we'll post the stories about the stolen ashes and elderly drivers on my blog, cnn.com/ali. that's it for me. cnn "newsroom" continues now with brooke baldwin. ali velshi enjoy the rest of your day. we want to begin with libya, the civil war. so far it has been four weeks of contradiction. follow me here. moammar gadhafi says there's no revolt in his country, yet clashes and protests indicate otherwise. libyan protestors celebrate gaining control of a town. government says, nope, it's al qaeda. gadhafi tells a reporter in english that all of his people love him while the u.n. estimates that as many as 2,000 people have died fighting to throw goo dauf gadhafi out. earlier today we heard the opposition movement was negotiating a deal with gadhafi to get him out of the country so he would then give up power and avoid prosecution. what about that? what about that deal? now, the word out of tripoli says that's nonsense, rubbish.

we're hearing the word "lies." let me bring in nic robertson, our senior -- let me bring in arwa damon. arwa is live in benghazi. arwa, it seems this whole back-and-forth, this negotiation or perhaps there never was a negotiation. help me understand, where does the truth fit in in all of this? >> reporter: well, oot that thit in time there is no negotiation for any sort of a truce. there was hope this morning through back door channels some sort of a deal could be agreed on. however, both the opposition and government have come out saying that there has been no official talk as of yet. that not entirely surprising, but we have been hearing in terms of the back door dealings is perhaps people close to gadhafi without his endorsement were trying to reach out to the opposition to see exactly what sort of a position he would potentially be in.

but from the opposition we're hearing very clear they want him to step down, him and his family out and they do want them all held accountable. >> arwa, let me throw another question at you. you may say you have no idea. do we have any idea where moammar gadhafi is. we know he is in tripoli. he was a no-show this morning. we were supposed to see him. perhaps an interview could be eminent. do we know anything about a possible upcoming appearance? >> reporter: no, actually at this stage i really don't, although i'm pretty sure if he makes an appearance everybody will be fairly interested in what he has to say, although we ask the opposition leaders here, they believe everything coming out of his mouth is nothing but the ramblings of a lunatic and frankly don't trust a single word he says. >> let me ask you about the u.n. food program shipment of food and aid, supplies that i'm sure as you know if covering the story in benghazi are much, much

needed. what can you tell me about that? >> reporter: we've seen shipments from the u.n., a number of other aid organizations also providing food. we're being told at this stage there is actually a fairly substantial amount of food. food shortage not top on the list of concerns moving forward. of course, that situation could change. but at this stage it is fairly well organized. in fact, if you look at the city of benghazi, for example, on the surface it does appear as if life is moving along as normal, but we do know in terms of the efforts of the aid organizations, those are being targeted in villages and town that's are largely impoverished. of course there's great difficulty in trying to get into those numerous areas where the fighting is still ongoing. great concern about what's happening there where there is very little information coming out and little to no aid going in, be it food or medical. >> arwa damon for me in rebel-controlled benghazi. arwa, my thanks to you. now we go to our senior international correspondent nic

robertson, who is live i believe in tripoli. nic, correct me if i'm wrong there. nic, tell me where you are, i think you're in the hotel where we're expecting to see maybe moammar gadhafi. do you think you're going to see him? >> reporter: the level of expectation here keeps growing. i'm down in the hotel lobby right now. if i sort of step out of the way a little bit here, you can see the hotel doors have been blocked off. there's a red carpet outside of there. that's where everyone is expecting moammar gadhafi to come in. just to my left here there are about, i would say, 50 or so journalists. everyone keeps getting moved around here. there's suddenly been an uptick in activity, more security people coming in. but the expectation is that he'll be coming to the hotel. i can see all the journalists are getting smushed over this way. the expectation is he'll come into the hotel here and may be giving some kind of a press conference, maybe talking to a group of us journalists here. still that's not clear. none of the government officials we're talking to can nail that

down for us either, brooke. >> reporter: big questions and we don't know if he'll show up or not. you say he could give a press conference, perhaps he'll be addressing what some people are saying were lies, the talk of these negotiations, a meeting of the minds, if you will, between the east and west. can you shed any clarity on these negotiations? is there any truth to them? >> reporter: the negotiations that have been going on that we've been told about by government officials are negotiations really between tribes, trying to bring tribes on board, the government side, to undermine the strength of the fighters on the rebel side. there have been no negotiations government officials tell us for gadhafi to negotiate a stepdown and handover of power. they say that's absolute rubbish, propaganda on the side of the rebels and that's never been in the works. if you listen to everything gadhafi and the government and his family have been saying, they have been -- they haven't given any clues away that they are in any way, shape or form

about to hand over power. in fact, they've said that the rebels can hand over their weapons and they won't be prosecuted, they won't be put on trial, and they've also said that only when the country has been united, only when the rebels have been defeated is when they'll begin to negotiate some political reforms in the country. even that doesn't address the issue of gadhafi stepping down. from the government position, it's a complete non-starter and rubbish at this moment, brooke. >> nic, i don't know if your photographer can hear me, but just to illustrate what i imagine is a media circus there at the hotel where so many people are anticipating moammar gadhafi, can you get the cameraman to just pan around and show the presence of the media there? >> reporter: brooke, that's going to be difficult for me to do because i'm a photographer. we can just turn the camera around a little bit. the camera crew is over here

lining up waiting for gadhafi to come in. okay. i've been given excellent help by my colleague who stepped in right at the right moment. that's it, what you're looking at are well over 100 journalists in this city, gathered here from all overt world. some of my colleagues i haven't seen for years since our days in sarajevo. jerome right here. these are journalists literally brought in, invited by the regime, like cnn, because the regime wants to get greater international coverage here. so what we're looking at right now are the massive journalists waiting for gadhafi to arrive. the expectation is growing at the moment that he'll be here very, very soon, brooke. >> nic robertson, i'll let you go. if gadhafi does indeed show up, we sure would like to come back to you. my thanks to you, our senior international correspondent who

apparently shoots his own live shots. also, ladies, think about this one. if a woman wants to end a pregnancy, should she be required to see this first? a sonogram. that is what lawmakers in texas are working on. we'll tell you about that legislation that's on the table. and he may not be a house hold name, but this man is accused of scamming americans out of millions of dollars when our economy was at its weakest point. we'll tell you what may work against him at his trial. and it is tuesday. it is fat tuesday, in fact. we're going to peek in on some of the celebrations in full swing. let the good times roll in new orleans today. we'll keep you up-to-date also on tornados in the south.

breaking news here. staying on the subject of libya, we now know that the prime minister of the uk, david cameron, has just met with president barack obama. topic number one, libya. i want to bring in senior white house correspondent ed henry with a little bit more on the readout as to what that discussion might have entailed. ed, what do you know? >> reporter: it was a phone call, they didn't have a face-to-face meeting. the president just landed in boston for an education economic event. but they had a phone call before

that. the white house readout is basically saying that they agreed that moammar gadhafi has got to leave power, that the brutality and violence has to end. a lot of information frankly we've neen for days if not weeks now. the readout goes on to say, quote, the president and prime minister agreed to press forward with planning including at nato on the full spectrum of possible responses including surveillance, humanitarian assistance, and a no fly zone. interesting that readout coming from the phone call with the british prime minister, jay carney was doing a little session with reporters aboard air force one. our readout of that said a reporter pressed carney on why it seems the white house is dragging its feet a bit on a no fly zone. jay carney insisting the president's been clear, they're considering the options. there are a lot of complexities he said in terms of aimplementig a no fly zone. you can see as these consultations continue, they're

still facing great pressure to actually act and not continue to keep talking about it essentially, brooke. >> so still no definitive indication that a no fly zone could happen, but it is indeed mentioned as i'm looking at the readout xl swl, pressing forward with planning and perhaps a no-fly zone. >> reporter: correct. still talking about it and obviously something that needs to be considered carefully because it is probably not as easy as a lot of people think it is, in terms of you've got to go in beforehand, maybe take out some of libya's air defenses. >> right. possible air strikes. >> reporter: but the bottom line is, this administration is facing great pressure to act. >> ed henry, thanks for that. now to this. the last couple of years have been tumultuous for the economy to say the least, the housing market toppling off a cliff, the global economy following close behind and hell breaking loose on wall street. financial scandals as well like bernie madoff's multimillion-dollar ponzi scheme, but there was this guy raj rajaratnam.

