right now on "andrea mitchell reports," unthinkable, a community just fighting back from hurricane sandy is hit with another devastating blow as a roaring blaze tears through a jersey shore landmark. >> yesterday we saw what it means to be from our state. we are tough and we stand together in a crisis. >> in colorado, the rapidly rising waters are forcing thousands from their homes and threatening areas from denver to boulder, the colorado springs as record rains continue to fall overnight. president obama assigned an emergency declaration for the state. a bigger deal as talks forge ahead on chemical weapons. the u.s. and russia are taking a look -- a new look at a broader plan for syria to end the civil war. >> i will say on behalf of the united states that president obama is deeply committed to a

negotiated solution with respect to syria. and we know that russia is likewise. we are working hard to find the common ground to be able to make that happen. >> will constructive talks ever lead to peace? here in geneva i spoke with u.n. secretary-general and enjoy for syria kofi annan after he met today. >> it's constructive, positive and i hope we get something really constructive out of it. the stakes are high and everybody realizes that. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in geneva where secretary of state meets with foreign minister on the syrian

crisis trying to get past the tension that erupted on the first day of talks. as taliban attacked u.s. consulate in iraq, afghanistan, a lot happening on the foreign front p joining me "washington post" diplomatic correspondent ann gearen, terrorism expert michael leiter. first of all these talks did not start on a happy note. a lot of tension. why? >> it started yesterday and it's really because the two sides, u.s. and russia are coming at it from a different standpoint. russia wants this to be about stopping any chance of u.s. military action. secretary kerry is here on orders from president obama to make it really mean something by which they think they have to keep up the pressure on military axe. right from the get go they were at a bit of a loggerheads. you sensed that again today at their joint appearance at the beginning of the day with

brahimi. neither gave a clue there was substantive developments today. now today, it's near the end of the day here and there's no sign at the end of the day that they have come to much today. >> michael you've seen these signals before. we're picking up signals they want to call it a day, leave tonight, rather than staying over to tomorrow. there's a lot going on, breakout groups with their weapons and intelligence experts drilling down in separate sessions as to exactly where the chemical weapons are, how easy would they be to catalog and get rid of them. from your experience at the counter-terrorism center in the past, how hard will this be to get a handle on these weapons and destroy them if they even reach agreement here? >> well, andrea, this is very hard on a lot of front. just his initial step of getting an agreement, equal factual

basis of what happened, which then, of course, drives on the conclusions of what should happen. when you have russians saying assad regime is not behind the attack, you obviously can have real differences about what should happen. actually locating those weapons, detailing how many of those weapons are there and locating them in the midst of a civil war is extremely challenging. we're really getting a little ahead of ourselves, although nice to be optimistic that this round could lead to something broader than chemical weapons. we hope there's a political settlement here but there's factual and big steps taken even at the front end that we haven't achieved yet. >> they are hoping to do that and parallel those political talks. we're supposed to start in may and june and july. they have been delayed a long time. just to follow up, there are reports, "wall street journal"

has reports on unit 4450. we've reported that. reported assad moving chemical weapons to avoid detection. we're told they know where it is, under assad's control, if there were an agreement, a cease-fire, which is a big if, they would be able to get at it and destroy them. >> i think there's consistency between those two points. they are not mutually inconsistent. it's undoubtedly true assad has been moving not just chemical weapons and like to keep it secure from strikes. it's also likely u.s. intelligence has for a long time now, many years, prioritized understanding those very movements. so it would be very difficult to find everything. it will be easy for him to potentially hide things if he's willing to or signs off on giving them up, and it will be a challenge to get our hands on them and destroy them because of

the civil war, obviously that complicates it further. we probably do have sort of the 80% view already about what's there and where it is. >> anne as we wait for some readout, this is a complicated relationship. kerry spoke and was sharp on the military point, lavrov didn't like that. they didn't get off on a good footing. this the same place where hillary clinton memorial raebl back in 2009 when she was taking over tried to reset the relationship with lavrov and russians. >> same hotels even. the u.s.-russia relationship is so fascinating. the united states needs russia for so many things. and russia frankly needs the united states for many respects fewer things but still needs the united states. they do need one another. there are ways they can cooperate. but kerry has had a bit of a bad run with lavrov.

