for all the latest political news go to our website cnnpolitics.com. our white house correspondent going to be interviewing martha -- martha stewart. >> martha stewart. go got to love it. >> you do. you just recovering it all, from politics to pot roast. >> i need tips on pot roast and decorating and all that stuff. i am not good at that stuff. i'm going to be paying very close attention. i'm going to ask her other questions as well. >> find out who he's going to vote for for president. >> absolutely. >> thanks. >> because i know you. >> see you. live from studio 7 i'm suzanne malveaux. up to speed for monday, october 24th. the screams of trap earthquake survivors pierced through the wreckage of eastern turkey. they're using machinery, shovels, and bare hands to try to reach them. this is a day after a magnitude 7.2 quake shook the town of ercis. officials say more than 230 people have been killed. almost 1,000 buildings have

collapsed. people left homeless are dealing now with freezing temperatures. in north africa today tunisians are counting millions of votes by hand. the results of parliamentary elections are expected tomorrow. tunisia was the first country to overthrow the dictator in what became the arab spirang. 80% turned out. many faced long waits. >> i waited three hours to cast your ballot. >> something like 3 1/2 hours. we didn't feel it. it was like five minutes because we were very, very happy to be inside there. >> well worth it for many of those folks. tunisia's new parliament will write a new constitution, decide on a system of government. the united states ambassador to syria is now back in washington today because of threats against his personal safety. ambassador robert ford angered the syrian regime by voicing support for anti-government protesters. the u.s. says that ford could

return, but officials say that syria must first stop inciting violence against the ambassador. monsoon flood waters have reached one of bangkok's two main airports. the airport is home to thailand's flood relief operations which may now have to move to another location. thousands of evacuees are already leaving a university gym because it's under water. in central bangkok remains relatively dry, however. officials are trying to divert high water to the sea by opening flood gates on dams and canals. got new developments in the case of a missing kansas city baby. surveillance video from gas station shows a man emerging from a wooded area the night that lisa irwin vanished from her home. three people have told police they saw a man in a white t-shirt carrying a baby. they say it was odd because of the late hour, because the baby was wearing only a diaper. 45 degrees outside. lisa irwin's parents claim an intruder took their baby almost

three weeks ago. chinese media say that two drivers who ran over a toddler have been arrested. you remember this story. it's just tragic. 2-year-old lingered in critical condition for a week before she died. in the minutes after she was hit surveillance video showed 18 people passing this little girl before someone finally stopped to help. the buyiiography of the lat steve jobs is on sale today. they describe the cofounder as a man who demanded perfection when he didn't get it, well, isaacson says that jobs could be kind of harsh. >> he was very pet chew lent, very brittle. he could be very, very mean to people at times. whether it was to a waitress or respite or guy who stayed up, he could go at them and say you're going this all wrong. it's horrible. you would say, why did you do

that? why weren't you nicer? you would say, i really want to be with people who demand perfection. this is who i am. >> walter isaac sols san talks with our piers morgan about steve jobs. see the interview on wednesday, 9:00 eastern on cnn. comedian will ferrell was honored for his humor, right? then what does he do? drops the award on stage, causing it to shatter. kennedy center for the performing arts awarded him the prestigious mark twain prize for american humor. ferrell was recognized for his spot-on impression, you may remember, of the then george w. bush on "snl." jobs plan in congress is stalled so president obama is turning to new proposals who don't even require approval from lawmakers. the president is on his way out west and is out laying his efforts to boost the economy. one is designed to help homeowners refinance mortgages and avoid foreclosure.

we will bring in kareen wynter at the new york stock exchange. this is an interesting strategy here that the president is trying to do. he's trying to bypass congress to get some things done. what's the plan? >> suzanne, of course, hughesing is one of the big thorns in her side right now. we really need to get that sorted before the economy can get kick started. what he's doing is hoping to loosen an existing housing program called h.a.r.p. the idea to get more in cheaper loans and refinance. with a 30-year fixed rate at 4%, it is a great time. the problem has been if you don't have enough equity in your home you don't qualify under fan difficu fannie mae and freddie mac rules. but before you get too excited, some critics are questioning how many people will be able to actually able toqualifications. suzanne? >> the president also helping

out grads as well deal with college loans and the debt about that. tell us a little bit about what he's trying to do. >> we are expect that announcement on wednesday. we don't have many details right now but we are hearing from senior administration officials is that the president will announce a plan to help graduates with their student loans. the college board says the average college grad has between 20 and $25,000 of debt. that really depends on whether you go to a public or private school. that's why we see the big range. the president is obviously trying to do what he can do for the economy and his re-election without congress right now. suzanne? >> give us a sense of the market, how the stocks are doing today. >> well, we're seeing nice little rally. we've got the nasdaq up by more than 1%. actually hovering near 2%. the other indices are in other territory. caterpillar is popping up more than 5%. investors today are putting their concerns about the

european debt crisis on the back burner as we don't have many details yet as who that they're going to do to tackle the crisis. also looking forward to economic reports coming out of the u.s., namely gdp growth for the third quarter. another cause to be optimist on wall street today. >> thank you. here's a run down ofhe stories ahead. first, more than 230 people have died in the earthquake that hit turkey. we'll have the latest on the frantic search for survivors now. and then it rained baseball size hail in oklahoma. let's take a look at that. real storm damage, as well. plus, moammar gadhafi's body has been on display for the libyan people and for around the world. his family, they've seen enough. they're demanding his body now. and protecting your daughter from bpa. now, it is a chemical used to make plastics. a new study now says it can be a toxic effect during pregnancy. why it affects girls and what

you need to look out for. also, martha stewart has got a new book and so does her daughter. but, that book doesn't make her look so good. martha stewart is joining us martha stewart is joining us live this hour.... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ ♪ where the sun never goes out ♪ ♪ and the sky is deep and blue ♪ ♪ won't you take me american flight 280 to miami is now ready for boarding. ♪ there with you fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself. nonstop. american airlines.

i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have 6 grams of sugars. with 15 grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart.

a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. it's a race against time to save lives in eastern turkey. rescuers are using machinery, shovels, even their bare hands in a desperate search for survivors of yesterday's earthquake. diana magnay is in ercis near the epicenter of the quake. she nines us now by phone. diana, set the scene for us here, if you would. are rescuers still trying to find survivors in the rubble? i think we've lost diana. diana, can you hear us? diana's gone. i guess we'll get back to diana

as soon as we can go ahead and establish that signal. want to move on. you know, want to give you a point if you want to help those devastate bid the earthquake in turkey. you can visit our impact your world page. that is at cnn.com/impact. they need a lot of help. we're going to get to diana as soon as we can. checking stories. our affiliates are covering. police are warning people in florida's indian river county to be on the look out for these guys. they escaped from a jail early this morning. one was about to be sentenced for murder. the other was facing a murder charge. check out the video from oklahoma. folks got a pounding this weekend. hail rained down on the central part of the state breaking windshields as well as forcing drivers to take cover. in some cases the hail was is t. size of baseball. thousands lost electricity during that storm. in texas last night, former president george w. bush threw out the first pitch to the texas

rangers owner. nolan ryan in games four of the world series. ryan missed it. it was apparently hilarious to the guy you saw there. rangers coach ron washington caught laughing hysterically. the rangers beat the st. louis cardinals to tie the series at two games apiece. moammar gadhafi's family has a message for libya's intern government to hand over his body. the spectacle over the corpse. but first, here's a quote we couldn't resist sharing with you. it is, women, like men, are human beings. women are different from men in form because they are females. find out who said that, next.

