he has proved here in his few months in washington, d.c., scott brown has often said that he would put the state of massachusetts and his constituents above his party and he feels lee has done that with his vote, which has become a key vote on financial regulatory reform regulating with chris dodd to get a $19 billion bank tax repealed which would help some banks within the state of massachusetts within state street and bank of america and he feels will not pass on tax to consumers. it is going to be very interesting to see, this bill most likely will be passed today. 16 votes the senate democrats have wanted for so long and then final passage will happen later this afternoon and all indications that it is a go. this is a huge win for president barack obama. he set out during his campaign that he would very much overhaul the nation's financial system and he plans on doing that with this legislation and would be signed by the end of the week, if not early next week. couple that with health care and the president and house democrats and senate democrats will have a message going in november saying staying with main street where republicans stand with wall street. republicans have a few objections to this bill. primarily the fact that it goes too far and it will stifle lending especially from community banks that will get hit with reguleses that are equal to those of regular banks. there is also a desire from the republican side to really reform fannie mae and freddie mac. they say this legislation does not do enough for that and, on the other hand, democrats are excited about it and calling a bipartisan bill with the support they're getting from the two republican senators from maine. overall, at the end of the day, tamron. big win for obama. he continues to put through sweeping changes ran on the slogan of change we can believe in. well, here's a big one. the nation's biggest wall street reforms since the great depression. tamron? >> luke russert, live for us on capitol hill this morning. thanks, luke. developing right now, president obama just left the white house and is headed to michigan for his latest event highlighting the economy and job creation. he will attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a plant that will manufacture batteries for chevrolet and ford electric cars. that plant actually got $151 million in stimulus cash. michigan governor jennifer granholm says the project will create 6,000 jobs and the state, by the way, has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. it's 13.2%. the president is due to speak at 1:30 p.m. eastern time. we will bring you his remarks on msnbc. the presieunt heads to michigan after getting positive news this morning on the job's front. new claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to the lowest level in two years. it was the second straight weekly decline and the third drop in the past four months. let's take a look at wall street and how the dow is shaping up right now. you can see the dow is down 95 points. the s&p down, as well as the nasdaq and these are a number of factors, not those job numbers, but some critical other numbers coming in and we have more information on how wall street is shaping up on this day. also, there are new or more questions than answers today about whether bp pressured the british government to release the lockerbie bomber in exchange for $900 million oil deal with libya. new york senator chuck schuller among other lawmakers have called on the state department to launch an immediate investigation. >> the whole thing has deep circumstantial evidence that points to the fact that there was a tradeoff. release the terrorist in exchange for an oil contract. that is a horrible slap in the face to the families. >> andrea mitchell, nbc news chief foreign correspondent has more details for us. >> hi, there, tamron. new questions about whether bp pressured the british government to release the lockerbie bomber in exchange for $900 million oil deal with libya. the outrage over the hero's welcome last year in libya for only man convict offend the pan am 103 bombing. al megrahi. a bombing that killed 278 people, including 98 americans. many were students at syracuse university. he was let free because libyan doctors said he had only three months to live. advance prostate cancer. now, a year later, he is still alive and thriving. and bp is being accused of pressuring the british government for his release. in exchange for an oil deal with libya. u.s. lawmakers are outraged. >> if bp is found to have gained access to libyan oil reserves by using a mass murderer as a bargaining chip, then make no mistake. any money it makes off of that oil is blood money, pure and simple. >> reporter: secretary of state hillary clinton was asked about the tradeoff. >> seriously, i received the letter. >> reporter: she said she'd look into it but her spokesman suggested thereç is not much ty could do. >> some practical questions of what exactly they would be asking us to do and what would be our ability to inquire as to, you know, a conversation that might have alleged to have taken place between a private company, a government and another devulg government. >> reporter: bp acknowledges it did talk to the government in 2007 about what it calls the slow progress of the prisoner transfer agreement and that a delay could "have a negative impact on british commercial interests" including its oil exploration. that does