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tv   Early Start  CNN  March 15, 2013 2:00am-4:00am PDT

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time now for "the ridiculist." and tonight there's a whole new way to start your day. ladies and gentlemen, i give you "sexcereal. that's right, it's a breakfast cereal that's supposed to improve your sex life. sexcereal is also touted as the world's first gender-based cereal. cereal for men has ingredients that support testosterone, according to the company, and the cereal for women has ingredients that support hormonal balance. so, look, i know what you're thinking, why, oh, why, did nott call it pornflakes? i don't know the answer to that question. seems like a missed opportunity if you ask me. sexcereal is basically granola, but it also has stuff in it like pollen and ginger, but the real question is does it work? jane velez-mitchell filled in as host on my talk show today. they did a taste test. >> it looks like trail mix. >> mm-mmm.
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>> hold on. >> it's good! >> are you feeling sexy, dude? >> it's the after taste. you know, the original initial drive was coming, but then the after taste kind of took it away. >> well, i'm feeling very, very, very sexy right now. >> yeah, be careful. it's good. >> i leave the show for one day to cover the new pope in rome, and sure enough, out comes the sexcereal. stay classy, san diego. they also tried it on "live with kelly and michael." >> or as we've taken to calling it pornios. you can tell it works because look at his great big spoon. and on the back, and on the back -- >> oh. >> inexplicably, there's a woman playing the clarinet for a cobra. >> she's getting the snake out of the basket! all right, here we go. ♪
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♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> pretty much all the endorsement you need. your way . that's it for us, thanks for watching, "early start" begins now. trouble at sea. yet another carnival cruiseliner less than ship shape. that's at least the second in the past two days. then a stunner, a staunch conservative coming out for gay marriage, with a deeply personal revelation. the cnn exclusive. take a look at this. a truck driver on a dangerous wrecking spree in a parking lot. oh, my. good morning, welcome to "early start" this friday morning, i'm christine romans. zoraida is off. john is on "starting point" a little later on. >> i'm achin la cho. it is friday, march 15th. 5:00 a.m. in the east. we begin with this, for the
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third time in a month and the second time just this week, a carnival cruise ship is in trouble at sea this morning. right now, the carnival "legend" is experiencing propulsion problems in the caribbean and can't fail at full speed so it is skipping a stop in grand cayman and limping straight home to tampa. just a day before wednesday, power problems on the "carnival dream" at a port in st. martins. passengers stuck on board for hours with reports of, yes, again, toilets overflowing. in miami, christina, good morning, these two ongoing incidents come just a month after that engine room fire to the "carnival triumph" that left 4200 people stranded for days. of course we all know about that nightmare. tell us about what's happening right now. >> well, good morning to all of you. today the carnival passengers on the "dream" are waiting in st. maartens to be transferred back
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before their trip also got short. for some passengers, it was a cruise that didn't live up to their dreams. and to some of us, their complaints sounded a note of deja vu, clogged toilets, interruptions to elevator service, power outages. it was the same cruise line, carnival. but a different ship than the one that left passengers at tea for several days with no air conditioning, and unsanitary living conditions. but the problems on the cruise liner "dream" were nowhere near as nightmarish as those aboard the "triumph" just a month ago. >> our toilets weren't working and the water rose up, like you would at home, if the toilet was clogged. the water would start to rise up to the top of the bowl. >> reporter: the carnival says the "dream" got stuck in port in st. maarten's when the backup emergency generator malfunctioned during a routine inspection. the company issued a statement that at no time did the ship lose power and the ship's propulsion systems and primary
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power source was not impacted. the statement also said all guests are safe and comfortable with only periodic interruptions to elevators and rest room services for a few hours. >> they thought it was something minor, ended up being something more complicated, which is why we're still here. as far as the power outages go, i mean, i didn't notice at first. >> reporter: the latest aborted voyage comes on the heels of the debacle involving carnival's "triumph" cruise liner that spent five days adrift at sea. attracting worldwide attention as passengers posted picture after picture of the unsanitary and altogether unpleasant conditions on the ship. >> this is a management problem. they're doing something wrong with maintenance. carnival has so many working ships that to say that the fleet is in distress is maybe a little bit broad. but clearly something is not working right. >> reporter: ironically, just one day before "dream's" problems, carnival had announced it was conducting a comprehensive review of its entire fleet. the cruise line was quick to
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offer its "dream" guests a refund for the three days the cruise was cut short, and 50% off a future cruise. now when the "triumph" became disabled last month three of its sister ships came to its aid, and those are the "legend," the "dream," and the "elation." since then the three of them have also had issues. just on thursday it was the "legend." wednesday the "dream" and saturday the "elation" while last month was the "triumph." >> christina, again, i feel like i went to bed talking about the "dream" and woke up hearing about the "legend." there've been so many it's confusing. the question is what's going on here? what's to blame? is this an old fleet? lack of maintenance? what is carnival saying about this? >> well, like you said, we went to sleep dreaming about this and it's really becoming quite a
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nightmare. we do have an official statement from carnival this morning. and it goes as the following, we have comprehensive maintenance programs in place that meet or exceed all regulatory standards and requirements. immediately after carnival "triumph" arrived safely in mobile we assembled an expert team from across the company, as well as outside experts in the areas of fire, marine, technical, and electrical systems to complete a fleetwide assessment in the areas of fire prevention, detection, and suppression. engine and power redundancies and emergency power generation and services. that's what carnival is telling us this morning. >> christina puig live for us in miami. thank you very much. so what recourse do all these disappointed passengers have? at 7:00 a.m. eastern time "starting point" will be joined by maritime lawyer jack hickey. he specializes in cruise line liability. >> a cnn exclusive this morning. senator ron portman, a staunch conservative who was on a short
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list to be mitt romney's running mate announcing he's reversing his position on gay marriage. cnn's dana bash landing the only television interview with portman. the ohio republican revealing his decision just one month before the supreme court hears arguments on the issue, and two years after learning his own son, will, was gay. >> my son came to jane, my wife and i, told us that he was gay, and that it was not a choice, and that, you know, that's just part of who he is and he's been that way ever since he could remember. and that launched an interesting process for me. which was kind of rethinking my position. you know, talking to my pastor and other religious leaders, and going through the process of, at the end, changing my position on the issue. >> at 7:00 eastern on "starting point" dana bjarne joins john berman and brooke with more of her interview. on wall street, history in the making. the dow defying gravity at a
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record high. looks like there could be an 11th straight win if all things hold. if that happens it would be the best -- the dow's best rally in 21 years. and it isn't just the dow. the s&p 500 which for many mutual funds, many of them track that if you've got a 401(k) the stock portion most likely looks like the s&p 500. it's within two points of its record high. bulls are worrying momentum could slip but certainly an amazing run. tech futures are higher. >> that's one way to put it. all right now to the latest in a new era for the catholic church. the papacy of francis. in about an hour pope francis meets with the college of cardinals, the very group that elected him. but this meeting will include all of the cardinals, including the ones who are over 80, and were not involved in the conclave. during his first mass yesterday the new pontiff hinted that the church's struggles and delivered a strong message to the
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cardinals, reject worldliness. be true to the gospel message. and rebuild the church on a strong foundation. or it will come down like sand castles on the beach. >> want to talk a bit more about pope francis' first days as holy father with someone who knows him personally, the deputy spokesperson for vatican joins us now from rome. good morning, sir. >> good morning to you from rome. nice to be with you again. >> it looks beautiful behind you. just simply beautiful. i know there's been so much excitement in the city. really among many catholics around the world. tell us a little bit more about what we expect from the first days here of the holy father. we know that he is certainly broken from tradition on so many different fronts. really portraying himself as humble. someone who is of the people. it's certainly a new task for a pope. tell me more about that. >> what we're seeing is the continuation of what cardinal bergoglio in argentina, his home
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diocese. he was a pastor there, very close to the people. and he's continued that. he's simply changed the color of his robes right now, and the world is paying attention to every move, every word, every gesture. those of us who were used to him in buenos aires are not at all surprised with this. but i can tell you that it does send some jolt through the system here which is so deeply rooted in tradition, and beautiful ceremonies and following the book. and pope francis is telling us, the book is very important, but there's even something more important. be faithful, be close to the people, smile, and take things as they come. >> tell me what kind of a leader you think you'll be and what his priorities will be in terms of leadership within the catholic church. of course, are the issues facing the bureaucracy of the church and the vatican, there are also issues facing the masses, especially here in the united states, who would like to see -- they would like to see more done
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on the issue of of, of well an issue that has faced the church with problems of priests and children. what, what do you think he will say or do on that front, if anything? >> you know, there are -- it seems that the media has continuously brought up three or four issues, but they're missing the biggest part of why cardinal bergoglio was elected pope. first of all, the cardinals know someone who is a model of holiness. they chose someone who has a real passion for evangelization and the new evangelization which is more than just a buzzword, this is what the church is all about. it's about taking the gospel to the people. they chose someone who has an extraordinary record for compassion, for relating to people not just those within the catholic church, those who are good catholics, but especially those on the fringes, the poor, the destitute, the disenfranchised, those living in irregular relationships.
