breaking news. president obama taking time away from his vacation today to nominate ben bernanke to a second term running the federal reserve. deadly dosage. michael jackson's death now ruled a homicide. this as nbc news learns that the singer's personal physician has admitted giving the pop star four powerful drugs in the hours leading up to his death. and blown away. simon cowell gives this would-be star a rare standing ovation on the british version of "american idol," and he didn't stop there. >> that was single-handedly the best first audition i have ever heard. >> we'll show it to you "today," heard. >> we'll show it to you "today," tuesday, august 25th, 2009. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning, welcome to "today" on a tuesday morning, i'm matt lauer. >> i'm ann curry in for meredith vieira. its been two months now since michael jackson has died. officials are now telling us it was a homicide. >> we also know more about the tragic events that led up to his death. according to court papers, dr. conrad murray says that over the course of nine hours, he gave michael jackson who was trying to go to sleep four drugs on six separate occasions. the question now, will dr. murray face homicide charges. we'll have more on this story in just a couple of minutes. half the population living in the united states couldome down with swine through this fall and winter. talking about 20 million people. is this country prepared? we'll speak about that with health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. also ahead, a new video that's getting a lot of attention, what its makers wanted, a very graphic portrayal of a deadly accident caused by a teenager driving while texting behind the whee it uses actors. question is, some are wondering, is it appropriate for the audience it is trying to reach? you decide after we show you the tape. >> it is incredibly powerful. first let's get a check of the morning's top stories at the news desk. good morning. as you heard this morning, while vacationing on martha's vineyard, president obama nominates ben bernanke to a second four-year term as federal reserve chairman. cnbc's melissa francis is at the new york stock exchange. melissa, how's the market greeting the news? >> reporter: well, natalie, this removes uncertainty. of course the market hates uncertainty. ben bernanke is largely credited with leading the mid through one of the worst financial crises the nation has ever known. he drove interest rates to nearly zero and he unleashed other creative programs. though he has received his fair share of criticism from congress for using taxpayer money in order to bail out banks. he was reportedly offered the job last wednesday. the other major candidate was former treasury secretary larry summers, but now we know when his term ends the january, ben bernanke will still be in charge of the fed. natalie, back to you. >> melissa francis, thank you. nasa will try again tomorrow morning to launch the space shuttle "discovery" on a mission to the international space station. this morning's lift-off was scrubbed because of bad weather. south korea successfully launched its first rocket into space this morning. it's carrying a satellite to monitor the earth's radiant energy. the fda is investigating reports of liver damage in some people taking the weight loss drug alli. the agency has received more than 30 reports of liver damage. however, the fda says it has not established a link between the weight loss drugs and liver problems. it advises patients to continue using them as directed. fire officials in greece say most of the wildfires burning near athens are mainly out or contained this morning. the fires scorched more than 50,000 acres leaving behind smoelerring farmland and burned-out homes. an update to a story we first told you about on monday. an offer was accepted, then withdrawn, for that burial crypt directly above marilyn monroe's tomb. a japanese bidder won the ebay auction monday with an offer of more than $4.6 million. but this morning a "los angeles times" reports that hours later the bidder pulled out saying he had a paying problem. the crypt owner who was selling the space to pay off her mortgage is nowiving bidders another 24 hours to make another offer. still available. 7:04. back over to matt, ann and al. so macabre. >> somebody about it. ooh. yeah. okay. let's get a check of the weather becauseeco welmi welcomg back our al roker. >> thank you v yngmuch. we are welcoming something going on down in the opics. we have a tropical disturbance down there, could interact with an upper-level low, 275esil m east-northeast of the northern leeward ils,ndlandou cld become tropical depression in a day or two. danny if it becomes ast orm. strong storms, inch to inch and a half fromsk n raeba on into minnesota. down south, thele srahutt nch wag delayed this morning. maybe again tomorrow because they've got the same kind of forecast for scattered showers and thunderstorms, 30% a fresh and cool start to this tuesday morning. good morning. there's the view from our city camera. there's sunshine up in a blue sky now. sun has been up for a half an hour. temperatures in the 50s and 60s around the region. highs today reaching near 90 degrees with low humidity and plenty of sunshine and more of the same on wednesday. thursday and friday more clouds around should be a bit cooler. small chance of a passing shower on friday and over the weekend each day mostl >> that's your latest weather. matt? now to the michael jackson case. after two months of speculation, law enforcement sources now tell nbc news that the pop star's death has been labeled a homicide. nbc's jeff rossen's in los angeles with more on that. jeff, good morning to you. >> reporter: hey, matt, good morning to you. this is really a major milestone in the case. exactly what prosecutors here in l.a. were looking for. this official label of homicide so they can move forward and get the green light, if you will, to file criminal charges, possibly manslaughter charges. not only that, we have these new court papers, 32 pages of them. detailing everything. minute by minute the day jackson died. ♪ >> reporter: michael jackson finished his final rehearsal wired up and unable to sleep. according to new court papers obtained by nbc news, his personal physician, dr. conrad murray, admitted he gave jackson drug, after drug, after drug to help him get to bed. even provided police with the time line the morning jackson died. 1:30 a.m., dr. murray gave jackson valium. it didn't work. jackson was still awake. 