raise a lot of questions. tamron? right now thad allen is giving an update on the new containment cap that is placed on the leaking well in the gulf. let's listen to admiral thad allen. >> that will force all the oil up into the new capping stack and only two ways for that to be released because we did not move the middle ram back and it will start going out the kill line and the choke line. we will then close the kill line and start to slowly close the choke line and take the pressure readings at that time, as we intended to do. just to let you know what happened, this is the choke line. off of the capping stack. as you know, this comes out of the assembly and goes up. if you've seen the video, this is that big yellow device with the curve pipe that goes up with the oil coming out of it. it connects back to the capping stack down here and there is an ass assembly where this meets together. the entire choke assembly was removed and replaced overnight. they are checking this right now to make sure it is ready to go and we will go into the process that i just talked about earlier. and we will know, we will apply pressure to this as we close the kill valve. exactly how successful they have been in closing this leak and moving forward with the test itself. as i stated earlier yesterday, one reason we took the pause was to put a set of testing procedures into effect that would allow us to consider seismic and acoustic and sonar and plus visual inspection with a bottom throughout the test. the test is scheduled to run for 48 hours and we will run that in six-hour increments to evaluate every six hours if we have reason to terminate the tests, we would do that. the only reason wgç would terminate the tests very quickly is if we have a low pressure reading that is indicative of the fact that oil is being out into the formation and as the pressure continues to rise, we will continue to monitor it. every six hours we will evaluate where we are at based on the information that is available. at the end of 48 hours we will evaluate the tests and go back to production and then will evaluate where we're at. that will include, most likely, another seismic run over the area. this will be, this will allow us to take a look at the sea floor and actually do a censor testing into the formation to see if there are any areas where pockets of oil may have formed. just to refresh because i stated it for everybody to understand. we have a complete time lapse for the map of the area that was conducted before the well was commenced to be dug. there was another seismic run that was done on the 26th of april following the event itself. we did one in advance of this event. the seismic run was not quite as clear as the original one because there is a lot of other ubinstructiobstructions out the. the simultaneous operations going on. still, good enough for us to understand that there weren't any developments in the sea floor or the. that involves very sophistic sensing with our vessels and our scientific team is working on that right now. we want to know if we can detect any oil. having said all of that, we were producing part of the time yesterday and part of the time we were taking down the systems, but in spite of all of that we were still able to produce 12,843 barrels, a combination of what was flaired from the q-4000 which was a little over 5,000 barrels and the heliv producer. we were very pleased. the first time a floating unit was produced in the gulf of mexico. the rate that they're producing of 24,000 barrels a day, which is higher than the other production platforms we have seen to date. we will continue to do that. else where in the area, the prevailing winds and the weather are basically taking the oil that is coming to the surface to the southeast of the well site. we're getting a little break in the action as well as oil closing shore. that is allowing us to marshal our forces and assess where the boom might have been blown ashore with the recent heavy weather that we had. and it's given us a chance to consolidate our forces and make sure we can redouble our efforts on shore cleanup. with that, i will be glad to answer any questions you may have. >> ed lavin deendera with cnn. early on in this process, were you able to get any kind of pressure readings or any indications of how that might go or will that not begin until the integrity tests begins? >> when we close the manifold and the oil was still exiting through the drill choke, is what they call that. we had just started to crank it down when we saw the leak. so, we won't get real pressure readings until we close the choke valve. >> one last question, apologize if you answered this before. but could this integrity test cause any, you mentioned the damage to the wellbore all the way down. could this affect the relief well process? >> that came up yesterday and there was an assessment done on that. here's what we've done to mitigate the risk. we don't think there's a problem there, but as close as the relief well is now to the wellbore even though it's significantly below where we think there is a problem. the relief well 4,000 and 5,000 feet away. they need to go down another 100 feet before they try to do the penetration. and they were making arrangements to actually put a casing pipe down there to finish that part of the wellbore before they finish the penetration. they pulled back to the last casing pipe and it filled with mud and we'll have them hold