clark county gop gave us water, their own bottles, see the labels there. >> got to keep you hydrated, you have a lot to talk about. paul, thanks. cnn tomorrow, live court and jury -- coverage begins at 6:00 p.m., live results at 7:00 p.m. lots of water and coffee. >> they could have spent their money better, don't you think? labels on the water. could we get real ballots? >> where are the priorities. always something. >> i think we could improve on the system. i do. live from studio 7, suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed for monday, february 6. a father does the unthinkable, setting his own home on fire, killing his two young sons and himself. police in washington state say josh powell started the fire yesterday, moments after a social worker dropped the children off for a supervised visit. powell had lost custody of the boys, and he was a suspect in his wife's disappearance.

he sent an e-mail saying only "i'm sorry, good-bye." a neighbor describes what he saw. >> i just knew that if there was anyone in there, they didn't survive. you could tell that instantly from what we saw. i can't imagine anyone killing their children. i just -- that's beyond anything i can imagine someone doing. the state department shut down the embassy in syria hours ago. they are urging americans now to get out. syrian activists describe a weekend bloodbath that left hundreds dead in the city of homs. another 46 syrians are said to have been killed. activists accuse the syrian government of intensifying the brutal crackdown. russia and china gave president bashar al-assad a life line, vetoing a resolution that would have condemned him. >> they are asking for help.

we're asking for your help. the rockets for four hours now, they're going to kill us all. if you don't help us, they will kill millions. flooding forced thousands of people out of their homes in australia. rising waters threaten communities. this part of the country still recovering from last year's devastating floods. and colorado, minnesota, next two stops on the road to the republican presidential nomination. both states holding caucuses tomorrow. rick santorum is discussing healthcare, that's in rochester, minnesota. that's happening this hour. ron paul also campaigning in minnesota today. mitt romney and newt gingrich are rallying supporters in colorado. romney coming off a win in the nevada caucuses. a new poll giving president obama a clear edge over mitt romney in a hypothetical head to head matchup. he leads romney 51 to 45% among registered voters.

in a presuper bowl interview, the president says the economy made progress since he took office and says he deserves a second term. a white house scandal. a grandmother in new york releasing a tell all book claiming she had an affair with president john f. kennedy when she was a 19-year-old white house intern. >> i think overpowered in the sense that he was the president. he was this unbelievably handsome man, 45 years old, not overpowered physically that someone had grabbed me and made me do something that i wasn't really willing to do, because i really think i was willing to do it. >> what started with a missing person's case more than two years ago, ends up with a man blowing up his own house, killing himself and his two young sons. a spokesperson in washington tells cnn that josh powell was despondent after a judge refused to let him regain custody of his

kids. he had lost custody after police found child pornography in a home that he shared with his father last year. gets even more complicated. police say powell was the only suspect in his wife's disappearance. police chief in utah city where she went missing said investigators just needed a little bit more evidence to tie him to that crime. thelma gutierrez is following it. it is kind of confusing, very tragic. what more are we learning about the details from investigators? >> reporter: well, i can tell you, suzanne, that investigators from that town in utah are now here in washington. they will be meeting with detectives here to try to figure out what happened. any other leads that they can find to susan powell after all this still is an active case. suzanne, take a look right behind me. you can see what's left of josh powell's home. this home is completely reduced

to ashes. you can see the vehicle, the charred vehicle there in the driveway. now, this home, neighbors say they heard explosions, several explosions. they came out, they saw a wall of flames engulfing the home. it took firefighters several hours to get in because they were concerned about the structural safety of the home. but once they got in, they found the two bodies of two small children and one adult in the middle of the room where they had all died together. >> thelma, we understand that these young boys, they were in the house, they perished. there are reports that these young boys, these kids were starting to remember and talk about their mother's disappearance. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, suzanne, that is most chilling. anne bremner, spokesperson and attorney for the coxes, at one

point, they said go find mommy in the mine. mommy is in the mine. of course, this comes at a time when they were very small. this goes back to 2009 when their father took them on that camping trip. the father said it was the last time he had seen his wife, susan powell, and he had taken the kids out to the high desert in utah. it is an area where there are mines and so investigators are looking very closely at that, suzanne. >> they believe the kids actually remember where the mother was last left? do they have any recollection of how she was killed? >> reporter: well, that's all yet to be determined. that's exactly what the investigators are coming out here to do, to piece it all together. they're saying, though, that it is very frustrating because perhaps now no one will ever know. but they say the children were starting to talk. they were getting older now. charlie was seven years old, his

brother five years old, and they were starting to explain what had happened. so it's now a question whether or not any of it will be known. >> all right, thelma, thank you so much. very disturbing story. it is your turn to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. does president obama deserve a second term in office? in an interview that aired on nbc before the super bowl, president obama told americans this. >> i deserve a second term, but we're not done. look, when you and i sat down, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. now we are creating 250,000. we created 3.7 million jobs in the last 23 months. we created the most jobs since 2005. the most manufacturing jobs since 1990. but we're not finished. >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney says the president's economic policies have failed, that the economy is not creating enough jobs.

>> not so fast, mr. president. this is the 36th straight month with unemployment above the red line. your own administration drew. if you take into account all the people that are struggling for work or just stopped looking, the real unemployment rate is over 15%. >> so what has the president done? the obama administration? the president says he is responsible for creating jobs over 22 months. in 2010, signed the signature healthcare bill reforming the system. if he gets a second term, he will fight to keep it. he also ended don't ask, don't tell, allowing gays to serve openly in the military. last spring, he ordered special forces to take out bin laden. in december, he got combat troops out of iraq. what's left to do? tackle the federal deficit, save the pentagon budget, deal with immigration reform, and still the nagging problem of more than 8% of americans out of work. the talk back question.

does president obama deserve a second term in office? leave your comments at facebook.com/cnn. we will air more thoughts later this hour. here are other stories. first, the race for the republican nomination heading to three more states. then this. >> believe it or not, this woman's never seen an ipad before. even though she toys more than 60 hours a week making them. >> i like it. >> you like it? >> yes. >> a chinese worker who puts in 60 hours a week making apple computer parts had never seen an ipad. now she is risking arrest to tell cnn what it is like to work in that factory. and then the super bowl commercials, we'll play a few of our favorites. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time.