2:00 a.m., he injected jackson with a muscle relaxer, lorazepam. that didn't work. 3:00 a.m., dr. murray administered the antianxiety drug midazolam. 5:00 a.m. jackson was still awake so dr. murray pushed another dose of lorazepam into jackson's iv. at 10:40 a.m. he administered 24 milligrams of propofol. at 10:50 a.m. dr. murray went to the bathroom and went jackson alone. when he got back minutes later, jackson wasn't breathing. law enforcement sources tell nbc news the coroner has ruled jackson's death a homicide. >> the fact that this one was classified as homicide means that the evidence is pointing to another person being directly involved in the administration of the drugs that caused michael jackson's death. >> reporter: the toxicology report shows jackson had lethal levels of propofol in his system when he died, a drug jackson used so often, court papers say he referred to it as his "milk." >> to just give it to someone who, quote, has trouble sleeping, is really kind of amazing to me. and disturbing at the same time. >> reporter: dr. murray is now the focus of the manslaughter investigation. in the court papers, police say during interviews, murray left out key details about jackson's final minutes. they analyzed his cell phone records. dr. murray was on with three separate callers for 47 minutes after jackson stopped breathing but before anyone called 911. "murray did not mention this to the interviewing detectives." >> when we're talking about m manslaught manslaughter, we're talking about a departure from acceptable medical standards that's more than what we call ordinary negligence. it is criminal negligence. it is extreme negligence. >> reporter: just last week dr. murray released this video on youtube. >> i have done all i could do. i told the truth. poce he asked jackson, "what sk other physician were treating him and what was being prescribed to him, but jackson would not tell him." dr. murray also told police at least four other doctors were prescribing drugs to jackson, and now his lawyer challenges the new police time line saying "much of what was in the search warrant's affidavit is factual. however, unfortunately, much is police theory. we will be happy to address the coroner's report when it is officially released." the jackson family is now weighing in, too, "we look forward to the day justicean be served." matt, if that means manslaughter charges, unclear if and when that will happen. but many legal experts today that we spoke with, say the official labeling of that as a homicide now makes that more likely. >> jeff rossen in los angeles for us this morning, thanks very much. let's bring in dan abrams and dr. nancy snyderman. folks, good morning. nancy, over a nine-hour period, this doctor has admitted to giving his valium, ativan, medazolam twice, and diprivan. you're a doctor. what could possibly be the reason to give all those drugs. >> there is no reason. these are all sedatives. biggest thing to look at is the cumulative effect and chance for interaction. even if one didn't get the desired effect of making michael jackson sleep, there is this cumulative effect where you become so drugged, it could be cardinal error when he gave the propofol. he then excused himself to go to the bathroom. can you never do that because people can stop breathing. >> people will say that looks like a massive amount of medication. is it possible michael jackson was using these drugs so often he referred to diprivan as his "milk." that he developed an enormous resistance to these drugs? >> when your liver starts chomping this stuff effectively so it gets more and more and more to get that effect. diprivan, that milky substance, is referred to as the milk of amnesia because a lot of people don't remember the procedure. this is for out-patient or in-patient surgical procedure. >> dan, prosecutors are said to be trying to build a manslaughter case against dr. murray. does that list of drugs nancy and i just talked about make their case? >> not per se, meaning you can't just say because he gave him the following drugs, it means he's going to be charged with manslaughter. his defense may be, for example, i was trying to wean him off it. that's one of the things he said that we learned from the search warrant, he was saying that he was afraid michael jackson was becoming addicted to propofol. he tried to give him all these other drugs instead of propofol that he couldn't sleep, then gives him propofol. does that mean he's not going to get indicted in no. >> let me make sure we understand terminology here. walk our viewers an me through the difference between malpractice, manslaughter, homicide, and murder. >> okay. homicide is just a term the coroner's using to say that the death occurred at the hands of someone else. okay. that he doesn't tell us whether he's going to get charged. now the legal decision here is, does he get charged with nothing, as you say, just malpractice, maybe civil suits, et cetera. does he get charged with manslaughter which is effectively reckless conduct. or does he get charged with murder which would be the most severe crime. >> would they have to prove intent to charge him with murder? >> not necessarily under california law, but certainly as a practical matter you'd need more than just reckless conduct. you'd likely, in a high-profile case like this, need some sort of at least implied intent. >> you mentioned a second ago his defense, dr. murray's defense would be. is it possible he'll also say, look, the affidavit also showed other doctors were prescribing medication to michael jackson, some of those medications were found in his home, so it's almost the firing squad defense, "we don't know whose medication actually caused his death." >> if he's charged. the problem is, he's the one who administered it when michael jackson died. >> i think he'll probably also say, look, these are all legal medications, i'm a physician who is able to write those legally. each isolated medication may not be a big deal, but there are so many bad decisions along the way. >> i think if he's charged, his defense will try and isolate each decision and say look at each decision separately, not in totality. prosecutors will say look at everything together. >> dan and nancy, thanks so much. we should do a show. 13 after the hour. now to h1n1 also known as the swine flu. a startling new scenario. scientists say up to half the population could eventually be infected when the virus hits with full force. nbc's chief science correspondent robert bazell is at the centers for disease control and prevention in atlanta. bob, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. government