and we learn a great deal more about what the federal government believes were his preparations to try to get the ingredients right to build the same kind of explosives or blending the same kind of explosive material that was used in the london subway and bus bombs in 2005 and hidden in the shoes of would be airline bomber richard reid. it's basically three ingredie s ingredients, hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and another kind of acid, commonly known among terrorists. and it says that in july and august, najibullah zazi and some of his associates tried to buy and in fact, did buy large quantities of these materials from beauty supply stores in the denver area. why beauty supply stores? because they have a more concentrated version of hydrogen peroxide than you'd find in the drugstore. it says on three separate days,

once in late august, then again in early september, zazi rented a hotel room in the denver area that had a stove in it. and the fbi says they went into that room and checked for traces of chemicals and found in the vent hood over the stove traces of one of these chemicals, meaning that he was apparently trying to heat it up to concentrate it, to boil off the excess water. and it says on the september 6th and 7th, zazi was desperately trying to communicate with someone else who is not named in these court documents to get tips on precisely how to make the correct mixture. and that he was planning to go to new york and was internet surfing for home improvement stores in the new york areas that would've sold one of the components. so then he drove to new york just before 9/11 and was, of course, eventually arrested. these court documents don't say some interesting things. they do not say whether while he had this stuff many gallons of this stuff purchased in denver, he took it with him to new york.

that appears not to be the case from what we can gather. and they have been looking for storage facilities in the new york area, but haven't found them. the other thing it doesn't say is whether he actually made any of this explosive. >> pete williams, thank you so much, pete. president obama will soon be on his way to part two of his big week on the world stage, the g-20 meeting. this one's in pittsburgh. savannah gurthrie is there in pittsburgh ahead of the president's arrival this afternoon. savannah, we'll talk about the president at the u.n. security council in a moment, but first let's talk about where you are in pittsburgh. what's the president hoping to accomplish at the summit? >> reporter: i think there are two big issues here at the g-20. number one is financial regulatory reform. world leaders really want to see some action. certainly in their countries, but in particular this country where they think the crisis originated to really crack down on the practices that they say led to this financial crisis. and the other big concern has to do with all of that fiscal stimulus. everything that the government did to try to stave off a

depression. now the question is, how do you get out of it? how do you unwind those programs without unwittingly triggering financial crisis 2.0. there was the u.n. security council meeting earlier today adopting a resolution that basically calls for a nuclear free world mono, monica. >> thanks for the wrap-up. and for the first time ever, a vaccine that may help prevent hiv. clinical trials using 16,000 thai volunteers showed the experimental vaccine cut the risk of infection by, get this, nearly 32%. researchers say it's the first evidence that a safe and effective vaccine is possible. important news for tylenol us s users, as well, a voluntary recall. manufactured between april and june of last year. so if you have it at home, check the dates. the company says examination of one of the inactive ingredients did not meet internal testing requirements. the recall only applies to liquid products.

a big change in plans for citigroup, executives say it will cut back its u.s. branch network to just six metropolitan areas. just one year ago, citigroup eyed acquisitions aimed at making it a retail banking giant. and crews in california, plan a heavy aerosol on a wildfire that's burned more than 16,000 acres in ventura county. the fire spans 25 square miles and threatening dozens of homes. today, president obama rallied the u.n. security council to rid the world of nuclear weapons. but could trouble be brewing between the president and britain's prime minister gordon brown? more backlash for libya's moammar gadhafi. where he wasn't sleeping and wasn't eating last night in the big apple. and john travolta takes the witness stand against two people accused of trying to extort tens of millions of dollars from him after he lost his son. the emotional testimony next. and we continue to follow the breaking news. live pictures for you. massachusetts governor deval patrick is about to announce his

choice to temporarily fill the senate seat vacated by the late senator ted kennedy. expected to announce paul kirk. and we will have that announcement for you in moments. stay with us. hat you mean... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 when my broker said, "i make money when you make money," tdd# 1-800-345-2550 he neglected to mention tdd# 1-800-345-2550 he also makes money when i lose money, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 withdraw money or do nothing with my money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 taking you back to deval patrick in massachusetts. >> ted kennedy jr. and members of the legislature, secretary of state is here, as well, thank you mr. secretary for being here. lieutenant governor, of course, joins me. and i want to welcome all of you as well as our special guests paul and gail kirk about whom i

