we'll give you the final word. no pressure. >> all the hype about super pacs this year. the reality is through january the republican primaries, all the candidates combined have spent half the amount of money than four years ago. >> fascinating. >> interesting. interesting statistic. i thank you very much. appreciate you being with us. we'll see you back here tomorrow we'll see you back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i am carol costello. just ahead in the newsroom, afghan government officials come under fire as they visit the site of sunday's massacre. it will take revenge by killing and beheading americans anywhere in the country. republicans battle for the deep south. mitt romney and newt gingrich are neck in neck as voters go to the polls in alabama and mississippi today. a total of 84 delegates are up for grabs. president obama gets grilled on gas prices. >> 2/3 of americans say they

don't feel as though you're doing enough to control gas prices. >> what did the president say? we'll hear his response. former "news of the world" editor rebecca brooks is arrested. they arrested the former aid and five other people. it stems from the alleged phone hacking scandal that now closed the newspaper. we begin this hour in depth in afghanistan and a reality check on the safety of american troops there. antiamerican protests are boiling up again two days after a killing spree. the taliban vowing to avenge the killings by beheading americans anywhere in the country. the suspect of the attack, a u.s. army sergeant, has been moved to a safer confinement area in kandahar. a fou hours ago defense secretary leon panetta arrived in the region. he'll try to shore up the strained relationship between the two alleys as it threatens to unravel. also this morning, unsurge gents opened fire on a delegation of afghan rebels as

they visited the site of the massacre. one brother of karzai was among the group. we are covering this story from all angles so let's begin with the new threat against americans. sarah side ner is in the afghan capital of kabul. sarah, is this anti-american anger isolated or are you seeing it build? >> reporter: well, what we're seeing is just one protest in gentleman lally bad which is in eastern afghanistan pretty far away from the kandahar province but what we saw this morning was somewhere between 4 to 500 people out in the streets. we understand from officials that many of those chanting down with america and down with obama were university students who gathered. they were peaceful protests. there were no damages to any of the buildings there or anything like that. they did manage to close the road, a very important route between jalalabad and kabul. authorities have been working to reopen that road. i want to talk a little bit about what has happened in the

villages where the massacre happened with an alleged u.s. soldier going on a shooting rampage killing 16 people. we are told from a council member there, provincial council member, that as they were at a funeral and that included some very high level afghan officials including the brother of hamid karzai that suddenly there was some small arms fire and then a rocket propelled grenades. they could hear the blasts going off. there were several people injured. at this point in time we're told the people injured were all afghan soldiers. so a very scary scene there. they're at a funeral and then this happens and then you have the taliban. this morning i got an e-mail from the taliban saying that they were, for revenge, planning to behead any americans who are in the country. carol? >> sara, how seriously is the u.s. military taking this threat, to behead any american?

>> well, they're certainly taking it seriously enough to heighten security at several of their bases. obviously some of the soft targets i'm sure security has been heightened as well. everyone knows the taliban has the capability of pulling off something like this but often times the bases are so well guarded these things will happen to people like aid workers. so i'm sure that also groups like unicef, groups in the country like unhcr, very, very worried about protecting those people who are trying to be on the ground and trying to make things better for the people here of afghanistan. yeah, there's a lot of concern among folks that this is a threat that could be carried out and people are taking it quite seriously. >> sara sidner live in afghanistan. the u.s. military still has not identified the u.s. soldier a us coulded in the killings. we have been able to fill in some of the blanks. >> reporter: military sources tell us he's in his mid 30s with a wife and children. he's an infantry sniper, trained

to fire fatal shots from up to 800 meters away. we've also learned the suspect had suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2010 during his third and final deployment in iraq. he was treated for the trauma, cleared for duty, and deployed to afghanistan in january. his medical history is now part of the investigation which is being handled by the u.s. military. defense secretary leon panetta says the suspect could face the death penalty if he is found guilty. >> let's take a closer look now at the suspect. barbara starr is at the pentagon working her sources. barbara, i understand there are some new concerns about this soldier's family in the united states. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, carol, u.s. officials are confirming to us that over the weekend his wife and children were moved onto the base, onto the lewis mccord military base in washington state. they apparently lived off the base and moved there for their own protection in case they were to face any harassment from the community or any unpleasantness.

this obviously has to be just terrible for them. his name has not come to light yet. that is expected to be made public by the military once there are charges. then we are likely to learn this man's name. some of the other things on the table right now, a decision about whether or not to move him back to the united states for prosecution. he's currently at the kandahar detention facility in southern afghanistan. they will have to decide if they want to move him back to the states for any potential further detention or potential trial, of course, so all of these things are on the table even as sara reported, there is growing concern to make sure everything is being done that needs to be done to keep u.s. troops safe, carol. >> barbara, i know you're continuing to work your sources. we'll get back to you at the 10:00 a.m. eastern hour. president obama says the shootings have made him even more determined to get u.s. troops out of afghanistan. now the white house could speed up that withdrawal now set to be completed by the end of 2014.

"the new york times" is reporting the administration may bring home nearly half the 90,000 troops by early next year. the move had been considered for weeks but gained new urgency after sunday's attacks and recent outrage after the burning of korans. he says no decision has been made and he is warning about a, quote, rush for the exits. at the bottom of the hour we'll talk to a reporter from "stars and stripes." she will explain why the newspaper is calling the soldier's home station in washington state the most troubled base in the military. have you been outside yet? the first official day of spring is only one week away but, boy, is it warm outside. temperatures are expected to be 20 to 30 degrees warmer than normal this week and that's all over the country. the people who run the cherry blossom festival in washington think the trees may bloom weeks earlier this year in mid march instead of early april. record high temperatures have been set in many states. expect that trend to continue

for several days. many areas in the south will even see highs in the 80s. you might have a hard time finding tide detergent. with retail prices rising, tide is becoming liquid gold. people actually stealing it off the shelves so they can resell it and make a few bucks. tide is typically -- it costs 10 to $20. at least one person has already been cashing in in this black market for tide. minnesota police say a man stole more than $25,000 worth of the stuff. some national retailers like cvs are thinking about special security to make sure tide detergent isn't taken off the shelves illegally. skyrocketing gas prices are giving republicans a wedge against the president but can he do anything about affecting those prices. we'll talk about that next. you still have time to join our march madness bracket challenge. need help filling out your sheet? we have it coming up in the newsroom. [ female announcer ] introducing coffee-mate natural bliss.