[ siren ] [ applause ] [ jackhammer ] [ crowd cheering ] [ speeding car ] [ siren ] [ horse whinnying ] [ bell dings ] your true self -- uncover it, embrace it, protect it. what's healthier than that?

so i shared this quote with you. women, like men, are human beings. women are different from men in form because they are females. who said it? that's right. moammar gadhafi. back in the '70s gadhafi wrote a green book with thoughts and everything from politics to his view on women. very interesting. i'm going to take you live to turkey now where the search is under way for survivors of yesterday's earthquake. diana magnay has been in ercis near the epicenter of the 7.2

magnitude kuwait quake. good to have you back here. are rescuers still hoping to find survivors in the rubble? >> reporter: yes, they are. rescuers are searching the piles of rubbish -- rubble under flood lights because, of course, night has fallen. so the challenge has become that much more difficult. very, very cold at night, around freezing. and obviously much more difficult to see for a good 24 hours after the earthquake. and a cold obviously makes it much more difficult for those who survived as you can't return to their homes that their homes don't exist anymore or they are too scared to go back to their homes because of the aftershock. there has been two big tent

cities set up near where i was and near the town of band, the other major town struck by this earthquake. tent cities really -- there you can get warm food, warm blankets, warm heaters. many people spent last night out in the freezing cold. just standing around by a fire just watching and waiting to see if friends and relatives are pulled out of the rubble. today their situation is slightly better. >> thank you so much for joining us. find out if you can help those devastated by the earthquake in turkey, you can visit our impact our world page at cnn.com/impact. moammar gadhafi's family is demanding that his body be returned to them so he can be buried according to islamic tradition. autopsy results confirmed that

gadhafi dild from a gunshot wound to the head. the crowds are still lining up to view his corpse. dan rivers is joining us live from maisrata. dan, talk us to about this. are these lines still long today? are people still trying to get in to see him to make sure he's dead? >> suzanne, the last of the people that were queueing up have already gone in and have been trickling out over the last 30 minutes or so. i think now that is it. they're not allowing anyone else in, they say, to view the body of moammar gadhafi. i assume that means that, therefore, they are thinking about burying him at some point or disposing of the body in some way where they hand it over to his family or the gadhafi tribe or something else. we don't know. but certainly now there was a long line of about 50 or so people. now that's gone. people were allowed in.

trickling back out. i get the impression that's it. they're not going to allow anyone else? >> dan, i know, we're seeing pictures here of people with mask on their face. i'm assuming that the body is not in good shape and there is no effort to preserve it at this point? that people with r. just coming in and seeing it as is? >> actually, it's in a refrigerated sort of storage room. this is a kind of market here, so i think it's in some sort of meat locker or cold storage for vengetables here. it's being preserved in that sense. you can clearly see now that they have done an autopsy on the body. you can see the stitches across the top of the body. you know, this is still not terribly dignified way of dealing with a human being. and as much as he was reviled by many people here, the entity did say they would treat his body

with dignity, he would be buried in accordance with traditions here, with muslim traditions. that's not happened yet. i think the longer this goes on the more awkward this is for them. and the more embarrassing, frankly, this is for them. >> you're not kidding there. have they responded in any way to the family, the gadhafi family says, okay, we would like the body now. are they wait for something? what's going on? >> it's really difficult to know. the first thing on the ground here, it's incredibly difficult to get through to anyone in the ntc on the phone because a lot of them are over traveling back now after the lib lags was proclaimed. so a lot of them in transit. a lot of people are not answering their phones. the ones we have spoken to are not saying much in terms of what's going to happen. i think they wanted this to be done in secrecy but, on the other hand, they've let hundreds of people queue up here and see the body. the people that we talked to said they came here because they

wanted to see for themselves with their own eyes that he was definitely dead. and some of them out of morbid cu curiosity, frankly, never saw him when he was a i live and they wanted to see him. human rights group reports that a disturbing discovery in libya, the bodies of 53 people believed to be gadhafi supporters. human rights watch says it found these bodies at a hotel in sirte yesterday if group says some of them had their hands tied behind their backs when they were shot. and the group is now calling for libya's interim government to investigate. i want to bring in our national security contributor fran townsend, what they of 2010 she visited high-ranking libyan officials at the invitation of the libyan government. fran, discovering that you've got more than 50 bodies of gadhafi loyalists. clearly there were firefights that were going on but this does not look like a good start,

right, for a country that's supposedly transitioning to a time of peace in the rule of law. what do you make of seeing that scene? >> you know, suzanne, it is a very dismal start, frankly. and this is not the first country we've seen this sort of grizzly, gruesome finding. we went through periods in iraq when we found this. look, if the national transitional council wants to have a fresh start and wants to be better than the dictator and oppressor they've overthrown in gadhafi, then they need to start exercising their power and the writ of government across and treating all citizens equally, including those who were gadhafi loyalists. the goal here ought toby the ntc to bring them into the government, to make them feel safe and secure. that they have voices to be heard in a democratic society. and they're going to have to find a way to sort of move fast history of differences and dedi vids in violence.

>> does it worry you at all in light of the some of the tribal and ethic tensions inside this country that you could see a period of civil conflict as this new government tries to settle in? >> i think we have to expect it. this is part of the messy democratic process that is almost inevitable, in my mind. the ntc can truncate that. we have seen a temporary constitution that will be based on sharia, that permits multiple wi wives. there are all sorts of troubling signs. the sooner that the ntc establishes a process towards elections, and sort of establishing the rule of law in civil institutions there, the better off they're going to be and frankly better off the libyan people are going to be. >> fran, why do you find it disturbing that they are considering islamic sharia law as the basis of their own

legislative system. sn do you think that can co-exist within a thriving democracy, or no? >> well, i do -- look, it's not that sharia itself that is the concern. it's whether or not they will be true to their word, a moderate muslim society. whether or not there is shahryia is less troubling to me than who are those who hold power inside the government. we've seen the rise of extremists like muslim brotherhood in egypt. we'll see in terms of the outcome of tunisia. chaos provides an opportunity for those who are undermine a democratic system and so the more quickly it sorts out, where all voices are equally heard, and there's a democratic process that is transparent and fully participanttory, the better off you're going to be and undermine those who are trying to undermine the system. >> fran, finally, when you see those pictures of the libyans lined up there to take a look at gadhafi's body and the family says, okay, enough is enough, what do you think the transitional government should do at this point?

does it concern you at all that they're kind of at a stand still over what's going to happen here? >> yeah, i mean, you know, it's so abhorrent to us in the west that there's been in process at all. i think we have to be a little bit forgiving about there were 42 years that gadhafi oppressed his own people that people want to know and see the body and know he's dead is somewhat understandable. this gruesome process now needs to be over. and the ntc needs to work with those in misrata to make sure the body is turned over to the family and they're permitted to give him an appropriate burial. >> fran townsend, thank you very much, fran. expectant moms listen up. a new study that says you better watch out for what you're eating and drinking. expect that. but scientists say that the chemical bpa could do a great deal of harm to your unborn child.