do you remember him? here are the feds arresting him back in 2009. not for a ponzi scheme but allegedly for insider trading. madoff's day in court, you know it's come and gone. but the day has now arrived for raj rajaratnam, just getting started? fact. jury selection beginning today. cnn's maggie lake joins me live from new york. magg maggie, specifically, what kind of charges is he facing? >> reporter: as you said, brooke, this is insider trading, which means the government is saying that raj rajaratnam, a rising star, hedge fund manager who oversaw billions of dollars used his place of power, access to a network of experts to get inside tips on companies like intel and google that the rest of us didn't have access do and that he made money off that. $45 million, in fact. now, raj rajaratnam appeared here bright and early in court for the first day of this trial. he of course has pled not guilty

to all of the charges he faces. he says his investments were based on legitimate research. today was all about jury selection, 100 potential jurors in there. and the lawyers are going through and interestingly asking them a lot of people kwes about how they feel about hedge fund managers, how they feel about the economy. they're trying to figure out if all the public outrage out there over what happened during the financial crisis is going to affect them and some way make them impartial during the trial. that's what this really is about. raj rajaratnam is the defendant in this case, but it's about much more than that, a system that prosecutors say are corrupt where insider trading is rampant and really rigged against the individual investor. the u.s. attorney leading this charge, according to lawyers that we talk to that know him, they say he's just getting started. >> i see what he's done as nothing short of throwing a neutron bomb on to wall street. you know neutron bombs leave

institutions intact but get rid of people. this man can't be corrupted. he's not looking for a political advantage. he's not looking to become a judge. he's not looking to become mayor of new york city. he's not looking for the next stop. >> reporter: a neutron bomb onto wall street. quite an image. some people think it need cleaning up. brooke, this is a criminal case, traditionally hard to win especially when talking about insider trading. the bar is very high, the prosecution will have to convince the jury that raj rajaratnam is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. they have their work cut out for them. >> as the bar is so high, part of the issue here in this kind of case you have the high-tech surveillance equipment, critical here. is it different, is it new for this kind of case, insider trading? >> reporter: well, it is a little bit. i mean, the wiretaps and they've been allowed to use them in the case, this is the kind of stuff you usually see when we're talking about organized crime,

money laundering, racketeering. it's a little unusual to see it, it's not happened this amount of it in a case against wall street an insider trading case. lawyers say it will be key because a lot of the government's case rests on witnesses that have pled guilty already and turned state evidence. the defense is going to try to attack their credibility. if it comes to he said/he said. but when you introduce the wiretaps noshgs you have raj rajaratnam's own words. that will be tough for the defense to try to counter. >> changes the game. maggie lake in new york, thanks so much. coming up next, what if a woman who wants an abortion is forced to have a sonogram first? would it change her mind? is the government even allowed to mandate such a thing? we'll tell you about a specific piece of legislation on the table right now. hard to save foe and they've come to a point where it's overwhelming. oh gee, i'm scared to tell you i've got this amount of credit card debt or i've got a 15-year-old and we never got around to saving for their college.

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in texas the state house just signed off on a proposal that would be among the most restrictive abortion laws in the entire country. women who want an abortion, even those who haven't victims say a sexual assault, incest, would first have to get an ultrasound and listen to a description of what it shows. the texas state senate passed a similar measure last month, but the house version -- we'll show you the differences here -- is a bit tougher. planned parenthood is calling this, quote, a defining moment in reproductive rights not just for texas but all across the country. wayne slater is a political writer for the dallas morning news. good to see you again here.

as i pointed out, before we look at the differences because it's obviously part of the story between the house version and senate version, i want to talk motivation. i read part of governor rick perry's statement, saying it bolsters protecting life. especially perhaps hoping a woman who gets an ultrasound might change her mind. is that right? >> absolutely. look, there's no question that the supporters of this legislation, like anti-abortion advocates everywhere, have work to put obstacles and various restrictions and do whatever they can do to restrict and curb abortion. so this isn't about health. this isn't about the welfare of the child, except for the birth of the child by the anti-abortion folks who want to say, we want to do everything we can to make sure that the woman changes her mind and doesn't have an abortion. >> let me run down some of the differences between the house and senate bills. first of all, the house bill clearly more revictimive,

requires a full 24-hour waiting period after an ultrasound procedure before the procedure. senate is just 2-hour time period. the house version requires this of all women, even if a victim of rape, sex assault, incest, it does not do that? n the senate. the house strips doctors of their licenses if they do not perform an ultrasound before an abortion. senate version would not punish the doctor. so my question to you would be, what are the chances this clearly stricter version in the house gets the green light in the senate? >> well, it could. right now the senate sponsor who happens to be a conservative radio talk show host here in texas says he thinks he does not have the votes in the senate for that more restrictive house version. and you're right, it is a very tough version, 24-hour waiting period for the woman, the requirement in the event that a woman doesn't want to see ultrasou ultrasound, they can maybe turn her eyes from the doctor. but the doctor is required to talk to her about what's there.

the house version has a chance in texas. remember, an enormous tea party, very conservative political wave last november washed over texas, elected a lot of members of legislature. it's still in the mix. >> still in the mix, he says. now, we do know there are something like 18 states, when you look nationwide here, that do regulate ultrasounds by abortion providers, but many of those states -- here's the big difference -- have an opt-out provision. so i know that planned parenthood is at the capitol today. what are they saying? what's their side of the story? >> well, essentially the big argument by planned parenthood is, for all you conservatives who are working hard for this bill and who want to get the government off our backs with respect to economic and other matters, this is one of the biggest intrusions, planned parenthood says, by government into the lives of people, into the patient/doctor relationship. so this really is, planned

parenthood says, a violation of the very ideological principles that conservative's pous in most other areas. >> when does it go back to the senate. >> it's effectively back in the senate. they'll agree or not. if they don't, it goes to conference. who knows, it could be weeks if not months before both sides work out some kind of resoluti n resolution. each side says they want their bill their way. >> wayne slater, thank you so much. live from texas. violent emotion. that is what joran van der sloot now says caused him to murder a girl in peru last year. what does that mean for the amount of jail time he could face? you may not believe this one. also, we have new details today in that disturbing case out of cleveland, texas, brought this to you yesterday, where 18 men and boys are accused of gang-raping an 11-year-old girl. more detalls and new video today.

but first i want to introduce you to more of the nominees for the first-ever cnn ireport awards. you have shared a lot with us over the last year and we are honoring you at the upcoming south by southwest festival in austin, texas. take a look with me. these are the finalists in the personal story category. just a reminder to all of you, you can see all of these nominees, just go to cnnireport.com/awards. watch.