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the latest polls show mitt romney and newt gingrich neck in neck going into the primaries. an american research poll shows romney up by 2 percentage points in mississippi. that is within the margin of error. the same polling firm found similar results in alabama. another statistical dead heed

for gingrich and romney. rising gas prices are having an impact on the white house race. the president responded to his critics in an interview with our orlando affiliate wf tv. >> 2/3 of americans said they don't feel as though you're doing enough to control the gas prices. >> as long as gas prices are going up, people are going to feel like i'm not doing enough and i understand that because people get hurt when they're going to the gas station and seeing those prices rise every day. >> your opponents say that they can get gas prices down to the $2, $2.50 range. what do you think americans should be okay with? >> first of all, nobody believes that. they know that's just politics. our oil production -- >> let's bring in our political director, mark preston. president obama is offering interviews to local television stations across the country. they're all asking him about gas prices and you heard his answer, not the greatest answer.

i don't see many people out there feeling better about paying higher gas prices after listening to the president. >> no, certainly not. this is what you call a pocketbook issue. it's something that's going to affect everybody whether it's middle income, lower income, or even the folks who are making over $200,000. what's interesting about this is that this has become such a major issue at this time in the campaign. in fact, what we're seeing from polling just out yesterday from the washington post shows that nearly 2/3 of all-americans disapprove of how president obama is handling the gas price issue. so clearly as it always is energy is going to be a big issue heading to november. >> unless gas prices suddenly go down by november, which i guess they could by a little bit, right? >> they could, but doubtful given all the unrest that we see in the middle east right now, what's going happen with iran. i'm sure christine and others can talk more about that. the fact of the matter is, when you have all of these problems in the middle east how can gas prices go down? >> that's the question we wanted to ask this morning. how can gas prices go down?

our money guru, christine romans is here to break down the plans by each candidate. each of them has a plan. i don't know about president obama. does he have a plan, christine? >> he says his plan is long term, it's an all of the above approach. one of the criticisms from the white house is that the gop keeps talking about drill more, drill more, drill more, just approve the keystone xl pipeline. the president and his team say you have to do a lot of different things. it takes a lot of time to diversify the american economy. just the o'day the president gave an update on his energy plan. the more domestic oil production in this country than any time over the last ten years and a record amount of natural gas production. the industry says that's because of the previous administration. the president's approval rating has been slipping. it goes hand in hand with the gas prices. this is a cbs "new york times" poll. the president had his approval rating at 41%.

newt gingrich is the one on the campaign trail saying $2.50 gas. the president has said, that's phoney. it's phoney to go on the campaign trail and promise lower gas prices. newt gingrich wants more domestic drilling and he wants to develop oil shale reserves. mitt romney also wants more domestic drilling. he also has talked about nuclear power, funding more money for alternative energy research. rick santorum, he also says more domestic drilling, more oil shale refining and he says he would approve the keystone pipeline on the first day of his presidency but, carol, the bottom line -- >> christine, come on. you can talk about more domestic oil drilling all you want to. that will take some time. that's not going to make gas prices go down in the short term. >> carol, it's an election year. look, you have gingrich on the campaign trailing calling him president algae, saying he's behold den to radical environmentalist interests.

look, this is all campaign election nearing. the president can talk about that in those local television interviews, but the gas prices, as mark preston says, pocketbook issue. people looking for somebody to blame. the white house here has to figure out how not to be the one they're blaming about it. it is right now about iran and the middle east. how the president deals with that actually may very well affect the price of gas. >> so let's ask mark preston this question. so newt gingrich seems to be resonating with people when he says, you know, hey, i can get gas prices down to $2.50 a gallon. even if he really can't in the short term, that message is still resonating. what are the rest of these candidates do? >> well, look, it all comes down to slogan, slogans, slogans. that's what wins you elections. when you say that, people say i'm on that just like herman cain when he said nine, nine, nine when nobody understood what nine, nine, nine meant said we're on board until they started to pick that apart. you and christine are absolutely

right when it comes down to this. you might disagree with the president's energy policy, you might think it's wrong, but it's disingenuous to say i'm going to get your gas down to $2.50 certainly this year. not going to happen. >> see how many votes newt gingrich gets because that's resonating in the south. they drive everywhere in the south. they like their cars. mark preston, christine romans, thank you so much. two of the world's most powerful leaders know all work and no play is no fun. they're finding some time for a little march madness. plus, at the bottom of the hour, a closer look at the massacre in afghanistan and the home base of the accused soldier. a reporter from "stars and stripes" a military newspaper will explain why it's called the most troubled base in the military. by a certain date. you always have homework, okay? i don't have homework today. it's what's right here is what is most important to me. it's beautiful.

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as we all know, ncaa march madness has arrived in the united states. even a couple of world leaders have a date for a game. zain verjee joins us from london with details. apparently the british prime minister will be partaking in our march madness. >> he will. he's very happy about it, darling of the the british prime

minister david cameron will be having a good time during march madness. he's going to be seeing a game with president obama in dayton, ohio. he'll be having a little more fun and games than usual, carol. he'll be taking a trip on air force one, which is pretty rare. you remember this video when he and the president previously played ping pong with each other. by the way, the british prime minister sucked. obama just beat him. >> i don't know about bragging rights. hey, i beat him at ping pong. >> reporter: no, it isn't. under all of this, you know, warm and fudsy stuzzy stuff, th serious issues to be talking about. first of all, afghanistan front and center and politics right now. both these countries have the most troops in afghanistan. they're going to be talking about the pullout. also you can't talk about afghanistan without talking about pakistan. syria is also a country that's on the front burner. they're going to need to figure out what to do with syria and how to help the opposition. so some really critical issues.

they do have a professional relationship. they do have a little chemistry and a personal relationship, too, but it's a serious and they like to call it special alliance. carol? >> they do. zain very gee, live in london for us. if you haven't filled out your bracket yet, we understand. you want to win. you can't figure out how to dominate march madness madness. we get it. and we have help this morning. college basketball analyst ken joins us via skype from salt lake city. ken, welcome. >> good morning, carol. >> hey, first off, why do we stress over this, filling out our brackets? >> well, i think we just want to prove our superiority over our co-workers and it's a stressful time trying to predict things that are very difficult to predict. >> exactly. that should make it fun though, but i'm very competitive myself so i understand. so you say efficiency plays into picking the teams that win. what do you mean by that? >> yeah. you want to pick teams that are

good at scoring and are good at preventing scores. both of those things are very important in basketball. those are the kind of things i look at on my website, howell does a team score the basketball every time they have it and howell do they prevent scores? teams that do that will go pretty far. >> i've also heard the point differential matters a lot. if teams win by a lot, they're a good pick. >> yeah. exactly. teams that build up big scoring margins, typically they're immune to those controversial officiating calls that tend to happen in basketball. your teams like kentucky, ohio states, they'll build up pretty large margins. the bad calls go against them. if teams make lucky shots against them, they're okay. >> the teams that win blue uniforms tend to win more. >> i think there might be something to that if you're a kentucky fan. not sure about that rule in general. i might stay away from that one, carol. >> there are some whacky things that sort of enter into the picture when you look at the

winning teams over time, aren't there? >> yeah. absolutely. last year's probably fresh in people's mind. you look at teams like vcu and butler that made the final four. they were lowely seated. not highly thought of. they did things that they hadn't done all season. those kinds of things happen. that's why your bracket looks awful the first weekend. >> if you want to pick a cinderella team, people do, that's when you're like scoring the big points and winning, so what's the best cinderella team to pick this year? >> i'll give you a couple, carol. wichita state is pretty good. not a lot of name recognition. they'll have to play kentucky in the sweet 16. a lot of people will sha away from them. very good, balanced team. i'd also throw memphis out there as a team that could surprise some people. they got seated eighth. they're probably about the tenth or twelfth team. >> i'm going to put you on the spot. who do you like to reach the

final four? >> i'm going to go with kentucky, ohio state, kansas, and let's go with missouri as well. >> that would be the ohio state. that is my pick to win it all. do you think the ohio state can do that? >> i like it, carol. i like your pick, yeah. the ohio state, a, a very good team and, b, most of your friends are going to pick either kentucky or north carolina. ohio state has pretty similar chances to win it as the other two teams. if you want a different pick, a way to distinguish yourself from other people in your bracket pool, i think ohio state is a great pick. >> i feel good about myself now. ken pomeroy, thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> go buckeyes. >> go buckeyes. i love brutus buckeye. you have until tonight's halftime to get in our march madness bracket challenge. head to cnn.com/brackets. join the cnn group. see if you can pick the games better than any of us. in just about five minutes from now, troubling new