will have a bit more to say in just a moment. in so many ways, so many ways, the interests of the commonwealth have never been more vital or more at stake in the congress today. in january, the people of the commonwealth will have an opportunity to go to the polls and elect their next united states senator to fill the vacancy created by the loss of senator kennedy in august. between now and then, the vital interests of the people of the commonwealth will come before the congress for debate and for voting. those interests include economic and job creation bills, education and transportation funding, financial regulations, climate change legislation, and a host of others. in all these and other ways, congress is debating our future right now. then, of course, there is health care reform. for senator kennedy, courageously argued that health

care should be a right, not a privilege. and of which president obama and the congress have committed to act this fall. john kerry has been a strong and important advocate for all of us in the united states senate on these and so many other issues. we value his service and his partnership. but the issues before the congress and the nation are simply too important to massachusetts for us to be one voice short. the legislature has granted the governor the authority to appoint someone to be that second voice in the united states senate until the january election. i want to thank the legislature for their very swift action, in particular, the senate president, terry murray and the speaker of the house bob dalio who could not be with us today but without whose leadership we would not be here. i acknowledge that for some in the legislature this was a difficult vote. but i appreciate the members and

the many, many citizens who saw the greater good and supported this outcome. i sign that legislation this morning, and i sent a letter to the secretary of state giving it immediate effect. in keeping with the sense of urgency that the interests of massachusetts demand, i have prepared to make a prompt appointment. and i am pleased to appoint paul kirk as the interim united states senator from massachusetts. >> paul, as many of you know is the chairman of the john f. kennedy library foundation. he was a close and loyal adviser and confidant to senator kennedy from 1969 to 1977 formally, but ever since really.

in addition, he was chairman of the democratic national committee from 1985 to 1989. he is the distinguished lawyer, volunteer, and citizen. and he shares the sense of service that so distinguished senator ted kennedy. paul will not seek the open seat in the special election that's coming up in january. but for the next few months, he will carry on the work and the focus of senator kennedy. mindful of his mission and his values and his love of massachusetts. i know i join so many other citizens in thanking paul for his willingness to serve. and now, ladies and gentlemen, it's my great pleasure and honor to bring to the podium the interim senator of massachusetts, paul kirk. congratulations. >> thank you very much.

thank you, governor patrick for your important words and your kind and generous comments about me. this appointment is a profound honor. and i accept it with sincere humility. i want to express my thanks, as well, to the leadership and members of the great and general court who enabled senator kennedy's last public wish to become a reality. as the governor said and just so you hear it from me, consistent with senator kennedy's wishes and the expectations of the governor and the legislator, legislators, i shall not be a candidate in the special election for the united states

senate in december or january. i want to say also a special thanks to vicky and to ted jr. and to kara and patrick, as well, and to thank vicky and ted to make a special effort to be here on this special occasion. during our years together, i was personally privileged to have had senator kennedy's friends p friendship, his trust, and his confidence. he often said that representing the people of the commonwealth of massachusetts in the senate of the united states was the highest honor that he could possibly imagine. and it's certainly nothing i imagined, but it would be my highest honor, as well. to also have the encouragement and support of his family that

i'd be a voice and a voice and a vote for his causes and his constituents in the senate that he loved is a blessing i can only repay by giving my very best efforts to be the best public servant i can be in the few months ahead. to attain that standard, i hope to retain the talented, hard working, and most effective staff of senator kennedy's office. they deserve that reputation, they work harder than any staff i know of, and we have some 800 open cases to be quickly pursued and enacted after i take the oath of office, which i expect will be tomorrow. and so i hope that constituents who are waiting anxiously for responses will know that i and

senator kennedy's excellent staff will be continuing to be there to serve them in the responsive way that that staff did under senator kennedy's offices. so as we move forward from here, i want to express my thanks to all to governor patrick specifically. and we should always continue to give thanks for ted kennedy and to pray for his peace. and if i might be so presumptuous to ask for your prayers that we continue with strength to carry on his work on behalf of the people of this great state. thank you very much. >> that was paul kirk, 71-year-old attorney, long time confidant, former aide to the late senator ted kennedy. deval patrick having just announced that he will fill the late senator kennedy's seat for the next few months until the special election, which is set for january 19th.

