resources to evade capture and prosecution were he to be released. >> the head of the imf, dominique strauss-khan, and that court case taking place in manhattan, arguments being made whether or not he will be actually held or released on bail. "cnn newsroom" continues right now with randi kaye who's in for ali velshi. thank you. if he ran, he says he would win. but donald trump now says business is his greatest passion and he won't be running for president. the real estate mogul and reali reality tv star issued a statement thanking "the millions of americans who have joined the trump grassroots movements and promising to continue to voice his opinions loudly, as if he can do it any other way. we'll bring you more on the decision and the fallout for the 2012 campaign coming up. the chief of the international monetary fund has just been denied bail at his arraignment on charges that he tried to rape a hotel maid in

new york city. dominique strauss-khan was arrested saturday for allegedly chasing a housekeeper through his luxury hotel suite naked and trying to force himself on her. let's go straight to richard roth who's been following today's developments. richard, bring us up to date. >> reporter: randi, the proceedings have just concluded and basically, dominique strauss-khan, the leader of the international monetary fund, has been charged with sexual assault on a maid in a new york hotel in times square on saturday. we're just now seeing and we just heard the formal charges so it is important i think to go through these. strauss-khan charged with two counts of criminal sexual act in the first degree, one count of attempted rape in the first degree, one count of sexual abuse in the first degree, one count of unlawful imprisonment in the second degree. one count of forcible touching. one count of sexual abuse in the third degree. the top charge, criminal sexual act, carries with it a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. the prosecutor argued that

dominique strauss-khan was a flight risk, that he could be like roman polanski, the film director that faced charges in california, then went to paris, france, and never came back despite the charges. the defense argued that strauss-khan should be allowed to post gail, that he's not a flight risk, that he has a daughter who lives in manhattan, that he could stay with her, that he has the money and that he is not a flight whisk, that he called the hotel as a sign, in effect, that he's not a flight risk saying bring my cell phone that he left in that hotel suite out to the airport. lawyers saying this shows he was not trying to hide from anyone. according to the criminal complaint filed by the district attorney, strauss-khan shut the door in his hotel room preventing the member of the cleaning staff from leaving. he attempted to forcibly grab the victim's vaginal area. then the prosecution says he forced her to commit oral sex. the prosecutor laid out his case

before the judge. the defense said he is not guilty of these charges. there will be -- and he was not allowed to leave -- no bail allowed. the judge said he was a flight risk. next court proceeding where strauss-khan will appear, this friday, may 20th. huge throng in the courtroom and outside from international press and u.s. press from around the world. an astounding case. randi. >> richard roth for us covering that, thank you. also we want to tell you that it is now morganza to the rescue. that's right. ordisaster. where you stand depends on where you live on the lower mississippi. coming up on 48 hours, if you're keeping track, since the army corp of engineers started opening the floodgates on the morganza spillway. the floodgates, you probably recall, hadn't been budged since 1973. that's right.

1973. the spillway acts like a pressure valve on the swollen mississippi river diverting water and danger from the downstream cities of baton rouge an new orleans to the much less populated bayous and farmland to the west and south. you can see here in blue. that is the water's path. this is the atchafalaya basin, hope to 4,000 people who would no have the been flooded out otherwise. about half of those are under mandatory evacuation orders, others strongly encouraged to find higher ground. >> i guess the sentiment of the people here and just the atmosphere is just that people just know it's coming. they're nervous about it. and they're watching it very closely. and we know that we're going to get the water. it is just a matter of when it is going to be here and it's just a weird feeling, that here it is, sitting on this beautiful, cool morning watching this beautiful sunrise, and we're going to be knee-deep in water right here before too

long. >> st. landry parish is another place where lives are being loaded on to trucks. no one knows how how the water will get, how long it will be there or what will be left when it leaves. ed lavendera met one man who's thankful he has time to get out. >> we fortunate we have what we have an we have an opportunity to get out. material things we can replace. our family and what we believe in daily is just -- can't put prices on that. >> did you put up this sign. >> yeah, i put it up. i'm proud of that sign. it's just what we say. we will be back. >> so what about the cities that morganza was built to protect? well, it is doing its job. last week baton rouge expected the river to keep rising until may 22nd, that's next sunday, and reach 12 1/2 feet above flood stage. we've been tracking the schedule for you for the last few weeks. new orleans didn't expect to crest until may 23rd. 2 1/2 feet above flood stage. but now, look at the forecast now. look at what has changed here. baton rouge will see a crest

five days sooner and 2 1/2 feet lower than expected. and new orleans is cresting now, right at flood stage. there it is. and then there's the tiny community of krotz springs. the mayor joins me now by phone. thanks so much for your time. i'm sure you're having a very busy day there today. what's happening now? >> krotz does not have any water in it at this time. the main part of time is surrounded by taller levees that the corps' built. we have a railroad track that runs through here. the south part of town never had any levee protection. in 1973 they built a shorter levee, just a temporary levee, but time has took its toll on that. and whenever we got word that we were going to get, you know, high water this year from the morganza floodway, sooner or later it would have to be open

and we scrambled and put together and -- well, i say we're in the process of putting together a levee now to protect about 240 homes and -- >> so are people putting up some levees by themselves? are they taping up their homes as we've seen in some communities? are they heeding the warnings to get out of town? >> yes, for the most part, they are. the people south of town that are not going to be included in the levee that the national guard and the department of transportation are building, they -- some of these people are building smaller levees around their homes in anticipation that we're going to get this backwater which is late. the schedule they gave should be here but we're not seeing it as of yet. but they say it's coming. so we're just sitting and waiting -- i say sitting and waiting, we're busy trying to get this levee completed. looks like we'll have it done by the time we do see water. >> is this the worst disaster your community has ever faced? were you hit heart by katrina at all? >> yeah, katrina we had a lot of

damage. gustav we had ta lot of damage. but we had help. katrina we didn't have that much damage. i believe gustav was the worst one in this area. and the guard was there to help us. i mean they stayed with us for the clean-up. to clear roads. it was very, very helpful. >> what about the decision to open the morganza spillway? do you resent it at all? how do you feel about sacrificing your town to spare the big cities? >> well, it was built for that purpose and the biggest part of krotz springs is thankful that it is inside of a rim levee. people on outside of the time that are getting the levee put around now, i mean whenever they built these homes, they knew they were in a flood zone and just nobody really paid any attention to it. >> sure. but a lot of these area wouldn't have been hit like your community if they hadn't opened

this spillway. >> yes, exactly. i mean it's been 38 years since this happened. so -- and it's like i say, structure was put there for that. just sometimes they wait too long, maybe if you might say -- >> are residents understanding that the spillway's been opened? are they accepting of that? >> can yeah. they're accepting of it. they're not happy with it. but it's something that we've been knowing for quite some time, that it was inevitable that it would have to be opened and there's just -- they come to deal with it. >> any idea when people will be able to return to their homes. >> we don't know. they say when we get the water, it's going to be here for a while. we hope that it goes away quicker than it's coming because it's slow coming so we hope it don't stay as long as it takes to get here. >> mayor snyder of krotz springs, we really appreciate your time and certainly wish you and your community lots of luck as the water makes its way your way. thank you so much. >> thank you.