right there until we get initial results of theç integrity test just in case there is an interaction with it. yesterday we said we might not think that is necessary, but we think that is a prudent step, so we'll do that today. >> did bp have any quality control on these parts before they installed them on the cap that would allow them to detect a leak, a hole or anything like that? if not, will there be in the future or what were they if there were any? >> i'm not sure i can tell you exactly on thatpert pop we'll get that information and get back to you. i do know this. a lot going on here has been designed and engineered for the first time to deal with this particular problem. the capping stack was a custom made stack that includes three rams. i would call it a mini blowout preventer. but it also includes a kill on a choke line which duplicates the kill on the choke lines. i do know that in order to make this system up on the existing lower marine riser package after we removed that nub of the riser pipe that had been cut off, that they actually did simulations. it actually created a physical model so they could practice bolting them. whether or not they actually practiced on that particular flange itself we will figure that out and get back to you. there was extensive testing done and actually created a way to actually model this and actually test putting the package together before they took it out of the water. >> admiral eileen plummen with public radio. how confident are you in the relief well's structure and engineering and that that won't blow up, as well? how confident are you in those relief wells? >> well, the relief wells are intended to intersect the current well and they're all subject to the same forces from the seam reservoir. just a different way of coming in at it. that's the reason we're going to learn a lot about this integrity tests. not only help us in terms of containment, because we want some options and shut the well in or create a system with four production platforms off the new cap and that will allow us to shield the environment from a massive discharge of oil thus far. but the ability of the well to hold pressure whether it's low or high is very instructive on how we're going to penetrate the well and amount of mud and the weight of the mud in how it could vary and how they could plug that with cement. not so much of an impact on the relief well being drilled, as much as we could inform the way that we're actually going to conduct the kill itself because we will have imperical pressure readings and we'll understand to a greater certainty the condition of the wellbore. hang on, she may want to follow up on that. didn't look it was responsive from your nonverbals. >> i understand the well is blown, but this -- >> the entire key issue on all of this is controlling pressure from the reservoir. okay. and the pressure out of the reservoir right now. i will give you a range. i think between 11,000 and 12,000 pounds per square inch pushing up into the wellbore as a result of the well that was drilled. now, the issue is, how is that pressure being controlled? obviously, they lost pressure and that's what caused the event to begin on the 20th of april. we had a cap that has been recovering some of the oil, but we have been venting oil and when you vent oil, that releases pressure and the lousiest, easiest analogy i can give you is putting your thumb on top of a hose to get a higher pressure stream. we have been slowly using mechanisms to try and close off the hose, but we can't do it a completely because if you do it completely then there's a pressure further down in the hose that you may cause a leak. so, what we are trying to do now is actually get physical evidence because we don't know the quicondition of the wellbor and the way you do that is metphorically put your thumb over the garden hose. in this case it is called a capping stack. three ways for the oil to leave that capping stack and then very slowly close that third choke line down and then do pressure readings. if we have very low pressure readings, it would be the equivalent of putting your thumb over the garden hose and the water is going some place else. if we get high pressure readings that is indication that the wellbore is in tact and that all then relates to how much mud and the procedures that would be needed and how to kill the well down below. is that more descriptive. >> admiral, two questions. has the relief well drilling entirely stopped and how farç away is it from the actual line and, secondly, there seems to be recurring questions as to was this solution or why wasn't this solution considered earlier in the process? >> first of all, i would say we're probably, the relief well is a little over 100 feet above the proposed intersection point. but they're pulling the bit back to the last cased section. that's where they have the pipe in. there's another section they're going to pult pipe in and they haven't done that and they're going to withdraw and have the rest of the wellbore filled with mud all the way down and we're going to sit there until we have a couple hours of testing to make sure the increased pressure on the wellbore and the increased pressure. we'll take a step and see what happens. >> well, they're in the last portions. they're going to drill about ten feet at a time and use sophisticated sensing until they know exactly where they're at. two miles below the sea floor and try to intersect