and kirk emphasized there as we have expected that he will not seek that seat in reelection. we're now going to hear from john kerry. let's listen here for a moment. >> thank you, governor. it is great to see you on your feet off the crutches with a cane that is 20 times wilder than anything i ever possessed or used. i'm jealous. actually vicky has promised me i get to use ted kennedy's cane, which i've used once before. and i need it because i have another one coming up. we are blessed in massachusetts to have an enduring surplus of political and civic talent. there are a number of highly qualified people that the governor could've appointed and we all know that. and it's always difficult to make a choice between a talented pool. this was no easy call, but i'll tell you i believe the choice

that the governor has made is completely in keeping with the intent of the change of the law that the legislature undertook and the intent of those of us who advocated for the changes including senator kennedy. this is a caretaker appointment, a gentle and difficult transition, a kind of stewardship. and paul kirk will be a superb steward of this seat. governor patrick found the person for this moment. and i believe he did what's in the best interest of the state of massachusetts. i want to also thank speaker delio for the leadership and skill for which they shepherded this through the legislature. i want to thank the joint committee. they managed to tame the forces that would've pushed against this effort and forced people to perhaps take the easiest route,

the path of the least political resistance. and it might have prevailed had it not been for their skill and the courage of the joint committee and all of those who voted for this. like ted kennedy, they weren't afraid to sail into the political winds for the best interest of the state of massachusetts. none of us here today forget the fact as paul just mentioned that ted kennedy spent the final weeks of his life just as he spent his entire life looking out for massachusetts. and he reminded us and these are his words. it is vital for this commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the senate. especially in these times. he asked us to act not for himself, but for massachusetts. and we did that. i'm delighted that vicky and teddy are here today representing the family. and i know how proud they are and how pleased they are with

this appointment because of the special friendship that paul had with ted. paul kirk shares ted's love of the commonwealth and the country, and he shares his passion for public service. he understands as the governor mentioned and as he mentioned, this is a moment of historic proportions for our nation. never have we had so much critical work facing us, so much to do, and so much to undo. not since the new deal have we had this much on the table at one time in washington. every vote will count, and that means that massachusetts must be fully counted too. in that work, i've worked with paul, i have absolute confidence that he will ensure that massachusetts has a terrific voice and a steward for these next months. paul may never have run for public office, but i'll tell you this, he is going to hit the ground running in washington,

d.c. and he just did today by his announcement that the staff, which is working so diligently and always has is going to continue on. in addition to that, he comes with not just the familiarity with teddy's staff and with the issues of this state, but he comes with a command of all of the issues. he comes with an understanding of the politics and the ebb and flow of washington. he comes with a personal relationship with many of the people that we're going to have to count on for votes and to help us get votes. >> you're listening to senior senator john kerry of massachusetts talking about the replacement for the late senator ted kennedy, a caretaker position if you will from now until january 19th. paul kirk, a long time friend, confidant, and aide to senator kennedy. he will not seek reelection in the special election january 19th, but he will hold that seat, perhaps beginning as early as tomorrow. that is when mr. kirk says he

believes he would be taking the oath. we still have scott helman with us. scott, i want to read a couple of statements that have come in just in the first few moments while we have you. the president saying "i am pleased that massachusetts will have the full representation in the united states senate in the coming months as important issues such as health care, financial reform, and energy will be debated. paul kirk is a distinguished leader whose long collaboration with senator kennedy makes him an excellent interim choice to carry on his work until the voters make their choice in january." also a statement from the family of senator kennedy. it's a longer statement. i'll just read a brief portion that describes their relationship. they write senator kennedy and paul were close friends and they worked together for many years starting with paul's tenure on the senator's staff in washington four decades ago. side by side they fought many battles for progress and social justice and nothing could be more fitting than for paul now to carry on that fight. they go on to say paul will hit the ground running as we heard