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want to take you first to st. louis where one deputy u.s. marshal is in critical

condition, the man believed to have shot him dead. the gunfire erupted when federal local authorities tried to serve an arrest warrant on the suspect who reportedly refused to surrender. another u.s. marshal and a police officer were also shot, though they are not injured as badly. a new defense strategy for joran van der sloot. he is accused in the killing of a 21-year-old woman last year in peru. vanderslo vandersloot's lawyer is asking for a reduced charge of violent emotion murder, the equivalent of manslaughter here in the u.s. and it could bring a reduced sentence to five years instead of the minimum of 15 if a jury convicts him of first-degree murder. vandersloot was arrested but never charged in the disappearance of natalee holloway in aruba. police in spain announcing they have now discovered the body of that american college student missing for over a week. austin taylor bice disappeared february 26th. they have now found his body

after draining part of a river near where he was last seen. and so far police say the body does not indicate any violence. gas prices. everybody enjoying this one not so much. they're up for the 14th day in a row. aaa says the national average for regular unleaded now $3.52 a gallon. and move over mcdonald's. apparently a new fast food king sort of. subway has surpassed mcdonald's as the restaurant chain with the most locations worldwide. as of yesterday, subway had more than 34,000 locations? mcdonald's, however, still reportedly makes more money. and we're still more than a year from the next presidential election, but last night a group of republicans took to iowa to test the waters a bit. and guess who was there? jessica yellin. watch. >> reporter: hey, brooke. it's only march, a year and a half before the presidential elections. you might wonder, who wants to

start listening to political speeches now? iowa caucusgoers, that's who. christian conservatives are among the most reliable caucusgoers inned state. so five would-be republican candidates have come out to start wooing them with a message that social issues and economic issues go hand in hand. at a faith in freedom forum last night, the would-be candidates pushed hard for renewed fight against same-sex marriage and abortion rights. newt gingrich made the gais kais that a balanced budget is a moral issue. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty says this nation needs to turn towards god. and rick santorin, the one-time pennsylvania senator, insists this is no time for a truce on social issues. but there were two outof the box candidates who also wooed the crowd, the former ceo of a pizza empire, a tea party favorite, herman cain and also bud romer, the former louisiana governor who got the crowd roaring with his pledge to take no more than

$100 per donor and eliminate any support from special interests. he was a surprise hit of the night. keep in mind, only two of these five possible contenders has even formed a exploratory committee and there were prominent no-shows. mitt romney, mike huckabee, sarah palin. they would start to get out and about meeting voters in iowa by late spring, early summer because voters in this state xbekt a lot of hand-to-hand contact with their candidates before they consider caucusing for them. the big take didaway is that the republican voters believe social issues, embracing them, is the only way for the republican party to triumph in november of next year. brooke? >> jessica yellin, safe travels from iowa. now this just in to cnn -- 21 priests in philadelphia have been put on administrative leave for allegedly behaving improperly with children. you remember just last month a grand jury found 37 priests accused or suspected of

misbehavior of minors are currently serving in the minist ministry. the archbishop says the church is acting in response to the ruling. coming up next, promised we'd follow up on this story for you. 18 men and boys accused of gang-raping an 11-year-old girl. well, today we are getting the first images from inside that trailer where this whole thing allegedly took place. also, what would you do here? here is the situation. you and your spouse are both active members of the military but you have a 2-year-old son and deploying at separate times has been hard on your marriage. so do you decide it's better to deploy together and leave your child behind? one couple did precisely that. we'll hear from them coming up.

got some new details on the disturbing case out of texas. first, take a look at this video with me. this is our first glimpse inside that mobile home where that 11-year-old girl was alleged gang-raped by more than 20 men and boys. you can tell here, we've slow-mooed part of it is it a wreck, the mess inside the bathroom and bedroom, condom wrapper on one of the twin mattresses there. that's a look inside. in the meantime, stepping back here, 18 men and boys have been arrested in this case. at least half of them were in court yesterday. but take a look at what happened when they walked in. several of the young men went in the courtroom, but see the blanket there? their relatives brought it in, holding it up to hide the boys' identities and shield them from the news cameras. the suspects are accused of raping the sixth grade girl after a 19-year-old man talked

her in to leaving her house. listen to what allegedly unfo unfolded next. >> it started he asked her to go riding around with him with three other young men i think it was. they first went to another person's house, and it kind of started actually at this one house. and then when a relative of that person came home, they scrambled out the back window and they ended up in that mobile home and it continued on there. onlookers of this event, we know it was at least on one day and might have been on other dies also things happened. on the one main event, apparently videotaped and photographed things with their cell phones. and so it was getting -- becoming a very popular -- went viral basically around the school and someone reported it to the school authorities that they had seen this. they were very upset because they knew the young girl and they recognized her. >> so the aftermath of that alleged gang-rape is so explosive that the 11-year-old

girl now basically in hiding. she's separated from her family. listen to this. >> the parents tell me that she's been put in foster care as a safe house because, as these names come out, as this trial goes on, it's going to become, you know, dangerous for actually them, too. they should move from the area, they believe, because there could be -- there have been people calling the house and just saying, like, where is she? and they don't believe the mother that she's not there. then they cuss and get upset. they're worried it could become worse than that and so they just kind of don't want any more pressure on her or the family. >> now, this investigation out of cleveland, texas, not over yet. again, 18 arrests thus far. more are expected. should members of congress hold hearings this week on so-called radical islam? they still plan to and apparently half of americans think it is a good idea. but what does a man who wrote the book on islamophobia, making

muslims the enemy, what does he think? i'll ask him. and they were rarely together serving overseas at different times. so what did this couple decide to do? serve at the same time. but the only glitch here, they have a 2-year-old son they have to leave behind. we'll hear from them about that decision. tough decision. we're america's natural gas.

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the majority of muslims are outstanding americans. seems like a fairly reasonable statement. but the same guy who said that, new york congressman peter king, is holding hearings thursday on the radicalization of american muslims. what do you think about that? i want you to look at this recent poll. here are some of the numbers we've pulled out of it. 56% of americans say they think these hearings, which start thursday, are a good idea. 71% of republicans back the hearings while 45% of democrats support them. peter gochstock is an associate professor of religion at wesley university, also the co-author of "islamophobia, making muslims the enemy." let me first ask you this, peter. i know you've seen the numbers, you wrote the book on islamophobia. does there seem to be a split with americans along ideological lines when it comes to muslims in america? >> reporter: i'm sorry. can you repeat the question? >> do you think that there is a split among ideological lines

within america when it comes to muslims in this country? >> yes. i think it's -- there is a split along ideological lines. i think that more conservative americans are more willing to believe that muslims have become radicalized and to see them kind of as a whole who aren't to be trusted. whereas more liberal americans are more likely to have a sense of diversity and give the benefit of the doubt that it's not a wholesale issue about islam in general. >> i want to ask you obviously what you think about congressman king's hearings thursday, but i want to get that answer after we listen to the imam from cedar rapids, iowa, the oldest mosque in america. he stands behind congressman king but also told me this. let's listen. >> i do admire also his village

license to be proactive and to be alert and aware of what's going on in all radicalization, whether it is coming from muslims or christians or zionists. there are radicalizations across the board. >> peter, so he talks about radicalization across the board, across the country. do you agree with that, and how do you feel about thursday's hearings? >> i do think that it's pretty obvious that the united states is becoming more i'd logically split along a lot of different lines. i'm not sure that what we find in the muslim community is necessarily reflective of that. i think that in some ways if you look demoat the motivations of of the muslims behind some of the most recent crimes chshgs are very few in number, of course, they talk about being motivated by a sense that islam or muslims themselves, they are the target of the american

government. i think that's more the reason for radicalization than anything else in the united states. >> so, that said, let me ask you again how you feel about the hearings thursday, good thing, good thing america will have the conversation about the radicalization? >> well, i think that if we were talking about the radicalization in general that would be a good thing. but unfortunately we're specifically looking at muslims, and the majority of americans in the poll you cited about 71% said that the hearings should really be about radicalization in general, not specifically about muslims. >> so you echo what the imam told me yesterday, the fact if we're talking muslims, we should talk jews, christians, across the boortd. peter, thank you for coming on and talking to me about that. keep in mind here, we're going to continue this conversation at cnn a little later this month, cnn's soledad o'brien takes us into the dramatic fight over this construction of a mosque in

tennessee. we're calling it "unwelcome the muslims next door," sunday march 27th, 8:00 p.m. eastern. and now this -- >> we have guide zooided that we would rather go together than be apart for another year. >> imagine this. they've left their 2-year-old son behind for seven months while they go serve their country, serve in afghanistan. why they made the tough decision and how it's working out for them now. that is next. also, check out this video. can you even tell what this is? folks, those are dead fish. a lot of dead fish. we are just now finding out what killed them. i don't know if you're going to believe it, but we'll explain it to you next. but first, here is stephanie elam with some free money advice. >> time now for the help desk where you get answers to your financial questions. with me this hour, ryan mack, president of optimum capital management and doug flynn, certified financial planner and founder of flynn-zeto. our first question from katie in alaska, i'm about to graduate

from college and want to refinance my school loans so i only have one large payment. what criteria should i keep in mind when looking for a bank to refinance with? doug? >> well, you have to watch variable rates because that can really cost you as rates go up over time. you want to take a look and sometimes the lower rate might be the variable, but what you want is a fixed rate that will be as long as you possibly can pay it back. with no prepayment penalty. that's what you want to do, shop between the banks and find the longest fixed rate, longest time and no prepayment. that's the best option. >> next question comes to us from whitney in north carolina -- my husband may get laid off soon. we should get about $20,000 from retirement and paid leave, but have so many bills to pay. how should we use the money to get us to the next job? a lot of questions. ryan? >> definitely great concern for many families, but this question highlights the fact of why we need an emergency fund, not live so close to our means that when times like this happen we have a cushion we can land upon.