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up next, colorado, minnesota, presidential candidates focus on caucuses. missouri voters go to the polls for their primary. delegates awarded at caucuses next month. bring in our political editor, mark preston. good to see you again. you worked in nevada, not nevada for a long time. >> yeah. >> east coast. >> i'm still working on that. tell me about mitt romney. how is his momentum ing. clearly two wins, he is moving forward. what does he need to do? >> he needs to maintain momentum he established in the last two weeks and has to make sure the spotlight stays on him, focusing on president obama and not allowing the likes of rick santorum or newt gingrich to try to grab the spotlight. and what we have seen today in the next couple hours, mitt

romney is going right after rick santorum, suzanne. he is holding a conference call with tim pawlenty. he put out a fact sheet. what the romney camp doesn't want to happen is have rick santorum to continue to chip away, perhaps give an opening for newt gingrich to try to take the lead. >> a lot of people are looking at a hypothetical poll that showed this show down between romney and president obama. how does he come out? >> there's this "the washington post" post, abc poll out the last couple hours. take a quick look. pretty good news for the president giving the state of the economy now. leads mitt romney by 6 points. but what's disturbing i think for the obama campaign is the fact that if you look at his overall approval rating, it is still below 50%. i think he would rather be below 50% and be above the frontrunner at this point in the campaign, frontrunner for the republican nomination. >> where you headed next, mark? >> i don't know. i am going to be here a couple

days. we'll be with you a couple of days, then who knows. maine perhaps? maine has a big caucus saturday, releasing results. it is never ending. >> good to see you again. >> thanks, suzanne. live coverage of the cauc caucuses and primary begins at 6:00 p.m. and followed by complete coverage and results at 7:00. wolf, erin burnett, anderson cooper, candy crawley, and more. did you watch the super bowl and ads or were you in the kitchen getting something to eat? don't worry, we're going to bring you our favorites. didn't . ...so i brought my car to mike at meineke... ...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke.

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today's the deadline for states to sign off on a deal with banks that would reduce the

mortgage burden for thousands of homeowners. alison kosik live at the new york stock exchange. tell us what the deal is about. could we actually benefit from this? >> okay, suzanne, there could be benefit for homeowners. in 2010, banks essentially signed off in record time on foreclosures without checking all the paperwork. what happened out of that is that some people lost their homes who shouldn't have. now what's happening is there's a possible deal being talked about that could be worth up to $25 billion. state attorneys general have until the end of today to sign onto the deal with major banks, at least five of them. we have a list for you here, and mortgage servicers as well. but the big question, one of the big questions at least in this possible deal is will some of the biggest states like california and new york sign on because some attorneys general think they don't want to sign on. they are wondering, that could limit their own separate investigations. they think they can get a better

deal, more money, and possibly pursue criminal investigations. >> how much do we think homeowners could get? >> okay. essentially it depends how many states sign on to the deal, if the deal happens. generally, $25 billion would help about 1 million people. most of that money, though, would go to reduce principle. th -- principal. it could be up to $20,000. if people that lost their homes in the robo signing scandal, if they lost their homes, they won't get those homes back because people could be living in the homes, but they could get money out of the deal if it happens. >> allison, we're all talking about the super bowl. did you watch last night? >> i watched and i loved the commercials. almost more than the game. >> i am glad you said that. we want to play some commercials. the team was talking this morning about the commercials, some of our favorites. i want you to stick around,

watch this for a second. >> okay. ♪ ♪ get up off that thing, you can do better ♪ ♪ get up off of that thing. ♪ >> back and better than ever. better. >> who has the doritos. too bad you're down there and i'm up here. ♪ >> thank you, buddy. >> what? you got a dog? >> yeah, he is a rescue dog. name wedo. >> what kind of name is that?

>> here we go. >> no. >> yep. >> here we go. >> it is half time in america, too. people are out of work and they're hurting and they're all wondering what they're going to do to make a come back and we're all scared because this isn't the game. this country can't be knocked down with one punch, we get right back up again, and when we do, the world is going to hear the roar of our engines. yeah, it is half time, america, and our second half is about to begin. >> that was pretty dramatic, wouldn't you say, allison? >> that one was. that was the mini movie, the

serious one. the one i liked the most, not the baby doritos one, but the one where the great dane bribes the guy digging in the dirt. the great dane essentially, it looks like the great dane did away with the cat, burying the cat in the dirt it seems, a little demented, but i loved this. it is great. you think about cats and dogs, natural born enemies. i love that commercial. >> that was a little creepy for me. i am a sucker for the babies, and the dog losing weight, doing his thing on the treadmill. that was priceless. loved that. one of the producers puts her dog on the treadmill, just want you to know, not uncommon. >> so it works. >> it does. there are a lot of fat cats and dogs around. probably a good thing. >> of course. of course. you know, what's interesting, the commercials, the teleflora

one, i was monitoring twitter, with the sexy model putting on stockings, says if you give, you'll receive. i don't know about you, i was monitoring twitter. a lot of women didn't like this one. they were highly offended. i don't agree with them, i think it was fun. there's some reality to what she said. >> i was not offended, but one of the things i just don't remember really the products. a lot of times you're like that was really fun and entertaining, what were they selling? >> then you think what were they advertising for. >> right, selling something else there. >> exactly. >> all right. allison, good to see you. republicans promise to make president obama a one term president, but he says he deserves a second term. we talk with a political insider about his chances of getting one.

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here is a rundown of some of the stories we're working on. next, president obama says he deserves a second term. we have been asking you what you think. and then -- explosions rock a syrian city where the weekend death toll is now in the hundreds. the u.s. shuts down its embassy in damascus, we have a live report. later, a disturbing look at the human cost of people building ipads and iphones. president obama says the economy is getting stronger, but there's more work to do. in an nbc interview, he made the case why he should get more time. >> i deserve a second term, but we're not done. we created 3.7 million jobs in the last 23 months. created the most jobs since 2005. >> but it is not done. >> most manufacturing jobs since 1990, but we're not finished. >> you heard the president on

the economy. he says his administration created 3.7 million jobs in 23 months. on hk healthcare, he passed that legislation, and is winding down the mission in iraq and afghanistan. a new poll gives him the edge over mitt romney. senior political analyst, david gergen. good to see you. >> good to see zblu it will come down to whether voters believe they're better off under president obama, if after four years they feel like they're not. is it that simple? >> it is certainly going to be a major dominant question to campaign. campaigns for re-election are often referendum on the past four years. in this case, suzanne, as you know, the white house is trying to cast this forward. they're going to ask the question are you going to be better four years from now under barack obama or mitt romney, if

he is the republican nominee. and the democrats think they have a better chance of winning the second argument than the first argument. >> we heard three years ago in nbc interview, the president says if the economy didn't improve significantly, he wouldn't get a second term. listen to what he said. >> i am at the start of my administration. one nice thing about the situation i find myself in is that i will be held accountable. you know, i've got four years. >> you'll know quickly how people feel about what happens happened. >> that's correct. a year from now, people will see we're starting to make progress, still going to be pain out there. if i don't have it done in three years, there's going to be a one term proposition. >> all right. so fast forward three years. you notice he looks so much younger, don't you think? >> he sure did. but on the other hand, i am not sure i would want to see a picture of myself three years

ago. >> did he think those words would come back to haunt him? >> mitt romney quotes him every stop. every victory speeches's had. new hampshire, florida, he quoted that, those very words, said i am here, we are here to accept that proposition, mr. president. yes, they're going to be used on the tail against him. but what we're going top in terms of judging the past, is the glass half full or empty, which way is it filling. the president came clean with some justification that the number of jobs is growing at a better pace than anybody thought at this point, we have 3.5 million new jobs, but if you look overall from republican standpoint, yeah, but we still have 5 million plus, over 5 million jobs less than we had when this all started. so, you know, new estimates came out, paul krueger man argues it will be 2019 before at this

