Live in havana. And is she or isnt she . The National Zoos most popular resident showing signs of being pregnant. Let the great panda watch begin today, friday, august 14, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. [ cheers and applause ] good morning. Welcome to today on a friday morning. That poor panda will get no privacy from now on. We are sending natalie on panda watch. We have the live feed. Is it a hard and fast rule, never ask a panda if shes pregnant. It never ends well. Exactly. Well tell you more in a little why. First todays top story. Just when you thought the president ial race couldnt get more chaotic, speculation growing that al gore may jump into the race, this as confirmed candidates head to iowa for a time honored campaign tradition. Nbc White House CorrespondentKristen Welker has the latest on this. Good morning. Reporter matt, good morning. The buzz about al gore comes as the ap reports two of the emails on Hillary Clintons private server, quote, include a discussion of a news article detailing a u. S. Toridrone opern and one that could point back to classified material in an improper manner. The report says it is not an email clinton sent and she said she never knowingly classified classified information. It is one more reason the democratic race seems to be shaking up. With ongoing questions about Hillary Clintons private emails, new reports that former Vice President al gore could be informally considering getting back into the game. Buzzfeed reporting that gore, who lost to george w. Bush to 2000, is having conversations with supporters to see if there is a path financially and politically. A high level democratic source tells nbc news there is nothing substantive happening. However, the current Vice President seems to be giving it some serious thought. According to two democratic sources Vice President biden who is vacationing in South Carolina has started to reach out to friends and allies to discuss a possible run including what it would take to start this late. Still, all of the quiet conversations aside, Hillary Clintons email issue has made some democrats jittery. Martin omalley saying do you think the clinton email issue provides an opening . Think people are hungry for an alternative. Reporter meanwhile the republicans wasted in time capitalizing on speculation, the democratic field could get bigger. There is disarray in the Democratic Party. Im sure people like joe biden and al gore are seriously considering it. Reporter for her part clinton will try to turn the page in iowa and shell have plenty of company as most are expected to turn out to court key voters and of course try some signature treats. The Clinton Campaign says they have no way of confirming if the report is accurate. An official said, quote, clinton did not transmit the Sensitive Information herself and nothing in the emails she received marks clear reference to confidential or other sensitive sourcing. To put the al gore speculation in context his name has been floated as a possible candidate since he lost in 2000. Savannah, back to you. All right, kristen, thank you so much. Lets turn to chuck todd, moderator of meet the press. Good morning. Good morning. My husband worked for Vice President gore in the past. How real do you think the speculation is . Do you think gore is considering getting in . Look, its hard to believe al gore himself is considering it. I think here you have democrats and gore loyalists looking at a couple of facts. Number one, Bernie Sanders now leads Hillary Clinton in one of the two key early states new hampshire. What was half of kristens report about . Hillary clinton and the emails which have had a negative impact nationally on Hillary Clinton. If you look at where the Democratic Party is, you do have some people that would like to see Hillary Clinton more challenged. To make sure that, at a minimum, all of the baggage is litigated in the primaries and she can get it behind her or, worst case scenario, they find somebody else. Not Bernie Sanders who some dont think is electable, maybe gore, biden, somebody else. All of the unrest and chatter points to two things. Number one, are democratic voters dissatisfied with the clinton candidacy so far and secondly, do potential candidates smell weakness, see problems in the candidacy . I think there are a bunch of people that havent signed on to the Clinton Campaign that do see weakness, that are concerned that think she could be a liability. I dont think the general rank and file is dissatisfied with Hillary Clinton. I think they are uninspired by her. You talk to people saying they are for sanders and they will tell you, ill vote for Hillary Clinton if shes the nominee. But they are not so in love they want to put a Bumper Sticker on their car or a yard sign in their yard. Thats the disconnect now. Its something Hillary Clinton has to deal with when she comes to iowa. Tom harken, the former democratic senator doesnt endorse in every primary. Having him on board, one less person to rally around gore or biden. I know you are at the state fair. Send back fried oreos for us. Yes, maam. Well look forward to your interview with donald trump sunday on meet the press. To china you in the wake of the massive explosion to a warehouse there. Nearly two days later the fires are smoldering. Overnight a pulled from the wreckage. Ian, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. The 19yearold pulled out of the wreckage. No one really expected that. One piece of good news. At the same time, biochemical specialists have been arriving in town as local officials admit they have no idea what toxic brew they are dealing with. Reporter the fire raged on. Thick black smoke billowing into the sky. Hundreds of firefighters battling the inferno. Today, pulling out alive one of their colleagues treated in a nearby hospital. More than 35 firefighters have died and 13 are missing. Firefighters may have triggered the blast by hosing water on an yishlle fire containing a volatile chemical, calcium carbide triggering the first blast which sparked the first blast which triggered another explosion as other chemicals caught fire captured in this cell phone video shot by an american who continued to film until it became too terrifying. He told me he thought they were going to die. It was just monumental. I thought it was a nuclear bomb in my face. Thats what it looked like. Reporter officials tried to reassure residents that pollution levels are normal while admitting they dont know what toxins are in the air. They told people to move into shelters. Local hospitals have been overwhelmed. The police cordoned off the blast area which resembles a post apocalyptic wasteland. A local clock, marking the deadly moment the city will never forget. This is a city living in shock. But also a city in fear. As residents look at the plume of smoke and wonder what it is they are breathing, matt. Ian williams in china for us. Thank you very much. Natalie has the other top stories of the morning. Good morning. Good morning. The u. S. Now believes isis may have used chemical weapons against