what they have to do is downsize as fast as possible. look at their budget, see which bills they can reduce, how many credit card companies can they call and negotiate interest rates lower. how many things they can eliminate completely, get rid of the cell phone bill, additional cable bill maybe and get just basic service. these types of things and more. additional jobs on the side to make additional capital and maybe he should start to get some community classes at the community college to get additional training and improve his resume before shopping for a new job. >> get it out as quickly as possible. >> exactly. thank you so much. if you have a question you want to get answered, wie'd love to help you out. send us an e-mail anytime.

i'll tell you what. if you're there, you've seen the pictures and seen what's going on in redondo beach. what we're looking at is dead

fish, a lot of dead fish. fish and game officials in california say the millions of anchovies and sardines now floating in a marina suffocated. here's hoping they don't get on pizza. here's what happened. the fish swept in from the ocean, used up all the oxygen in their new enclosed surroundings. there are no signs of oil or other chemicals in the water. they just used up all the o2. talk about a tough decision here. have you two parents serving in the military. they have a 2-year-old little boy, so is it better for them to deploy overseas at separate times so that one of them is always home with their son, or is it better for them and their marriage here to deploy together leaving their son behind for months. chris lawrence got to talk to them about their tough, tough decision. >> reporter: it's the hardest choice this couple ever made, leaving their 2-year-old son for seven months. >> keep it up. >> reporter: while mom and dad

deploy to afghanistan at the same time. >> i don't think a mother could ever describe that feeling, leaving your son and especially i was leaving him for the first time. >> reporter: but last time she got back from a tour in iraq she barely had a chance to get the bills before she got deployed again. >> reporter: this is jeff's eighth deployment. >> we decided to go together than be apart for another year. with seth's grandparents in ohio their saving grace has been skype. >> you want mommy and dad toe play, okay. >> reporter: 2 years old and whatever comes along with that. sometimes he doesn't want to come along. they can see him, watch him play. things they would never be able to do before. >> technology has been so amazing. >> reporter: what's on your shirt, budy? >> they are lucky to be on a base with fast internet service. >> we know that a lot of families don't get that same --

excuse me, i just feel sorry for those that don't get that pleasure, you know. >> reporter: in 2001 the military divorce rate was lower than the national average. after ten years of deployments it's higher. counselors have even used skype for marital counseling during deployments. >> it can be a double-edged sword. >> reporter: kelly is an advocate for military families and also a sailor's wife who said her husband in iraq got frustrated when their daughter avoided skype. >> why doesn't she want to talk with me and we found out her way of coping with the deployment is out of sight, out of mind, and that by talking to him on the phone, by skyping with him, it was just a reminder that he wasn't there, and it -- it was hard for her. >> reporter: technology also means trips can't immerse themself in war like they used to and some say i can't leave my problems at home. they are there every night.

now it's almost time for seth to move back with his mom and dad. >> it was very, very difficult, but i know that we're doing -- we're doing this for our future, and we can have more time with him. >> wow. chris lawrence, that is tough, tough. that grandfather, he's a good man to take care of that little boy, but let me ask you with all the risks involved obviously in deploying, serving in afghanistan, the military does indeed allow both parents to deploy together. >> they do, brooke. as long as they designate a care giver. in this case it would be the grandparents. really, it's almost like they had to sign over custody because the grandparents have to have the ability to make emergency medical decisions if something were to come up with seth, but the reason they decided to do it together was some studies show that up to 80% of kids who have mom or dad deployed have trouble in school, have trouble sleeping, have anxiety, so what they try to do is say, look,

this will allow us to keep the entire family together for a longer period of time. the only drawback to that might be that it was grandpa that broke seth off the bottle. it was grandma and grandpa who really got him potty trained so seth may have a little separation anxiety from his grandparents who he's been living with for seven months. >> like i said, fortunate enough to have the grandparents. not everyone would be in the same situation. >> very lucky. >> a great piece, chris. thank you for sharing that with us. thank you. let's check in with the president. there he is speaking live talking education, speaking at a school in boston. when we come back, i'll speak with wolf blitzer to tell us why the president chose to visit this particular school and why he's also joined by melinda gates. be right back. inventory. ♪ new equipment. new trucks. new hires. ♪ new space. ♪ new markets.

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now let's go to washington to check in with my colleague wolf blitzer with the latest off the cnn political ticker. wolf, what do you have? >> the president is speaking at an event in boston at a high school there called tech boston academy. 95% of the graduates there go on to college. it's a remarkable success story. most of the students there, 80% 2090% are first generation potential college applicants. the president is there with arne duncan and also melinda gates, the co-chair of the bill and melinda gates foundation. the foundation has given money to the school to develop itself in an inner city area,

tremendous success rate and the president, together with arne duncan, they are trying to showcase some of the opportunities out there to improve education. as you know, he wants to increase education spending in his new budget. he's come under some criticism for that saying a lot of the conservatives saying that's great but the u.s. simply doesn't have the money. he's going out there saying this is a priority to educate the next generation, especially some of the students who may turn out to be failures unless they have great teachers and technical capabilities to compete in this century. the played it was over at the state department with secretary of state hillary clinton today in an event commemorating, honoring the 100th anniversary of international women eday. did you know, brooke, there was an international women's day and today is the 100th anniversary. working hard to promote women's interest around the world and also now collaborating with goldman sachs and the 10,000 women project of goldman sachs to increase opportunities for women to work at state department, so that's what the

first lady and the secretary of state, among others, a lot of distinguished women, from you'll over the world are meeting in washington. finally working on libya. a lot coming up on libya in "the situation room," including an in-depth analysis of those people, those libyans fighting gadhafi and his forces works they really are. who are these rebels? do they have a similar background? are they a different disparate kind of group? we're going in depth on the opposition to gadhafi. that's coming later in "the situation room." lots happening today. >> apparently there's a red carpet waiting for moammar gadhafi if he shows up at a hotel in tripoli. we'll check in with nic robertson. >> that red carpet has been out there for several hours. could be a no show or just a late show. >> we will wait and see, mr. blitzer. we will wait and see. we'll check in with you later this hour. we'll get another update, political update for you in half an hour. get the latest update online. go to cnnpolitics.com or on

twitter. now, top of the hour, developing right now, as we mentioned, civil war raging in libya. east of the capital is fully in opposition control, but the closer one gets to tripoli a question of who is in charge, a little trickier to answer. senior international correspondent nic robertson has been waiting in the lobby of a tripoli hotel as we reported for hours, six hours, to see if moammar gadhafi indeed shows up. nic, let me guess, no sign. >> reporter: you got it, brooke. six hours and counting, and the journalists here are lined up where you saw them, still waiting for him to arrive and still no explanation as to exactly what he'll do and whether or not he'll talk to us when he arrives. they say he'll walk right along the line of journalists, right into the hotel. they could sneak him in through a side door. security deciding to bring him all the way through the lobby here. we saw just a few days ago, when he exited a big gathering that he held, he got into a golf cart