[ male announcer ] attention medicare beneficiaries. the annual enrollment period to switch your current medicare coverage is earlier this year. it begins october 15th and ends december 7th; so now is the best time to review your options. here's a plan that could give you the benefits and stability you're looking for, an aarp medicarecomplete plan insured through unitedhealthcare. what makes it complete? this plan combines medicare parts a and b which is your hospital and doctor coverage, with part d prescription drug coverage, and more, all in one simple plan starting at a zero dollar monthly premium

beyond what you pay for medicare part b. this plan offers you benefits like an annual physical, preventive screenings and immunizations for a $0 copay. you'll also have the flexibility to change doctors from a network of providers dedicated to helping you stay healthy. there's more. when you enroll in an aarp medicarecomplete plan insured through unitedhealthcare, your benefits could also include vision and hearing coverage, and prescription drug coverage that's accepted at pharmacies nationwide. the pharmacy saver program makes prescriptions available for as little as $2 at thousands of pharmacies. unitedhealthcare has worked with these pharmacies to get low costs for our members. enroll today. and enjoy advantages like these for as low as a zero dollar monthly premium, beyond what you pay for medicare part b. now is the time to look at your options. start getting the benefits of an aarp medicarecomplete plan

insured through unitedhealthcare. remember, the annual enrollment period begins and ends earlier this year. call unitedhealthcare today about an aarp medicarecomplete plan. you can even enroll right over the phone. or visit us on the web. don't wait. call now. here's a run down of the stories ahead. a new study finds an exposure to bpa can be harmful to your

unborn daughter. tunisia led the revolution against change the landscape around the arab world. the nation's first free elections. later, martha stewart's daughter has a new book. and she suggests she wasn't a great mother. why is martha encouraging people to read and buy it? we're going to ask when she joins us live in 15 minutes. the chemical bpa can be found in everything from water who tles to cans of peas. now a stu study in "the journal pediatrics" finds that girls are exposed to higher doses of bpa before they were born has worse behavior problems by the time they were 3 than those who weren't. we've been hearing a lot about bpa. give us a sense of, you know, why is this bad and what is it actually in? >> the researchers who think it's a problem says the bpa messes with sex hormones. and that's why this study seemed

to find that it was the daughters, one gendered a not the other that has the behavior problems. they looked how much the pregnant womans were ingesting. they followed the kids until age 3 and the girls were much more likely to have behavior problems like add and autism and anxiety, problems like that, if their moms got lots of this bpa. >> what do we actually find this in? it's youed to make plastic. >> it's been used for many, many decades. we have here a small selection. in plastic that you find in food, in plastic like bottles like this, water bottles. here's the one that i think people find surprising, suzanne, which is that tin cans are line with a very thin layer of plastic because you don't want your teas pasting like metal, right? >> yeah. >> so that plastic often has bpa in it. same is true for soda. soda cans have a very thin lining of plastic and it often has bpa in it. >> how do pregnant moms avoid

this? >> that's why most of us have bpa somewhere in our system. if you're pregnant and worried, there are a couple of things you can do. you can take a plastic container, turn it over and what you're looking for is a 7. a 7 on the bottom, recycling number, 7 is more likely to have a bpa in it. avoid canned food all together. that's one tactic. you can dispose of bpa container it is they have scratches because it's easier for the bpa to leak out if there's a scratch. that's also why you don't want to microwave plastics with bpa in pit. and use bpa-free products. for more suggestion, cnn.com/chart. i should add here folks who make the plastics they say bpa is fine, don't worry about it. >> is it a danger for adults or older children? >> the concern when researcher have concerns is much more for fetuses and small children because they're smaller. so while we get it there's sort of more body mass here.

really concerned about developing fetuses. >> okay. elizabeth, thank you. thank you very much. they were the first in the arab world to rise up against their own government. now the people of tunisia are starting over. we will go live for the latest on their elections and what it means for democracy and the rest of the region. just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck.

♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do [♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply.

se the tunisians were the first beam in t people arab world to chase people out of power. as votes are counted in tunisia's first free election people are rushing to the polls. 80% of registered voters in the country participated in yesterday's election. so libya and egypt about to follow in their footsteps? the world is now looking to tunisia as an example of what democracy in the arab world could look like. so, we want to ask and see how things are shaping up. live in tunis, eye vivan, there

be an incredible amount of excitement on the streets. this is their first election in a really long time. set the scene for us. >> reporter: first election where there was more than one party really on the ballot in modern living history. and you really felt the emotion yesterday. et cete it's hard for me to capture but people were drying as they said it's hard to choose who they wanted rather than somebody imposed on them. instead of one ruling party pretty much forced on them they had choices of more than 60 political parties, thousands of independent candidates. ballots were huge. there were like 95 choice on there. people waited patiently in line, suzanne, some more than three hours just to get their chance to vote international election monitors are calling this a big success. >> can you imagine 95 different groups trying to run for office in their country here?

i understand, ivan, there is a moderate islamic political group that seems to be taking the lead. the tell us a little bit about that group and do we suspect that they're going to be democratic in how they run the country? >> reporter: well, that's what they say. they t. the party was band until the revolution. it could be described as a moderate islamist group. its leader says democracy and islam can co-exist. he claims his writings are the inspiration for the ruling moderate islamist party in turkey which has been in power for nine years and it has not taken rights away from women there. it says that it can move forward. of course, there are detractors here in tunisia who campaigned against them, one or two secular parties. they did not do well according to preliminary results in

yesterday's vote. >> are there some folks in tunisia that are concerned it's going to be difficult in this transition for the rights of women to make sure that people aren't abused? >> absolutely. and it was women most of all who came up and would say you know what, there are things i like about the party but i don't -- i'm worried about them. i'm worried they may impose the veil, the islamic headscarf on me. it seemed the party was much more popular among men than women. those women who were concerned about whether or not they might lose some of their hard won rights in this country made it clear that they were going to vote for other parties. >> all right. all eyes on tunisia, thank you very much, ivan. well, imagine having martha stewart as your mother. sounds great, right? well, stewart's daughter, he says she grew up with a glue gun pointed at her head. we're going to talk to martha stewart about that, her politics

and martha stewart's new book.il for the ultra-wealthy. it's a necessity. i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists. quickly. easily. i use pre-defined screeners and insightful trading ideas to dig deeper. work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself the one person i do trust to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ] we've been dedicated to helping our students succeed in america's most in demand careers. we provide you with instructors who are professionals working in the fields they teach. it's an education designed for today, from a university that holds the same level of institutional accreditation as america's top schools. experience the university of phoenix difference at phoenix.edu.

the holidays are almost upon us. we have the queen of decorating in the house. martha stewart, nice to see you. i'm somebody who doesn't cook. i don't know how to decorate. i appreciate what you do. you helped define the art of home making, entertaining, do it yourself projects. tell us about the new venture, "martha stewart's haunted house" that's airing tonight. >> we have a wonderful special on the hallmark channel this evening at 8:00 p.m. it is a lot of fun. halloween has taken on a new

importance in the united states. everyone seems to love it. halloween sales in the all stores are going crazy. and everybody likes to dress up and, also, be frightfully interesting on halloween. so this special is really devoted to helping the home maker create a haunted house in a garage or in a doorway or entrance hall or wherever you want it. we give you all the tools and all the creative ideas for create that haunted house. it's a lot of fun. >> i got neighbors who have haunted house. yes, people here take it very seriously. you also have a book coming out tomorrow, very much like a sequ sequel, i think, to the book that you made famous three decades ago. give us a nugget from your book. tell us a little bit about it. >> oh, well, this is my newest. it's -- you know, ever since i finished the first entertaining book and wrote 74 other books, this book is the 75th book.

