the house has attracted swarms of visitors, news crews and has become an instant halloween sensation. the house across the street had this to say. >> shut [ bleep ]. >> that was funny. all right, kyra phillips, top that. >> are you sure you don't want to shamelessly plug the book one more time. i have gotten 12 e-mails from ali velshi. >> "how to speak money" available wherever books are sold. >> we begin this hour with your money, their new book and some very encouraging news. i'm sure they'll be talking about that, as well. investors around the world now breathing a bit easier. new numbers on this country's economy came out just minutes ago. christine roman has those and then zain verjee looking at

reaction to a deal made on the debt crisis and alison kosik at the new york stock exchange where your 401(k) could enjoy a big day. christine, let's go ahead and start with you. before we focus on the big debt deal, if you don't mind, let's talk about what this means. tell us about the economy and the good news we're getting. >> all right, first of all, gdp. how the economy grew in the most recent quarter. the third quarter. 2.5% kyra. that's twice as fast as it was in the second quarter. it shows you there was a pickup in economic activity in the third quarter. and that is the best in a year. so, kyra, that tells us that the economy is doing a little better, it needs to be better than 2.5%, but that is better than it has done in about a year. that is good news about where the economy is going right now. >> the overnight deal on the european debt crisis. let's talk about how this has impacted what we are already seeing. >> okay, it puts to rest all of this concern about how europe is going to get its political

forces together to fix its problems. it is critical that the eu avoid a recession because this is, this zone is our biggest trading partner, quite frankly. we export $400 billion worth of stuff to the euro zone every year. so, you do not want europe to be in a recession because of a banking crisis, that would be really critical to that 2.5% number i just told you. you want to keep that number up. we have over 1 trillion over direct investments and $2.27 trillion in loans and other eu commitments. so, the global nature of our relationship with europe and europe getting its act together is incredibly important. the nuts and bolts of this deal, what it really means and solves a few problems. it sort of stabilizes the greek debt problem and it beefs up the european rescue fund, which was incredibly important and it also provides or makes the banks, quite frankly, hold more capital and keep more cash on hand to protect themselves from future shocks.

so far, everyone is pretty happy with what they heard from there last night. >> heck yeah in 25, 26 minutes from now, we want to see the u.s. stocks rally and big jumps in our 401(k). we'll talk, again, about that. we're all smiling about that possible news. we just mentioned that overnight debt deal, christine has been talking about, has given us great news. zain verjee is actually monitoring the reaction from around the world. i guess good news for everybody at this point. >> good news it was crunch time, kyra. and they delivered. let's take a look at what the headlines are saying. this is what the independent here in the uk says, kyra. unlike politicians, it says markets are seeing sense. it says europe remains an important trading area, but the lesson of the past few days is that while the world economy needs europe, it can cope with its difficulties assuming european leaders get their act together. the international "herald tribune" says europe agrees to basics of plan to resolve euro

crisis. europe didn't face any hard deadline to forge a deal, but its leaders wanted to agree on a definitive plan to address the systemic aspects of the euro crisis rather than issue vague procloimations as they have so often in the past. they really need to see more of the details. they ask, will it be enough and will what we have been seeing in the asian markets and europe markets and the u.s. markets a little bit later toda will that just be a knee-jerk reaction and will there be long-term consumer confidence. and that jury is still out. kyra? >> okay, zain, thanks so much. back here in the united states, so much for a peaceful protest in new york. police say this occupy march near city hall turn under to a bit of a scuffle when protesters crashed through a barricade. several people were arrested. protesters say that their march was a show of solidarity for an

oakland protester who was critically injured in clashes with police. >> what happened? >> that's the protest we're talking about in oakland. scott olsen is in the arms of fellow demonstrators being rushed for medical help. they say his skull was fractured by a police projectile eeth artergas canister or a bean bag. olsen is a military vet who served two tours in iraq. police say they're investigating what happened. mitt romney is looking good in four new polls. our deputy political director paul steinhauser has those numbers for us. where is romney headed? >> well, kyra, i tell you, we talk about the national polls a lot, but, remember, no national primary. all about the states, the battle for the nomination is a fight for the states and those delegates and polls in the first four states to vote on the primary and caucus calendar. let's start with florida.

brand-new cnn, "time" and orc. mitt romney has a 12-point lead according to our poll over herman cain. in florida they're having their primary on january 31 and becoming a power player. you break down those numbers and romney is doing well with senior citizens and a lot of influential voters down there in florida. let's go to new hampshire. probably going to vote on january 10th and it's homefield advantage for romney there. why, it used to be the neighboring massachusetts. romney has a home in new hampshire, he spends a lot of time there. look at that overwhelming lead over cain and the rest of the field in new hampshire. kyra? >> is that where he's feeling the most pressure? >> yeah, two states in our news polls indicate he is feeling a lot of pressure from herman cain and let's start with iowa. iowa the first state to battle in the primary and caucuses. their caucus on january 3rd. romney 23% of the vote and cain

at 21%. that three-point margin for romney well within the poll sampling era. basically a dead heat. when you break down the iowa numbers, what's happening? romney is getting the establishment vote in iowa where cain and the rest of the candidates like gingrich, romney and the rest they're dividing up the social conservatives and born again christian voters as well as tea party activists. go to south carolina. they're have their primary on january 21 st. romney and cain all tied up. romney getting more of the establishment and moderate vote and cain and the rest of the gang there dividing up the social, conservative and relidges and tea party votes. kyra. >> we'll keep watching the polls with you, paul. the next political update in an hour. for all the latest political news, always go to our website, 24/7, cnnpolitics.com. state department is defending its decision to buy more than $70,000 worth of president obama's books.

jill doherty here to speak with us about this. this is nothing new. >> for many years the state department had this program where the state department embassies have a budget to buy books. they buy books for the libraries they have around the world and also give them away as gifts. now, the controversy here is that $70,000, roughly, that you're talking about for books by president obama. and, let me give you a couple examples. in egypt, remember where the president gave that speech to the muslim world, they spent, according to government records, roughly $40,000 in 2009 for "dreams from my father." in indonesia they spend $9,000 on "audacity of hope." there are these issues right now and several critics are saying, wait, this is a waste of taxpayer's money. it's a bad precedent and they didn't do it for previous presidents.

we talked with or raised it at the briefing with victoria newland the spokeswoman and she said this is basically standard operating procedure and it is meant to give information about the united states to people around the world and that it's not directed by washington, it's actually the budget of that individual embassy. and just one last thing, kyra, on this. a senior state department official said, well, actually, if you look at the libraries, there are books by other people. it's bipartisan. we have books by former presidents bill clinton, george w. bush and the senior bush and powell, secretary rice, et cetera. so, it really is bipartisan. i think the issue here is, was it when they were in office and it apparently is not that case. but for the president, for president obama, it was. >> state department, jill, thanks. up next, when their world started crumbling around them,

bernard madoff and his wife tried to commit suicide. the man behind the biggest ponzi scheme in history. a rare crime wave in an amish community. five men arrested for allegedly dragging people out of their homes and cutting off their sacred hair. a live report at the bottom of the hour.l but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! [ sam ] my first ride lasted just 30 seconds. another reminder of what i couldn't do. ♪ the accident could have been my excuse to quit. i made it my reason to go even harder. ♪ [ male announcer ] helping people achieve without limits. at the hartford it's what we do... and why we're the founding partner of the u.s. paralympic team. show your support at facebook.com/thehartford.

