. hello, everyone. i'm don lemon. 11:00 on the east coast, 8:00 on the west and a busy hour straight ahead. grisly screens frenes from the war. this shot and another one posted in the "los angeles times" are more than two years old, but the outrage from the upper ranks is fresh. the allied commander says he

strongly condemns what the pentagon is calling inhumane conduct and a criminal investigation is under way. the "times" says it got the photoses from a soldier who wants to highlight a breakdown in leadership and discipline that could further endanger the troops. much more on this story in a moment when i talk with wesley clark. stay tuned for that. police in fayetteville, north carolina plan to start a ground search near the bar where a missing young army private was last seen early saturday morning. kelly bordeaux was reported missing on monday. an army official says she apparently got a ride from a bar employee and later texted someone that she got home safely. bordeaux is 23 years old, 5-feet tall and weighs 99 pounds. police say for now they're treating this as a missing person's case, not a criminal investigation. could be prelude to a

nucle nuclear test. yesterday the new government kim jong-un ditched a u.s. agreement to allow nuclear inspectors. u.s. also cancelled a deal to provide much needed food aid because of the rocket launch which washington said was a disguised long range missile test. officials say kim may now order the test of a nuclear device. a would-be test who plotted to kill americans with suicide bombs in new york subways is details his botched plans for a second day on the stand today. the mastermind of the 2009 plot testified about how he and two of his high school friends hatched their plan. trial centers around this man, one of his friends. he is the only one of three on the trial. prosecutors say he and his two friends were trained by al qaeda in pakistan. and plan to strap bombs to hair bodies and blow them up in new

york subway stations. >> the the violence defense women act. live pictures now. joe biden will lead the push to reauthorize the law. he'll be with other supporters of the violence against women act at the white house forum. the law that was passed in 1994 would finance and help domestic violence programs, but is facing push back from some republicans over new protections for illegal immigrants and gays. police have nabbed a suspect for allegedly killing a houston woman and kidnapping her newborn son. verna mcclean was arrested yesterday, the 30-year-old registered nurse faces capital murder charges and confessed to shooting 28-year-old kala golden outside a pediatrician's office on tuesday. the report states mcclain shot the new mom multiple times in the parking lot before taking golden's baby. the 3 day old baby boy was found safe six hours later.

many of you are fed up with those airport screeners. but this man bareed all, we mean that, in expressing his opinion of the process. john brennan says screeners were harassing him, so he took off all of his clothes at the portland international airport in oregon. police say screeners asked him numerous times to put his clothes back on, he didn't. so he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct aindecet exposure. police say he was not intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. rick santorum mincing no words about what he thinks of mitt romney. in a letter to iowa voters, santorum says it truly frightens me to think what will happen if mitt romney is the nominee. letter goes on to say republicans and conservatives will be crippled by a nominee who presents zero contrast with barack obama on the major issues. santorum says the letter was sent out before he dropped out of the race, but santorum has so

far declined to endorse mitt romney. a major league pitcher is proving to the world that old is still gold. us old guys can still do something. 49-year-old jamie moyer is the oldest pitcher to ever win a major league game. his seven strong innings helped the rockies beat the padres. >> i'm still able to live the dream. and i still believe i have the passion for the game. and, you know, it's a special night for me. >> moyer broke the record held since 1932 by a brooklyn dodgers pitcher. he made his debut in 1986. and in texas, a 6-year-old boy started selling lemonade to raise money for her father's medical bills last saturday, but he had no idea so many people would turn out to help him. his father has a rare form of cancer and kltv says word of the lemonade stand spread so fast, he ended up raising $10,000. >> to help my dad and with his

bills. >> it's cute. a family friend also says that they set up a gifford account to help drew's dad. good luck to him. third meg dwa million lot theo rlottery winner was pickeds a $3 quick pick. omg, right? meet the butlers from red bud village in illinois and you're looking at live pictures of the press conference where their announcement is being made. can you imagine? look at that. do we want to listen? nah. he's too lucky. we're all jealous. three winners for the $656 million mega millions jackpot. two of them have already claimed their share, but have remained anonymous. on now to our head story, our lead story, photos published today showing u.s. troops posing with the bodies of afghan suicide bomber respect. that's coming up next.

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i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. welcome back. once again, the pentagon and nato are condemning conduct unbecoming u.s. troops in afghanistan. "los angeles times" today published two of what it says are 18 photos supplied by a soldier from the 82nd airborne division who served in afghanistan. this was 2010. keep in mind. this is one of them that you're looking at, u.s. troops here seen posing with afghan police and the severed regulars of a suicide bomber. we have blurred those out for you. and we have not verified the picture independently, but military leaders aren't waiting to weigh in on this. here's what a pentagon spokesman is saying. these images by no means

represent the values or professionalism of the vast majority of u.s. trooping serving in afghanistan today. an investigation that could lead to disciplinary measure is under way. anyone found responsible for this inhumane conduct will be held accountable in accordance with our military justice system. i want to bring in a man with unparalleled insights on it this particular matter, wesley character, now a businessman respect adviser and scholar. so general, the "times" says its anonymous source hoped to draw attention to a breakdown in leadership ands can pla s caand. when you look at these pictures, do you see a leadership breakdown there? >> well, it doesn't represent the standards or the training or values of the united states armed forces. our soldiers and leaders know you tonigdon't pose with dead e bodies. and there's a lot of other things that you don't do. i think the men and women of the

armed forces have done a remarkable job. our leadership has done a remarkable job. no one ever expected when this conflict began in 2001 that we would be in it ten years later, 11 years later, and the volunteer army would have held together and done so very well. this is an exception. and i know the military will take the proper measures. >> it's an exception, but let's look at this. we know in january the video of the soldiers urinating on corpses, and pen defebruary dea riots off ter t s after of the the korans. and then the deadly massacre. >> we've accomplished our major objective there. we've taken strong measures against al qaeda. it's a broken organization at

least as it was in 2001. and it's not going to recover at least not in the near term there. there are other enemies on the ground in afghanistan. and it's been a tough fight. so winning the hearts and minds, i think what we can expect on do is continue training the off began security forces. i think we can expect to fulfill the obligations there to karzai's government and i think we'll get an orderly withdrawal out of that region as the president said 2014. that's what we're really looking for. there will be mixed feelings because those mixed feelings on the ground are inevitable in war time. this is a country that's been through 40 years of war. so there have been a lot of losses, a lot of tragedy, a lot of hatred. will is one more small piece of that. >> general, i have to ask you this as a journalist. i know no news organization would take lightly this request from the pentagon, they asked the "l.a. times" oig not to run the pictures because they were worried about our service members' safety.

and i want to read a statement from the paper. after careful consideration, we decided that publishing a small but representative selection would fulfill our obligation to readers to report impartially on all aspects of the mission to afghanistan including the allegation that the images reflect a breakdown in unit discipline that was endangering u.s. troops. what do you think, is it right or wrong to run these pictures? i think the public has a right to know, but there is also something there about the safety of our men and women in uniform. >> it's a tradeoff. if i had been in the pentagon, i'd have appealed to the "l.a. times" not to do it because i wouldn't want any unnecessary risk for our troops. the "l.a. times" is a journalism organization. they have their own opportunities, their own concept offen telling gr efe ein-egin-t. that's their decision.

they'll have to live with the consequences. but the government can't be in position of being able to control the media totally. people have to be able to exercise individual, independent judgments. i'm disappointed in the action, disappointed that it saw publicity and i hope our troops will be okay and i hope we'll prevent this in the future. >> well said. thank you, general. appreciate it. who are the most influence sat people on the planet? the new list is out and pd you may be surprise who had is really change the world. that's next. the chevy cruze eco also offers 42 mpg on the highway. actually, it's cruze e-co, not ec-o. just like e-ither. or ei-ther. or e-conomical. [ chuckling ] or ec-onomical. pa-tato, po-tato, huh?