it's a large format book with wonderful, wonderful photographs. and it's all about at-home entertaining with many ideas. and it's actually divided into mornings, afternoons, and evenings. so it's breakfast and brunches, it's lunches and teas and dinners at night. and cocktail parties. but it's -- i just love it because it has thousands of ideas for you and anybody else who is interesting in throwing a party, having a wedding reception, a birthday party. just a nice dinner party. >> okay. well, that's cool. and now you know we're going to ask you about another book. it's no surprise to you because you announced it on your own show "whatever land learning to live here." you said you read the book. you recommend people to buy it, it's kind of surprising because it's kind of harsh. she goes after you only some occasions sand says there was never anything to eat at my

house. there were ingredients but no prepared food of any kind. what is behind this? >> poor child. it's a parody. it's about just growing up and what novelists -- it's more like a novel, i think. i read it as novel, an interesting, funny novel. i giggled on every single page, actually. i thought, did i really do that ever? like did i ever turn the lights off and lock the doors on halloween? and then i remembered, yes, one year i had the flu and i actually did do that one year. and it was kind of fun seeing people come and be -- it wasn't fun but they were disappointed, of course, because i'm usually out there with tons of interesting treats for all the they were hood kids. >> that's funny because she writes about i. yeah, you know, she was -- that halloween was grim. you guys hid and didn't come out and deliver the candy. i'm glad you talk about it because she talks about it in her book.

in all seriousness, does it bother you at all, does it concern you as someone who has built her image around home making and really serving that she tries to -- she goes after you on that. >> well, again, alexis was on a radio show for 5 year years called whatever on sirius on the martha channel. it was a very funny, hard-hitting, you know, show for -- for probably a demographic that really thinks the same way. young women who really have to cope with everything. just think of what this world is like right now for most young women. and alexis is just parodying whatever comes to mind, she and her cohost jennifer hutt wrote about their childhoods which were actually quite interesting, i think. but to get a different slant on it is kind of funny. >> absolutely. you have coped with a lot yourself. it's been six years -- >> i'm not going to say anything -- no, i'm not going to

say anything bad about the book because, really, we were all laughing hysterically when we read it. >> okay. we'll move on. tell us a little bit about, it's been six years since you served your ten-month sentence in virginia. you really didn't skip a beat. >> i thought this was going to be about my beautiful entertaining book and my beautiful halloween special. you haven't even asked about the halloween special. >> we asked in the very beginning. people are interested in all things, martha. all things. i mean, we want to know. you talking about your halloween special. do you have any -- anything else you want to add? >> to add? well, i love -- i'd love to make sure that people check their newspapers and their listings for book signings that are going to occur in the next couple of weeks. i'm traveling to several cities all over the country to talk about my "entertaining" book. i'm going to washington. we're going to dallas and

houston and san francisco and los angeles and kansas city. so i'll get to see a lot of the country sort of take the temperature of what's going on in all those cities. it's very interesting to me to see, you know, what's happening out there. >> and you are a very successful businesswom businesswoman. you've also an active republican. weigh in, if you will, do you like any of the republican presidential hopefuls that we've seen this go around? >> where did you get that? i have always been a registered democrat. >> ah, i have been misinformed. well, then, i assume that you're a big obama fan. >> oh, gosh. i always try -- i always try to vote for the very, very smartest, best candidate for an office. so i'm not party centric, but i must say that i certainly hope that some really good candidates emerge in the next election. >> all right. martha stewart, thank you so much for sharing your special,

your book, as well as your insights. we appreciate it. >> thanks. >> martha stewart. rick perry picks up a high-profile endorsement in the race for the republican presidential nomination. find out who is throwing their support behind the texas governor in our political ticker update, up next.h antix. knowing that i could smoke during the first week was really important to me. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke -- and personally that's what i knew i needed. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack.

use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. these are the reasons i quit smoking. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you.

here's a random story that caught our eye. you must have seen someone playing angry birds, a cell phone game? apparently even "the new york times" doesn't want those birds coming after them. they didn't waste any time correcting a recent article about the game in a steve jobs book review. an earlier version of the article incorrectly stated the premise of angry birds -- a

popular iphone game and the game slingshots are used to launch birds to destroy pigs and their fortresses, not to shoot down the birds. so chalk this one up for victory for the birds. high-profile endorsement in the republican race for president. joe johns is live from the political desk in washington. so, joe, this is kind of big news, don't you think? >> i think so, suzanne. rick perry's getting a big endorsement from a well known name in presidential politics. a lot of people have heard the name of steve forbes. businessman, editor, publisher of "forbes" magazine, well known fiscal conservative who happened to run for press himself in 1996 and 2000. forbes now is on rick perry's side. the announcement of the forbes endorsement comes just as perry is about to make a big announcement to scrap the tax code and replace it with a flat tax which is something forbes happens to know something about.

by the way, when forbes ran for president a flat tax is what you might call a centerpiece of his campaign so he should know, we would think, where the land mines are. flat tax proposal of course easy to explain. didn't poll very well. it will be up to perry to sell it especially in a place like new hampshire which has no state income tax. probably hear a lot more about flat tax. >> i imagine we'll hear more about mitt romney getting set for a big primary. right? >> that's for sure. he also has a big endorsement of his own. that would be former three-term new hampshire governor john sunu sununu. romney showed up to file with one of the real power brokers in the state of new hampshire. sununu is a former white house chief of staff under bush 41. widely viewed as one of the top republicans in the state.

sununu's also had a lot of nice things to say about, for example, rick perry. but in the end decided to go with romney. sounds like he is impressed with the romney organization. also told the "los angeles times" he likes the way the romney people handle details which sununu feels are key to winning the state in a primary. >> all right, joe. thank you for the latest political. go to cnnpolitics.com. so even when the target of your protest is money, it takes money to keep a protest on target. you're about to meet one of the people who handles the cash flow for occupy wall street. just don't call him the chief financial officer. skwa

.

occupy wall street protesters are still camped out in new york after more than a month. it takes money to keep a movement going, and the group has raised a lot of cash now. poppy harlow met one of the people who manages now the money. >> reporter: so i think one of the most interesting things about occupy wall street is the money. where is the money coming from? they have raised about $300,000. who's funding them? how are they spending the money? where is it going? how are they not using the big banks? does everyone know you around here as the money man? >> a lot of people do. >> reporter: you call yourself chief financial officer or something else? >> no. there is no chief.

>> reporter: what are things like these days? >> it's pretty crazy. i mean this is really like doing an office job in a mosh pit. >> reporter: right here by the food is where you're going to find one of the donation boxes. this little gray box. i just saw someone stick some cash in there. these are all over the park and what's interesting, what occupy wall street tells me is that they have gotten to the point where they're getting thousands of dollars of cash donations here in the park every single day. >> it's come from all 50 states. the average donation is a bit over $47. >> how do you make the decisions on what to spend the money on? is this a democratic vote? how does it work? >> yeah. we have our general assembly. >> that's made up of how many people? >> everybody here. >> i voted yes for us to get a storage va filth. i voted on spending the money to get it. i voted for the u haul for us to go back and forth with our packages. >> as far as i'm concerned, they're doing a very good job of providing us with what we really

need. >> i had a tattoo shop for many years. i helped run a software development company. went back to school to nyu poly and basically my concentration is finance. >> reporter: in terms of where the money is processed that's donated to occupy wall street, what we found out is that a lot of it is processed through a washington, d.c. based non-profit called the alliance for global justice. in terms of the fund-raising, in terms of how you get your money and spend your money, what do you think differential yates you from a big corporation? >> first of all, we're by the people, for the people. and we're not trying to make a buck here. we're trying to feed people, trying to get them some medical attention when they need it, trying to clothe the people that come down here. we're not trying to be greedy. >> they go to great lengths to be as transparent as possible. >> peace. >> my grandparents were in the civil rights movement. my parents were in the anti-war movement. it's my turn now. >> poppy harlow is with us from new york. so poppy, how much money do you