rate, before we get back to full unemployment. that's a long time to wait for one heck of a lot of young americans and people that are hurting. >> sure. let's talk quickly about the healthcare reform. that's his signature issue. but a lot of that could be in jeopardy of not even surviving if he gets a second term. how do you think that's going to play out? are people going to have, is there going to be a big impact on people's lives from healthcare signature legislations? >> suzanne, it won't be the number one issue in the campaign, but a constant refrain. the healthcare bill for better or worse right now remains pretty unpopular. number of people that like it is lower than number of people that do not like it. but it is going to be hard to unravel. i have to tell you, i think the bigger issue looking ahead is which of these candidates is going to layout a clear road ahead to deal with tough issues. neither candidate, neither romney nor obama at this point

if it is romney, laid out a sense of exactly how much sacrifice is going to be needed. what are the tough calls we're going to have to make to get this budget really under control. we had year after year of trillion dollar deficits. one of the big calls we have to macon iran, tough issues coming on extremely fast. we are having a campaign now not grappling with the most serious issues of our time. >> david, leave it there. thank you very much. good to see you. watching the upcoming races. the escalating death toll in syria forces one doctor to erupt in anger. look at this. you don't even need to know what he is saying, understand his outrage. he is faced with people that are dying from wounds that would not have been fatal with proper care. we'll bring a live report on the deteriorating situation in syria. i'm robert shapiro.

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powerful blasts echo through the syrian city homs. activists say at least 40 were killed across syria today alone, after what activists describe as a weekend bloodbath that left hundreds dead. now the u.s. shut down the embassy in syria. they pull out staff, tell americans to get out of the country immediately. what does that say about what's taking place on the ground now? >> reporter: the u.s. had been concerned about security in da mass cast for quite some time.

they put in a request to the syrian government to beef up the presence of security forces because of the bombings that happened in december and january attributed to al qaeda. you have to remember the u.s. embassy in damascus is in a fairly exposed position that's effectively on one of the main roads with no sort of buffer zone between anyone that would want to attack it and the embassy building itself. this is all part and parcel of the deteriorating situation when it comes to security in general. there has been arise in criminal activity and other security breakdowns, as well, but also the levels of violence we saw transpire over the weekend were unprecedented, as the u.n. was trying to negotiate but failing to put forward a united front when it comes to the issue in syria. >> what's next.

u.n. security council fails to pass this resolution to help syria, who do the syrians turn to for help? >> reporter: that's the tragedy of it all, suzanne. they basically only have themselves to turn to, and they have been feeling like they are their own only option for quite some time. there is a realization slongs the international community is divided, the regime is embolden. we are hearing pleas for help. but at the end of the day, with failure of a united front when it comes to syria, unfortunately all we're going to be seeing is this on-going cycle of bloodshed, of death, of sorrow and grief for the country that is increasingly by the day moving closer and closer to an all out civil war. >> arwa, any reaction from protesters when they say the american embassy is closing, to get out, the greatest ally is packing its bag and leaving?

>> reporter: it is interesting that you ask that because right after that news first came out, two young activists from damascus messaged me, asked me if this was true and what it would mean for them. syrian activists have been especially supported by the u.s. embassy, by ambassador ford. they felt he was quite firmly on their side, which meant to a certain degree the u.s. was as well. so there is a certain renewed sense of fear, if that's one way to put it, that without this critical support there, the activists will be left more to the mercy of the regime. that being said, suzanne, there's a widespread realization amongst activists that america does not have that much pull when it comes to syria. america has not and will not be able to save these demonstrators from bashar al-assad's forces. >> tragic situation there. thank you, appreciate that. a huge human cost to the

people building our ipads that they're paying. we dig into the controversy that's rocking apple computers. >> do they care about us? i don't know. at least i am not getting any of that care. uh oh. should we be letting him p-l-a-y with our t-a-b-l-e-t? [ mom ] i think it's fine. it's the new element from at&t so it's w-a-t-e-r proof. cool. what else does it d-o? it's fast. it's 4g lte. what's l-t-e spell? nothing. w-h-y? hey, can we stop spell talking now?

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you have been sounding off on the talk back question today. does president obama deserve a second term in office.

chuck says yes, compared to the choices in the republican party, absolutely. the republican congress has stopped president obama from doing his job. the three branches of government are supposed to be a balance of power, but as you can see, it isn't. they fail to act and blame everything on the president. it is a sad state of affairs. david says he has been campaigning for three years now, we have yet to see him be president. the economy has been on auto pilot, he couldn't be commander in chief of a rubber ducky, and god help us if we get four more years of this. the white house vacant would be better if not the same. michael writes gas is about to hit 4 and 5 dollars a gallon, no, he doesn't deserve a second term. rick says he tried very hard, but i don't think he does, and i'm not sure anyone in the race is gonna be our eli manning. and another, he sure does, unemployment numbers keep dropping, our enemies keep dropping, i will be dropping my vote in the ballot box.

keep the conversation going at facebook.com/cnn. more responses next hour. unemployment fell to 8.3%. there are a lot of post grads not working, rate around 13.3% for those 20 to 24 years old. alison kosik with top tips on what young workers need to know to get their foot in the door. allison, help them out. >> exactly. we are talking college grads, suzanne, looking for entry level jobs. the best advice that i am hearing is that you have to make sure you're prepared. in a survey of business executives, only 4% of all respondents feel college grads are very prepared for success in the business world, with 66% saying grads are somewhat prepared, and 30% not at all prepared. all right. so what are the execs looking for? top three skills the new hires need. they need to be good problem solvers, good at collaborating,

and critical thinking. social media may be all the rage. while the grads get social media, technological and social skills rank the bottom of skills new hires need. >> that's surprising. a lot of people talking about how much money they're going to make in terms of salary. for those that are 20 to 24 years old, unemployed, what can they expect in terms of a paycheck and the industries that do best in paying? >> talking money overall, you look at 2011, and 2011 grads with a bachelor's degree began their first job with salary of 41,701, up 2% compared to graduates that graduated in 2010. when it comes to top paying industries, the field of securities, including commodity exchanges is number one at 58,000, followed by electric

power companies, credit related activities like lending, computer systems design, business support services. that's all according to the national association of colleges and employers. suzanne? >> all right. once you land the job, how do you make a first good impression? allison is back with more tips after the break. the best part of any great meal? delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love.

