trains that crashed. a train ran into the bam of a

stopped train that was unloading passengers. 47 people were injured including the conductor of one of the trains. >> -- asleep or passed out. he was not looking up, wasn't slowing down or breaking, no signals or anything. you could tell he was not going to stop. >> san francisco's deputy chief says the crash is one of the largest multiple casualty incidents for the city in years. new details this morning on a shocking crime. six people all believed to be from the same family murdered in a two-state killing spree. tennessee authorities say five people were found dead in two neighbors homes in a rural area outside fayetteville on saturday. a sixth body was then discovered at a business near huntsville, alabama. investigators say two of the dead are children. saturday afternoon tennessee authorities arrested 30-year-old jacob shaffer of fayetteville and are charging him with

homicide. >> it is a tremendous crime scene. >> police say they believe the motive for these killings is domestic. so far the victim's names are not being released. now to the latest on the economy and a look ahead to next week. on monday the conference board will release its index of leading economic indicators. experts predict a moderation for june's numbers. this week a dozen major companies including microsoft and coca-cola will tell us how they're faring in this recession. on tuesday, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke updates on where the economy might be headed. last week we saw a sharp decline in the number of people filing initial claims for unemployment. we'll see new numbers on existing home sales and consumer sentiment. for some perspective on what's happening this coming week, i'm joinld live by rick newhan with u.s. news and world report. good to see you. >> good morning. >> first of all, we saw goldman

sachs and three of the nation's biggest banks reporting $15 billion in earnings. give us some perspective on that. it shocked a lot of people. >> most recent hugely divisive issue. does goldman sachs deserve the profits or not? we saw two of the t.a.r.p. banks, goldman sachs and jpmorgan with huge earnings for the second quarter. two other groups, citibank and bank of america, their earnings were okay. some people think that goldman and jpmorgan don't deserve to be making this much money. they have paid back that daleout money, but still getting very, very cheap loans from the government. these are subsidized profits to some extent. on the other hand, it's a good thing if the banks are starting to make money again because that's what the whole financial bailout was all about, was getting the banks back into shape so they can push money through the economy. and we can only hope that -- get

them in better shape so some of the money will start to flow into the greater economy. >> let's talk about other businesses because a dozen major companies are going to release their second quarter earnings reports, microsoft, coca-cola, american express. what's the expectation on the street? >> we've seen better than expected earnings reports. that's one reason the stock market was up 7%. i'm reluctant to be opt mimisti. i hate to sound like such a downer, but there are still so many things that can go wrong in the economy. and i think that's one reason when earnings are a little better than expect ed, everybod gets very excited. i think if we do continue to see earnings, just a little better than expected, that will field some optimism. >> let me ask you a basic question. could some of the earnings be fueled by the fact that so many people were laid off? >> absolutely. >> the unemployment numbers go up and people aren't spending money. >> it's great when companies are making money. but we want to know when will

they take the next step and start to produce more and hire more people. there are no signs that companies are doing that, that they're going back and hiring. the federal reserve, we heard new updates in the federal reserve in terms of where they think the economy is going. they raised their estimate for unemployment to about 10% for 2009. that's higher than it used to be. some economists think it will peak at 10.5% next year. there's going to be a lot of pain in the job market probably for the next 12 months. sorry to say. >> always the optimist. rick newman. always great talking to you. mother nature turns home wrecker. a landslide striking with devastating impact. also coming up, the embattled south carolina governor mark sanford speaking out again. only this time he's talking about attending his own funeral. stay with us. you're watching msnbc sunday. - ( microphone feedback ) - whoa. hi, i'm john. all: hi, john! going to college and need a laptop. what do you got?