although they both claim to be friends, they have had a bunch of pretty tense encounters over the last six months, many of them surrounding syria. >> anne gearan, thanks so much. we'll continue to watch this. peter alexander will look at some of the big stories we're following today. peter, that is obviously the new jersey fire. >> that's certainly the case, andrea. business owners at the jersey shore are faced with another long and painful rebuilding process after this devastating fire that swept through seaside parks boardwalk. it hit shops, restaurants. firefighters worked through the night pouring thousands of gallons of water on it. the little left on the famous walkway, governor christie had a message. he held a press conference a little earlier this morning. take a listen. >> we have endured and begun to come back from the devastation of sandy. we will not let these fires destroy those efforts. >> nbc's kristen dahlgren is

live in seaside heights right now. kristen, give us a sense. can you tell us about the extent of the damage here, exactly how big of an area we're talking about, if there's anything to the investigation so far. i know there's arson investigators and other members of the atf team, one with an accelerant canine team as well. >> yeah. i'm being told it's pretty much standard practice when you have a fire like this. there's a massive task force trying to figure out how are we going to do this, how are we going to look at how it started and where. it's too early to peck late, say anything. we still don't know about the cause of the fire but that investigation is ongoing. take a look over here. you can see the firefight also going oppose. according to the governor, about 100 firefighter still on the scene. at the height more than 400. still 400 not an insignificant

number fighting this making sure there are no more hot spots. the fire about 95% contained. they are still concerned there could be areas smoldering and skid marks ignited again. overall they say they are lucky that they stopped it when they did. if they hadn't dug in that trempbl, cut into the new boardwalk that had just been replaced after hurricane sandy, it might have taken the whole town. they were able to make that stand. the governor called it a critical mom. at 11:p.m., they were able to get the fire under control. that certainly doesn't take away from the fact that a lot of people lost a lot. dozens of businesses lost in four blocks. when you see some aerials, you're able to see just how great an area was damaged in this. an area that now has to rebuild once again. what we're hearing from everybody here is that they are jersey strong. they have done it before and everybody says they are going to

rebuild once again, peter. >> kristen, that's what i wanted to ask you, on that celebrated stretch of waterfront they refer to themselves as being jersey strong. obviously metal tested, resilience proven during hurricane sandy. is there still that same sense everybody is going at it one more time and try to be back to celebrate another day? >> absolutely. this isn't just businesses here. i'm a jersey girl. i spent summers and came to the boardwalk when i was a kid. it means a lot to so many people. this is really the essence of the jersey shore. it's not just a few businesses lost, it's a sense of community that's around here. they say they are really going to come together. they felt like family here on the boardwalk on the pier here and this has just made them stronger. they are really determined to do what they have to do, today still in shock but tomorrow they are going to start looking at the damage and getting back to

work. >> kristen dahlgren, we appreciate your reporting and send our best to all the people in that damaged community again. speaking of communities that suffered terrible damage, how about the flooding problems that continue in colorado. three people died, their governor is asking residents to stay off of underwater roads obviously. the record setting rainfall has forced thousands of people out of their homes. more wet weather is expected throughout this day. nbc's lee ann greg live in boulder, colorado. the good news is you don't have to wear your hood. it appears for the moment the rain has stopped. when you're in the foothills plenty more pouring down from the mountains. what is the forecast for them going forward? >> well, peter today you can see, yes, finally some sunshine will later in the afternoon we are expecting more rain but known like before. even though the rain has subsided and is expected to be a little better later this afternoon, the problems have not diminished. take a look behind me. this is an example.

flash flooding like this can be seen all around boulder. as you mentioned the runoff from the canyons along with swollen rivers and streams, that will take a while for those water areas to subside. the flooding is expected to continue today. roads and bridges weakened. concerns about motorists going over a bridge or overpass that has washed out causing problems. also a concern about evacuees, last night, 4,000 evacuation in boulder when spotters saw a huge mass of floodwater and debris coming down the mountain toward boulder. fortunately it broke up before it got to boulder but those are the types of problems emergency managers are dealing with. today they are trying to get in and help people in a city where it has become an island. you can't pass roads in, can't

get out. national guard is there. more than 100 personnel alone with 20 vehicles trying to help provide supplies, evacuate people and make sure everybody is safe. this is an ongoing project. it won't be over for days, possibly even weeks. peter. >> lee ann gregg in boulder. staggering images two parts of the country, east coast fire, further out west flooding. another significant story you're following in geneva today. >> the images back home are heartbreaking. thanks for all those reports. coming up here, haven't we been here before? i'll talk to senator richard lugar. stay with us on both continents of this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. i am today by luck. i put in the hours and built a strong reputation in the industry. i set goals and worked hard to meet them.