a drill pipe to seven inches in diameter. they're very cautious. that's the reason we're not coming off the mid-august prediction. it's going to be very methodical. in relation to why this wasn't done earlier, i'm assuming you're talking about the capping stack it had to be designed, tested and brauought to site an as you see, there are, obviously, some leaks we're having to fix and things like that. a range of capping devices that have been developed probably over ten, or all developed under different scenarios and we can actually remove it and put a flange on it and built a model of this on land and tested it before they brought it out here. these were all directed a long time ago. we told them that we were not happy with the redundancy in the machinery and the capacity and we told them you need to give us a plan on how you'll get redundancy. if a piece of equipmentbreaks, you cannot only produce, but produce in capacity and cover a range of 60,000 barrels a day based on the new rate we developed years ago. they provided a plan to us. the capping stack that is on right now is actually part of the containment plan that we ordered them to provide. while we had the opportunity to potentially shut in the well, if the readings are correct, what this really does for us is give us four different outlets to go to four different production platforms and the capacity to us low us to cover 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day, which is above the maximum floor rate that we estimate right now. those are the two parts to that. >> operator, we can go ahead and take phone calls from line now. >> to answer a question on the phone lines, please, press star 1. you have a question from the associated press. >> thank you very much. admiral, can you give us a little idea right now from what you've seen from this latest effort on whether this, did this cap is going to work as it's intended or whether you will have to go back to full production with four vessels. what can you tell us about the outcome of this based on the leak you found? >> we want to take you to the floor of the senate where right now the senate is voting on the procedural vote for the reform. three republicans have said they will support the democrats' effort to reform wall street. susan collins, olympia snowe and scott brown. and right now we are watching the vote take place. this is, again, a procedural vote to avoid a gop filibuster and we will see a final vote, according to luke russert and our political team, later today. we'll keep an eye on the situation. we will be right back after a quick break. switching to chevrolet? room for eight and all sorts of space behind the third row. they just thought of everything. it just feels like a really solid car. that should come in handy. it's the chevrolet summer event and anyone can get the traverse they want. nah-uh... this one's mine. get 0% apr for 60 months on the 2010 traverse with an average finance savings of around fifty seven hundred. the switch begins at chevydealer.com. ♪ a day once dawned ♪ and it was beautiful ♪ ♪ so, look, see the sights ♪ that you learned [ male announcer ] at&t covers 97% of all americans. ♪ this summer, get the exclusive samsung strive for just $19.99. only from at&t. welcome back. in today's tech watch comes to some play station 3 users. the normally free hulu is expanding paid service to playstation 3 and you'll have to subscribe to playstation plus, as well. it will cost you about $28 a month. and former vice president dick cheney is recovering this morning from life-saving heart implant surgery. the news broke just last night, it seemed to come out of no where. the vice president underwent a major surge ry last week. doctors implanted a small pump into his chest. in fact, in a statement, the vice president who suffered five heart attacks said a few weeks ago it became clear that i was entering a new phase of the disease. after a series of test i decided to take vaemg advantage of one new devices available. you have one of the machines with you? >> yes, i do, tamron. >> show us how it saved the life of the former vice president who, by all accounts, was near death. >> it is certainly life-saving therapy. these lvacs are implanted and what they do is take part of the blood flow, one is implanted in the left ventrical and blood is flown through this pump which propels the blood forward into a graph that goes into the aorta. in two year's time those patients who would be candidates for this, only 8% would be alive and with this device, 58% are alive for two years. >> is it true patients who would receive this device are people awaiting heart transplants? >> correct. the way this originally came to fruition is to keep patients alive to survive the transplant. as thithe devices got more durable we're investigating these devices to be destination therapy, where these devices go in and stay in. >> and where are you now with that research? the vice president, again, according to some reports, would not probably be0a candidate fo a transplant, his age, his history, so on and so forth. so, how close are you to making this, if you will, a permanent option? >> oh, we're already there. the fda approved two devices so far for that specific purpose and the estimated population that can benefit from this could probably be between 50,000 to 100,000 patients per year. >> that is a lot of people that could greatly benefit from this. >> yes. only 2,000 to 