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checking stories across country now in los angeles. dr. conrad murray cried during testimony in his involuntary manslaughter on wednesday. murray is accused of causing michael jackson's death. denver's first snowfall of the season arrived yesterday.

it was blamed for stressing trees and power lines. as many as 90,000 customers lost power during that snow storm. 554 days after the deep water hurising explosion bp is back in the gulf of mexico. the company announced yesterday that it earned its first permit to drill in the gulf since last year's oil spill disaster. one of the worst in american history. distraught and depressed, ruth madoff. she and her husband made a suicide attempt. >> what did you take? >> ambien. >> how many? >> i don't even remember. i took what we had. >> did you leave notes? >> no. it was very impulsive and i'm glad we woke up. >> ruth madoff tells "60 minutes" the couple swallowed a combination of drugs on

christmas eve in 2008. she says they were so guilt ridden over the burden of madoff's $64 billion ponzi scheme that they attempted to take both their lives. >> i don't know whose idea it was, but we decided to kill ourselves because it was, it was so horrendous. what was happening. we had terrible phone calls, hate mail. just beyond anything. and i said, i can't, i just can't go on any more. >> andrew kirtzman is author of "betrayal." he saw the interview clips, as well. he joins us from new york. i'm curious, andrew, do these revelations surprise you at all? >> for some reason america's revile family have chosen this moment to rehabilitate their

image. all these network television interviews. i just don't know whether americans in 9% unemployment economy are going to be terribly sympathetic. >> you wrote the book "betrayal." the lies and love of bernie madoff. you got pretty good insight into this couple and the way they live. do you think that they really wanted to die? >> well, they had reason to want to, you know, end this nightmare. i mean, bernie madoff has destroyed the madoff family and regardless of how much knowledge ruth madoff actually had and no one, to this day, has found direct evidence that she was in on this, including the feds. you know, they were, they were high school sweethearts. i mean, they were together for, you know, 50 years. they were each other's best friends. i mean, these are, this is a couple that was bound together.

and, you know, one could imagine this thing. it's hard to to kind of figure out why ruth madoff would go on national television and announce she tried to kill herself if, in fact, that wasn't true. you know, it said that one of her sons has a book coming out that he wants to promote and asked her to help him promote it. you know, she's doing that for him. its it signals some kind of reproach between her and her son. it's hard to imagine why she would be lying. now, on the other hand, bernie madoff is giving interviews at the same time saying he never considered suicide. so one of them isn't telling the truth. >> yeah. he actually said to barbara walters that therapy saved his life and he's happy in jail and believes that that's where he's going to die. andrew kurtzman, you had the book and now we're seeing the interview. it's interesting that it's

coming out now and, of course, all the other various books coming forward. the timing is interesting. >> the timing is interesting. >> thanks for joining me. >> sure. the wizard of lies talks with our suzanne malveaux, author and "new york times" reporter interview bernard madoff a year after serving his jail sentence. suzanne will talk with her. good news with the global economy. europe has a debt deal and a new report shows economic growth in the u.s. is actually picking up. stock markets around the world are rallying and we'll go live to the new york stock exchange for a live update. a piece of saddam hussein's statue that made history when it fell goes on the auction block today. our zain verjee tells us where the proceeds are going to go. medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy.

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let's get to your "showbiz headlines." samuel l. jackson just made book of world records of the highest grossing actors ever. his movies made almost $7.5 billion. he'll probably hold on to the tital for a while with seven movies in the pipeline. ellen degeneres and her wife are investing in a new vegan restaurant in l.a. the couple gave up meat and animal products three years ago. the chef who catered their wedding is putting together the restaurant's menu. after 14 years beavis and butthead are back. new episodes start airing today on mtv. the network has changed a lot, instead of making fun of music videos they will critique reality shows. the inside scoop. he is joining me live next hour.

the bronze piece of the saddam hussein statue taken during the fall of baghdad goes on the auction block today. zain verjee is here to tell us more about the interest in this piece, shall we say, but the proceeds, let's make the point, zain, going to a very good cause. >> just ask me what piece of the statue we're talking about here, kyra. we're talking about a large piece of the statue's buttocks. i got to the bottom of this and i have the back story here for you, as well. you remember the statue that fell of saddam hussein, 2003. well, this former british soldier basically got in there and he asked the u.s. marines that had cordoned oit off and said, can i get a little piece for myself. it was face down and this guy took a sledge hammer and took it for himself and, basically, as a

souvenir. then he had to go to kuwait. as they were driving over in kuwait, he was with the media and a lot of the security at the border confiscated all this saddam memorabilia, but he told the kuwaitis, listen, we need this for protection for our vehicle in case we come across bombs or we're shot at and bullets and it's for protection. he carried saddam's butt over into kuwait and then essentially what happened is he came back to london and then he was charged excess baggage for that piece of the statue. something like, i don't know, $500 or something like that. but he says it was worth it because it's being auctioned in darby and all proceeds to make the point are going to go to uk and u.s. servicemen. >> so, in the end, it goes to a good cause, shall we say. zain verjee, just so many different ways -- >> i could continue, kyra. >> yes, i know. that's why i'm going to move on. love you, zain, thank you.

>> love you, too. alison kosik at new york stock exchange where it's shaping up to be a pretty busy day. europe has a debt deal and stocks are set to rally and, alison, we want to see a big, happy day when we look at our 401(k) portfolios. >> and your wish is my command, at least on this day, kyra. dow futures are pointing up more than 200 points. if that happens, which it is expected to happen, that will lift the dow above the 12,000 level for the first time since august 1st. same with the nasdaq and s&p. we are seeing nice gains in the future's market right now and both of those indices up 2%. global markets rally, too. take a look, tokyo, hong kong. those stocks there closing 2% to 3% higher. markets in frankfurt, paris and london are up 2% to as much as 5%. these major indices after the debt deal was reached overnight. of course, we have some analysts that are still kind of skeptical about this deal because, as

usual, when you see big deals like this, those pesky little details really still need to be worked out. for now, a deal this big is a real confidence boost for, you know, for markets worldwide, kyra. >> all right, we also have a new gdp report showing the economy is growing. how is that factoring into things today? >> exactly. sure, this is what's adding to the optimism we're seeing in the premarket right now. the economy we found out grew at a 2.5% annual pace through the months of july through september. it's the strongest this year because you look at how growth was in the first half of the year. the economy grew at less than 1% pace. so, then when you look deeper into this report, you see that there are a lot of good things in there. consumer spending picked up. businesses spent more. the good thing is that this number, this gdp number is not a recession number. but putting it in perspective, of course, the growth rate, it's still far from healthy. something considered normal would be considered around 5%. we're around 2.5%.

when we were at 0.5 her in the first five months of this year. it's good, but it's not strong enough to see the job growth that we want. it is strong enough to put the talk of another recession to rest, at least for now, kyra? >> alison, thanks. we've got about six minutes to go. well, new polls show that rick perry is falling further behind and he might skip out on some of the debates. we're going to find out if that's a good idea. also, you need to hear what donald trump told our piers morgan about perry. that's all ahead. an amish community under attack. their alleged crimes? dragging people out of their homes and chopping off their sacred hair.

