none of this makes sense because you can't see the images, so buy the book or watch the show. the correct answer to our gps challenge question was c, by the end of next year, every south korean home is set to have broadband speeds 200 times faster than the u.s. average. go to our website for more questions and answers. thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. and i will see you next week. your child gets into college. now the hard part -- how do you pay for it? we'll help you track down the money this hour. and in these tough times, you might need to update your resumé. we've got some do's and don't's in the 4:00 p.m. eastern hour. and 5:00, thousands of women take on walmart in a sex discrimination suit. it could be the most important case the u.s. supreme court hears this term. you're in the cnn news room, i'm fredricka witfield.

on the international front, rebel forces in libya say they are controlling two more key towns in their advance to tripoli. this is smoke hanging over the city of ras laneuf that where an opposition spokesman tells cnn government troops have pulled out of ports. both places were claimed by pro gadhafi forces at the start of the civil war. the next major city is moammar gadhafi's home town. rebel forces anticipate the fighting there to be intense. an unrelated situation taking place while all of this civil war and strife taking place in libya. a chilling story now of rape and brutality. a libyan woman ran up to a gathering of journalists in tripoli yesterday, desperate to get her story out. and the scene turned chaos. we're live to libya in just a moment with an update on the

woman. but first, watch what happened while television cameras were rolling. >> nothing happened! nothing happened! >> help! >> all right. so it's difficult to understand what's taking place just by looking at the pictures, which is why nic robertson, our senior international correspondent is with us now to kind of explain all of these events that took place. we've set off the top that the woman came to where a number of journalists were around the world are. they're in tripoli. and said that she was assaulted and raped. but then what happened there as this scene appeared to be rather chaotic? >> well what she did was incredibly brave. number one, for an arab woman or

any woman to come and tell other people that she had been raped. this is the first person we've heard come and speak publicly, openly on camera against the gadhafi regime. what happened was quite incredible. all the government officials here that kind of stage-managed everything we see and make it look as if everyone supports gadhafi pounced on her, jumped on her, manhandled her. tried to pull her away from the journalists who were asking her questions. the journalists were beatsen by these government minders as they're called here. some people were kicked, pushed, cnn's camera was snatched out of cameraman abdullah's hands. taken away from him and systematically smashed. what the government was trying to do was cover up any trace of this woman being here. of course they couldn't do that. and they took her off. they said they were taking her to hospital. because she was insane. later on, we asked many times to be able to see her. to prove to us that she was

still okay and say, the government later said she was safe, she was at a police station, she was pressing charges and we'd soon be able to see her. but that has proved to be completely empty hollow words. the government hasn't shown her to us. hasn't proven to us that she is safe and well. and her whereabouts rights now, the government said she's at a police station, we really don't know. but we saw the terrible, terrible way the government officials dragged her away and somebody even at one point threw a bag over her head, fredricka. >> while she was trying to convey that message, did she say that in any way it was directly related to this civil war? to all that's taking place militarily? or did she say anything about why she believes those who assaulted her allegedly assaulted her, why they were motivated? >> what she told us was that she was driving past the check-point in the east of the city here and

when she was stopped at the checkpoint, that she named the group loyal to the government. loyal to gadhafi that was running the checkpoint. and the checkpoints are run by men in civilian clothes carrying womens. she said they took her away, tied her up and for two days beat her and repeatedly raped her. this, she said, was an action essentially of government thugs that were taking away. because her name implied that she was from the east of the country, from benghazi. that's why she was saying that the government thugs had taken her, tied her up, raped her. she showed the burn marks on her wrists where she had been tied up. the scratchmarks on her thighs, the bruises on her face, her legs, the rope burn marks on her ankles as well. everything she showed us was consistent with what she was telling us. the government later tried to make this into something else saying this was not a political situation, it was a criminal situation. but what was incredibly here was

something we never normally see. the government minders, thugs, even, jumping on her, trying to cover up her story because she was criticizing the government, fredricka. >> nic robertson thank you so much. he just explained that the woman is from the eastern part of the country, benghazi. cnn's rehza sayah went to benghazi, spoke with this woman's family. what are they telling you, reza? >> according to her cousin, she is not from benghazi, she's interest the town of tobruk. another opposition stronghold about two hours east of her. according to the cousin, the woman's name is iman al abedi. she's not married, but is engaged, she was working at a travel agency in tripoli. at this point, that's all we know. but this war, obviously, is the big story in libya. but this incident is starting to make a lot of headlines.