and rode the length of the park there in a golf cart. quite surprising, so here he's going to be paraded in front of everybody, but we don't know what he's going to say. >> us a wait and see if he shows up. if you can perhaps dispel some of these rumors, if there were negotiations taking place between moammar gadhafi and the opposition as to whether or not he would be willing to leave the country. true or false? >> reporter: false. that's what his officials here tell us. they say that he was never going to be putting himself in this kind of position, that this is propaganda by the opposition. everything that we've heard from him, from his family and government officials, they have said all along that the rebels can put down their guns and the government won't prosecute them. they believe that they are going to win the war but they also said that they won't get into any political negotiations about reforms and other things until -- until the country is united and the rebels are defeated so that's -- from a

government point of view this is -- this is the negative information put out by the rebels, and just a non-starter is what we have from here, brooke. >> thank you for explaining it so eloquently there, nic robertson, waiting for gadhafi in triply. nic, my thanks to you. in here, threats of severe weather, all across the country, severe storms moving across parts of the u.s. and tornadoes could be popping up in the next hour. i want you to take a look at some of the red boxes. there they are. two red boxes on the map right now. those are the spots already under tornado watches. also of huge concern right now, what's happened in new orleans. some of you have been sending me twit pics, mardi gras. so conditions right now for possible tornadoes amidst all of those revelers down in new orleans. we're monitoring the scene. jacqui jeras is on standby. as soon as we see anything pop up, we'll bring that to you. and now, watch this.

horrific case of child abuse ends in murder. a little girl dies. her twin brother severely burned by chemicals. >> we're being taped up with our arms and legs and put in a bathtub. >> but could she have been saved. someone calls an abuse hotline while the girl was still alive. cbs versus charlie sheen. actor gets fired but does he have the upper hand in court? duh, winning. >> we're on the case. >> what are some members of congress giving up for lent? we've got the list of guilty pleasures. here we go. if it's interesting, happening right now, you are about to see it. "rapid fire," let's go. st. louis, one deputy us marshal is in critical condition right now. the man believed to have shot him is dead. the gunfire erupted when federal and local authorities tried to serve an arrest warrant on the suspect who reportedly refused to surrender.

another u.s. marshal and a police officer were also shot, though their injuries not quite as bad, and we are getting our first look now inside that dilapidated mobile home where 20 men and boys gang-raped this 11-year-old girl. you can see the place filthy. 18 suspects charged in this case. more arrests are expected, and a lawyer representing some of the men says the number of suspects could reach 28. boys charged in the case have made their first court appearance. can you see them walking and being shielded by the black blankets held up by relatives to keep them away from the cameras. an american disappears in the united kingdom, and now her family is demanding answers. we're told lieutenant colonel mary ewing went diving in england, but she never came up. she is a war veteran and a master diver from alabama. rescue crews say the search has now turned into a recovery mission, but ewing's daughter says no one is telling her what happened.

>> she's tough. i mean, she's strong, and i can't believe that she just disappeared in the ocean and she was with someone and they just don't know where she is. that just doesn't make any sense. >> british police are calling her disappearance a missing person's case. in baltimore, a neighborhood in mourning over the death of a high school student stabbed to death outside of his home sunday. ronald gibbs was a promising athlete, a boxer works witnesses say was trying to protect his sister in a fight. >> protect your sister. she was his big sister. that's a man's job, protect your sister, and he lost his life. oh, god. >> ronald gibbs was just 17 years of age. the man believed to have killed him still at large. look at this mess with me, entire side of a house gone. imagine an suv slamming into the house at 4:00 in the morning, but it's even more frightening than that. the suv hit a baby's crib with

the baby sleeping inside. look, is that the baby's mattress? the little girl suffered only a scratch on her head and amazingly her father found her under the degree inches from the suv's front tire. massachusetts mud slide buries a small suv in greenfield here. look at this. heavy rains, seeing mud and debris in the street. we're told everyone is okay. the mud also pushed part of the cemetery into the backyard of some of the homes there. crews cleaning up the mess. quite a job they have. california, a thief walks into a church, steals a backpack but inside there's an urn, filled with a man's ashes. all this happening half an hour before the funeral. grabbed the bag from the altar, the man's widow devastated. >> shock, horror, terror for a moment, you know. what can you do? can't do anything about it. >> what does that? the family is asking the suspect to please return the ashes, no

questions asked. move over, mcdonald's. the world has a new fast food king, sort of. subway now has more restaurant chains than mcdonald's all around the world. the sandwich shop has something like 34,000 locations. golden arches reportedly still makes a little more dough. and researchers calling out the diabetes belt of america. can you guess where that is? look at the map with me. the areas in dark blue are the places where the disease, type ii diabetes, is most prevalent. the states with the highest number of cases include ohio, pennsylvania, and most states in the south. a tragic end to the search for an american student in spain. police find his body in a river, but are there signs of violence? that is ahead. also, some new twists in a disturbing case of child abuse and murder. police say a foster dad killed his daughter and then soaked her twin brother in chemicals, but we're also now hearing that this

girl was alive when someone raised a red flag. who dropped the ball in this case. we're live with that one next.

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basic. preferred. at meineke i have options on oil changes. and now i get free roadside assistance with preferred or supreme. my money. my choice. my meineke. police in spain announcing they have discovered the body of an american college student missing for over a week now. austin taylor bice disappeared last month. they found his body after draining part of a river near where he was last seen.

so far, police say the body does not indicate any signs of violence. and you already know this here. parents have adopted twins, a boy and a girl and are now facing first-degree murder charges. police say the children were beaten, malnourished, taped up and forced to stay in a bathtub for hours. the girl was found, let me pull away from that and take you live to libya, triply, and we're announcing the crush of media where the red carpet is where moammar gadhafi has just appeared. let's just listen to this.

>> let me bring in hala. what you're looking at is dozens of members of the international media who have all been waiting for six-plus hours including our own nic robertson. i want to bring in hala gorani from cnn international who is watching this whole thing with me, and we were waiting, we were thinking we might see him but nobody was entirely sure. why is he there, and who is he speaking to? >> you're never entirely sure when it comes to moammar gadhafi. nobody is sitting their watch by moammar gadhafi time, i can tell you this. it's always unpredictable whether or not he'll show up. i haven't gotten a look at him. i don't know if you've actually seen him.

we can see a scrum and people scrambling. is moammar gadhafi in the middle of all of this? is he sort of being ushered away by security? we heard he was there for an interview and word got out he would show up at this hotel. >> that's why everyone is camped out. weren't we supposed to see moammar gadhafi at some point this morning and he didn't show up there. >> he didn't show up and when the red carpet was rolled out on the other side of the revolving door of this tripoli hotel and the word got out that an important v.i.p. was going to show up, that's when rumors and reports of moammar gadhafi appearing to address reporters started circulating. what he will say is anybody's guess but with that said, i think we can safely say he's not going to step down or tell the opposition he's willing to speak and come up with a plan to exit gracefully. >> why do you say that, because

we can't have that kind of high expectation? >> because both sides have shot those reports down quite vociferously today so we're not expecting that. then again, as with everything that is connected to moammar gadhafi, we have to wait and see, but it's definitely not something that we're expecting and it's not something that would fit into his personality or his style. >> i want to welcome our viewers in the united states and all around the world, cnn and cnn international. i'm brooke baldwin sitting alongside hala gorani, and we want to walk you through what we're looking at unfolding live. >> and i think we're hearing nic robertson. >> reporter: the government has flatly denied from the outset, refusing to comment on such baseless lies. >> while we work out what's going on next, moammar gadhafi,

of course, now entering your hotel just moments ago. i want to welcome all of you in the usa, you're watching cnn and we are with nic robertson in tripoli who has been waiting eight hours today for moammar gadhafi to pitch up at the hotel where the journalists are staying at the behest of the government. for our viewers in the u.s. who have just joined us, if you can describe what's going on in the past five, six minutes or so. >> reporter: well, moammar gadhafi arrived at the hotel. he pulled up in a cavalcade of about four or five white land cruisers, got out of his vehicle surrounded by i would say half a dozen to a dozen bodyguards. they swept into the hotel. there are more than 100 journalists and camera crews waiting for him to come in, and as he came in, the whole thing descended into pand momentum and the scrum to get the best