our "sound effect" is immediately recognizable but one we'll hear live only one more time. >> eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero -- and lift-off for the final launch of "endeavour," expanding our knowledge, expanding our lives in space. >> roger roll, "endeavour." >> houston is now controlling. "endeavour" beginning to roll over on to its back, the roll program under way never begins the heads-down position on course for a 56.1 degree -- >> "endeavour" is now a little more than four hours into its final mission and the next-to-last mission of any shuttle. we'll bring you much more in our

big breakdown next hour. other news now -- it's a major break-through in the investigation of what caused an air france plane to plunge into the atlantic ocean. after a two-year mystery, investigators have recovered the information from the flight data and voice recorder found in the wreckage two weeks ago. investigators say that include the last two hours of conversation inside the cockpit. it could take investigators several weeks to analyze all the data. they are hoping it will give them a glimpse into the last moments before the plane belly-flopped into the ocean during a storm killing all 228 on board. former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel is now officially chicago's mayor. emmanuel was sworn in to office this morning. the democrat who served two presidents now shifts his attention to the nation's third largest city promising to cut spending as he tackles the city's $700 million deficit. vice president joe biden and his wife were there for the inauguration. rahm emanuel replaces richard m. daley who had been the city's mayor for the last 22 years.

controversy swirls around new guidelines from the vatican aimed at fighting child abuse by catholic priests. what the guidelines are not asking bishops to do is next. and, we want to know what you think about the new vatican sex abuse guidelines. join the conversation on our blog, cnn.com/ali. you can also post on ali's or my facebook and twitter pages. send us your thoughts.s like ecopia tires... even making parts for solar panels that harness the sun's energy... working on social activities like clean up programs on beaches in many locations... and regional replanting activities that will help make a better world for all of us. ♪ one team. one planet bridgestone.

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child abuse at hands of priests. the new rules tell catholic brish slo bishops to cooperate with police but don't order them to report allegations unless the laws require it. "sexual abuse of minors is not just a canonical delict but also should always be followed. advocates for victims of abuse say these new guidelines will not solve the problems. many believe bishops ignore or hild sex crimes and can still get away with it since new rules do not requires bishops to report suspected abusers to the police. this issue has been hitting the catholic church in the collection plate. eight catholic diocese and one gez j jesuit order have filed for bankruptcy. the new guidelines are the latest in attempts by the vatican to stop child sex abuse

in the church. pope benedict xvi issued new rules last year that included doubling the statute of limitations on the church's own prosecution of suspected molesters from 0 to 20 years making it a church crime for a priest to download child pornography and allowing the pope to defrock a priest without a formal vatican trial. well, it is official -- the u.s. hit its multi-trillion dollar debt ceiling today. what is it and how does it affect your wallet? important answer twoz minutes away. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. pure...

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today is the day the u.s. government reached its debt ceiling, the amount it is legally allowed to borrow. debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since march 1962, and while both republicans and democrats agree, failing to raise the debt ceiling is not an option, both sides are still far from a deal. treasury secretary timothy geithner said he can move money around to keep the u.s. out of default until august 2nd, but urged congress once again today to raise the country's legal borrowing limit soon to "protect the full faith and credit of the united states and avoid catastrophic economic consequences for citizens." ali velshi spoke about what needs to be done in washington with cnn contributor roland martin and cnn money's jeannine sahadi. >> we wanted to keep our level at the level that it is at right

now, not reducing it, just simply keeping it from growing just through spending cuts. we'd have to cut our spending by 35%. that's about $1.2 trillion or basically our government's entire budget for discretionary spending, including defense. now to achieve the same goal of keeping our debt where it is, just through tax increases -- forget about spending cuts -- the government would need to take in 50% more in tax revenue. bottom line is, it seems to me that we have to do both. it is simply not feasible to seriously tackle our debt without both spending cuts an increasing revenue, though you'll continue to hear some conservatives say this is a spending problem, not a revenue problem. i know this, you know this. when is washington going to start reflecting this? >> well, i think under a couple scenarios. one, if we have a bond market crisis which is not necessarily likely but that would definitely inspire people to get busy negotiating and compromising. the other might be, if americans

stand up and say, you know what? i don't want a third of the federal budget cut. i want to have some of the federal budget cut but i am also willing to pay a little bit more in taxes. bore members of the concord coaliti coalition, a deficit watchdog group said something really smart this week. the board is made up of former lawmakers from the left and right and they said basically neither party has the muscle or public trust to push through a one-sided solution. they don't have the votes for it so bipartisan solutions are mandatory. it is not an option. compromise shouldn't be seen as giving up. >> be sure to join christine romans for "your bottom line" and ali velshi, "your money. the international monetary's fund just been denied bail at his arraignment hearing for allegedly attacking a maid. the imf is foresponsible for

handling hundreds of billions of money. he was supposed to meet with european leaders this week, instead he is in new york answering attempted rape charges. will his arrest really impact the imf and the global financial picture? joining me now, cnn's john dextrose in belgium. people are wondering how this is going to impact all of us. >> reporter: let's put it this way, randi. there's a noticeable absence here at the european headquarters of the european council where dominique strauss-khan is supposed to be. one man does not make an option but he was supposed to be at the table in discussions regarding the debt situation. the u.s. monetary fund that put up money and he was a key player to smooth out the edges. when there were bumps in the road in these closed door sessions taking place right now, just signed off on a $100

billion package for portugal. so the work goes ahead but it does raid see serious questions about leadership at the international monetary fund. during the u.s. financial crisis this was a key organization and dominique strauss-khan was a key player to move from the g-8 structure to the go-20 to bring the added capital in to the international monetary fund and to underwrite the u.s. bailout. so the number two at the organization, john lipski, announced his resignation in office but has now stayed behind in washington as acting managing director. but it raises huge questions about a power vacuum at the top of one of the leading institutions in terms of the financial restructuring and of course the bailout that's taking place in europe as we speak. >> how much impact might this all have on the future of the imf, do you think? >> well, i don't want to get too complex. but to break it down this way -- traditionally the international monetary fund has been led by a european and the world bank by an american. now that we've gone to this

so-called g-20 structure with all these emerging markets around the table, it does beg the question, why not one of them to lead the institutions going forward? why does it need to be a frenchman? why should an american lead the world bank? and already in replacement of john lipski, there are rumors there is a candidate from india, a candidate from mexico and potentially a candidate from china as well. so it is changing the dynamics ever since we had that lehman collapse in the autumn of 2008, it was always the structure of a european leading the international monetary fund, an american at world bank. i think it is fair to say there is a big question mark over the proceedings at the international monetary fund right now. also let's watch what comes out of an informal board meeting from washington after the ruling by the judge not to grant bail to mr. dominique strauss-khan. >> thank you, john. time right now, 24 minutes past the hour. time for some top stories. businessman donald trump has announced that he will not run

for president in 2012. in a press release he said, after considerable deliberation and reflection, i've decided not to pursue the office of the presidency. this decision does not come easily or without regret." stay tuned to cnn for updates on this developing story. in louisiana, water from the mississippi river is gushing through nine floodgates on the morganza spillway today. federal government plans to open as many as 20 more. the move spares baton rouge and new orleans by flooding other areas that are upstream. in total the flooding has affected eight states from missouri to louisiana and mississippi. zero -- and lift-off for the final launch of "endeavour." >> space shuttle "endeavour" roared into space for the final time this morning. astronaut mark kelly is commanding the 16-day mission to the international space station. his wife, congresswoman gabrielle giffords who's recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, watched lift-off at ken space center. walking across the stage. something we all probably take

for granted. but for one new college grad, his was the walk of a lifetime. you'll get to meet him next.