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60 points higher. this recent stock runup that you've seen is happening because there have been several generally upbeat reports on the economy. for one, that jobs report last week. it showed solid gains and then this morning we got retail sales numbers for february showing a pretty good gain there as well. now wall street is going to be looking to the fed to acknowledge that there are improving parts of the policy. policy makers are holding their meeting today. interest rates are expected to stay at historic lows. investors want to see what the fed is saying about the economy, if the fed is more confident and if it will consider any new stimulus measures. the eu signed off on greece's bailout. yes, it keeps greece from defaulting at least for now. once again, looks like we're starting off in the green. the dow up 21 points. just about a few seconds into the day of trading. carol? >> all right. we'll check back with you next hour. thank you, alison. checking our top stories now, republicans battle for the deep south.

mitt romney and newt gingrich are neck in neck as voters go to the polls. total of 84 delegates up for grabs. democrats can cross over to vote. president obama gets grilled on gas prices. >> 2/3 of americans today said they don't feel as though you're doing enough to control gas prices. it's huge for the florida economy. >> that's one of the reasons we passed the payroll tax cut at the beginning of the year, so people would have more money in their paychecks and pockets to help absorb potential high prices of gas. afghan government officials come under fire as they visit the site of sun day's massacre. this as the taliban issues a fresh warning it will take revenge by killing and beheading americans anywhere in the country. a u.s. soldier accused of the massacre was stationed in washington state and joint base lewis mccore has a bad reputation. it has a troubling spike in suicides and four soldiers are linked to the thrill killing of

afghans in 2010. it's been called a rogue base. "stars and stripes" calls it the most troubled base in the military. megan mcclues can i joins us from washington. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. happy to be here. >> thanks so much because we're just trying to understand how this soldier could do something so horrible. many people are blaming the base from which he came, which is in washington state. is that a fair characterization? >> well, it's very early at this point. details are scarce on who this soldier is and what his background was. we only know he was on his fourth deployment. that means he had been stationed at quite a few bases. he did come from lewis mcchord and that is a base that has struggled. >> why has it struggled? >> there seems to be an issue at their hospital with caring for soldiers specifically in terms of mental health disorders. recently their commander has

been suspended while there's an investigation into how they handled nearly 300 cases of post traumatic stress disorder. there was a memo that circulated saying that any soldier who was going to have post traumatic stress disorder would cost the government millions of dollars over the course of treatment and that they needed to be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars. now they're looking into whether or not soldiers who deserved post traumatic stress disorder diagnosis didn't get it. in addition, they did just prosecute about a dozen soldiers who were involved in those thrill killings as you said earlier. just as they wrapped that up, now they have another soldier who has committed civilian atrocities. >> i thought there were steps being taken to solve some of these problems at this base. what can you tell us about those steps? >> they have started with the investigations there had been a few years ago investigation into how national guard solders were treated when they came through the base.

as a result of that there was some change in leadership and some new policies were put in place but now it seems that the active duty soldiers are also struggling. recently the commanders have started holding town hall meetings for the base so soldiers and their families can come forward and have their voices heard, but at this point it's probably too early to tell if these measures have been successful. >> you write for a military newspaper so you talk to military people all the time. when they heard about this horrible thing that happened in afghanistan and they found out that this soldier, three tours in iraq, on his fourth tour in afghanistan, is there a sense that we're forcing our military people to do too much? >> i think there is a sense that the force is fatigued, that individual soldiers are stressed. now it's not to say that all of the military is, but there are individuals who are struggling. the suicide rates are up. post traumatic stress disorder. there's a breakdown of the

family. we have high divorce rates. we've had increased domestic abuse and other crimes, substance abuse. so there is a significant portion of our force who is struggling. it's not to say that everybody is but soldiers and marines and other service members, they're tired. >> i guess the biggest question is what do you do about it? >> that is the question. they're trying to increase what they call dwell time, which is the amount of time that service members get at home with their families before they're deployed. with the draw down of the iraq war and as we wind down in afghanistan that will become much more possible. folks who have deployed three, four, five times in the last ten years will start to get some time at home. >> we hope so. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. still ahead on "newsroom" flood warnings in effect for parts of louisiana. we'll take you across country. we know who got the final

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. thank goodness the wait is over for fans of the abc series "the bachelor." ben's search has finally ended and the winner is? we'll leave that to a.j. hammer. hi. >> hey, carol. i didn't know you were so excited about this. listen, it is no surprise to fans of the show that courtney robinson took the ring from bachelor ben. the rest of the female cast, they didn't seem to like her very much. there were a lot of viewers who weren't fans of her behavior.

courtney, make no mistake about it, she has been the star of the season. she keeps her clothes on and for staging a mock wedding on a date with the bachelor a few episodes ago. the happy couple ended the finale with promises of love and a future together. the tabloids have them splitting up with a future. carol, i know you, like me, must be shocked, shocked that a relationship created by reality tv may not, in fact, pan out. >> i know. that tears me up inside. it really does. it does. hey, let's talk about a happier union. dick van dyke. talk about your made romances. >> no kidding. his newly wed, they didn't meet on a reality show. very nice to see this. the legendary dick van dyke married a make up artist. they met six years ago at the 2006 screen actors guild awards when she did his makeup.

this is van dyke's second marriage. he was married for 36 years. he also spent 30 years with a girlfriend. carol, i think it's safe to say he's not afraid of commitment. we congratulate the happy couple and assume that this relationship will outlast the ones made during most seasons on "the bachelor." >> i hope so. dick van dyke seems like a great guy. he just does. >> a classic. >> a.j., thank you. a.j. will be back with us in the next hour for more showbiz headlines. a best selling book is set to be a blockbuster on the big screen. it premiered in theaters last night. tell you how it went. brakes on a plane can be just as important as the engines. we'll explain what happened to this delta jet. plus, more people are hustling multiple jobs to stay ahead. l.z. granderson tells us why he thinks jobs or getting a job or how many jobs you have, all of that's changed forever. made with only milk... cream...