i've made my success happen. so when it comes to my investments, i'm supposed to just hand it over to a broker and back away? that's not gonna happen. avo: when you work with a schwab financial consultant, you'll get the guidance you need with the control you want. talk to us today. we've been bringing people together. today, we'd like people to come together on something that concerns all of us. obesity. and as the nation's leading beverage company,

we can play an important role. that includes continually providing more options. giving people easy ways to help make informed choices. and offering portion controlled versions of our most popular drinks. it also means working with our industry to voluntarily change what's offered in schools. but beating obesity will take continued action by all of us, based on one simple common sense fact... all calories count. and if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you'll gain weight. that goes for coca-cola, and everything else with calories. finding a solution will take all of us. but at coca-cola, we know when people come together, good things happen. to learn more, visit coke.com/comingtogether

yogi berra might call this deja vu all over again. united states and russia at loggerheads over disarmament. this time the talks are to prevent atrocities in syria. dick lugar co-sponsored in 1981, the act was responsible for safe dismantling of warheads over the past two decades. he joins us from washington. senator, thank you very much. good to see you. >> thank you, andrea. >> how challenging. you've been through this, you and senator nun, how challenging is it to find assad's chemical weapons, arsenals, find them in a war zone where if there is a cease-fire it could not hold at any moment and then to get them and destroy those weapons? >> i believe our intelligence services have a good idea where

the weapons are, even though there have been reports of their movement. i think the question will be how the treaty or agreement has work out. the so-called international community taking control. does this mean the interpret community might consign or russia or the united states or both of us to actually do the job. because we're prepared in the united states to do the job. we've got mobile equipment that can move out and can destroy as much as 25 tons a day of chemical weapons on site. so the technical aspects of this have not been well explained. but nevertheless our defense department does have the capability. the question, however, is who will actually be assigned to do that. will the united states have that opportunity. >> the question is the president said no boots on the ground. well, if we were to go in under

a blue helmet, u.n. umbrella, whatever, that would be americans in an international force. we have the best expertise. do you think there would be political support for that? >> i would think so. i think the entire set of questions has arisen suddenly in part because the president threatened an attack given the fact that the norm against use of chemical weapons has been violated. this has led vladimir putin as well as assad to understand this is a time in which the government of assad might be in jeopardy. i think up to this point they thought they might be winning the war. not home free but at the same time stability was going to continue. interesting very suddenly they have suggested the idea the end of chemical weapons that assad never admitted to this point. now admitted it, gone to the

proper authorities to get signed up for chemical weapons convention. but immediately, as you've reported, foreign minister lavrov as well as president assad said there has to be an agreement there will be no attack by the united states, no more attacks, no threat of attacks. that is the thing that clearly they fear. we're going to hear that very frequently. we'll continue to reply as secretary kerry did that we can't make that pledge until those weapons are under control, until they are being destroyed, until all the other aspects of the agreement are being fulfilled. >> senator, how tough is sergey lavrov to sit across the table from? these talks here are tense. >> they will continue to be tense because he's a very professional statesman. a professional negotiator. he's been at the job for a long time, faced all sorts of

problems internally in russia quite apart from dealing with folks abroad. i found that he is certainly courteous, very professional. at the same time this is not somebody looking to be mr. congeniality. he's doing a job at least and he's going to fulfill every responsibility. >> thank you very much, senator richard lugar. great to see you again. thanks for all of your expertise on this very complicated subject. we will have more from geneva in a moment. first in hawaii a massive molasses spill -- that's right, molasses spill -- has killed thousands of fish and other wildlife in honolulu bay. officials say there's no way to clean up the sticky substance the spill caused. it was caused from a faulty pipe that was trying to pump malaz from storage tanks to container ship. it could have far reaching effects on the marine life in the area. has it's ups and downs.

seasonal... doesn't begin to describe it. my cashflow can literally change with the weather. anything that gives me some breathing room makes a big difference. the plum card from american express gives your business flexibility. get 1.5% discount for paying early, or up to 60 days to pay without interest, or both each month. i'm nelson gutierrez and i'm a member of the smarter money. this is what membership is. this is what membership does.

♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good around ♪ ♪ turn around barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪ ♪ unh ♪ ♪ hey! ♪ ♪ let's go! ♪ [ male announcer ] you can choose to blend in. ♪ ♪ yeah! yeah! yeah! or you can choose to blend out. ♪ oh, yeah-eah! ♪ the all-new 2014 lexus is. it's your move. the all-new 2014 lexus is. uh-oguess what day it is!is?? huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is?? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is?

it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! yay!! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor i had pain in my abdomen... it just wouldn't go away.thing. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge.

journal" poll are not going to be met with very much excitement in the white house. joining me now for our daily fix peter alexander and chris cillizza and co-host of in play and nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. peter, first to you. these poll numbers are pretty bad. the president's approval rating only 45% for his handling of the economy, even though economy seems to be sort of slowly picking up. the market has been good. their housing values are going up. it has to be troubling at the white house. >> heard from the president during the brief spray with cameras coming in yesterday with his cabinet, asked about syria where he expressed optimism and

was hopeful. the next thing he said and i wrote it down, it's important to recognize there's a lot of things left to do in this government. there obviously is grave concern across this country right now that the economy once again needs to be the focus. obviously it's been eclipsed in recent days and weeks and for good reason by what's taking place in syria, as evidenced by disapproval number of 52%, it's the highest since august 2012. most americans right now are saying to the president, saying to representatives and others, what are you doing for me? what are you doing to help make my life better right now? >> the same poll shows people chris cillizza don't feel the economy is going to get better in the next 12 months. only 27% think it's going to get better. 24 think it's going to get worse, 48 think it's going to stay about the same. that's not impressive either. >> no. andrea, we know part of the economy it's sort of a

self-fulfilling prophecy, part of the economy getting better is they think it's going to get better. they good out and buy the car they have been holding off buying. maybe they buy the house they are holding off buying. that's the problem we're in the negative cycle where pessimism feeds the economy not improving, pessimism feeds the economy not improving. we're in a holding pattern. half the economy says the economy will stay the same. that's partially due to a disappointing august jobs report and the fact we've been talking about a lot of other things aside from the economy. >> congress, kelly, is going to have to deal with the debt ceiling in october. our polls show people are not that engaged. by two to one they think congress should raise -- or shouldn't, no 4.4%, 22% yes. that's a marginal number.

they are not engaged because the debate is not engaged. >> it is coming. it will be the story of fall on capitol hill. today there's sort of a slumber effect around here. it had been every available camera position was busy all week, now it's down to the daily ushls w usuals here. there is a quiet where people are in their home states. this conversation about the budget will begin to bubble up. there's a lot of work behind the scenes to avert a government shutdown to not get to the brinksmanship we have seen before. really no one wants a repeat of 2011, the summer of the debt ceiling fight that resulted in the downgrading of the u.s. credit rating and so much turmoil. it's almost surprising that number said 44% said don't raise the debt ceiling. the president's argument is always that the government has already extended those dollars. they have already put out that money. it's just about paying the bills.

of course those who don't want to see an increase in debt ceiling are concerned about the long-term health of the country. there will be that debate about should cuts take place in order to give the president what he wants, raising the debt ceiling. the white house doesn't want to negotiate. they don't want a long drawnout struggle. those sort of rumblings are beginning. those looking ahead, especially members of congress tasked with being responsible with some of these budget and debt issues, they are already hard at work on this. be prepared for the fall fight. it will be about the debt. >> and peter, the president will be going into that fight without one of his most trusted economic advisers gene spurling in the clinton administration, treasury, has been in the white house now at the president assad on the economy. he's going to be moving to l.a. where his wife is from. this is a big change. >> it is a big change. a little bit later today we expect to hear from the president where he announces former acting budget chief will

join his team replacing gene spurling, hand over the reines, as the president tries to pursue a stronger economy of as evidenced by poll numbers you showed a short time ago, obviously there's a lot of ground that needs to be built. heading in to new fights, a new teammate at his side, do expect gene spurling to play a roll advising the white house moving forward in these next weeks and months. >> okay. thanks to all of you. peter, i'll see you in a second. and to chris and kelly, thank you. we'll be right back with the latest news from geneva. stay with us. and investing accounts on one page... before he could easily transfer funds between the two in real time... before he could even think about planning for his daughters' future... mike opened a merrill edge investment account and linked it to his bank of america bank account to help free up plenty of time for the here and now. that's the wonder of streamlined connections.