happening now right here on cnn. president obama you see there in memphis, tennessee right now to address graduates of booker t. washington high school. these are live pictures from the event. the school won the honor of having the president speak by winning this year's race to the top commencement challenge. the school boosted its graduation rate from 55% to 81%. over the last three years. while in the memphis area, the president will also take a look at the flood damage from last week. now a very special graduation moment. we don't usually spend time showing graduates walking across the stage, but one guy really caught our eye. his name is austin whitney. here he is getting his degree this weekend at the university of california at berkeley. austin is a paraplegic who wore a pair of mechanical legs to help him get out of his wheelchair so he could walk up

and get his own diploma. but he didn't walk alone. all 15,000 people there cheered him on. an amazing sight and very special story but we're not done. austin whitney joins me now from berkeley, california. austin, so great to have you on the show today. you said it was the greatest moment of your life. it certainly looked that way. tell us what you were feeling as you stood up on that stage. >> randi, thank you so much for having me today. it was truly, truly a unique experience. standing up for a second, going back to the worst memories of my life, a car accident that put me in a wheelchair, then some of the best memories of my life, being accepted to berkeley, then realizing i had completed in four years a goal that i had almost given up on at one point. looking over, seeing 15,000 people giving me a standing ovation and cheering me on. it was truly the stuff treatments are made out of. totally surreal, something i will never forget.

somethingfy saw on television i know would give me hope. this whole experience has certainly given me so much hope about the future, about technology, about the world we live in. it is very exciting. >> help us understand how briefly how these mechanical legs have helped you walk. >> oh, sure. it is a project i've been involved with for about five months ago. it is a mechanical exoskeleton and a team of mechanical engineers at berkeley. there are two leg braces and a computer is in the back brace and you basically talk with that computer with a controller in the crutches or walker. i was using a walker on saturday. with that you can tell it to walk, to stand up, to sit down and basically control your legs, for me the first time in years. >> your father was so emotional during this ceremony. i want to listen again to what he said. >> austin's always wanted his accident to have meaning.

and this today really culminated in giving meaning to i think hundreds of thousands of people around the world. >> could you see your parents smiling at you as you went to get your diploma? >> oh, yeah. oh, yeah. that was probably the best part of everything, looking over at them, seeing their faces, seeing my mom cry. it was -- it was truly remarkable in every way. everything though, this whole -- sorry. >> no, finish what you were saying. >> oh. you know, through everything though, it's just important to remember that while it was a great moment for myself, it was truly the heroes of the story are truly the professor and grad students who built this device. i'm just a lucky individual who happened to be able to use it at my graduation. i'm the lucky one. >> before we let you go, i do want to ask because your dad said that you did want your accident to have meaning. what do you hope for in terms of this technology and helping

others? >> oh, well, there are other exoskeletons around. what makes our device special is we're hoping to be the first mechanical exoskeleton that will be affordable to people, something that's accessible to people in wheelchairs. hopefully like the model-t of mechanical exoskeletons, something you'll be able to see in the world and hopefully a platform to be built on. one day years from now hopefully technology will be around that can replace the wheelchair with mechanical legs or something related. >> well austin, congratulations to you on getting your diploma and thanks again for coming on and sharing that very special moment with all of us. appreciate it. >> thank you so much for having me. >> thank you. best of luck to you. we should tell that you this is the same technology that we showcased here on the program last november. you may remember it the moment our guest amanda walked for the first time in 18 years. take a look. >> now there's no excuses, ali. there's -- for a doctor to ever

say again you will never walk again, because we've got bionic technology right in front of us, and this is happening right now. >> did you think you would walk again? >> you know, i never believed in my lifetime that i would be able to walk, and here i am, walking with you, side by side, eye to eye. >> so special. really truly is amazing. e-legs are meant to help high-functioning paraplegics get back on their feet, quite literally. the plan is for them to be made available soon in rehabilitation centers before possibly being available for home use. donald trump may have made a lot of noise as he eyed the white house, but it seems it was, well, all for nothing. the latest is next.

a check on the latest and some stories that you may have missed. donald trump just announced a short time ago that he will not run for president. trump issued a statement saying the decision was not easy especially because he says "my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the republican contenders in the polls." he then goes on to say, however, business is my greatest passion and he's not ready to leave the private sector. but despite trump's claim about topping the polls, a new survey from politico and george washington university indicates more than two-third of americans think the business mogul had "no chance" of ever winning the white house. those numbers follow a similarly poor showing for trump in a cnn/opinion research corporation poll released last week. that surveyed showed trump has an unfavorable rating of 64%. floodwaters from the mississippi river are pouring across southeast louisiana. this is the result at the army

corp of engineers open the morganza spillway. while the move spares baton rouge and new orleans, it is taking out thousands of homes and businesses. others in the area are evacuating instead of waiting. >> we know that we're going to get the water, it is just a matter of when it is going to be here. i don't know, it is just a we are feeling that here it is, we sitting on this beautiful cool morning watching this beautiful sunrise and we're going to be knee-deep in water right here before too long. >> the historic flooding has affected eight states from missouri and illinois down to mississippi and louisiana. as many as 22 cities and communities still remain flooded. two florida imams are due in court this afternoon in miami on charges that they helped the pakistani taliban. the father and son are imams at two separate florida mosques and were arrested by fbi agents on saturday. six people were indicted, including several of the imam's family members. authorities allege all six

suspects conspired to support to kill, injure and kidnap people abroad and that they helped fund the pakistani taliban. u.s. officials say the arrests are not linked to osama bin laden's killing. i, rahm emanuel -- >> former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel is now officially chicago's mayor. you can see there, being sworn in to office earlier there today. the democrat who served two presidents now shifts his attention to the nation's third-largest city promising to cut spending as he tackles the city's $700 million deficit. vice president joe biden and his wife were there for the inauguration. he replaces richard m. daley, the city's mayor for the last 22 years. there is a deadly virus which only exists in two places in the world and it may be closer to home than you think. more details you'll want to know up next. w may i help you? do you have something for pain? ♪ oh, bayer aspirin? oh, no, no, no... i'm not having a heart attack.

it's my back. trust me. it works great for pain. [ male announcer ] nothing's proven to relieve pain better than extra strength bayer aspirin. it rushes relief to the site of pain. no matter where you're hurting. thanks for the tip. [ male announcer ] for powerful pain relief, use bayer aspirin. and coming soon. bayer advanced aspirin. re-invented for faster pain relief. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand.