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msnbc sunday, more news now starting in germany. three people are missing after a landslide caused half of a house to collapse into a lake. part of another home also slid into that lake. the landslide occurred in a former mining area. pope benedict has appeared in public for the first time since he fell and broke his wrist on friday. bell-wishers greeted the pontiff in the northern italian city where he's vacationing. several people he acknowledged to people by raising his right arm which is now in a cast. a private funeral service for walter kron cite is scheduled for thursday in new york city. he will be laid to rest in missouri next to his late wife. a separate memorial will be held within the next few weeks at lincoln center. back to the battle over

health care. new poll numbers showing americans are divided on how to fix it. a new poll shows president obama is the most trusted voice on the issue, but it's just one in four americans who say they trust him most. joining me live, steve selma, white house correspondent. good morning. >> good morning. >> hottest topic by far on the president's agenda, health care. what strikes you most about these poll numbers? >> two things. one, of course, as you mentioned, there's no consensus. the american people are split overall most any question about health care, whether the priority should be expanding coverage or controlling costs, evenly split. the question of the public option, the federal government insurance option, plurality think it will lower the cost, but a plurality think it will lower the quality of care. there's no dominant voice

in this debate. as you mentioned, our poll found only 26%, one out of four think they trust president obama most. but he's followed closely by doctors and then by democrats and then by republicans, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies way at the bottom. no one is dominating this debate politically out in the country. >> well, is that the reason the president is going on television on wednesday? >> there's no doubt, chris, the presidencies these kind of numbers. he's not dominating this debate, not winning it out in the country. that's affecting congress. that's why you're starting to see some democrats say slow down, we don't want to pass this quick. we still have a lot of questions. he's going to push again wednesday night and throughout the week, get at least a bill through the house and a bill through the senate by the end of july, before the recess. then you can negotiate between the two of you in the fall. members of congress are saying we're not quite inasmuch of a hurry on this. >> this is one of the issues, don't you think, that it's just so complicated?

i've spent the last day and a half doing interviews with members of congress, supposed experts on this issue. there's great disagreement. a part of the problem obviously is we don't even know what the bill is going to look like yet. >> exactly. competing proposals, the house democrats have their big proposal they rolled out a week ago now. i tried to wade through most of the 700 to 800 pages of it. it's rather complicated. then you've got competing proposals coming out of the senate. so no one knows, of course, what the final bill will look like. i think people are still trying to grasp what each individual proposal looks like. >> how much of a priority do you think this speech is? how intense is the preparation going on in the white house right now? >> i was talking to john ultra earlier and we were remembering the time when the first big initiative by the clinton administration on health care failed, how critical is some success on this to the obama administration's overall momentum? >> he needs to send a message to

the congress that, look, the people trust me on this. they elected me for this. you've got to go my way on this. he's got to start moving congress back in line, and to do that he's got to reach the people and move these poll numbers. in terms of preparation, of course, he knows the issue well. the interesting question here, chris, is how much he needs to step out. the whole white house strategy has been to lay back, lay congress work out the details. clearly they've seen in the last week and going into the next week that the president needs to play much more of a hands-on role in this. >> i think obviously the president does know this issue well. it's something he talked about throughout the campaign. more pointedly, my question would be what is he likely to emphasize on wednesday? what does he think his big bargaining chip essentially is? where is he going to win over american voters? consequently and hoe hopes congress? >> i think one of the big things he has to push is cost.

there's already support, particularly in congress among democrats to expand coverage. but the way he reaches the rest of the country, particularly independents, middle class, moderates, for those of you who have insurance, i'm going to control the cost. we need this. and i think he hasn't done a good enough selling job yet on these proposals that they can do it. there's been a lot of political problem in the last couple days from the congressional budget office because they've said this won't control costs. now the president yesterday said yes it will, trust me. he needs to drive that point home with a lot more detail and a lot more convincing argument. >> steve thomma, thank you so much. good to see you. >> my pleasure. hollywood fighting for the rights to michael jackson's final rehearsal video. we'll show you where the minimum bidding begins. entertainers from around the globe come together to celebrate a freedom fighter's birthday. you're watching msnbc sunday.