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checking stories cross-country now. louisiana is goating a bit of a break today after record flooding. more than a foot of rain fell in several parishes causing flash floods. boats and air boats were used to rescue many stranded in their homes and cars. lafayette was covered in eight feet of water. closing arguments happen in the rutgers university student. tyler clementi later committed

suicide. ravi faces 15 counts. live pictures of a delta plane that rolled off a taxi way off a runway. the planes engines were being tested when there was a problem with the plane's brakes. luckily there were no passengers on that airplane. others are frying to find work or hold onto the jobs. for some, that means taking on extra duties for the same amount of money. for others it means working two or three jobs to make ends meet. l.z. granderson writes about this growing trend. i know you have friends with two or three jobs. i do, too. you say this could be the new norm. >> oh, absolutely. i think that what we're seeing because of technology, so many professions are disappearing in such a much more rapid pace that it's almost like this form of economic can a

economic cannibalism but good technology eliminates jobs. >> what should we be doing about this? let's say, for example, you're a journalist and we know that many jobs in the field of journalism have been eliminated and probably won't ever come back. >> absolutely. newspapers are the fastest or the industry that's shrinking the most out of every other industry. there are a lot of journalists who are remaking themselves. we're going to the other side of becoming publicists, some are becoming grant writers, speech writers. we're learning how to use the skills that we have as professionals to work outside of the profession we thought we would always be in. this is very important for high schoolers and college students to think about it. you can target yourself for a career, but it's also important to have skills that are easily transferable to other jobs because you may not end up with a 9 to 5. >> it's interesting that you say that because when i talk to college students, i do a lot, they want a good old-fashioned job in journalism. they don't realize that those

jobs are even fewer, the number of jobs in the field of journalism are even fewer than they were before. a part of me thinks because young people still want those kinds of jobs, those kinds of jobs will always be around. >> well, they will always be around but just not in the same numbers that we have grown accustomed to. and i think it's important that as you do talk to journalism students, i as well, i let them know, you know, two and three of the papers that i worked at, they don't exist anymore, not in the same way. they've been greatly downsized or they've been forced to move locations and they have shrunken in terms of page counts. you have to learn how to do other things. when i look at my career, you know, i worked for two different companies. i work for you guys, for cnn. i work for espn. i also do speeches on the side. i'm hustling, baby. i'm tying to make ends meet just like everybody else. >> the other interesting thing that you find when you talk to college students is they want their own thing. they don't want to work for any person. they want to develop their own

company, their own small business. they don't say i dream of working here or there anymore. they don't say that. >> well, i think that's really smart. we have to learn how to be job creators of one. we used to be that in this country before we got so industrialized. we were a lot more self-sufficient. i think that technology is requiring us to be that creative again. the recession is slowly coming back. we've added another 200 plus jobs for the third straight month. that's all fantastic. if you look at the wages of some of these jobs, people still aren't making what they used to. you need to find other ways to supplement your income. some people fix cars on the weekends on the side, some it's fixing hair in your kitchen. for some of the people in your neighborhood, cutting hairs on the front porch, dofr whatever you need to do. i think that is the new norm and i think the numbers are all suggesting that. >> it's kind of depressing, but in another way if you look at

it -- >> no. no. don't think of it as depressing. think of it as a new era in this country's job history. you know, we used to work based upon when the sun was up and when the sun came down and things like that. . so it's just a progression in our rich history in this country. >> we all should embrace change and find a way to love it. l.z. grand zer son, thanks for being with us today. log on to cnn.com/opinion. another suitor steps up in the peyton manning sweepstakes. reports say a third team has held talks with the nfl's most sought after free agent. that story is in sports and that's eight minutes away. in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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stories we're working on later today. noon eastern, senator reid and representative courtney will deliver 130,000 letters to capitol hill. they're asking congress to stop interest rates from rising. 6:40 eastern, president obama and david cameron will be in ohio to watch mississippi valley state take on western kentucky in the first round of the ncaa tornment. voters in mississippi and alabama have until 8:00 eastern tonight to choose a republican presidential candidate. cnn will have live coverage for you of all the primary results. following a lot of developments in the next hour. let's check in first with is a sarah sidner. >> reporter: grenades and gun fire as a funeral is underway where a massacre committed sundays allegedly committed by a u.s. soldier and hearing from

the taliban saying it will seek revenge by beheading any american in afghanistan. we'll have an update at the top of the hour. i'm alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. do you have money in the flexible spending account? if you don't, rather, use it this week, you'll lose it. i'll have details on the deadline and how to spend down your account quickly. i'm paul steinhauser outside a polling station in alabama. as you just mentioned, it's primary day here in alabama and neighboring mississippi. i'll tell you what's at stake for the republican presidential candidates at the top of the hour. >> thanks to all of you. if you're using social media to new york for the next job or connect with a former colleague, you might want to think twice about the information you're posting. mario armstrong tells us how to protect that information. that's coming up just around 10:45 eastern.

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oh, tiger woods' injury may not be as bad as first thought. he withdrew on sunday. he could be seen favoring the left leg after hitting that approach shot. see him there? yesterday he tweeted the doctor said it was a mild strain of his left achilles. tiger said he is cleared to hit balls later in the week and hoping to play ball and hoping to play bay hill starting a week from thursday as the last tournament before the masters.

the nfl free agent period starts this afternoon. don't expect a manning deal by the enof the day. espn reports he talked with a dolphins coach and will meet with the tennessee titans today or tomorrow and met over the weekend with the broncos and the cardinals. manning as you know released by the colts last week. may be the most highly prized nfl free agent of all time. i bet he goes to miami. don't you? the ncaa tournament begins tonight. in the first game, western kentucky plays mississippi valley state. byu takes on iona and watch tonight on trutv and you have until halftime of tonight's first game to get in the march madness bracket challenge. head to cnn.com/brackets. join in the fun. see if you can pick the games better than any of us. it's being called the great grit battle of the 2012 republican presidential campaign. here's cnn's jeanne moos.

>> reporter: yankee candidates down south, feel like they have to grit and bear it. >> i like grits. >> i understand grits. >> what is a grit? >> reporter: it's so what some call the latest primary after mitt romney fell in to a steaming pot of grits. >> creamy, perfect grits. >> reporter: all governor romney did is try to joke around about grits. >> i'm learning to say y'all and -- i like grits and the things are strange things are happening to me. >> reporter: if you think that's cheesy, it got cheesier. >> morning, y'all. good to be with you. i got it right with biscuit and cheesy grits. >> reporter: and then stirring the pot. >> one of the competitors, i have had grits before. >> stir it continuously. >> as a georgian, i understand grits. i even understand cheese grits. i even understand shrimp and grits. how's that? >> reporter: once the grits were

bubbling hot -- >> add a few dashes of hot sauce. >> if you don't understand grits, you don't understand the rest of the south. >> reporter: for those that don't understand grits, it's ground corn. >> oh, i always like butter on mine or gravy, sometimes tomatoes. >> reporter: you they tomato, i they tomato. if you never tasted grits, the author of "gone with the grits cookbook" says -- >> you'll learn to love them. >> reporter: cousin vinny came south and after one serving of grits he was able to use what he learned to cook his adversary on the witness stand. >> how could it take you five minutes to cook your grits when it takes the entire grit-eating world 20 minutes? >> reporter: and newt trying to trap mitt with his grittiness. >> with shrimp, with cheese, with gravy and i get it. >> reporter: mitt, next time