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checking top stories now. stocks are set to jump with wall street just about to open. a new european deal which reduces greece's debt burden is pushing world markets higher. the opening bell rings in just about a minute. we'll watch it live. the death toll from sunday's earthquake in turkey has risen to 534. rescuers are still hoping to find survivors like this one in the rubble. "occupy wall street" protesters said. scott olsen was injured in a demonstration in oakland. police are now investigating. all right, alison kosik at new york stock exchange. the opening bell just about ready to ring in 30 seconds and we are expecting a big rally. >> we are. the futures right now pointing to a 200-point leap for the dow. yes, it could be safe enough to actually crack open that 401(k) and take a look at how your

portfolio is doing. this is after european leaders finally came to a deal on how to deal with europe's debt issue. so, investors have been wanting this for month and finally got it. a solid outline of how a plan could help get europe out of their debt crisis. there have been some jitters all week that if the agreement fell short of what wall street was hoping for that we could see a selloff but clearly not the case that investors seemed happy what european leaders delivered at this point. some are still skeptical, they want to see details to carry it out. we have positive opening for the dow right now rising 79 points. kyra? >> this is pretty good, but we know, it's early on. even though we're projecting a great rally today, right. we're off to a good start, but anything could happen in the next hour or two. >> of course. but helping the numbers is a gdp figure that we got today showing that economic growth, at least the first reading of it for the third quarter is at 2.5%, 2.5%

pace and that's pretty good considering where we've been all year. that will really help keep markets in the green today. as we keep rising, the dow is up about 100 points right now, kyra. >> actually, that's pretty good for this amount of time. we're just about a minute in. alison, thanks. we'll keep an eye on the markets with you throughout the morning. for the oms peamish people, hair is sacred. when the story broke that people were not burglarizing amish families but dragging their victims out of their homes and chopping off their hair it outraged this community. chris welch has been investigating this story and the allegations actually include an amish bishop, right? >> that's right. kyra, this story, i mean, to begin with, very, very bizarre. very strange story. what makes this particular casein more bizarre is the fact that this was not one isolated

incident. this was a handful of similar incidents across this rural eastern ohio community where these gangs and several members, you could call them rogue amish members attacking, basically walking up to various amish members, men and wives homes, and family members homes and knocking on their door and pulling the men out by the beard and holding them down on the ground and cutting it off. as you mentioned, the beard was sacred. this is not a matter of some guy losing his beard. for them, this is a big deal. this is not a laughing matter. the other thing that makes this case particularly serious is that these just weren't kids doing this. police believe, as you alluded to, that this is the work of one man. they say it is one man. i believe we have video of him that we've got, taken from a raid at this man's compound of homes. they believe this man is orchestrating something much larger. they believe it could be something much more sinister. here's what the sheriff of

jefferson county, ohio, told me just the other dai. >> he's like a cult leader. what's been going on there is not true, true amish don't act like that. they don't go out attacking people throughout the countryside. they just don't do it. true amish don't do that. when i tell you nothing moves out there unless he says it moves, that is the case. >> i want to be sure to point out, i actually went to sam mullet sr.'s compound, sorry to interrupt there, kyra, he wouldn't do an interview with me but he denied the allegations that he's running a cult, kyra. >> that's what i wanted to know. i knew you talked to him and i was curious what he told you and, if anything, if you were able to get any insight into why, allegedly, they're saying that he's the one that did this. why he is and, also, how is the amish community protecting themselves now?

>> well, right. i'll address the nirs mfirst ma here. when i got to his door and knocked on his door and ask him if he was willing to talk. he had this confidence about him like he did nothing wrong. he denied allegations that he's starting a cult and i also asked him particularly if he could respond to these accusations that he's behind the beard cuttings. his only response to me, he wouldn't say yes or no, but his only response was beard cutting is a crime, is it? as to whether this community now is scared. what they're doing. the answer is, yes, they're scared. i talked to a few families who say we're now locking our doors. for this community, for this amish community to say they put locks on their doors is frankly a big deal. might not such like much to you and me, but they're used to sleeping their doors open at night. they are keeping mace on hand, obviously, not something we are accustomed to placing hand-in-hand with the amish community. cans of mace around the house. >> their own people allegedly

committing these crimes. it's really hard to understand. you're investigating it and we'll continue to follow the story. chris, thanks so much. you can get more on this if you go to cnn belief blog, www.cnn.com/belief. chris will stay on the story. new polls show rick perry is falling farther behind and now might skip out of some of the debates. we'll find out if that is a good idea. sharks are the stuff of a lot of people's nightmares, but we kill way more of them than they do of us. we'll take a look at the impact of the global shark slaughter. the postal service is critical to our economy--

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all right. our gut is telling us it is going to be a good day. u.s. stocks rallying and dow industrials up 236 points. thank goodness to a debt deal overseas. we're seeing the debt impact here. let's keep the positive attitude

going. alison kosik joining us from the new york stock exchange coming up in just a little bit. several republican debates scheduled between now and the end of the year. rick perry may actually be skipping some of them. conan o'brien thinks he might know why. >> when rick perry said it was a mistake for him to participate in the presidential debates. yeah, perry said i'm not one of those word talkers. >> well, i'll tell you what, i have two word talkers to talk some words this morning. roland martin and will cain. roland, why doesn't perry want a debate? >> way too many debates, it's like a reality show now. almost like one every week. he hasn't done well and the last thing you want to do is keep screwing up every single week in one of these debates. you look at his poll numbers and he needs to be in front of voters focusing in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, it makes sense, especially when you're terrible. >> will, we've shown how perry

is falling further behind romney and herman cain in some polls in key states, is it a good idea for him to skip on these debates? >> it's a genius idea. can you name one positive thing that's happened for rick perry since he started debating. before he was debating he was polling like 25% with each debate. he goes down little more, little more, why go back? no positive outcome for sitting on that stage. we should say it's not just about his debate inabilities but his positions which come out in the debates and hopefully those positions would come out anyway. >> roland, does that make him look scared? does it make him look like he can't handle it? why would you skip a debate? >> again, if that's not your strong suit, then you don't go to a weakness. rick perry's strong suit is retail politics. so, you don't play into a weakness. so, you want the down play that. you want to be in front of voters. >> are debates about intelligence? >> god no. >> okay. >> no.

