known about it for many years. and what appears to have happened is that iran, it became clear to iran that its security for the facility has been breached so they decided that they would disclose it after all. that's how it unfolded. >> any reason why it came up now, though? why with knowledge of it for six years, why wasn't this out there earlier? >> well, i think they needed to make sure, first of all, that it was moving in the direction that they thought. i think it may also -- it's somewhat speculative on my part but it's reasonable to think that with the negotiations coming up with iran on thursday that it might be a good time to make this public, and so it was,

it was in the united states' interest to use this as a way to put pressure on iran. >> sure. there's a discrepancy in terms of how close to being operational it is. we had mahmoud ahmadinejad saying yesterday, 18 months. then you have this aide to the ayatollah saying six months. what is it? >> well, i don't know. i don't know how many months. what is clear -- what everyone agrees is it's not operational as we speak. and in some number of months, whether it's six or 18 or whatever it is, it would be operational and they said they intend to make it operational. and so the interesting thing about this, one of the many interesting things is that this revelation doesn't really change that much about our perception about what the threat is over there. they haven't been producing enriched uranium from the facility. one day they would produce enriched uranium from the

facility but they haven't done it yet. so it is a -- it would augment a threat that already existed. the change from the revelation of this information is in how the world community perceives iran. >> right. >> to the competent that iran is perceived as not being forthcoming it casts them in a bad light. >> if that's the case and this ratchets up to a point where sanctions are imposed, how does iran react to that? do you think there's a possibility of military action? >> well, first on the sanctions, i think it makes it more likely that sanctions will be toughened internationally. you have russia for the first time calling for toughening of sanctions and then u.s. congress it clearly will add fuel to the fire there. in terms of military action, israel is the big wild card.

everyone hopes that israel holds its fire but it definitely perceives a threat to its country. the united states, last thing we want to do is engaging military action. secretary gates said in recent interviews it would only temporarily at best halt iran's activities. so that's kind of the mix of sanctions and military possibilities. >> all right, thanks. >> thank you. >> libyan leader, muammar gadhafi met with family members of flight 193. he met with family members of two victims of the bombing. he said gadhafi said he was sorry for the loss but didn't go into details. 270 people were killed when that plane blew up in lockerbie,

scotland. a new bomb plot here in the u.s.. here's what we know. federal prosecutors said najibullah zazi was planning an attack to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary. officials say evidence shows zazi was intent on making a bomb and being in new york city on 9/11. police stopped him on september 10th. surveillance tape shows zazi shopping and court papers say the afghan immigrant bought unusually large quantity of hydrogen peroxide and acetone. several more accomplices are at large. our terrorism analyst is here. good morning to you, roger.

>> good morning. >> we know that najibullah zazi arrived at new york yesterday from denver to face these terrorism charges. what will investigators focus on right now? >> there's two things. one, this is a law enforcement strategy. so the first thing they charged him with was a felony of lying to federal law enforcement. now they charged him with direct terrorism related charges that could put him away for life. this is about getting him partly to talk. the reason why they want him to talk because there's significant gaps in their understanding of what happened. they don't know whether there's additional co-conspirators or how many. they don't know if there was a storage facility whether there were actual bombs made and they still don't know what the specific targets were. >> okay. with regard to the 9/11 anniversary and a plot to coincide with that, where are investigators getting this information? where are they going with this? >> this is interesting. the assistant u.s. attorney went a little bit far in his remarks

yesterday. if you read what he said in the transcript, he hedged it a little bit to say to be in new york on 9/11 to possibly conduct an attack. they don't know for sure that's what his intent was. the 9/11 anniversary was probably a little bit of a slip of the tongue by the assistant u.s. attorney. >> how about others involved in this alleged plot and how hard will that be to track them down if there are any? what do you think? do you think there are? >> i think there are certainly other people that zazi was communicating with. we know a couple of things. one, he was communicating with known al qaeda operatives back in pakistan. that's why this case is so significant and different from others we've seen. there are other individuals inside the tri-state area that he was in communication with. we don't know if they were support people, providing other type of support or they were actually going to conduct the attack themselves. we don't know if this was a potential suicide attack or use

the backpacks and launch them, detonate them with timers. big questions still need to be answered. >> what about expectations of more people like zazi to pop up around the u.s.? >> you know, i'm reluctant to draw broad conclusions about one specific case. what's disturbing here this is the first time we've seen individuals of afghan dissent be involved in a domestic terrorism plot. you have a naturalized afghan citizen and you also had legal immigrants from afghanistan involved. if this is a one off deal that's bad enough but if we see other afghans deciding to do something inside the united states due to events going on inside afghanistan we have a much bigger problem on our hands. >> does this all show that in the wake of 9/11 all the investigations are working, all the focus on homeland security is doing its thing? >> well, the ultimate metric is have we been attacked since 9/11? the answer is no. combination of two things.