think they're actually going to raise? >> that's a great question. i asked that, pete, that, the guy you saw in the piece who's helping run money down there. he said that his belief is that in the next few months they're going to raise about $1 million. i just check before i got on set here and they had raised about $300,000. when they were with them last week, it is up to now $400,000. it is not out of the question. in terms of him and his goals, he told me he's going to be down there through the winter, actually through the 2012 election cycle and i also asked him what's your end game? because you've got a lot of end games coming from the protesters down there. for him he said one of his big goals is to get the money out of politics. he doesn't want to see a lot of corporate money and also just individual money and political campaigns the way he wants to see it is taxpayers funding political campaigns. i asked him well, you guys are taking donations from individuals. he said we are not a political movement. so that's his end game. expect him down there. i guess through the election

cycle braving the new york winter. >> that is going to be something else. does he suspect that this movement is going to get more expensive as it goes on and it drags out through the -- or is carried out, i should say, through the winter, the fall and winter? >> that's a good question. he didn't answer that specifically but he does expect it to grow en masse not only in new york but around the country. we've seen that happening. so, yeah, it would get more expensive. the question is how do they stay warm during the winter. a lot of people down there are sleeping through the night, suzanne, so it would get more expen expensive. their big costs go to medical care and housing. those tents, the sleeping bags, all their food, interestingly down there, is all donated so they don't have to pay for that but medical attention does cost them certainly. >> very interesting. poppy harlow. thanks, excellent reporting as always. top of the hour, i'm suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed. rescue workers say they can hear people wailing underneath the

earthquake wreckage in eastern turkey. a 7.2 quake killed more than 230 people, toppled about 1,000 buildings. people were left homeless by the earthquake. temperatures now are below freezing. turkey sits on an active seismic zone. a massive quake in 1999 you may recall killed some 17,000 people. in north africa today, tunisians are counting millions of votes by hand. the results of parliamentary elections are expected tomorrow. now tunisia was the first country to overthrow its dictator in what became the arab spring. more than 80% of registered voters turned out. many faced some long waits. >> you waited three hours. >> something like 3 1/2 hours but we didn't feel. it was like five minutes because we were very, very happy to be inside there. >> tunisia's new parliament will write a constitution and decide on the system of government. a status hearing today in

the horrific kidnapping case in philadelphia. the suspects are charged withholding four mentally disabled adults captive in a dank basement boiler room. police say the alleged wring leader kidnapped the victims to steal their social security checks. a lawyer says the mother of one victim told philadelphia police that eight years ago her daughter may have been kidnap by weston. police have not responded to that mother's claim. authorities in australia are trying to capture a great white chashg off the waters of perth. they believe a great white attacked and killed american george waynewright. it would be the third great white attack off perth since september. wainwright's family calls him one of a kind. >> i think it was just wrong place, wrong time because he was very wise. i would trust him with anything

to do on the water. i always had complete confidence in his skills. >> wainwright was one of the engineers who capped the bp oil spill off the coast of the gulf of mexico. after that his work took him to australia. steve jobs fans can buy his biography starting today. the book's release date was moved up after the am chairman died of cancer on october 5th. author walter isaacson says towards the end jobs often talked about god and the afterlife. >> ever since i've had cancer i've been thinking about it more and i find myself believing a bit more. maybe it is because i want to believe in an afterlife, that when you die it doesn't just all disappear, the wisdom you've accumulated, somehow it lives on. then he paused for a second, he said, yeah, but sometimes i think it is just like an on-off switch. click, and you're gone. he said and paused again. he said that's why i don't like putting on off switches on apple devices. >> walter isaacson talks with

our piers morgan about steve jobs. this interview is wednesday at 9 cls eastern right here on cnn. president obama is announcing changes today that's going to provide new relief for homeowners. he's going to unveil the details in vegas as part of his three-day trip to the west. change will make it easier for people to refinance their homes with new low interest rates even if their mortgage is currently underwater. here's a pretty good program to help you get your holiday shopping wrapped up early and save money at the same time. a lot of people wait and wait on purpose. right? hoping prices are going to fall as christmas gets closer. but walmart says buy between november 1st and december 25th. if you find the identical product for less, you'll get a gift card for the difference. just bring in the ad. want to get details now on our lead story. rescuers now clawing through rubble in a desperate search for earthquake survivors. this is in eastern turkey. eye diana magnate is heading

toward the epicenter of this 7.2 quake. diana, first of all, what do we understand about the loss here? what kind of scene are they dealing with? are there survivors and do we know how many people have actually died? >> well, it's difficult to work out quite how many people are missing because it took place on a sunday around 2:00 p.m. on a sunday, which meant that a lot of people were out and about and it is therefore been quite difficult to track. but in itself has been a blessing that this kind of thing happens overnight while people are in their beds while buildings collapse on them. death toll is now around the 250 mark. the interior minister has said

that that at least is not as high as they had anticipated it creeping in the time that they've been counting. though i suppose that is one small blessing on a very grim day for this country. >> diana, why is it so different this time around? because we know back in 1999, 17,000 people lost their lives. this is nowhere near that. i'm assuming it is because of building construction and a way of actually knowing how to deal with earthquakes that they didn't before? >> well, i think that the region where that huge earthquake took place in '99 was much more densely populated. this was -- that was 7.6 on the richter scale, this is 7.2. so not a massive difference in scale between the two. but, this is a very rural area and not very highly populated at all and i think that that

certainly played its role. also in terms of the building construction, they did definitely make the requirements for building permits much stronger as a result of that earthquake back then. and that is perhaps why you see just some houses have collapsed in these two towns, while others are perfectly intact. that may be because those houses that collapsed were built before the '99 regulations came in. >> and where are people staying now? i mean there are so many buildings that have been heavily damaged. >> reporter: are survivors spending the night? >> well, the red crescent has constructed two tent cities which the people have been able to go to. last night they had a big problem because they didn't have enough. many people spent the night in their cars. now they've got somewhere warm to go to. the red crescent have provided something like 22,000 blankets,

7,000 tents and a lot of warm food for these people so there is some degree of help for the people tonight sglp diana magnay, thank you so much. if you want to help those devastated by the earthquake if turkey, visit our impact your world page, cnn.com/impact. here's a rundown of some of the stories we are looking at ahead. that is the sound of baseball-sized hail thundering down on oklahoma. take a look at those pictures. we're going to look at the storm damage there that happened over the weekend. then the arab spring. born when an oproposed tunisian set himself on fire. it launched a movement that has seen dictatorships topple like dominos. we're going to break the revolution down for you in detail. and debris from the earthquake and tsunami in japan. now making its way over here. then we go live to los angeles court where the trial of michael jackson's personal

physician is now in session. ptin drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details. [ tires screech ] [ crying ] [ applause ] [ laughs ] [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] your life will have to flash by even faster. autodrive brakes on the cadillac srx activate after rain is detected to help improve braking performance. we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs.

to help improve braking performance. or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business. it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $7.8 billion to small businesses across the country so far this year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible.