>> will? are they about intelligence? >> i have a question for my fellow conservatives. if this guy wins the nomination, will he not debate barack obama? >> roland? >> typically three presidential debate and we already had like 48 republican debates already and about 1,000 scheduled between now and january. it's like a debate is announced every other day. >> people are watching -- >> kyra, let me answer your question. >> first of all, will, do you think debates are about intelligence? >> that's what i wanted to answer. you know, you don't have to be, are debates about intelligence, i was going to say president, you don't have to be a genius to be president, but you can't be a moron. i'm not talking about rick perry. i'm just saying we don't have to elect albert einstein, but, you know, we do need to make sure you can compete. debat debates, yeah, are about intelligence and your ability to translate your thoughts into words. >> roland, you say that there's too many debates, but people are tuning in. we get great ratings, people are talking about them. >> kyra, seriously, they tune

into the "real housewives of atlanta" "jersey shore" and "basketball wives." debates are now reality shows. >> all right, let's go to the next topic, shall we? perry is back pedaling, shall we say on the birther thing now. he has no doubt that president obama was born in the u.s. he was just having some fun with his body donald trump. here's what trump told peiers morgan. >> do you think politically for rick perry. >> i think it's a positive for him. i think it's good for him in the republican primary. i don't necessarily know if it's good in the general election. >> will cain, you think perry has damaged his campaign. hold on, will, has he damaged his campaign with this? >> let me say this, i have the moral high ground over roland in virtually every respect. >> no, you don't. >> listen, hear me out, roland. i'm supposed to be with the

party about freedom, individual responsibility, free markets, capitalism. with that in mind, i cannot tell you how disappointed i am that every single candidate seems to see the need to pay homage to th this. donald trump does not need to be attached. put this man on the sidelines, please. >> roland? >> okay, first of all, thank god i'm not tied to any party because i can actually think for myself. i hate ideology. why do we keep booking donald trump on cnn? seriously. we don't book people who deny the holocaust, who think the world is actually flat. who actually think slavery was okay. this guy is an idiot. we should run a crawl every time donald trump is on cnn and say this is for entertainment purposes only. nothing this man says makes sense. >> the gop candidates are meeting with him. it's a fact. they're going and meeting with him. >> they're idiots. speaking of, again, reality show, that's what donald trump

is. they know the cameras are going to be there. it is a joke that we even ask this guy political questions. again, i would much prefer to hear what snooky has to say about politics than donald trump. book donald trump on cnn and talk about "celebrity apprent e apprentice" but stop talking to this guy about politics. >> if you want to catch the whole interview with donald trump, he sits down for a full hour with our piers morgan, roland can't wait. will, thanks for joining us. >> can't wait. coming up -- >> both of these. all ten of these. >> i know you guys can't wait for this. get up close and personal with the king of the ocean. sharks are the perfect predator but many people's prey. that is messing up a very delicate balance. over 3 million. you say you can beat any advertised price on tires?

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shark attacks make good headlines, but your odds of getting bitten are super slim. these predators long feared by man now have something to fear from us. >> reporter: shark populations are crashing around the world. millions die by finning to feed the demand for shark fin soup in asia. nearly a third of all shark and ray species face some sort of extinction. without them the marine food web could start to unravel. marine biologist luke tipple is

on a mission to protect sharks. we met up in the bahamas. >> actually, the marina we're in right now is one of the first shark-free marinas in the bahamas. >> reporter: sharks are an apex, they are at the top of the food chain. grow slowly, maturely and produce few young. >> we are supposed to have a certain number of sharks to be able to control all these animals that are below them. we take out that apex and we allow a lot of other fish to breed underneath them. that leads to traffic collapse, which means we don't have healthy ocean systems and won't be able to pull food or product from there any more. >> reporter: the bahamas ban commercial shark fishing and that helped to lure more divers and tourist dollars to the oceans. >> come back with both of these. all ten of these. >> reporter: luke and i jump in to see some sharks up close.

♪ >> wow. they were right there. >> reporter: but outside of sanctuaries like this one, sharks remain at risk. >> joining us live from l.a. i see what this is all about. navy s.e.a.l., any chance to go diving, anything that gets that adrenaline rush going. i totally have you pegged. >> yeah, you got my number dialed, kyra. >> what else is being done to protect sharks? >> well, as you saw in the piece, lots of sanctuaries around the world that are done to protect sharks from overfiing. sanctuaries popping up in the

bahamas and indonesia and legislation going down that prevents the sale and bans the sale of shark fins. but the issue is that the demand is just so high. the demand for shark fin for s. the catch from fisheries is so high. >> what was it like to dive with them, and what did you learn? >> well, i'm a surfer. a lifelong surfer. i grew up in santa cruz which is the heart of the red triangle. i spent my whole life in the ocean trying to avoid sharks. now all of a sudden i find myself in the position of going into the ocean specifically to look for sharks. it was really, really unnerving to get in there and be around these predators. what i learned is that they're actually so few species of sharks that are dangerous to man, despite the jaws effect and all the fear that's been conjured up about sharks.

sharks actually have more to fear from us than we do have to fear from them. >> kaj larson, thanks so much. you can catch his full report sunday night 8:00 eastern. there is a new fad surrounding quarterback tim tebow. people go down on their knees while those next to him do something completely different. we'll explain in sports in seven we'll explain in sports in seven minutes.n trust -- one of the natios largest wealth managers -- makes all the difference. our goals-based investment strategies are tailored to your needs and overseen by experts who seek to maximize opportunities while minimizing risk. after all, you don't climb a mountain just to sit at the top. you lookround for other mountains to climb. ♪ expertise matters. find it at northern trust. okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible.

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stories making news later today. testimony resumes in the con ral murray manslaughter trial. 5:00 p.m. from new york. the education and election of 2012 presidential candidate

forum gets underway. at 7:00 eastern in tuscaloosa, alabama, the city's mayor reflects on the deadly tornado that struck his community six months ago today. let's check in first with christine. >> we're taking a look at the european debt deal and why that is so incredibly important for growth in the united states and stability here as well. i'll break down the deal for you and tell you other good news in the american economy right now. that's at the top of the hour. sorry, we're having a little interference. just back from a trip to afghanistan and pakistan. hillary clinton is going to be fielding questions up on capitol hill about the strategy in that region. i'll have that at the top of the hour. i'm in washington at the cnn political desk, where we are digging into some poll numbers which are pretty good news for mitt romney this morning.

we'll explain in minutes. plus, two of america's premier juveniles return tonight after 14 years. >> i believe that is where the screw made its point of entry. >> yeah. entry. >> do you need to be here? >> you got it. beavis and butthead back with their commentary. we'll ask the genius who made them? mike judge joining me live next hour.

