we have to get to "cnn newsroom" kyra phillips. kyra phillips. that begins now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning, everyone. we start off this hour. new infrared video of that recked cruise liner. passengers line up trying to get to safety. as the camera goes down, you can see a rip in the ship's side. they smashed windows and swam through the hallways. they've recovered one black box. the coast guard is saying they know where a second data recorder is. does this look like a technical failure to you? because that's how the captain described the disaster according to port authority transcripts reported in an italian newspaper. here's part of the conversation. port authority, we ask you if all is well there. concord yeah, all is well. it's only a technical failure. >> port authority, how many people are on board? >> captain, 2, 300.

>> port authority, how come so few people? are you on board? >> captain, no, i'm not on board because the ship is keeling. we've abandoned it. port authority, what? you've abandoned the ship? >> captain, no. what abandon? i'm here. a judge questions the captain at a closed hearing today. he's under arrest and he could be charged with manslaughter. dan rivers is live on the scene once again for us there in italy. dan, six people are dead. 28 are missing, including two americans, and crews are still searching for survivors, right? >> reporter: that's absolutely right, yeah. it's getting along four days since this happened here in italy. you can see the wreck right behind me. there's a lot of activity there. a lot of ships around. the divers, again, are making their way on board. this morning they've been actually using explosives to blast their way, as you mentioned, through into parts of the ship that they couldn't get access to before.

five different explosions have been echoing across this island this morning as they continue their work. basically their message is we will not stop until we have accounted for everyone. until they have either recovered bodies or fingers crossed found anymore survivors, they're going to continue this operation. in addition to that, there is of course a concern about the environment. there's more than 2,000 tons of fuel aboard this ship. amazingly so far none seems to have spilled into these pristine waters. they've already started putting booms. i don't know if you can see that around the coast line there. there's a line of orange booms in place. that's to protect the shore if the worst case happens and they were to get worse and the ship starts leaking fuel. >> dan rivers, we'll continue to follow the story with you throughout the morning. this tragedy is definitely a talker throughout the world. zain verjee is in london. what are you hearing this

morning, zain? >> reporter: good morning to you, kyra. let's go to the newspapers. france has this headline, kyra. they say this, the debate about safety on board cruise ships has just begun. it goes on to add, a maritime union representative noticed the diverse nationalities of the "costa concordia" crew and also significant question, how could all of these crew members communicate with each other and their passengers effectively? was this one of the main problems? "the wall street journal" in europe has this headline, cruise tragedy takes its toll on carnival. it says images of the "costa concordia" sinking off the italian coast are unlikely to fade quickly from the public mind. for investors, the 16% stock price drop monday in london in the parent company, carnival, is a grim reminder that there are pearls at sea. finally, check out "the daily

telegraph." so will this sink the industry? if the accident was not due to a fault with the ship but rather a fault of the captain, the cruise industry will be breathing a collective sigh of relieve. cruising whether on a cruise ship or on a liner is the safest form of travel there is. really grabbing all the international headlines around the world, kyra. back to you. >> zain verjee out of london for us. thanks. four days to go until south carolina votes in the republican presidential primary. five gop candidates are still standing and the tone of the race, well, it's getting pretty intense. fresh off a fire ri debate rick santorum holding a national security town hall on the "u.s.s. yorktown." mitt romney holds a rally in florence. all the candidates gunning for mitt romney. the clear target of last night's debate. he's taking flak on everything from his superpac ads to how much he pays the tax man. >> it would be nice if governor romney would exercise leadership on his former staff and his

major donors to take falsehoods off the air. >> if we're talking about super pac ads that are inaccurate, mr. speaker, you have a super pac ad that attacks me. just hold on. it attacks me. it's probably the biggest hoax since big food. >> governor romney's super pac has put on ad out there suggesting that i said felons could vote from prison. >> the pacs that run ads as we -- >> i'm looking for an answer to the question first. paul steinhauser is live in charlestown for us. paul, did any of those attacks on romney draw any blood? >> reporter: you know, watching the debate last night, to me, kyra, it seemed to me the first time mitt romney was uncomfortable since our debate in loss vague gays.

i think former fell longs should be able to vote put romney on the spot, a little out of his game for the first time in a while. newt gingrich as you saw from those clips really going after mitt romney as well. gingrich, santorum, both of them here in south carolina fighting to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. they had big rights. we know newt gingrich is a very good debater and he showed it again last night. romney did survive though. he was knocked off his game a little bit. made a little uncomfortable especially by santorum. he did survive. they get to do it again thursday night right behind me. north charleston coliseum. john king is the moderator. cnn debate. last chance for the candidates to go after mitt romney to try to knock him off his game before saturday's primary. >> we've had so many debates, paul, i can't keep track of how many we've had so far. hey, look, rick perry says that he wants to see just how much mitt romney is worth and he brought it up again. take a listen.

>> mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money. >> all right. what do you think? any chance that romney is going to show his tax forms? >> reporter: first of all, that was number 16 last night, kyra. there will be a quiz later. >> 16. >> ours will be number 27 17. 16 last night, 17 is ours. second of all, rick perry had a very good debate. remember all that criticism back in the fall when he plunged and didn't do so sfwhel had a very strong debate last night. it may be too little too late for him. romney, he's been knocked left and right, back and forth over these taxes. for the first time he said, well, maybe, probably, maybe i will do it in april, stay tuned. we'll see if he does. it gives the other candidates a line of attack against romney. it gives the democrats a line of attack. what's he hiding. legally does he have to do it? no. candidates are not legally forced to release their taxes.

he is legally required to do his financial disclosure report. he's already done that. stay tuned on whether he actually releases the taxes, kyra. >> paul, thanks so much. thursday just days before the south carolina primary the gop contenders debate the issue, debate number 17 according to paul. the southern republican presidential debate is here thursday night at 8:00 eastern. we'll have another political update in just about an hour. cnnpolitics.com. american motorists buckle up. bad news at the pump and it may get worse. gas prices already at record highs for january. now experts say that some of us could be paying $5 a gallon this summer. christine romans joining us now. how soon could this happen, christine? >> that's that round numbers that strikes fear in motorist's' hearts. some spots of the country some analysts are say $5 by the driving season this summer. other analystness that same

article who are pointing out that maybe $3.50 is more like it. it defends on a couple of things, what's going on with iran in the strait of hormuz and how briskly and how other countries like china, india, brazil are growing. all of those things coming together to drive these forecasts higher. i want too show you where we are right now with gas prices because it's different. an average gas price is like saying the average temperature. different tax, different everything. take a look at this. the darker the red, the higher the gas price that you're paying right now. gas prices are felt differently, too. when you look at gas prices as a percent of your income, you can see the darker blue, these are people who are paying a lot of their income in gas. mississippi, for example, it's 14%. in florida, it's about 10%. south carolina it's about 12%. why is that important? because the people are going to the polls listening to their gop hopefuls are people who are

feeling these higher gas prices more keenly than elsewhere in the country. gas prices, one of those numbers that we always say is probably every week the economic indicator you feel more than anything else, that and your job. quickly i wanted to bring you the new cnn orc polls about how the president is doing his job. that's what people have been telling us. 47% approve. 51% disapprove. as you know 11% approve of congress, which is hardly anything. what are people saying about the economy overall? right now about 18% of americans are saying it's good. that's a little bit of an improvement. 42% are saying it's somewhat poor. 38% saying it's very poor. that also is a little bit of improvement. what this tells you is still eight out of ten people are saying we'd like the economy to be a little bit better. >> we all would. thanks. >> you're welcome. the captain of that wrecked cruise liner goes to the judge. ashleigh banfield will have the legal details next.