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so think about this. if you had to pick the year's

most influential people, who would they be? besides yourself, of course. "time" magazine is about on come out with its list. that hits news stands on thursday, but you're getting a sneak preview and you can see some of the names right here on the cover, i guess. there they go. many of them are pretty obvious, right? their names and faces, household names. the expected politicians, high powers execs, sports star, celebrities. but then there are others who are quietly making their mark and influencing lives, as well. people you don't know. but you should. more on who made the "times" 100 most influential list now with the executive editor. thank you for joining us. as we were talking, i'm upset that i didn't make it, your parents are upset that they're not on it, as well. but what's the criteria for the people who ultimately decide here? >> we put out an apb to our staff in january. all our writers around the word,

editor, former persons of the year, former members of the time 100 and we asked them who is the most influential people on your beat, about your field, what have you. and we get tons of suggestions. and we start to debate and narrow down. and we're a global magazine, we're looking for a global reach on this list. we're looking to represent a lot of different stories and a lot of different innovations. >> and the world is a big place, so narrowing it down, i'm sure the criteria is very tough. you divide it into five categories. the famous high profile people, who are some of the most flew shl peop influential people that we should know about but don't? >> in the unfamiliar category is a young man who is the founder of kahn academy, and online hub for educational videos. and this is a guy who used to run a hedge fund.

he posted like an algebra tutorial for his cousin across the country and it was help pl to her and he decided that this is something that we should be doing in terms of using digital technology to help with education. now they there are 3,000 videos on the site. bill gates wrote about him. he uses the videos with his kids. and he's doing something very simple, but very powerful. >> people who look at this list as a celebration of high profile and plu shal people. but it's not always people who are influencing in the right way because you have some controversial figures on will like assad and kim jong-un. why did you choose to put them on? >> we would use it if everyone used their influence for the good and we feel like that's not the case. and the president of syria has been a huge driver of news and unfortunately has had a very powerful influence in the middle east this year.

so we put him on. but we also want to draw your attention to another syrian on the list who is the political cartoonist who is using his pen to resist the regime. and so that's sort of the plip side flip side of the bad influence. >> can't wait for the list on come out on thursday. thank you, always a pleasure. >> thanks so much. a 22-year-old man wakes up unable to tell hot from cold. a few weeks later, he's diagnosed with ms. his incredible journey to beat the odds and each a younger generation about the disease. that's next. [ male announcer ] there's a crushing national debt hanging over us. hindering economic growth. it's time for some common sense -- people in congress who'll come together and put partisan politics aside. not with radical schemes that gamble with america's future.

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has the remarkable story of a young man. he's not just living with the disease, but helping others to overcome it. >> reporter: noah doesn't miss a beat. or a chance to perform. he's life about about showbiz began on tv as a child actor, including an episode of goose bumps and the virgin suicides. but by his teenage year, it was music that proved to be noah's true calling. >> everyone in the studio would fall asleep and wake up in the morning and i'd still be sitting in front of the computer. so this started calling me 40 days and 40 nights because i didn't sleep. >> reporter: as a go-to sound engineer, 40 soon attracted the attention of drake. ♪ now a grammy nominated recording artist. >> we worked together for a couple days in the studio.

i charged him a little bit of money and by the third day, we sort of agreed that we were going to take a road together. >> reporter: and then a monumental setback. 40 found himself celebrating his 22nd birthday in the hospital. >> i woke up one day and all the temperature in my body was distorted. the sense of hot and cold was a confusing thing. >> reporter: the diagnosis, multiple sclerosis. 40 spent the next two years trying to get back on his feet. two years later, another set book oig. noah's mom was also diagnosed with ms which is pot directly i inherited. >> i've got this disease, i'm going to win with it and my story will be that much better when i get there. >> reporter: today he is there. right there. on a massive electronic billboard in new york city's times square. he's in a campaign for the national ms society. >> as long as i'm on my feet, i will continue to run. and until somebody stops me.

>> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. an irs office in flames after a pilot flies right into it. his wife details the hours leading up to his suicide mission next. d annoying account. at e-trade, our free easy-to-use online tools and experienced retirement specialists can help you build a personalized plan. and with our no annual fee iras and a wide range of low cost investments, you can execute the plan you want at a low cost. so meet with us, or go to etrade.com for a great retirement plan with low cost investments. ♪ [ man announcing ]irement plan what we created here.stments. what we achieved here. what we learned here. and what we pioneered here.

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two years ago, a man by the name of joe stack crashed his plane into the irs office in austin and left behind a manifesto railing against the government. now the woman who knew him best is speaking out and she spoke with kyra phillips exclusively about carrying the burden of what her husband did. here is part one of faith and fury. ♪ >> i still love joe. i don't think that joe was a bad person. >> reporter: it took some time for sheryl stack to get to this point. for two years, she has

struggled, but has found comfort in her music and her faith. >> i have been more sad than mad. suicide is so painful on so many different levels and then you add the public factor, the public suicide. >> reporter: it was february 18th, 2010. an angry and violent joe sack set his family's house on fire, then drove here to the georgetown municipal airport, boarded a single engine plane, and was cleared for takeoff. at 9:44 a.m., joe stack was headed for his final flight. joe stack knew exactly where he

was going. the echelon building in austin which housed the irs. >> a single engine aircraft has crashed in to a seven story building. >> it was a fireball. people were screaming, a few crying. >> reporter: stack slammed his plane between the first and second floors of the building. it if exploded on impact. one man was killed. vernon hunter. immediately there were fears that this was an act of terrorism. but it wasn't. it was severally one man's grudge against the irs. and then came the manifesto. before stack would die by suicide, the 53-year-old software engineer would leave behind a rambling diatribe online where he railed against

the government in excruciating detail. i choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at big brother while he strips my carcass, stack wrote. i choose not to ignore what is going on all around me. i have just had enough. ♪ today that manifesto still haunts sheryl stack. what do you say to people that may be listening to you and thinking how could she not know about this rage, about this manifesto, about this anger? >> well, i knew that he was angry, but i thought he was angry at us, you know, about the irs, i didn't know that he was violent. how could i possibly know he would do a thing like that? >> reporter: sheryl met joseph

stack through a mutual friend in 2005. both loved music. sheryl played piano, joe played base guitar. two years later in a small ceremony in austin, they married. joining them was sheryl's 12-year-old taught, margo. what made you fall in love with joe? >> well, he was really sweet and funny and smart. >> reporter: so you both loved music. p. >> we both loved music. and he also was a private pilot and he had his own plane. >> reporter: did he ever talk about how he was angry with the government, angry with the irs? >> when we were dating, he did talk about the irs and he did not seem so angry, he just didn't like them. >> reporter: what would he say? >> you know, he thought they were crooks, they were above the law. >> reporter: but actually, joe's emotions ran much deeper.