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those who have suffered. those who have brought suffering upon themselves. that's why they chose this han. but this man is deeply rooted in tradition. to say that the pope has been elected to widen the church, or to address particular agendas of different countries is missing the point. the pope is elected because he's the pastor of a world church. first of all he has to embody holiness, to call a saint a saint as he did in that homily yesterday. a seven-minute homily. in which he talked about what this means to be a leader in the church today. to be founded on jesus christ. to build together, to journey together. and also, not to be afraid to speak about that. and if we don't do that, with jesus in mind, carrying the cross, we do really build sand castles. >> all right, thank you. deputy vatican spokesman, nice
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to see you this morning, thank you, father. >> first on cnn, a libyan source says a man suspected of being involved in the september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi is being held in libya. the suspect has reportedly been interviewed by the fbi face-to-face in the presence of libyan authorities. sources tell us the man's name is faraj al shibli. one says he was detained within the past two days and had recently returned from a trip to pakistan. frightening moments in miami as a jumbotron comes crashing down critically injuring two workers. they were helping to set up for a downtown music festival when the huge screen fell. the festival is still on track to begin this afternoon. >> and more amazing video, a man is under arrest after going on a parking lot rampage outside a home depot store in river dale, utah. police say the suspect was running down a row of storage sheds.
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they arrested him and found two handguns and three rifles all loaded inside that truck. that's not all. before the camera started rolling he allegedly struck a stop sign and then a light pole. all right. he's one man against a whole tide of criticism. watch the head of the tsa defend his decision to allow small knives on airplanes. an e.p.a.-estimated 34 mpg highway. amazing. see the grille? mm-hmm. let me show you how it works. it opens and closes like this to help you conserve fuel. oh. is that an s.o.s. signal? no, that's the aero grille shutters demonstration. we do it all the time. [ male announcer ] chevy. mpg ingenuity. now get this great sign & drive lease on a 2013 chevy malibu ls for around $233 a month. all stations come over to mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock.
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pistole was on the hill restating his position. >> a small pocket knife is simply not going to result in catastrophic failure of an aircraft. and -- and i provide explosive device will. we know from searching for these items which will not blow up on an aircraft can distract our security officers from focusing on koen ets of an ied. >> reporter: to underscore the idea that people need to focus on a threat that could blow up a plane pistole showed an old video of an explosive. the tsa says this is the real danger. but pistole hasn't been able to tamp down the uproar. >> this is a big deal and i'm trying to figure out how this could not be perceived as something potentially dangerous to the people on planes. >> reporter: democratic congresswoman sheila jackson lee wants tsa to rethink this. >> you need to stop this now. these cause bleeding. these cause injuries. these can cause a terrible
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tragedy. and i don't want to take it to the next length. it can possibly cause someone to lose their life. >> the fact is, there are so many objects already on flights that can cause the type of harm you're -- you're talking about >> reporter: three airlines and the flight attendants association don't think it's a good idea, either. >> we have to help de-escalate conflicts on board. and sometimes we even have to ask passengers to help us contain those conflicts. if you introduce a weapon into that scenario, it is not helpful at all. >> reporter: there's also legislation. congressman ed markey of massachusetts has a bill to keep knives off of planes. but people we spoke with in the law enforcement community said tsa's got it right. that you don't allow your agency to spend all its time looking for knives when the bad guys are trying to bring bombs onto planes. joe johns, cnn, washington. >> 19 minutes after the hour. let's get you up to date on the top stories. yet another carnival cruise liner having trouble at sea. this morning the carnival "legend" is dealing with
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propulsion problems in the caribbean and cannot sail at full speed so it's cutting out a stop in grand cayman and heading straight home to tampa. just two days ago passengers on the carnival "dream" got stuck at a port in st. maarten because of' generator failure. they are being flown home, as well. >> a stunning reversal on the gay marriage issue by ohio senator rob portman. the staunch conservative in an exclusive television interview with cnn's dana bash says he now supports gay marriage, after finding out two years ago his son, will, is gay. new developments out of north korea. the state-run news agency claims that someone is attacking the country's internet servers. every single day. and trying to stir up trouble. it is pointing fingers, naturally, at the u.s. and south korea, but won't say exactly what damage has been done. the north has been under a lot of international pressure since its third nuclear test earlier this year. day two of the conservative political action conference or c pac getting under way outside
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d.c. donald trump kicks things off. and wayne lapierre speaks later this morning and south carolina governor nikki haley will introduce mitt romney this afternoon. this will be romney's first major speech since the election. newt gingrich is a featured speaker tomorrow but we're talking to him today. he'll join us on "starting point" in the 8:00 eastern hour. he doesn't know what the purpose of cpac is anymore. >> you never know what newt gingrich is going to say. that's why he's such a great guest. >> you may not know it by looking at them but some of your friends and neighbors, they may be hiding a secret. they became millionaires and it just happened. we'll explain, coming up. [ female announcer ] take your lettuce from drab to fab with new lean cuisine salad additions. with grilled chicken edamame pineapple ginger vinaigrette and crispy noodles. just bring your own lettuce. new lean cuisine salad additions. just byol. find us in frozen.