in this tough economy, states are being forced to come up with some creative solutions to deal with the rising costs of health care. one of the areas taking a big hit is medicaid. the federal government is allowing states to cut medicaid optional benefits. what are we talking about? drugs covered, vision care, visits to certain providers, including chiropractors and podiatrists. elizabeth cohen has details. what are some of the specifics that are going to go away? >> some of of these specifics sound like they are little but if you need these things they are big. not so little. if you need them you're going to

notice that they're not there for you anymore. let's look at all the different things that are being cut from medicaid in various states. each state gets to decide basicalbas basically what it will pay for and won't, basically with some supervision. in nebraska you can only get 180 adult dipers apers. people who are really sick need them. 180 a month. colorado is not going to pay for s circumcisions any more. you will have to pay for that yourself. tennessee is ending coverage of adult acne medicine. california is ending coverage of adult daycare which some folks need again when they have certain illnesses and north carolina is ending vision coverage. you can imagine if you are in north carolina, you're a medicaid recipient and you won't be able to see. >> that's unbelievable. it really is when you look at that. across the country. it is so kind of haphazard when you look at what kind of care

people are actually cutting. even hospital stays, i understand there are some states where it is limited or cut out all together? >> that's right. so again each state gets to decide, how many days of hospitalization are we going to cover for our medicaid recipients. take a look. it is very, very different depending upon where you live. for example, in hawaii, they're saying, you can only be in the hospital for ten days. we're not going to pay for day 11. in alabama, 16. in arkansas, 24. mississippi, 30. florida, 45. that's a huge range there but again, imagine you're in hawaii, you're in the hospital. day 11 -- >> yeah. or pay for it yourself. >> or the hospital often ends up just eating that cost, then you and i end up paying for it because that hospital has to make up that money somewhere. >> how is that related to the new health care law? >> this was done by "usa today" and the kaiser family foundation. folks at kaiser said this really isn't related because states have always had the ability to kind of tinker with these things. if they want to pay for more

diapers, fewer diapers, more days in the hospital, fewer, they are able to do that. so they didn't really see it relates at all to health care reform. >> but it is so informative, you got to know where you are, what kind of costs you're dealing with your health care. i guess it is just a sign of the times though. but people are really going to be affected by this. >> it is a sign of the times. even if you've got insurance through your employer, don't think you are say. you may very well see fewer benefits as well because the economy is suffering. i'll have a piece later this week who talks about a woman who isn't going to get the surgery that her doctor says she needs because her employer says, sorry, we can't afford it anymore. >> i'd like to see that piece. i feel badly for her. yeah. >> it is really hard for everyone. >> thank you, elizabeth. checking stories our/fill yachts are covering, police are warning people in florida's indian river county to be on the lookout for these guys. they escaped from a jail early this morning. one was about to be sentenced for murder. the other was facing a murder

charge. in oklahoma, got to check out these pictures. folks got a pounding this weekend. check out the hail raining down on the central part of the state, breaking wind shields, forcing drivers to take cover. in some cases the hail, size of baseballs, pretty amazing when you look at pictures. thousands of people lost electricity as well during the storm. in texas last night, former president george w. bush threw out the first pitch to the texas rangers, owner nolan ryan in game four of the rorld series but ryan missed it. it was apparently hilarious to rangers coach ron washington who was caught laughing hysterically. the rangers beat the st. louis cardinals to tie the series at two games apiece. pr can't get congress to pass his jobs plan so he has a new strategy -- ideas to boost the economy that bypass congress. what it means for mortgages and student loans. it fits! fantastic! [ woman 2] ring ring progresso.

they fit! awesome thank you ring, ring [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? you don't understand. i've been eating progresso because there's... 40 flavors 100 calories or less and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes, i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ keep on going in this direction. take this bridge over here. there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] write your story with the citi thankyou premier card, with no point caps, and points that don't expire. get started at thankyoucard.citi.com.

his jobs plan is now stalled in congress, so president obama's turning to new proposals that don't require approval from lawmakers. president's on his way out west where he's going to outline his latest efforts to boost the economy. one of his new initiatives is designed to help more homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. our athena jones joins us from the white house. athena, what do we know about his plan and his new approach? >> reporter: well, first of all, he'll be announcing this and talking about this in nevada which is one of the states with the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. what the president will be talking about today is a way to expand access to refinancing to more people, the expansion of the home affordable refinance program. this is for people who have

federally guaranteed mortgages, those are mortgages backed by fa fannie mae and freddie mac. those people even if they owe a lot more money than their house is now worth they'll have access to this refinancing as long as they're current on their mortgage payments. the idea is to reduce their monthly payments, put some more money in their pockets, help them stay in their homes and in that way boost the economy. this is all part of what the white house is calling we can't wait. they'll troo do executive actions while also urging congress to push the jobs bill but then taking steps like this one that don't require legislation to show kind of the two-front approach. >> to yes, we can to we can't wait. tell us about the offer to help those struggling with their student loans. >> so on wednesday the president will travel to denver. he'll be talking about a plan to help people who have ferm loans to help them pay them back. he wants too still encourage

people to go to college even at a time when tuition rates are rising and they'll give more details about a plan to help them pay those loans back. suzanne? >> all right, athena, thanks. well a hearing today in a horrific fraud and kidnapping case. the victims were mentally disabled adults. but is the main suspect competent to stand trial? we'll talk to a reporter who was inside the courtroom in philadelphia. whoa! hey! [ dog barks, growls ] ♪ whoa, watch out, little man. ♪ [ male announcer ] when you take away the worry, it's easy to enjoy the ride. hey, bud. hey, dad. [ male announcer ] introducing cadillac shield. the most comprehensive suite of owner benefits offered by any luxury auto maker in the world. helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating.

with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health.

okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great.

right now to philadelphia. a hearing wrapped up just a short time ago. now this is a case you may recall. horrific case. four mentally disabled adults who were allegedly kidnapped,

held in a dark basement with little or no food, like a dungeon really. sara hoy was inside the courtroom for today's courtroom. if you could set the scene for us. i understand the suspects weren't even in court today. why was that? >> that's right. there was no defendants in court today because today was a status hearing. in which the defense attorneys were there plus the prosecutors and they figured out what the next step would be. so at this point the next court date is set for december 19th. which is somewhat of a preliminary trial where both sides present their information. whether it is the prosecutors and their evidence and then a judge will decide if this is worthy of going to trial. >> what are they charged with here? including the ring leader, the alleged ring leader, linda weston. >> there is a host charges against these folks. you are talking everything from kidnapping to endangerment. there is probably 20 or 30 charges on the books for these guys. >> how big do we think this is? how many people are involved in this ring?

>> well, this thing keeps unfolding. it's kind of like peeling back the layers to an onion. at first there was four people held captive in the basement. now authorities are saying there is a potential seven, including the 19-year-old niece of linda weston. so this thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger. not only is this philadelphia, you're looking at other states, too. >> what was the defense's argument here. i understand that the defense attorney made a statement afterwards? >> yes, he did. the defense attorney for linda weston did say that he did meet with his client. she seemed overall fatigued but yes, in relatively good spirits. he does want to meet with her again just to see if competency could be an issue. if he feels she is not competent to stand trial he will seek to have some type of medical evaluation which he feels the judge would approve. >> were there a lot of folks around the courthouse? i mean obviously this is just -- the neighborhood, everybody was shocked. it goss worse and worse, this story. is there a lot of interest around this case? >> there is a lot of interest

and it is kind of one of those water cooler talkers. however, inside the courtroom today, it was not packed, it was not standing room only. this somewhat kind of went under the radar. really, it was a status hearing. the defendants weren't there. so it really was kind of just another day at the courthouse. there wasn't necessarily any family around and if there was any family of weston there, they scooted off rather quickly. so people were interested in it. >> sure. and the scheme, this alleged scheme to steal victims' social security money, are prosecutors offering anymore insight into how big this particular case was? >> not right now. as we were discussing last week, too, prosecutors as well as authorities are keeping some cards close to the chest because they do have to take this to trial. there are some details that they're just not elaborating on. >> sarah, get back to us when you have more details. obviously this is a case a lot of folks are very interested in. a very disturbing situation.

moammar gadhafi's family has a message for libya's interim government. hand over his body. the spectacle over gadhafi's corpse. a live report from libya.n. and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ way to go, coach. ♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card -- "buy books, not beer!" ♪ but the second that she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for her whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™.