one the pressure we've been putting on the al qaeda organization and network outside of the united states has yielded real benefits. but inside the united states the fbi and local law enforcement are doing reasonably good job. most important point is that our muslim population is not as susceptible to radicalization as those in europe and elsewhere. that's a good news story and one that's overlooked. >> i'm glad you said it. thank you very much. >> you bet. >> a new report on gitmo, the u.s. military prison at guantanamo bay. the a.p. says the facility may stay opened past president obama's january closing deadline. good saturday morning to you mike. what is behind this possible delay in closing guantanamo? >> reporter: the administration got ahead of themselves. one of the first things the president undertook was

promising to close the prison at guantanamo bay by the end of this year and right now it appears from other stories we're hearing they may not meet that target to close guantanamo by january. guantanamo has become a symbol against the united states overseas, many people look at abu ghraib and guantanamo the same way. the president said it's harmed the united states image. problem what do you do with the people that are already there? where do you find countries to take in some of the people that will ultimately not be charged. how do you approach all of these problems in a political climate where nobody wants the prison that would house them on the main lands in the united states, in their congressional districts and so a host of political and policy remember us facing the administration now it appears they may not meet that january deadline foreclosing the prison at guantanamo bay, alex. >> we'll see you later this morning. thank you. we're learning more about the death of a census worker in

kentucky. bill sparkman's body was found by a family visiting a cemetery. sparkman was gagged and his hands and feet were bound with duct tape. the word fed was written across his chest. officials say his preliminary cause of death was asphyxiation. the agency is taking necessary precautions. >> we suspended activity in that county, and notified our client agencies that we've done so until we figure out what's happening. this is a very complicated matter. it isn't clear what happened. but prudence tells us that we should stop for a bit for the protection of our staff. >> firms say it's clear sparkman' death was not natural but all other possibilities are still being considered. >> still ahead after months of improvement, disappointing housing numbers.

is the economy really on the mend? also the earth opens up and swallows several cars. we'll show you more of these pictures on msnbc saturday. also some baristas in bikinis are accused of selling more than lattes. those stories coming up too. stay with us. he pringles superstack can makes everything pop! ♪ hey [ male announcer ] same cost but a lot more fun. ♪ everything pops with the pringles superstack can! now your card comes with a way to plan for what matters to you. introducing blueprint. blueprint is free and only for chase customers. it lets you choose what purchases you want to pay in full to avoid interest...with full pay. and those you split... you decide how to pay over time. if having a plan matters. chase what matters.

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. another message this morning from president obama warning iran in his weekly address and insisting president mahmoud ahmadinejad come clean about his country's nuclear efforts. >> iran must now cooperate fully with the international atomic energy agency and take action to demonstrate it's peaceful intentions. the international community is more united than ever before.

>> joining me live, john hardwood. good morning to you. let's listen more to what the president said in the weekly address this morning. >> iran's leaders must choose. they can live up to their responsibilities and achieve integration with the community ever nations or face increased pressure and isolation and deny opportunity to their own people. >> the president has said he would be open to direct talks with iran. how likely is that to happen at this point? >> i think at this point all the focus is going to be on those multilateral talks with the united states and the p-5 countries, the permanent members of the u.n. security council plus germany trying to put pressure on iran to change its behavior to slow down or halt that nuclear program. it hasn't worked. the united states has been trying this with its allies for years but now all of a sudden those allies has new leverage