wash out at the world series. >> they got rained out last night for game six. fortunately the weather looks a whole lot better tonight. major league baseball called it four and a half-hours before the first pitch. game six was done. first world series rainout since 2008. cards manager tony la russia said he used the night off to see "money ball." pitching tonight colby lewis for the rangers and jamie gafr see ya for the cardinals. the rangers lead the series. with one more win the rangers get their first world series title. to the lockout. nba players and owners resumed talks this afternoon temperature two sides met for 15 hours yesterday. there's progress. talks are centering on luxury tax and salary cap issues. the revenue split which caused last week's talks to break down

has been pushed to to the side. 37-year-old former star wide receiver terrell owens does have an offer from a team even though no one showed up to see his private workout on tuesday. chicago wants him. not the bears, the rush of the arena league. they're offering $400 a week. t.o.'s agent responded that's absurd. he's trying to come back from a major knee surgery. should tim tebow be the bronco's starting quarterback. tebow is well known for kneeling in prayer after sunday's win. now it's going viral through a new website. tebowing.com. people are sending in photos to go with the verb tebow meaning to get on your knee and start praying even if everybody else is doing something different. he's huge. he is without a doubt one of the most popular players in the nfl. >> and seems like he has a

beautiful soul. thanks. okay. it's almost the top of the hour. this morning we're talking about a new surge of optimism sending stocks climbing on wall street. here's the numbers. we've got news on the economy. some encouraging signs for your battered and bruised 401(k) because of these numbers dow industrials up 221 points right now. christine romans has the new numbers in the economy and an overnight deal on new york's debt crises. both stories meaning that investors are breathing and buying easier. alison we're focussing on the debt deal. christine, we start with you. let's talk about the good news with regard to our economy this morning. >> with pleasure the third quarter gdp was 2.5%. that is an economy that is twice as strong in the third quarter as it was in the second quarter. that's a pick up. that's the strongest the economy has been in about a year. now 2.5% we'd like to see the

economy going more strongly than that, of course. it puts to rest those concerns that this summer there was some sort of double dip recession or that we were right on the edge of it. some good news in terms of growth in the economy in the third quarter 2.5%. >> and then we look at this overnight deal on the european debt. we obviously are seeing the outcome of how that's impacted everything. bottom line, that's why americans should care because it's impacting our wallets. >> absolutely. americans should care because at 2.5% growth many this country you don't want your largest trading zone to have a severe recession. that would undo the progress that we're seeing here. it matters because a healthy europe is good for a healthy america. the trading and the banking ties are just so strong between the two of them. they're $400 billion in u.s. exports that go to europe every single year. there's over a trillion dollars in direct investment into the e.u. there's $2.7 trillions in

investment deals with european banks, governments, companies. the ties are pretty important. you don't want that huge trading zone to falter. that would hurt the u.s. what this deal does, the nuts and bolts of this debt deal, it aims to shore up the greek debt crisis, the private investors and banks who have invested in greece are holding all this debt, they have to take half of their investment back. this is going to give greece some breathing room. it makes the european banks hold more capital. 9% core capital. it gives more fire power to european stability fund. also this last point is really interesting. it allows new ways to invest in europe to help recapitalize the banks and the system. that could open the way for maybe china to come in with its big guns and money to invest and stabilize the region. a lot of optimism. it's a first step. an important first step and we're finally there. >> great news. thanks. let's check in on wall

street. stocks are surging 30 minutes after the opening bell. let's take a look at the latest numbers. looks like they're up 235 points. >> oh, yes. what you're seeing is a tangible sigh of relief in the u.s. markets this is following some powerful rallies in asia and in europe. french and german markets are really showing the strongest gains. they're up anywhere from 5% to 6%. france and germany, they've been financing much of the bailouts in europe. what this deal does is it shares the burden. they're not going to be the sole contributors to greece's rescue which is why you're seeing the rally over there. the banking sector especially here in the u.s. has really been hammered over the past several months. that's leading the rally here in u.s. markets. shares of bank of america up 7%. morgan stanley shares are up 11%. you look at europe major banks there are up as much as 15% because of a lot of what christine was talking about, confidence and stability. if europe winds up falling through on this deal that was

announced overnight and gets the debt under control, what it's going to wind up doing is stabilize the markets and boost confidence. something we haven't seen in a really, really long time. >> all right. also with such a strong global reactions, do investigators -- the investors are investigating which they consider this a done deal. >> yes, they are. and you know what, the way investors see this they're kind of skeptical on the one hand. they have to see the little minute details in this plan because the plan that the european leaders came with to overnight is really just a broad outline. now they have to deal with the fine print and implement it asap. as soon as possible. the deal is going to wind up boosting europe's bailout fund by $1 trillion. everybody's asking is that going to be enough money? look at the next country that could be at issue is italy. that could be the next problem. italy has $2.5 trillion in outstanding debt. the question is will that rescue

fund be big enough to soak up all that debt. those questions, i guess they're put to the side for now and just buying into the markets. >> there you go. we'll stay on the positive track here. thanks. new cnn polls are out on the first four states to hold presidential contests. jim accosta is here. mitt romney with a pretty strong showing, jim. >> that's right. his numbers are about as good as the stock market right now in the early voting states. the reason we looked at this poll is because, you know, these national polls come out and they might show herman cain on top and everybody says look at him go. you have to look at the state by state early voting state polls and where they show the candidates positioned at this point. let's show you florida and new hampshire. where mitt romney is really out in front in a big way. in florida 30% compared to herman cain at 18% newt gingrich and rick perry at 9%. go to new hampshire the neighboring state to

massachusetts, obviously, where mitt romney was governor. mitt romney way out in front 40%. cain 13%, ron paul 12%. rick perry pretty far down at 4%. mitt romney enjoying a home field advantage in new hampshire and this close to the voting, those are very good numbers for mitt romney. >> let's talk about iowa and south carolina. >> iowa and south carolina that's a slightly different story, you could say that herman cain is smoking like his tv ad in those two states. even though mitt romney is out on top. let's look at iowa first. mitt romney out in front 24% to 21% for herman cain. that is despite the fact that cain has done very little campaigning in iowa at this point. that is very good news for the former ceo of god father's pizza. south carolina also very good news for herman cain. he could make a serious run at this. people who write off herman cain need to look closely at iowa and

south carolina. those are two of the first primary caucuses that we're going to have on the calendar next year. if he can stay that close to mitt romney herman cain is going to be sticking around for a while. >> in these key early states have most gop voters made up their minds? what do you think? >> they have not. that was the other interesting finding from our cnn poll. take a look at whether or not republicans are definitely supporting their candidate at this point. it is interesting to look at iowa 23% -- only 23% of republicans in iowa have made up their minds. they are notoriously fickle voters in the hawkeye state and they have not made up their minds yet. similar numbers in florida, south carolina and new hampshire. all in the 23% to 32% range in terms of if they support their candidate right now. we're two months way i from the iowa caucuses and basically the

beginning of winter madness in term of the primaries one after the next, you know, a lot of these republicans have not made up their minds about their candidate. good news for mitt romney. he's doing quite well in early voting states. he has not closed the deal. >> testimony from secretary of state hillary clinton she's appearing before the house foreign afires committee, topics will range from the killing of osama bin laden to our deteriorating relationship with pakistan. jill dougherty at the states. you were on this trip with the secretary of state. she got a firsthand look at the situation in afghanistan. also had tough words for pakistan. what's she going to tell lawmakers on the hill? >> i think we're going to hear what she said on the trip. number one afghanistan, but pakistan is key to this. if you look at the border between the two countries, the u.s., the state department, hillary clinton are saying that you really have to have pakistan get very serious about hitting

those terrorist networks on their side of the border because the terrorists are coming over the border into afghanistan. so that's -- i think one of the key issues. also you could hear some about iran. there's the overriding theme that iran might try to take some type of role or exploit the situation. don't forget in both of those countries, pakistan and iran, relations with those countries are very bad as we know. i think it's quite predictable on the hill you're going to hear quite a lot about that. >> and republicans controlling the committee, how tough will the line of questioning be on her? >> well, i think probably, again, this would be just predicting, they might want to know so did you talk tough to pakistan, after all when we set out on that trip, that was one of the things that secretary of state was doing she was going to do.