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we are back with allison. young workers, they're eager, sometimes a little too eager. how do they navigate the workplace. although i find our young workers just right, just right, very helpful. >> exactly. you want to bottle the eagerness. the advice from folks that track this sort of thing say take it slow. andrew rosen, founder of the jobs blog says young workers want to get in there and share ideas, he says get a lay of the land first. learn who is the most influential at the place you work. establish important relationships and network. you really don't want to step on

toes without knowing whose toes you step on. also, be aware how you talk about yourself. one common complaint is that new hires believe they have done it all, seen it all. humility goes a long way as well. finally, suzanne, talk with your employer, clarify your expectations and your expectations, discuss job responsibilities, and ask for feedback, and good advice, keep a list of your accomplishments so you're ready to discuss your value to the company, especially when comes time for the annual review. suzanne? >> i think that was one of those overeager beaver types. >> that's how you got where you are. >> i think it worked for me. i hear the tips and they're good. thank you, allison. blowout win for mitt romney in nevada. what can his rivals do to catch up? paul steinhauser joining us from washington. good to see you. romney seems to look like the clear frontrunner here, but his

opponents, is anybody ready to throw in the towel any time soon? >> i am sure he would like them to throw in the towel. he has done what nobody else has done so far this cycle, he won two contests back to back, impressive wins in nevada and six days ago in florida, but it is still very much a four person race. romney still a long way away from capturing the delegates needed for the nomination. take a listen to newt gingrich saturday night. >> i am a candidate for president of the united states. i will will a candidate for president of the united states. we will go to tampa. >> i think that's clear. newt gingrich not dropping out, santorum, paul, all of them think they can do well in the upcoming contests in the next few weeks. >> three more contests tomorrow. kind of weird what's going on in missouri. can you explain what's happening there, the rules? >> you got it, minnesota, colorado, caucus states, delegates at steak.

missouri, it is a nonbinding primary. why? missouri broke the rules by moving their contest, primary up into february. because of that, to get around the republican party rules and not be penalized the primary non-binding. so it's more like a beauty contest and they'll pick their delegates later in march. so that's how they're trying to get around the rules. gingrich, newt gingrich not even on the ballot and rick santorum thinks he can do well there and in minnesota. suzanne, one other thing, i was in nevada covering the caucus sites and look at this, courtesy of the nevada clark county gop, bottled water. it's dry out in the desert and you need to stay hydrated. >> that's actually a good idea. that's pretty clever. i'm sure all of the candidates going forward think the beauty contest still win, they're all beautiful, right? >> good point. >> see you, paul. tune in tomorrow for live coverages of the caucuses and primary. it begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern. so your iphone may make life easier for you, but the workers

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talking about stories affiliates are covering across the country. police in riot gear face-off against occupy protesters in d.c. eight people were arrested, one for felony assault. park police could enforce a ban on camping at two parks in d.c. hazmat teams tore down tents in one of those parks over the weekend. they cleared away a lot of debris and found rodents as well. in western new york parents want to know what is causing high school girls to develop bizarre ticklike symptoms. at a town hall meeting one mom lashed out at a school. >> i am not listening to you. you guys need to do something. my child, my children, i run a business in this town. it is not safe. why is it? you need to prove to us that it is safe to put our children in this school. as a community, we need to come

together and we need to pull our children out. there are other places we can take them and give them the education they need. you are not doing your job. you are not doing your job. and not answering questions. we need to stand up as parents to fight for the rights of our children. you're not. >> wow! >> apple is a company with a squeaky clean, progressive image, but the people who actually put together our ipads, our iphones have a very different opinion of apple. our stan grant reports from china. >> reporter: believe it or not, this woman's never seen an ipad before, even though she toils more than 60 hours a week making them. she's like many migrant workers from rural china spending endless hours putting on screen, but never glimpsing the finished

product. here's another first. this is her only meal at a restaurant since she started at a company that produces electronics for the world's leading brands. >> it's very interesting. >> sure is a change from the factory where she works, sleeps and eats. she doesn't want to be identified. we'll call her miss chen. if she's caught speaking to us, she says, she'll lose her job. >> translator: when we were being trained for work they told us that if we accept interviews we will be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law. it's really a big deal. >> reporter: miss chen is one of more than a million workers at foxconn in china. she works installing ipad screens. the company makes ipads, ipods and iphones that has made apple a commercial and cultural icon, but there are no iworkers here. only we workers and miss chen says we work whenever foxconn

says so. >> translator: they use women as men and they use men as machines. that's another way of saying it. they use women as men and they use men as animals. >> reporter: this is the front gate of the foxcon, in factory. it's as far as we're going to be able to go, but every day, literally tense of thousands of workers go through these gates. according to the worker that we spoke to, people don't tend to stay very long here. if they have any complaints the attitude of management is if you don't like it, you can leave. only weeks ago workers threatened mass suicide at the foxcon, in factory, manufacturing microsoft products. it investigated and found the matter related to starving assignments and transfer policies not working conditions. the company noted that it works to ensure employees are treated fairly. foxconn says it resolved the dispute, but in 2010 the company made unwanted headlines when more than a dozen workers killed

themselves forcing foxconn to improve its factories. it boosted pay and provided counseling. foxconn now boasts of its on-site health care and worker living conditions which it claims is the best in china. apple is criticized for its links to overseas factories. it maintains it would not work with companies that do not respect their employees. apple addressed critics. it says, quote, we care about every worker in our worldwide chain. miss chen, though, sees it very differently. >> translator: do they care about us? i don't know. at least i'm not getting any of that care. >> reporter: foxconn insists its workers are treated fairly and their rights fully protected. the company favors only a privileged few, executives, managers, for the many thousands of others it is run with a military culture that point to unpredictable hours at the whim of management and complaints of

inadequate breaks and workers not even allowed to speak on the factory floor. as we found, they're not too keen to speak outside, either. we had to meet miss chen at this restaurant. it's a rare outing for her. foxconn takes up every waking moment. >> it is so boring. i can't bear it anymore. every day was like i get up from work, and i go to bed. i get up in the morning and i go to work. it became my daily routine, and it almost felt like i was some kind of animal. >> reporter: hers is just one tale, but it's an experience repeated elsewhere by other disgruntled foxconn employees. she says she will leave soon to go back to college. she has no desire to return here. >> i don't want to work in foxco in, n. >> you don't? >> i don't. >> reporter: but there is always the lure of that ipad.

>> do you like it? >> i like it. i want one. >> you want to have one? >> maybe one day i'll have enough money. >> enough money? right now miss chen says she earns less than a dollar an hour. stan grant, cnn. >> apple headquarters sent cnn this statement this morning that says we care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. we insist that our suppliers provide safe working conditions and treat workers with dignity and respect and use environmentally responsible processes wherever apple products are made. our suppliers must live up to these requirements if they want to keep doing business with apple. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com top of the hour, i'm suzanne malveaux. a father does the unthinkable setting his own home on fire killing his two young sons and himself. police in washington state say that josh powell started the fire yesterday moments after a social worker dropped the

children off for a supervised visit. powell had lost custody of the boys and he was a suspect in his wife's disappearance. he sent an e-mail saying only "i'm sorry. good-bye." josh powell's brother-in-law talked about what happened. >> we are in shock. we are simply -- it's beyond belief. we have had suspicions of various things josh was capable of, but i for one, didn't think he was capable of this. >> colorado, minnesota. next two stops on the road to the republican presidential nomination, both states hold caucuses tomorrow, nemitt romne and newt gingrich. santorum's event on health care got under way in minnesota just last hour and some california parents are furious now because they think the los angeles school didn't do enough to protect their kids from two allegedly abusive teachers. they are protesting in front of the school right now.