it didn't take long for those dramatic pictures to make their way here to the opposition capital. and the response here has been outrage. there was a large rally today, a large group of people marching towards the courthouse. to show their support for iman al abadi. there was a news conference by an opposition official an hour ago. the opposition official calling on the international community, calling on the u.n. to investigate this matter. at this point, people understand that they can't do much about her situation, they say all they can do is raise awareness. they say this is the type of brutality that they put up with for decades in the gadhafi regime. fredricka? >> reza sayal thank you so much. a syrian president, bashar al assad is expected to address his nation after days of clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters. the government announced its state of emergency will be

lifted. that law gave the government power to override the constitution. despite reports of security forces opening fire on protesters, the u.s. draws no parallels to libya. >> what's been happening there the last few weeks is deeply concerning. but there's a difference between calling out aircraft and indiscriminately strafing and bombing your own cities, than police actions which frankly have exceeded the use of force that any of us would want to see. >> meantime, the family of an american student who disappeared in syria this week say that he has been located. the father of tik rut said his son is safe and well. but is in the custody of syrian authorities. rut is an exchange student from middlebury college in vermont. and in turning to now the disaster in japan. officials at the fukushima nuclear plant are toning down a

frightening radiation report. earlier, they said a reading at the number 2 two reactor was ten million times above normal. now they say that figure was wrong. they say the real figure is still high, but not as high. 100,000 times above normal. back in this country, geraldine ferrero is being remembered as a political trail blazer. in 1984, she became the first woman to run for vice president on a major u.s. party ticket. ferrero died of cancer yesterday at the age of 75. democrat walter mondale recalls the woman he picked as his running mate. >> she'll be remembered as a gutsy pioneer. she stood up and fought for america that opened its doors to all americans. including women. and that she was one of the central figures in that fight. >> former u.s. secretary of state, warren christopher will be buried tomorrow. he served in the clinton

administration. current secretary of state, hillary clinton, and christopher's former boss, bill clinton, are expected to attend that funeral. christopher died last week at the age of 85. former president, jimmy carter is heading to cuba tomorrow. his first visit in nine years. he's going on a private mission at the invitation of the cuban government. he will meet with president raul castro to discuss bilateral ties. plans for a mosque in the bible belt sparked outrage and protests. we'll examine religious freedom and tolerance, right after this. wrench? wrench.

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my money. my choice. my meineke. the u.s. is making it clear it does not view the government crackdown in syria and libya as the same. and it does not anticipate any military action in syria. joining us now live from boston, former undersecretary for political affair, nicholas burns. so, nick, why should the u.s. get involved militarily in libya? and not so in syria? nor did it in egypt? >> well first of i think the u.s., president obama has to be very careful in how we intervene in the middle east. there are 22 arab countries. we can simply not respond it all the emergencies and all the crises in each one. what came together in libya was the fact that the arab league, the arab countries requested a military intervention to save the people of benghazi, you well remember there was an imminent

siege by gen ghazi of gadhafi's forces. the united nations security council passed a resolution authorizing the use of force by the international community, the u.s. and others in libbia none of that is in place in syria. i think we can look at these two in very different ways. syria is critical for the you states because of its juxtaposition of israel to iran. i don't think you're going see a u.s. military intervention in syria. >> so then even the outcome of what's taking place in libya, whether it was by way of the coalition, involving the u.s., members of the european union, arab league or now nato. taking over the military end of this intervention. the outcome of this very much might influence what is taking place in syria. or perhaps even what ultimately could happen in saudi arabia or other parts of the gulf region. do what degree in your view? >> well i think that there's a

demonstration effect, if you will. gadhafi, moammar gadhafi in livia is a brutal and cynical leader. you saw what he was willing to do to maintain power, to hang on to power. he was willing to kill his own people. he was willing it besiege his cities in the eastern part of libya. that was frankly too much for the international community. for the rest of the arab world as well as for europe and the united states when we did choose to intervene. and so it may be that if the international community can show in libya that that kind of brutality is not going to be tolerated, it could possibly have an effect on the behavior of some of the other authoritarian figures in the arab world. i will say this fredricka. i think most of the conflicts, you have to judge them on their own national and socialological basis. what's happening in yemen and bahrain is very different from what's happening in libya itself and syria is a a unique country, it's governed by one family who has been in power for more than