in fact, we went to afghanistan first and it was almost looking like a showdown. behind the scene it was a pretty frank discussion. i think the congressmen are going to want to know what can you do to make sure pakistan does hit hard and especially not only against al qaeda there have been a number of victories against al qaeda, of course, but the hakani network base maryland the tribal areas in pakistan. they are the terrorists who are creating real problems in afghanistan. we'll be hearing a lot about this network as well. >> jill, thanks. he lived in a life of luxury while his countrymen lived in squalor. the u.s. is going after millions of dollars it says it's owed to new guinea. we have more mow from london. >> the department of justice says that it's pursuing $32

million. let's put this in perspective here. there's a guy his father has been the ruler of extore yal guinea for 32 years. it's on central africa on the west side of the continent. now the leader is accused of using money that's supposed to go to the poor and to help people and development. he siphons it off for himself and his family, that's the accusation. there's been a senate report that came out in 2010 that essentially accused the youngest son of moving something like $110 million to the united states to support his very extravagant lifestyle. let me just give you an idea of what he spent some of his cash on. $30 million to buy one of malibu's largest mansions. and then of course, you can't have that kind of cash and not have your own top of the line gulf stream. he is believed to have spent almost $40 million buying that.

he's got 32 cars and motor bikes including a ferrari. and get this, $3.2 million was spent buying michael jackson memorabilia. so you know, the white glove from "bad" and "heal the world" and all of that stuff, he's actually got that. so people are just saying how can this poor country have a ruler's son like this who spends all this kind of money and the u.s. essentially is investigating and they want to freeze his assets. >> what's this connection to the rapper eve? >> yeah. he wanted to impress eve, apparently and rented a $700,000 a day yacht just to he could look good. this is the kind of money he's spending and if this is the case and it's money that was supposed to go to the people of the very, very poor country of africa extore yal guinea, it raises a

lot of questions. this is what the u.s. is trying the pursue. >> thanks. denver's first snowfall of the season is sure to be remembered by tree companies not to mention the 90,000 people that lost power during the storm. and duchess kate dines alone in a good way. i'm not a number. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover.

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i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. checking stories cross country. in los angeles dr. conrad murray cried during testimony in his involuntary manslaughter trial

wednesday. character witnesses told the court how murray treated patients who can't pay. he's accused of causing michael jackson's death. denver's first snowfall of the season fell yesterday. it is blamed for stressing trees. as many as 90,000 customers lost power during the storm. 555 days after the oil explosion bp back in the gulf of mexico. the company announced it had earned its first permit to drill in the gulf since last year's oil spill disaster, one of the worst in america's history. a big night last night for duchess kate of cambridge. max foster was her date in london. oh, wait a minute, did i get that wrong? >> one day. one day i'll be out on the town. >> keep dreaming. >> it's quite the opposite. the duchess of cambridge had her first solo engagement last night. it's a big moment in her sort of emergence as a duchess and

princess. she always does things with prince william. what happened was prince charles was went to be hosting an event at one of his residences, but he had to fly to saudi arabia to pay his condolences to the crown prince who died there. so the duchess stepped in. these are the images we had in the twitter sphere. they're going crazy over these pictures. she looks fabulous. you're probably a better judge of that than me. what do you think? >> i think she looks absolutely stunning. i tell you, i don't know for you, max, this is where you have lived for so many years with your family. just watching this and thinking of history, you think so much of diana and how she was such an independent woman. this is how she was. >> absolutely. people are saying it's taking too long for catherine to move into that role. she's still on her public engagement supporting her

husband. she's not actually out there on her own with her own charities. it's interesting. today in the most fabulous house i've ever been to in london, i was in the crown prince of greece's residence here in london. he's very good friends with all the royals here in the uk. he was telling me a bit about how this next generation of royals are much more -- they're much more in touch with the public. he was using examples where crown princes and princesses are actually marrying commoners or as he put it people outside the immediate circle. they're becoming much more normal. he was talking about catherine as well saying she's from a very solid family background and that's really helping her. >> she's had a wonderful upbringing, gone to great schools. for england it's been a huge benefit to have somebody like her around. it just shows you how somebody that's put in the work, gone to good school, gone to good university can present herself as a really modern, good person.

>> there you are. she's not doing much on her own, but this is the beginning of it, maybe. >> we'll follow it for sure. coming up, history, tourism collide. an artifact now getting daylight for the first time in nearly 300 years. >> that's fun. >> it hurt. >> oh, i wouldn't know. tonight you're going to think it's 1995 all over again. "beavis and butthead" are back. watching tv and making that you are cerebral comments. mike judge joining me live this hour. [ woman on radio, indistinct ] ♪ bum-bum

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michael lohan is giving daughter lindsay a run for her money. he's just been arrested again for the second time in three days. a.j. hammer here with all the headlines for us. what's going on? >> michael lohan was arrested. he took a trip to the hospital early this morning. if you're hearing this and getting a little sense of deja vu. it's his second arrest and hospital trip this week. lindsay's dad was arrested for violating the terms of his release from jail. he was arrested for allegedly battering his exgirlfriend. he got out of jail on bail yesterday. when he was released a judge told him stay away from her. at around 1:00 in the morning kate major called police claiming that lohan was calling her and harrising her. according to the tampa p.d.

while they were on the phone with her lohan called back, major put them on speakerphone and that was enough for prosecutors to authorize his rearrest. now the whole hospital part comes in when police went to lohan's motel to arrest him, they say he decided he didn't want to go to jail. he jumped off a three-story balcony to escape and he landed in a tree. cops caught him. he hurt his foot in the process. you know a family's got issues when the headline is lohan arrested and you're not quite sure if it's father or daughter. >> it is pretty sad tale that family drama. the guiness book has just named hollywood's biggest box office star and his name might surprise a lot of folks, right? >> one of my favorite actors. this is according to the guiness book of world records samuel l. jackson has the highest grossing career of all time. here's the deal, they say if you add up all the money made by all the movies he's appeared in his

films have grossed $7.5 billion. this is partly because he works hard. he he's appeared in more than 100 films. he averages around four movies a year. the caveat here is some of the box office figures come from films where jackson made at most a cameo. he was in one scene in the first "ironman" movie that came after the credits rolled. still he was in the film. so guiness gave him the credit for it. if you take a look at films that he's played a major role in according to box office mo jo they track these things. those films have taken in around $2.8 billion. that is still very, very impressive. go sam. >> go sam. an mtv classic as we've been talking about all morning has been resurrected after 14 years off the air. and a.j. we have a special guest coming up live, too. i'll let you give our folks the inside scoop on what we're talking about first. >> this is very exciting to me.