a mother and her two children just inches away from plunging to their deaths until a pretty incredible rescue. you'll see it. a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

checking stories cross-country now. its oo deadline day for wisconsin's republican party. it's trying to recall governor scott walker. he came under fire last year for stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights. this is life today in val dez, alaska. shoveling snow even for one of the snow i haddest places on earth. they've had enough. they've seen a history making accumulation of 322 inches of this stuff so far joompt the

heroic action of some california rescuers helped save a mother and her two children from this horrific crash. their car was actually dangling over a freeway bridge after a semirear ended it. the big rig driver didn't survive. his truck plunged into a ravine and burst into flames. a technical failure, that's what the captain of this wrecked cruise liner off the coast of italy told the judge this morning. francesco she teen know said he didn't do anything wrong. he denies abandoning it. newly released radio transcripts actually contradict his story. cnn's ashleigh banfield joining me from new york. ashleigh, let's take a look at some of the conversation. let's talk about how damaging these transcripts are. >> reporter: do you want me to read some of the transcripts here, kyra? they're absolutely harrowing. >> i apologize for that. we had a graphic made up.

you've actually got it. talk about the part where it was very confusing whether he abandoned the ship or not. watching you this morning, it was hard to understand what exactly he did. >> reporter: i think there was so much confusion on that ship that night, but here is one thing that is crystal clear. the communications between captain she teen know and the port authority started like this. how many people are on board, he says, 2, 300. they say, how come so few people? are you on board? the captain said, no. i'm not on board because the ship is keeling. we've abandoned it. port authority says, what? you've abandoned the ship? and the captain answers, no. what abandon? i'm here. that is really, really damning stuff, kyra. up until now there had been some question. did he abandon ship, did he not? did he leave passengers behind and get off himself or not? it is a charge in maritime law, abandon ship, and it carries with it quite a punishment, as

does ship wreck. that he made this first appearance, which is akin to sort of part of the investigation, this is critical. these transmissions are coming out now. they will, mark my words, kyra, they will make their way into this case. >> and he already faces manslaughter charges, right? >> reporter: yeah. >> how do these transcripts, i guess, make a stronger case for those charges? >> reporter: well, here's the weird part. right now we only know of six people dead, but there are 29 people missing. so now we could be talking about a whole lot more charges of manslaughter if a number of bodies start turning up. here's the other thing, in italian, while they allow for consecutive sentences sentencing, i'm not suggesting that he's guilty, i'm not suggesting that he be sentenced at all on manslaughter, but if he is, the exposure is vast on manslaughter alone. of course what will matter, kyra, what was his negligence

here? how did this happen? and one of the most disturbing things that's out there is one of these reports that this might have been show boating, trying to get closer to shore. one of the maritime officials has been quoted as saying, this thing should have been four miles out to sea. you can see from your pictures, it was pretty darn close to shore. that said, that might play into this case as well because there have been reports that this captain actually after the ship struck ground did some pretty good maneuvering to get it into shallower waters. but for that fact this ship might be under water like the titanic and the 4200 plus passengers on board, the bulk of them may not have gotten out to safety. so there could be a number of different factors that play into litigation here. >> and we'll follow it and keep talking about the story with you, ashleigh. appreciate you following it for us and the legal side. >> sure. coming up, we're going head to china. we'll show you the ugly side of capitalism. our cameras actually followed the scalpers as they rule the

streets and ruin the markets for apple products. burger king has always said you can have it your way. now that includes delivery right to your door. we'll go to the new york stock exchange for details. osteo bi-flex has really helped my knees. osteo bi-flex has been incredible for me, and i swear by it. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex, the glucosamine chondroitin suppment with 5-loxin advanced. shows improvement in joint comfort within 7 days. osteo bi-flex, my knees thank you. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex. the #1 doctor and pharmacist recommended brand.

. from soccer moms to noek geeks, few gadgets can get the pulse racing like a shiny new iphone or ipad. that can make for ugly business in china. take a look at what our stan grant found. >> hello. >> hello. >> reporter: someone doesn't want us to see what they're up to. right in front of apple's flagship stoer in the heart of

beijing, gangs of scalpers are preying on customers. our news assistant is approached by a man wanting to sell cher a new iphone 4s. we bought this from a real apple store in beijing, he says. if you're really interested, i can show you. he tells her she can buy it for 5,800 r and b. that's about 1,000. it's a markup of more than $100 on the price. they're not just selling. they're buying as well. he was approached by one of the scalpers. >> they wanted to buy my iphone. >> reporter: do you have it there with you? >> yes. >> reporter: give us a look. they saw it and wanted to buy it off you? >> yes. >> reporter: what did they say to you? >> they said they'd give me 2600 quoi? >> reporter: what do you think they're doing here? >> i guess ripping people off. >> reporter: everything here is undercover. when exposed, they turn nasty.

our assistant, abused. this is how far scalpers will go to try to get their hands on apple goods. this was meant to be the official launch of the new iphone. worried about the crowd, apple withdrew it from sale when it all went terribly wrong. the gangs targeted stores to buy up all of the stock and resell it for a profit. apple has taken it off its shelves in china. you can only buy it online. here less than 10 minutes away you can buy the iphone 4s. in fact, you can buy many apple products in this fake apple market. you can buy ipads, you can buy ipods, you can buy computers, and all of them apparently coming from apple stores. >> reporter: the logo is the same. apple does not endorse these stores, but its goods are displayed. there's nothing you can't buy here if you're willing to pay. i can promise you these are the

real stuff. don't worry. she says they come with a full guarantee from the official apple store. the markup, a gain about $100 on the real apple price. if you really want the 4s now, the only way to get it is through us, she says. the stores can't sell them. we've got them through our ways. chinese consumers are caught in the middle. scalpers turn a nice profit. apple lovers of china left with a sour taste in their mouth. stan grant, cnn, beijing. so are you craving a whopper? why not get it delivered. alison kosik is going to do that at the new york stock exchange so i'm told. >> i'm not going to deliver the burger for you. i'll tell you about though f. you're in the washington, d.c., area, burger king's delivering right around there from ten restaurants.