40 years. they represent, they come from a group that is only, has a slim, slim minority of the population in the country. so i think that we can learn some lessons perhaps. but each of these countries is going to sink or swim based on its own history. >> and then back to libbia senator carl levin told our candy crowley earlier today that the u.s. involvement in libya had a quote clear purpose. but that it's really important for the libyan people to determine whether moammar gadhafi should go or stay. do you agree with that? >> i think senator levin is right. what the u.s. and the coalition have done is now to give the people of libya a chance to liberate themselves. to find freedom. but they're going to have to do a lot of that work themselves. the coalition has established a no fly zone as you know. the coalition has used its offensive air power to help the rebel forces and to strike against gadhafi over the last week. with great effect by the way. we saw that in benghazi and now we've seen it as the rebel

forces move back west towards tripoli. but if gadhafi is to be overthrown, he's going to have to be overthrown by his own people. they're going to have to rise up. >> do you see that as real possibility? could they do that? and in addition, does anyone really know who represents this opposition? who are they? >> i think the most likely possibility right now is that you're going to see a protracted civil war. because neither the government, gadhafi nor the rebels will be strong enough to win an outright victory and that's going to be a problem for the united states and for the allied countries, because we're going to have to decide whether we have the patience to stay involved. to maintain that no flight zone. to provide the military assistance to the rebel forces as we've been doing. i think gadhafi is probably strong enough to hang on and the other limiting factor that you mentioned, fredricka, is this. we don't have a good idea of who the rebel forces are. particularly the military commanders. if they were to supplant

gadhafi. it's almost entirely impossible right now to predict how they govern and whether ultimately they would be friendly or not. to the united states. so it's a bit of a gamble in going into the extent that we have. >> nick burns, thanks so much for your insight, appreciate that. thank you. and meantime, on the issue of libya, this just in according to "reuters," nato agrees to implement all aspects of u.n. security council resolution on libya. we understand that president obama will be outlining the u.s. strategy on libya in a speech tomorrow night at the national defense university in washington. perhaps we'll get more information about what this means. you can watch it here live at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. all right ever since 9/11, fear about radical islam has increased around the country. a plan for a mosque project in tennessee triggered an uproar. and as part of her special "unwelcome: the muslims next

door" our soledad o'brien talks to the leader of the mosque protest. >> we as citizens, we have families and we have children in this community. we try to look ott for our future. >> we thank you for your love. we thank you for your joy. >> kevin fisher has lived in murfreesboro for 20 years. he's a corrections officer and a single father. last may, kevin was stunned to discover local officials had approved plans for a 53,000-square-foot islamic center in his home town. >> the neighbors were outraged that something of this nature was being basically shoved down our throats and we didn't know anything about it. >> a month later, the typically sleepy county commission meeting was anything but. so many people turned up for the public hearing, authorities wouldn't let them all in. >> i'm very happy to see this many people here that are really

standing up. >> a few residents complained about the lack of notice of the mosque plan. >> i would respectfully ask for an expanded public hearing again. >> virtually everyone else spoke out against the threat of islam. >> everybody knows who is trying to kill us. and it's like we can't say it. >> i would encourage the boycot of any contractor associated with the project. thank you. >> our country was founded through the founding fathers through the true god. the father in jesus christ. >> i'm sorry, but they seem to be against everything that i believe in. and so i don't want them necessarily in my neighborhood. >> that concludes our public comment period, thank you very much. >> cnn's soledad o'brien chronicles the dramatic fight over a construction of a mosque in the heart of the bible belt. it airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. later on in this hour, we'll tell you about a new smartphone app that instantly sends your

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all right. remember the polaroid camera and the disposable camera? get ready for instant picture-sharing with your smartphone. cnn's dan simon has the inside look. we're in palo alto, california, the heart of silicon valley. for the last six months, a team of engineers has been developing a secret app.