"not tonight, britta. not tonight." ♪ 30 years ago eradicating smallpox was once of science's greatest achievements, described as one of the worst disease ever, it killed half a billion people in the last century alone. however, two countries -- russia and the u.s. -- still have hundreds of smallpox samples between them tucked away in secret laboratories. many countries believe these stockpiles should finally be destroyed. cnn's dr. sanjay gupta goes to the cdc which has one of these labs to get answers. >> reporter: smallpox is a disease no one has seen since the late 1970s.

caused by a virus and also responsible for up to half a billion deaths in the last century alone. many smallpox patients who did survive were either severely scarred or blind because of the infection. this doctor knows well how bad this disease is. he led the world war effort to stamp it out. >> it's been the worst disease known to mankind. plague, cholera, all of -- yellow fever, all of these are really minor problems compared to smallpox. >> reporter: there hasn't been a case of smallpox in more than three decades. we don't routinely vaccinate for this anymore. but there are two places in the world where the virus still exists -- in russia, and here in atlanta in the united states. a lot of people question, why do we even need this virus to be stored any longer? >> so diagnostic development, antiviral development, and vaccine development has been the primary uses. >> reporter: the cdc is very

secretive about where exactly the virus is being kept. even though they say that information isn't classified. they wouldn't even tell us if it's on this campus. but they did say they'd show me what the virus looks like. >> we're looking at a slide of dead virus. is that right? >> correct. >> where do they come from? >> so this is a virus that was grown back in the '90s when some of the initial research was going on to begin to look at antivirals. >> reporter: this doctor is one of fewer than ten people at the cdc with access to the live smallpox samples. if this were a live virus, we would not be in this room. we would be in what's called a bsl-4 lab with the highest safety and security precautions. >> you're working in a positive pressure suit so you're essentially working in a large plastic bag. there's air flow that helps to protect you from the environment that you're working in. >> chance of it reappearing naturally is so limited, and you

have only stored in these laboratories, why not just destroy it and you wouldn't have to do all this research? >> well, i think the reason for it is really the concern that it is possible that others have the virus who may not be so well inclined or possibly tend to use the virus in a malevelent. >> reporter: the russians want to keep theirs as well. there are many people who say there's no need, there's no good reason to hold on to something that's so dangerous. >> i think we need to get rid of anything we can do to diminish the likelihood of smallpox being released, we should do. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta,

cnn, atlanta. offering no apology for the raid that killed bin laden but taking pains to mend ties with pakistan. senator john kerry's mission next.up ur wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible.

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navy s.e.a.l. mission which caught both bin laden and the pakistanis by surprise. but kerry emphasized the importance in mending a fragile relationship that was nearly snapped by the bin laden attack and a relationship kerry says the u.s. believes is necessary in fighting the taliban both in neighboring afghanistan and in pakistan. stan grant is in the pakistan capital islamabad covering kerry's visit. stan, what's kerry's key message do you think to the pakistanis? >> reporter: he really came here, in his words, to reset this relationship. there's almost an acceptance here of the shortcomings, but also a reality that the two need to be able to work together. he had some hard words. he said that there are some very tough questions being asked in washington right now about osama bin laden living in pakistan, the fact that he was found here, what pakistani officials may or may not have known about it. but he did say that they want to be able to move beyond that. they want to be able to take some concrete steps to put some

things in place that they can actually measure some real markers here to actually get this relationship moving again for both sides' sake. he also drew a line in the sand when it came to criticism from pakistan about the secrecy of the raid. he said it needed to be carried out that way. he said that the united states respects pakistan's sovereignty but this is what he had to say to criticism that the united states had carried this out without respecting that sovereignty. listen to this. >> my goal has been to talk with the leaders here about how to manage this critical relationship more effectively, about how to open up the opportunities to put this relationship back on track where isolated episodes, no matter how profound, don't jeopardize the larger relationship and the larger goal. >> reporter: now some real concrete steps he's talking about in terms of getting the

relationship started again. there has been one concession that pakistan it now going to return the damaged tail of the helicopter that was downed during that raid. senator kerry's message overall here is that, look, pakistan is also suffering because of the war on terror. the united states an pakistan need to focus on things that unite them an not divide them. >> stan, what is kerry saying about pakistan lawmakers' threat to close the land routes to nato supply trucks bound for afghanistan? because those are critically important. >> reporter: yeah. he really stayed away from anything that could be conjecture, anything that is speculative. he really did want to focus very, very much on the concrete steps that can be taken, in his words, to move this relationship forward to try to reset it. he was asked about drone strikes, that the united states has been carrying out along the pakistan-afghanistan border. again he said that is not something he wants to be able to talk about publicly. and when asked whether he really trusts pakistan, whether he

really believes that no pakistan official, no military or intelligence or the government, were working or colluding with bin laden, again he said there is no evidence to suggest that, he's going to wait for any inquiries that are under way to come out first, but he's simply not going to speculate. >> kerry had traveled and kerry pakistan after first visiting to afghanistan, and did he tell the pakistanis that? >> yes. of course, they are aware of that. afghanistan is absolute ly certain that they need to work together. when he was in afghanistan, he did raise concerns there once again about members of the taliban who were living in pakistan, and moving back and forth across the border. he very, very much wants both sides to close that border and again, he is looking for more cooperation and more of a commitment from the pakistan side, randi. >> all right.

stan grant there for us in islamabad. thank you, stan. teb n minutes before the to of the hour. these are stories we are watching. there is no presidential run for donald trump and he released a statement an hour ago saying he had decided not to run for the presidency, and in true trump form, he said he would win, but he said that he did not want to leave the private sector. an arrest warrant has been issued for moammar gadhafi by the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court. he is charged with crimes against humanity for the libyan crackdown on protesters. it says that gadhafi ordered the attacks on protesters and funeral processions, and they say that the libyan government will ignore the arrest warrant. police in kenya are investigating the death of oplim pick champion samuel waniru

after he jumped from a window after being found with another woman. he won the marathon in the u.s. oolympics in beijing. olympic organizers will start to take money out of the nearly 2 million people who applied for seats. the results of the ticket lottery are random, so people may not get tickets for the events they want to see, but 6.5 million tickets are available. water is the most important element for human survival, so how are astronauts living hundreds of thousands of miles from the earth keep hydrated? we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it.