there are some critics about this, kyra. they say, birg gers and fries, they don't travel well. burger king says it has thermal packing technology that will keep the fries crisp. who doesn't love delivery? we get our grosh ris delivered, christmas trees. even here in new york, kyra, did you know we can get a pint of ice cream delivered at 3:00 a.m.? yes, we can f. successful this could heat up the competition among fast food restaurants. burger king is leading the pack right now. >> wall street was closed yesterday for mlk day. is a little rest and relaxation putting investors in a buying mood. >> that's what they needed was a little rest because dow futures are up 100 points. decent news on the global economy came out. we found china's economy is slowing, not as much as many had feared. standard & poor's on friday

downgraded nine euro countries including france. keep everybody in a buying mood apparently, manufacturing activity in the new york region picked up. that is sending oil prices up about $2 over $100 a barrel. opening bell is ringing in about five minutes. you should see the buying begin then. kyra? >> sounds good. alison, thanks. while the investigation continues into what went wron on that cruise ship off the coast of italy, we're going to show you how captains here train for disaster. >> captain, we have a grounding checklist. >> i'm going ring the general alarm. >> coming up, cnn's brian todd takes us inside the training center in florida. michelle obama already plays a lead supporting role to the president. now she's making a cam me owe in a television show. that's coming up. i'm trading everywhere...

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get great deals on all kinds of beach vacations. checking top stories now. if you can't get on wikipedia tomorrow, don't worry. it's not your computer. wikipedia and several other large websites blan a blackout tomorrow to protest an anti-piracy bill before congress. time warner is among one in the industry in support of the legislation. mitt romney remains in the lead and that makes him the prime target, especially at last night's gop debate in south carolina. his rivalries are turning up the heat asking for his tax returns. the next debate, thursday night,

8:00 eastern on cnn. congress returning to work on cap talg hill today with an all time low job approval rating. it's now at 11% according to a new cnn orc international poll. today president obama's going to meet with business leaders assigned with creating new jobs. for a president whose re-election may depend on an economic recovery, the proposals face two big challenges, congress and the clock. christine, what are the ceo's proposing exactly? >> i want to be clear because the ceo of general electric had said if there were a silver bullet for jobs creation, wouldn't we have fired it? there's no one thing you can do. it's a lot of different things. corporate america has the ear of the president for what they'd like to do. among the things they'd like to do is cut the corporate tax code. simplify it. do a tax reform and in that tax reform lower the corporate taxes. we have said many, many times there are loopholes and

offshoots and offshore places they can do business to try to avoid u.s. taxes. they'd like to cut the corporate tax rate instead. they want to expand domestic oil drilling. that is something that comes up again and again as the president meets with this group. at 11:05 we'll find exactly in their roadmap to renewal, we'll see what they propose. rurt terse says they've talked about how to shore up manufacturing, innovation. the beginning to both of those steps, kyra, is education. we can't out-innovate the rest of the world. we can't out-compete the rest of the world if our education system isn't geared up to supply the workers and education people need to succeed. those are the things they've been talking about behind closed doors. it is a complicated and tricky process because different companies, different sectors of the economy have a different feeling about what you can do to try to fix things. even when he talked about the tax code, everyone says you ought to fix it. it's like saying i love my

mother. we need a simpler tax code. quite frankly, how you do that, who benefits the most, who gives up the most, that's where it starts to get tricky, kyra. >> christine romans in new york for us. thanks. right we've got new developments on the capsized ship liner. moments ago we learned that crews have found five more bodies inside the ship. that puts the death toll at 11 now. it means 23 people remain missing. two americans have been on that list, and this morning the captain of the ship facing questions from a judge. a decision due at any moment on whether he should remain jailed while the investigation unfolds. prosecutors want to press manslaughter charges against him. we'll keep following all the latest developments for you. the concordia disaster is raising a lot of questions about the training of captains and crew aboard these massive vessels. cnn's brian todd went to florida where captains train by experiencing a realistic

simulation of their worst fierce. >> reporter: the vessel's pitching drastically. water is coming over the bow. you can feel your stress levels and your lunch rising. one of the scenarios captains and crew are put through at the american maritime officer's training facility called the star center. they've trained thousands of officers here, including several cruise ship captains. larry reimer takes us inside the 360. >> you have to constantly keep in your mind what type of weight you're dealing with, what type of momentum you're dealing with, and the fact that behind you here you've got thousands of passengers. >> reporter: every aspect of navigation is covered. steering, depth measurement, speed. how to read maps and radar. where every potential obstacle is. they can re-create every major port in the world. >> we're coming into new york harbor now. you've got governor's island here on the right. >> reporter: they don't have a re-creation of the island off giglio italy. >> they've created a place

called generica. it has every type of characteristic to challenge you for maritime navigation. over here you've got a tight coast line with a village. we've got to go underneath this bridge here to get to a channel to get to the port city over here to the right. you can tell us we're way under here. you've also got to navigate past some rocky coast line over here. so as we do all that, i'm going to take the con, as they say. i'm going to take controls. captain reimer is going to take me through the process. >> reporter: the slightest turn can cause it to pitch dangerously. >> not too much. she'll steady right up on you here. >> reporter: i eventually run the ship aground. >> we're aground. let's stop engines. pull the checklist foregrounding. >> captain, we have a grounding checklist. >> i'm going to ring the general alarm. >> reporter: they run checklists to see if it's taking on water. never, ever is the captain to leave the bridge of the vessel

until everyone else is off the ship. reimer says they teach captains to deal with stress. >> what happens with stress is you get what they call tunnel vision. you lose the whole picture of what's going on. the only way to deal with that, take that stress off you to open up your awareness of what's going on, is to take some of the stress off you and to give it to other members of the team. >> reporter: he says the most common mistake captains make, trying to do everything themselves. outside we're shown how they train crew members to evacuate everyone on to life boats. >> you would pull that. that lowers the boat. >> reporter: snow causeland who teachings crisis management, cooks, housekeepers, entertainers, each have a task in emergency. to muster passengers at specific places, get them organized. >> you have a whole loft of people on board that are not mariners and have no training in safety matters. those are the passengers.

regulations say we need to find some way to inform the passengers of what an emergency signal is, how to use a life jacket, and also what to do when they hear an emergency signal. >> reporter: the trainers hearsay despite the "costa concordia" accident and the perceptions emanating from that, the cruise ship industry is still incredibly safe. they say hundreds of thousands of people are on the high seas every day. accidents are he extremely rare. the vast majority of captains and crew are very well trained. brian todd, cnn, florida. well, have you noticed that the epa is a punching bag for the republican candidates? they call the agency a job killer. l.z. grand der son says there won't be any people to work if the air and water is toxic. we'll talk about his new column in just a few minutes. madonna nabbed the prize for best original song at the golden globes leaving fellow no, ma'am

me elton john in a bit of a foul mood. now he's eating his own words. details next joompt let's check the markets quickly. five minutes after the opening bell. dow industrial is up 100 points. we'll be back. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today.

michelle obama making her acting debut. several students got a prescreening of the nickelodeon show fee during the first lady. let's talk with nischelle turner. >> reporter: you know, by all accounts, kyra, she did pretty darn good. she's been working hard to support military families. this is a school with a lot of parents in the military. what a better place to show off her debut on icarley. >> hey, guys. >> they throw me out the front door into heavy traffic. and then this big fish truck pushes me straight into bell harbor.