>> we are still learning details about the disturbing case. our thelma gutierrez has background. >> angry. i'm disgusted. i'm sad. >> investigators say the case against brook broke in 2010 when they had disturbing images with an arm around their children or his hand over their mouths and others showed them with their eyes blindfolded and mouths covered with tape and some depicted madagascar type cockroaches on their faces. >> the children felt this was a game. they didn't realize they were being victimized. they thought they were just being blindfolded and gagged as a game. >> we'll have a full report from thelma gutierrez just a little bit later. state department shut down its embassy in syria hours ago and it's urging americans now to get out.

syrian activists say 56 people were killed today arc loan in the city of homs. that is after a weekend bloodbath that left hundreds dead. activists accused syrian government of intensifying its brutal crackdown. russia gave him a lifeline, vetoing a u.n. resolution that would have condemned him. flooding has forced thousands from their homes in australia. rising waters threaten communities in queensland. this part of the country is still recovering from last year's devastating floods. the nfl and nbc are on apologizing for offending. it happened so fast a lot of viewers didn't even notice. her finger here is blurred. nfl which produced the halftime show said the obscene gesture in the performance was completely

inappropriate, very disappointing and we apologize to our fans. she was a white house intern who says she had an affair with the president, right? sound familiar? this washington sex scandal allegedly took place five decades ago and the president in question, john f. kennedy. mary snowe joins us with the latest on this story. it was always rumored, mary, that kennedy was having affairs and was a playboy. this woman is coming forward and giving details, things we've never heard before. >> yeah. suzanne, this book is a very salacious one with a very detailed account by mimi beardsley alfred, as you mentioned now 69 years old. "the new york post" obtained a copy of this book which claims she had an 18-month affair and she met the president four days into her internship into the white house and she was invited to swim with the president at

the white house swimming pool and she claims things progressed from there. she did do an interview with nbc news, it was an exclusive interview in which she describes what she claims were sexual encounters and talks about them. take a listen. >> i think overpowered in the sense that he was the president. he was an unbelievably handsome man, 41 years old and not overpowered that someone grabbed me and made me do something that i wasn't willing to do because i really think i was willing to do it. >> in this book, suzanne, alfred claims the affair lasted until november 1963, just about seven days before president kennedy was assassinated. >> mary, do people believe she's credible? >> reporter: you know, we spoke with robert dallic, he's a historian who revealed this alleged affair for the first time in his book in 2003 and

that's when mimi alfred first came out and released a statement saying that she had had an affair with president kennedy and the reason why robert dallic wrote about it is because a former white house press aide wrote about it or spoke about it in oral history that is available at the jfk library and that aide has since died, but in that history the white house aide that had the oral history, she does talk about mimi alfred and writes about what she says was a special relationship with the president and also mentions these swimming parties and saying alfred traveled with the president on various trips. that is what historian robert dallic is basing -- why he wrote about it and spoke with another historian, douglas brinkley and has question marks about it. it is so difficult because so many people in that administration are now dead, so we can't get many accounts of this.

>> right. >> besides hers. >> mary, do we have any idea? she's a 69-year-old grandmother. why did she come forward now? why did she wait to come forward now, the timing of this? that is unclear why she has this book deal at this point. she signed this book deal, and she released a statement in 2003, but gave no interviews, so why at 69 now she's deciding to come out? still don't know 100% why. >> okay. mary snow, thank you. we appreciate it. it's time to talk back on one of the stories of the day, does president obama deserve a second term in office? in an interview just before the super bowl president obama told americans he does. >> i deserve a second term, but we're not done. look, when you and i sat down we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. now we're creating 250,000. we created 3.7 million jobs over

the last 23 months. we've created the most jobs since 2005, the most manufacturing jobs since 1990, but we're not finished. >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney says the president's economic policies have failed, that the economy is not creating enough jobs. >> not so fast, mr. president. this is the 36th straight month with unemployment above the red line your own administration drew, and if you take into account all of the people who are struggling for work or just stopped looking, the real unemployment rate is over 15%. >> so what has the obama administration done? the president says he's responsible for creating jobs over 22 months in 2010 he signed his signature health care bill reforming the second. if he gets a second term he'll fight to keep it. he ended the don't ask don't tell policy now allowing gays to serve openly, last year he took

out bin laden and he got troops out of iraq. so what's left to do? he has to tackle the deficit, save the pentagon budget and deal with immigration reform and still the nagging problem of more than 8 per% of americans n out of work. and the talkback question, does president obama deserve a success term in office. leave your comment on facebook.com/suzannecnn. we'll air some of your thoughts later in the hour. here's a rundown of the stories we're covering in the next hour. a sad story. a man in washington state sets his house on fire killing himself and his two boys as the social worker watches in horror from the street. >> next, republican candidates prepare to duke it out in colorado and minnesota. later, we'll take a look at, yep, the middle finger slipup plus madonna's extravagant halftime show. what's this? [ male announcer ] quaker oatmeal squares

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missing persons case two years ago ends up with a man killing himself and his two sons. in pierce county, washington, tells cnn that josh powell was despondent after a judge refused to allow him to regain custody of his sons. police say powell was the only suspect in his wife's disappearance. she went missing in december 2009. our thelma gutierrez is following the case from washington state. thelma, what new details do you have about what we know about this man and what they found inside of his home? >> reporter: suzanne, i want to show you what's going on right behind me. just a few minutes ago investigators with the fire marshall's office arrived here at josh powell's home. they are combing through the rubble. they will be looking at how this fire started. all along they had suspected that an accelerant was used because of how quickly this fire spread, how hot it burned and the fact is that they couldn't

get in. once this explosion happened, into this house were several hours because they felt that this home was not structurally sound and when they did go in, when firefighters did go in they found the bodies of the two boys and an adult there in one room in the middle of the room where they all died together. suzanne? >> now, thelma, we understand that before these boys perished there were reports that they were starting to actually remember and talk about their mother's disappearance. what kind of details do you have about that? >> reporter: suzanne, that's what i find most interesting about this. ann bremer who is an attorney for chuck and judy cox who are suzanne powell's parents said that she -- the grandparents did not want him to have contact with the children. they feared that this day would come, that charlie, the 7-year-old, had actually started talking about mommy and said

that mommy is in the mine. go find mommy. and suzanne, in that area, in utah there are mines. this is the area where they believe the mother could have disappeared. this is the area where the father, josh powell, had taken his young sons camping after midnight in sub-zero temperatures. so they're looking into that right now. >> do we have new information about josh powell's father? >> reporter: yes. i just talked to the sheriff spokesperson here in pierce county, and i asked him if mr. powell knew what had happened to his son and what had happened to his two grandsons. he said that he had been informed. he was told of their deaths and that he only shouted at them that he became very uncooperative and that now he is in suicide -- on suicide watch.