against iran. >> is the president likely to get support from washington to take a hawkish approach with iran if they don't cooperate with inspections >> he's likely to have stronger support from iran than he had a week ago. and certainly, democrats and republicans alike are going to want to take on this challenge. the question is really going to be what are your option? he's going to try to get sanctions at the united nations if they don't cooperate. that means bringing along russia which has taking some steps signalling they might go along. china, less certain. if he can get that done that might be a very strong first step especially if you can have a much tougher sanctions regime that would put real pressure on mahmoud ahmadinejad. but then the question is if you don't get the sanctions or the sanctions don't work what do you do? military openings are not off the table as the president said. what does you want get you? does it slow down the iranian

program and how much can you actually achieve the goals you want? >> you bring military thoughts into there, what about the american public, because all the recent polls show the white house is losing support for the war in afghanistan. can the white house afford any other sort of military engagement? >> it's very tough. the american people are turning more skeptical about the war in afghanistan. it's interesting, alex, over the years when we polled on the question of iran and the appetite for military action even when the iraq war was in real difficulty for president bush there was a surprising level of support for being aggressive about iran. you start linking the threat of nuclear weapons in the middle east that's the way the american people process that information. we're not talking about that in afghanistan. that's the conventional terror threat. it's not off the table you could

get support from the american people. the question what would happen if you did strike? >> thanks so much. >> be sure to watch tomorrow's "meet the press" when monitor david gregory talks to former bill clinton about the economy, health care, afghanistan and much more. that's tomorrow on "meet the press." after a short break more weather is expected across the southeast today. 14 georgia counties have been declared disaster areas. the vice president also met with residents, many of whom are staying in shelters. president obama has declared parts of georgia disaster areas and ordered federal assistance to help with the recovery effort. still ahead with the latest housing numbers telling bus the state of the economic recovery. of course those bikini baristas arrested for crossing the line with customers. that story coming up here on msnbc saturday.

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. we got a mixed bag of economic news. new homes sales rose. sales of previously owned homes fell 2.7% after four months of gains. word of this after jobless claims dropped for a third straight week. joining me now msnbc financial analyst. it is a mixed bag. >> it is. >> the fed said things are getting better, activity in the housing sector that's picking up. when we get the existing home sales numbers is that true? >> activity is picking up because buyers are responding to low prices and buying foreclosures. the existing sales was the big disappointment for the market this week. it dropped 2.7% after four months of gain. the market was expecting another month of gain. we didn't get that. this throws water, cold water on this situation and basically tells us the market is still fragile. >> what does it mean to the

overall recovery. we've been looking at these incrementally. is this more bad or signals something >> it raise as question about sort of the strength of the recovery. there's growing concern there, particularly since all of the programs that have been popping up in the housing market they are going away over the next six to nine months. the fed will stop buying mortgaged back securities in march. as that's phased out mortgage rates will rise. so there's a growing concern about how much of growth we've seen has been real. if you look at first time home buyer, 40% of the sales we've seen this year have been first time buyers taking advantage of that home buyer credit. >> you mentioned headwinds. the foreclosures, a number of families have gotten foreclosure

notices and yet they are still in their homes. >> 7.5% house holds have received notice and that's up, 56% higher than a year ago. and turn as you pointed out you have these families staying in their homes, they are distressed, not moving out, going anywhere until they are evicted this lenders are torn between doing a short sale, foreclosure, modification. so there's people who are still in their homes, the process hasn't started. they will be evicted at some point but right now they are staying in their homes. >> all right. thanks so much. >> you'll want to stay tuned for this. a coffee drive through in everett, washington where five baristas wear bikinis. they have been charged with prostitution. the problem comes when they go topless and customers touch them. that's the naked truth. according to residents. >> she done have a top on.

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developing now, president obama issuing another warning to iran on its nuclear ambitions this morning in his weekly address. the president said tehran is speeding down a path to confrontation and needs to open up a newly revealed secret site. president obama said the international community is more

united than ever in condemning iran's nuclear program. >> i sit shoulder to shoulder with our european allies in condemning iran's program. russian president and i agree iran needs to face a new course. snirnian president mahmoud ahmadinejad said his country has complied with u.n. rules. how is this playing out in washington? joining me live on the phone is democratic senator benjamin card of maryland. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. pleasure to be with you. >> i want to ask about your committee's perspective. did you know the president of going to make this statement he made on iran and what was your reaction to it? >> we knew this was one of the highest priorities for the president in his meetings both in new york and pittsburgh. we were very pleased to see the support internationally. our best chance to get iran off