>> did the pumpkins float? >> no. they sank like a rock. i'm telling you, my life is like a sitcom. i don't know. >> hey, guys. >> you know what, she's got pretty good timing there. she got good reviews. they say the first lady was a great guest star. she's got really good comic timing, kyra. >> you've got the president celebrating betty white's birthday. now you have michelle obama on nickelodeon. they're really moving into the mainstream here of pop culture. >> reporter: watch out, hollywood. >> i'm telling you. all right. now what's all this drama between elton john and madonna? >> reporter: oh, this one's getting good. this is a celebrity feud that was spawned by the golden globes. they were both nominated for best original song in a motion picture at the golden globes. i guess elton wanted to win this. this all started on the red

carpet before the ceremony when elton said she didn't have a bleeping chance for winning the best song. if you were watching the globes, you saw his reaction when she won. madonna took some shots back at elton on the carpet when reporters asked her about his jab. after she actually won the globes she took the high road and she said, well, i hope he speaks to me for the next couple of years. he's known to get mad at me. he's brilliant so i adore him. he'll win another award so i don't feel bad. then elton's husband, david furnish, he decided to stir the pot on his facebook page immediately after she won. he used a profanity and he said, this, quote, shows how these awards have nothing do do with merit. her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism. they're going back and forth. kyra, i have to think that they actually like this kind of fighting back and forth in the media. i think they love it. this fighting between them has been going on for eight years.

it's never ending. >> they're both really successful and talented. let's move on. all right. nischelle, we're going to talk more next hour. betty white's 90th birthday. i mentioned that. she got an early birthday present last night. i'm not talking about the skit from the president, which nischelle and i were talking about. you'll find out what happened during her birthday barb. it's next hour. l.z. granderson has a big problem with republican candidates beating up on the epa. first and foremost a republican president created it, not a bunch of pot smoking hippies at a nudist camp. those are his words, not mine. we'll talk about his column right after the break. so, this is delicious okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal?

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minutes ago we learned that five more bodies were found inside the capsized ship "costa concordia." all were wearing life jackets. an italian judge has ruled the captain should remain jailed. we were in the courtroom. joins us on the phone. barbie, tell us what happens? >> reporter: the chief prosecutor addressed him. they've interrogated the captain. he was commander at the time of the accident. the prosecutor -- the judge decided to reserve the decision about whether or not he has to stay in jail during the entire investigative process in italy,

a suspect in a crime can stay in custody for up to a year. he has not been charged. there will be another hearing to determine whether or not he has to stay in jail during the investigative process. we won't expect that he'll be charged any time soon because the investigation is still being conducted. >> all right. barbie nad doe reporting to us there from italy just as the captain appeared before a judge in court facing charges. the biggest manslaughter. have you noticed that the republican candidates for president aren't big fans of the environmental protection agency? take a listen. >> the epa has become a major job killer, a major energy cost increaser, and a major anti-technology system. >> the epa and their continual pressure upon industry with regulations that, frankly,

aren't making our water any clearer, the air we breathe, the safety, it's just more cost. >> but hold on. a republican president created the epa. richard nixon in 1970. as l.z. granderson says in his new column in cnn.com. he said he agreed with the rest of the thinking that clean water a was a good thing. l.z., how did we get here? how did this anti-epa september imt get started? >> reporter: i hate to boil it down about the oil and gas companies, but if the shoe fits, they've got to wear it. they've been very resistant to some of the regulations that the epa has been trying to impose largely because it's going to cost them more money to do some of the things that's being required of them. when i wrote the piece, i really wasn't trying to be as partisan as it's coming across. if you listen to the gop debates, if you listen to the

candidates, they're all doing it. they're all beating this drum about how bad the epa is for getting the reason why it was created was kind of really important. >> explain why you make the point that you don't think environmental proep techs sho a be up to the states. >> if you look across the country right now, what you find are a bunch of catch strapped states. there are stories about police stations having to rotate ours because they don't have enough dollars to keep them open 24 hours. this idea that we're going ask these states that can barely keep them running now to take on the responsibilities of making sure they're doing what they should do to keep our air clean and water safe is ludicrous. if you look at mississippi, the poorest state in the country, the least educated state in the country, if you get rid of the epa and ask mississippi to monitor business in its area, you're going to find a lot of

poor people that are going to be hurt by the holes that are going to be created by the epa not being there. >> final thought then. do you honestly think if gingrich or perry or paul were elected, that they would actually be able to abolish the epa? >> you know, that's a good question. i don't know how serious they are about this threat. a lot of it is just pandering to their conservative right in saying the things that they think their base wants to hear. i wrote the piece largely because i want that base to think for a moment. you need to think about your own best interests. is it really in your best interest to let companies like oil companies, like bp, is it really in our best interests to let them do the policing or is this one area in which you really want the federal government to have a voice and be strong? maybe if that base starts saying things like, you know what, we like the epa, maybe the candidates will stop make that go threat of getting rid of it. >> you can read l.z.'s column,

baked fresh this morning, at cnn.com/pn. it's called epa job killer or people-opinion, as well. let's check news across country. the government has placed a ban on the burmese python and three other contricketter snakes that threaten the government. the u.s. fish and wildlife service finalized a rule which prevents people from transferring or importing people into the united states. in alaska, the transfer of oil to nome, alaska, has started. the voyage through 300 miles through sea ice is the first ever attempt to supply fuel to an arctic alaska settlement. and some tech savvy girl scouts in texas will soon be using a smartphone app to sell their famous cookie peps the girl scout cookie locator app is

expected to be released in a week. it will be available for iphone and android users. she's a beauty queen, but she still has to wait for the quarterback to call her back. miss america wants to meet aaron rodgers. that story, next.

happening a little later in the "cnn newsroom," around is 11:00 eastern, president obama meets with his jobs council to discuss accelerating job growth.

at 1:00, we head to l.a. lindsay lohan is scheduled to appear in court for an update on her probation. police and the fbi, rather, will update us at 2:00 on the man accused of killing four homeless men. let's check in with cnn political director mark preston. >> hey. last night, the five presidential candidates faced off in myrtle beach. >> two days, those candidates will be right back me here to make their closing arguments to the south carolina republican voters. i'll have more at the top of the hour. hey there. i'm zain verjee in london. in just a few minutes, i'll tell you about what the headlines are about what they're saying about the cruise ship disaster in italy. that's in just a few memberships. and i'm poppy harlow in new

york. we're going to take a look at eastern ohio where they are getting billions of dollars for oil and natural gas drilling. but they're also getting earthquakes. we'll give you more in the next hour. >> all right, guys, thanks so much. and 600,000 children sleep on the streets in afghanistan. more than 2 million are or fans. next hour, six of them join us. they're seeing america and sharing their amazing adventure. stay with us. ♪ ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪

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well within, aaron rodgers may not be going to the super bowl, but the packers qb did get another invitation. >> from the home of the reigning super bowl champs, if you're watching, aaron rodgers, call me. i'm laura keappler. miss wisconsin laura keappler gave aaron rodgers a shout out just before she won the miss america pride. we'll keep you updated. peter serafin flew six teams to a trip to lambeau field. he got 100 gallons of beer, 70-foot rv, two waitresses, 150 pounds of prime rib. imagine that trip back home. the denver broncos says tim

tebow will be their starting qb going into training camp this summer. however, he is going to work on the passing during the off season. we're told hall of famers broncos executives john elway is going to give him some tips. check out these mammoth waves off tahiti. chris brian used a super slomo camera to capture them and a couple of those daring surfers riding them, as well. and at the top of the hour, thanks so much for joining us, everyone. four days to go until south carolina votes in the republican presidential primary. five gop candidates still standing and the tone of the race, well, it's getting pretty intense. fresh off a fiery debate, newt gingrich holding a town hall meeting in florence this hour while rick santorum is speaking in mt. pleasant, south carolina. and then the third live event, mitt romney holding his in

florence, as well. while all the candidates are gunning for mitt romney, he's taken a lot of flack on everything from the super pac ads to how much he pays the tax man. >> it would be nice if governor romney would exercise leadership on his former staff and his major donors to take falsehoods off the air. >> speaker gingrich, i already said at our last debate, anything that's false in pac ads, whether they're supportive of me or supportive of you should be taken off the air and fixed. i've said that. but if we're talking about super pac ads that are inaccurate, you have a super pac ad that attacks me. it's probably the biggest hoax since big foot. >> governor romney's super pac hat put an ad out there suggesting that i allowed felons to vote from prison because they said i'm allowing felon toes vote. i would ask governor romney, do you believe people who are felons who serve their time who

have extended -- exhausted their parole and probation, should they be given the right to vote? >> governor romney. >> first of all, as you know, the pacs that run ads on various candidates as we unfortunately know -- >> answer the question first. >> i don't think people who committed violent crimes should be allowed to vote again. my income tax have been out every year. i think you're going to let your income tax come out thursday. and, mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money. >> governor, will you release your income tax records? >> i hadn't planned on releasing tax records because the law requires us to release all of our asset -- i'm not opposed to doing that. time will tell. but i anticipate that most likely i'm going to get asked to do that around the april time

period and i'll keep that open. >> my point is, if another country does to us what we do to others, we're not going to like it very much. so i would say that maybe we ought to consider a golden rule in foreign policy. don't do to other nations what we don't want to have them do to us. so we endlessly bomb these countries and then we wonder why they get upset with us? and yet it continues on and on. i mean, this idea that we can't debate foreign policy then all we have to do is start another war? i mean, it's warmongering. they're building up for another war against iran and people can't wait to get another war. this country doesn't need another war. we need to save the money and bring our troops home. >> mark is live with us live in charleston. mark, let's talk about the

biggest winner and the biggest lose he. start with the winner. >> well, you know, i think we saw mitt romney get rattled up there on stage in a certain number of occasions, but the fact of the matter is, he really did come out unscathed. there wasn't a game changing moment that knocked him off his lead right now. he's the front-runner here in south carolina. he's won iowa, he's won new hampshire. a lot of people think if mitt romney is able to win the south carolina primary, then the race for the republican nomination is over. but we shouldn't overlook newt geologic rich who is on his game last night, very forceful in his attacks on mitt romney. the question is, was it a little too late? and quite frankly, are some of those attacks not going to be embraced by the republican establishment? so mitt romney you have to say is the winner because he didn't come out battered and bruised, which is what newt gingrich and sanatorium needed to do last night. >> all right. biggest loser? >> well, ron paul.

you could hear the boos in the crowd. ron paul is a pewist when it comes to libertarian ideology. that following is not within the republican establishment and was not necessarily in that crowd last night. we did hear from cheers from ron paul supporters. but it's his views certainly on foreign policy that are going to make sure ron paul doesn't become the presidential nominee. he'll have strong support and will always be a player in the republican party, but it's those foreign policy views that prevent him from winning the nomination. >> ron paul, thank you very much. mitt romney taking questions from the media. >> ran ads in new hampshire. but speaker gingrich had been way ahead nationally and so forth, came down, not because of super pacs, but because of his own record. so i know there's great interest to try and focus on ads, but this is a campaign about 25 million people out of work. this is a campaign about 9.9% in

california. and people running for office are desperate to talk about ads and super pac ads and my goodness, how long have we had ads in this country and people have been critical of ads of one another. for instance, i hear that rick santorum is very animated that the super pac ad says that he's in favor of felons voting. well, he is. that's his position. he says, well, it makes it sound like they're people in prison. well, actually, people released from prison are still called felons if they've committed felonies. we can talk about ads or what it takes to get mern americans working again. and the reason that i believe finding some support in this state and others is because people believe that having spent a life in the private sector, that i have credibility talking about the economy, that i showed

a capacity to lead in business, a capacity to lead at the olympics and a capacity to lead in the state of massachusetts. >> mitt romney taking questions from reporters there in florence, south carolina. we'll continue to monitor all the live events as candidates hold them there in south carolina. cnn's jim acosta is joining us live there with mitt romney. he will join us in just a couple of minutes. this thursday, 8:00 p.m., a presidential debate. we'll have the next political update in just about an hour. you can always go to our website, cnnpolitics.com. let's head to the cruise shipwreck off the italian coast. rescue crews have found five more bodies, all on them wearing life jackets. this brings the total number of dead to 11.

take a look at this new infrared video that shows passengers lining up trying to get to safety. as the camera pans down, you can see a gigantic rip in the ship's side. and here is the view from under side as crews are smashing windows and swimming through the hallways. they've recovered one black box and the coast guard now says it knows where a second data recorder is. does this look like a technical failure to you? the captain described the disaster according to the port authority. here is part of the conversation. >>. [ speaking foreign language ].

[ speaking foreign language. ] [ speaking foreign language ]. >> well, a judge actually questioned the captain at a closed hearing today and decided he'll stay in jail as the investigation unfolds. he could be charged with man slaughter. dan rivers live on the scene in italy for us. dan, we're talking about at least 11 people now dead, five more bodies found just today. what can you tell us about these victims? >> these were all sadly victims, slightly older victims between 60 and 70 years old, four men and one woman. i can show you where they were found on the ship behind me, towards the stern, towards the back. you can see the yellow -- there,

someone down in that section towards the back of the boat. that's where they were found and that's where divers and fire crews are continuing their efforts. you can probably just about make out tugs in the background just beyond the ship there. there's a whole circle of different ships around the wreckage, the costa concordia. still, they're maintaining a presence pretty much 24 hours a day and still by our calculations, some 23 people missing. there's quite a lot of confusion about the exact details of that. we know, for example, there's a large party of germans that are missing. now, the german foreign ministry is saying they have 12 people unaccounted for. the italian government thinks there are more like 14 germans who are missing. so a bit of confusion. but still, it is not over yet. there is a lot of work to do on board this ship, which as you can see, it is vast and it's going to take them a long time to move all the way through it.

