so now s the perfect time to get behind the wheel of a brand new cadillac. now during cadillac s summer s best sales event. get zero percent apr financing for 72 months or this attractive lease offer on a cts sport sedan. it s m msnbc saturday and i m alex whit. here are your fast five headlines. engineers are working to tighten that containment cap over the oil well gushing in the gulf. and it could lead to total containment by monday. peshawar, pakistan, two suicide bombers struck within seconds today leaving 102 people dead, 115 wounded. in iran, top human rights officials say the death by stoning sentence for a 42-year-old woman convicted of adultery is under review. he said converting stoning sentences to alternative punishments is common. more flooding and landslides
i m alex witt, here are your fast five headlines. engineers are working to tighten the containment cap over the oil well gushing in the gulf. it could lead to total containment by monday. in pakistan, two suicide bombers struck outside a government office leaving 102 dead and 115 wounded. human rights officials say the death by stoning sentence for a 43-year-old woman convict the of adultery is under review. more flooding and landslides in southern china. at least 27 people are dead and six missing. about 400 people have died from flooding and landslides. a parachutist got caught up on power lines. she remained there for an hour and a half before being rescued and suffered severe burns. the incident knocked out power to 400 customers.
bret: happening now in the top box, unemployment claims dropped sharply last week. could be seen as a sign that layoffs are easing but some are questioning the numbers. martha: in the middle box the largest u.s.-russia spy swap since the cold war in motion. ten suspects getting ready to appear in court. bret: in the bottom box two days after alisa maier is found alive, a person of interest in her kidnap is dead. what happened to him. the white house is now sending a letter to bp about that massive gulf oil disaster. the letter includes a list of questions about the company s effort to cap the oil well gushing on the floor of the gulf of mexico. it comes after the retired u.s. coast guard admiral thad allen the top official who is overseeing spill response says bp is getting ready to switch the caps at the wellhead. that is what is pulling in some
administrator is promising that the first claims should be paid within a month, maybe two-months. and also, bp is saying that the second well that it has drilled to try to intersect the broken well and take some of the pressure off of that oil well gushing in the gulf, that well is now within 200 feet of the original. so that is good news there. we will keep you updated on progress. so, here s a question from america s election headquarters, how do candidates running for reelection avoid the antiincumbent fee? it s a theme that seems to be sweeping the country. easily. in california, instead of listing incumbent on the ballot they are identifying themselves another way. just exactly what are they doing? douglas kennedy has the answer. he s in the newsroom. dust las. reporter: basically some of them are adding extra information on the ballot, possibly to hide their elected status, and
i was in the marshes, called the biloxi marshes today and basically in that region, the booms were going up in anticipation of oil coming in. the problem that we have here is we ve got an eternal flow until they get this thing shut down on the floor of the gulf. and i go back to what representative issa said. mms has got as much blame here as bp. their proposal was this was 50 miles out. there would be no failures. all slicks wouldn t get into the coast. well it s 50 miles out, 5,000 feet below the surface, you ve got an oil well gushing and we ve got potential damage. not just louisiana s estuaries, which we refer to as america s wetlands. but the potential in mississippi, alabama, florida. and if it gets into the loop current, who knows what resources do you feel are most critically needed right now? right now what we re praying