this was the next-to-last rehearsal for michael jackson. what we haven't seen is the last rehearsal. they have a lot of tape of that. it started a bidding war among hollywood studios who want to turn it into a feature film. business for these tapes reportedly have started at $50 million. no deal is expected until sometime next week. there are also reports that a television tribute is planned using part of the footage and that could fetch $10 million. while hollywood fights overall this tape of michael jackson in his final days, his family and lawyers are fighting over his estate. on friday michael jackson's mother filed court papers to try to fight the executors named in her son's will. joining me now, defense attorney karen desoto. we knew this was not going to be

easy even though there was a will and nobody seems to be contesting it, this 2002 is his last will and testament. what's this fight over? >> well, this is about who is going to control the purse strings. these are his last wishes, obviously, the court is going to uphold who he chose. michael jackson is a corporation. chris, would you want your mom running your corporation? you're going to have professionals. that's what he did. michael jackson had the best attorneys, he had a team of attorneys. obviously this will was done in the correct manner. obviously the family wants to control the money. they can fight all they want. at the end of the day they're going to abide by his wishes. >> why even go there. what do you think her lawyers are saying? why are they encouraging her to do this? >> maybe they think another will crop up. maybe they're going to say that he was not in his right mind when he did the will, that he was under the influence, that these were not his wishes, that there was a subsequent agreement

or maybe another writing and he told his mom, you know, i had a will, but i really want you to control the trust and control -- those are usually the normal things that go into it. at the end of the day, as long as there is a witness and that will was done in the nice manner in an office and there were witnesses and he was in his right mind and not in a hospital bed out of his mind, they're going to abide by those wishes. >> let's say we take katherine jackson at her word and she has reportedly said that what she really wants to do is protect michael jackson's image, that she wants to be able to control -- after all the bad things that have happened and been said about him over the last 15 years, she wants to have a role in saying how all that happens now. if that's what she wants, could there be some sort of deal struck with the people who are controlling her estate? >> absolutely. let's say that she didn't want one of her son's songs used in a

windex commercial, they could say we'll give you ultimate say over how we'll use the songs, what context they'll be used in so his image is not being portrayed or sold off or he's made to look cheap, remaking the songs and making them into singles and that type of thing. they could absolutely make an agreement like that. no bobbleheads, certain things like that would probably put him in a bad light. >> if you were a bedding woman, is this going to be quick or drag on a while? >> it's going to drag on. this is a lot of money. elvis's estate made over $50 million last year. he's been dead many, many years. >> 27 years since graceland opened. you're right. a lot of future earnings at stake. karen, good to see you. >> good to see you. a star-studded affair to celebrate nelson mandela's 91st birthday. the first lady of france, carla bruni performing at new york's

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msnbc is the place for politics. new poll numbers on president obama's job approval rating are out. tomorrow marks six months since the president took office. a new daily gallup tracking poll show 60% of americans approve of the job he's doing. 33% disapprove. let's bring in eleanor clift, contributing editor to news week magazine. amanda carpenter is a reporter and blogger for "the washington times." good morning. good to see you both. >> good morning. >> let me start with you, ellen. 60% approval rating. most politicians would be happy to have that.

where do you think over the last six months president obama has done his best and where has he not done well? >> i think he's done his best in terms of being forceful in putting his proposals on the agenda. getting the stimulus plan passed although it wasn't perfect, getting health care out there, the closest we've come to possibly enacting universal health care in 40 years. and in changing the tone around the world and how america is regarded. i think those you have to put in the a column. i think he's done the worst in terms of exerting his muscle on capitol hill. he's got 60 democrats in the senate, filibuster-proof. he has a healthy majority in the house. yet, you get the sense that the democrats can't perform, that they're in search of leadership, and i think the president has not used his rhetorical gifts as