newt mocks you about grits, just tell him what flo the waitress told her boss. >> kiss my grits! >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn -- >> i got it sort of right this morning with a biscuit and cheesy grits. delicious. >> reporter: new york. good morning to you. i'm carol costello. just ahead, anger in the streets of afghanistan. protesters rail against the united states as an army sergeant stands accused of slaughtering civilians. this as the taliban vows new retaliation by beheading americans. mitt romney and newt gingrich with betting on alabama and mississippi. voters going to the polls today. a total of 84 delegates up for grabs. democrats can cross over to vote. hoping to beat president obama in the november election. the president, by the way, continues to get grilled on gas prices. >> two thirds of americans today said they don't feel as though you're doing enough to control

gas prices. >> so what did he say? we'll hear the response a little later. we begin in afghanistan and a reality check on the safety of american troops there. anti-american protests are boiling up this morning. two days after a killing spree. the taliban now vowing to avenge the killings by beheading americans anywhere in the country. the suspect in that attack, a u.s. army sergeant is moved to a safer confinement area in kandahar. defense secretary arrived in the region trying to shore up the strained relationship between the two allies as it threatens to unravel. also this morning, insurgents opened fire on a delegation of afghan government officials as they visited the site of the massacre. at least one brother of president karzai is among the group. he is safe but a soldier and a civil yar were injured. barbara starr is at the pentagon for us with how the troops are protecting themselves and sarah sidner is in afghanistan.

let's begin in afghanistan with sarah. tell us a little bit more about the chilling threat from the taliban. >> reporter: yeah, the taliban sent me an e-mail this morning and in it it basically talked about the fact it has to avenge those who were killed and it said that it would take revenge on any american by beheading any american who is on afghan soil so a very strong threat there from the taliban. now, this threat came after we heard from someone who was in the village, the same village where this soldier accused of opening fire and killing 16 civilians. we heard from one of the villagers and an official in the area saying during a funeral that had some high-level afghan officials and the brother of president karzai, there's small arms fire that broke out. we understand at this point that four afghan soldiers have been

wounded. we have not gotten anymore information out of the area at this point in time but four afghan soldiers wounded an enthe attack, no one claimed responsibility yet for this attack but certainly a terrible thing to have happen when people are trying to bury their loved ones. we also saw some protests. in jalalabad, in eastern afghanistan, far away from where this particular incident happened, the massacre on sunday, but still, about 400 to 500 people took to the streets, many of them university students, carol, who took to the streets. they were screaming things like down with america, down with president obama. but it didn't turn violent and remember last month there were much more violent protests that spread in much more of the country when korans were burned and only seeing this in an area, one area right now where protests are breaking out and not seeing protests in other places at this point in time. carol? >> sara, you are in afghanistan. not that you could easily move

around the country but what it's it like now for you? >> reporter: you know, in kabul, things have been quiet for the most part. people are taking precautions. we have heard from groups and concern with aid groups because with the taliban saying they're going to behead any american here in the country, oftentimes aid groups are considered a soft target in villages trying to set up programs to hell villagers so a lot of concern there and obviously concern on any base and so the definitely are seeing heightened security here in afghanistan. >> sara sidner live for us in afghanistan, thanks. the u.s. military is not releasing the suspect's name to, quote, protect the investigation. but we do know a little bit more about that suspect. military sources tell us he's in the mid-30s with a wife and children. he is an infantry sniper trained to deliver fatal shots up to 800 meters away and suffered a

traumatic brain injury in 2010 during the third and final deployment in iraq. treated for the trauma, cleared for duty and deployed to afghanistan in january. his medical history is now part of the investigation which is being handled by the u.s. mail tear. defense secretary panetta says the suspect could face the death penalty if he is found guilty. defense secretary panetta is also talking about the future of u.s. troops in afghanistan. there have been calls to step back and reassess. "the new york times" reporting the administration may even speed up that 2014 deadline for a complete withdrawal. is that possible? barbara starr is at the pentagon for us. barbara, what is panetta saying about the war strategy? >> reporter: well, let me start with this, carol. u.s. officials have from president obama on down have said very strongly, very publicly in the last couple of days that the war strategy will not change because of this incident. in fact, i spoke to a senior

isaf official, nato official this morning. he said general allen, the top commander has made no further decisions about troop withdrawal recommendations, that everything is staying on track as it currently stands. secretary panetta traveling in the region spoke to reporters about this and his view about the need to maintain the commitment. >> we have been through a series of challenging events over these last few weeks in afghanistan. and as i've told president karzai when i talked to him, we seem to get tested almost every other day with challenges that test our leadership and our commitment to the mission that we're involved in. >> reporter: but look. the reality is people, you know, congress, american citizens, asking a lot of questions about this continuing war now more than ten years old. and certainly, i think it's

going to continue to be front and center in the presidential campaign. carol? >> a lot of people are worried about the safety of the troops in afghanistan. i understand some of those troops are taking extra precautions to keep themselves safe. how are they doing that, barbara? >> reporter: you know, security for the troops is always at the highest levels. that is combat zone but since the koran burning, certainly more awareness, more caution across the board. security is up to local commanders at various u.s. bases across the country. some reports emerging now u.s. troops wearing more protective gear, more of the time. patrols, people standing guard duty together. u.s. troops together. more guard duty. so that no u.s. troop is perhaps left more vulnerable if there are disgruntled afghans. that goes to the question after the koran burning of some killing of u.s. troops by afghans.

a lot of concern about the retaliation. a lot of concern that the taliban will try and mount some spectacular attacks and take advantage of the situation, carol. >> barbara starr at the pentagon for us. politics now. the gop candidates are battling it out in the deep south today for 84 delegates in the mississippi and alabama primaries. newt gingrich looking to sway vote earls in alabama today while mitt romney and rick santorum looking to contests in missouri and louisiana. in the meantime, president obama is traveling with the british prime minister david cameron to dayton, ohio, for the opening of the ncaa basketball tournament. turning now to the rising costs for gas, because it has everything to do about politics these days. as some says a gas prices go so goes the election. does anyone have a plan to bring prices down? gas prices went up again to $3.81 a gallon. president obama is keenly aware of that and had this to say to his critics in an interview with

orlando affiliate wftv. >> two thirds of americans today said they don't feel you're doing enough to control gas prices. huge for the florida economy. >> as long as gas prices are going up, people feel like i'm not doing enough. people get hurt when they're going to that gas station and seeing those prices rise every day. >> your opponents say that they can get gas priced in $2, $2.50 range. what do you think americans should be okay with? >> first of all, nobody believes that. that's just politics. >> so does that make you feel better? worse? what is the president's plan to control the rising price of gas? gingrich's or santorum's or romney's? christine romans is here to tell us all about those plans. hi, christine. >> hi there. making assumption first and foremost the president can control the price of gasoline, right? you can tap the strategic

petroleum reserve. that's temporary. have a big recession. that brings prices down. you can handle very carefully the middle east and what happens with iran. that can bring prices down. so this idea on the campaign trail that immediately to bring gas prices down is a little bit tough to swallow for people following the energy markets but could be hurting the president. you look, carol, at his polling and "the new york times"/cbs poll showing the disapproval rating up to 47% and the same poll shown a 50% approval rating not too long ago. newt gingrich, of course, deriding the president on the campaign trail saying that a vote for gingrich is a vote for $2.50 gas and the president in the pocket of environmentalists and radicals who don't want more drilling and oil shael drilling, more domestic drilling is what mitt romney said, alternative energy research. rick santorum says more drilling. getting the theme here, carol? >> drill, baby, drill. >> and they all want to approve the keystone xl.