>> dan rivers will continue to follow the investigation and the search with you. we're going to go back to politics and back to south carolina right after the break. i'm going to ask a college senior who is getting ready to face the job market which candidate she likes the most and what her biggest concerns are going into the election. a mother and her two children just inches away from plunging to their death. well, wait until you see the rescue effort that saved their lives. have i got a surprise for you! a mouthwatering combination of ingredients... i know you're gonna love. [ barks ] yes, it's beneful healthy fiesta. made with wholesome grains, real chicken, even accents of tomato and avocado. yeah! come on! [ barking ] gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] beneful healthy fiesta. another healthful, flavorful beneful.

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country" of deadline dates, wisconsin's democratic party is trying to recall wisconsin governor scott walker. he cake under fire last year for stripping collective bargaining employees of their rights. this is valdez, alaska. shoveling snow. the history has a history-making accumulation of 322 inches of snow so far this winter. and the heroic action of some california rescuers saved a mother and her two children from this horrific crash. their car was actually dangling over a freeway bridge after a semi rear-ended it. the big rig driver didn't survive. his truck actually plunged into a ravine and burst into flames. all right. back to politics now. what are young voters thinking about the gop primary race in south carolina? and which candidates are connecting with them? sally atwater is cochair of the

south carolina college republican federation. she's a senior at berman university and republican politics are in her blood. her father is the late lee atwater. sally, did you get into politics because of your dad? >> you know, i wouldn't say i got into it because of him, but, you know, it was a big help to kind of get involved and whatnot. when i tame here, i knew about college politics. i knew that it was a great organization and i've been with it since freshman year. and i wanted furman university chairman last year and now i'm the statewide cochair. so it's been an interesting time and i've really enjoyed it. >> and you were at the debate last night. who stood out to you? and definitely mitt -- you know, gingrich is great. i think he did a really good job. every debate he's been in i've

actually been to. it was my third south carolina debate and i think he did fabulous. i also thought perry did a great job. i was a little surprised with romney. i didn't think that -- last night, but overall, it was a really interesting time. >> now, urs you're supporting gingrich. tell me why. i know that he was pretty close with your father. did that make an impact on why you're supporting him and, you know, what exactly stand out to you? >> no. actually, it was interesting. he came to our campus, really, back in november. and a lot of people think that i had something to do with him coming here, but when he first came, he had no idea. and so i was able to meet him. and i really like that he came here and got out and talked to all of the college students and i think that was a very amazing time. and then, you know, they kind of contacted me later on. and i had to think about it and, you know what? i really like his job creation plan and i think he's the best candidate.

>> so obama got a lot of support in energy from young voters in 2008. who do you think is generating that buzz now among younger folks? >> well, i definitely would say ron paul has that kind of grassroots edge to him. you know, as i'm driving around, i can see potential voters holding up ron paul signs, which i think is very amazing and it's neat to see young people get interested. in fact, i was 18 back in 2008 and a lot of my friends actually, you know, were working to elect obama. and now a lot of them are switching over to the republican side just because they've been really unhappy with him. punish, you know, obama used a lot of youth tactics, creating music videos and whatnot and i think ron paul has that edge to him. >> sally atwater, thanks for joining us via skype this morning with your input. appreciate it. no rest for mitt romney

after the debate. he's back on the campaign trail in florence, south carolina this morning. jim acosta is there, as well. romney's rivals were pretty brutal to him last night. how is he faring today? >> well, incident was very interesting to watch. we just got out of an event that mitt romney held here in south carolina. and it was a very small crowd. perhaps a lot of republicans in the state were up late watching the debate last night. maybe it's possibly that's the reason why he had such a small turnout. but he came out after the event and gave a quick media avail, which is one of those unfortunate press jargon terms for a press conference pt and the reporters pressed him about the super pac ads. he said last night he would like to do away with these super pacs and allow campaigns to raise unlimited amounts of money. and the super pac ads have come under a lot of scrutiny. mitt romney accused mitt romney

of dirty politics. i asked him about super pacs, said isn't it convenient to be against these super pac ads after they've done so much against your rivals? >> this is a campaign that put 25 million people out of work. this is a campaign about 9.9% unemployment in south carolina and people running for office are desperate to try and talk about ads and super pac ads? my goodness, how long have we had ads in this company and people being critical of ads of one another? and i will say again, i hope that any pac associated with me removes any material that's not >> so there, you heard the governor there say that he would like these super pacs, if there's any ad material that he says is not accurate, that they should get rid of those kiss krepsys in those ads. and just before he walked away, kiran, got on this bus and drove off, he was pressed on a figure he gave out last night.

you'll recall during the debate he said during his time at bain capital, 120,000 jobs were created in those companies that were launched by bain capital. that is a new figure, kiran. in the past, he has said 100,000 jobs. he gotbg1a a little bit impatie with those questioning him and said, hey, guys, let's go the math, it adds up to 120,000 jobs. so the former massachusetts governor is getting some hard questions, i would say, now that we're heading into the final stretch, kiran. >> tim acrocosostaacosta, thank. cnn is the place to be for south carolina's primary election. our special coverage begins saturday night at 7:00 eastern. watch as the contenders and you wait for the final results. part of ohio could be america's next boom town. >> these are the manufacturing jobs that states are drooling over right now. i think the average compensation for the hourly focus is somewhere between $40 and $50 fully loaded. >> that drilling project may

bring jobs, but also environmental concerns. that story, after the break.

well, with it sounds like a winning situation. natural gas drilling providing liefk land deals for residents. there are concerns about fracking that could harm the environment. poppy harlow reports from ohio. >> here at the timkin company, the steel business is on fire. and the same thing is energizing this factory to empower cities across america. natural gas released by fracking.

>> to pump it out of the ground, you need steel piping. that's where you come in. >> you need a lot of steel piping. obviously, that'sed us very well. sxwlurnd neeth all of this rural farmland lies one of the hottest resources right now. it's utica shale. here in ohio, it is what everyone is talking about. >> the ripple effect of utica development really is pretty incredible. >> december of 2008 going into 2009, i love my job. so i was totally devastated. >> these are the kind of manufacturing jobs that states are drooling over right now. i think the average compensation for the hourly folks is somewhere between $40 and $50 fully loaded. >> the question is, is this going to be america's next boom town? it's a hot topic in youngstown, ohio, where a well for fraking wastewater is believed by scientists to have triggered 11 earthquakes since mid march. >> i've never had an earthquake in my whole life, never even

heard of one around here. >> reporter: many are worried about the possibility of pollution from chemically treated water used to break up roth and gas. the industry says it can be done safely. youngstown's mayor has been hearing about it all around town. >> decree, we need jobs, we need good paying jobs, but not at the expense of our environment, of our safety. >> a lot of people are not working. again, we need the income tax. >>. >> reporter: the industry is getting jobs. one estimates 200,000 by 2015. >> landowners are getting some very sweet deals. $5,000 an apg actor. >> are people becoming millionaires by selling their mineral rights? >> they're getting close. >> reporter: all over this region, you have people who have sold the mineral rights to their land for fracking and they end