well as he could, and i think he's -- hasn't really begun to weigh in. i think this could change dramatically beginning with a prime time press conference on wednesday evening. he hasn't shown his lyndon johnson legislative pro is. i think people are waiting for that. >> amanda get out your gold stars and red marker and grade his first six months. >> i think i'd give him a c, but a much higher grade in willingness to engage the public, to put his face in front of these press conferences and engage in these conversations. if you judge him o by what he sought out to accomplish, namely strength and lab or unions, public health care program and create more jobs, he's failing by those standards. just this week, congress took a critical provision off the table. i think the health care bill has stalled it for a while. right now you have unemployment reaching over 10% in 15

different states. he clearly has a lot of work to do on those three fronts to say the least. >> do you think he was too ambitious? >> i think invested too much political capital in passing the stimulus. now when you hear numbers coming from cbo like a trillion dollars for health care, people are saying, whoa, we need to put the breaks on that. that's reflected in the polling. >> ellen, there is this poll from cbs news that says 52% of americans think the president is trying to accomplish too much at once. do you think that's perception or reality? >> i think if the president were here, he would say what exactly would we want him not to do? i think he's pressing ahead on trying to revive the economy on health care. amanda mentioned labor unions. politics is the art of the possible. if they're going to get through a bill to strengthen labor unions, they've got to get enough votes. if you have moderate democrats

worried about one particular provision, do you plow ahead and get remarks -- get high marks for sticking to your guns, or do you compromise? the legislative process is never pretty. we are in the midst of it. there's going to be lots of compromising that's going on. i think the president is going to get some major achievements. in terms of the economy, the stimulus package did raise expectations that there would be this immediate boost to the economy when, in fact, i think only 13% of it has been spent, and so i think it's way too early to judge any of these proposals as fact yurs. this is very much a work in progress, a presidency in progress. >> eleanor clift, amanda carpenter, you're going to stick around. we'll talk to you in a bit. thanks so much. >> sure. a new twist in a political scandal surrounding south carolina governor mark sanford. he's now talking about his own funeral. the two-term republican releasing an opinion piece this

morning describing what life has been like since admitting to an affair with a woman in argentina. he writes, while none of us has a chance to attend our own funeral, in many ways i feel like itches at my own in the past weeks. surprisingly i'm thankful for the perspective it has afforded. some lawmakers have called for sanford to resign. one state senator says he plans to hold hearings on whether the governor improperly used state money to visit his lover. for the latest political developments, check out first dlooed read.msnbc.com. now to the economy and one of the hardest hit areas by the recession. elkhart, indiana. new unemployment numbers out friday put indiana's unemployment rate at 10.7%, twice what it was last year. in the city of elkhart, it's 18.7%. elkhart is detoured by our

website, msnbc.com. the elkhart project looks at the people there and how they're coping during these tough times. joining us with marshall king, editor at "the elkhart truth." good morning. how do you think the town is doing just to look at these unemployment numbers, they sure seem discouraging. >> they do. it's a fairly resilient community. the numbers have actually started to improve a little bit. but it's still an economy and a local area that is fighting this recession. >> in february when the president came to helling hart which was the genesis of this whole thing, it is fair that unemployment was 19.6%, now gone down to 18.7%. you say it's a fairly resilient community. do you find there's a feeling of hopefulness there, that the numbers could drop down even much more significantly any time soon? >> i think people are wondering what's going to happen and are

wondering where the new jobs are going to come from. but there are entrepreneurs that are looking at new ways at creating jobs, the economic development officials in the county and county officials as well as city officials are working hard to attract new business and try to weave together federal stimulus money with creative local ideas to see what can happen so that new jobs can be formed. >> give us an idea of what some of the most promising prospects are to get some new jobs in to elkhart. >> one of them is electric motor corporation, a gentleman named will cashen, a entrepreneur originally from this area, has come back to the area and said he wants to partner with an rv produce ner the area to create hybrids. a lot of people are looking at that with a lot of hope. there's some promise there. >> it's interesting because so much of the american