the nuclear weapons program, let it be clear to iran there's tough sanctions. we hope this will be adequate but we need to have united international community and there needs to be tough sanctions. >> iran right now has some sanctions against it, specifically what additional sanctions would you want to see imposed? >> the most important sanction is to deny the importation of refined petroleum to iran. they have oil but they don't have refined petroleum. and the international community would impose that sanction if iran does not change its course. i think it could really have an impact on iran's nuclear weapons program. >> imposing a gas crisis there? >> you're making it clear, a wealthy nation will have its economy unable to before unless it gives up its nuclear weapons

program. quite frankly, the threat of imposing it will be real for iran to change its policies. >> is there any scenario, senator, where you see it could play out military action in some fashion and what would that scenario be? >> well, i think our first option, clearly, is to move in this direction with the international community. we've seen in the past when iran understands that the international community is united, that we have the best chance to get international inspectors in and stop their nuclear weapons program. that's clearly our best option at this point. >> would you be willing to support the president if we were to zion some form of military action evens iran. >> i've been supportive of the president in keeping all options on the table. that needs to be case in having our best chance in stopping the nuclear weapons program through sanctions. >> how hopeful are you that measures will come from the

meeting in geneva on thursday? >> i think president obama has pointed out that there's nor unity internationally than ever before. his meetings with russia were very encouraging on this issue. the meetings taking place in pittsburgh are very encouraging with france and great britain joining us. i think there's clearly a growing sment of the urgency. it is urgent. this is the time for international action in order to prevent iran from becoming a nuclear weapons power which is a game changer in the middle east. >> all right. democratic senator benjamin cardin from maryland. thanks so much. >> for more on iran, i'm joined now live by john decker. good morning. >> good morning. >> did all of this catch the white house by surprise the fact that iran admits to this second

nuclear enrichment program. >>it's interesting in a letter from iran. in some respects it did catch the white house by surprise but it gave them a reason to announce what they announced yesterday in pittsburgh. and i think that the white house believes that they have the international community behind them as they go into these talks in geneva on thursday, the p-5 plus 1, the five members of the security council plus germany as they meet with senior diplomats from iran. these are the first direct talks between u.s. and iran in 30 years and the u.s. right now believes they have the wind at their back for these talks coming up later this week. >> did it take a lot of arm twisting to get russia on board? >> it's interesting what happened just the week before although the white house said there was no quid pro quo, the white house agreed to scrap it's nuclear deterrence program in eastern europe which pleased the russians and it pleased them to

the extent it remember youed some strong statements as it relates to iran this week. the one wild card here is china. china issued a mild rebuke to iran when it disclosed this secret enrichment plant in iran and because china does so much economic business with iran, it's going to be so difficult for them to get on board any type of tough sanctions against iran once that comes before the united nations security council. >> this meeting on october 1st in geneva, what's the u.s. role? how high level will these talks be >> these are very high level and the u.s. has indicated that at the very top of the agenda is this second nuclear plant. and i think that iran has been put on the defensive because of this disclosure, because of what appears to be a united front, the u.s., france, great britain and russia to some degree and i think that because of that united front iran is going to

have to give some answers that clearly satisfy the international community. the iaea wants to be able to go in and inspect this facility and i think that's what the u.s. and the other partners taking part in these talks want to hear as well. france, it's interesting has said that if there's no positive development as it relates to the iran issue, by december, that's when france says tough sanctions should be imposed on iran. >> okay, john decker more from you later. thanks so much. think the economy is getting better? you don't necessarily need an economist to tell you. in a moment we'll show you the five signs to show you that the economy is on the mend. or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet.

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wow. that's a video that got a

georgia high school security officer fired. he's wearing a camera that shows how he confronted a student. witnesses say he was pushed, he pushed the student down and threatened him. the board of education agreed but his firing is under appeal. now to the economy. reports this week revery well mixed messages about the housing industry and fewer people filing for unemployment. if you want a sign that the economy is making a come back it starts with the jeans. joining me live is our financial correspondent. you notice the woman's jeans. i know you have this list for us. you say the first sign is an uptick in jean sales. >> which we all have on. it's a cheap indulgence. one of the first things people buy when the economy is rebounding, when people are feeling more confident. it's the shining star of the fashion industry. clothing sales are down. denim sales are up. we're spending more on our jeans. we like our jeans. it's a positive sign.