senator kerry say, as well. scott, i'm wondering, maybe i'm thinking too much about this, but it certainly makes me think if we heard the family come so strongly to governor patrick and say this was their choice and we had heard other names being floated, but this was their personal choice, i wonder if he must have had some conversations with senator kennedy about possibly taking over this caretaker role if they were able to create the circumstances. >> i was really struck. you heard paul kirk say that this was ted kennedy's last public wish. and indeed that's true. this is something that ted kennedy himself wanted to happen. he wanted to -- not necessarily kirk, but he wanted a senator to replace him temporarily. and in some ways when you think about kennedy's legacy, we talked about him as being this great legislator, this great compromiser in washington. the deal-maker. i think you can see this as his last great compromise in some ways. this was a very politically difficult decision. not something that was univer l

universally popular here, but it's a temporary solution, and it's filled by somebody who is clearly has the kennedy family support. >> scott helman, thanks for joining us during this important announcement. >> good to be here. up next, more troops or a change of course. the strategy shift in afghanistan is pitting the white house against top commanders in the region. and the community organizing group under fire for doling out advice, they're now fighting back. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. ♪

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sarah! you're home! on the nation's fastest 3g network. at&t. now get 50% all samsung touchscreen phones after mail-in rebate. only from at&t. in today's tech watch, india's first ever mission to the moon yields a fantastic discovery. new evidence of water on the moon. researchers at two universities and a team from the u.s. geological survey backed up the discovery. the data does not suggest there are vast bodies of water on the

moon. still nasa says the discovery is promising and could help them produce oxygen there. the full report will be published in the journal of science tomorrow. the request for more troops from the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is expected at the defense department by tomorrow. but there's word that that request won't be handed over to the white house right away. joining us live from the pentagon with more. isn't time of the essence here? >> well, it is for some military officials who will tell you that the longer you delay and even considering general mcchrystal's request up to 40,000 additional forces for afghanistan, the more you put the american soldiers and marines on the ground in afghanistan at risk. but the president and according to some officials we're talking to needs time. he's trying to buy some time here to try to not only figure out if indeed general mcchrystal's strategy is the correct strategy to pursue in afghanistan. but, you know, the president locked in a pretty robust battle

with some of his own democrats right now over health care reform. and with public opinion across the country growing in opposition of the afghan war and already many prominent democrats including the house speaker nancy pelosi lining up against any -- sending any additional forces to afghanistan, you know, he's got to walk a delicate balance here as commander in chief and as president and head of his own party. so i think what's happening here is he's trying to buy some time to get over health care reform and then figure out if he can, in fact, sign on to general mcchrystal's request for additional troops. but as you brought up, time is of the essence. maybe not immediately, but the longer this strings out, the more dire this could become. >> absolutely. thank you, mick. and still to come, pittsburgh police swing into action to seal off city streets and local businesses are hiring

their own security as thousands of protestors converge on the g-20 summit. and john travolta takes the stand, publicly admitting for the first time that his son had autism. the latest on the extortion trial now underway in the bahamas next on msnbc. e ♪ ♪ that can strain your relationships and hurt your pride ♪ ♪ it's the credit roller coaster ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪ ♪ when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round ♪ ♪ it's just the same for everybody, every boy and girl ♪ ♪ the credit roller coaster makes you wanna hurl ♪ ♪ so throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em around ♪ ♪ like a wanna-be frat boy trying to get down ♪ ♪ then bring 'em right back to where your laptop's at... ♪ ♪ log on to free credit report dot com - stat! ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage.

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welcome back to msnbc, i'm monica novotny. thousands of residents are making insurance claims for homes or cars damaged by those floods. the atlanta journal reports about 16,000 claims have been filed so far and insurance companies are expecting more. in houston, officials confiscated more than 1,000 animals from a small home. dogs, chickens, ducks, were found in deplorable conditions. the animals are at a local shelter and an investigation is underway. for the first time ever, an experimental vaccine has successfully prevented hiv

infections. thailand vaccine trials, the risk of becoming infected went down by 31%, a combo of two shots were given to more than 16,000 participants. with president obama presiding, the u.n. security council unanimously approved a resolution ridding the world of nuclear weapons, this one day after he scored a commitment from russia to support tougher sanctions. joining us now live from the united nations, u.s. correspondent for the washington post. collin, the administration wants a resolution, they got it. but in your reporting today, you point out that there are critics who say that the administration perhaps is placing too much hope in the treaties that they may not be fully verifiable, that this may take years. are they putting too much hope on this? >> no, i mean, i think it's an important resolution. the sense is it gets the whole world behind the obama administration's broader strategy on disarmerment, and