manufacturing economy has moved overseas. i think 50% of elkhart's businesses are in manufacturing. you do have that labor base that's used to working in manufacturing. so obviously there must be a feeling there that america can make these products. >> there is. and there's still some hope that the products that elkhart has historically made can somehow find a place in the new economy. the recreational vehicles has been a big industry in elkhart county. people have questions about whether it's going to continue to be a big industry. i think with reshaping of that industry, people still enjoy camping. they still enjoy traveling with rvs in this country. i think it's just a question of what kind of rv people would want and whether companies here can retool and reshape what they make. >> marshall king, editor at "the elkhart truth," thanks so much. good to talk to you this morning. >> you, too, thank you. if you'd like to learn more

about the elkhart project, logon to msnbc.com. you just heard him talking about travel. these may be the best of times for people who like to travel. see how you can cash in on deep discounts. also ahead, it was the sight of the break-in that broke the nixon administration. now almost 40 years later, more infamy for the watergate hotel. you're watching msnbc sunday. [ engine revving ] [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you.

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good morning and welcome back to mechanics. i'm chris jansing. a case of swine flu making headlines this morning. a group of 65 students from medford, oregon, being quarantined at a hotel in beijing because one of them tested positive for swine flu. school officials say the student was briefly hospitalized, but is now doing better. secretary of state hillary clinton visiting mumbai and new delhi today, the start of a three-day visit to india. clinton urged india, as well as other countries, to do more to

tackle terrorism and global warming. the secretary is the most senior obama administration official to visit india. you could be the new owner of the infamous watergate. the bank holding the $40 million loan is putting up the foreclosed property for auction this week. it's a 12-story hotel where the burglars slept before they broke in to the adjoining office complex in 1972, setting off the scandal that broke down president nixon. now to the economy and summer is on sale. today the travel industry is pulling out all the stops to lure passengers on to planes and get more vacationers into hotel rooms. where can you find the great deals? let's get the latest from travelocity senior editor genevieve shaw brown. >> good morning. >> you see these crazy deals online. where do we find them? >> all the great big travel websites are going to have a lot of great deals. you want to be looking at the hotels to get the most money out

of your location. in las vegas room rates down 30%, in new york 25%, in l.a. and san francisco, down 20%. no matter where you're going, you can rest assured you'll be paying a lot less this year than you did last, except for rental cars. a airfares and hotels, all down a lot cheaper this year. >> if you come to a place like new york or other places you can walk, you don't necessarily need a car. >> that's true. that's one thing you want to be aware of. traveling on sundays, that's a great way to save money, too, especially when you're viting a big city like l.a., new york, san francisco, the business travelers aren't there yet. the leisure travelers have left. sundays are generally the cheapest night of the week. >> last week southwest had $30 airfares. when have we had 30 airfares? >> almost a decade since we've seen prices that low. southwest kicked off this huge sale last week. only a two-day sale, so you had

to act quick. it speaks to where the airlines are and where their lowest factors are for this fall. right now southwest has a fare sail going on, $49 for one-way ticket. air tran is $39 on one-way tickets. you want to be taking advantage of those. you have to act fast. usually there are blackout dates, usually around the holidays. travel on tuesday and wednesday to are the lowest fare. >> you won't be able to go on thanksgiving or christmas. they know they can fill the planes then. >> absolutely. >> is there better deals if you're able to package things, go to trovl travelocity and you get that all inclusive, does that save you money? >> yes. travelocity did a study and found the average savings is $318 as compared to booking the same trip separately. hotels won't lower their stand alone published rates but will lower them when they're part of a prak kaj and consumer only

sees one price for the air and hotel together. you'll get a better rate if you package your things together. >> you didn't mention this. we're talking mostly about the united states. but people have long been wanting to vl tra to europe or the south pacific. are there deals pretty much worldwide? >> absolutely. international airfare is down 20% this summer from last summer. room rates are down all over the world. in dublin, for example, down 37%. in iceland our currency is worth twice as much as it was last year. now really affordable. all these things, if you can travel, this is a great time to be a traveller and take to my boss. more vacation time. >> that's right. we all need it. >> genevieve, thanks so much. the boy wizard's wowing them at the box office. we'll see how harry potter's big payday ranks among other opening weekends. you're watching msnbc sunday.