santorum says he would do it on day one. so those are the plans and in a nutshell, politicking in here. people are hurting because of gas prices and gop candidates want your vote, right? so they want to say, i'm going to be a powerful president to bring down gas prices. the president saying those are phony campaign talk. >> okay. we'll have to be stuck with high gas prices then? >> gas prices could -- look. you can tap the reserve. right? that's one thing to do. the president did i think last year with libya. that has kind of a near-term effect. make sure that things are handled properly in iran with the whole situation of iran. a lot of price of crude oil right now, at least $10 a barrel of crude is because of the iran fear factor. that's important. and then the really long term. are you going to have a strategy to wean american dependence on foreign oil? will you have lots of different -- these are things we have been talking about for years. but the bottom line is, carol, you have brazil, india, china,

emerging markets that are gobbling up crude oil. right? and energy resources. sometimes what's moving the needle isn't us but the rest of the world now. new world. >> i know. you tell me these things all the time. sinking in. it really is. christine romans, thank you. >> bye, carol. now to the primaries and caucuses today. alabama, mississippi, hawaii and the american samoa holding contests. paul steinhauser in garden dale, alabama. there's a guy running for a judgeship, going to arrive at the polls on a horse. i just thought you should know that in case you wanted to cover that. >> reporter: i will have my eyes on this one, carol. i promise. listen. polls open here 7:00 a.m. local. there are about 50 people lined up to vote in advance of that. a steady stream of voters here at this poll station, 30 miles north of birmingham, largest

city in alabama. turnout expected -- secretary of sate office said 29% here. it was higher four years ago. over 42%. remember, four years ago, a democratic and republican primary. this time around, not just the presidential preference primary. so a pretty solid turnout, not a record breaking one but a solid one, carol. >> depressingly low, isn't it? 2008 was depressingly low, right? so paul -- >> well, compared to some other countries, yes. >> exactly. will today do what super tuesday could not by actually narrowing the republican field? >> reporter: i know. what a letdown, right? everyone won on super tuesday. there's a chance of some more clarity here. why? let's take newt gingrich for instance. this is home turf for him,

right? supposedly. across the border. if he doesn't do well here and the polls indicate he will but the chorus of criticism for to get out of the race will grow. what if rick santorum doesn't do well here? that kind of hurts the argument that gingrich should drop out and a two-person race between santorum and romney. what if mitt romney does do well here, carol? not supposed to be friendly ground for him and lowered expectations saying this is an away game for me. it could hurt gingrich and santorum's arguments for the nomination. carol, stay tuned. it should be an interesting day and night here in alabama and mississippi. >> we'll stay tuned. find that judge on a horse. i want to see that. thank you very much. >> i'm looking. >> thanks, paul. cnn coverage of the alabama and mississippi primaries begins at 7:00 eastern with erin burnett and complete live coverage of the results at 8:00 eastern with wolf blitzer, anderson cooper and the cnn political team. and mark your calendar. the deadline to use your flexible spending account is

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a hearing is getting under way on capitol hill about the energy department's controversial loan guarantee program. energy secretary shu is set to testify. lawmakers focusing on a report commissioned by the white house following the solyndra scandal. they went bankrupt after receiving federal loan guarantees. president obama came under heavy criticism because of that. we'll keep you posted. mississippi and alabama in the political spotlight today. polls in the two southern states are already open and later tonight hawaii republicans will vote in their first-ever caucus. there are a total of 110 delegates up for grabs in today's contests. cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein is here.

hi, ron. >> good morning, carol. >> romney and gingrich are shown to be neck and neck. >> you've got kind of a three-way mash-up, the worse nightmare of conservatives coming out to play in the two southern states. you see romney is still around 30% which is basically been his ceiling in the south because he struggles with evangelical christian voters more plentiful there than anywhere else in the country. but santorum and gingrich dividing the vote, you have three converging right about, you know, 30% each and that puts it within reach for romney. i think if he wins either or both, there's howls on the right for either gingrich or santorum, more likely gingrich to get out of the race. >> but gingrich is holding steady saying he's in it to the convention. could this be his last stand? >> well, look. i think if newt gingrich loses both states, it's hard to win an

argument of winning the nomination and what we have seen over the weekend is an important shift in the language certainly of santorum and probably from gingrich, as well, going forward. they're not arguing they can get to a delegate majority on the first ballot but rather they can prevent romney from getting a delegate majority if they stay in the race and thus allow an open convention to reconsider. that's kind of dramatically lowers the bar. if gingrich loses both, i think it's much more difficult to argue about going forward since this is right in the backyard and only states he's won so far, of course, have been the southern states of south carolina and georgia. >> i want to talk about rick santorum because he was on fire there just a short time ago. he doesn't seem so much on fire anymore. >> well, he is a little bit of a one-trick pony as we discussed before. he did well with evangelical christian voters and not doing as well as we impugn to him

given the message and the focus of a blue collar popularism. among nonevangelical voters, he hasn't won more than 31% of the vote in any state with an exit poll so far so that means while he can do well in states where those voters are a big bloc of the republican electorate it really is too narrow a bandwidth for him to overtake romney. he can trip him up, give him black eyes and good days but unless he can appeal to a broader spectrum of the party, he can't beat him. now you see the other problem he faces, gingrich dividing the vote with him. >> ron, thank you. i know you have a long night ahead of you. we appreciate you being here this morning. >> thank you, carol. mitt romney will join wolf blitzer to break down how he thinks the contest will shake out and also talk about what he needs to do to put his competition away for good. if you have a flexible spending account, you may want to schedule some time now to spend what's left in it.