up with wells like this one in their backyard pumping out natural gas 24/7. >> everyone else around us, we night as well join the bandwagon. >> pat sold his mineral rights year ago and it's pitting neighbor against neighbor. >> i think i'm probably the environmental hold out around here. >> reporter: but pat's neighbor, karen, is likely to see much more fracking here. just this month, french and chinese companies invested billions of dollars to tap these rich resources. from start to finish, fracking is an explosive topic in what just may be america's next boom town. >> pop pea harlow joining us now live from new york, how much money is flowing into this region in terms of companies that want to tap the oil and natural gas? >> we're talking billions and billions of dollars. and it's accelerating by the

week, keiran. major oil and gas companies invested over $2 billion in the region just earlier this month. same story tore total, a french company. it's interesting, france just banned hydraulic fracking. so this french company came and invested billions in this region instead. you have to look at all these peripheral industries, whether it's restaurants, hotels, trucking, auto dealers are having their best year ever with trucks flying out of the lot. so you've got billions in investment coming, jobs that haven't been there since the late 70s when the steel mills left. at the same time, you have the earthquakes and the environmental concerns, kyra. >> poppy harlow, thanks. jon huntsman might be out of the race, but he's earned a place on david letterman's top ten. michelle obama already

playing a lead supporting role to the president. now she's making a cameo in a tv show. >> all right. you guys are looking great out there. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool.

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looking at the top stories now, just a short time ago, we learned that rescuers have pulled five more bodies from that wrecked cruise ship off italy. they were all wearing life jackets. 11 people have now lost their lives. an italian judge has ruled that the ship's captain must remain in jail while he's being investigated. wikipedia and several other large websites plan a blackout tomorrow to protest an

anti-piracy bill. time warner is among the industry supporting the legislation. congress is returning to work today on capitol hill with an all-time low job approval rating. it's now at 11% according to a new cnn orc international poll. political buzz, your rapid fire look at the best political topic of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. robert zimmerman, patricia murphy and sherry jakobis join me now. romney was the prime target at last night's debate. we've been talking a lot about in this morning, taking a lot of flack for super pac ads. but he fired back at newt gingrich. take a listen. if we're talking about super pac ads that are inaccurate, mr. speaker, you have a super pac ad -- >> and i've said -- >> that attacks me. now, just hold on. that attacks me. it's probably the biggest hoax

since big foot. >> gingrich is romney's closest competitor in south carolina right now. is this kind of talk going to keep gingrich as the runner up, you think? sorry, robert, go ahead. >> okay. good morning. very frankly, that alone is not going to keep gingrich in the mix. what is keeping gingrich in the mix, however, is his tactics which you saw auto display last night of engaging in class warfare, his refers to elites against people that work, whatever that means, his attacks on capitalism, and also explo exploiting bigotry towards going after the gay and lesbian community. unfortunately that keeps him in the mix in today's republican party. >> sherry. >> i say the opposite is true. newt does better when he's positive. that's why he rose to the position where at one point people thaud he could be the

nominee. romney is showing he's not the front-runner because other people are imploding on their own. ultimately, it makes him a stronger candidate. >> patricia. >> i think newt gingrich, it doesn't matter what he does at this point. he is going to do extremely well in south carolina. south carolina republicans know him. he's from the state next door. they like him very much. they believe he's a fighter, that he'll fight against president obama. but these debates come at a very good time for him in south carolina. south carolinans like to see newt, both positive and negative sides of him. they love him. when he gets to florida, i think he's going to have a much harder time. i think he's going to have to have a clear he message and raise more money for people. >> let's stay on newt, shall we? we had a rumble with the moderator. >> speaker gingrich, you recently said black americans should demand jobs, not food stamps. you also said poor kids lack a

strong work ethic and proposed having them work as janitors in their schools. can't you see that this is viewed, at a minimum, as insulting to all americans but particularly to black americans? >> no, i don't see that. >> that was just plain insulting. cheri. >> my brother has a master's degree and he actually worked as a janitor at his school in the summer and i worked summers on an assembly line at mac truck. in terms of what young people can and should do, my threshold might be a little different than others. i don't think there's anything wrong with kids working. i think it can actually help them. so the way it's being received, obviously, somebody thinks it's being communicated improperly, but the notion behind it is not that bad at all. >> robert. >> first of all, he doesn't have a plan. he has a sound bite. and it's based upon exploiting

the tensions that exist amongst the races. you saw how well it played in that audience. he wasn't talking about young people with a lack of a strok work ethic. he targeted poor people and accused them of having a very poor work ethic. i know rich kids who need that, too. the majority of people receiving food stamps are white americans. he's wrong. the bottom line is, he's not advocating a plan and he can't possibly work everybody ofly to end poverty if he's going to divide america. >> patricia. >> i don't think it's the plan so much that people have a problem with. i think it is what he's done that kids in poor neighborhoods don't have a work ethic, that this is a great way for them to learn how to work. these kids are surrounded by parents who work two and three jobs to make ends meet. that's a part of what is so difficult about newt gingrich. some of his ideas are great, some of his ideas are bad. the way he delivers the good ideas can be bad and the bad

ideas good. that's why he's not taking off the across the country with most republicans. he's so many people at the same time. >> 20 seconds each of this one. letterman's top ten last night on huntsman dropping out. take a listen to the top three. >> hey, honey, some guy i've never heard of is dropping out of the race. number two, you should have tebowed more. number one, now who is going to lose to obama in the general election? there you go. all right, guys, what would have been your number one on huntsman dropping out? robert. >> it clearly was inevitable whether gary busey endorsed newt gingrich. or let's face it, jon huntsman took a bold position when he said he wasn't going to kiss donald trump's ring or, as he put it, any price you pay for that position. that would have been funnier if i had a drum roll behind me. >> he's a good candidate. he's a good american.

i'm glad he was in the mix. it just wasn't his time and he simply didn't stand out. but i think he's terrific and i don't think there are any negatives on this guy. >> patricia. >> i think the response to jon huntsman dropping out was a collective jan across the republican party. he's just so boring, he's so dull. he has positions, interestingly that republicans like a lot. he has a family that people love. but he himself never took off. he has to spend more time with regular people and learn how to connect. >> cheri and patricia, you guys didn't give me a number one. robert played the yawn. >> i want to pat him on the back. i think everybody that going out there deserves a pat on the back. i wouldn't want to be hard on anybody who goes through the process. >> and i give him a yawn.

>> robert. >> ba-dam-dum. thank you. the presidential debate thursday night live at 8:00 p.m. eastern. tune in. should be maybe 90 today, but nothing is slowing betty white down, not each men, the younger ones. . [ male announcer ] feeling like a shadow of your former self? c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down.