in the '80s while living in california, he was part of the anti-tax movement. even forming his own tax exempt home church. his run-ins with the irs continued for decades. then in late 2008, joe and sheryl got audited. and once again, joe was in another battle with the irs. a battle he wasn't going to lose. joe stack started to document what would soon become his suicide mission. he wrote, december brat tispera for desperate measures. and violence not only is the the answer, it is the only answer. >> he said they're never going to leave me alone. >> reporter: when do you think he was writing this manifesto? >> one day he was writing and whenever i would walk into the room where he was writing, he would just turn his attention to me. >> reporter: so when you walked

in, he closed your computer, he had something he can't want you to see? >> but i couldn't know what it was. and so a few days before that horrible day when everything -- i don't know what to call that day. i don't know what to call that day. but a few days before that, he was writing and i walked in, i said, honey, what are you writing, are you writing a journal, are you keeping a journal some and he said something like that. >> reporter: coming up -- >> i saw the smoke and i thought, oh, my god, he's burned the house down. >> reporter: the tape you haven't heard. she tells arson's investigator what she knew in the hours leading up to her husband's final flight.

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you're look at chilling images after a plane flew into an irs building two years ago. joe stack and an irs employ kree were killed. and just hours before that, he burned their house down leaving behind a wife, stepdaughter and with a whole lot of questions. he expressed anger for what he called mr. big brother irs man. now two years later, stack's wife speaks with kyra phillips about his death and the last time she saw him alive. here is part two now of faith and fury. >> reporter: this is what's left of the home that joe stack burned down. is it hard to come back here?

>> that's hard to answer. it's not as hard as it was initially. it was really hard right after it all happened. >> reporter: among the rubble, reminders of a different joe stack. a burned guitar case. and this, message of faith. >> everything was completely black and covered with soot. and there were some boards with nails sticking out of it. and on one of these boards was this looked like a white flag. and i went over and picked it up and turned it around and it was this irish blessing. it was a tea towel and it wasn't burned. >> reporter: the only thing still hanging in that entire house. >> everything was completely burned. >> reporter: iconic, considering what joe did. sheryl says in the months before, he began acting

differently. he became more angry with the ir scht and the audit. he started to blame sheryl and her daughter, margo, for all his problems. and he became increasingly strict with margo. sheryl talked about divorce. tension continued to build. and according to usaustin polic record, sheryl said joe had threatened her daughter on previous occasions, even lettened to break her neck. life with joe was getting odd. and more unbearable. >> he said that we were the cause of you all of his troubles. >> reporter: wow. >> but thhawastha that was at te that he was giving me a birthday card and saying you're the best thing that ever happened to me in my whole life. >> reporter: then came their final night together. everything seemed fine. sheryl was giving a piano lesson.

h margo, who was only 12, was preparing dinner with joe. what would happen next would change their lives forever. >> after we had dinner, we sat down in the family room and he was just talking, like he just wanted to leave. and he said he was just going to disappear, but we didn't know what he was talking about. and i said, mom, he's not even taking the tooth brush with him or anything. where is he going? this is kind of scaring me. >> so did you think might doing some that wasn't right? >> i kind of had like a feeling that something was going to happen, like something bad. and i told my mom that i wanted to leave. and she said okay. and so we left. >> sheryl took her daughter to this nearby are a mramada inn. she never heard from joe again. the next morning, this is what sheryl drove up to.

in this interview obtained by cnn, listen to what sheryl tells the fire department's arson investigator. >> i saw the smoke billowing and i said, oh, my god, he's burned the houts down. and then i figured he was in it because he's suicidal. i figured he was in the house. so i couldn't wait to see his car. you know, once i realized he burned down our house and everything in it, i hope he's in the house because if he's not, he's still at large and i have to be afraid for my life because he's mad at me for ruining his life. >> why would he set the house on fire. >> >> i don't know if it's because we left or if he just completely blew up inside m himself. i don't know. i don't know if he would have done it if we'd sayed. >> reporter: two years later, do you find yourself saying, oh, my gosh, my gut was right to get out of the house that night, to get my daughter out of there?

>> her gut was right. she may have saved our lives. >> reporter: the morning of the fire, sheryl and her daughter took refuge at a neighbor's home. >> we just got some information -- >> reporter: it would be there she would discover the fate of her husband on the local news. >> -- the airplane that hit -- >> they interrupted the house fire to show that a plane had crashed into a building. >> reporter: how did you react when you realized it was his plane and it was him? >> well, i don't think i did react. think i just was in complete and utter shock. >> reporter: sheryl was left to deal with the rage that had been documented in destructive and direct detail.

>> he wrote in the manifesto but violence not only is the answer, it's the only answer. >> i don't know who that is. i don't know that man. >> reporter: a man who would be secretly simmering for decades, leaving behind a rant against the u.s. tax system. and a wife who just wants to refer the joe she loved. >> i learned a lot being up in the air with joe. one of the things that i learned up there is that the sun is always shining on the other side of the clouds. might be a really dark, dark day, might be a terrible, terrible day, but on the other side of those clouds, the sun is shining.

>> now thanks to good friends and members of her church, sheryl has received a lot of help financially. she sold the property where her home once stood and recently moved into a new home with her daughter and as for the irs audit, sheryl, would teaches piano, says she continues to pay off that $20,000 debt. and faith and fury will air again will saturday with kyra felt l phillips at 8:00 p.m. eastern. make sure you tune in. dead or in jail that's what ted nugent is promising he'll be if president obama gets elected. could his comments backfire on mitt romney. fair game next. great shot.