so secret that they put paper on the windows to block public view. well now it's being released to the world. and if you believe what they're saying, this application will be as revolutionary as both facebook and twitter. bill lynn is the founder and ceo of color. a smartphone app that got some silicon valley investors so excited, that they wrote some very large checks even before seeing a real product. >> we were given $41 million to start our company. >> what does color do? it's a new kind of social network. not necessarily for people you know, but for people you don't know. it allows users of iphones and android devices to instantly share their photos, videos and texts with literally everyone around them. >> we call it multilens technology. it's like going to a wedding where you have all of those disposable cameras laid out everywhere and you take pictures and it's great, because you share a moment ago. we've done it with iphones,

every camera thattics that picture around you within 150 feet is going to be instantly in your application. you didn't have to upload it or download it or share. it just happens. >> in this view i can see photos and videos being taken by all people nearby me. >> you can keep the pictures forever. if that sounds a bit creepy to you, and an invasion of privacy, win says, don't use the app. but he sees it as next generation of social networking, all on the phone in a post-pc world. the app is free. he hopes to monetize in a few months through advertising. >> how do you convince somebody should be using this? >> let's go back to the basic premise of capturing information. when i capture pictures with my camera, it's my perspective. using this application, it's going to be fun. >> win's intuition of what users will like has served him well. his last company, a music streaming service, was bought by apple for a reported $80

million. before that, he got more than ten times that amount, $850 million for a web messaging service. not bad for a college dropout with no formal background in computers. he thinks his newest company has the potential to overshadow his other successes. but he admits there's a bit of an unknown. >> it's a very different audience and a very different goal and we'll see what happens. >> whatever happens with millions in investment, color has a lot of smart people counting on it to be a hit. dan simon, cnn, palo alto, california. and of course we're going to be looking at some other new apps in a few minutes. tech time expert, marc saltzman will focus on disaster apps that can alert you to natural disasters. okay, so getting into college is one battle. paying for it -- another. our christine romans looks at what parents need to know about finding financial aid. >> i'm in the process of

waiting. waiting that's all i can say. >> 18-year-old olivia is waiting to find out if she's been accepted or not. >> i got the letter that stated everything they need and they're reviewing. >> now they're ready. >> a straight-a student, this student has applied to 15 schools. but she faces another challenge -- how to pay for her education. money matters as much as grade point average. >> affordability is a major part of my decision. for the next four years will be the financial aid from the nation, will that continue throughout the four years? >> olivia has filled out the fasfa form, which stands for the free application for federal student aid. it helps decide billions of dollars of student financial aid. olivia is also a questbridge scholar which helps students apply for various college skop arships. but many don't know about their options. princeton review publisher said do as much research as possible

and start early. >> lots of students and families are making a mistake early on in their college research and the mistake was, crossing an expensive school off of their list of consideration early on without following through and finding out how much financial aid that school is actually giving out. >> olivia's mother was involved from the start. >> everything is very time-sensitive and the sooner the paperwork gets in, the money is divvied out on a first come/first serve basis. so you have to be on top of your paperwork and taxes and have everything in on time. >> you are asked every color specifically. even after asking the general questions the specific requirements of one particular school differ greatly from another school. >> as april 1st draws closer, olivia and her mother are nervous and hopeful. >> reach for the sky. reach for the sky. >> i'm excited to be going to college. no matter where i go. i'm actually petty happy about my future. >> christine romans, cnn, new york. olivia, her mother and experts say many universities have money to give.

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it is nightfall in tripoli, libya. but we understand this information just coming in, there are sounds and sights of explosions, very rim thesant of what we saw last week. our senior international correspondent, nic robertson is in tripoli and joins us again. i feel like this is deja vu, it was about this time last week when we talked about explosions and sparks coming from near the palace. what's the proximity this time? >> reporter: well the explosions we're hearing are much haefier than the ones we heard last week. it probably means they're closer and may be larger. last night was relatively quiet in tripoli. that was the first quiet night last night. but tonight, six heavy, loud explosions difficult to tell whereabouts they fell in the city. but they must be fairly close to the center of the city.