also pursuing countries like north korea and those involved in pursuing nuclear programs that have, you know, they've been sanctioned for. so it's important in that sense. this is going to be a long-term process. i think that there are some issues that have upset some, particularly in the developing world. they see this as the security council, the 15 members getting together, and sort of taking over some of the authority and power of treaty members of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, kind of cutting out the international body that's usually responsible for monitoring the disease issues. so there's some concern about that, but generally, i think a lot of countries are happy that the obama administration is here in the u.n., that they're more closely linking the issue of the disarmorment to get rid of nukes, and to stop iran from potentially developing a nuclear weapon. >> and colum what could potentially be one of the

biggest moments of this week in terms of the u.n. the notion that we may get support from russia on sanctions against iran. talk a little bit about what the russian president said. >> yeah, the russian president yesterday said that the russians would, you know, that they don't like sanctions, but they also see that sometimes it might be inevitable. it's kind of a strong signal that from the russians that they're willing to talk with the americans and the europeans who already seem like they're preparing for a sanction strategy if their talks with iranians don't go well, which will begin october 31st, some skepticism about how far the iranians will go. there's a lot of that kind of playing in the mix. >> all right. thank you so much. and the president and other leaders of the g-20 industrialized nations head to pittsburgh today. security's tight around the city and arrests have already been made as protests gather. john yang is in pittsburgh. john, who's behind these protests? >> reporter: well, it's a

variety of groups, monica. they all have various complaints against the g-20. the major complaint is they see this as an undemocratic secret meeting by a few finance ministers and officials from around the country who are making decisions that effect everybody's lives and they want their voices heard. they think that the things could be set up differently and that the solutions that the g-20 officials are proposing for the economy aren't necessarily benefitting most people. now, there's a great deal of attention on these protestors, primarily because of something that happened ten years ago. the protests at the world trade organization in seattle in 1999, about $3 million of property damage then. i talked to one of the organizers of the protests yesterday, and i asked him if they expected something similar. and he said the groups here that are here today are endorsing a wide variety of tactics. >> what you're doing is opening up spaces where people can decide what tactics they feel

are most effective for getting their message across. so what we hope to see is a wide variety of creative forms of resistance. and people thinking and coming up with new ideas and new ways to disrupt the g-20. >> reporter: no one quite knows what to expect. our law enforcement officials don't know what to expect. the organizers have been very cautious about talking about their plans, possible tactics. as you can see here, the crowd here, there is relatively small. they're gathering here, they're going to have a march from this park here in northeastern pittsburgh to the convention center where the summit is being held about 2 1/2 miles away or as close as they can come. they don't have a permit. they applied for a permit for this gathering, and for the march, they don't have one. or actually they didn't apply for one. they say that their voices and their feet are their permit. so it's going to be interesting to see what happens here, monica. >> all right.

sounds like it. john yang, thank you. president obama and if first lady aren't the only people making a case for the 2016 olympics to be held in chicago. she's attempting to talk the international olympic committee into this, as well. lobbying for her hometown. chicago is in a tight contest with madrid, rio, and tokyo to host those games. more details now emerging in the trial against two residents accused of trying to extort millions from actor john travolta after his son's death. on the witness stand, travolta describing the dramatic moments leading up to his son's death in january. he publicly acknowledges that his son was autistic and suffered from a seizure disorder. i hate this story. in the sense i feel for the family. i just feel for them that they've got to go up. this has to do with law in the

bahamas. they've got to go up and testify. the fact they have to talk about personal stuff and such a horrible moment in their lives and relive it. >> it's definitely very difficult. and we haven't heard john travolta speak about the exact circumstances leading up to jett's death, his 16-year-old son, and how he tried to resuscitate him. it's incredibly painful to hear him talk about those details. what has emerged, though, is that jett suffered from autism. and the reason that's something that people are clueing into is that autism groups for years have been saying why aren't you recognizing that your son has this condition? word got out as it tends to do. and they really did take him to task for that for a long time. now that that's out there, i think there's a feeling that something that should have been recognized a long time ago. and not that it's the job of the celebrity to be the spokesperson for everything that afflicts them or their family, but there is an argument that can be made that with a disorder such as autism, you can do a lot of good if you at least recognize that one of your children has it.