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michelle obama making her acts debut and several students got a prescreening of the nickelodeon show featuring the first lady. the show airs tonight. michelle turner has all the scoop from l.a. what do you know about the show? >> icarlie is one of nickelodeon's big hits. plus, the show's main character is in the air force. she signed up to make a guest appearance. the show's stars says the first lady was a great guest star and she has really good comic timing. plus, during the show, she had some pretty good dance moves, which is very important for icarlie guest stars since every single episode features random dancing. and i've seen that and she actually was very, very cute. >> all right. so stay tuned. we'll be following that. meanwhile, happy birthday, betty white. she turns 90. and actually, the president had

a little skit that he did within that special hour. that was pretty funny. but nbz gave her a special tribute. it was amazing all the people that were a part of that tribute. >> oh, it was simply a great turnover. there were tv legends there, mary tyler more, ed asner, carol burnett. there were a collection of current stars. kyra, you know, even at 09, though, i have to tell you, miss betty white is still apparently a sex symbol. the star of chuck, he apparently couldn't resist her. >> i would like to be the mother of your children and -- please don't touch -- not until we've talked, anyway. just give me a second to explain. >> oh, thank you so much and forget those other women.

>> oh, my god. >> she is fantastic, fantastic. but the most buzzed about appearance of the show did come from the president who demanded -- and i love this -- that betty white prove she's actually 90 years old by producing a long form birth certificate. take that donald trump, right? >> exactly. whoever produced the tribute, it was brilliant. not a dull moment. michelle, thanks so much. and if you want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, watch "showbiz tonight" 11:00 eastern on hln. 600,000 children sleep on the streets in afghanistan. more than 2 million of them are orfans. six of them join us next, sharing their add maizing adventure across the united states. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families.

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for many american families, packing the kids in an rv and touring the country can be the adventure of a lifetime. we have a different story adventure today. afghan orphans have endured remarkable loss. these remarkable kids are now on an unforgettable journey to see america. 50 states, 2 1/2 months, all packed in an rv. guess what? they stopped by to see us. ian towns is the american teacher in charge of this

journey. maria bahim is a student who is traveling to the u.s. with the whole group, 17 years old. welcome. >> thank you for having us. >> it's so great to have you. ian, why this journey? why dish mean, you packed everything up. you moved to afghanistan, you gave up your life in the united states to help these kids. why is this journey so important to you? >> well, with it was important to me to climb up into the mountains and see the village where many of the people come from. it's equally important for them to come and discover america where their teacher comes from, to immerse themselves, to develop a world that is poised, communication skills, with everything and teach values in education. so here we are and we are only a quarter of the way through of the journey. >> many more states to go. and maria, what has stood out to you, being here in the united

states? >> it's amazing. i like very much here. i learned more things and many experience. >> is there a place, a food? tell me. >> yeah. i like lobster. >> the lobster, very good. >> and also pizza. it's my favorite food. >> of course. >> and i like in philadelphia when i went there, i like very much the tall buildings. >> and you also visited the liberty bell, right? >> yes. >> azrim, what has that been like for you as a teacher andç working with these kids? what stands out to you? is this the type of life that you want in afghanistan as u.s.

troops are there changing things day by day? >> yeah, of course, we want to -- we want change in afghanistan to be a -- country like developed countries in the world. and it's like a very good experience to see the different things and to immerse in a new culture and i think it's -- >> ian, when you talk, obviously, with everyone, with nazrine and the other kids, b what stands out to you? what do they tell you that's making an impact on them? they're seeing democracy right here exactly what the whole war was about to make life different for them in their country. >> well, i think most notable is the freedom of girls and women to be in a position such as yours, to be equal to men.

these very outstanding to them. also funny things like why do they put lights all over their houses? and i get the strangest questions, you know, about the most -- some of the little things we forget and we take for granted about our life here in america. they see these things and they go, oh, wow, okay. so they remind me of what we take for granted every day in our lives here in america. >> and nazrine, he mentioned the christmas lights that you noticed on homes. what else stood out to you? >> oh, there are many different things, like to me and the kids, they loved the john f. kennedy center. we went there for a show and -- >> yes, that's our show. that's fantastic. we love your music and your dancing and your culture in afghanistan. we love watching that and participating in that. thank you so much for shopping

by and visiting with us. we would like to follow your journey, if that sounds good, okay? and we'll keep in touch and we would love to see the pictures. so ian, we would love for you to do that. >> every week i write a blog. they can follow us weekly if they wish. >> and he know people can get more involved in the orphanage. go to the afghan care and education organization. go to www.afcoe.com. these kids' story were brought to us at the very beginning and she's going to have more on their story in the coming weeks. thank you all so much. >> thanks for having us. >> it was my honor. food network star paula dean has a health revelation. she's lived with type two diabetes for three years and you're going to hear what she's

going to do about it and why she waited so long to tell all of you.

let's take a look at other events happening in the cnn news room happening for you. in just a few minutes, president obama is going to meet with his with jobs council to sdug discuss ways to strengthen the economy and accelerate job growth. then at 1:00, we're going to head to l.a. and lindsay lohan is scheduled to appear in court for another update on her probation.

at 2:00, we expect a news korchx in orange county, california, to be updated in the man accused of killing four homeless men. paula dean is living with type two diabetes. she found out during a routine check upthree years ago. dean has built an empire on res pooipies loaded with butter and sugar. she says she decided not to talk about her diagnosis until now until she figured things out. here is what she said on nbc's "today" show. >> people are not going to quit eating. we quit eating, we're all out of here. no. i wanted to bring something to the table when i came forward. and i've always been one to think that i bring hope because i've had lots of obstacles in my life. >> well, deen did confirm that

she's now a paid spokesperson for novartis. a total of 26 million people are diabetic. 7 million people have it but have not been diagnosed. it's only a technical failure. those words from the captain of the capsized italian cruise liner speaking to the port authority moments after aband abandoning the ship. moments later, we will talk to the captain of a cargo ship about these disturbing recordings. she'll ask him if it's every man for himself of if the captain should be the very last person to leave. i'm always looking out for small ways to be more healthy. like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to.

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all right. our new cnn poll ranks the republicans in a head to head matchups with president obama. paul steinhauser joining us from charleston, south carolina, with the numbers. what do you have for us, paul? >> let's get right to them. hypothetical matchups, president obama versus the leading republicans. president obama versus former massachusetts governor mitt

romney. basically dead even. ron paul, congressman from texas? pretty much the same story. but according to our poll, the president has a six-point advantage right now over former senator rick santorum of pennsylvania and a nine-point advantage over newt gingrich. one more point from this poll, this is interesting, remember back in 2010 republicans had a big advantage on the enthusiasm gap? times have changed. we asked democrats and republicans if you're enthusiastic about voting come november. just a five-point advantage for the republicans. it was almost 20 points back in november. kyra, we've got the bus here. we have ready for thursday night. >> yes, you are. got the bus. thanks, paul. we'll have your next political update in just about an hour. cnnpolitics.com. that does it for us. susan malveaux takes over from