because that's where we are located. we've also seen heavy anti-aircraft tracer fire, fired into the sky from a number of different locations. over the past few nights we've really seen very live little of that anti-aircraft gun fooir. it seems that the government has decided no the to fire, not to give away the positions. camouflaged, dug in into the side of the road, very well hidden. it seems tonight, however, the government feels the need to fire more anti-aircraft rounds into the air. which potentially gives away the positions where they're hidden. but -- [ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] >> we lost our signal with nic robertson. when we're able reestablish that we'll continue our conversation. but for now, at least six explosion there is in tripoli. and as you just heard, nic explaining, he believes it's the government, their anti-missile

defense systems that are under way. and let's listen in right now. seemingly gunfire there, gunshot there is. >> reporter: in the sky here from three or four different places, fredricka. we can hear the anti-aircraft guns firing. we can hear the anti-aircraft guns firing in the distance. we're seeing the tracer fire, light up the sky. coming from two or three different directions here. this is tripoli's air defenses, trying to take down coalition aircraft. that they fly over the city. on previous nights, we've heard the jet fighters flying over the city. that's what gadhafi's gunners are trying to do right now, bring down the fighter jets. and we've heard six loud explosions a few minutes ago,

fredricka. >> nic robertson, thanks so much. keep us posted on that. all of this taking place, while we also understand that nato ambassadors are meeting in brussels right now and they have reportedly unanimously agreed to accept the mission to enforce the no fly zone over libya. this means that all libya military operations will be under nato command. still unclear, however, the kind of activity that nic robertson is witnessing or talking about whether there's any relationship between nato taking control of that command. stay with cnn for more information as we get it. meantime, turning to the disaster in japan. officials at the fukushima nuclear plant are toning down a frightening radiation report. earlier, they said a reading at the number two reactor was ten million times above normal. now they say that the figure was wrong. they say the real figure is still high, but not as high at 100,000 times above normal. and to europe now, tens of

thousands of demonstrators protested budget cuts in britain. a group of anarchists went on a rampage in london last night. they smashed windows, clashed with police and threw paint at britain's 2012 olympic countdown clock. more than 80 people were injured. if you want a heads up, an alert about floods, hurricanes, deadly storms, all of that -- guess what? there's an app for that.

college hoops and we're halfway to the final four. butler is headed to houston. the bulldogs defeated florida in

overtime yesterday for a second consecutive final four appearance. [ cheers and applause ] >> and take a look at these fans in indianapolis. welcoming the bulldogs home. also headed to the final four -- the uconn huskies, beat arizona 65-63 in saturday's west regional final. kansas and vcu are playing right now and later today, kentucky and north carolina battle for the last final four slot. the average person doesn't see what led to that. the choreography. the movement. the flow. five people, all-moving and the ball is moving. all arriving at the perfect place. at the perfect time. boom. the only time you hear... ahhh...is when the ball goes in. but without logistics,

there is no ahhh. the devastating earthquake and tsunami in japan have spawned an increase in disaster-related app downloads for smartphones and tablets. our go-to tech expert, marc

saltzman, joining us now. marc, tell us about some of the popular downloads starting with the quake watch. >> right. so quake watch is a 99-cent app for iphone, ipod touch and in this case here, ipad. it warns you of earthquakes. and it works in three ways. by location, by knowing your gps coordinates, based on your smartphone or tablet. by magnitude. so you can also look at the big earth earthquakes. myanmar had a 6.8-magnitude quake on thursday. or by the latest, by time. 24 minutes ago in northern california there was a 1.0-magnitude erlt quake. you can get all kinds of information on here. post it to twitter or facebook. and basically it's giving you real-time feeds from the u.s. geological survey data as well as other organizations. >> and then there's something similar that alerts you with other kind of weather-related disasters, things like tornadoes, et cetera.