officials have been very reluctant to make specific predictions about how bad the epidemic will be this fall and winter because nobody really knows. but a panel of advisors to the president did make what they called a plausiblescenario, and it is chilling. the white house panel says this flu season, 30% to 50% of the u.s. population could be infected. most of the cases will be moderate or mild but the scientists say there could be be as many as 1.8 million hospital admissions with as many as 300,000 people requiring intensive care beds. a figure that could overwhelm hospitals in many parts of the country. the panel says 30,000 to 90,000 americans could die, mostly children and young adults, as opposed to a typical flu season where most deaths are in the frail and elderly. speaking monday at the centers for disease control, hhs secretary sebelius says she's concerned about recent polls showing americans aren't terribly worried about swine flu. >> right now there is a lot of complacency on the continuum of being paralyzed with fear and complacency, we've got to strike a balance. >> reporter: data gathered by the cdc shows that even now, way outside of normal flu season, people are continuing to get infected throughout the country. 37 children have died already from the new virus, and as schools open the director of the cdc says there is a good chance things will get far worse. >> the next few weeks and months will be a very challenging time. >> reporter: most health officials say that could be quite an understatement. as for a vaccine, if trials that are underway now continue to go as well as they have, they'll be small amounts of vaccine available in october and not enough for everybody who wants it until at least thanksgiving. we're talking about a long way off. ann? >> robert bazell this morning, thanks. kathleen sebelius is the secretary of health and human services. secretary sebeli, good morning. >> good morning, ann. >> let's put this in some context. because every year some 36,000 people die of the typical flu. but potentially with this new number, 30,000 to 90,000 people dying of h1n1, mostly young adults and children, why not take aggressive action and close schools until the threat at least subsides? >> well, ann, what we know is that we have the virus right now traveling around the united states, and that having children in a learning situation is also beneficial. lots of kids get sent to school. it is a safe place to be and we want them to continue to learn. what we learned last spring is that shutting a school down sort of preemptively doesn't really stop the virus from spreading and th's what the cdc is looking at. there may be a time, if the virus spreads enough in one school setting or in a district, at the local superintendent decides that the is appropriate to shut the school down because there is just not enough teachers to come to school or enough children are out sick. but to do it preemptively really doesn't stop the spread of this disease. >> you've expressed concerns that americans are complacent about this virus. but nevertheless, as we just heard bob report, the significant number of the vaccine is not likely to be available until thanksgiving. what would you have americans do, madam secretary? >> well, i think at this point it is important that people begin to anticipate that we will have a vaccine. the thanksgiving date is really about when it will be enough of the population will fully immunized. we think it is likely that we're going to need two shots for the vaccine and we think that there are about three weeks between shots. from the 15th of october until about thanksgiving is when we'll have an immunized population. but certainly making plans, how you're going to keep your child home from school. if you're a mom with a child with an underlying health condition, with asthma, with a neuro did the muscular disease, begin to talk to your doctor now about how to get antivirals, how to get prepared if your child has flu-like symptoms. we know that's the population that is most at risk. if you're a pregnant woman, talk to your o bchb-gyn right now ab what the likelihood is that you should get ready to have a vaccination. health care workers who have a very low take-up rate in seasonal flu should get ready to be vaccinated, and should get their seasonal flu shots right now. that's the other message, ann, is that seasonal flu vaccine is ready starting at the beginning of september. we want the population that is most at risk to get their seasonal flu shots now to be in a healthier condition and to get ready for the vaccination program that's likely to launch in mid-october. >> health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, i'm sure we'll talk to you more about this in the months ahead. thank you so much this morning. 7:18. now to the launch of a criminal investigation into alleged inhumane practices used by the cia on terror suspects. nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is in washington with this story. andrea, what's up? >> reporter: well, matt, it is a mess for the cia. the attorney general is taking this on though. he'll prosecute nearly a dozen cases where cia interrogators broke the rules going way beyond bush administration guidelines that critics say already permitted torture. to make sure that doesn't happen again, the obama white house is puttg the fbi in charge of detaining and interrogating terror suspects removing from the cia from this central role. this is all in response to the devastating cia inspector general's report cataloging years of abuse. the cia's own report says detainees at secret prisons overseas were routinely subjected to physical and mental abuse in the years after 9/11. even after the cia was warned it was risking political and legal trouble. 9/11 mastermind khalid shaikh mohammed was water boarded 183 times. beyond what had been approved by then-attorney general john ashcroft. the 9/11 suspect was also told if anything else happens in the united states, we are going to kill your children. the suspect in the bombing of the uss cole" was stripped naked, hooded and handcuffed and threatened with a handgun and a power drill. he was also told "we could get your mother in here," implying a threat to sexually abuse his mother in front of him. >> is that the worst we'll probably see? no. did other things probay happen that others could find even more unfortunate or distasteful? of course. >> reporter: in fact, the report says a detainee in afghanistan died in prison after being beaten with a heavy flashlight. another was