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winning streak. today could be number 11. records every day. futures are pointing higher today. if that happens it will be the best rally since 1992. the longest winning streak since 1992. a lot of this is due to signs of an improving economy. yesterday we got a report showing weekly jobless claims fell, and this isn't just the dow. the s&p 500, a much broader index with 500 different stocks instead of 30 in the dow is within two points of its record high. and of course, the fed keeps pumping money into the economy every single month. $85 billion worth of money so there are all of these things lined up to push the dow higher. because of the rally there are a lot more millionaires in this country right now. spectrum group says nearly 400,000 new millionaires were mentioned last year. tally them up and there are 8.9 households with net worth over $1 million. so what's the secret? how did they get there? well, spectrum says these are people who buy stocks, they
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stayed in the market during the recession when less wealthy investors, people quite frankly in financial turmoil, had to bail out. and remember, warren buffett always says be greedy when ears are fearful and fearful when others are greedy. clearly 400,000 new millionaires minted in the united states over the last year in large part because of the stock market rally. a scathing senate report blames jpmorgan chase for ignoring signs that led to a nearly $6 billion trading loss. the senate conducted a nine-month investigation. remember this? the so-called london whale, a bad trade that led to huge losses for j.p. marken. report said jpmorgan ignored limits on risk taking, dodged oversight and misinformed the public. they also blame regulators for missing warning signs. the company says it has acknowledged significant mastics and senior management acted in good faith and never had any intent to mislead anyone. clearly jamie diamond who runs jpmorgan has long been a critic
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of more restrictions on the bank. so clearly many senators said look, you can't be publicly saying don't regulate us more and then you have a huge, huge trading loss right under your nose. doesn't look good. >> coming up, sparks fly as the tea party ruffles the veteran senator. take a look. >> i'm not a sixth grader. senator, i've been on this committee for 20 years. >> dianne feinstein. we will have more from that exchange coming up. ♪ looking for a litter with natural ingredients that helps neutralize odors. discover tidy cats pure nature. uniquely formulated with cedar, pine, and corn. [ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] ow! ow! [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium-rich tums starts working so fast you'll forget you had heartburn. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums [ construction sounds ]
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yet another cruise cut short this morning, for the second time in two days. more problems plague one of
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carnival's ships. a rare and dramatic change of heart, staunchly conservative senator rob portman changes his hard-line stance on gay marriage and revealing a deep family secret in a cnn tv exclusive. stopped cold. cops pull a risky move to put an end to a wild high-speed car chase. >> oh, wow. >> welcome back to "early start." good morning, everybody, i'm alina cho. >> i'm christine romans. it's friday, march 15th. the ids of march are upon us. a political drama in 44 b.c., of course. >> you know what that is in my household? five days after my birthday. >> oh, happy birthday. a little happier than what happened in 44 b.c. new this morning a whole lot of things going on today, get you caught up to speed at the end of the week. a lot of new problems for carnival cruise lines. the cruise liner "ledge end" limping home now. propulsion problems forcing it to skip a scheduled stop in the caymans. two days ago power problems crippled the carnival liner "dream" in st. maartens.
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all this follows last month's debacle on the carnival "triumph" when an engine room fire left 4200 people stranded for days in the gulf of mexico. christina puig following developments live in miami. >> good morning. as you said, the "legend" is slowly making its way back to tampa. but in the meantime, the "dream" is stuck in st. maarten. those passengers, about 4300 of them, have been waiting to be transported back to florida, since wednesday night when their engine system forced them to stay in port without any or interrupted and periodic interruptions of elevators and toilet services. so there's a lot going on and just the last week, as a matter of fact, on wednesday was the "dream," saturday it was the "elation," then last night was "the legend" and then last month was "the triumph." so what is going on? carnival, we've asked them about these problems and they have
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issued the following statement. just yesterday, they said that they are having comprehensive maintenance programs in place immediately after carnival "triumph" arrived safely in mobile. we assembled an expert team from across the company, as well as outside experts in the areas of fire, marine, technical and electrical systems, to complete a fleetwide assessment. and those numbers of ships are 23 in total. christine? >> all right, christina puig in miami, thank you. a cnn tv exclusive, the gay marriage movement, has a new supporter this morning. and it's something of a shocker. republican senator rob portman. staunch conservative. announcing a stunning reversal in an exclusive tv interview with our own dana bash. portman now supporting gay marriage, after learning two years ago his son will is gay. >> what was your reaction when he told you? >> love. support. you know, 110%.
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>> surprised? >> surprised. yeah. >> you had no idea. >> no idea. yeah. and, you know, again that launched a process of rethinking the issue. i've -- you know i've come to the conclusion that for me, personally, i think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married, and to have the joy, and the stability of marriage that i've had for over 26 years. >> at 7:00 a.m. eastern on "starting point," more of dana bash's exclusive interview with senator portman, including what he told mitt romney about his gay son when he was on a short list to be his vp running mate last year. embattled new jersey congressman robert menendez is reportedly the subject of a grand jury investigation. according to "the washington post" the fbi has interviewed several people in a probe of the democrats arole for advocating in the business interest of a wealthy friend in florida who is also a major political donor. last year he wrote a check for $58,000 to reimburse the friend
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for trips to the dominican republic. president obama says iran is more than a year away from developing a nuclear weapon, but that does not mean he's going to let it happen. in an interview with israeli television the president downplayed differences of prime minister benjamin netanyahu over iran's nuclear program and stressed his desire to prevent a possible arms race in the region. >> what we're going to be doing is continuing to engage internationally with iran, understanding that we've set up the toughest sanctions ever, it's having a significant effect. if we can resolve it diplomatically, as a more lasting solution, but if not, i continue to keep all options on the table. >> next week the president meets with netanyahu during a three-day visit to israel. his first since becoming president. meantime iran taking another slice at american intelligence efforts. the pentagon says an iranian fighter jet targeted an unarmed u.s. predator drone over the
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persian gulf this week. a defense department spokesman says the drone was doing routine surveillance over international waters when this iranian f-4 approached. the drone was escorted by two u.s. military aircraft. the iranian jet backed off after a verbal warning. things are getting a little personal as the senate judiciary committee debated a proposed ban on assault weapons. california senator dianne feinstein took exception to texas republican ted cruz, instructing her on the finer points of the constitution. watch. >> it seems to me that all of you should begin as our foundational document with the constitution. and the second amendment in the bill of rights provides that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. >> i'm not a sixth grader. senator i've been on this committee for 20 years. i was a mayor for nine years. i walked in. i saw people shot. i've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. >> oh, goodness.
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so later feinstein talked about this fiery exchange on "the situation room" with our wolf blitzer. >> well, i just felt patronized. i felt he was somewhat arrogant about it. and you know, when you've come from where i've come from and what you've seen, and when you found a dead body and your putter finger in bullet holes you really realize the impact of weapons. >> and there you have it. >> the committee later approved feinstein's assault weapons ban, though it is not expected to get the votes needed to pass the full senate. accused murderer jodi arias put her last chance to convince the jury that she is not the killer. see how she did. coming up. >> plus the hair-raising rescue of a hiker after a near-death ordeal in a canyon. and be sure to tune in to cnn this monday for the launch of jake tapper's new show called "the lead" 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. bacon?! gotta get that bacon!