paying or planning for your child's college education cab nightmare in these economic times. but you need one to make it in today's world so how to juggle college costs while saving through your retirement. take a listen to "smart is the new rich" author christine romans. >> most of us aren't saving enough for college or starting early enough. it is easy to see why. you're already spending $227,000

to raise a kid from birth to 18. this according to the usda. that's up 40% from 2000 and it doesn't include the cost of college. that's another $21,000 for a private four-year college room and board for a year. the debate should be how are you going to pay for it and in a smart way? according to the government, a worker with a college degree with make more than $1 million more than a high school graduate over the course of their lifetime an the unemployment rate for college graduate is only 4.3%. >> if you look at the data, this country is going to require that college degree. like a high school degree, you really absolutely need the degree but what are you going to do with it and how are you going to o pay for it is the really important question. >> time is your best friend. even saving a little while your kid is in diapers is better than taking out boat loads of loans later. 529s help you in some states but you don't have to save for all of the college and you shouldn't. you should save for your retirement, too. don't forget.

save one-third, borrow one-third in college loans and find a scholarship for a third. don't borrow more in loans than the graduate is expected to earn in the first year working so an engineering major can tolerate more loans than say a social worker, education major who will be paid less. that means choosing the right school for your finances and ambitions, community college, state school or private liberal arts college only if you can afford it. for more on how to save for college retirement at the same time, check out smart it the in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college.

retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪

moammar gadhafi's family is now demanding that his body be returned to them so he can be buried according to islamic tradition. autopsy results confirmed that gadhafi died from a gunshot wound to the head. up until a short time ago, people were still lining up to view this corpse. dan rivers joins us on the phone from misratah. dan, i understand that this viewing process is now over. tell us what happens next. >> well, we thought it was over and the guards closed the gates here of this market, then another sort of 40 or 50 people

arrived. there was another sort of slightly angry confrontation and they were allowed in as well. they're all still in there now. just a sense that they don't really have a control over what is happening on the ground surrounding moammar gadhafi's body an we were told that the order has come down from the misratah military counsel to stop this public viewing. but it is not translating into action here on the ground. as i say, people are still being allowed in. >> so dan, i guess it is a har question to answer, but who's in charge here? who's on the ground, who's making these decisions about, okay, people can go inside and see the body, okay, it is closed. what is happening there? >> well, i mean there are a collection of fighters here, some are in uniform, some just have weapons and they are in plain clothes. they seem to be deciding who comes in, who goes out. the general public just seems to

be able to effectively sort of bully their way in really. but when there is enough of them at the gate and they all start shouting and screaming that they want to go in, they're allowed in. that's kind of symptomatic of the whole country, in a sense, i suppose. there is a bit of a leadership vacuum on the ground. obviously there's no functioning police force. there's no functioning army. there is just a collection of different militias and depending on where you are and who you are, that has an effect on what you can do and what you can't do. in this case it seems that the militia here are guarding the body, seem very happy for people to continue looking at the body even though they told us that they've been ordered not to. >> so dan, that's a good analogy, what you said, kind of indicative of what's taking place in the center, a lot of uncertainty and questions there. is there any response from the transitional government to the family's demand, gadhafi's family, that they'd like the body now nor for burial.

>> no official response. we were told this was going to be done in secret, carrying out the burial in 24 hours. this came and went, didn't happen. then we were told an autopsy would be done and they would bury the body. well that autopsy has been done yesterday. and still the body remains here. and there's no real sort of sense of anyone taking control of this or taking ownership of it. and all the while, of course, this is increasingly awkward for the ntc, for the transitional government here. it doesn't present an image of a country that is organized or one that is dignified either or one in some senses that has a sense of justice because there are continue questions about how gadhafi died, how his son died. he was alive in one video, then

showed up with several bullets in him. so there are a lot of questions still left to answer. >> dan, what is the mood on the ground there as people line up to see his body? are they still celebrating? >> they are quite jubilant, yeah. i suppose for us in the west this is kind of difficult to imagine going to see the dead body of a dictator and first of all just even wanting to go and see it and second of all when you're there wanting to have your picture taken with it and being jovial and joking about it but that is what it is like here. people are in buoyant moods, lots of shouts of "god is great" and they're all quite upbeat. some people have brought their kids here. a lot of women have come here as well. in some senses i think they want to see it with their own eyes to really believe that this is over. some of them it's sheer morbid curiosity. they haven't ever seen gadhafi in real life and they want to see him now while they have the chance. there's a mixture of motives here. but it is a bizarre scene, i

can't put it any better than that. >> that is bizarre, take a picture with a corpse. dan, thank you very much. appreciate it. good reporting, as always. the tunisians were the first people in the arab world to rise up and chase a dictator out of power. it all began with a 26-year-old tunisian man set himself on fire last year after the government took his fruit cart. the forced the long-time president to flee the country but the fire kept rising rapidly. revolutions swept up across nigeria, egypt, yemen, bahrain, jordan, syria, virtually the entire arab world exploded into similar protests against poverty, unemployment, tyranny. now as the votes are counted in tunisia's first free election, people have rushed to the polls. we are talking about 80% of registered voters in the country participating in yesterday's election. now, with libya and egypt following in their footsteps, the world is now looking to

tunisia as an example of what democracy in the arab world could look like. so, we're asking how are things shaping up? ivan watson is in tunis, tunisia. ivan, what's next? >> reporter: well, they've got to count these votes, suzanne. you had more than 60 political parties competing. these were pretty complicated ballots that people had to fill out. people were are accustomed to basically only being able to vote for the ruling party in the past. the next step would be the appointment of the 217 winners of the election into a constitutional assembly charged with writing an entirely new constitution for tunisia and forming a new system of government, a new state that i think many people hope will be a democratic alternative to the dictatorship that ruled with an

iron fist here for near lay quarter century. >> ivan, it is hard to imagine any election -- 80% turnout. how did that happen? >> well, that's 80% estimated of the 4.1 million people who pre-registered to vote. we did see a lot of people showing up at the last minute who hadn't preregistered who were trying to cast their ballots, perhaps just caught up in the excitement of the moment which was really felt. i mean i saw lines wrapping around the block of polling stations. people waiting up to three hours just to sign and put an "x" next to the spot of the candidate they'd like for this constituent asem pli. so really remarkable moment in history for tunisia and perhaps something that could be a model for other arab countries that are struggling with their own legacy of dictator show, colonialism and some of them which people are risking their lives hoping for some semblance

of democracy in their country. >> do you think tunisians know potentially they are the model for a new democratic country in the arab world? >> i think a lot of people felt the weights of responsibility on their shoulders yesterday. a lot of people were very proud that they are the first, that they not only inspired the arab spring, but also now that they were having the first election and election monitors say it was remarkably peaceful and transparent and open. the counting process of course is taking a long time. it sounds like some of the polling stations were open hours after they were officially supposed to close just because of the sheer numbers of people who were showing up to vote. i think tunisians are very proud right now. there maybe some mixed feelings when the results come in because a moderate islamist party looks like it may have gotten first

place. particularly some women i've been talking to are worried that they may lose rights, that that hemy impose a certain lifestyle on them and that is something of course that that party has denied. i interviewed the leader and he said don't judge us until we've actually been in a position of power. judge us by our actions, not by what other people say about us. >> sure. let's just draw this out. libya is embracing sharia law as the cornerstone of their new constitution. they'll vote in about eight months or so. what do you make of that, the people there, that they would like to incorporate sharia law, islamic sharia law as part of their new system of government? well, i mean that is one of the eternal debates in the middle east, throughout the islamic world. does referencing back to the koran, does that mean that you cannot have democracy? that was an argument that was

used in many arab countries here in tunisia by the dictators to crush opposition. they would say well the islamists would come to power so we got to lock up anybody who goes to a mosque, put them on a black list, or anybody who's in the political opposition, accuse them of being something linked to al qaeda. perhaps what you're seeing in libya and perhaps what you're seeing here in tunisia in this election is backlash to that kind of strategy to crush opposition by more secular dictators. >> all right. ivan watson, thank you so much. obviously still questions what's going to happen in syria and yemen. all of that will unfold and we'll see how it develops. but a lot still going on in the middle east. thank you, ivan. the manslaughter trial of michael jackson's doctor reaches a critical point now. now sister janet ditches her concert to be with the jackson family. going to have the latest in the case of dr. conrad murray. [ female announcer ] in the grip of arthritis, back, or back joint pain?

aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme.

so this actually could be the last week of the manslaughter trial of michael jackson's doctor, conrad murray. court is in session right now. the jackson family has actually reunited for it. sister janet postponed several shows in australia to be home with her family in l.a. criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor holly hughes is here to explain why if this is at all important.

do we suppose janet's presence or the mother or the children, does it make a difference at all if they show up in court in these critical last days? >> i think it does, suzanne. here's why. what we've seen throughout the course of the past three or four weeks is that certain family members will be present but not all of them at the same time. what we are looking at now is a solidarity. they're all coming back because they know the verdict is coming in and they feel like they want a guilty verdict. if they were against this trial they wouldn't be there supporting and showing up. i think the whole family coming together en masse, rebbie's there, randy's there, janet is back. we know they're all sort of marshalling the forces. that's going to speak volumes to the jury because the jury is going to say it is getting close to decision time and this family wants to be here for that verdict because they want this man to pay. >> if they see the family would

they be more empathetic and tougher on the doctor? >> typically when we see a celebrity involved in the trial, the celebrity is the defendant. here the celebrity is the victim. and so when you have the entire victim's family sitting there, the jurors are only human. i mean it is going to affect them. they're going to look out there and say, katherine lost a son, and janet lost a brother. and it takes that whole -- it's not just some pop icon. this was a living, breathing human being who mattered to a lot of people and we need to do right by that victim and that's where the family presence is going to influence them. >> what does the defense need to do this week? >> they're going to bring on their own experts to sort of controvert what the state's doctors said. they said it was terrible care and it fell below the standards. they're going to call their own experts who are going to say, no, this is fine care and michael jackson essentially did this to himself. in a way they're going to blame the victim to try to take that

onus off their client, dr. murray. >> what do you suppose they'll use to do that? >> they're going to absolutely use scientific experts. they have an anesthesiologist coming up. we'll get into the whole scientific testimony. then they've got some character witnesses which is interesting. they're going to ask dr. murray was he a conscientious doctor, did he care about his patients? would he harm somebody knowingly? they'll try and put those character witnesses in. they're also calling a police officer from the scene so i will be interested to see what they are trying to get out of him. and they were having motions about this this morning, they also want to call randy phillips, the head of aeg, to basically say you pressured michael jackson so badly, telling him you have to be ready for this tour, this has to go on, that you're the one who essentially forced michael in to taking those drugs because he was desperate to perform. >> all right, we'll be watching. >> yes, good stuff. some 20 million tons of debris. right?

floating across the pacific. heading right for us. we'll talk about -- talk about everything, boats, houses, cars, all this stuff, furniture, tvs, toys. well, we'll find out where all of that is coming from and the possible impact.

so it happened on the other side of the world but it is heading our way. millions of tons of debris from japan's tsunami is floating towards the west coast. closing in on hawaii, actually right now jacqui jeras, boy, tell us what we're dealing with here. right? like fridges, tvs, that kind of stuff -- >> yeah. tons of stuff. well, we knew it had to go somewhere. eventually. it's just coming a little bit

faster than we had originally thought. there was a russian ship basically that was out in the ocean, it was west of the midway islands and it happened to find some of this debris already and the largest piece was a fishing vessel that was as much as 20 feet wide. so we know there's somewhere between 5 and 20 million tons of this stuff that is out there. as we take a look at google earth, we'll show you where those midway islands are to give you an idea. they call it the midway islands because it is about midway between japan and the united states. so here's hawaii and it is west of here where they saw all this stuff. this computer model animation gives you an idea of the forecast where they are expecting all the debris to go. it is exactly where it was predicted to be just a little bit sooner. you can see it moves from west to the east and then it starts to circulate its way back around. that's all flowing around a wind and ocean current basically that we call the north pacific

subtropical gyre or a spinning circulation. within this circulation there are smaller circulations. have you ever heard about that great garbage patch that's out there in the pa sick? there's two areas. one over here, and one over here. some of that is going to get caught up and circulated in this area and some of it is going to get caught up in this conver convergence though which is about six miles across. some of the heavy stuff has already sunk much closer to the coast of japan. timingwise now, we're talking about this winter for making landfall over the midway islands. we're talking in less than two years now for hawaii and we're still talking about three years before this stuff would hit the west coast of the united states. so still a long way to go, but so much debris and so much garbage out there. it is really almost impossible to clean that stuff up. >> it is coming. that's the bottom line. >> it is unquestionably coming.

some of it will get broken down in the process a little bit, but anything that's lighter or any of that plastic, that's not going away. >> thank you, jackie. an authorized biography of steve jobs hits kindles and book stores and ipads today. we'll discuss this rare look into the life after complex an private man. it is regarded as one of the greatest inventors of our time. but first, if you have a strong stomach, an appetite for the bizarre looking for a job. send your resume out. one of these gigs, careercast.com has come up with a list of the creepiest jobs out there. it is not for the average folks. here are some of them. well, first, an embalmer making $43,000. pest control specialist, 30,000 or so. crime scene cleaner, 39,000. which career do you think they think is the creepiest out there? we'll tell you. stick around. fantastic!

[ woman 2] ring ring progresso. they fit! awesome thank you ring, ring [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? you don't understand. i've been eating progresso because there's... 40 flavors 100 calories or less and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. i was worried it would be hard to install. but it's really easy. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. yeah. you're not... filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive.

we asked you before the break if you could guess what the treecreepiest job it out th. the creepiest job out there, according to career cast -- that is a forensic entomologist. what is that? they study insects inside to see spots to help police solve

crimes. that's some work for you. by making high-tech gadgets cool and easier for everybody to use besides us geeks, steven jobs became as big as the company that he founded. an authorized biography of the late apple ceo is being released today. our maggie lake is standing by in new york. i think sales are probably just hitting the roofs there because, hey, a lot of people very curious. he was a fascinating, fascinating man. >> reporter: absolutely. this is a little bit different from the apple events we are used to in that we don't have a huge line outside the store at barnes & noble we're in front of in manhattan. but people are inside buying the book. much more action happening online. it is already number one on amazon and in fact. >> david arquette. david arquette. not nancy grace. >> we're just going to let that go there. that's maggie lake. but obviously there is a biography that's being released

on steve jobs. it is out today. "cnn newsroom" continues right now with randi kaye who's in los angeles. hey, randi. thank you very much. well, when the going gets tough, american presidents tend to get going. sometimes it harley matters where. just getting out of washington can be enough. but president obama is heading west this hour for a reason. couple reasons actually. congress blocked the job creation package that he has spent weeks campaigning f inini polls. polls show most americans like it. breaking it up into pieces has been helpful. now it's down to plan "c" -- cut congress out. the president will announce a plan to help struggling homeowners to doesn't require lawmakers to do anything. well aware that past efforts have flopped, this one aims to change the rules and drop some fees so that even homeowners with less than 0 equity can refinance at much lower rates and