kurdish fighters in iraq this week. Richard engel is ins s i tas s istanbul. Reporter good morning. In the past isis has been accused of using chlorine which is bad enough. There is talk the group used mustard gas which is a banned chemical weapon. A senior kurdish official told us what happened is this. Three days ago in Northern Iraq projectiles were fired from an isis held area. They exploded in a kurdish held area. After they exploded several kurdish fighters suffered from a variety of symptoms including dizziness and burns on their skin. Samples were taken. The kurds believe a chemicalle weapon was used and a senior u. S. Official told nbc news he and other u. S. Officials believe the claims are legitimate and the substance may have been mustard gas. An investigation still under way. Richard engel in istanbul for us. Thank you. A man is in custody in washington after a frightening incident of a driver barrelling through traffic hitting at least seven cars on thursday. The driver gets out and goes car to car, Opening Doors and banging on windows. Allegedly trying to carjack a vehicle. He was surrounded by a crowd and tackled and held until police got there. Hes facing multiple charges. A crash caught on camera in new jersey. A school bus crowded with children hit an suv and smashed into a liquor store on thursday. 11 children and three atults were taken to area hospitals with nonlife threatening injuries. The bus driver said the brakes failed. Tragedy at an Amusement Park in ohio. A man who had just finished riding a roik at cedar point on thursday entered a restricted area to look for a cell phone he dropped during the ride. As he was searching he was struck and killed by the roller coaster. The park said its thoughts and prayers go out to the mans family. For the First Time Since the deflategate suspension moved to the courts tom brady was back on the field last night, unexpectedly starting in an exhibition game against green bay. He played briefly, completing one of four passes in the loss to the packers. Fans held signs reading, free come brady. It was an emotional first pitch in cleveland. As the crowd roared adriana aviles. She was diagnosed with leukemia. Her sister also got to throw a story. The team has been so supportive in may they all shaved their heads when she was diagnosed. Very, very sweet. What a moment. Thoughts are with them. Thank you very much. Now a check of the weather from mr. Roker. We have heat out west and also wild weather as well. This is las vegas where they picked up more than threequarters of an inch yesterday. It led to wild weather, flooding, big problems. Even seeing fire sparked by thunderstorms. Look at that. Palm trees set on fire by a lightning strike. We have more heat to talk about as well. Extreme heat is now moving west and its moving east. Here in the northeast we are looking at a heat wave setting up this weekend. Stretching from new england all the way back into the midwest. Pittsburgh in the 90s by monday. New york city in the 90s over the weekend. Same in d. C. Mid 80s in portland and heat continuing in the Central Plains with temperatures in the 90s and 100th. Feels like temperatures in the triple tigts. Into the west, burbank seeing temperatures near 100. Same in phoenix, into the 100teens. Sacramento in triple digits. Well talk about el nino. They are calling it the godzilla of el ninos. First your local forecast imagine she wont have to remember passwords. Or obsess about security. Shell log in with her smile. Hell have his very own personal assistant. And this guy wont just surf the web. Hell touch it. Scribble on it. And share it. Because these kids will grow up with windows 10. Get started today. Windows 10. A more human way to do. Good morning. Im meteorologist bill henley. A bright, sunny day today. Just like the last few. The humidity stays low. Middle to upper 80s this afternoon. A bit warmer than yesterday and the warming trend continues, tomorrow 91 degrees. Humidity stays low on saturday but it will be on the rise sunday, along with the temperature. 93 sunday afternoon. Hotter, more humid for monday and tuesday and still steamy and hot for wednesday and thursday. Have a great day. And thats your latest weather, guys. Al, thank you so much. Now to the historic moment set to unfold in cuba. For the fist time in 54 years an American Flag will be raised at the u. S. Embassy in havana. Lester holt is there. Good morning to you. Reporter savannah and matt, good morning to you. You saw the video just before the sun came up. The sign now says the embassy of the United States of america. The flagpole over my left shoulder. Secretary of state john kerry will be landing in a few hours. To put it in perspective, the last time an american skriecret of state was here, world war ii was wagering. Scientists were tinkering with something called a computer. This moment will be steeped in history as he steps off the plane onto cuban soil. The world will be watching. Today marks the promise of a new day for the United States and cuba. Workers at the u. S. Embassy building have been sprucing it up, getting it ready for todays ceremony. This is an historic meeting. Reporter its taken months of negotiations between the u. S. And cuba. First set in motion by president obama last year and culminating today when john kerry, the first secretary of state to visit the island since 1945 raises the American Flag over the embassy. 50 years is a long time for two feuding neighbors. There is a lot of pain to overcome. Along the way, we are sure to encounter a bump here and there and moments even of frustration. Patience will be required. Reporter still, when nbc news sat down with americas top diplomat in cuba, he called the day diplomatically seismic. I didnt think i would see this day come for a long time. But its here. We are excited about moving forward. We want to get out and meet as many of the 11 million cuban people as we can and to act more like a normal embassy. Reporter hundreds wait in line every day hoping for a visa to travel to the u. S. It gives me hope. Im just fwlad that the relationship has been established again. Reporter this is not a bury the hatchet moment. There is work to be done between the countries. The u. S. Pressing cuba for advances in human rights. There is the issue of the economic embargo which of course remains in place. We mentioned secretary kerry will raise the flag. Who else gets an invitation . Reporter eight members of the u. S. Congress, members from the Commerce Department and Treasury Department who were instrumental in making this happen. There will be three former u. S. Marines who lowered the flag here in 1961. They will be part of the ceremonial flag raising. They have vivid descriptions of the day. Crowds of cubans watching, many saying dont go. It was 1961 when the flag was lowered for the last time. Lester holt in havana, thank you very much. We want to remind the viewers lester will have more from havana tonight on nbc nightly news. Connecticuts Supreme Court strikes down the Death Penalty. 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