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41 minutes after the hour. welcome back to "early start." jodi arias, accused of killing ex-boyfriend travis alexander, shooting him, stabbing him dozens of times, and slitting his throat in the shower. she just wrapped up her 18th day on the stand. arias claims it was self-defense. prosecution, of course, says it was premeditated. if she is found guilty the 32-year-old could get the death penalty. her testimony ended in a standoff with the prosecutor. cnn's randi kaye has more from phoenix. but a warning now, some of the images are graphic. >> reporter: on her final day on the stand, jodi arias was schooled in mathematics. do the math, the prosecutor attempted to show, her story doesn't add up. >> at some point in your life, you know about time, ma'am, you know that movement takes time, don't you? >> reporter: martinez says arias
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simply would not have had enough time, given the evidence, to first go searching for the knife she used to stab travis alexander nearly 30 times, and slit his throat. he says she must have had the knife with her in the bathroom when she was taking these digital pictures of a naked alexander in the shower. >> it would have taken time to actually look for it, wouldn't it? >> i guess under that theory. >> sure, under that theory. it would take time, right? >> yeah, i guess. >> reporter: to prove his theory of premeditation, the prosecutor showed these two photographs, taken just 62 seconds apart, according to their timestamps. arias says this accidental photo of the ceiling was taken after she dropped alexander's camera, when he was still alive. that's when she says he lunged at her. >> in the 62 seconds between that photograph, and exhibit 162, you are body slammed, you
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get away, you get the gun, you shoot him, and then, after you're able to get away, you go get the knife, and he ends up at the end of the hallway all in 62 seconds. that's what you're telling us? >> no, that's not what i'm saying. >> reporter: regardless of what arias is saying, the photo timestamps say something else. in this second photo, taken just over a minute later, arias' foot is seen next to alexander's bleeding body in the bathroom. by now, he's been slabbed and shot. with just 62 seconds between the photos have been enough time to support arias' scenario that a chase, and a struggle occurred? >> i don't know. >> reporter: more than a month into her trial on her 18th day on the stand, jodi arias offered a brand-new scenario for how the knife came into play. listen to this. >> you needed to go get that
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knife at that point, correct? >> no. it's possible travis grabbed the knife first. >> you never told us that he had any knife there, did you? >> no, i wasn't asked. >> reporter: jury members also had questions for arias about the knife. seems they, too, were trying to make sense of her changing stories. >> you said you remember putting the knife in the dishwasher after killing travis. but you also say you don't remember anything after dropping the knife on the bathroom tile. which is correct? >> i have a vague memory of putting a knife in the dishwasher. i'm just not sure if that's the memory from june 4th. >> reporter: and there were more questions about the gunnar yas used to kill alexander. was it in a holster or not when she said she grabbed it out of alexander's closet? just last week she told the jury she believed the gun had been in a holster. now suddenly, she's not so sure. and this is key, because the state believes she brought a gun with her to kill alexander. and never really grabbed the gun from alexander's closet.
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arias seemed to get tripped up again on this question about whether or not the gun was loaded. >> when you were talking about the attack, the response to one of their questions that you believed the gun was unloaded. do you remember saying that? yes, or no? >> i don't -- >> that's all i'm asking. you don't remember saying that? >> i don't know. >> reporter: after that the prosecutor let her have it. >> what were you going to do with the gun, throw it at him? >> reporter: for once, even jodi arias seemed too flustered to respond. randi kaye, cnn, phoenix, arizona. >> and later this morning on "starting point," criminal defense attorney jose baez will offer his expert analysis on the jodi arias trial. he successfully defended casey anthony during her murder trial back in 2011. and he, of course, has been following this case very closely. don't miss it. it's at 7:30 eastern time. >> he'll have great insight into this. dramatic video of the rescue of a hiker who fell into a gorge in arizona. the man was hiking with a friend
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this week when he fell off the canyon wall and plunged about 70 feet. crews reached him and stayed with him through the night. he was airlifted out of the canyon and is being treated for several broken bones. >> well, it is literally life in the fast lane for this woman. who, like danica patrick, is blazing new trails in the world of nascar. we will have her story coming up next. the american dream is of a better future, a confident retirement. those dreams have taken a beating lately. but no way we're going to let them die. ♪ ameriprise advisors can help keep your dreams alive like they helped millions of others. by listening. planning. working one on one. that's what ameriprise financial does. and that's what they can do with you. that's how ameriprise puts more within reach. ♪
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news crews follow a police pursuit to the bitter end. state troopers in fayette county, georgia, follow three suspects in a carjacking for half an hour. the chase ended when police forced the car off the road as it tried to get on a ramp to interstate 20 in southwest atlanta. all three suspects were captured. danica patrick isn't the only woman looking for success in nascar's sprint cup series. christmas abbott has joined michael waltrip racing where she's training as a pit crew member. she'll be working as a tire changer during pit stops. the first woman to do so in nascar's top series. one mistake, of course, can make the difference between winning, losing for her team, abbott says her competitive nature has -- >> kind of the adrenaline of running alongside of a car and then having the car zip by you, 50 to 60 miles an hour behind you, and it literally two feet.
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>> it is incredible how quickly they do that. she is small in stature, just over five feet tall and 115 pounds. not sure what's wrong with that. but physical conditioning not an issue for the 31-year-old abbott. she's worked as a crossfit trainer and can dead lift 255 pounds. >> just like alina who is just about her size. 250 is what you do. >> exactly. 245. >> all right. some rain and snow expected around the northeast, and the mid-atlantic. it's a visual image i just cannot get rid of. alexandra steele live in the cnn weather center. >> who's going to save us. >> with the latest. i can only bench press like the bar. 40 pounds. >> with a name like christmas you have to do something cool. >> true. >> all right. happy friday to you guys. all right a clipper moving through, kind of negligible. north of minneapolis, 2 to 4
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inches. it's got a mix of rain, sleet, snow with it. clipper means not a lot of moisture and very quickly moving. that's what we'll see. through this afternoon and into tonight it drops south and drops east. it becomes a player for washington predominantly just rain saturday, and then the whole thing moves out for sunday. but colder temperatures replace it. so kind of north of the mason dixon line. arctic cold air in place. so won't feel like spring coming. new york city only in the 30s saturday, 40s for the weekend. washington cold, st. louis, as well. but, look at the record heat. 95 in phoenix yesterday. low 90s, today, kind of peaked already. temperatures in phoenix should only be in the 70s. salt lake city, 60 today. you peaked, as well. but still well above average. big picture the warmth is still on in the southeast. it spreads entirely through the southern tier of the country. not the 90s, but still temperatures well above average here in the southeast. you can see snow to the north, and again, big picture pretty quiet weekend.
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but the northern tier of the country, guys, will be a little bit below average while the southern tier certainly will have a little taste of spring this coming weekend. >> all right, alexandra, thank you so much. still ahead, what women want. turns out it's something near and dear to the duchess of cambridge and we're not talking about the duke. early start, back after this. [ man ] i got this citi thankyou card and started earning loads of points. we'll leave that there. you got a weather balloon, with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. go. ♪ keep on going in this direction. take this bridge over here. there it is! [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] earn points with the citi thankyou card and redeem them for just about anything. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply. so we created the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. a collection of innovations designed
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four minutes before the top of the hour. taking a look at the top cnn trends online this morning. according to the new york daily news, there is just something the duchess of cambridge, the former kate middleton, has that american women really want.