picture. he seemed to not know which way to go. in fact, for a leader of a country this size, someone who has been in power for 42 years, he seemed quite a diminutive figure as he tried to make his way through the throngs of press, not knowing which way to go. his minders trying to open up a way for him through the crowd. eventually he made it through to a hall here in the hotel, and now we're looking at a screen deep with security guards lined up in front of that cloth screen. he's behind there. what happens next, we don't know. the expectation is that he'll invite the other hundreds of journalists who are here for some sort of briefing, some sort of speech. back to you >> i know you spoke to the foreign minister yesterday about the possibly of military intervention. there's a lot of diplomatic wrangling going on particularly at the u.n., at the security council at present. what did the foreign minister tell you about the possibility

of any intervention at this point? >> reporter: he was quite -- he said that libya has high expectations from president obama initially, that -- that from what the country has seen of him since they -- they have no faith in what he was saying. they say they have been calling, calling for sort of an international monitoring group to come into the country. said they have been calling for that day one and what they can see is clear from libya and its leaders now is that the international community, particularly the united states, france and britain want a partition to be called to a return of the days of the colony so as viewers just the international community and the rebels that partition the country, east and west, becky. >> okay. we are waiting for moammar

gadhafi to either appear, hold a press conference. something is going on behind the curtain. nic robertson is with us in the hotel in tripoli where journalists are being put up at the behest of the libyan government. nic, is it obvious whether any of his family members are with him? >> reporter: no. he came in by himself. just the security team that came in when he came in here, becky. neither of his sons or anyone else appear to be with him, becky. >> while we wait, nic, i know this may be some time but let's stay with you here because it's an important moment in this -- in this crisis, and it is a crisis, let's face it. this is a civil war that seems to be getting worse. remind our viewers, you may have just joined us, i want to remind them that we've seen fighting to the west, significant fighting with air strikes to the west of tripoli today, about 30 miles

away in a town called ras lanuf which is an important strategic oil town. and up to the east of tripoli as well. we're not talking hundreds or thousands of kilometers away from the capital here. we're talking tens of miles away. ben wedeman also talking to a story there which was rebel fighters who seemed to be -- being pushed back slightly by the government's forces now, but, nic, i know you spend time in both of those areas. what did you see when you were there? >> well, we were -- when we were in zawiya yesterday, we were -- a security gentleman is telling knee move to the side here a little bit. this is the way we're often dealt with by officials. they tend to move us around a little bit. when we were on the outskirts of zawiya yesterday we were able to hear heavy detonation, small

arms weapons fire going on and that was -- that was what we were able to see and hear nerd when we were outside zawiya and we were very close, about a mile away from where the rebels were. what we've heard from a source who left today, reports again tanks in the city that have been killing civilians he said today. he also said the two medical centers, let me move down other a little bit, the two medical centers in the city had been closed down and that the army was taking out its wounded in ambulances for treatment elsewhere so the situation in zawiya with the medical center closed down does give the perception that perhaps the army is given more of an upper hand in the defense of city but, again, another day of friday, friday, saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday, five days of fighting in zawiya now and today two casualties. two doctors reported killed. the only medical persons there

treating the wounded, the rebel wounded, have been closed down by officials. again, i'm walking backwards because we're being moved back by the security officials from the entranceway from where moammar gadhafi walked into just a few minutes ago, becky. >> yeah. which brings me to my question while we wait to find out what's going to happen in the next few moments, whether moammar gadhafi will indeed address the press or whether he will talk individually to journalists. we're not sure at the moment but we're going to wait to find out what happens. it brings me to another point. there's much talk at present about the at least drafting of a resolution by the u.s., uk and france that would allow a no-fly zone over libya, the objectives of which, of course, would be to protect libyan civilians from government gunfire from the air and indeed to enforce or force a regime change at some point. is it obvious that these air

strikes at this time are targeted at civilians or at those who are armed. >> reporter: well, the government has -- [ inaudible ] however, having talked to government officials here over the past week, the possibility and threat that there may be a no-fly zone imposed on libya has really, they told me, forced the government not to wait to see if that happens but to push forward and speed up its efforts to retake areas in the east of the country so their reaction. the government here responding

to the pressure not-fly zone is to accelerate the speed of their attacks and try to retake that ground by using air power quickly before there's a possibility of a no-fly zone being imposed, becky. >> just bring our viewers up to date. we're waiting on mom movement nic is in the hotel where moammar gadhafi walked in just moments ago. nic, bringing us back to tripoli, we've been talking about towns to the east and to the west of the country. what about tripoli? what's going on there? >> reporter: tripoli does seem to be firmly under the control of the government here. the only weapons out on the street over the weekend, for example, when there was a pro-government rally, some fired into the air sunday morning and other gunfire early sunday morning. there were many, many gadhafi supporters out on the streets firing their weapons and when we were told the opposition were

brought here, they say the difficulty is for them, they cannot come out and protest because they are not armed and they feel that that puts them at a disadvantage to come out and express their feelings. what we're seeing from the rebels in the east of the country, misrata, 100 miles from the capital and zawiya, 40 miles drive to the west, that the rebels have been armed and that's what given them the strength to maintain their anti-government protests. here in the capital we have seen protesters come out, come out on the weekend. last friday the police then forced them back off the streets with tear gas, live rounds also fired, so the protesters in tripoli lacked the power to take on the government and establishment, and for that reason the government very much has tripoli under control, but a lot of anxiety here. if you're talking the average citizen here who has no interest left or right for this government. the big interest is what's going to happen with their schools. the children don't go to school, they wake up crying at night,

their future is very uncertain and their lives are very uncertain and realize a civil war could descend upon them and this could be a bloody time for them so there's a huge amount of stress while the government does retain relatively firm control, becky. >> well, listening to nic robertson live from tripoli, our viewers in the u.s., you will get a commercial break at this point.

welcome back to cnn and breaking news. let me bring you back up to speed with what we've been watching out of the capital city of tripoli. several hundred journalists have been waiting for six hours for mom team to appear at this hotel. he has done so, flanked by security guards. you can see the scrum inside as the red carpet was rolled out for moammar gadhafi. let's watch the video of him arriving. we have just been listening to nic robertson reporting on cnn saying none of gadhafi's family is there. about 100 journalists. he appeared getting out of a land cruiser and now hala gorani standing next to me as we can walk through sort scene right now. we watch and we wait. >> we wait. >> to see what he has to say. >> along with the 100 journalists who have been waiting for six plus hours at

this tripoli hotel. what next is the question? what is moammar gadhafi going to do? is he going to hold a news conference? will he have a briefing? will he speak for six hours, six seconds? you don't know. you never know. at this point we know he's with security so it could be some sort of address that will last a touch longer than the address he gave in green square last week but we'll have to watch and wait with the rest of the journalists and the rest of the world. >> as we sit here and watch with the rest of the world, i want to go to cnn senior international correspondent ben wedeman reporting live from libya. >> reporter: just sort of rumors being pushed along by the media, but here there's such a level of mistrust for moammar gadhafi that no one really wants to make a deal with him, the determination on this side of the country is that they want to see him go. when you speak to the fighters who are trying to make progress pushed in the offensive further

west, they don't want to only see moammar gadhafi go. they are talking about basically hanging him in his compound in the libyan compound. there is a feeling that the situation here has gotten to the point of no return. there's no way anybody is going to allow for the central government in tripoli to reassert its control until the head of that government goes. becky? >> speaking to ben wedeman in benghazi. for those who are as not as familiar perhaps as you are with the lay of the land in libya, ben, just explain how strategic an area like that where you are in is for both the rebels and, indeed, of course, the government forces. >> reporter: well, actually i'm not in benghazi. i'm much further to the west of there, sort of the central area where a lot of this fighting is going on, becky is between brega