and so that's what -- >> and so they were trying to extort up to $25 million? >> $25 million from the family. >> that's a considerable amount of money. the most recent case involving a celebrity that went to court that was totally seen through to the end that i can find in 2008 was tom cruise over wedding photos that were stolen that was for $1.5 million. so with a case like that, you can look at it and say $1.5 million for tom cruise, that's a rounding error at best. why don't you just let that go? $25 million is a much different thing. and i think the bahamas here has a lot to show for this. in that you're talking about a former paramedic and a former senator in the bahamas that are involved with this. this looks very bad that these two officials are part of this and the bahamas want to see this through. celebrities deal with this all the time. >> thank you. coming up, fierce debate over the way forward in afghanistan. it drives a wedge between the military and the obama administration. how long does president obama have to settle on a final

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the community activist group a.c.o.r.n. is fighting back this morning. announcing it will file a lawsuit against the people who made an undercover film posing as a pimp and a prostitute. and for the first time hearing from the video producer who dressed like a pimp for the investigation. his name is james o'keeffe and when asked how he defines himself as a journalist or as an activist, this was his response. >> i'm too busy doing what i do. i let people frame it the way they want. >> o'keeffe plans to release more a.c.o.r.n. footage in the coming weeks and already thinking about his next project. general mcchrystal's assessment of the war in afghanistan and the urge of more troops has the backing of general petraeus, and mike mullen. and while the white house is still weighing its options on

the way forward, general mcchrystal denies any riff with the president over the strategy. joining us now live, democratic strategist richard goodstein and pete seethe. great to see you both. general mcchrystal says there is no riff. secretary of state hillary clinton also speaking out on this and she seems to back the idea of more troops, what mcchrystal's asking for. let me play for you here what she had to say on pbs's news hour. >> some say, well, al qaeda's no longer in afghanistan. if afghanistan were taken over by the taliban, i can't tell you how fast al qaeda would be back in afghanistan. >> meanwhile, the vice president scaling back in afghanistan, focusing on al qaeda in pakistan, who is the president listening to? pete, i'll start with you. >> well, he certainly should be listening to his generals on the ground. but let's back up for a second here. back in march, president obama

embraced the counter insurgency strategy in afghanistan where we would take more -- put more troops in the country, 21,000 i believe the number was and help the afghans train their army to fight the taliban and to pull them back from the places that they had regained control of. >> pete, let's talk about where we are now moving forward. who is the president listening to? who should he listen to? >> but you need to talk about march to talk about moving forward because since then, president obama has completely ignored afghanistan. so he needs to talk to his generals, he needs to heed the advice of republican members of the senate armed services committee and have general mcchrystal come back to washington and have a hearing in congress to get a full assessment of what's going on and realize that we do need to have more troops out there. senator mccain, other republican members of congress have been calling for this for a long time, and the longer we wait, the more gains the taliban will

make and the harder it will be for us to fix the problem. >> richard, what's the priority? counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism? it seems like doing it all at once isn't working. >> we'll see about that. let's not forget we're in this mess we're in because afghanistan was kind of forgotten for the past seven years largely. and democrats have big majorities in the congress and a democrat in the white house because iraq was so badly mishandled. and the last thing i think we want to see to answer your question is ideologues in the pentagon ramming things through as they did with iraq. i think, frankly, there's no alternative but doing both as secretary clinton did. we need to root out al qaeda not just in afghanistan, but globally, but we need allies around the world. and she's right if the taliban comes in, turns things back to the middle ages, that will be an open invitation for al qaeda to come in, it'll be harder for us to patrol that territory.

i don't think we have an alternative but to do both. >> pete, you say that the president was ignoring afghanistan all of this time, but there was a lot going on in afghanistan and the president was apprised of all of it. now the question of whether there will be a run-off election. is it possible here that you've got a president who is waiting to see how all of this plays out? >> well, he was ignoring it when all we've been talking about is health care for the past few months. he went and did the full ginsburg on sunday shows. he's been talking about health care and not focusing on the problem in afghanistan. and i agree with richard that we need to work with our allies here, which is why it will be u.n. general assembly was really a wasted opportunity for the obama administration where instead of talking about climate change, president obama could've stepped up to that podium and asked for more assistance in afghanistan from our allies. >> there was a climate change summit on the first day there,

so the president did not set the agenda on that. >> the leaders could talk about whatever they wanted to. >> gadhafi approved that, not sure he was the example to be setting. richard, goodstein, thank you, both. >> thanks, monica. thank you. tempers flare on capitol hill over what else? health care. protecting your heart includes watching your cholesterol. now there's new heart health advantage from bayer. its non-aspirin formula contains phytosterols, which may reduce the risk of heart disease...