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where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? this morning the space shuttle "endeavour" left on a 16-day mission to the international space station, and this made us think, how do astronauts living far outside of our atmosphere get one of the most important elements of survival, water. well, it turns out that they are using what you are seeing images of what you are seeing right now. this is a system that uses a catalyst that reacts with carbon dioxide and hydrogen, which are both natural byproducts on board of the space station to produce methane. the methane is released and water is saved by this machine which creates enough for the astronauts.

this creates a regeneration system, so for every 1,000 liters produced by the space station, 850 liters are reused. maybe it sounds like a technology of the future, but it was developed by a nobel prize winning french chemist in the 1900s. and according to nasa, they are testing the long-form use for longer missions like trips to mars for example. don't trump has made up his mind on a presidential run, so how will his decision impact the field and the 2012 race? your cnn political update is next.

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don't trummp won'tb be running for president in 2012. this is how he explained it. i have spent the last several months unofficially campaigning and i recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly, and ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion, and i am not ready to leave the private sector. paul steinhauser joins us. tell us what you think of that? >> well, he has some bravado that we are used to. this is another thing he said in the statement, i maintain the strong conviction that if i were to have run i would have won to primary and the general election, but again, another taste of donald trump with the bravado, but ultimately, he is not running for the white house. we planned on covering him in south carolina, because he was going to go down there in one of

the crucial early voting states in the primary of the south, and i guess that we won't cover him anymore, randi, when it comes to a race for the white house. >> yes, but he will get another way to get us on his trail. and what does this mean for the other contenders? >> well, it does not open up the field for those who decided not to run, because last week we had mike huckabee saying he will not run and now donald trump saying he will not run. it opens up the door. remember, we are waiting for michele bachmann, the congresswoman from minnesota making some move, and the same for jon huntsman, the governor of utah and the ambassador to china, and mitch daniel, the indiana governor is making a run for the presidential nomination, and another person we are keeping an eye on, sarah palin will these announcements that the top two men are not running change any minds? we will see. >> we certainly will. paul steinhauser in washington. thank you.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com morganza to the rescue or morganza to the disaster? how you stand depends upon where you live in relation to the mississippi. we are coming up to 40 hours since the army corps of engineers started to open up the spillways of the morganza, and spillways that had not budged since 1973. the spillway acts like a pressure valve on the swollen mississippi river to stop the downpour from baton rouge and new orleans, and flooding more areas. more are to be opening today. this is home of the atchafalaya basin. and looking at this place is another place where lives are loaded on to trucks literally. no one knows how high it will be

and how to gwhen they leave. but one man is fortunate that he has time to get out. >> we are fortunate to have what we have and get out. material things we can replace and our family and what we believe in daily, you cannot put up a price. >> did you put up that sign? >> yes. i'm proud of that and what it says we will be back. >> what about the city that morganza was built to protect? well, last week baton rouge crest was not expected to crest until may 22nd next weekend, and reach a 12.5 crest above flood stage, and new orleans 2.5 feet above flood stage, but the forecast has changed and now baton rouge will see 10 feet above flood stage and new orleans is cresting right now at flood stage. but the city does not end there,

because north of the spillway, there are millions of acres of flooded communities and farms. in vicksburg, mississippi, the river is 13 feet above flood stage and still rising. my colleague martin savage is there, and martin, i understand that you got off of a boat? >> well, we did, randi. this is a historic town that is now facing a historic flood. they have about 1,700 people area-wide forced out of their homes because of the flood waters continuing to rise and threaten the downtown area. joining me now is the mayor. thank you very much, sir, for being with us today. >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: let's talk about how serious the circumstance is? >> well, it is very serious. everyone knows that this is a historic flood, and we are looking at a crest stage of this thursday, may 19th, at 57.5 feet here in vicksburg. >> reporter: how bad is it for the residents impacted and i know north and south? >> well, devastating for many of the residents and the business

owners in the northern portions of the city of vicksburg and the southern portions of the city. a lot of people have been displaced, and of course, we are trying to get them the assistance that they need and de, and with reworking toward that end. >> reporter: well, the water is rising and this is a problem and will be for a long time. >> yes, based on the u.s. national weather estimates and the army corps of engineers we will have a rescission date of six weeks, and that is when the hard works begins to rebuild. >> reporter: and what about loss of life? >> no loss of life or injuries and i credit that to to awareness campaign. we worked with the red cross and with americorp, and with the united way to do a door-knocking campaign to notify the business owners and residents to give them information to make preparations. i'm grateful to that and to the united way who aided us in assisting people who needed

temporary housing to place them prior to the federal declaration and disaster. we are grateful here. >> reporter: and one more before we go, i want to ask you about jobs. a lot of people are affected because of jobs that they can't get to work. >> there are negative effects in the economy. we have 4,000 people who work in the manufacturing and industrial arena and thousands who work in gaming. vicksburg has five casinos and two of the casinos are open right now, and we are concerned about that. we are concerned mostly that people are safe, and secondarily securing the properties and our recovery infrastructure being able to put people back to work and make sure that everyone is able to e receive the individua assistance, business owners and residents, that they deserve. >> thank you very much, mayor. >> i just wanted you to ask him about the flood insurance. >> reporter: i can get him back. >> okay. grab him back over there. >> we got him.

>> i would like to know how many people in his community have flood insurance? >> the question that randi is asking, how many people in your community have flood insurance and how big of a problem is that? >> it is an issue in the northern section of the city, because the kings division, and the chickesaw lake that are flood, a lot of people have parents and grandparents who are affected. >> do they have the insurance? >> some of them do, and some of them do not. the last major flood we have had in our area was in 2008, and a lot of of people who got comeped out through the national insurance resource center, and we are pairing them up with people they need. we have met with the small business administration, the sba, to coordinate low interest loans for individuals. there are up to $40,000 and up to $200,000 in low interest

loans for residents. and up to $2 million for businesses. >> okay. sorry, have to leave it there, mayor. good luck to you and your community. so, randi, the problem is that many people do not have flood insurance, and it is going struggle for them. >> sounds like it. thank you, martin. our sound effect is immediately recognizable, but one we will hear live only one more time. >> eight, seven, six, five, four, three, zero -- liveoftoffr the last launch of "endeavour" expanding our knowledge and our lives in space. >> roger. roll, "endeavour." >> houston now controlling. "endeavour" to roll over to its back and the roll program is under way as "endeavour" begins

the head's down position on course for a 46.6 degree for a 136 by 66 statue orbit. >> it is the next to last mission of any shuttle and the last of "endeavour." we will bring you the big breakdown later in the hour. president obama is in memphis and he just addressed the graduates of booker t. washington high school. the school won his attendance because they boosted their graduation rate over the last three years. and this is part of his message. >> we are here today, because every single one of you stood tall. and said, yes, we can. yes, we can learn. yes, we can succeed. you decided you would not be defined by where you come from, but by where you want to go. >> while in the memphis area

today, the president will also look at the flood damage there. >> i, and state your name. >> i, rahm emanuel. >> do solemnly swear -- former chief of staff at the white house is now the mayor of chicago. you see him being sworn in. he is a democrat and served two presidents and now shifts his attention to third largest city promising to tackle spending. joe biden and his wife were there for the inauguration. emanuel replaces richard m. daley who had been the city's mayor for the last 22 years. a mayor breakthrough in what caused a air france airplane to plunge into the ocean. after a two-year mystery, investigators have recovered the information from the flight data and recorded messages from two weeks which includes the last two hours of conversation in the cockpit. it could take investigators weeks to complete the investigation, but it will

hopefully give them a glimpse of what happened before the plane belly flopped into the ocean killing all of the people aboard. and the chief of the international monetary fund has been denied bail on the charges that he tried to rape a motel maid in new york. dominic strauss-kahn was arraigned on charges that he tried to rape the maid, and it was determined he is a flight risk, but his attorney says that is not the case. >> he is 62 years old and four children and they are simply wrong with the ties to the united states and new york. >> he was arrested while on board a flight to paris and he was compared to roman polanski.