they are back. "beavis and butthead" will return to mtv tonight. i for one say it has been far too long. >> it hurt. >> i wouldn't know. >> the pair of morons are back here to lend their particular insights into pop culture. the show always had a consult following. we haven't seen an original episode of the series since 1997. as you mentioned i know you're going to be speaking with mike judge the creative genius behind this show. please thank him on my behalf on behalf of fans everywhere for not messing with the show to bring it up to date. i've seen a little bit of the first new show, it is beavis and butthead as we knew them and loved them. >> did you just call mike a misfit moron? >> no. i referred to beavis and butthead as misfit morons.

i'm sure mike would thank me for getting that portrayal accurate. >> we have a little misfit in all of us. >> not mike. >> he's a genius. >> beavis and butthead, misfit morons. >> a.j., thanks so much. and as a.j. said, they're back. how about a little more tease here. >> may we ask you a question? >> are you threatening me? why do i -- >> hopefully we're not going to have to beep creator mike judge. we're going to talk to him about beavis and butthead. you won't want to miss it. he joins me live in 15 minutes. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪

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e.u. leaders have come up with a plan for the debt crisis. they've agreed to take major losses on greek bonds. world markets are responding positively so far. the death toll from sunday's quake in earn turkey has risen to 534.

rescuers still hoping to be find survivors like this one beneath the rubble. and occupy wall street protesters say an iraq war vet had his skull fractured by a police project isle. police are now investigating what happened. political buzz, your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. three questions 30 seconds on the clock. playing today robert zimmerman founder and ed toror of citizen jane politics patricia murphy and cnn contributor rick cain. rick perry's campaign tells cnn he may not take part in any future debates. >> rick perry said it was a mistake for him to participate in the presidential debates. perry said i'm not one of those word talkers. >> all right. so with perry dropping in the polls, can he afford to skip the

debates, robert? >> he can't afford to be in the debates, he can't deliver a speech on policy. we saw at the value voters summit. he can't campaign on the street because of the missteps he makes when he talks to voters one-on-one. the bottom line is we democrats are so frustrated by this, rick perry is a minor league player in a major league sport. he's not equipped to run for president. he's going to follow great texas history like senator phil gram they all had record amounts of money, they got a delegate and a half between them. >> will? >> rick perry is saying the debates are designed to tear each other down. i want to make a couple points, a, there's a ton of debates. do we need this many debates? >> b, he's kind of right. when you have a minute to respond to each other, a minute to make a point, you're not really able to put out ideas, policies.

that being said, it does ring as an excuse by rick perry because he performs so poorly in these debates. i think robert's right, he can't afford to participate in these thins anymore. it's a no-win proposition for him. >> patricia? >> it's not that he can't afford to participate in these debates. he isn't very good at them. he can't afford to not be there. everybody knows why he's not there. it's really because i think it's been such an embarrassment for him. these debates, i'm going to continue myself in the group of people who love them. i think we've learned so much about these candidates. we've had some smaller candidates come up with really good ideas. newt gingrich has been able to shine in the debates. it's for people that don't have a lot of money like rick perry. if you can't perform well in the debates, you can't be president. you need to be better in front of the camera. >> question number two, the state department facing criticism after it was revealed that they've spent more than

70,000 on president obama's books. >> i don't think it's probably our best effort at international diplomacy. i hope not. i don't think it's inappropriate. if people are making the point this is about government waste and an illustration of government waste, that's kind of nonsense. if you're really worried about government waste, let's pool our efforts and talk about entitlements. if there's any ting of dirtiness or ugliness to this it's while he's president they're buying his books and some of the royalties go to him. that's kind of ugly. it's not a big issue. robert? >> it's kind of ugly or inappropriate? just to paraphrase mitt romney, i think maybe you're a little testy because the texas rangers are in a close competition for the world series. >> 3-2. >> it's still pretty tight. good luck with the games. the point is it's part of a tradition of doing this

providing books about our presidents and to foreign governments and libraries. it's a tribute to the president that the best-selling book is being shared around the world. this topic goes under the category of trivial political pursuit. >> patricia? >> what makes me uncomfortable about this situation it is not a part of the tradition. there was a search of state department records they did not buy books about president bush and put them in foreign libraries or bill clinton. there seems to be something that it's specific just to president obama. that is the part that makes me uncomfortable. i don't know that we need to be spending money on books when there are huge questions about how the state department is spending its money and the federal government generally. but i do think president obama, the reason we're doing it president obama's personal story as an american is the type of story they want to get out there. it's a good story, just don't spend our taxpayer dollars spending it. >> from books to tv. a former speech writer for president obama now writing a

sitcom pilot called "1600 penn." will this president make a good comedy and who should play him on tv? >> i don't know. does he make a good comedy? it seems like such a teed up answer for me on this. i would say this, the obvious answer is will smith. he kind of looks like him. we all know will smith is not going back to tv. his whole career is about being a movie star. he kind of looks like president obama. he could play president obama. who would be the sitcom actor, i'm sure it's somebody we've never heard of. >> robert? >> this is supposed to be a sitcom about a dysfunctional family in the white house. this president had has a lot of skills and sitcom is not one of them. his family is a role model for the family. i can think of one individual who's going to need a new gig in the few months who is dysfunctional and funny. herman cain this is your moment. >> patricia? >> if i watch any president on

tv my personal preference is for martin sheen. i feel like he has the acting chops to take that role in either direction. i say martin sheen. i put it out to twitter and my favorite answer was orlando bloom playing a charismatic librarian. that was the most interesting answer that i got. i say martin sheen he can still do it. >> all right, guys. til the next time. >> 3-2. 3-2. tomorrow it will be 4-2. that's not tight. >> back to baseball? this is a political segment. >> coming up after the break, we're talking more about that rare crime wave in an amish community. the suspects are accused of breaking into homes, kidnapping families and cutting off their sacred hair. >> true amish don't act like that. true amish don't go out attacking people. >> live report next. meineke's personal pricing on brakes. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely.