and ras lanuf, and both of those towns have major refineries. the biggest refineries in the country, and these are refineries that not only produce the petrol that fuels the cars of libya, they also produce the natural gas that provides the power to run the power plants, not just in the east but also in the west, so whoever controls these two towns, ras lanuf and brega, has the possibility to basically strangle the other side. at the moment the opposition is saying that they are not going to cut off the power to the west, to tripoli, but the worry is that if central government forces, the libyan army is able to take control, retake control of ras lanuf and brega, that they might do exactly that because we understand from sources in benghazi that when the revolt was just beginning in its first week, there was an

order from tripoli to cut the power to benghazi, to punish it for its revolt so the worry is that if the libyan army takes control of ras lanuf, of brega again, they may do exactly that. becky? >> ben wedeman reporting for you from outside of tripoli. okay. let's just bring you up to date on exactly what we know at this point. i want to bring up some pictures for you moments ago. moammar gadhafi entered the hotel where the journalists in tripoli have been staying who are there at the behest of the government, of course. nic robertson is in amongst that throng, and as soon as we find out what moammar gadhafi intends to do, of course, we will bring it to you. will he hold a news conference for the journalists there? will he speak to them individually? at this point we don't know. we're waiting on information from nic, and we'll get nic back on this just as soon as we know. as far as the potential for a

deal, a negotiated exit deal that you may have heard reports about earlier on in the day for moammar gadhafi, well, neither the government nor the opposition are now prepared to stand that up. in fact, you heard ben wedeman and nic robertson saying it would be very unlikely that the opposition now would be prepared to offer gadhafi a negotiated exit deal. the other thing we've been hearing today is the escalation of fighting, air strikes west of tripoli, and i must remind you. when i'm talking west of tripoli, i'm talking 30 miles from the capital. we are not talking about hundreds of miles here. just 30 miles to the west of the capital, evidence of further air strikes today on one of the roads leading into a strategic oil town, and as ben suggested he's in and around that area. he's also seeing evidence of more air strikes against rebels where ben is at least are being pushed back slightly, though ben

says their determination to continue continues. those pictures that you're seeing, of course, are coming out of tripoli for you. i want to bring a guest for you now. the head of the unhch is here with us at djerba airport and here with us, of course, are thousands of male migrant workers. i must say before we start this conversation, i think the unhcr and other aid agencies have done a remarkable job and they should be thanked by what they have done by everybody around the world. let's find out your biggest challenges. >> at the present moment, bring bangladeshis arrived. >> at the airport. >> no, at the border. >> we were very successful. to bring back the egypt almost 50,000 egyptians who have been

stranded at this border but now the problem is even more complex. we have 13,000 bangladeshis at this border and 4,000 at the egyptian border. bangladesh is very far away. we need flights and we need international community to put more flights at the disposal of the agencies working here, and we need countries to facilitate the wait. i mean, sometimes to ask for permission to go through a country, we need it to be much more simple. >> let's explain what's been going on at this airport. the aid international community is making about 1,200 bangladeshi male migrant workers coming through here today. there have been four flights that have taken off, an expect of four, five or six flights going forward for the next ten days which should get most of the dang bosnian serbies from the border. those flights have been sponsored by the spanish and the belgian military and, indeed, by the ion and that assumes that that will continue. >> i hope so because today a

little bit more than 1,000 left but 1,000 arrived at the border, so we need to increase these air raids to dhaka, need more support from the international community and it's absolutely essential to bring these people home, and it's very important to say that migrants that cross this border into tunisia, they don't want to go to europe. they don't want to go to a developed country. they want to go back home, and it's the -- i believe the duty and the interest of the international community to support these people to end their plight and to allow them to the countries of origin. >> stay with me for one moment. we want to bring one of our reporters back in. we want to bring in at this point, nic robertson who is in -- it's richard roth. let's get you to the united nations and richard roth in new york. you know we're waiting on something from moammar gadhafi, in the hotel where the journalists are, nic robertson included from tripoli. while we wait for that lets get

the very latest from you as to what the u.n. security council is doing at this point in and around, for example, a no-fly zone for libya. >> reporter: yes, having been a reporter in libya and receiving word that colonel gadhafi might speak. you never know. could be one hour or minutes or you're taken somebody else the situation is different, no-fly zone actually brought up for the first time behind closed doors with the full security council. one of many options discussed in informal consultations by the 15 nations. it's inching along as an idea. secretary of state hillary clinton of the united states being quoted in an interview as saying this no-no-fly zone or any other action has to be coming from the international community, from the united nations, not just the united states. china and russia would be opposed, at least initially, regarding any instrument such as a no-fly zone that might in any way lead to military intervention. there was some wiggle room i observed in some comments out of beijing from the government spokesman there earlier today saying that what's important is

the restoration and the stability of libya after any renewed international action. we'll have to watch that very closely. diplomatic niceties, diplomatic movements sometimes could be increment a. have you to look at one word or the other but on the boards at the u.n. where the united kingdom and france are working on a draft resolution that is supposed to be a contingency plan. should there be a need to go in and use it? what many countries are looking for is the arab league and african union to authorize or request a no-fly zone. that will make it easier to provide political cover for other countries reluctant on the security council saying the regional nations want this. we should do this. back to you. >> the uk has said today that it supports in principle, of course, a no-fly zone. they are involved in the writing of the draft resolution, but they say that the legal basis for a no-fly zone over libya would have to be very clear. what do we know about the way

that this resolution is being drafted at this point? >> well, they are not showing us the wording, it may be in its key element stage with attorneys. these words can change in a second once they go formally behind closed doors. britain, the united states, they don't want another repeat of iraq. they don't want the -- the arguments, the controversies, whether the security council really authorized use of force. they have been down that road. can you see that in secretary clinton's remarks that it should come from theu not the united states. you also have had u.s. nato comments saying that a no-fly zone may not be that significant because there aren't as many flights, not really the issue but another u.s. military official saying indeed helicopters are the target in any type of no-fly zone and also heard talk that you need to take out libyan air defenses which would certainly be military intervention in order to establish a safe no-fly zone. a lot of issues still to go. very complex, said one security council diplomat.

>> libya, of course, has no representation at the u.n. as far as i understand at present given that the u.n. representative from libya resigned a couple of weeks ago. how involved though would those who have in the past worn the libya hat be in these negotiations now, in these negotiations amongst those parties that are integral to any decision-making on military intervention? >> well, actually there's still representation by libya at the u.n. it's another continuing, interesting sidebar to this whole story. the libyan government, colonel gadhafi, asked last week for their own representative to come to new york to represent them after their own ambassadors turned on the government and pleaded for sanctions against their own nation to come to the aid of the libyan people. my colleague whitney hurst just got off the phone with current diplomats, the deputy, still in place. they have not seen or heard of ambassador trekkie who was nominated by the libyans, so

those people played an emotional role in getting u.n. act to come together, 15 nations very rapidly, not traditional by u.n. standards to come together on a sanctions resolution. the allies behind the new resolution may go down the same road saying the u.n. wants, it african union wants it and you should do it to prevent against further violence against civilians. >> richard roth at the u.n., rich, thank you for that. all right. let's get you the very latest shots out of tripoli. if you've just joined us, you will have missed the entrance of moammar gadhafi and what an entrance it was into the hotel in tripoli where the journalists are staying at the behest of the government, government sponsored, organized trip there, the only way, let's be honest and be frank, that the international media can get a sense of what's going on in tripoli. these were the scenes just about 20, 25 minutes ago when moammar

gadhafi entered the hotel. now, nic robertson is in amongst the throng of journalists and photographers who were there waiting for gadhafi, and they have been waiting for eight hours and they may wait longer. he's inside surrounded by his security, and at present we have no idea whether he's going to speak to the press in its entirety, whether he will speak to journalists one by one or -- frankly, i guess he could decide to go again. that is the picture coming out of hotel and we'll, of course, get back to nic robertson in tripoli just as soon as we get a sense of what is going on there. i want to get this over to barbara starr at the pentagon now. we've been talking about the possibility of a no-fly zone over libya. the objectives of which, of course, barbara one assumes would be to protect civilians who are being hit by air strikes from government forces from the sky and indeed at some point looking for an effective regime