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bashing the president of the united states in very derogatory terms. ted nugent on a rant denouncing president obama as a criminal among other nasty things. reportedly now being investigated by the secret service and it is fair game for us today. joining us now is mr. roland martin and also christopher metzler. first, guy, thank you for joining us. i want to listen to part of what nugent said about the president and his administration.

take a listen. >> if barack obama becomes the president in november, again, i will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. our president and attorney general, our vice president, hillary clinton, they're criminals. >> all right, so we want to point out that the romney campaign put out a statement saying the candidate believes everyone needs to be civil. so, first of all, to you, roll land, your first reaction to w nugent's statement. >> pure ignorance, shameful and ridiculous.nugent's statement. >> pure ignorance, shameful and ridiculous. and weaks as paper the romney statement where you don't reference ted nugent. liberals and conservative shoes have the courage to call out supporters who use that kind of language.

he should be denounced for those ridiculous comments. >> chris. >> the comments are absolutely offensive. there is no question about that. and i think what candidates have to understand, i'm not suggesting that any presidential candidate must respond to each and every comment by each and every supporter. however, when you do take the y endorsement, you have a responsibility to respond to the supporters. and at this point it's becoming more of a distraction. the romney campaign needs to come out and say, as to what nugent said, this is offensive. it's offensive. there's no other way of explaining it. and for those conservatives who are afraid to take that position for fear that other conservatives will not like that, too bad. this is about what's right, and in this particular case, this is ridiculous. >> roland, i have to ask you this, just outside of the beltway and people -- diehard

politicos. when nugent says something like that, don't post people go what an idiot and move on instead of responding this way, a secret service investigation? aren't they just like, idiotic remarks? >> i can't speak for what most people think. sure, if you listen to what people have to ska whethay, fol say it's idiotic. but the difference is this here. mitt romney sought ted knew jnu endorsement. when you seek somebody's endorsement, the question then comes up, are you going to be using ted nugent on the campaign trail? is he going to be out there as one of your surrogates? that's what changes the dynamics when somebody says something. >> roland, what about the secret service though apparently investigating. is that too much? >> no. the job of the secret service is to investigate every threat against the president of the united states. whether he's a democrat or republican. they are simply doing their job, and i would say any democrat or

republican or independent, they would want the president safe at all times. it's their job to investigate all threats. >> chris, do you see this as a threat? he didn't outright say i'm going to do something. he just said they're criminals and i'll be dead or in jail or something -- >> actually he also said cut their heads off by november. >> right. >> that's what he also said. >> look, the bottom line is it is the secret service job to investigate it. they will find what it is that they're going to find. and so i think they have a responsibility to investigate it. you know, whether it's a threat, they'll come to that conclusion on their own, but i think it will be derelict of them not to at least conduct that investigation. and then see where it leads. i think that's fair enough. >> i want to talk now about this secret service investigation just real quickly, i have a short time left. roland, do you think the critics of this are overreaching, the people trying to score political points against the administration for what happened in colombia? >> first of all, anyone trying to score -- trying to blast president obama for what the secret service agents allegedly

did, they're absolutely wrong. the job of the advance team is to protect the president. you lay the groundwork. they are just as important as the protective detail, and so people shouldn't say, well, the president is safe and these guys really weren't near them. 2 it does not matter. this is what their job is. absolutely they should investigate this fully. >> i have 10, 15 seconds here. what do you say? >> but i do think there's a larger issue here. if you put in place the jsa administrator and now the head of the secret service, there's a question in theed a m abo ed ad about the culture of these organizations and whether there is sufficient culture change in the organizations. so i think, in fact, you have to look at this. at some point i think the head of the secret service may want to step down because what this indicates is there is a culture in the secret service that probably is not the best and it needs to be looked into. >> chris, that's going to have to be the last word.

chris and roland, thank you. >> sure. it's the final countdown to the olympic game. right now on u.s. olympic hopefuls. they're in times square showing off their skills. we'll go there live next. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. standard keyless access, and standard leather-trimmed seats, then your choice is obvious. the lexus es. it's complete luxury in a class full of compromises. see your lexus dealer. [ slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums.

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today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. 100 days to go until the olympics in london, and the city is getting ready to welcome the world. olympic organizers unveil the events motto, it's inspire a generation. they're doing some dry runs to make sure everything works perfectly during the opening ceremony on july 27th.

that's going to come fast. the u.s. olympic committee hosting a road to london celebration in new york today. richard roth is live there. richard, what's on schedule today and what is the mood there? >> reporter: all right. we're here in times square in new york city and we're here with two of america's most famous athletes. there's a 100-day countdown kickoff to the olympics. i'm with greg lieu guy nis and shannon miller. do you feel the fever? >> definitely. we're here for the raise the flag awareness. we can be a part of the olympics to have the olympic flag that's going into the opening ceremonies and sponsor a stitch in the flag 37. >> shannon, gymnastics was your specialty. what do you think the athletes who are going over to london should be focusing on with 100 days to go? and a lot of them still don't

know if they're going. they have to win at the u.s. trials. >> that's right. we're at the 100 day mark. it's go time for all the athletes. qualification process is beginning. i think for the athletes it's all about staying focus. there's so much going on with the olympic excitement. you have to stay focused on what you're doing and stay healthy. it's about staying healthy and making it through qualifications so you can get on the team. >> reporter: the u.s. olympic team leader making a point of saying the government of the united states does not contribute to the funding for these games. it's all corporate. because it always has a corporate feet which sometimes is annoying but without that money the athletes are not getting the funding. >> when i was diving, at one time i was working three part-time jobs just to be able to pay for my training, pay for my living expenses. you know, but now the athletes need the sportsmanship. they need the support, they need

all the help they can get. we're competing against communist countries who their athletes are subsidized by the government. they're expecting gold medals and you can't win gold medals if your attention is deviated elsewhere. >> shannon, what stars should the u.s. look for? >> certainly in gymnastics you're looking at jordan weaver, currently the number one female athlete in gymnastics and also gabby douglas has really made her way onto the scene. also look for some 2008 athletes that have thrown their hat back in the ring, nastia liukin. it's going to be a lot of excitement. gymnastics usa is the one to beat. >> shannon, greg, thank you very much. these are very accomplished athletes in times square. they have been doing, don, trampoline acts, bicycle, motorcycling, but then times square has seen it all through the years. 100 days to go before the london olympics. >> let's hope london is ready. great to see those guys. that's it for me. suzanne malveaux is up next.

suzanne, are you ready for the olympics? are you ready? it's going to be amazing. coming up in july. that's it for me. take it away, suzanne malveaux. live from cnn headquarters in atlanta where it's 12:00 noon, 9:00 a.m. on the west coast. i'm sue van malveaux. want to get you up to speed for this wednesday, april 18th. straight to the outregion over pictures of u.s. troops posing with the severed body parts of afghan bombers. cnn has not independently authenticated the photos. they are gruesome. so we are blurring some of these immanages. this one shows soldiers and afghan police holding the severed legs of a dead bomber. "the los angeles times" published it today. the u.s. military asked them not to publish the photos but the editor defends the move saying, quote, after careful consideration we decided that

publishing a small but representative selection of the photos would fulfill our obligation to readers to report vigorously and imparcelly on all aspects of the american mission in afghanistan, including the allegation that the images reflect a breakdown in unit discipline that was endangering u.s. troops. nick patton walsh is joining us live from afghanistan. seeing these photos, a lot of people reacting. it is shocking. what do we know surrounding these pictures, the circumstances? how did this happen? >> reporter: well, these appear in "the l.a. times" to have been published by a collection of 18 photos leaked to them by a soldier. now, these pictures relate to two instances in early 2010, two years ago now, in which men from this particular unit were called

to scenes in which insurgents had blown themselves up and posed, as you can see, with the remains of the individuals. these pictures taken and then apparently leaked after two years to "the l.a. times" because the soldier in question felt there was a breakdown in leadership and also was concerned that it might somehow lead to a security lapse at the base where the soldiers were. nato coming forward very quickly to even preempt the publishing issuing a strong condemnation saying it has nothing to do with the discipline and behavior expected of soldiers but it remains to be seen if after four months of bad news if that will assuage the afghan public. >> we have seen in the past, the last four months, a lot of things happening that have put a lot of tension between u.s. and afghan forces. the accidental burning of the korans, the shooting of the afghan civilians there. what is the reaction there? is there a concern there's going to be violence because of this?