that's merrill edge and bank of america. and now, there's a plan that lets you experience that "new" phone thrill again and again. and again. can you close your new phone box? we're picking up some feedback. introducing verizon edge. the plan that lets you upgrade to a new verizon 4glte phone when you want to. having what you want on the network you rely on. that's powerful. verizon. upgrade to the new moto x by motorola with zero down payment.

welcome back to geneva where talks have been focusing on syria's chemical weapons stockpile at separate meetings international atomic energy, an agency invene ark, the agency is demanding accounting on nuclear

research. founder and president of the institute for science and international security is joining me now. david you know more about this, nuclear fuel, uranium, not as dangerous but could be subject to terrorist strikes, if it gets in the hands of terrorist or blackmail artists, it could be very dangerous indeed. >> it's not nearly as dangerous as chemical weapons. we have to remember syria had undeclared nuclear program. israel bombed a reactor in syria in 2007. so while there's no view that syria has an active undeclared nuclear program now, it's taking steps to hide it and particularly hide it from international inspectors. so the united states is insisting that syria come clean on its past activities. one of the central features is this natural uranium fuel, which is a large amount.

the type of reactor that would have 50 tons of natural uranium. there's worry it could be stolen, could end up in iran. iran has sought uranium covertly over the last several years. it may try to get this stock out of syria. there's worry that the government could lose control over it, and there's insistence from the international atomic energy agency that syria come clean and cannot go in there. it announced last month it doesn't feel it can send its people in there anymore. so it makes sense to try to broaden this international effort to try to have it take control of syria's nuclear assets and then to try to render them harmless or remove them as necessary. >> while we're speaking about iran and its attempts to get uranium covertly, iran's new

president brahimi is meeting with putin this as part of talks with russia, china and kyrgystan and afghanistan and then supposedly coming to the united nations in the next couple of weeks for his debut performance. what he said today was that iran will not negotiate away its right to nuclear power, which has been the traditional position of iran. he's sort of setting the table for the negotiations to come, the resumption of talks with the west. we believe also one-on-one talks with the united states along the sidelines at the u.n. >> there's a lot of hope that president can change the tone and substance of what's going on. also, it's a little bit of a red herring to talk about iran's right to nuclear energy. if there's a settlement of this deal, iran will maintain some level of a nuclear program. the issue is are they going to

cap the program, are they going to alleviate the concern that underneath it is a nuclear weapons program. there's a lot of ground to cover. but there is hope it can be done with rowhani, he was the one that engineered the suspension of the program. he's willing to take the steps necessary to solve this. we still don't know if he has authority. ultimately the supreme leader is the one who calls the shows. we still don't know if rowhani has the authority but there is a great deal of hope. >> just briefly it's partly because he wrestled negotiation strategy back from the hard-liners and the u.n. ambassador very familiar to lots of americans on the other side of the table. thank you so much david albright for all that. appreciate it. now back to peter in washington. >> all right, andrea. thank you very much. again, turn back to the devastation in new jersey today and hear from the local leader

about the next steps for businesses and residents in the community. seaside heights mayor is joining us from the boardwalk area. mr. mayor, we appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me. >> if i can, i know we've heard from you over the course of the last 20 or so hours. now that daybreak has come, you've had much of today to sort of examine the damage there. can you just give us your gut reaction to what it looks like and feels like to you? >> while the devastation is certainly substantial, it could have been a lot worse. we're very, very grateful for that. we're grateful for the actions that were taken, the line drawn in the sand, the firebreak they had put up committing all the resources to the one area where it wouldn't go any further north. i think we're very, very fortunate to be at the stage we are, but there's a lot of

affected businesses who are probably going to be between 30 and 40 businesses between the two communities. >> 30 to 40 businesses in total. >> i want to ask you about that specifically. i know you've been quoted as saying rebuilding process would be complicated for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is unlike sandy. in this situation everything that was hit, including the boardwalk, these are privately owned. some may, may not have fire insurance. obviously there are new codes that exist since a lot of these locations were built. what in particular is going to make this so complicated the effort to rebuild that spot. >> first and foremost what we found out through sandy coming into this disaster, the insurance companies while they were saying all the right things, it was very difficult for people to get money. you were being pennies on the