2,000, 3,000 hearts a year are available for heart transplants. as you can imagine, although the heart transplant has been terrific for the individual patient, it's trivial. it doesn't meet the needs of what we're going to have in our country in the coming years. >> it is incredible and, of course, without the vice president having this setback in his health a lot of people would not have been aware of the technaul thtec technology that is available. thank you so much for your time. we greatly appreciate it. >> my pleasure. back to the u.s. senate right now and the first of the crucial votes for the push for final regulation reform, which is under way right now. let's go back to nbc's luke russert. he is on capitol hill. you have this procedural vote and, luke, i know you told us a short time ago we could see the final vote by the end of the day. >> that's right, tamron. under way right now in this 11:00 a.m. hour and the senate is voting on cloture which is a procedural vote that overrides a filibuster attempt by the gop. remember to override a filibuster in the united states senate you need to have 60 votes for the legislation to go forward and democrats now have that because of senator scott brown from massachusetts and senator snowe and collins from maine and both on board joining democrats for this massive regulatory reform bill which is a huge win for the democratic party. walking in the senate chamber and spoke to senator john kerry who said this is a big one for us. this is a big deal for us. they're really going to try and frame it as wall street versus main street and democrats on the side of wall street and this is the first step in passing this monumental legislation. remember, the house passed it a few weeks back in june and now it's going forwardç for final passage this afternoon. tamron? >> luke, let me ask you this, this is a big part of the agend frau the democrats moving into the midterm elections what they can push to the voters that they are making changes that people can believe in, but there are some skeptics out there that say wall street will find ways around this. this does not have the teeth that the democrats claim it has. >> absolutely. one of the skeptics is a democratic senator himself, russ feingold of wisconsin who actually withheld support from this bill saying it does not go far enough. that there are too many give aways to wall street, specifically in regards to what exactly they can trade with, some certain tax breaks they received. that in order to really do this and make sure there is no type of meltdown like we had in september of '08, you have to go with a ton of government gu put more referees on the playing field. that's something you hear from democrats on the left side. the thing, though, at the end of the day, tamron. you know in washington, d.c., where there are so many lobbyists who are so well paid from all different financial institutions that are really in the back pocket of people on both sides of the aisle. once they had their input on this bill, the reforms are instituting especially in the case of the derivatives market creating financial protection agency and those are more than they thought they ever would have had starting in this process last year. >> nbc luke russert live on capitol hill with more on the procedural vote happening right now on the senate floor. thanks, luke. >> take care, tamron. another big story out of the food and drug administration. whether to support the first prescription weight loss pill in more than a decade. qnexa promises to shed pounds and slash obesity rates, but could pose like so many other solutions out there, more problems or side effects. an fda panel has recommended keeping another drug on the market, but with additional warnings. evidence shows the diabetes drug, avandia increases the risk of heart attacks. but the food and drug administration has not made a final decision and they will do so in the next few months. regarding the drug, the agency will follow those recommendations from its advisory board. troubling news on the house front.ç foreclosure filings are on a pace to hit a record 3 million plus this year. actual home foreclosures could hit over 1 million. that would be another record. cnbc's diana olick joins us live from washington. you're always able to give us great perspective on this. help us digest these numbers, if they come out to be accurate. >> well, tamron, it's really a tale of two trends what we're seeing here. we're seeing foreclosure filings. that is the initial notices of default, actually decreasing a little bit. that is a good sign. it shows people are able to pay their mortgages a little bit more. what we're seeing the real jump in is the bank repossessions. on pace to get 1 million bank repossessions this year, which is a record. that is the final stage of foreclosure when the banks take the home back and sell it out on the market at a lower price and that will push your home prices down. now, what's interesting to note here is that what we talked about that big pipeline over the last couple of months about how banks were taking a while trying to modify people out of these loans and trying to get them into the government loan modification program, what we're seeing now is all the folks that didn't qualify and all the folks who redefaulted on those modifications. they are coming out the other end at the bank modifications and it will be painful. if you want to see a glimmer