in what way? >> this is called disaster alert for iphone and android, a free app that not only warns you of earthquakes and tornadoes, but tornadoes, cyclones, tsunamis, hurricanes and typhoons. it shows information on a map, much like quake watch. and it also has a color-coded warning system as well. so again, you can based on your area, be notified if there's anything going on. often 20 or 30 minutes prior to radio and tv broadcasting the emergency warning. >> and then of course you want to know what to do. so you need a little preparation and there's an app for that, too. >> that's right. there's an app for that as well. called disaster readiness. it's based upon a best-selling book series. it's a $1.99 app for android and iphone. as you would expect, it's got all the things you need to prepare for. and work your way through. both natural and unnatural

disasters. everything from nuclear radiation and fire to terrorist attacks. and earthquakes. it gives you all this information that's offline. you do not need an internet connection to access it. it's a digital version of a handbook that has numerous check lists and very simple language waj. so if you're in a panic, it will walk you through what to do. from a shelter situation, to check lists and little tips to be aware of. it's very handy app to have. >> gosh, especially when you're traveling. i think i need all those apps. thanks so much, marc saltzman. good to see you, appreciate it. $50 billion is what congress will be fighting over this week as it tries to reach a budget agreement. that's next. under the hood. under the hood. so we gave it a new name. castrol edge with syntec power technology. new name. better formula. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering.

congresswoman michelle bachman is dropping more hints for running for president. the minnesota republican is in the process of forming a presidential exploratory committee. and at a conference in iowa this weekend she definitely sounded like a candidate. >> america has decideded, they're in for 2012. so that's my question to you today here in iowa. are you in? are you in for 2012? are you in? are you going to make it happen? are we going to take our country

back? i agree with you. i say we do. i'm in. you're in. we will take this back in 2012. >> bachman and other members of congress head back it work this week. here's cnn deputy political director, paul steinhauser. >> fred, after a week in their home states and districts they're back in the capital. hammering out a budget to keep the government funding. government funding runs out in less than two weeks. democrats and republicans are about $50 billion apart in how much to cut. if there's no agreement by a week from friday, there would be a government shutdown of some government services and offices. most americans say a government shutdown would be a bad thing for the country. look at that, six in ten feel that ware in our most recent poll. but there's a wide partisan divide. democrats say a government shutdown would be a bad thing. republicans, and especially tea party supporters, they don't agree. but one thing most americans

agree upon -- they're frustrated with the process. fred? >> thanks so much, paul, and for the latest political news, you know where to go -- cnnpolitics.com. and you can find out about a chef who loves food, loves people and loves helping others. meet this week's cnn hero, next.

okay. so far, spring is almost as brutal as the winter that we're saying good-bye to. take a lack here, damage from the rain in california -- mud and boulders sliding down a hillside in san pablo smashing into cars. on top of the hill, six homeowners have lost parts of their back yard. the hillside started moving thursday after days of heavy rain. and then in the south, sleepless night last night. look, can you believe this? hail? yeah, hay in georgia. and some other parts. that looks like, i don't know -- maybe a small baseball size there? silver dollar? something like that? okay. lots of rain as you can see right there. and it came with hail and some parts, people get nervous when

you have hail and spring because it means tornadic activity just might be on the way as well, jacqui jeras in the weather center with a better explanation about hail. how it forms, what it can look like. you've got a few problems here. >> the video is pretty impressive. >> that inspired me on the whole half dollar thing. >> you can actually go online and google like hail scale. and it will tell you how big in diameter the hail has to be and what we compare it to. what size. so some of the hail -- >> we saw hail like that? >> it was reported four inches in diameter. that's approximately what this onion is. keep in mind it's not always all the way around perfectly round. if you cut the onion in half, maybe it was a little bit flatter like that. but what we call severe hail is about an inch in diameter. that's like a tootsie pop, guys. look at the difference between this and what they saw -- >> in georgia. >> ping-pong-ball sized. that's what we saw. >> pretty reasonable.

maybe around an inch and a half, two inches. imagine this, fredricka -- >> on your head. >> concussion for sure. maybe worse than that. >> your car, any kind of damage, too. >> extensive damage. it could go through your roof potentially as well. >> that's behind us now? >> still seeing the threat of it in southern georgia. in a thunderstorm we get the updrafts and the downdrafts. and hail develops up here where the temperatures are really cool and eventually all the super-cooled droplets collect on it and it gets bigger and bigger, like the layers on an onion. until it becomes too heavy and it falls down and that's what we have in terms of hail. fredricka, will you grab my hail? will you catch it? >> thank goodness. >> this is where we have the hail threat and the severe thunderstorm watch south of atlanta, north of tallahassee. isolated rotation will be possible today. but that hail will be the biggest threat. so watch out for that, when there's a warning, you want to go indoors. >> that's a good warning. you definitely do not want to be outside for that. i heard the hail on my rooftop.