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we're talking about her nose. there's been a surge in women asking plastic surgeons for the kate middleton. one new york doctor says he had 20 women scheduled to get the royal treatment over the next month. $7,000 a pop. experts say her nose has a feminine look with a cute upturn at the end. >> what about the rest of her face? >> good point. >> all right. president obama travels to israel next week for the first time as president. in an interview with israeli television ahead of his trip the president appears to be channeling joe biden in talking about what he'd really like to do there. >> sometimes i have this fantasy that i can put on a disguise and wear a fake mustache and i could wander through tel aviv and go to a bar and, you know, have a conversation, or go down to, you know, a university and meet with the students in a setting where it wasn't as formal. >> check out -- >> that would be quite -- >> is that the president with a
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mustache and a cigar. >> for other top trends head to cnn.com/trends. >> more trouble for carnival cruise line equals more toilet humor for the late night comics. that's right. >> they're not quite done with the pope yet, either, too. our late night laughs. >> it happened yet again another carnival cruise ship broke down with no power and overflowing toilets. yeah, this ship is called the carnival "dream." that's the name of this one. the last one was the "triumph." carnival needs to come up with some more realistic names for these ships like the misery or the defeat. and how about the oh, my god, what's that smell? that's a good name. >> the new pope, pope frank is letting -- jorge mario bergoglio is a man of the people. a very -- you know what happened immediately after the boys got together and nominated him, elected him as pope? here's how humble this guy is, he went back to the hotel by
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himself, waved off the limo, went back to the hotel, got his luggage, brought the luggage downstairs, checked himself out of the hotel. the new pope checked himself out of the hotel. oh, yeah there was the fight about the mini bar charge. but other than that -- >> "early start" continues right now. trouble at sea. yet another carnival cruise liner with problems this morning. the second in just two days. senator rob portman coming out now for gay marriage. a deeply personal revelation. we're going to have a cnn tv exclusive. rampage in a pickup. just take a look at this. a truck driver on a dangerous wrecking spree, in a parking lot. we'll tell you what happened. >> happening right now, this is
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a live look as pope francis gets ready to meet with the full college of cardinals. >> good morning, everybody, welcome to "early start," i'm alina cho. zoraida has the day off. john is going to be co-hosting "starting point" a little later on this morning. >> i'm christine romans. it's friday, march 15th. the ides of march. >> as christine just mentioned, happening right now pope francis is about to begin an audience with the college of cardinals. we are told that the cardinals will be able to individually greet the pope. what an amazing picture there. we're talking about the full colle college, that includes the cardinals who did not take part in the conclave. some of the older ones, 80 years old and the like. the pope also may speak. we will bring that to you live if it happens. >> the other big story we're following, a carnival cruise ship in trouble at sea again. that's three major mishaps in a month, and two just this week. right now the carnival "legend" is having propulsion problems in the caribbean and can't operate at full speed so it's bypassing a stopover in grand cayman and
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limping straight home to tampa. on wednesday, generator problems idled the carnival "dream" at st. maarten and passengers were stuck on board there for hours with reported of toilets overflowing. they're being flown home. christina these ongoing incidents come after an engine room fire on the "triumph" left 4200 people stranded for days in the gulf of mexico. what's the latest? >> that's right. and aside from them the passengers on the "dream" who are stuck in st. maarten are waiting for their transportation to come back to their homes. we're being told they're going to start flying out beginning at 9:00 this morning on hourly flights. in the meantime here's what's been happening with them over the last couple days. for some passengers it was a cruise that didn't live up to their dream. and for some of us their plants sounded a note of deja vu.
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it was the same cruise line, carnival. one that left passengers at sea for several days with no air conditioning, and unsanitary living conditions. but the problems on the cruise liner "dream" were nowhere near as nightmarish as those aboard the "triumph" just a month ago. >> our toilets weren't working and the water rose up, like you would at home, if the toilet was clogged. the water would start to rise up to the top of the bowl. >> reporter: the carnival says the "dream" got stuck in port in the caribbean resort island of st. maarten's when the backup emergency generator malfunctioned during a routine inspection. the company issued a statement that at no time did the ship lose power and the ship's propulsion systems and primary power source was not impacted. the statement also said all guests are safe and comfortable with only periodic interruptions to elevators and rest room services for a few hours. >> they thought it was something minor, ended up being something more complicated, which is why we're still here.
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as far as the power outages go, i mean, i didn't notice at first. >> reporter: the latest aborted voyage comes on the heels of the debacle involving carnival's "triumph" cruise liner that spent five days adrift at sea. attracting worldwide attention as passengers posted picture after picture of the unsanitary and altogether unpleasant conditions on the ship. >> this is a management problem. they're doing something wrong with maintenance. carnival has so many working ships that to say that the fleet is in distress is maybe a little bit broad. but clearly something is not working right. >> reporter: ironically, just one day before "dream's" problems, carnival had announced it was conducting a comprehensive review of its entire fleet. the cruise line was quick to offer its "dream" guests a refund for the three days the cruise was cut short, and 50% off a future cruise. now with the report of the
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"legend" that makes four ships that have had issues just recently. that makes the "legend" which was yesterday. the "dream" on wednesday, the "elation" on saturday, and last month the "triumph." christine? >> christina you reported that carnival said they were going to do a comprehensive review of all of the ships. what's the problem here? is this the age of the fleet? is this maintenance? is it simply the volume of passengers and how briskly -- there's a lot of demand for these cruises. they're booked. and they're booked well into the future. >> that's right. and we asked carnival all of these questions. and this is the statement they gave us. we have comprehensive maintainance programs in place. immediately after carnival triumph arrived safely in mobile we assembled an expert team in areas of fire, marine, technical and electrical systems to complete a fleetwide assessment. and that fleet consists of 23 ships.
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christine? >> all right, christina puig, thank you so much in miami. >> what legal rights do all these disappointed carnival passengers have? at 7:00 a.m. eastern time on "starting point," maritime lawyer jack hickey will be live. he specializes in cruise line liability. >> all right let's go back live to vatican now where the full college of cardinals, beginning an audience with poach francis right now. the meeting involves all of the cardinals, including those who are over 80 and were not involved in the conclave. >> get right to senior european correspondent jim bittermann following the papal developments from rome. jim, good morning. >> good morning, christine. yes, in fact, this is a chance for him to meet some of the people that didn't elect him. these are basically the over-80 cardinals. they've all gathered in a small chapel in the vatican, and it's basically just a chance to say hello. we're expecting him to make some remarks, probably nothing too elaborate. there's been nothing public from the vatican press office, any prepared remarks published.