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tonight, first lady michelle obama will welcome thousands of world leaders headed to pittsburgh for a two-day summit. she will be showing them local art and architecture in the area and also take them to a working farm that's owned by theresa heinz kerry, wife of senator john kerry. as president obama turns his attention to, the process could last well into next week.

national health policy reporter for "the washington post." good news in addition to senator snowe, senator lincoln of arkansas could back the bill but in terms of timing, senator snowe had this to say. let me play it and get your comments on the other side. >> i truly do not understand the skepticism about this request. i don't understand the reluctance nor the resistance. this is about doing our job. if it takes two more weeks, it takes two more weeks. i mean, we're talking about trillions of dollars in the final analysis. i do not understand it. what is the rush, what is happening in two weeks. >> what do you think? >> it sounds like you have to set some kind of deadline or everybody knows this is a complex issue that can go on and on and if you set too close of a deadline, you have that kind of

retort. >> monica, if we went as long as some of the republicans on the committee are suggesting. i would be eligible for medicare by the time the bill has the senate floor. what senator snowe did throughout the day yesterday and we're seeing it again today she is siding with her republican party on those procedural notions and she's really trying to be as much as a loyal republican party member as she can be, but one of the reasons we saw a little bit of optimism for senator baucus, senator snowe voted with the democrats on the committee when it came to important policy decisions. she's walking a fine line here and she is very much holding the card at this point in the process because democrats very much need her vote. so, they're going to give her a lot of latitude to beat them up a little bit on timing as long as she hangs with them on the important substance.

>> mitch mcconnell today was talking about, i want to play a sound bite from him. he mentioned medicare, something that has been a hot topic in the last 24 hours. let me play that. >> the proposal now being considered in the finance committee is a trillion dollar experiment that cuts medicare, raises taxes and threatens the health care options that millions of americans enjoy and this is absolutely unacceptable. medicare is a touchy issue. they have those retirees that work strong issues. >> what we see in this legislation and we're now into the second full day of fighting over medicare, much of the fight is over something called medicare advantage. a number of retirees like these hmo plans that are sold by private companies and they sometimes get extra benefits like dental and vision, some of those may be squeezed out in the process here, but what democrats are arguing is that those

private plans get 14% on average more payments than traditional medicare. >> ceci, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. thank you. dr. nancy snyderman picks up our coverage from here. what do you have? >> hello, monica. we're talking health care reform and also talking different kinds of medicine. a break through in the search of vaccine to prevent hiv infection. could it be the holy grail the science has been seeking? as you talk about health care reform, boy, scaring seniors a new fight now taking steps against insurance companies that are frankly scaring seniors and the vice president joe biden, he has step under to the health care fray. plus, sparks fly as the senate finance committee tries to hammer out the details of their health care bill.

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coming up today on "dr. nancy," could it be what every scientist was looking for. a search for a vaccine to prevent hiv infections. scaring seniors. a fight against insurance companies. are they taking hits to scare seniors? our vice president has now stepped into the fray. and sparks fly as the senate finance committee hammers out the details of that health care bill. yes, a public service announcement aimed at reducing breast cancer. we'll give you something frankly you haven't seen anywhere else today. a new segment called the spin doctor. is this your, frankly your donated dollars at good work or is it nonsense? another fascinating story.

can you get pregnant while you are pregnant? a story making headlines and also making the debut of the segment i just told you about, the spin doctor. hello, everyone. i'm dr. nancy snyderman. a break through in the fight against aids. for the first time, researchers say an experimental vaccine cuts the risks of becoming infected with hiv by more than 31%. the study conducted in thailand and the results have surprised scientists and encouraged them because recent failures have led some doctors to think that perhaps this might never be possible. joining me now from bethesda, maryland, a co-sponsor of the study. tony, thanks for taking the time. >> good to be here, nancy. >> exciting news. can you just put parentheses around th