of hope, the initial foreclosure filings are actually coming down a little bit, tamron. >> diana olick, thank you. we want to bring our audience breaking news from the senate floor where the cloture vote is complete. senator dodd there speaking and i'm told that the vote, 60-38, that the democrats have the 60 and they need with the help of republican there's. and senator dodd speaking and the senator is cleared and bank regulation bill for final passage breaking through republican blockade and bring you more from the senate floor after a quick break. parents in montana are outraged over proposed new health curriculum that introduces sex education in kinderga kindergarten. an overflow crowd of 500 students and parents showed up to voice their concerns at a school board meeting that happened just this week. the proposal is part of an updated health and nutrition program and took actually two years to draft. it's part of a sexual education campaign that parents are pretty up in arms with over. it includes, this is some of the things. teaching kindergartners anatomical terms and teaching first graders that people of the same gender can love each other. >> i'm against all of that. it's not up to the school. it's up to the parents to teach in the way that they deem proper. >> this is wrong. it's absolutely wrong. forget about the issue of what they're trying to teach. what they're doing is trying to undermine everything i want to teach my kids. >> so, joining us to talk about it, school superintendent bruce messenger is on the phone, he was supposed to be on skype, but we were having some trouble. peter, thank you for joining us, as well. >> you're welcome. bruce, let me start off with you. why is this a good idea? i mean, teaching kindergartner anatomical terms. if this is correct, teaching the first graders about same-gender love. why is this necessary, do you believe? >> well, as part of our comprehensive health education and human sexuality. we believe that providing children medically accurate vocabulary and terminology as they mature and we will do it with age-appropriate materials. obviously, we would select materials as the children are ready for that and we believe as they enter inadolesnts they are working closely with parents so they can support them and the home environment, as well, that we believe it will lead to better health choices and, ultimately, healthier students inç our school district and yog adults. >> is it accurate that you would introduce sexual positions to fifth graders? >> no, that's inaccurate. that's misinformation regarding this curriculum. what it talks about as the students make their way into middle school, we want them to begin a gain and understanding in the middle years as they enter into adolescents that different sexual activity involves the potential risk of sexually transmitted infections and diseases and that pregnancy is a risk, but there are other risks associated with oral sex and other forms that would be important for them to know and our bottom line is, this is an abstinence-based curriculum and they also want to be aware of the other forms. >> peter, what do you think of what bruce just explained? >> well, i disagree vehemently that these lessons are age appropriate. i think they are entirely inappropriate for the ages at which these concepts are introduced. i would feel very uncomfortable reading to you right now on national tv the fifth or sixth dwr grade definitions of sexual intercourse that are in this curriculum. i would suggest he would feel uncomfortable reading those definitions on tv, as well. if they're not fit for television, i don't think they're fit for the fifth and sixth grade classroom. >> dr. messenger, are there things in that curriculum that would make us blush right now on national television? >> i think what is important to understand is that what is being discussed right now by the school district is a curriculum guide, a technical manual that is developed for professional educators and when a draft is m imapproved so we can select age-appropriate materials and strategies to work with the children that we wouldn't present from the curriculum manual and it gives the professional educators, the nurse, the counselor, the understanding of the kind of concepts that they need to keep in mind when we are selecting material so that the children, at the proper vocabulary and proper age would understand that. a separation between what is being reviewed by the public as a curriculum guide or road map. >> peter, let me bring this up.ç one person at this meeting yesterday, katie heisman is a recent graduate, college grad but went through the school system and she said "if give on the tools, children can make decisions that are better for them and their community and better for their friend. she supports as a young person this idea. she's far younger than all three of us. might we listen to those who would benefit from this? >> well, i certainly think that a high school graduate or even somebody in high school may be old enough to deal with these concepts, but i think that in first grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, the concepts being introduced are too, are too, coming too early. i also dispute the idea that they're medically accurate or at least that enough medical information is being given. on the one hand, i think there's too much information too early. on the other hand, i wonder if they're being accurately