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so it will probably be somewhat off the cuff. and we'll see what happens beyond that. we'll kind of keep the coverage this morning, christine? >> you know, i think what's interesting is "the new york times" is reporting this morning that the choice of pope francis was so surprising that italian bishops actually sent out an e-mail congratulating the wrong man. but right now we want to listen in to pope francis as he is talking to the entire college of cardinals. let's listen. >> we have noticed the effect and solidarity of the universal church, and also the interest of so many people who may not share our faith, nonetheless they respect it and admire the church. from every part of the world
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there has been raised the prayer of christians for the new pope, and very moving to meet the people in the square of st. peter and i thought the image of the people praying, and joyous, and so i do want to express my appreciation to the priests, bishops and other religious young people, and to families, and to old people for their spiritual closeness, which was so moving. i feel the need to express my great gratitude to all of you, my dear brothers, cardinals, for the collaboration given towards
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the church during the period when there was no pope, and i greet each one of you warmly, starting with the dean of the college of cardinals, cardinal angelo sodano. i thank him for the devotion and good wishes which he addressed to me on your behalf. with him, i thing also the cardinal much about ersconi, the chamberlain of the vatican for his excellent work during this difficult stage of transition. >> pope francis addressing the entire college of cardinals live in rome this morning. what just a spectacular picture there that we're looking at. we want to bring back jim bittermann, who is here with us. jim, i think what's so interesting about this pope is that he is known and shown examples already of his humility. my favorite story is that on the
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day he was elected from vatican staff were coming to introduce themselves, and he said you know what? there's a lot of people waiting outside. can we talk a bit later, and then went out and addressed the crowd. but for all of these examples, this sls a man who is known for his traditional values, isn't he? >> absolutely right. and we don't expect that there's going to be much in the way of doxenal changes, sort of the guiding philosophy of the catholic church. we don't, expect, for example him to change policies on celibacy or the ordination of women or those sorts of things. no i expect what we're going to see are a lot of style changes, however. and already he's not wearing his papal red shoes. he's wearing black shoes. he's wearing iron cloth, not the traditional gold cloth on his chest. so, in fact, there's a lot of changes as far as style is concerned. one of the things the italian papers printed this morning i found kind of interesting was an
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interview with his former girlfriend. now i must say, he was 12 at the time, but she said that he said that if you don't marry me i'm going to become a priest, and look what happened. >> oh, my gosh. what a great story. that will be repeated many times, i'm sure. jim bittermann, live for us in rome. what a great assignment. great to see you, thanks. >> and even these style changes so monumental, because remember change in the catholic church takes hundreds of years. >> that's right. >> it's not something that often happens just with a changeover of a pope. it's something that really takes a very, very long time. all right. cnn exclusive now. >> that's right. senator rob portman a leading conservative voice in the senate who was on a short list to be mitt romney's running mate is now reversing his position on gay marriage. cnn's dana bash landing the only tv interview with portman. the ohio republican revealing his decision just one month before the supreme court hears
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arguments on the issue. and two years after learning his own son will was gay. >> my son came to jane, my wife and i, told us that he was gay. and that it was not a choice and that, you know, that's just part of who he is and he's been that way ever since he could remember. and that launched an interesting process for me, which was kind of rethinking my position. you know, talking to my pastor and other religious leaders, and going through the process of, at the end, changing my position on the issue. >> at 7:00 a.m. eastern on "starting point," dana bash will join john berman and nick baldwin with more of her interview, including what he told mitt romney about his son when he was being vetted as a possible vp candidate. history in the making, folks, the dow at a record high. looks like today could be the 11th straight win, if all holds. futures are up if that happens
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it would be the dow's best rally in more than 20 years. and it isn't just the dow. the s&p 500, which many mutual funds track, is within two points of its record high. analysts say this is like watt your torture for the bulls and the bears because bulls they worry this whole thing is going to come down, that momentum could slow. bears they're spooked by the gravity defying rally that they've been out of. >> he is one man against a whole tide of criticism. watch the head of the tsa defend his decision to allow small knives on planes. victor! victor! i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. the giants don't have a mascot! ohhh! eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. hmmm. for giant hunger! thanks mom! see ya! whoaa...oops! mom? i'm ok. grandma? hi sweetie!
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15 minutes after the hour. the director of the transportation security administration not backing down from his controversial decision to let passengers bring small knives on planes. john pistole sticking to his guns at a hearing on capitol hill, despite the fact that the entire airline industry is blasting him. here's joe johns. >> reporter: the head of the transportation security administration, john pistole, was sticking to his message on capitol hill. he's taken harsh criticism for his decision on march 5th, allowing small knives on planes. while the limit on liquids you
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can carry on a plane remains in effect. pistole was on the hill restating his position. >> a small pocket knife is simply not going to result in catastrophic failure of an aircraft. and -- and i provide explosive device will. we know from internal covert tests in searching for these items which will not blow up on an aircraft can distract our security officers from focusing on components of an ied. >> reporter: to underscore the idea that people need to focus on a threat that could blow up a plane, pistole played an old fbi video of a debt mission of a chemical explosive called petn. the tsa says this is the real danger. but pistole hasn't been able to tamp down the uproar. >> this is a big deal and i'm trying to figure out how this could not be perceived as something potentially dangerous to the people on planes. >> reporter: democratic congresswoman sheila jackson lee wants tsa to rethink this. >> you need to stop this now. these cause bleeding.
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these cause injuries. these can cause a terrible tragedy. and i don't want to take it to the next length. it can possibly cause someone to lose their life. >> the fact is, there are so many objects already on flights that can cause the type of harm you're -- you're talking about >> reporter: three airlines and the flight attendants association don't think it's a good idea, either. >> we have to help de-escalate conflicts on board. and sometimes we even have to ask passengers to help us contain those conflicts. if you introduce a weapon into that scenario, it is not helpful at all. >> reporter: there's also legislation. congressman ed markey of massachusetts has a bill to keep knives off of planes. but people we spoke with in the law enforcement community said tsa's got it right. that you don't allow your agency to spend all its time looking for knives when the bad guys are trying to bring bombs onto planes. joe johns, cnn, washington. you might not know it by looking at them, but some of your friends and neighbors may be hiding a secret.
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all right, i know it's friday. you should be up by now. 22 minutes before the hour. good morning, welcome back to "early start." business news this morning, seems the dow is just unstoppable. this is pretty amazing. >> it is, and quite a run. this is a blue chip run of ten days, ten-day winning streak. today could be number 11. even though dow futures are down, they're only off about two points. we'll be looking very closely at some inflation data earlier later today. a gain today would make this the best rally since 1992. a lot of this is due to the improving economy. you've got housing market looking like it's a little bit better. the jobs market slowly healing. the fed pumping a ton of money into the system. the s&p 500, much broader index,
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the dow is within or the s&p is within two points of its record highs. and this rally is so good that new millionaires are being minted every single day. spectrum group says there were nearly 400,000 new millionaires last year. 8.9 million households now have net worth over $1 million. that's pretty close to a record high. so what's the secret? spectrum says these are households people who buy stocks, they stayed in the market during the recession. left wealthy investors bailed. also a flip side here 46 million that's how many americans are in poverty. you want to talk about the two extremes there, that's what it looks like. samsung's galaxy s4. the smartphone was unveiled last night. some analysts say it will compete for the title of best smartphone of the year. the s iv comes with a high resolution screen, a front and back facing camera, lightweight because of the plastic shell. the samsung isn't giving any details on the processor.