>> reporter: the pentagon has expressed concerns that could be the case and they have actually did, as you say, urged "the l.a. times" not to publish perhaps as one motivation. it's interesting to see what has sparked violence. in january there was the video of u.s. marines urinating on afghan corpses. it was the koran burning by mistake bay ny nato soldiers th sparked a week of bitter protest and there was fury amongst the population after the massacre of 17 afghan civilians in kandahar in march. we don't know as yet quite how widespread these pictures will get in afghanistan. remember, much of the population lives in the countryside, but electricity and electronic media, they are taking up in the twitt twitter sphere in kabul. we vice president yet heard from the afghan government.

the jury is out on how the afghan public will react but certainly it's painting again this negative image of a nato campaign often spending more time apologizing for itself than grasping its own narrative. >> do we know if the u.s. military or nato are taking any kind of steps to protect the soldiers, americans, any aggressive action on their part to look out for the potential of revenge here? >> reporter: they're always on their highest guard. that's increased in the past few months. been a lot of instances, called green on blue. where member in afghan army uniform attack american soldiers. nine americans killed through that particular tactic. often after that we hear of taliban infiltration. there has been suggestions some of the misconduct may have sparked those killings in the east of the country in march. always deep concerns. it's still early days with this

because news takes some time to travel in afghanistan, but certainly nato is trying to put this fire out before it even began. suzanne? >> all right, nick paton walsh. "the l.a. times" says it has tried unsuccessfully to get responses from the soldiers involved. barbara starr is at the pentagon. these pictures are two years old. is there any indication that the military authorities knew or were aware of this incident when it actually happened? >> reporter: well, we don't know, suzanne. what we do know is that the army already has begun its investigation trying to determine the facts surrounding this. did somebody know about it? sure, because there is somebody taking the photo. there were all the people standing in front of the camera, and i think when you look at that photo one of the most interesting things is the person -- the man standing to your far right with that dark jacket and the sort of light blue/green uniform there. that is a traditional uniform of an afghan security force member.

so there were afghans on this site as well when these photos were taken. that's not something we often see. here at the pentagon, again, condemning it. statements being smsh issued. the pentagon press secretary saying, quote, these images by no means represent the values or professionalism of the vast majority of u.s. troops serving in afghanistan today. an investigation that could lead to disciplinary measures is under way. anyone found responsible for this inhuman conduct will be held accountable in accordance with our military justice system. but i think nick is exactly right, of course. it remains to be seen. the afghan people have seen so much in the last several months. will this resonate any differently with them? people living out in that very remote countryside, very likely to be some time, if ever, before they see these pictures. they live without electricity, without the internet in so many cases. >> barbara, how is the military dealing with these soldiers?

can officials do anything if these soldiers are no longer serving in the military? what are they actually doing to track down the people they believe are involved? >> reporter: well, there's some practical realities here, if you will. in some cases that we've seen in the past, they know that these are young troops who already have served their enlistment period and who are out in the civilian world now. technically, yes, they could bring them back on active duty and potentially prosecute them perhaps. but this is not something that may become criminal activity, if you will, something they would exactly be charged with. there is something called general order number one in the u.s. military. that requires that you not take photographs of dead bodies on the battlefield. but the punishment for that could be more administrative, if you will. letters of reprimand for those still serving. essentially, you know, the strong hint that your career is over. if you're already out, i think

it's going to be very problematic. >> all right. barbara starr, thank you so much. we're going to have more on the scandal over these foe foes phoe next hour. also, what do you think about this? how damaging are these pick furs for our troops? watch me here on cnn for more on the story. tweet me @suzannemalveaux and like me on facebook.com. i'll read your responses in the next hour. democratic senator has some advice for the agency involved in spending $800,000 on this lavish party with clowns, mind readers, the whole thing. barbara boxer says the general services administration should clean house to root out corruption. a new round of hearings on the spending scandal got under way today. democrats pointed out that the gsa has a history ever misconduct under democratic and republican administrations. bin laden's three wives, two daughters now free. no longer under house arrest. they have been in custody in pakistan since the u.s. military raid that killed bin laden.

that was last may. now, these five women were convicted of living illegally in pakistan. have to serve more than 45 days ever detention. they could be deported back to their home countries at any time. police say a houston nurse faces capital murder charges for killing a woman so she could steal her baby. an arrest report says 30-year-old verna mclean has admitted shooting kyla golden as she left the pediatricians office. the 3 day-old baby is being reunited with his father. police near ft. bragg are searching an area where a missing soldier was last started. kelly is missing after leaving a bar. they say she sent a text at one point saying, quote, got home safely. her family says she would never go awol. >> she's an amazing soldier.

being a soldier to kelly is something she wouldn't jeopardize for anything. missing work is not something that is in character for kelly. >> here is a run down of some of the stories we're covering. first, the danger behind secret service agents engaging with prostitutes. >> some guys just have a problem when they're in intimate situation with beautiful women and they feel flattered. they engage in pillow talk. they want to sound impressive. mitt romney weighing in on the secret service scandal saying what he would do if he were president. and then women, they're breaking the glass ceiling to become head of fortune 500 companies, about you they're not making much headway on wall street. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion.

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republican senator says it doesn't matter if it was 2 or 20 prostitutes with u.s. secret service agents in colombia. susan collins says she is appalled and the number of women involved really is irrelevant. >> we don't know if they had weapons in their room that could be tampered with. we don't know if there was an opportunity for these women to plant eavesdropping devices. the whole behavior is so incredibly dangerous and risky, particularly for those who are charged with the solemn obligation of protecting the president of our country. >> senator collins, you should know, he's the ranking republican on the committee of homeland security and governmental affairs. i want to bring in dana bash. we know this is an internal investigation led by the director of the secret service. do we anticipate that there's going to be an independent review or something that is

going to be more substantial here? >> reporter: i think it's unclear at this point, suzanne. but i just want to add to what susan collins just said. she obviously was talking about her concern that there was a security breach. our john king has some new information according to sources that he's talked to saying that the secret service does not believe these agents had classified tick tock information about the president's movement and they didn't have classified documents with them at the time. but regardless, bigger picture, what susan collins and other people here in congress are saying is that they're worried this is a cultural problem, that this may not just have been the one and only time that this kind of thing had happened. >> it's so difficult for me to believe that this is the first time that this kind of behavior would have happened. and the reason for that is it wasn't just one or two personnel. it was 11 secret service