told that the risks of the three forms of intercourse are not equal. are they being told that condom manufacturers do not recommend their products for two out of the three forms they discuss in these classes. they're told about love between people of the same sex. are they going to be told under the montana constitution marriage can only be between one man and one woman. >> i apologize for interrupting you, we're out of time. it is a proposal at this point. we hope to have you both back on. peter spriggs and, of course, the school superintendent bruce messenger and we hope to continue this one. thank you, both. >> thank you. well, apple is planning to hold a news conference tomorrow, some kind of mystery news conference and it could be facing a very different reception than the company got when it unveiled the big iphone. let's get the scoop from courtney hazlett and they're calling it mystery on the internet because people think this is going to be the recall. >> i would be utterly stunned if this is the recall. this recall that sold 1.7 million iphones in the first three days. the one on this table included. it would be just a phenomenal, phenomenal admission from apple to say, you know what, we weren't ready to launch this product and huge blemish on their reputation, as well. i think what you're going to find out tomorrow is a fix or a proposed fix that are in the works. >> a software fix. if they come out with another just don't hold it that way kind of remark. >> people will be enraged if that is the case. a lot of pressure for apple to say, listen, there is a problem. perhaps we'll give you a refund. perhaps some people will say they willç propose refunds for people who got this first generation. >> if you're within 30 days of your purchase, you can take it back. >> where it gets very complicated is people who switch their cell phone provider service, they can't get out of that contract just like they can return the phone. people are fed up with the service, as well. so, that's also an issue for at&t to deal with, as well. a lot of layers to this. people think it should be an easy fix at the end of the day, it's just not an easy fix because you can't wipe these phones off the market and you can't, what is that? >> a person smiling with an iphone. i don't know, what is that? >> it's showing clarity of the photographs from the iphone. >> i felt very confused for a second. >> it does take great pictures. >> you know, if you like a very expensive camera that from time it time makes some phone calls, then this is the product for you. >> steve jobs is calling you. >> we'll see what happens tomorrow. i can't wait. >> we can't wait to see what happens. thank you, courtney for the very latest news and pop culture topics. logon to scoop.todayshow.com. there's oil out there we've got to capture. my job is to hunt it down. i'm fred lemond, and i'm in charge of bp's efforts to remove oil from these waters. bp has taken full responsibility for the cleanup and that includes keeping you informed. every morning, over 50 spotter planes and helicopters take off and search for the oil. we use satellite images, infrared and thermal photography to map and target the oil. then, the boats go to work. almost 6,000 vessels. these are thousands of local shrimp and fishing boats organized into task forces and strike teams. plus, specialized skimmers from around the world. we've skimmed over 27 million gallons of oil/water mixture and removed millions more with other methods. we've set out more than 8 million feet of boom to protect the shoreline. i grew up on the gulf coast and i love these waters. we can't keep all the oil from coming ashore, but i'm gonna do everything i can to stop it, and we'll be here as long as it takes to clean up the gulf. another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you. protection that helps save lives. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. welcome back. colton harris moore better known as the barefoot banded is cooling his heels. during a court appeal yesterday he was not able to give the judge his attorney's name. he said he had to ask his name because he hadn't met the attorney yet. also new information on where he may have been headed. police in the bahamas say harris moore was trying to get to cuba and eventuallyç turks and caco. peter, the judge has given the kid until tomorrow to straighten out this lawyer situation, right? >> that is the case, tamron. we know he has now straightened it out. john henry brown, a seattle attorney who first spoke exclusively to nbc news earlier this week will represent colton harris moore and he's not coming here to miami and more likely will represent him when he arrives in western washington. many of these alleged crimes took place. remember, the spree was across eight different states, at least, and british columbia and now we know the bahamas, as well. speaking of the bahamas. the attorney who represented harris moore there is also giving us some insight into him saying that at the time when she was visiting with him she joked how smart he is, he should join the cia. he joked if i joined the cia i could have found osama bin laden in just a month. he ate mangos for the first time there in the bahamas and saw land crabs that were scared of him as he walked through that area. perhaps more significantly he said if he came from a more stable home he would not have done the things he would have done. what should happen to him? some former federal prosecutors say given all the charges he faces, he could spend ten, if not much longer in jail. but others including psychiatrists and psychologists say what this kid really needs is help. >> peter alexander, the latest on colton harris moore. thank you, peter. up next, the mystery surrounding that iranian nuclear scientist is growing as he arrives back in tehran. new reports of money being paid to him by the cia. we'll get more after this. can fútbol announcer andrés cantor make any sport exciting? ha sido una partida intensa hoy. jadrovski está pensando. está pensando. veamos que va a hacer. moverá la reina o moverá el caballo? que tensión. viene... viene, viene, viene... gooooooooooooooool! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. 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[ female announcer ] maxwell house gives you a rich, full-flavored cup of coffee, so you can be good to the last drop. . nbc news has confirmed today the u.s. paid an iranian nuclear scientist $5 million to provide information to the cia. sham ron amiri mysteriously vanished from saudi arabia and resurfaced in washington monday night. amiri claims he was abducted and iranian officials back his story. the u.s. has denied that accusation. tonight amiri is back in tehran where he was greeted like a hero. nbc news tehran bureau chiefa ali aruzi joins us. tell us how this is playing out there. >> that's right, tamron. he returned home a hero. he was adorned with flowers. senior dignitaries from the ministry of foreign affairs were there to greet him. although he was involved in this clandestine, murky tug-of-war between tehran saying amiri was abducted, unusually for the media here in iran. we were given full access to amiri at the airport. the last time that happened was when the mothers of the three u.s. hikers were here. we were given a press conference and we were allowed to ask questions, but i have to say, none of the questions we asked were really answered. he could not say how he escaped his alleged captors. he would not tell how he was able to post video messages on the internet. a lot of questions still remain unanswered. tamron? >> ali, because he was greeted, as i said, like a hero, there is no suspicion from iranians that he was perhaps working with the u.s. and chanhad a change of he? >> reporter: as i said, it's still a very mix, clandestine case. once the dust settles on this it is unclear how the iranian authorities will deal with amiri and u.s. claims that he cooperated with him. there are rumors flying around that he's a defector that got cold feet. we'll have to see how this plays out once the dust settles. >> another international intrigue. thank you very much, tehran bureau chief executive ali arouzi. thanks, ali. that does it for me and this hour. i'm tamron hall. thanks for joining us. i'll see you at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. we'll talk about the president's visit to her state today. they have oneç of the highest unemployment rates in the country and certainly like the rest of the country, in need of jobs. we'll talk with her. contessa brewer picks up the coverage at the top of the next hour. we're at the fingernail biting stage now of the underwater gulf leak. what we'll be watching for is the pressure points here. we'll look for the moment and the option if bp plugs the well or bp -- and it plugs the well or blows out entirely. we'll weigh it all out next hour, plus -- >> look at yourself. look what you've done. look what you've [ bleep ], you're a [ bleep ] mess. you're a [ bleep ] excuse for a mother. we've heard a week of it now. more outrageous sound of radar online. it appears to be actor mel gibson spewing insult after insult at his ex-girlfriend. i'm talking to a former nfl player who says if you want to beat abuse you have to tackle the aggressors not just the victim. ♪ band: every day you check the weather check the time check the news online ♪ ♪ check the wife check the kids check your email messages ♪ ♪heck the money in the bank check the gas in the tank ♪ ♪ check the hottie walking by... ♪ ♪ ...wait that's a dude, no thanks ♪ ♪ check the new hairdo check the mic one two ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm about to drop some knowledge right on top of you ♪ ♪ you check a lot of things already why not add one more ♪ ♪ that can help your situation for sure ♪ ♪ check your credit score ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com free-credit-score ♪ ♪ you won't regret it at all vo: offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage. good thursday, everybody. i'm contessa brewer covering the big news coast-to-coast and the big story is the nail biter unfolding nearly a mile below the gulf coast. bp is starting crucial tests leading up to a dramatic effort to plug the leak with thisç ne cap. they're slowly closing off valve they're monitoring the pressure moment by moment. the government's man in charge, admiral thad allen says it will take about two days to do these tests. >> the schedule is around for 48 hours and we'll run it in six-hour increments with the ability to evaluate every six hours and if we have reason to believe we should terminate the test then we can do that. the only reason we would terminate the test very quickly is if we had a low pressure reading. >> >> gulf fishermen and shrimpers are frustrated and they're at a town hall meeting in louisiana. they're talk