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but a lot of people talking about the galaxy s4 this morning. the one thing you need to know about your money today, houses are flying off the market in a matter of days in some parts of the country. notably parts of the country where they've had a big housing sell-off. in oakland, california, takes about 14 days to sell a home. that's right. local economists say their houses are getting multiple offers, they're selling above the asking price. want you to check out the full list on cnn money dotcom. four of the five best places to sell a house in america right now are in california. >> wow. >> mm-hmm. >> that's amazing. >> all right. ahead on "early start," two moms taking on kraft. they just don't like the way the food giant is making its mac and cheese using a chemical that's actually banned in other countries. and now, more than 200,000 people have joined that fight. i know what you're thinking... transit fares! as in the 37 billion transit fares
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secret in a cnn tv exclusive. stopped cold. cops pull a risky move to put an end to this wild high-speed car chase. welcome back to "early start" i'm christine romans. >> i'm alina cho. it's 29 minutes past the hour. let's get started. new problems this morning for carnival cruise line for the second time this week, third time this month, a ship is malfunctioning at sea. right now the cruise liner "legend" limping slowly home to tampa, with propulsion problems forced to bypass a scheduled stop in the caymans. just two days ago generator problems idled the carnival "dream" at a port in st. maarten and passengers are being flown directly home. all of this follows last month's debacle on the carnival "triumph." remember that one, when an engine room fire left 4200 people stranded in filth and human waste in the gulf of mexico. an eight-day nightmare. christina puig following the
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latest developments for us, live in miami. so many incidents it's hard to keep straight. christina, what's the latest? >> alina, that's right. the "legend" is carnival's latest casualty of their fleet to be experiencing difficulties. in the meantime, there are passengers on the "dream" that have been stranded in st. maarten since wednesday waiting to get off the island and transported back to their homes. we've been told that hourly flights beginning at 9:00 this morning are going to begin to transport those families and then again tomorrow. six more scheduled flights. now that makes four ships altogether in just this last month that have been experiencing difficulties. last night "the legend," wednesday the "dream" as you said, saturday was the "elation" which had steering problems. and then as we all remember, last month, "the triumph" as we watched that ship be towed back to mobile, alabama. in the meantime we've asked
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carnival ceo gary cahill what could be causing all of these problems, and they issued this statement yesterday. we have comprehensive maintenance programs in place. immediately after carnival triumph arrived safely in mobile we assembled an expert team from across the company as well as outside experts in the areas of fire, marine, technical and electrical systems to complete a fleetwide assessment. and in fact that fleet consists of 23 ships in total. alina? >> cristina puig live for us in miami. thank you very much. meanwhile, the gay marriage movement has an unlikely new ally this morning. republican senator rob portman, staunch conservative, announcing an extraordinary about-face in an exclusive tv interview with our dana bash. portman is now supporting gay marriage, after learning two years ago that his son, will, is gay. >> what was your reaction when he told you? >> love. support.
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you know, 110%. >> surprised? >> surprise, yeah. >> you had no idea? >> no idea. yeah. and, you know, again that launched a process of rethinking the issue. you know, i've come to the conclusion that for me, personally, i think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married and to have the joy and the stability of marriage that i've had for over 26 years. >> coming up at 7:00 eastern on "starting point," dana bash will have more of her exclusive interview with senator portman. looking live at the vatican where pope francis is greeting each of the cardinals from the college of cardinals. he held an audience with the full college just moments ago, including those who were too old to take part in the conclave that appointed him. the pope offered a message of encouragement to his spiritual brothers. take a look at this somewhat scary moment, pope francis almost tripped and fell as he stepped down in front of the cardinals. quickly regained his footing, though.
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grand jury in florida is reportedly investigating new jersey congressman robert menendez. "the washington post" is reporting that the fbi has interviewed several people in a probe of the democrat's role in advocated business interests of a wealthy friend. also a major political donor. last year he wrote a check for $58,000 to reimburse the friend for trips to the dominican republic. president obama says iran is more than a year away from developing a nuclear weapon, but that does not mean he's going to let it happen. in an interview with israeli television mr. obama downplayed differences with prime minister benjamin netanyahu over iran's nuclear program and stressed his desire to prevent a possible arms race in the region. >> what we're going to be doing is continuing to engage internationally with iran, understanding that we've set up the toughest sanctions ever, it's having a significant effect. if we can resolve it diplomatically, as a more
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lasting solution, but if not, i continue to keep all options on the table. >> next week the president meets with netanyahu during a three-day visit to israel. his first since becoming president. news crews follow a police pursuit to the bitter end. take a look at this. state troopers in fayette county, georgia, followed three suspects in a carjacking for a half hour. the chase ended when police forced the car off the road as it tried to get onto a ramp to interstate 20. that's in southwest atlanta. all three suspects were captured at the scene. caught on camera, a suspect using his pickup truck like a wrecking ball. happened in riverdale, utah in the parking lot of a home depot store. police arrested dave harvey who they say ran down a row of storage sheds. officers found two loaded handguns, three loaded rifles inside his truck. police say even before the camera started rolling, he
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struck a stop sign and then a light pole. here's a look at some of the stories trending on cnn. a grand jury in california has indicted a social media editor at reuters. he allegedly gave the hacker group anonymous his logon info after he was fired from a tv station in sacramento. this was back in 2010. the company was tribune before he worked at reuters. justice department and prosecutors say a hacker used the logon to sabotage a story. he could get up to 25 years in prison. >> after almost 50 years of searching physicists at cern believe they have finally found the elusive higgs boson. the so-called god particle. if that is the case it will help scientists give them a better understanding of how the universe was fortunatelied. the higgs boson is named after physicist peter higgs who first proposed such a particle back in 1964. the subatomic particle was discovered last july. researchers have since been studying data collected from their $10 billion adam smasher
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since then. i don't know what we'll do with that information. bill clinton, he's been photo bombed. the former president a visit to the locker room last night. the louis val player posted the candid locker room photos and they quickly went viral. the former president spent about ten minutes hanging out with the players following their victory in the big east quarterfinals. he says bill clinton's got swag. >> you know what our friend ali velshi says? always wrong, or rarely right but always constant. stay with -- she's not a driver like danica patrick but christmas abbott is getting ready to make history in nascar's sprint cup series. abbott has joined michael waltrip racing where she's training as a pit crew member. she is working as a tire changer
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during pit stops. first tomorrow to do so in nascar's top series. abbott says her competitive nature drew her to nascar. >> kind of, you know, the adrenaline of running alongside of a car and then having the car zip by you, 50 to 60 miles an hour behind you, and literally two feet of safety. >> she is small in stature, 5 feet tall, 115 pounds. again not sure what's wrong with that. physical conditioning obviously not an issue for this 31-year-old. she's worked as a crossfit trainer and can dead lift 255 pounds. a little bit more than we can. >> about 250 pounds more than we can. still ahead, moms versus mac and cheese. why they say kraft should get rid of the key ingredient to mac and cheese because of a potential they say health risk. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china,
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it's friday, john berman and brooke baldwin are in for soledad today. >> but only i'm here right now. we're going to start with a big political and personal story you're starting about. a key republican senator having
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a change of heart on the issue of gay marriage. our dana bash got the exclusive television interview with ohio's rob portman. she's going to be live at the top of the hour. this is a really interesting story about why this conservative is changing course. then legend, dream, triumph, oh, gosh. this has been a rough few weeks for the carnival cruise line. at least three of the ships have suffered major setbacks with the "legend" suffering to reach full speed at this moment. we're going to go live to miami with a look at why it's happening. plus, he's 48 years old. but bernard hopkins is the oldest fighter to win a boxing title. he's going to join us live with his remarkable accomplishment. he gives us hope, everyone over 40. >> 40 is the new 30. >> and this is a great business story. you thought it would take a month but it has taken less than 12 hours. veronica mars fans have raised $2348 in a kick-starter campaign and they're making this dream of a movie a reality. rob thomas the creator of that
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beloved tv series is going to join us. he's going to talk about veronica mars, about the business. that's going to be fun. >> what's interesting about that is the wall street -- >> and the l.a. out of the moving making business. >> fans produce their own movies. >> talk about david versus goliath. two moms taking on food giant kraft. they started a petition online calling on kraft to remove two ingredients from its mac and cheese. >> now more than 220,000 people have signed on asking kraft to take out the artificial coloring called yellow 5 and yellow 6. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us now. elizabeth, good morning. these ingredients are just cosmetic. but what was so interesting to me, you put them side by side with them without that artificial coloring and it basically still looks the same. doesn't it? >> well, i think it probably can look a little bit different. and i'll tell you this color that you get from these dyes that are become so controversial. the blight yellow orange and kids really seem to love it.