personnel and approximately 10 military personnel. that is so troubling. it's not one or two bad apples, and that raises questions about the culture. it raises questions about oversight. and most of all it raises questions about whether or not this has happened before in other countries on other important missions. >> reporter: now, you alluded to this earlier. senator collins earlier this week said she was told by the secret service director there were 20 to 21 women involved. the secret service is pushing back on that. she said what could have been a little bit of a miscommunication is that the secret service was also talking about the military personnel involved and that he doesn't want to step on their investigation. as you said, regardless, she says that's not the point. the point is that according to the words even of the secret service director to her, he had to, quote, scrape himself off

the ceiling based on the information he was getting. >> wow. do we think this is dividing along political lines or does it look like you have republicans and democrats equally saying, look, this kind of thing is not acceptable? >> reporter: right now it is not dividing on political lines at all. we are hearing from republicans like susan collins, from democrats like patrick leahy who is a democratic chairman of the judiciary committee, the democratic chair of the intelligence committee, dianne feinstein, all are saying this is unacceptable. to go back to your earlier question, it is interesting that not only is there not -- at this point this early point an independent investigation, when it comes to congress, we're not seeing a rush to hold hearings like we do on so many other controversial issues. republicans and democrats are saying, let's hold off, let's see what the information brings us as the secret services tries to get the nuts and bolts early on. >> why do you suppose that's the case? that they're not calling for hearings. do you think people are tired of these hearings or they're just trying to be a little more cautious? >> reporter: i think in this

case they're trying to be a little more cautious. i mean, just look at what we've been covering all week long, which is the hearings about this excess spending at the gsa. democrats and republicans, they didn't wait a heartbeat even during congressional recess to schedule hearings. they were all over it and they've -- by the end of the week they will have held four hearings on that. this particular issue is about security. it is -- many of these issues are classified. so that's why we're hearing from some of the chair and ranking members of the key committees that they want to get a sense of how deep this goes before they call hearings, and they are some of them concerned that holding hearings might not be that efficient because a lot of what the witnesses will be talking about would be classified and they couldn't do it in public. >> makes sense. dana bash, thank you. appreciate it. so women taking the reins over several fortune 500 companies, about you they are not breaking the glass ceiling on wall street. we're going to take a look at why.

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women and the economy. women have made huge advances in the corporate world heading companies like pepsi and hewlett-packard. when it comes to wall street, still a glass ceiling. alison kosik is joining us from the new york stock exchange. tell us why. why aren't we seeing women more prominent in the finance industry? >> reporter: okay. so women are in the finance industry itself, suzanne. you look at wall street. women are everywhere, but the thing is they're not necessarily at the very top, and then you look at the fortune 1,000 list of companies, and then only 38 women on that list are ceos. only one of them is from a financial company. that's beth moony of keycorp.

it's kind of become this pyramid where women make up at the bottom more than half of the financial industry, about 55%, but then as you go up the ladder there of that pyramid, there aren't many female executive officers, female board directors, obviously at the top female ceos are the hardest to come by, 3% there. here at the new york stock exchange a lot of people may think of this place as the ultimate boys club. i'll be honest, sometimes it feels like a boy's locker room but there are women traders here. the nyse for some reason isn't telling us how many women are on the floor. i'll give a guess 15 to 20 women are on the floor. i talked to one, she said the nyse is no longer the boys club it used to be. >> even though you see a lot of men here, first of all, they're much younger men and they have a different philosophy than the previous generation of men did. they have mothers and sisters that are all in the working world now. it's not quite so different to them to see a woman working down here and they work a little bit

more easily than the generation previously. >> reporter: now, doreen also told me that technology leveled the playing field for her because in the old days, she says, men had a trading advantage because they were just physically bigger. so people could see them better. you know, this is back when the trading floor was jam packed and you used actual paper to trade. everybody was kind of shoulder to shoulder. now trading is almost all done by computer. >> i know a couple women who used to be a part of that bumping and shoving and that kind of thing trading on the floor there. why do we suppose that it has not been easier for women on wall street? >> reporter: you know, some of the insiders i talk to say there's still this kind of cluby stare that can be tough for women and sexism hasn't disappeared even though formal complaints have been dropping. sexual discrimination allegations by women at finance companies have actually dropped 44% from 2000 to 2011, but there are still some high profile lawsuits. in fact, goldman sachs is currently fighting one that

alleged systemic and pervasive discrimination against goldman employees. goldman sachs though is denying those charges. >> good to see you there at the new york stock exchange, allison. tell us a little bit about the stocks. how are the markets doing? >> reporter: looks like they are taking a bit of a step back after we saw the dow up almost 200 points yesterday. new worries creeping in about europe again, spain. spain came out today with data showing that spanish banks are holding more bad loans than expected. also, less than stellar corporate report cards from tech heavyweights ibm and intel. they're weighing on the market as well. the dow down about 50 points as well. >> thank you, alison. mitt romney says he would clean house, fire those involved in the secret service scandal, and that it's an embarrassment for president obama. how is it going to play in the election? we're going to break it down up next. thanks for babysitting the kids, brittany.

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mitt romney weighing in on the secret service prostitution scandal saying what he would do if he were president. brides to be go to disturbing extremes to lose weight before the big day. and later a group of influential wives are sending a strong video message to the wives of the syrian president to stop the killing. >> when you kiss your own children good night, another mother will find the place next to her empty. dog eat dog world out there in washington. just as the race for the white house heating up, politics has suddenly gone to the dog. here is conan o'brien. >> ann romney mean wile is now defending her husband for once strapping the family dog to the roof of the station wagon on a family trip saying the dog loved it. yeah, unfortunately, the dog could not be reached for comment because he ran away to stay with michael vick.

yeah. all right. are the scandals causing embarrassment for the white house right now becoming political ammunition for the general collection in mitt romney weighing in on two headline-grabbing stories. the hookers allegedly hired by secret service agency and the over the top spending by the gsa. first i want to bring in our political panel. lenny mcallister and robert zimmerman. good to see you guys, both. >> good to be with you. >> good morning. >> first of all, romney was asked about these problems regarding the secret service and the gsa on laura ingram's radio show today, and here is part of what he said. >> you got to bring people into the leadership of these organizations that are absolutely committed to living by the highest standards of integrity, people who do not see

their services in government as a time to go play and to take advantage of the largess of the taxpayer. >> what would you do right now to fix it? >> well, i'd clean house, and the right thing to do is to remove people who have violated the public trust and have put their play time and their personal interests ahead of the interests of the nation. >> lenny, is this going to be a problem for president obama the more we hear from mitt romney weighing in on these things that are potentially embarrassing for the administration? >> it is definitely embarrassing for the administration, but it's how mitt romney and his campaign spins it. it's going to be very hard for president obama and his campaign to have this war on women when at the first half of this administration, there was this reputation of the white house being this boys' club that president obama oversaw and then at the end of this administrative term you now have this scandal with the secret service and women in such a degrading way. if they could shape that and

show is this the type of tone we want from our leaders in washington. of course, president obama did not have his hand specifically in what happened with the secret service, but if you could set it as if this is a tone that you've seen over the last four years and couple it in with some of the other disasters, it's something that would play pretty well in a negative ad. >> does that ring true to you, that voters are going to put this on the president? >> of course not. lenny, first of all, mitt romney doesn't have the character to stand up to rush limbaugh and ted nugent over their obnoxious and vulgar behavior, so i think he's got to first pass that character test. >> but he did. >> he didn't step up to them. he quietly dismissed them. the more important point here is that this scandal concerning the secret service and the gsa in no way reflects on president obama and his standards. in every poll the american people show they trust and believe and respect this president. so the character issue has never been in question for barack obama. some of you -- neither of you were around in the early '80s.