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the vatican is releasing new guidelines aimed at stopping child abuse at the hands of priests. the new rules tell catholic bishops to cooperate with police and do not order them to report abuse allegations unless the local laws require it. it is said that sexual abuse of

minors is not a canomical delekt, but the vatican says that bishops can hide new sex crimes because bishops are not required to report sexual abuse to the police. this is hitting the collection plate as well. one jesuit order and eight catholic diosese have filed for bankrupt bankruptcy. the new guidelines are the latest in attempts by the vatican to stop child sex abuse in the church. pope benedict 1'6"th, has made it a church crime for a police

to download pornography and does not require reporting. we asked you for your thoughts. and glad d gladys says they should report themselves. and vivia says they should be ashamed to call themselves part of the religion and bill says, in the u.s. a priest would be required to report by law,ed but having the church not endorse and support the position is beyond shameful, and marcia says that these guidelines will never do any good. the church thinks they are above the law and everyone else. if you have a comment post it at cnn.com/ali. imagine the shock, you are a retired military veteran and you wake up without a job. one man's search for a new job

one day at a time in his own words coming up next. [ marge ] psst.

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for one navy veteran, it is a daily mantra, don't give up on yourself. he is 55 and searching for a job for nearly half a year. what it is like day in, day out following the tips and leads and still coming up emmel pty, he t us in his own words. >> i'm nelson fuentes, and i'm 55 years of age and at this time

i have been unemployed for five months. i do try to sit here every morning. you know i would rather get up and put on a suit and go. now, it is quite different. well, it is not as personalable. now, we are, you know, digital age, and everything is done through the internet, and one of my primary search engines is monster. and no one wants to see you unless they have processed your resume. through the internet first. where before you could go to visit a company and drop off your resume. always, always, always have resumes readily available. it is one of the boy scout things, always prepared. hey, janet, it is me, nelson, how you? >> good, nelson. >> i do have a head hunter who is looking for me as well. if she can find me a position in

tampa, then that is what i will do. >> it is difficult for people who are over 50. >> i i thithink that my age is factor to me. i know that i come with a long history, and i've had many successes in my careers, and so that may be something that they look at more than my age. so my recommendation to anyone is don't give up on yourself, and keep your passion and keep your enthusiasm, even though we are coming up against people who are 20 and 30 years younger than us, that enthusiasm, that sense of purpose is timeless. and time now right now, 20 minutes past the hour and time for top stories. just into cnn this afternoon, businessman donald trump has announced he will not run for president in 2012. in a press release he said, quote, after considerable deliberation and reflection, i have decided not the pursue the office of the presidency, and this decision does not come easily or without regret.

dominic strauss-kahn, the head of the international monetary fund was arraigned today on charges he attempted to rape a housekeeper in new york city hotel. the judge agreed with the prosecutors he is a flight risk and he is to appear again in court may 20th. he was considered a widely leading candidate for the french presidency. zero and liftoff for the final launch of "endeavour"! >> what a beautiful sight that is. space shuttle "endeavour" roared into space for the last time. astronaut mark kelly is commanding the international space station, and his wife congresswoman gabrielle giffords who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head watched the launch right there at kennedy center. and country legend hank williams junior is lead an effort to raise money for

tornado victims in the southeast. he raised money last week and continuing to raise money this week as we see in "impact your world." >> i'm hank williams, jr., and you can make an impact to help the people of alabama, georgia, mississippi that have been totally devastated by the worst disaster in the history of the state. you have to be here. you can't describe it. it is absolutely up believable. these cities need not millions, but billions. help is on the way. america can survive, and alabama can survive. so, please, join the movement, impact your world, go to cnn.com/impact. and if you want to find out how you can help, go the cnn.com/impact. a lot happening in the world of weather. cnn severe weather expert chad meyers will join us next to break down the flight delays and

rain in the northeast and many details of where the southern floods are headed. a lot to get to, so don't go anywhere.

we have breaking news. you are looking now at pictures from the affiliate there and this is miami international airport, a suspicious van, and that suspicious white van and what you are seeing there actually is a robot, because the bomb squad is investigating the bomb, and a bomb-sniffing dog alerted authorities that there are possibly explosives aboard the van. so there is a robot there now that has been taking things out of the van and moving them aside. ever since we have been watching the picture coming into us, we have seen them take out a suitcase, and the robot has removed a suitcase and a plastic bag and taking it over to this barricade which is to the left of the van there at miami international airport. very interesting situation there. we will of course continue to watch this robot hard at work, and keep you posted on exactly what the situation is there. miami international not the only place that is having issues today. severe weather expert chad myers is joining us to tell us, that there is a lot of rain and

flights slowing down. >> the northeast is not doing so well. don lemon is caught in airport traffic and ugliness here. and our rain is not covering up all of the flights, but the cloud cover is. it is a thick blanket of cloud cover to not allow the planes to come in and out and the delays are all of the way from boston to new york to philadelphia and into washington, d.c. if you are waiting for someone at the airport or going to a flight, you know, every flight in new york is every two hours, and if every flight is two-hour delayed, don't go to the 12:00 flight, because it is delayed until 2:00. so g on to on the 4:00. >> you mean plan ahead. and let's talk about the flooding situation here. >> we have talked about morganza ad nauseam over the weekend and watching the gates open, but this is morganza and what it means to louisiana and new orleans and lafayette. the water will flow down into

what is called an almost blow-off area. they open up the gates so that the rain and all of that floodwater can go away from the big city. let me take you to another graphic, and this will scare you significantly. if we didn't have any bit of flood wall protection, no levee protection anywhere across mississippi, new orleans would be under 15 to 20 feet of water. now, that is not going to happen, because we do have levees and all of those things, but just so you know, that, you know, i know that people here are in a miserable situation, and people here are saying, oh, thank you so much for doing that to us, it will ral i wiliterall cresting being taken away, and this crest in new orleans happened over the weekend and it is not going to go up anymore, because they are going to let so much water come out of the morganza spillway that the spillway, itself, will not ever have to worry about the water coming down into the mississippi river anymore.