indicates we're feeling better about the economy. >> bright times as well? >> when you're down, we know all that feeling. when you're feeling optimistic, happier, confident, you go for the bright stuff. ties, men's ties specifically are a leading indicator shows us they are feeling more optimistic, feeling more cheerful and buying more. >> how is fewer first dates play into this >> this is a funny one. bad economy actually is very good for the match.coms of the world and a good economy is not so good. if you look at the numbers match.com fourth quarter 2008 had one of the best times ever. when the dow hit a five year low in november match had a second busiest weekend the year. the theory is misry loves company. >> advanced holiday book sales >> this is a good sign. you know how it's been.

we're seeing an uptick in party plannings. that's a good sign. party planners are booking through 2011, 2012 and seeing an uptick in catering. catering was a bad word last year. on wall street in particular we're seeing a little bit of an uptick and that's considered a positive sign. >> conversely to the dates, you got more americans leaving their spouse. >> another indicator that things are picking up as well. people are stuck in marriages because they can't do anything because they don't have any money. when people break up that's a sign economy is improving. eating less comfort food, having more babies and taking less anxiety pills. we spent $350 million on xanax last month. >> an interesting survey. who needs an economist when you can look around and see what's

happening around you. >> and have you tell us about it. >> well now back to the very latest on iran. president obama, again, this morning calling for that country to comply with the international request to come clean on its nuclear ambitions. president obama announced iran is building a secret uranium facility for years but iran said it's been following trauls and properly notified the world's nuclear watchdog agency. joining me now is david hoffman and author of the new book "the dead hand, the untold story of the cold war arms race." good morning. president obama is saying the secrecy, size, configuration all these things together of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program. why does iran want this facility? >> well, it's very suspicious. you know, if you are building a peaceful program for nuclear power reactors why are your putting it in a tunnel under a mountain trying to hide it.

we don't know what's in that room under the mountain yet but it's very suspicious. >> it's a mountain that's right near a holy site as well. >> well, what better place to disguise your nuclear bomb facility. he doesn't want anybody to see it. the world leaders feel deceived because for many years iran said no, we're building for civilian power, we need electricity. then it turns out they are doing something on the side. >> mahmoud ahmadinejad said president obama is no nuclear expert and will owe iran an apology. let's listen to what he said. >> translator: now, of course, i'm not the person who should be giving this advice to mr. obama. documents of such nature are issued, then it simply adds to the list of issues to which the u.s. government owes the iranian nation an apology over. rest assured this will be the

case. >> how do you expect the u.s. to react to that? my guess is you won't say the u.s. will offer an apology? >> no. the united states, great britain, france, germany, russia too will be asking iran if there's nothing going on there then top doors, let us see what's going on inside. throw a little sunlight on it. >> you've written your book on the cold war. how is this situation different, david? >> actually it's not all that different. the soviet union had a huge program to build biological weapons and germ warfare program. they signed a treaty against germ warfare and went daytona secretly. they put it also under disguise. we can learn some lessons from that period. >> did you think any of this puts mahmoud ahmadinejad in a difficult position because on one hand he needs to convince the world he's not making weapons but if he does that he risks alienating his base if he backs off iran's confrontational

stance with the west. >> there's a lot of domestic politics we need to keep close track of. things in iran are very unsettled after that election in july. mahmoud ahmadinejad and others are worried about protests in the street and there's a consensus, there's a lot of strong feeling in iran that they have a right to civilian nuclear power. if it turns out they were cheating that puts everybody under pressure. >> we're hearing this aide to the ayatollah saying this would be operational soon. mahmoud ahmadinejad said it won't be ready for 18 months. how capable is iran of making a nuclear weapon? >> they are not there yet. maybe next year. since we haven't been inside we don't know. we can see by deception involved in creating a secret enrichment facility that something is going on that's not right. >> okay. david hoffman thank you very much. we appreciate that. >> my pleasure.

>> for updates as well as a look at the key players, head to msnbc.com and click on world news. let's go now to the steefr guy sue bank of america for allegedly some bad customer service and asking for an unmanageable sum. the guy is suing for $1,784 billion trillion. what that amounts to is hard to figure but it's like one followed by that 22 digits. the judge handling the case say the guy's complaint is incomprehensible. he'll throw the case out if he doesn't make it more clear. yeah. you're watching msnbc saturday.