he is in custody being held on 14 counts of voyeurism and also possessing child pornography. >> this is just a terrible story, just a big mess overall. josh powell, i understand, sent an e-mail to his lawyer and to his cousin before he set the fire. what did he say about what he was going to do? >> reporter: sheriff's investigators say that that offers a glimpse into what this man was thinking. they say that he knew exactly what he was going to do. in the e-mail that he sent to his attorney he only said i'm sorry. good-bye. and then he also sent an e-mail to a cousin of his in texas that said the same thing. the cousin received the e-mail instantaneously right as that home exploded and the attorney opened his up about two hours after this terrible tragedy. >> all right. thelma gutierrez, thank you.

an awful, complicated story. thank you. mitt romney had the winning hand in nevada. it is on to colorado, minnesota. presidential candidates are focusing on tomorrow's caucuses in those two states. missouri voters also go to the polls tomorrow for the primary, but delegates will be awarded at the caucuses next month. we want to bring in our political director, mark preston to talk all things politics. mitt romney, i understand there is a poll that matches up romney and obama and the romney folks are weighing in on this. they don't agree with this poll. explain. >> they don't. let's take a look at it. this is the poll that came out. it shows a head-to-head matchup where president obama holds a six-point lead over mitt romney. the romney campaign has put out a memo saying that, in fact, this poll is flawed and their contention is that there was a

series of questions asked before this head-to-head matchup question was asked that put negatives on mr. romney, specifically about his wealth and his religion. they are calling this poll flawed. a very interesting strategy and aggressive strategy by the romney campaign. >> the fact that they're responding to this now is pretty remarkable. they put up the poll and they say that this isn't factually correct. >> they are also doing something at this hour, holding a national conference call, rick santorum. >> someone they have not attacked publicly. we've seen skirmishes between mitt romney and rick santorum in debates. right now minnesota governor, tim pawlenty who is backing mitt romney is holding a conference call criticizing rick santorum for being a big pork barrel spend, at the same time the romney campaign is also attacking rick santorum saying that his attacks on mitt romney about health care are all false. a new strategy by the romney

campaign to take everybody on head-on. >> why go after santorum. is he really that much of a threat? >> in missouri, rick santorum is trying to win that state and romney is on the ballot. ron paul is on the ballot. newt gingrich is not on the ballot. so if rick santorum were to win tomorrow in missouri perhaps we would perceive that as criticism from conservative voters about mitt romney. plus, i think they want to take rick santorum out of the question, because the more it criticizes rick santorum, any sign he'll get out any time soon. absolutely not. this is going. very defiantly on saturday night that he is going to go to the convention in august. >> all right. mark, thanks. good to see you. >> live coverage of tomorrow's caucuses and primary will begin with the special edition of j.k.usa with john king at 6:00 p.m. eastern and that is followed by complete coverage of the results at 7:00 with wolf, erin burnett, anderson cooper,

candy crowley, john king and more. grandma moving? that's the story all over the country. we'll take a look at why.

all right, sure, you love your family, but can you picture this, grandparent, moms, dads, kids, grandkids all living in one big house. a lot of people are doing it. christine romans finds out why and why it's working. >> reporter: meet the lawfulers. >> i'm dad. i'm the mom. >> i'm the grandmother and great-grandmother. >> reporter: three generations plus one dog. living under one roof, make that four generations when

granddaughter ella visits. >> i really value family. it means a lot to me to have everybody together a lot. >> for the first time in decades more generations are moving in together, reversing a trend that's been in place since world war ii. it's about culture. it's about convenience. it's about money. the trend has grown 30% over the past decade, fueled by immigration, people living longer and more recently, job losses and foreclosures. >> we have a couple of bedrooms upstairs. >> new jersey builder renovates single-family homes to accommodate more than one generation. >> when you look at what's been happening in the housing market you can see this is an area in housing that is showing growth. no question. are you seeing that in your business? >> absolutely. weave been doing multi-gen houses for 20-something years. it's spotty. one a year, two a year, zero and then in 2009 it's grown to three to five projects per year. >> one of those projects building an addition for the

laffleres. >> i could never live by myself. i could never have afforded it. >> for her it was definitely economic, but for us, i think it was peace of mind having her here. >> peace of mind meant a new social dynamic to keep the peace. >> mom is sensitive to our family dynamics, too. >> it was important for us to keep her room separate. she's integrated part of the house, but, she could make it separate and she has a separate entrance on to the back deck. so hopefully she feels like, hey, it is separate. i think those are the important things. >> but change comes with unexpected perks, too. >> the washer and dryer right here. >> i bring my laundry down and drop it off and when i come home from work it's all pressed. >> christine romans, new jersey. >> the u.s. shuts down its embassy in syria with security

concerns and a rising death toll. we'll take a look at what is next for syria. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

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here's a rundown of some of the stories we're working on next. the u.s. closes an embassy in syria and tells americans to get out. and we'll separate political fact from fiction as we examine the recent campaign rhetoric. later, we'll talk about super bowl and the not thaentertainme and halftime finger malfunction. we'll take a break. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] we know you don't wait

until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding

of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. ♪ [ door creaking ] [ dog whimpers ] ♪ ♪ get up offa that thing ♪ and dance till you feel better ♪ ♪ get up offa that thing ♪ and dance till you -- sing it now ♪ [ dog barks ] [ deep beetle exhaust, dog barks ] ♪ you feel good [ male announcer ] back. and better than ever. the all-new beetle. [ dog barks ] ♪ get up off... [ roger ] tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ kyle with voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ kyle ] nope, i've got... [ kyle with voice of dennis ] ...the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have...[ roger with voice of dennis ]...allstate.

[ roger ] same agent and everything. [ kyle ] it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪ the allstate value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. right now, we want to focus in on syria. explosions are reverberating across the city of homs. we have just gotten an updated death toll from syrian activists. they say 56 people have been killed today alone in cities across the country. that is after a weekend in which hundreds were killed. the u.s. today shut down its embassy in syria. cnn national security contributor fran townsend is a member of the external advisory committee and fran, this is just a disaster when you see what's on the ground there.

it's on the brink of civil war. n now you have the u.n. security council resolution vetoing the plan, what's next? >> and you add to that, suzanne, the announcement that we'll pull back our ambassador and close our embassy. the state department was quick to say that that does not mean we're cutting off diplomatic relations, but we were merely closing it for security concerns. i think that's right. the security situation is so seriously deteriorated, the state department and the secretary clearly have very little choice. it's very difficult other than in a war zone where you have the u.s. military, but to have just the usual marine detachment and embassy and in this kind of a deteriorating security environment where you don't have the commitment of the syrian government to protect the dip the maic establishment and there really was no choice. the problem with that is we lose leverage. ambassador ford has been a very effective advocate for the

opposition. he's borne witness to the atrocities taking place there and that's put added pressure on the assad government. to bring him back is unfortunate both for the protesters and for u.s. policy. >> well, yeah. i was going to ask you that, fran. if you pull out the syrian proer is thors, you see some of the biggest allies packing up shop and leaving country. what position are the protesters on the ground now? >> they're for more vulnerable because they lose a witness. they lose a spokesperson who can attest to the way they're being abused and the violence on them by the assad regime and a credible voice that ambassador ford speaks as a third party to what he sees there, and so it is a blow to the opposition in syria. >> so the u.s. says they're not giving up on syria. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., susan rice talked to soledad o'brien this morning and said the u.s. will try to step up pressure on syria.