dollar. so i think that the insurance process is very concerning. not only for people not having insurance but not being properly insured and then getting that money quickly. i was very happy to hear the governor say, you know, the state is going to be involved in that process. we are having a roundtable tomorrow at 1:30 with affected business owners, community leaders. we asked them to bring their policies so we could go through that with the dca and see what assistance the state can be in the processing of those claims to get the money to the people who need it so desperately. >> i was struck by the owner of the frozen custard that has been a staple for decades. he said the store wasn't his second home, it was his first home. do you feel pretty strongly that one year from now we'll be celebrating the reopening of the seaside boardwalk? >> absolutely. you can't think of it in any

other terms. when everyone comes down to the shore they come to the beach and boardwalk. that's why they visit your community. while this is devastating to us, it would be far greater devastation if we didn't have a boardwalk at all. we will have a boardwalk in place and we will be open for business. >> mayor bill akers of seaside heights, america is rooting for you guys, once again on the jersey shore. we're sorry for the circumstances. appreciate your time and thank you. >> thank you. twitter made a big announcement yesterday in a tweet. the social media giant filed for initial public offering kicking off the next big buzz worthy tech stock. twitter created in 2006 is used by more than 200 million people. there's one peter alexander, andrea mitchell. i have to give her a shout. she's letting me fill in while she's away. you can call this out of this world, nasa's spacecraft

launched in 2007 the first to travel outside the solar system, 11 billion miles away from earth. this news didn't go unnoticed by william shatner, captain kirk, who tweeted, so it begins. president obama also tweeted congratulations to the nasa team. speaking of taking flight, this man lifted off last night from caribou, maine. it's not the movie "up" but looks like it. had the help of 350 balloons, his goal to get across the ocean. good plan if it works but it didn't. experienced technical difficulties. as you might remember the method worked out a little more successfully for, well, the character indexes's modern classic "up."

>> so long, boys. and i quit smoking. chantix... it's a non-nicotine pill. i didn't want nicotine to give up nicotine. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. [ mike ] when i was taking the chantix, it reduced the urge to smoke. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. it feels wonderful. i don't smoke. i don't smoke.

[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. i don't smoke. no two people have the same financial goals. pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. talk to a pnc investments financial advisor today. ♪ [ chainsaw buzzing ] humans. sometimes, life trips us up. sometimes, we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your auto and home insurance.

call liberty mutual insurance at... to speak with an insurance expert and ask about all the personalized savings available for when you get married, move into a new house, or add a car to your policy. personalized coverage and savings -- all the things humans need to make our world a little less imperfect. call... and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? it's eb. want to give your family the very best in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. want to give them more vitamins, omega 3s, and less saturated fat? it's eb. eggland's best eggs. eb's. the only eggs that make better taste and better nutrition... easy. eggland's best eggs. better taste. better nutrition.

better eggs. it's eb. took part in a chat, "co-founder of independent website syria deeply. focusing on the crisis in syria. she's joining me from san francisco. good to see you. i watched you on google, you and nick co-hosting this. what was your takeaway with john kerry going into these talks about how willing they are to let the russians dictate the timeframe of how long it would take to get rid of the chemical weapons. >> secretary kerry said time is of the essence. it will have to move fast. his patience is not infinite.

president obama will ultimately decide how long the u.s. will wait before going back to the prospect of a u.s. strike on syria. my overall takeaway from that conversation was really this is part of a bigger picture play on syria. how do you stabilize, diffuse the risk, how do you have some sort of constructive negotiation with the russians on the syrian front. very important to keep in mind at this moment if you look at the internal dynamics of sir yarks the regime is in a very weak position at this point. they have been able to retake suburbs around damascus or broad swaths of rebel held territory in the north. they have had to rely on iran and hezbollah to boost them on the battlefield and china and russia to boost and protect them at the u.n. they are really in survival mode going into this. i was listening as we spoke to secretary kerry to understand what is the plan here to bring this crisis to a close. >> it's good you brought that

up. exactly right today they took a break from the chemical talks to go over and meet with brahimi on long stalled political talks. they were supposed to be in geneva months ago. we keep getting delays partly because of some confusion among opposition forces as to who would represent opposition. partly some mishandling by u.s. and other diplomats. what is your take on who now really could sit down at the table and whether the assad regime is or will ever be prepared to negotiate as long as the u.s. and russia say regime change is not a precondition. >> well, i think the assad regime understands now it's back into a corny. the threat of the u.s. strike from all accounts and informed sources i spoke to did spook assad and inner circle. they may be ready to make concessions they weren't able to make earlier this year when the prospect of peace talks was out there and fell apart. on the opposition side you have a very diverse set of characters