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call or click today. some incredible video coming from central mississippi. two cars on top of each other in a sinkhole created by a storm. the bottom car was driven by a woman on the way to work.

the second one was her daughter. she was retracing her mother's route after her boss called to say she didn't show up. the daughter called 911 and neither suffered light threatening injuries. days before it was revealed the nuclear facility, a new book released about how the u.s. getting intelligence from the country. the book claims the cia stepped in to close a consulate in dubai, because it was bringing in a wealth of information about iran. the author, city of gold, dubai and the dream of capitalism. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> tell us how this all worked. how did intelligence officials get this information? >> if you're an iranian and you want a u.s. visa, you don't have an embassy in iran, the closest place is dubai.

there's lots of flights every day. iranians would go to the u.s. consulate in dubai, line up there every morning, hundreds of them. they would go to the visa window where they would be interviewed by cia a little who were also consular affairs officers. so they would, you know - iranians with interesting backgrounds would be asked to come back over and over, always with the prospect of a u.s. visa on offer and be asked to turn over secrets on their government or any other topic that the cia interviewers found interesting. >> like what? >> i don't have specifics on types of things they were handing over. the information on their local chapter, the republican guards, for example, or the nuclear developments, perhaps. you know, information on officials or religious clerics.

links between businesses operating government businesses in iran and their offices in dubai, exports from dubai that were going to iran perhaps from military or nuclear purposes, things like that. >> were any of these people or many of them allowed to get visas and get to the united states or were they just used for information? >> what i heard was few of them actually got the visas they were trying for. so in most cases their efforts were in vein, really. >> did you get any information about what was being said about ahmadinejad, if he's seen as the true leader of iran, anything on how serious his nuclear aspirations are? >> such huge trade connections with iran, i did dwell on ahmadinejad a bit. i attended his visit to the uae

and big rally he had in a soccer stadium there where the crowd was chanting nuclear power is our right. rather ominously, there was a nuclear banner that held the fallout symbol, not revolving atoms of nuclear energy. probably unbeknownst to them. but there was some fervor there. and a lot of iranians showed up. he definitely does have some support locally, you could say. >> i'm curious, did any u.s. officials approach you about this book? i'm curious if this information source has dried up? >> i haven't been approached, no, since it's come out. but no, i don't think the source has dried up. iranians are still coming to get visas every day. it's almost sort of expected.

you know, i would think that iranians coming to get a u.s. visa and greeting u.s. immigration officers would probably expect if they told them anything interesting, the information wouldn't say there with the consular office but might trickle up into the u.s. government somehow. it's sort of probably an obvious fear on the part of an iranian going for a visa interview. it was done clandestinely. >> you say dubai, not president obama is the best hope for mideast peace. how so? >> dubai is a great example of a successful arab country or city state that's doing a great job bringing itself up very quickly out of poverty, developing extremely fast. and they have this sort of business first, self help mantra that i think is really important for the arab world. the u.s. has kind of mistreated

dubai a bit in the past, especially in dubai ports fiasco of a few years ago. when the u.s. has a lot of synergy with dubai and we have a lot actually riding on dubai's success. dubai's success being imitated by other arab countries could bring stability to this very troubled part of the world. >> jim crane. thank you very much. city of gold, dubai and the dream of capitalism." thanks for joining us. >> thank you. it is a game of beat the clock for some people looking to buy a house. will uncle sam give them more time to collect that $8,000 tax credit? we'll check it out on "msnbc saturday." febreze air effects actually eliminates odors in the air and leaves a fresh scent. febreze, official air freshener of the nfl.

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showdown? the clock ticking for home buyers. will congress buy more time for them? plus -- ♪ >> she's been adored for decades but now barbie is about to break new ground with a new career. we'll explain that. good morning. i'm alex witt. this is "msnbc saturday." we have all that plus a potential breakthrough in the fight against aids. first president obama issues another warning to iran in his weekly address this morning. the president says iran is speeding down a path to confrontation and needs to open a newly revealed site for close international inspection. mike at the white house for us. good morning, mike. >> good morning, alex. >> the president saying the international community is more united than ever on iran? >> you're absolutely right. the president and allies say intelligence is solid and so is their resolve. they are united no