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it's bright and it's fun. but there are concerns that it is associated with hyperactivity in children. there have been some studies that show that which is why in the united kingdom it's basically banned. you can't use these colors and it's why these two mom bloggers, vani hari and lisa leake want it out of those products. they have petitioned for it to be out of those products. they put their petition on change.org. over 200,000 signatures. so we asked kraft, hey, what do you think about all this? and kraft told us in the u.s. we only use colors that are approved and deemed safe for food use by the food and drug administration. so there you have it. moms versus kraft all over a bright orange yellow color. >> what's the science behind it? because you know, as you know, anybody who knows a mom, or a dad, who's trying to get rid of some of the stuff from their kids' diet to see if they can control behavior in, in, in young children especially, they're trying to get this stuff out of their kids' diet. hat does the science say about it?
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>> the science, as you might guess, is kind of inconclusive. there was a study done in england where they gave some kids food with these dyes in it and then gave some kids food without. and they said that they then observed that the kids who had the dyes were more hyperactive. and that's why you have this sort of ban in the united kingdom. but other scientists will say that wasn't a well-done study. not only did that food have the dye in it, it had some other stuff in it. maybe it was the other stuff that made kids hyperactive and not the dye. scientists could probably fight over this for the next 100 years. as a parent, i think that what people ought to do is think for yourself. like if you're concerned that this might cause hyperactivity in your kids, then it's an easy, easy move here. don't feed it to your kids. kraft itself makes a ton of other products that don't have these dyes. other companies make foods that don't have these dyes. you can also make your own mac and cheese. that's also something possible. >> okay. really? >> it is. i've done it. i swear it's possible. >> really? >> well, no, there's a mom at my
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kids' school who is just adamant about don't serve the bright yellow -- the bright orange cheeses. there's a dye in there that probably is not good for your kids. i don't know the science behind that but there are a lot of moms who just say i'm going to rule it out. what's the harm in ruling it out. >> growing up i ate mac and cheese every day. for lunch. >> really? >> i did. >> and i can hear a lot of people saying look at alina cho she doesn't look hyperactive. >> i don't know about that. they're probably saying look at alina cho that's the reason we shouldn't be eating this. >> that is not true. but you bring up a really good point, as a parent you can decide the science isn't conclusive, i'm just not going to give it to my kids. i grew up with it and i'm fine. i'm going to give it. this is a great empowered parent moment. you get to make the decision. >> sometimes before the fda decides something shouldn't be used it's the marketplace. parents who are buying things that are sort of demanding that there are other versions of things. so thanks so much. have a great weekend, elizabeth.
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>> thanks. >> we're going to talk to moms who took on that food giant, kraft, one of the most beloved products, vani hari and lisa leake will be on "starting point" in the 8:00 eastern hour. i look forward to hearing them. still ahead the hair-raising rescue of a hiker after a near-death ordeal in a canyon. >> plus you love the buzzer beater. coming up. if youthen this willbrids arbe a nice surprise. meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max come. c-max go. c-max give a ride to everyone it knows. c max has more passenger volume than competitor prius v and we haven't even mentioned... c-max also gets better mpg. say hi to the super fuel efficient ford c-max hybrid.
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pope francis is greeting each of the cardinals in the college of cardinals. he held an audience with the full college just moments ago, including those who were too old to take part in the conclave that appointed him.
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the pope offered this message of encouragement. >> do not let give in to bitterness, to pessimism, something offered to us every day, but therefore do not let us give way to pessimism. or to discouragement. we are certain that the holy ghost will inspire the church and give the church the courage to persevere, and to find new means to evangelize, to take the dust bowl to the furthest ends of the earth. >> he's wearing a simple iron cross, not the big, elaborate gold cross that his predecessors have worn. pope francis asking the cardinals not to give way to pessimism. live pictures of the pope. a scathing senate report blaming jpmorgan chase for ignoring signs that led to a $6 billion trading loss.
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the senate says jpmorgan ignored limits on risk taking, dodged oversight and misinformed the public. lawmakers also blame regulators for missing warning signs. jpmorgan, it says that its senior management acted in good faith. dramatic video of the rescue of a hiker who fell into a gorge in arizona. the man was hiking with a friend this week when he fell off the canyon wall. he plunged about 70 feet. crews reached him and stayed with him through the night. he was airlifted out of the canyon and is being treated for several broken bones. >> pretty remarkable. meanwhile an 11-year-old girl in philadelphia has won her fight to play football with her boy teammates. >> jared greenberg joins us with more in today's bleacher report. good morning. >> good morning. a ladies are you ready for some football? if you live in philly you can now suit up with the guys. the city of brotherly love, with a change of heart, and caroline is the first beneficiary. the 11-year-old was told last
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year the gridiron was no place for girls. the archdiocese of philadelphia has reversed an earlier ruling. now allowing girls to play youth football. caroline's mom started an online petition which received nearly 110,000 signatures for helping push the change in policy. playing with the boys, caroline says she'll be ready for the upcoming season. the nba says my bad. kobe bryant should have been awarded two free shots. the referees didn't blow their whistle. laker fans say it's a day late and a dollar short. it still shows up as a loss in the standings and the hindsight announcement doesn't heal kobe's severe ankle sprain. he is not expected to play tonight. it's march madness and a weekend of buzzer beaters. thursday we hit the jackpot, big ten tournament brandon paul make your parents proud. paul for the win, you bet!
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illinois knocked off minnesota, a tough blow for the golden gophers who may now not make the ncaa tournament. up next are for the illini, the quarterfinals against the number three team in the country, indiana. like filling out march madness brackets but you're more of a sci-fi fan than basketball. the creators of star wars has discovered lucas films will launch their own bracket style tournament next week. fans will be able to vote on match-ups. the light side and the dark side. i got my eyes on the early r two d two pairing. a lot of bad blood there. so i've been told. i've never watched a day of star wars in my entire life. good job by nick our producer. >> we respect your honesty. thanks, jared. coming up the mystery of the
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