but i don't know what kind of size we had. >> maybe pea to marble-sized in atlanta. so not that huge. thanks, jacki. appreciate it. one california chef is cooking up change and that's why he's our cnn hero of the week. >> i came to this country 30 years ago. i love to cook. to be in the restaurant business, you must love the people. how is your lunch, ladies? >> bene. >> in 2005, my mom was here on vacation from italy. i said, mom, let's go to the boys and girls club. there was a little boy, five years old. he was eating poe ptato chips f his dinner. he was a motel kid. i find a poor family who has anything else, you live in a motel. the motel environment is extremely bad. drugs, prostitution, alcoholic. there's all of it. when they go back after school, there's no dinner.

there's no money. mom says, look, you must feed them the pasta. and i'm bruno serato, i listen to my mama and now my mission is, feeding hungry children. six years ago we start feeding the kids. when the recession came, customers dropped and the children doubled. spaghetti. i don't give the kids leftovers. i prepare fresh pasta. >> bruno brings the tray in and all the kids start getting excited. >> are you hungry? are you hungry? >> yes. >> it's good to get a free dinner. >> right now we're between 150 to 200 kids each week. who likes the pasta? my mom, she made me start. now i could never stop. i see you soon, huh? they're our customers. my favorite customers. >> bruno, that's fantastic. so we always want to hear from you. tell us about the heroes in your life. in your community, send us your

nominations to cnn.com/heroes. they could use a hero in a japanese town that is struggling now to rebuild. >> i lost everything she says, her grandparents and her home. there's nothing left in her hometown and no one to lead the rebuilding. >> some are not able to return to their homes and others are returning, even though it isn't livable. that's straight ahead, 4:00 eastern. right now, there's a nurse saving a life in baltimore. 20 minutes later, she'll bring one into the world in seattle. later today, she'll help an accident victim in kansas. how can one nurse be in all these places? through the nurses she taught in this place. johnson & johnson knows, behind every nurse who touches a life... there's a nurse educator... who first touched them. ♪ you're a nurse

♪ you make a difference

we're watching several stories that affect your financial bottom line. let's begin with allen cosick. a new survey about worth. >> hi, fredricka. a federal reserve study of household waerth somehows how big a hit americans took during the recession. taking everything into account, the value of your home, your car, income and debt, the average net worth of a household in 2007 before the recession began -- was $125,000. fast-forward two years to 2009, it fell to just $96,000. air tran and southwest airlines are one step closer to completing their tie-up. air tran shareholders approved the a merger.

it would give the airline a foothold in atlanta. stephanie? >> ford is asking its dealers to limit orders of some of its vehicles in tuxedo black or red. the glittery substance in the paint made at a factory in japan is in short supply. the debate goes on about making the friendly skies kid-free. >> 60% of flyers don't want kids near them. they would support a family section on planes. poppy harlow has a look an business. >> it's a big week for the economic calendar with reports on housing, manufacturing and the auto sector coming out. and on friday, we'll get the all-important march jobs report and wall street will be watching toor any sign of recovery. february's reading show the unemployment rate dropped below 9% for the first time in nearly two years. an about 200,000 jobs were added. we'll see how that turns out.

and also coming up next week, apple turns 35 years old. originally known for its mac computers, apple is now the consumer electronics power house behind the ipod, the iphone and the ipad. we'll follow it all for you all week on cnn money. back to you. thanks so much. ladies. i'm fredricka witfield. your money is next with a look at the future of nuclear power in this country. but fist a look at the top stories, the mission mission over libya now belongs to nato. in the past few minutes, alliance officials unanimously agreed to implement the u.n. security council's resolution. aimed at protecting libya's civilians from troops loyal to moammar gadhafi. and in japan, alarming spikes in radiation levels at the crippled fukushima nuclear plant. readings are extremely high in the number two reactor. tokyo electric officials say they are 100,000 times above