it is done. there is no more water coming. so it is all part of that, and then we talk ed about this, and you will have to get close, close, close, and the water coming down the mississippi. there's new orleans and this is a picture from nasa, and remember we talked about that mud that was going to get into lake uponb cha traipontchartrai it right there, and it is big. eventually, it will go back out to the gulf of mexico that way, but you can see the mud on the satellite and the pesticides and the fertilizer in there, and it is not a great thing for lake pontchartrain, but now not much more water goes that way, but all of the water down here. >> you know what got me when i looked at the predictions for the people who were going to get really the effects of the spillway, i thought about them going back to their home, because they were showing pictures of snakes and all kinds of things there in the water there, and they will have to come home to that. >> let's go to the quick video, because this is the water just now coming in, and the water is just starting to koum, and the

alligators are moving around and the snakes are moving around. >> yes, and you might come home to that? >> yes, they could be living in your house when you come home. >> that is unsettling and not only the ruin of your home possibly, but also coming home to critters. >> and there were crops in the field that they could not get out in time, so that the economic loss here is not to be taken lightly. >> no, no, that is why we are giving it so much time, and we will continue to watch it with you, chad. well, while we have had our eyes glue nod td to the histori flooding in the south, chad will continue to follow it as we follow it with you at home. and in the meantime, we will talk about donald trump who caught a lot of us by surprise today and we will have the e details of his big an announcement next.

naomi pryce: i am. i'm in the name your own price division. i find empty hotel rooms and help people save - >> - up to 60% off. i am familiar. your name? > naomi pryce. >> what other "negotiating" skills do you have? > i'm a fifth-degree black belt. >> as am i. > i'm fluent in 37 languages. >> (indistinct clicking) > and i'm a master of disguise >> as am i. > as am i. >> as am i. > as am i. >> well played naomi pryce. it is half past the hour and here are some of the stories you may have missed. donald trump has an nonounced h will not run for president. he says it was not an easy

decision, but he has made the decision. he said his greatest passion is business and he is not willing to leave it behind. he also said he appreciated all of his supporters. and the army corps of engineers opened up the morganza spillway, and while the move spares new orleans and batton, the diversion is taking out other homes and farms in the region and others are evacuating and waiting. >> we know we will get the water, but it is a matter of when it will be here. i don't know. it is a weird feeling that here it is that we are sitting on this beautiful cool morning and watching this beautiful sunrise, and we are going to be in knee-deep in water here, too, before long. >> the historic flooding has affected six states from missouri to illinois to indiana to louisiana. the u.s. government hits the

debt creeling today and now u.s. treasury timothy geithner is looking for a way to pay the u.s.'s bills. he says that we have six weeks before we start to default on the obligationings unless the ceiling is raised. congress is not showing any signs of raising the debt ceilings. he says he will tap into retirement funds to keep borrowing. and two florida imams were arrested for helping the taliban. the two men were arrested for providing material support for the organization with a conspiracy to kill and aid abroad. but one of the sons says that his family does not support terrorism. >> we don't support any terrorism or anything like that, and we have no idea about that. we support america, and we like america, because we live here. >> the indictment describes a

number of occasions when money was transferred to pakistan, and the court documents say that there were several conversations calling for attacks on the pakistani governments and they say that it is not linked to the killing of osama bin laden. chicago turns the page with a new mayor. rahm emanuel, the three-term illinois congressman and also former chief of staff for president obama won the vote in a controversial election. he takes the reins from richard m. daley who served there for 22 years. joe biden and his wife were there for the inauguration. and alleged crimes against humanity. moammar gadhafi is now the target of the international criminal court. michael holmes up next with globe trekking.

senator john kerry on a fence-mending trip to pakistan where officials are angry over the u.s. raid that killed osama bin laden. here to talk about it, michael holmes, and well, kerry was certainly not apologizing there in afghanistan today. >> in fact, he said there was really nothing to apologize for. that is the point he made. he is making the right moves, but he is letting the pakistanis know that he expects action and not words as well. he is there to send a message and they are there to send a message as well. >> what do you make over the weekend that the pakistani parliament demanding an end to the drone flights and talking about possibly blocking nato trucks? >> well, it is important, but it

is talking to a domestic audience and whether that happens or not, i don't it will happen. kerry says that in his talks, the two sides have agreed to what he calls a series of steps to help mend the relationship like returning the tail end of the helicopter to start. >> that is a big deal. >> yes, people worry that it might end up in china, and he said they are committed to finding new ways to work on the terror threat, and step up cooperation, but he is there on a diplomatic mission as political one as well. behind the scenes, there is a lot of tough talk going on, but we have seen with the past in the pakistanis what they say in public to the local offices is different what they are saying to the u.s. and certainly the case with the drones. >> and kerry is the highest ranking official from the u.s. to make the first trip since bin laden's death. he arrived in pakistan from afghanistan. >> yes, that is right. >> and would pakistan be interested in that fact? >> i don't think so. he certainly was in khost talking to one of the local

xhaern commanders but they have concern over the taliban crossing over into the area of afghanistan and not a major significant, but a trip to go over the have a little look around and talk about that as well. but there is concern and always concern about the nature of the border, and the al qaeda fighters going back and forth. >> and turning to libya. news coming out libya with arrest warrants being undertaken for moammar gadhafi and his son and the intel chief. >> yes, which is his brother-in-law as well. they like to keep it in the family. according to the icc they are responsible for widespread systemic attacks on civilians. i talked to the chief prosecutor the other day who said he is confident that he has the evidence. >> who makes the final decision of executing the warrants? >> well, it is a problem, because the judges, and the icc

judges must decide whether to issue the warrants for the arrest. the libyan government has said, it does not care. it won't take much notice about it. that puts a spotlight on one of the problems with the icc is the lack of enforcement powers. it can't like go in there to get him, and it can't force anyone to get him for them. >> so what exactly -- i mean, in terms of the alleged crime that he committed, what are they saying? >> well, they are saying that they went over 1,200 documents we are told, and they did 50 interviews, and key insiders and witnesses, and they really did lay out a kachlts gadhacase. gadhafi personally ordered attacks on unarmed civilians and personally ordered the attacks, and says this was planned in advance and always an option on the table before there was even trouble. back when there was trouble in tunisia, and he planned ahead, and that is what the icc is saying. >> all right. how about the queen's historic visit. >> it is. >> big news, to the irish republic, and what is this about? >> it is.

it is the first british monarch to visit the irish republic, and remember 100 years ago her grandfather king george the fifth was there, and that is when the united kingdom was still a part, and police have been spending months to prepare for the visit, as you can imagine. >> are the people in the irish republic happy to see the queen? >> well, there are reservations, and some is have qualms, because the history of the creation of the republic, and the division of the irish, and also those who gave their lives fighting for the independence of the republic. >> what is the reaction of northern ireland? >> yeah, if you want opposition, you will get it. jerry adams who gerry adams of sinn fein said that the visit is premature. so there is pro and anti going

on. >> well, that was a lot to cover, michael holmes. >> we have at t lott lot of pap we will have to reshuffle. >> yes. and now there is a lot of cool stuff about the spacecraft of the "endeavour" that you may not know. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65,