that haven't come up with a unified vision for syria. another big challenge. that syrian opposition represents opposition in exile, a would be government that doesn't necessarily have the leverage or legitimacy on the ground to enforce anything it comes up with. that's going to be a big challenge here. brahimi pushing a long time for something that will bring this conflict to a close. you have a diverse set of rebel groups inside the country that will have to comply with any kind of cease-fire. that's why past cease fires in syria have fallen apart. that's what makes it complicated. as i speak to syrians, plenty of people say they are so eager to see this calm down, see syria come to a stable place, their tolerance, willingness for a deal that bridges the regime on the rebel side probably well received on the ground. >> thank you so much, lara. great to meet you virtually. next time you're in washington or san francisco or wherever, it would be great to sit down and talk about this. >> and tweet it out.

>> yes. and tweet it out. and what's next after geneva when secretary kerry wraps up the meetings here. on sunday he's supposed to head to jerusalem to meet with prime minister netanyahu, brief him netanyahu. more on the agenda in israel coming up next. stay with us here only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] ok, here's the way the system works. let's say you pay your guy around 2% to manage your money. that's not much you think. except it's 2% every year. does that make a difference? search "cost of financial advisors" ouch. over time it really adds up. then go to e-trade and find out how much our advice costs. spoiler alert: it's low. really? yes, really. e-trade offers investment advice and guidance from dedicated, professional financial consultants. it's guidance on your terms, not ours. that's how our system works. e-trade. less for us. more for you.

♪ the one and only, cheerios

as we head to the bottom of the hour, we want to wrap you up as the next 48 hours into the weekend. andrea, back here we'll watch your redskins as they compete with the packers, hoping rg3 finds last season's form. but you have more serious issues in jegeneva. >> and the pennant run of the nats, that's another story. >> we're hopeful. let's talk about geneva. there is a chance.

we have a possibility of breaking news here. sergey laf of is back or heading back here and there is a very good chance this will all wrap up with final statements today. they probably have done as much as they can accomplish. there may not be a saturday session unless they -- the u.s. side persuades lavrov to stay for another half day. then kerry does go on to israel on sunday and is going to be briefing netanyahu as he briefed abass last week on the progress of the middle east peace talks and talk about syria. israel has a lot at stake, here, peter and they are divided. they wanted to do anything possible to diminish assad's grasp on the chemical weapons. there are many in israel beginning to see and military and intelligence world that it

could be a good thing that the russians and united states are talking about actually containing and destroying those terrible weapons which were the primary threat against israel. a lot more to come. stay tuned. andrea mitchell reporting from overseas. >> thank you for all of that and that does it it from peter alexander and me. remember, follow the show online and on twitter at mitchell reports. my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation". >> andrea, safe travels to you. more rain andvacuations in colorado as the national guard works to rescue hundreds of people from a town isolated by the deadly flooding there. and we'll get a live report from boulder on what the president has declared a federal disaster area. and what some say is another attempt to ban tony morrison's classic novel the bluest eyes, this time in ohio from the school board president who called it quote, pornographic

and inappropriate for students. montana newlywed charged with killing her husband allowed to go free without posting bond. clint van zandt will join us to talk about the judge's controversial decision. es. (growls) (man) that's a good look for you. (woman) that was fun. (man) yeah. (man) let me help you out with the.. (woman)...oh no, i got it. (man) you sure? (woman) just pop the trunk. (man vo) i may not know where the road will lead, but... i'm sure my subaru will get me there. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. a writer and a performer. ther,

i'm also a survivor of ovarian and uterine cancers. i even wrote a play about that. my symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. if you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer, be brave, go to the doctor. ovarian and uterine cancers are gynecologic cancers. symptoms are not the same for everyone. i got sick... and then i got better.

and less saturated fat? it's eb. eggland's best eggs. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. it's eb. he was a matted messiley in a small cage. ng day. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers,

you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com right now, investigator believe they know where the massive boardwalk fire started but they still don't know how. free to go for now, why a judge says a newlywed charged with killing her husband by pushing him over a cliff was allowed to go home. plus, why one school board says a novel by nobel prize winning author tony morris son is child pornography. "news nation" is following developing news out of col