i was, of course very young at that time, in the early '80s ronald reagan was attacked because the pentagon was selling toilet seats at $400 and hammers at $500, the $600. my party tried to attack reagan for that, but it never worked because reagan's character was clearly above that kind of scandal. >> robert -- >> same here with president obama. >> thanks for the compliment, but we were both around, we remember the '80s. >> i was really around then. >> lenny, i want you to listen to this though. republican lawmaker saying that we should not pin all of this on the president. this is representative peter king on the secret service scandal. >> let me just say, as a republican, there's no responsibility here about president obama. the secret service is -- basically operates independently, doesn't matter if it's a democrat or republican president. obviously what these 11 agents did was entirely wrong, wrong really in every respect, but while, again, it could create a

climate that people could use against the president, i'm saying that president obama had really absolutely nothing to do with this, no responsibility. he was down there trying to do his job as president, representing all the people. >> does mitt romney, does he face the responsibilipossibilit overstretching this thing a bit. people are going to look through this and say that doesn't really sound like that's even accurate to try to pin this on the administration. >> and suzanne, i concur with that, but let's be clear. we're not talking about if a campaign as far as the candidate says something. we're talking about a campaign which also includes the super pacs behind him. so, yes, you can't pin what happened with the secret service on president obama. he's not responsible for that. but when you're starting to talk about super pacs and negative ads, they will try to set a tone and tie this in as a narrative. this till possibwill possibly bn strategy when it comes to negative ads. is it something i would pursue or something i would like to

see? no. i would like to see american politics above this, but so far in 2012 have we seen it that way when it comes to the negative ads? absolutely not. >> let's change the subject a little bit. this is not highbrow politics. it's gone to the dogs literally. it started with the story about romney transporting his dog on the roof of his car and the dog got sick, he stopped, hosed him off, and kept going. a lot of people thought that was a little strange. the obama folks responded by sending a picture of president obama petting bo, the first dog, inside the limo, saying here is how you treat your pet here. now we have something else. a lot of tweeting going on about what president obama wrote about when he was a boy in indonesia eating dog meat. do you think we have officially, robert, gotten to the silly season that president obama talks about so often back in 2008, that folks are talking about this? >> you know, this is the kind of topic that fascinates political opini

pundits and partisans on both sides and then there are people with real lives that want to focus on real issues. as a democratic national committeeman, i have every confidence that the romney family and obama family love and respect their pets. i only hope their staffs will give up their twitter accounts to 10-year-old so he can elevate the dialogue. >> i'm with you on that one. we have to leave it there. robert, lenny, good to see you both. >> dog gone it, i didn't get a chance to speak. >> go ahead real quick. >> dog gone it. i was just saying dog gone it, you didn't give me a chance to reply. >> dog gone it. >> that sums it up. >> thanks, guys. you are going to hear from two top members of the obama administration today on "the situation room" with wolf blitzer. we will have a joint interview with hillary clinton and leon pnt tod panetta. many brides turn to fad d t diets to shed the weight.

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all right. by now you have heard this story about the bride who went to extreme measures to lose weight before her wedding. now, there has been an outcry. the doctor now defending himself. i want to bring in elizabeth cohen because we've been talking about this all day. it is so disturbing. tell us what this woman did. >> right. there's something called a nasal gas trick tube which doctors use for sick patients. they put the tube up the nose, goes down the throat, and it attaches to a pouch of fluid so these people are fed fluid. what this doctor said he did was he would give -- he gave this bride 800 calories a day. so what we're seeing here i believe is a video that he has posted doing it to himself. okay. so 800 calories a day of proteins and fats, no carbs and no sugar. "the new york times" and abc said that a bride tried it who

wanted to lose ten pounds and she lost ten pounds in eight days. she wasn't obese. she just waned to lose ten points. she lost ten pounds in eight days and he charged $1,500 to do this. >> whose idea was this? >> he told cnn in an e-mail that he got started with obese patients. people who medically needed to lose weight, but that he said some patients and i want to quote him, begged him to try it. patients who wanted to lose 20 pounds begged him to try it so he let them try it. >> talk a little bit about the backlash because this just doesn't seem like a responsible way of trying to lose weight here. >> i know. >> it seems very extreme when you see this. >> i just got off the phone with art kaplan, a medical ethicist and he used the term stupid and the word outrageous. we wanted to get a response from the doctor. we have been trying to talk to him for several days. he said an ng tube is for sick people. doctors use it for sick people. using it to lose 20 pounds is

not the customary use for it. it hasn't been tested. it's not necessarily safe. it's not necessarily effective. he said he feels people will look at this doctor and it will undermine people's trust in doctors that these doctors are doing it just to make money. $1,500, that's a nice chunk of change for a one-week program. plus there's medical issues. >> what are the dangers of this and does it even work? >> you can -- when you're putting a tube down your nose and down your throat. you could perforate the back of your throat. you could cause bleeding. you increase the risk of having pneumonia. it can even dent or scar your nose. you can have electrolyte issues. you can have gal stolstone issu. there's a whole host of risks you're taking to lose ten pounds. >> and you were saying earlier today that you're going to put that back on afterwards because this kind of quick weight loss thing doesn't really work for the long term. >> studies have shown when you lose weight really quickly it

make it is more likely for you to gain it back and then some. we only know of one bride who tried this and she was thrilled. she knew her wedding was coming up for months. she could have just done, god forbid, diet and exercise. let's think about doing that. why do you need to do a medical procedure? it's unclear to me why you would opt to do that rather than just diet and exercise to -- it's only ten pounds we're talking about. >> do we know if anybody is going after this doctor at all. >> there's been a lot of publicity here, people reacting to this, but ethically, does he face any kind of charges or -- >> not that we know of. things get kind of squishy here because the way that medicine works is that when you have an ng tube that's out there for one purpose, for medical reasons for people who are sick and you want to use it on a patient just to lose weight, it gets a little squishy how legal or ethical that is. i haven't heard of anyone going after him. it will be interesting to see if anyone does.