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you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪

a lot of you used flexible spending accounts to save money on your health care costs. the deadline to spend the flex dollars is this thursday. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. so, alison, what happens if you don't use the money? >> okay. well, this is a situation where it's either you use the money or you lose the money. the fsa accounts, flexible spending accounts, carol, they let you use pretax moneys for eligible procedures and you forfeit it if you don't use it. surprise. pretty common for people to do this. take a look. a study shows that the average employee actually leaves about 75 bucks in the account letting it sit there and go away. now, most employers give you an extra two and a half months in the new year to spend the money but listen up that grace period, yes, it ends this thursday.

carol? >> what do you do if you have money left over? rush to the doctor? >> all right. so here's some things to do. keep in mind that the rules have actually changed because of the 2010 health care bill. in past years, you could just run to the drugstore and stock up on the over the counter medicines but those are not eligible anymore unless you have a doctor's prescription. so what is eligible? we put together a bit of a list here. take a look. >> sunscreen? >> it's eligible, yeah. with spf higher than 15. stock up. summer is just around the corner. band-aids. contact lens solution. ankle braces and reading glasses. it counts. you want to check your plan before you go ahead and buy it because companies do have some flexibility in determines which expenses they demonstrate eligible. here's another way. taking medication on a regular basis, ask your doctor now to write you a prescription for this year's supply and then buy it now using the leftover 2011

flex money. that's a good tip, as well, carol. >> right. unless, of course, it's for oxycontin. then he probably won't do this. >> figured you would say something like that. >> sorry. alison kosik, thank you. this time actor chuck norris is throwing support behind newt gingrich. you will hear his message to voters in alabama and mississippi. it is priceless and it's next. come on frank how long have we known each other? go to e-trade. they got killer tools man. they'll help you nail a retirement plan that's fierce. two golden crowns. you realize the odds of winning are the same as being mauled by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day? frank! oh wow, you didn't win? i wanna show you something... it's my shocked face. [ gasps ] ♪ [ male announcer ] get a retirement plan that works at e-trade.

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checking our top stories now. anger in the streets of afghanistan. protesters railing against the u.s. as an army sergeant stand accused of slaughtering civilians. this is the taliban now vowing fresh retaliation by beheading americans. president obama is getting grilled on gas prices. >> two thirds of americans today said they don't feel as though you're doing enough to control gas prices. it is huge for the florida

economy. >> that's one of the reasons we passed the payroll tax cut at the beginning of the year so people have more money in the paychecks and pockets to absorb potential high price of gas. and mitt romney and newt gingrich are betting on alabama and mississippi. voters in both states going to the polls today. a total of 84 delegates up for grabs in those two states. political buzz, rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. here, pete dominic, patricia murphy and boris epstein. welcome to all of you. >> good morning. >> hi, carol. >> hi, carol. >> hi. first of all, let's talk about rising gas prices and the race for the white house. listen first to jay leno. >> here's some very scary news. gasoline could be $6 a gallon by summer. but the good news is the white

house says president obama is aware of the problem and will continue to talk about it between fund-raisers. that's good. working on that problem. >> oh, ouch. so what do you guys think? will gas prices decide the presidential election? patrici patricia? >> i think the economy will decide the election and gas prices are a huge part of that and if you look at, for example, the benefits of the payroll tax cut, the rise in gas prices over the last month alone wiped out a quarter of the benefits of the payroll tax cut and as much as the president wants to do about the economy if gas prices are rising and dragging down consumers, that hurts him at the poll. there's no doubt. any economist will tell you. there's very little a president can do in the short term to affect gas prices. all he can do is try. that's what he's doing now. >> time's up. boris? >> what he can do is show the american people he's doing his

best and vetoing the keystone pipeline is opposite. that's a hit to get in ten seconds. this president doesn't want to build a pipeline to reduce gas prices and build more jobs in america. that's bad. jimmy carter in 1980 gas prices were in today's dollars $3.50. going to five, forget six that jay leno is talking about. huge problem for the president. approval ratings in january and february don't mean much in november. >> okay. pete? >> well, there's -- i read all the experts this morning. no evidence that says oil and gas prices affect the elections. i agree that it has a lot to do with the economy and no evidence that the keystone pipeline will bring down gas. the amount of refineries, the political unrest, supply, demand. we should stop using so much fuel in this country. we should do our best to conserve. the people in europe pay way more and they haven't spiraled out of control because of it.

they have been doing that for a long, long time. this is -- there's nothing the president can do right now. >> okay. second question, laws requiring voters to show their i.d. at the polls were struck down in texas and in wisconsin. in the wisconsin case, the judge wrote voter fraud is no more poisonous to the democracy than voter suppression. indeed, they are two heads on the monster. what are voter i.d. laws really about, boris? >> voter i.d. laws are about preventing voter registration frud and voter fraud. i was on mccain 2008 and part of the task force. it's a problem. the supreme court already ruled on this and crawford versus marion county and stooefbs, a very liberal judge said indiana's voter i.d. law is constitutional, it is constitutional to require the identification to vote just like

to go on a plane, get a book out of a library or go to a public high school. >> pete? >> yeah, i'm guessing the offensive line of the dallas cowboys didn't actually vote in that election. this is a legislation clearly designed to disenfranchise people most likely to vote for democrats. it is not a problem. here. carol, watch me make up a racially motivated law. i think anybody wearing their hats backwards should not be allowed to vote because it really hurts the curtain closing in the booth. there's no evidence for that but let's just throw it out there. why didn't the laws come up, boris, a long time ago? we have been arguing all the way from the makeup room to the tv. >> fighting it out. >> patricia? >> they got in a fist fight over this argument. >> not quite. >> that's the -- >> maybe mud wrestling. but it demonstrates that voter i.d. laws are about politics. if you're a democrat, you interpret it to be a clear case of voter suppression. if you're a republican, you

consider it a way to get to voter fraud, the problem is there's not a lot of evidence of prosecution of voter fraud. boris told me that's about prevention and not prosecution but if you don't have a number, if you don't have demonstrated evidence of huge massive voter fraud, why do you have laws coming up in an election year? i think that's what you have to ask and where a es the balance between voter suppression and i.d. that this wisconsin judge made the decision. >> 2010. >> all good points. let's go to the third question now. this is the buzzer beater. 20 seconds on the clock. as voters in mississippi and alabama head to the polls today, they're receiving robo-calls from actor chuck norris. listen. >> hello. this is chuck norris. as my wife and i watch the gop debate and went to their website, we were trying to decide which of the candidates would be best to do head to head combat with president obama. now, i didn't say hand to hand combat. even though i think they would win there, too. we decided that newt gingrich

would be the best man to beat president obama. >> although, on second thought, he had an interesting point. maybe hand to hand combat would be a better way to decide the presidency. thoughts? pete? >> hello. this is chuck norris. i'm a talented hack and i can't even read well on an robo-call. head to head, if it was size of the head, newt gingrich would beat president obama. he has a huge head but clearly he couldn't beat him in an actual fight. president obama is an awesome shape and looks like gingrich hasn't exercised perhaps ever. with respect. >> patricia? >> just in honor of the mississippi and alabama vote today, i say a grits eating contest. can you identify grits and do you know the difference between cheese grits and cheesy grits? that would tell us. >> that's very telling. boris? >> look. i would love to see like a wwe wrestling mania last man

standing get all the republican candidates in there. bring back herman cain with 999. bring back rick perry. throw in a couple of others and then put obama in there and see what happens and then let obama pick some of his own team from the democrats, notary publancy . i'd be scared. reid was a professional boxer in his day. a ton of fun. >> who would be afraid of nancy pelosi? >> it would be all dudes! >> dudes and nancy. pete, boris, patricia, thank you for playing with us today. it was fun. >> thanks, carol. one of rupert murdoch's former top executives under arrest. why british police took brooks in to custody. we'll explain what happened to this delta jet. stay tuned. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol

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oh, the long wait is over for fans of the abc series "the bachelor." ben's search for the soul mate finally ended. and a.j. hammer is here to tell you the winner. >> thank goodness we know who won this thing. courtney robertson, carol, took the ring from bachelor ben. seems when you look back at the season, a lot of fans loved to hate. if not making fun of the hair cut, they were going crazy over the behavior and seen her as the villain. loved breaking the rules, seemed

to take the clothes off and she also staged this mock wedding on a date a few episodes and peeved some people and ultimately ben picked courtney over the other nice bachlorettes on the show and ended the finale with the promises of love and future together. but of course, tabloids have them splitting up in real life and published photos of ben looking for love with other ladies and i sit here in shock this morning it may not be eternal love for them. >> it tears me up inside, too, it does. >> yeah, yeah. >> talk about "the hunger games." people are really looking forward to that movie or i guess it's a series. >> this looks like -- it is a series. it's a trilogy. looks like the film opening this weekend could be bigger than "twilight." you can see how excited the fans were last night at the premier. it is reportedly on track for the huge opening weekend. the hollywood reporter is predicting one of the biggest debuts ever. now, presales have been better

for this than the last "twilight" film for a sense of how it's going. the reason seems to be more men are as interested in this film as women. and the movie, of course, is based on the best selling trilogy of books about a young woman living in this warped future where she's forced to fight other children to the death simply for the amusement of a televised audience. all that while dealing with a love triangle of the good boy and the bad boy she grew up with and interesting to see how it plays out this weekend and huge, carol. >> man, it sounds depressing yet fascinating. a.j. hammer, thanks so much. you want information on everything breaking in the entertainment, a.j. has it tonight at 11:00 eastern on hln. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone.

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small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. the calendar says spring is still a week away but, boy, it already feels like it across the country. take a look at this picture of washington, d.c. 61 degrees in washington today. and the day's just getting started. cnn meteorologist rob marciano is here and the cherry blossoms are already starting to bloom. way early. >> yeah. >> so what's the deal? it is warm everywhere. >> well, what's crazy is we had an incredibly warm winter and that's -- rolling right in to spring. we think of that as march 1st. as far as weather guys are concerned, we are in it right now.

we were the fourth warmest winter on record in the u.s., new york and boston, second warmest. d.c. third warmest. you get the idea. nearly everybody saw an incredibly warm winter. well, we're striking that cord real quickly here getting in to the middle of may. yesterday, 84 degrees in st. louis. all-time record for st. louis there for the day. 73 degrees in newark. central park seeing 71. >> wow. >> syracuse, seeing 68 degrees. that will get you the orange men fired up for the tourney. this is a look at the average high temperatures. a lot of these temps 20 and some cases today and tomorrow 30 degrees above average. all right? that's pretty incredible stuff. the average high in new york is 49 degrees. 71 degrees is what we expect to see today. and similar numbers, 77 degrees the average high temperature or the 55 degrees the average high temperature in d.c. and 77 degrees is the expected high temperature today. and that's for the northeast. as far as the upper midwest is concerned, we saw 84 degrees in st. louis yesterday. we expect to see 81 degrees

today, a good 20 to 26 degrees above average and places like sioux falls. seattle, meanwhile, 43 degrees. that's below average. >> spoiler. >> seeing one side of the country hot, the other is coal. snowed on the beach today in new port, oregon. inches of snow there and getting finally a little bit of a taste of winter but, yeah. the positive signs, we have seen over 20 -- over 200 record high temperatures set in the past few days but your heating bill, you know, piece of cake this year. >> that's right. just your air conditioning bill now. we'll talk more about this tomorrow. i hope you're here. >> absolutely, yeah. >> just checking. if you looking for work, you probably posted personal information online. we share information fast and easy for hackers to steal. hln's digital lifestyle

contributor mario armstrong is here to teach us to how to protect ourselves. welcome, mario. >> how are you? >> i'm good but disturbed with what you're about to say. i mean, exactly what personal information are hackers using against us? >> well, you know, it doesn't take a lot these days, carol. can be as simple as a cell phone number. can be an e-mail address. it can be a snail mail address. it doesn't really take a lot to grab bits and pieces of different information of different locations. it could be on one social networking site or another and then compile all of that information and aggregate it together to be able to open new lines of credit or other damaging things you're not expecting to have in your credit history. >> there's a story floating around about linkedin and how hackers are using information on linkedin to hack in to companies. >> right. >> what are they doing? >> yeah. so this is interesting. so hackers go where many people

go and we're talking millions of users on linkedin, a phenomenal site. i recommend it for people trying to broaden their careers, make good networks. we have people out of jobs in america looking to find their job or find that connection and linkedin is a source to do that. however, people are setting up fake linkedin accounts, they're setting up fake identities and people giving them friend requests and access, once you say i accept you as a friend, they're getting in to not all of your information, the school you graduated from, what jobs you used to have and work and also potential access to your friends, as well, that you have in there. your rolodex information contacts. they can set up fake profiles and within them they can put links that if you click on the links could send you to sites to farm out or phish for personal information from you. >> what's smart way to handle this? how do you protect yourself?

>> number one, i think we need to get away from the blind trust culture and stuck in this, oh, let me see that invite? i'll accept you. without doing our own due diligence. why would you just accept someone for the sake of accepting them? number one, keep it business on linkedin. no personal information. change a password frequently making sure that you're safe and changed it even if you feel, especially if you feel there's suspicious activity. if you log in, do it on a secure connection. and number four, monitor and really check the friend requests before you just go ahead and accept. >> okay. we'll try to follow the rules. mario, thank you for being with us today. >> yes. thank you so much, carol. >> you're welcome. steak and burger lovers, listen up. to live longer, stop eating red meat. results of a pretty scary study straight ahead.

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brakes. luckily no passengers on board. if you're thinking about having a hamburger or a steak for dinner tonight, you might want to change your plans after hearing this. a new study says eating just one serving of red meat a day increasing your risk of an early death by 13%. harvard researchers suggest eating more protein sources like fish, nuts and whole grains. the study the first toest skate swapping out red meat on a life span. british police arresting several people, one of them the former murdoch aide and editor allegedly for phone hacking. live to london next. [ woman ] dear cat, gentle cat, your hair mixes with pollen and dust in the air. i get congested. my eyes itch. i have to banish you to the garden. but now, with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®,

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british police investigating the alleged phone hacking scandal or phone hacking i should say arrest six more people this morning. "wall street journal" and "skies news" say it includes rebekah brooks and her husband, a top executive for rupert murdoch's empire. matthew chance is following developments in london. what more can you tell us, matthew in. >> reporter: i'm outside scotland yard, the headquarters of the police and a statement, a number of them issued throughout the course of the day saying the six individuals have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. charges sort of relating to not so much hacking itself but