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the space shuttle "endeavour" launched into space. it is taking up extra parts and super tiny satellites. satellites the size of a cracker. yes, a cracker. "endeavour" is scheduled to return to earth on june 1 which is the same day that the space shuttle "atlantis" is expected to roll out to the launch pad in anticipation of the final mission of the space shuttle's 30-year history. in today's big breakdown, let's talk about the sheer size of the space shuttle, because unless you have seen it up close orn a of us haven't, you can't imagine the length. you have sat in a school bus, right, well, the space shuttle is longer than three school buses. so it is 40 feet there. and the heaviest space shuttle was "columbia" weighing in 178,000 pounds and i could not imagine that much weight, but imagine the weight of one elephant, and then imagine the

weight of 13 elephants. you see it on the handy dandy scale here. that is the weight of the space shuttle, 13 elephants. "endeavour" is a magnificent spacecraft and took ten years to build and cost $1.7 billion, and can travel more than 17,000 miles per hour. it has traveled 11 million miles in the time, and flown around the earth more than 4,400 times. "endeavour" has made 44 trips into space so far and 167 people have flown into space on "endeavour." right now it is docked with the russian space station called mir i and it has docked with the international space station 11 times. that is cool stuff. and now more today on the decision of donald trump to skip the 2012 political election for president. mark preston is with us. why did he decide not to go for it? >> well, randi, the question is, was he ever in the race?

he put out a statement today saying that his greatest passion is for business, and that is where he wants to focus all of his time on, but however, he said had he run, he is confident that he would have won the primary and gone on to win the general election. and randi, he does not endorse anybody in this statement, however, he did promise to continue to express his opinions, because he thinks that it is very important that he does so. randi. >> and in his statement, trump in true fashion talked about his success in the polls and how well he was doing, butut was he really doing well? >> well, he did do well in the first couple of months in the year, and the birther controversy helpeded to push the name to the top. if you look at the cnn, research opinion poll, you can see that he is right at the top with mike huckabee, and now both of them

have decided not to run, so that opens up space for mitt romney and newt gingrich and maybe the indiana governor, gosh, mitch daniels. my god, he will be mad at me, but mitch daniels if the he decides to get into the race. donald trump would have been an interesting character to run for the rashgs but he would have appealed for an electorate looking for change in washington. >> mark preston, interesting stuff. thank you. and your next update from the best political team on television is an hour away. dropouts and driver's licenses. some think that the two don't mix real well. we will put it to the stream team next. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people

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dropouts and driver's licenses. right now a few states are considering new laws tying the right to drive with education. basically, if you drop out of school, you can't have a driver's license until you are 18. minnesota, oklahoma, and south carolina are considering it, but states like west virginia, texas and north carolina already have that kind of law in place. so here is a look at the dropout problem. the national dropout rate is 3.5%. 2.8% of 15, 16, 17-year-olds

drop out of high school. and meanwhile, if you break it down by income levels you will see that 8.7% of dropouts come from low income families compared to 2% from high income families, but in many cases, students from low income families drop out to support their families which would mean getting a job without having a car. so we thought we should put the question to the the stream team today. should dropouts lose their driver's license? joining me today is nyu professor of education, and also cnn contributor l.z. granderson. and thank you both for coming on to talk about this. pedro, let me start with you, it is a good idea to restrict driving privileges for dropouts? >> well, i do think that driving is a privilege and anything that we do to send the message to students to stay in school and take it seriously is a good thing and maybe taking away the driver's license will send that message to them. >> l.z., what is your take after

hearing what pedro says? >> well, i mean, i definitely think that you can get one result by enforcing such a law, but it does not address the real issue which is one kid saying that education is something they should pursue and not being forced to have, and that, two, as you mentioned in the introduction, there are some valid reasons that kids feel as if they have to drop out of school and can definitely be home helping the parents. >> and pedro, if this is a good idea, though, we talk about taking the driver's license away and they can't work and may not be able to help their families, so hem to us understalp us to u that is okay. >> again, i would agree. it is not going to get at, and end the dropout problem by any means, because it does not address any of the kausz, but howev one thing is if you see what works with children is taking away privilege. so if you take away privileges for adolescents or kids, it has

impact. and one privilege that people enjoy is driving. if you send the message, you are not in school, you won't get a driver's license, it may help some students make the decision, i better stay in school, because i do want to drive. >> so, l.z., i mean, what other options do you think that the states could turn to, to try to keep the kids in school, if maybe this is not the best answer? >> well, it is answer. it definitely could work and help some kids stay in school, but this discussion needs to happen long before they are driving. like in 4th and 5th and 6th grades, because schools need to look at kids staying in school and going through the process which makes education important. not just goal-oriented like if you stay in school, you get a driver's license. but that is acquiring the knowledge is a good thing and not something as to be burdened with. >> and pedro, what might have a bigger impact then if not

driver's license, which could be good, but any other ideas to help motivate the kids? >> sure. what the evidence shows is that the key here for losing kids from dropping out is eighth and ninth grade. what would make a big difference if we got guidance counselors in school to build connections with id can kids. kids involved in sports and music and theater and kids with a clear idea to go in the future and a career technical program have a major impact to help people young stay in school and seeing that school is an important part of getting them where they want to go. that would have a big impact. >> and south carolina says that the on-time graduation rate is 72%, so that the bill would suspend a driver's license for a student who misses class or drops out. and l.z., what are your ideas for other things other than that, other options?

>> the parents. the parents. making the parents more responsible for the whereabouts of their children. >> is that where it should fall, at home? >> well, it should definitely always begin at home. there are cases in which the kids are, you know, out of control and the parents send them off and they think they ar not. but there needs to be better education that if the kids aret not in school and the parents need to be and constantly informed and nothing done for it, there needs to be a punishment for the parents, because ultimately, it is their responsibility to make sure that the id cans are in school. >> and pedro, what would you say to the students to try to turn them around before something like this happened? >> well, you want them to know that there are real consequences to the choice. most of the consequences are lack of opportunity that they will enp joenjoy, but sometimes 16-year-old does not see how the decision to leave school will hurt them this the future, but they will get it if they can't drive. the same way we have done it now

with drunk driving rules f. a kid is caught driving under the influence or intoxicated under the age of 18, it can make many states, they may not be able to get a license again until they are 25, and that has a big impact on drunk driving amongst the adolescents so anything that we can do to deter bad choices is a good thing. >> pedro and lz, important discussion and great discussio.. thank you, both. >> you think that your honeymoon was expensive? wait until you hear what the royal couple are dirk out.

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com time now or the the xyz and if you thought that we were done with the royal wedding, we are not. there is still the honeymoon and what a honeymoon this is being. the romantic couple is enjoying the seashells off of the coast of africte africa. they are booked at the most exclusive and it not where, but how much it cost. but did your honeymoon cost $72,000 a night? that is what catherine and william are paying nightly. the presidential villa goes for $14,000 a night, but the royal couple may have had to buy up all of the villas for security reasons. so if that is true, the daily beast did the math for us and found out that the royal