here's what she said. >> the united nations will continue on this issue. we, the united states, and 13 of the 15 members of the security council are united in seeking a peaceful resolution of this. we will step up our economic pressure. we will coordinate with our arab partners ever more closely to increase the pressure on assad and isolate him, and russia and china will eventually, i think, come to regret this decision which has aligned them with a dying dictator whose days are numbered and put them at odds with the syrian people and indeed the entire region. >> so, fran, so far economic sanctions haven't worked. what makes the obama administration think that further sanks will? >> reporter: i don't think there's any indication that further sanctions are really what is going to make the difference in syria. frankly, with the u.n. security council and the united states have pinned their hopes to is the arab league plan and that couldn't get past the security council because of russia and china's veto. the u.s. needed to put their

pressure on russia and china to change their stance to stop protecting the assad regime and has to look to work more closely with the arab league who will have greater influence than the united states does right now. >> let's move on to iran here because we heard from president obama before the super bowl talking about israel's intensions regarding going after e ran's nuclear sites and here's hugh he put it. >> i don't think that israel has made a decision on what they need to do. i think they, like us, believe that iran has to stand out on its nuclear weapons program. we have mobilized the international community in a way that is unprecedented and they are feeling the pinch. they are feeling the pressure, but they have not taken the step that they need to dip the mamaiy which is to say we will not produce a nuclear weapon. >> israel was ready to strike, ran as early as this spring.

is this a disconnect here? why these two different messages? >> reporter: look, i think that secretary panetta described this as the glass half empty or half full, but it has the same amount of water. both the president obama and secretary panetta is saying there is an increasing likelihood of an israeli strike if iran does not stand down in the nuclear weapons program. they have not. there have been sanctions and diplomatic efforts. people are increasingly frustrated and israel feels increasingly a threat and the more they feel threatened the more likely it is they'll consider an attack. look, i think that israel will have to make its own decision on its own behalf. president obama has clearly signaled we prefer to see a diplomatic resolution to this, but both president obama and secretary of state panetta have said they're going through the steps of military planning and no option including the military one is off the table. >> all right. fran townsend, thank you very much. appreciate your perspective. the head of the democratic

party says mitt romney has already outspent john mccain's presidential campaign when it comes to negative ads. we'll see if that passes the political fact test. what's this? [ male announcer ] quaker oatmeal squares

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all right. madonna's halftime extravaganza wowed a lot of folks, but during her performance her co-star mia flipped off the audience. it happened so fast a lot of fans missed it. i know i missed it. "showbiz tonight" michelle turner joins us live from los angeles. tell us what happened because when i watched this i didn't actually see it. it must have happened so quickry, i really didn't see it at all. >> you know what? i missed it first time around, too, but when i saw it blowing up all over media i had a tivo

moment, went back and that's when i saw it, but you think people would learn, but no, here we are again, you know madonna has to be pretty ticked off at m.i.a. this morning because she was putting on this fantastic show last night, madonna, but now all anyone wants to talk about is how one of her supporting acts, m.i.a., decided to use her middle finger to communicate with the fans. it was so quick, you probably missed it. a lot of people did. the nbc censors did, and they were a split second too late to block it, and a microphone caught her swearing, but that was almost inaudible. a source close to m.i.a. is telling "showbiz tonight" that m.i.a. knows she messed up. she was amped up and in performance mode and she was nervous and not thinking and adrenaline took over. it wasn't meant as a gesture or statement of any kind, it was an artist who had a mishap. they also said, suzanne, that

she feels horrible for putting madonna in that position. she messed up. >> i don't understand the whole adrenaline got me to do it case there. was this really a surprise? i know they have these rehearsals that happen ahead of time. did this completely come out of the blue? >> i know it was a surprise. like the statement said m.i. amount was in adrenaline mode and took over because here's the thing, if anyone knows how to work controversy it's madonna. she was promising that there wasn't be anything like a wardrobe malfunction or anything, so i'm not sure that they expected this type of snafu and we reached out to madonna for comment, but so far she's being tight-lipped. she's not saying a thing. the nfl is, though. they issued a statement and they're saying there was a failure in nbc's delay is system. the obscene gesture was completely inappropriate, very disappointed and we apologize to our fans. nbc arc apologized as well and the parents' television council is predictably outraged.

they said the nfl promised them that the show would be appropriate and now they're calling for some folks to be held accountable. >> michelle, you know, all of the talk this morning in the morning meeting among our team was madonna and how she did, you know. like some of us were, like, oh, and others were she was great. she's 53 and she rocked it. there was a lot to that program last night. what was the highlight for you? >> you know what? i have to do -- full disclosure, i'm a big madonna fan sxishgs know there were mix red view, but i thought the production of the halftime show was fantastic. she had a couple of mishaps, with the middle finger moment and she almost fell during "music," but she was 53 in five-inch heels and she was dropping it on the platform and dancing with lmfao, you know what? a couple of little snafus, i'll take it. >> i have two questions, though. first of all, how much did that hat weigh? i heard her hat was more than 20 pounds or so. >> yeah. that's what i heard, too.

i heard that it was about 20 pounds, very heavy, and you saw, she was working that hat. the voguers were doing their thing, but madonna, she was working that hat. >> my other question real quick. was she lip syncing? >> oh, yeah. >> she was? >> oh, yeah. you saw cee lo. he was off a little bit on "like a prayer," so, yes, she was lip syncing. >> for all things entertainment, it was fun. it was worth staying up for. want information on everything entertainment? watch "showbiz tonight" at 11:00 p.m. eastern on hln. >> the real bruising came from snl. it's a surprise to see you here, mitt. as i recall you found the moon colony silly back in 2012. >> noout, we were all wrong. ever since you left earling it's been a nightmare. please forgive me and let me work in your admoonistra gdz.