>> ladies, diet and exercise. that's what i say. diet and exercise. >> it's just ten pounds. there's got to be a safer way to lose ten pounds than sticking a tube down your nose. plus you're walking around with a tube in your nose and a sack of fluid. your friends must think you're sick or something. >> a little nuts. elizabeth, thanks. so what do you think about it? what is the most extreme thing that you have done to change how you look before an important event? watch us here, cnn, or tweet me so we can get your thoughts @suzann @suzannemalveaux. some geologists in chechnya believe they have stumbled into a huge find. this is the largest fossilized dinosaur eggs in history. four feet wide. some experts say no dinosaur ever laid an egg that big and these may just be unique rock

formations. speaking of eggs, ever want to go to a restaurant and wonder how the heck do i pronounce what is on the menu like hoda? i'm not sure how to say that. i'll talk about that up ahead. tips on how to get over anxiety when you take that menu and you can order up a delicious dish that you always wanted but you just can't pronounce it. ne thats and corrects for wheel slip. we imagined a vehicle that can increase emergency braking power when you need it most. and we imagined it looking like nothing else on the road today. then...we built it. the 2012 glk. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services.

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>> i love that clip. fred astaire not the only one confused by food names. many get nervous when we open up a menu and come across something that's not easy to pronounce. sara is here to help. wow, you know, we all face that menu every once in a while, that tricky name and even the most savvy foodie is not really foolproof here in how we should pronounce these things. how does it actually impact what people are ordering? >> yeah. there's the old shakespeare quote, what's in a name? apparently a lot when people are deciding what they want to eat. in a recent "wall street journal" report they found out when they changed the name of the dish gnocchi to italian style dumplings, sales skyrocketed. nobody wants to sound dumb when they ordered something. by changing it to dumplings they

alleviated the pressure. >> i know there are a lot of readers and this has struck a chord with them. >> we got a lot of responses via twitter and fasbook. i'm just going to read a couple. i ordered version margaritas until around age 9 when thanks to ma done that it all came together in my mind. and then, i nearly had to perform cpr on my grandmother after suggesting a tapas bar one night. now it's just spanish place. tapas is small plates in spanish. there's definitely confusion out there. >> you know, i mean, we all get a little confused there. and sometimes it does sound very similar. what are some of the ways that you can kind of avoid all of this and say, look, i can't pronounce this but i'm going to try and this is what i want to eat. >> there's a lot of tips you can go to. the internet really is your friend in this. if you're really nervous about going out on a business meeting

or on a date, there are so many online menus out there. if a restaurant doesn't have an online menu, they're probably doing a disservice to their own business. there's also online pronunciation guides you can look to and if you have a smartphone, there's translation apps that you can even take a picture of some of the dishes and it will actually translate it for you. another thing that you can do is you can use the waiter. they're there to help you. you can ask questions and if you're not sure the pronunciation, you can lead them on, say i'm really interested in this beef preparation can you tell me more about it? in that case they will come back and say this is the name of the dish. they do the work for you. another thing you can do is take risks, and in that we would suggest you doing an appetizer, an entree. appetizer is smaller so you can rebound from that where as an entree is bigger and it's pretty much going to ruin your meal if you don't like it. finally, have confidence. say it with conviction. if you don't blink an eye, nobody at your table will either. >> okay.

i love it. i learned a lot from top chef. that's how i learned to pronounce some things on the menu. everybody has their own little tricks. the president trying to keep the conversation on the economy, but right now a lot of talk about the secret service sex scandal. we're going to tell you what it means to the white house and for the president's message. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. everything. but why energy? we've got over 100 years worth. is it safe to get it? but what, so we should go broke with imports? look, i'm just saying. well, energy creates jobs. [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy

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the white house for now is standing by the director of the secret service, mark sullivan. he's leading the investigation into what exactly happened in columbia before the president's arrival last week. 11 secret service agents and as many as 10 military members are now under investigation for misconduct allegedly for bringing prostitutes into their hotel rooms.

now, the scandal is following president obama as he's hitting the road talking about the economy. brianna keilar is in ohio traveling with the president. i imagine that this is just not the kind of thing that president obama and all the folks who are traveling with him want to be discussing today. >> reporter: no, suzanne. as you can see, i am in a bookstore. i am here in he will leer y elyeria, ohio, where president obama is visiting. he will be meeting unemployed workers and touting federally funded training programs for those unemployed workers, but this scandal is certainly the focus of this is following him here to ohio. right now the white house reserving judgment as this investigation continues, but we do have some new details according to government officials who are familiar with the investigation. on the issue of perhaps drugs being in the rooms at the hotel, there have been some reports of this. according to these sources, the secret service is aware of these

reports, although they find that they're inconsistent so far with what they've done in their investigation, about ybut they'g back between the secret service investigators who are in colombia and local officials they're working with there to double and triple check. also on the issue of perhaps drug testing, we understand from these source that is the director of the secret service, director sullivan, believes that he really has at his disposal a number of resources for his investigation that includes drug testing, although it's unclear if these secret service agents have been tested, if they will be tested, but certainly he considers that to be a resource. and this is kind of interesting, suzanne, according to these sources, some under investigation have challenged whether there is reasonable cause to be drug tested. >> a lot of details, a lot ever questions still unanswered. brianna, thank you very much. obviously the president trying to get his message out about the economy but still this investigation has a lot of for example talking about what is taking place overseas with the secret service, at least this particular incident.

a direct appeal to syria's first lady to stand up to her husband. stop being a bystander while innocent children are being killed. >> some women care for style. and some women care for their people. >> we're going to show you more of this powerful video.

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new violence in syria today, almost a week after the cease-fire started. now the wives of u.n. ambassadors, they are making an appeal to the wife of syrian president bashar al assad. they say stop your husband, stop the killing. i want to bring in ivan watson in istanbul. this campaign is rather unique and it's from the u.n. wives who are releasing this youtube video. >> reporter: suzanne, this is definitely a new pressure tactic, the likes of which we haven't seen over the course of this past bloody and deadly year. best just to take a look at it. it's a direct message to the syrian first lady. >> stand up for peace, asma. speak out now for the sake of your people. >> reporter: so this is basically been produced by the wives of the french and german ambassadors to the united nations, and earlier today cnn

spoke with the german ambassador's wife, who basically accused asma al asad of hiding behind her husband and his record of human rights abuses. listen to what she had to say. >> she has openly talked about peace many, many times. so we think she should get her act together and speak out and speak out now and not worry so much about her husband but worry a little bit more about what women in her country are going through at this very moment and since one year already. >> reporter: suzanne, just a little background, asma al asad was educated in the west, in the uk. she worked there before meeting and marrying ba. sh assad. she has stood by her husband when more than 9,000 syrians have been killed. she has stood by him despite the fact that the united nations

high commissioner for human rights has repeatedly accused him of carrying out crimes against humidianity. when her e-mail was hacked last month, they revealed she was ordering thousands of dollars worth of furniture and expensive vases from london furniture shops online even as the killing was at its worst in other parts of the country. she's been appearing occasionally on syrian tv and heavily stage managed and edited videos shown kissing children, but not apparently showing much sympathy for the opposition or the 45,000 refugees living in neighboring countries right now. >> so, ivan, considering that, then why do these wives think that a direct appeal to her will actually work, that she'll actually listen to them? >> reporter: that's a very good question. it does very much seem that she is standing by her man as the song goes, and it's not just her. you know