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for the amish people their hair is sacred. they believe the bible forbids them from cutting it. when the story broke that people were burglarizing amish families and chopping their hair, it outraged an ohio community. chris, the allegations include an amish bishop. >> that's right. i'll get to that in a second. i want to just point out we just learned the other day that the fbi is now investigating this very, very bizarre case. here's what has gone down in recent weeks. members of a rogue amish group has been going to amish families' homes late at night around 11:00, 10:00 at night. families are in bed. they knock on the door, the husband, wife answer the door and members of this group will pull the husband out by the beard, hold him down and cut off the beard using battery operated clippers and scissors. this is not an isolated incident

that's another factor that makes it a strange case. not just one incident. a handful of beard cutting incidents. the other thing, authorities believe this is not just a group of kids playing a prank. authorities say this is the work of one man and they believe it is the work of one man who's created a more sinister organization. here's what a local sheriff told me. >> he's like a cull leader. what's been going on out there is not true amish. true amish don't go out roaming around attacking people throughout the country side. they just don't do it. true amish don't do that. nothing moves out there unless he says it moves, that is the case. >> tracked down sam mull et, went to the compound where he lives. knocked on the door. he answered. he declined to do an interview with us on camera. i did ask him about these allegations that he started and

has created and is running a consult on this property. he said, no, this is not a consult. as to whether he's behind the beard cutting allegations, the only thing he would tell me, he wouldn't give me a yes or no, he only said beard cutting is a crime, is it? so i guess you could take that for what it's worth. i'll send it back to you. this is certainly a very, very bizarre story that has lo at of folks worried. >> why hasn't the bishop been arrested? >> that's a very good question. i find myself wondering that. authorities say is we've had witnesses come forward and tell us several stories, you know, firsthand accounts from living on this property what this man has done. but in the amish community amish people do not believe in getting law enforcement involved so charges aren't pressed. until charges are pressed, officials basically can't do anything. their hands are tied. they can't make any arrests. that's what's made fighting this

case to difficult. >> we'll follow the investigation. you can get much more on this story go to our belief blog www.cnn.com/belief. are at the highest cases in the u.s. in 15 years. researchers say unvaccinated people are traveling to other countries and returning with infections. cdc reports 214 children have gotten measles in the u.s. this year with about 1/3 hospitalized. parents have rejektd vaccinations citing safety concerns. most experts say the vaccines are safe. two of america's premier juveniles return tonight after 14 years. haven't you missed stuff like this? >> i believe that is where the screw made its point of entry. >> yeah. entry. >> do you need to be here? >> the genius behind all that dumb, mike judge joining me live, next.

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after 14 years "beavis and butthead" return to ou world tonight. you remember those two annoying little nose pickers, right? >> you will -- for i am the great cornholio. >> i have to admit, i never watched the show because the people who quoted it nonstop annoyed me to death until my

news team said, you have to get in touch with your inner delinquent. you're never too old to be immature, hence, my new favorite clip. >> he's so beautiful. what are you guys going to name him? >> well, we've always liked the name theo. >> i am cornholio. you will name your baby cornholio. >> so who is the generalous who created such wonderful dumbness? a guy who also nailed corporate america with a classic movie, my favorite "office space." mike judge, the brain behind the butthead, the brilliance behind the beavis. giving a voice to the vapid. mike, thanks to you, dumb has never been so smart or fun. welcome to our show. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> which one of these guys was you in high school? >> i'd like to think neither of

them. maybe a little bit of beavis sometimes, but, you know. >> sometimes. well, it was great in the 1990s as we know. tell me why do you think it's going to work so well in 2011? >> well, where it clicked for me was when i started watching all the stuff on mtv, which i only watched because i had to for work "16 and pregnant" and "teen mom," "jersey shore." i then started watching in my free time. got a little hooked on "jersey shore." when i started -- >> i don't know if you want to admit that. >> it's too late now. but something clicked for me with that having beavis and butthead watch that stuff. i don't know, it just got to be really fun.

i actually of all the stuff i've done, i probably enjoy doing this is most. >> i'm noticing by the clips that the boys haven't aged. clearly they keep flunking school. are they sitting on a new couch at least? >> no. the couch is the same. it's -- we repainted it. it's not reupholstered. has the same tear in it. >> now you made fun of the lame music videos, the cheesy rock stars. so you mentioned "jersey shore." who's your biggest target now? >> oh, well, let's see, probably the biggest target -- let's see, maybe the person that we've been the meanest to. >> oh, yes. exactly. >> that would be like a threeway tie between all the teen moms,

probably. farah, probably farah, i think her name is farah. >> all right. we'll keep our eyes open. beavis and butthead, i've got to is you one serious question. they got into trouble with congress. it inspired a tv rating system now that you've seen south park push it be envelope. do you feel vindicate that had the criticism was overblown? >> yeah, i do feel vindicated. you look back, you know, i mean, when i hear people tell me, oh, i grew up on beavis and butthead, usually they turned out okay. they're not usually -- they seem to have jobs. >> they're not complete misfits, is that what you're saying? >> yeah. so and also, you know, the crime rate in almost every category went down all those years beavis and butthead was on the air.

>> you're giving credit. >> and the economy got better. >> you're giving the lower crime rate and economy to beavis and butthead. is that what i'm hearing here? are you breaking news? >> you can draw your own conclusions. i'm just reporting the facts here. >> i understand you're going to be the big 5-0 next year. is that true? >> yeah, i turned 49 last week. so, how about that? is it going to be -- >> wow. >> imagine how time flies. isn't it incredible? >> yeah. >> is it harder to think like a middle schooler when you're nearly 50? >> i think it might be getting easier, actually. maybe i'm going senile. one of the writers that i worked with in the beginning had said that when he -- a way to think of this is you go to the place in your mind when thoughts begin and then just stay there.

that's when you write beavis and butthead. it's just -- actually it's just as easy to do, i think. i was really pushing 30 when the show started which was almost 20 years, it was 20 years ago when i was first animating them and drew them. i was already immature at the age of 29. >> and missing the mull et at the age of 29d. mike judge, so many people will be watching and paying close attention. thanks so much for joining us out of l.a. this morning. it was great talking to you. >> thank you. >> you bet. ruth madoff has finally broken her silence in what everyone's talking about today her revelation that she and husband bernie tried to commit suicide when his massive ponzi scheme became public. she told "the new york times" all about it. coming up the journalist will be in the newsroom and she's been in touch with bernie in the last week.

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stories making news later today 11:45 eastern time this los angeles, testimony resumes in the conrad murray manslaughter trial. 5:00 p.m. from new york, the education election 2012 presidential candidate forum gets underway. at 7:00 eastern in tuscaloosa, alabama, the mayor reflects on the deadly tornado that struck his community six months ago today. if you're like my patients, you want to hear you've done a good job. that's why i recommend a rinse like crest pro-health multi-protection. it helps you get a better dental check-up.

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the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? donald trump telling rick perry that he should continue to question president obama's citizenship. mark, is perry listening? >> no. >> bottom line, no. let's move on. >> bottom line, no. next subject. look, why? why does donald trump keep saying this? he keeps talking about it because it's putting donald trump in the headlines. look, bottom line as we've seen over the past couple days rick perry has got himself in a little bit of trouble because he has expressed some doubt whether or not president obama was born here in the united states. but he did do an interview in florida yesterday. he said he was just having some

fun. donald trump in an interview with piers morgan says this is an issue that could help perry in the primary, but might not help him in the general election. my take is bottom line i don't think it's going to help him in the primary, as we know all people really care about is the economy, the economy, and one more thing, the economy. so rick perry trying to move on, donald trump trying to keep it in the headlines. >> you've got some staffing changes to announce on the campaign trail. bachmann, gingrich going some reorganizing. >> we are in the final sprint to the iowa caucus, the new hampshire primary. newt gingrich has now added four people up in new hampshire to try to help him win the first in the nation primary state. michele bachmann out in iowa a must win for her has added people to her staff including naming eric wilson to manage her campaign out there in iowa. why is that significant? wilson is the gentleman who helps mike huckabee win the