change. difficult to say at this point whether gadhafi's forces are targeting civilians or just targeting, and i use the word just loosely, just targeting armed rebels, and that will be important, won't, it as they come to a decision about what the international community does next. >> well, you know, i think that's right, becky. president obama here in washington has made very clear he wants the international community to be able to act very rapidly if you have this nightmare scenario of the gadhafi forces really opening up on libyan civilians if you start seeing wholesale bloodshed across the country. this may come from air strikes. it may also come from ground action by forces loyal to gadhafi, so this is very problematic. that's one of the things they are looking at. the question perhaps is as moammar gadhafi walks into that hotel in tripoli at this hour, does he feel any of this military pressure from the international community? we are hearing a lot of talk

about planning, maybe no-fly zones, maybe have them, all kinds of options on the table. in fact, government saying all options are on the table, but nobody making that decision to cross the line and move towards military action. that's a very serious matter. gadhafi knows that. he knows that there's very little stomach for action against him at this point, so does he feel the pressure? does he feel any pressure to change his ways? does he feel any pressure to step down and leave without the threat of imminent military action? that may be a very problematic thing. you know, you're beginning to hear people say this could be a sustained conflict. it could all go on for some time. >> barbara, we'll be going back to becky in tunis in a moment, at the djerba airport in tunisia. one would think that u.s. resources are particularly stretched at the moment given events in afghanistan and iraq

and so forth. what is being said at the pentagon about the u.s. military capability if it were to take part in some sort of coalition no-fly zone? >> reporter: well, let's give you the lay of the land as it starts right now. there are a number of u.s. navy warships in the mediterranean with hundreds of marines on board, helicopters. they can begin to do operations if ordered. there is a u.s. navy aircraft carrier with a full fighter air wing on board nearby in the red sea. they could be called into action. there are a number of aircraft, u.s. aircraft stationed in europe, italy, germany, certainly could be moved further south into italy, very easily within range of libya, but, again, what would they do, you know? defense secretary robert gates has been sounding a real note of caution about a no-fly zone. as you look at that map, he says those aircraft would have to come across the mediterranean, launch strikes against libya's

north coast along the mediterranean and begin to bomb and take out anti-aircraft sites and take out radar sites, begin 24/7 operations over libya and really clamp down on libyan forces. what do you get out of that? well, you could put the libyan air force on the ground very rapidly. you could keep them from flying. helicopters are another problem though. they fly low and at a very slow speed, very hard to detect in a no-fly environment, very hard to go after them and, again, we see these high-profile libyan air force attacks that are absolutely terrible against civilians. there's still a lot of ground action by the libyan army so, you know, a to -- fly zone isn't really going to stop that and gates has been warning the world community that you are really talk i talking about opening up a third conflict for the united states and for the allies. gadhafi knows that. he -- he knows my best is

exactly where the world community stands on this, but the clock could be ticking against him. again, the president says, and the world community says this can't go on forever and that they won't tolerate violence against libyan civilians. >> and barbara, as we await what we expect to be some kind of news conference from colonel gadhafi in tripoli at a hotel where journalists have been waiting throughout the day, cnn usa our sister network will take a break.

welcome back to cnn. breaking news out of the capital city of libya out of tripoli. we've now seen just in the last minutes here the first few clips of moammar gadhafi. let's roll the video, guys, because this is just a few moments before the 42-year libyan leader gets behind a curtain. you can see he had some sort of glasses on and a turban. it was quick. it was fast. this is the scene. this is the scrum and crush of reporters, some 100-plus journalists inside this tripoli hotel, an they have literally rolled out the red carpet for this leader. why is he there? who will he be speaking to? what will he be speaking about? these are all the questions on many, many minds. about 100 reporters, photojournalists there in tripoli. apparently he arrived by land cruiser and flanked by bodyguards and no other family members. as we watch and wait, i want to take you back to cnn

international live. >> reporter: 40 minutes drive away from here. what exactly is happening in misrata, what exactly are government forces doing there? why can't we go and see and report from these places, and many questions on people's minds an right now he's behind the curtai curtains. >> that's right. okay. let's just remind our viewers of how he made his entrance, nic, quite a scrum, wasn't it, as moammar gadhafi pulled up outside the hotel and came in with his security guys. just talk us through some of that. >> reporter: well, we can see his cavalcade pulled up, four, five, maybe six white vehicles. people were out and the head of the group with a number of security guards all around him and the security guards sort of established a narrow sort of pathway for him to walk past what were many, many and dozens upon dozens of cameras and the

whole neat line fell apart as they came in with people trying to get the best picture they could. i managed to get out of there and continue, but that's exactly how chaotic it was. people were trying to get in front of them. this is a man who has been ruling this country, one of the largest countries in africa for 42 years. he seemed an awfully diminutive figure with the security pressing around and pressing in on hill, and i couldn't help feel this was some kind of metaphor that he must feel from the international community and government officials have been saying that the international community is trying to partition his country. he's been absolutely flanked and now reunited. we're asking that question to have the chance later, becky. >> nic, remind us. what was the last time you heard from moammar gadhafi, and what did he say?

>> reporter: well, he was spoke last night i believe to french television channel. he spoke late last week for about two -- more than four and a half hours, three hours also, more about my broadcast. spoke across the whole spectrum of issue and reminding the nation how he leads the country, how he leads the people other than the country reminding people what he'd done for the company country, how the country became united under him and traded out their colonial powers and the rebels, could put their weapons down and telling the international community that if they wanted intervention they should remember that that was hostile and said if that was what was in their mind to do, then libya was ready for it. it would fight. it was a speech of a man, and the speech of a man who is insisting that he's staying in

power. president obama and the reports from his phone conversation with british prime minister david cameron saying one of the key issues now that should focus on libya is that member member needs to go, and needs to -- proof of what the libyan leader is saying, has said and intends to do in the future, becky. how do you reconcile these two positions? how does one -- or his own government, if they want to ask him to step down. these are very brave, difficult issues and nobody here is really coming up with an answer and when you talk to people, very few of them disagree that moammar gadhafi's time is limited and for the country's future he has served it greatly in the past and now they need to move on and see the need for change. many here would argue more strongly saying this man is a

vicious tyrant and it's time for -- >> yeah. nic robertson at the hotel where moammar gadhafi. is he walked in about 40 minutes or so ago now. we're not clear exactly what he proposes to do that, but there is a throng of journalists, nic, of course, amongst them and as we await gadhafi's appearance a look at video of gadhafi when he walked in. might have seen it before, quite something to see, quite something to see as we are coming through. let me bring you back to we are here. this is djerba border close to the tunisian/libyan border where we for some days have been covering the story of migrant workers who have been fleeing

the fighting in trippy will behind me. fighters who were evacuated from the transit council to the u.n. here and waiting a flight out to dhaka. they have been a real priority over the past couple of days for the unhcr and other agencies set here. got little support from their organization and the government. have gotten a lot of international support from the international community. today two flights responsible sponsored by the aid agency -- we've got a hole in the baggage and over here and to my -- well, beyond, male migrant workers hoping to get back to dakar tomorrow and will be sleeping in the airport. but it's a lot more comfortable here than it is up at the

border. it's organized an calm as the trance yet -- the border is very interesting as well and still a closing mark as we cut out coverage at least from here on cnn. do this this. we have no injury or if the army has to what is going on on the other side of the borderch we see the male migrant workers coming over the board and what's being described as a tickle, as many as 1,000 an hour at the height of this. the question is this, has everyone who wants to flee fled, or is something going on on the other side of the border that is preventing people from leaving? there were more than 1.5 million migrant workers in libya when this fighting began. only 10% of them, and that's