good sunday morning to you. i'm meteorologist bill karins. we're watching storms down in florida. saturday wasn't the best and your sunday forecast is going to be similar in orlando, all the way up to daytona beach. the rest of the country looks great. new york to boston, d.c., a nice sunday for you. still a little cooler than we'd like in chicago -- only 72. heat continues out west. have a great weekend. progressi.

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the multi-billion dollar potter franchise is getting bigger. in the u.s. weekend movie sales topped $107 million in tickets. overseas, $45 million. harry potter an the half blood prince is the new number one movie. it is a record breaker. julia allison is host of nbc new york nonstop's tmi weekly. good morning. potter movies never opened this big before? >> that's absolutely right. at $58.2 million, this is actually the biggest opening in the entire six-movie harry potter franchise. just for the first day. it domestically actual -- that it was domestically. internationally it grossed over $100 million in the first 24 hours. it's actually only topped by "transformers" which grossed $62 million on that wednesday. >> unbelievable. this is a different potter. first, i think even if people

haven't seen the movie you look at the trailer, you see all the money they spent on this movie in the special effects. but there's also love. >> there is love. they're calling it harry potter and the raging hormones right now. the director, david gates, was actually known for doing incredible epic kinds of movies and this one is a little bit more solemn, a little bit darker than the previous movies but people are saying, even the critics are saying, you know what? it's long but it's really good. >> these kids are growing up. they actually look like teenagers now. they're in their early 20s. this is what i really find interesting. they claim because the last book was so long, the neck movie will actually be two. >> of course. "deathly hollows," the last book in the franchise, they're going to split into two. one of them is going to be in november of 2010, the next one is going to be in july of 2011.

they've already shot a lot of it. daniel ratcliffe is growing up. he'll be 23 years old on july 23rd. >> these kids are looking older. he wants a movie career. rupert's already done edgier kind of -- >> both of them have tried to break away from the harry potter franchise by obviously everyone knows -- you were telling me earlier you had seen daniel ratcliffe in the other movie with the full frontal nude -- >> a little bit shocking. >> emma watson is actually more interested in schooling. she's going to be going to brown university in the fall. she says she is going to take a little bit of time off acting. if a project comes up that she really likes she might consider it. but these kids could go anywhere with this kind of success behind them. >> lot of comparisons being made to the "twilight" franchise, also has a new movie coming out but not until the fall? >> not until the fall. people are saying which is

better, "twilight" or "harry potter," potter's sold 4.5 billion tickets in the history of the franchise. "try light kwnts can't even compete with that. >> but it's only been one movie though. we shall see. >> we shall see. >> julia, great to see you. thanks. he wasn't allowed to do a reality show but rod blagojevich will be hitting the radio air waives to host his own show. we'll have that ahead on msnbc. wellbeing. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. that's why i use covergirl's simply ageless makeup

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learn how to help maintain strong bones. and read about an effective treatment option. there's even a guide to use when you talk to your doctor. osteoporosis is that important. another surgeon agrees with me. the surgeon general. ...half of all women 50 or older will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime. call 1-800-316-4955. if you could help prevent a fracture, wouldn't you? for your free kit, call now. coming up on the top of the hour, i'm chris jansing for you live. we are getting new information on the case of this u.s. soldier who was captured in afghanistan. there you see his picture on video that was posted on a taliban website. well, now the department of defense is releasing his name. let's go to the pentagon live. nbc's jim miklaszewski standing by with the latest. mick, what can you tell us? >> chris, this morning, in fact

just minutes ago, the pentagon now identifies this american soldier being held captive by the taliban in afghanistan as a 23-year-old pre