>> i'm just supposed to believe that you changed your position? >> it wouldn't be the first time. >> pretty funny stuff. we hear a lot of staples get tossed around by the politicians. some can get outrageous. we want to separate political fact from campaign fiction. to help us do that is bill adair, washington bureau chief for the tampa bay times, and politico.com. let's take a look at some of these claims and how they measured up, let's start with congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. mitt romney's campaign has already spent more on negative ads that john mccain did during the entire presidential run. >> that one got a false. the math just doesn't even come close here. if you look at how much mccain spent it was about $174 million, maybe the majority of that was negative. so maybe 90 million, romney and even if you include the super pac supporting him have spent more in the neighborhood of 15

million so far. so not even close. that one gets a false. >> all right. what about this comment from republican congressman randy forbes who says the national debt is equal to $48,700 for every american or $128,300 for every u.s. household. it is now, give lent to the size of our entire economy. true or false? >> true. we should invent a rating true, but depressing. >> really? >> this is the burden we all have to bear and we checked out those numbers and looked at the population figures and found that he's right, it's a whopping amount of money. >> wow! that is some bad news there. finally, this comment from tennessee state senator stacy campfield in a sirius radio interview raised eyebrows. he said aids was transmitted to humans because one guy had sex with a monkey and then started having sex with men. >> we gave that one a pants on fire which is our lowest rating.

the rating we reserve for the most ridiculous falsehoods. the truth of this is really quite interesting. we talked to some researchers, our colleagues at politifact tennessee and said actually you can trace aids back to the 1920s when people in africa were hunting and ate chimpanzee meat that apparently was infected and it went very slowly through africa, through heterosexual sex and through blood transfusions and needles, and it wasn't until later that it became the aids epidemic that we're all familiar with. so pants on fire for that one. >> surprising people are still saying that ignorant stuff. bill, thank you. >> thank you. we're having some beautiful weather here in the united states, but europe getting buried. we'll take a look at what is causing this weird, weird winter. ♪

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it's turning out to be a weird winter here in atlanta. for instance yesterday we were all running around in shorts in february. so while we're enjoying these beautiful day, mild temperatures, europe is getting hit hard by brutally cold weather. jacqui jeras is here to sort this out. >> didn't get to enjoy it, unfortunately. >> will it last? >> overall, we'll see above average especially across the lower 48. however, what's been going in europe has really been a really serious situation. more than 300 people have died here in the last week. we've had record temperatures, feet of snow, strained emergency services halting travel. this video you're looking at from bosnia-herzegovina, thousands of people have been trapped here because the snow has been so high. towns have literally been cut

off. they've been using helicopters to get emergency services and food to these people. schools are closed and the state of emergency is being declared there. we'll take you to poland. isn't that a beautiful picture? look at that house. it's just amazing. the temperatures have been so extreme 35 degrees below zero. that was the lowest temperature all week long. your skin will literally freeze in a minute or less, probably for there. we'll take you to italy. it snowed in rome this weekend. can you believe it? it's happened before, but maybe only three times in the last 15 years. so kind of a rare event. this hit the ruin, too. we have pictures of the coliseum that was shut down this weekend because they were concerned about safety measures. there it is. so beautiful conditions. it's really been hardest hit in eastern and skeern parts of europe and it has gone into western europe. big ben was snowed in, they had to cancel 30% of the flights because of the snow. >> why is this happening?

is the cold weather in europe related to the nice weather here? >> probable not exactly related to each other. there's this phenomena, the arctic isolation. all of that cold air gets bottled up and eventually the pressure gets built up enough that we get a kink and it allows the cold air to move into siberia and enter into eastern europe. they get these cold snaps, but this has been prolonged and more cold air will be moving in by the middle of this week. so it's been a long, extremely difficult, the homeless population in particular has really struggled. >> there will not be a warm-up in europe any time soon. >> it's looking like toward the end of the week we'll see significant warming. >> and here? >> we're staying awfully warm. we were talking proppics potentially over the weekend. >> unbelievable. >> very unusual for us, too. >> thanks, jacqui. you've been sounding off on the talk back question today. whether or not president obama deserves a success term in

office. here's what some of you are saying. yes, i think he does. i'm not happy with where things are in the economy, but i think it could be so much worse for the middle class and the truly poor. honestly, does anybody really think romney has a clue what it's like to struggle every month? dave says no. we are moving toward a socialist and entitlement-type society. i don't know that he's doing it on purpose, he means well, but is creating a huge deficit and is in over his head when it comes to understanding economics. carl write, yes. he's done a lot considering the absolute mess he took over when he was elected. matt says he didn't deserve the first chance. i can only hope america wakes up. harry says i am a republican, but not a stupid republican. president obama deserves another term. he wasted two years trying to keep a naive promise to the american people to reach across the aisle and was viciously rejected. he included republicans in his

cabinet and they -- plus congress undermined his every attempt to improve the country. thanks to all of you for writing in and keep the conversation going at facebook.com/suzannecnn. well, they should be your kids' most trusted ally. instead, two teachers in a california school are accused of disturbing acts of abuse. progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. i was worried it would be hard to install. but it's really easy. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. yeah. you'reot... filminthis, e you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive. ♪ a refrigerator has never been hacked. an online virus has never attacked a corkboard. ♪

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angry parents in one california neighborhood say their children aren't safe at

school anymore. >> this is about the children! we're talking about -- we're talking about -- >> they are protesting outside the school right you in. the l.a. school is at the center of a bizarre child abuse case. the school will be closed tomorrow and wednesday while investigators try to figure out what is going on. two teachers are now under arrest and the allegations are shocking. thelma gutierrez has the details. >> reporter: this is 61-year-old mark berndt, an elementary school teacher accused of taking bondage photos in his classroom of more than two dozen boys and girls between 7 and 10 years of age. on friday los angeles county sheriff's investigators arrested a second teacher, 49-year-old martin bernard springer, a colleague of berndt's. >> the allegations involve two girls who were allegedly fondled in the classroom at miramoney it school by suspect springer. they were approximately 7 years old at the time of the incidents

which were alleged to have occurred during the past three years. >> reporter: at this point in the investigation officials could not say if there was a relationship or connection between berndt and springer. both men taught at miramoney it elementary school in south los angeles, a low income area which is 98% latino. parents at the school are outraged that they're just learning about the sex crime allegations. >> i'm angry. i'm disgusted. i'm sad. >> reporter: investigators say the case against berndt broke in 2010 when a film processor noticed disturbing images of berndt with his arm around the children or his hand over their mouths. others showed their children with their eyes blindfolded and mouths covered with tape. some depicted children with madagascar-type cockroaches on their faces. >> the children felt this was a game. they didn't realize they were being victimized. they thought they were just being blindfolded and gagged as a game.

>> reporter: detectives discovered 400 photos. some showed children with spoons at their mouths filled with semen which they believed was liquid candy. tested the contents and found a match to berndt's dna, so far 23 victims have been identified. >> there's at least ten children that we have not been able to identify. obviously, we can't put their pictures out because they are potential victims. >> reporter: berndt had taught at miramontte for 30 years. she and other parents want to know why if the bondage photos were brought to the attention to authorities in october 2010 why berndt was allowed to remain in the classroom for three months until school officials finally removed him in january 2011. los angeles school superintendent john deasy says the school district acted as quickly as it could. >> the police were very clear that we were not to be involved

in the investigation and we followed everything to the letter of the law that they directed us to do, and i believe that is why in the end they were able to collect the evidence. >> polanco says if these crimes were committed in another area where there were anglos bike beverly hills this would have been handled differently. news of the arrests have shaken their school and parents are talking about pulling their children out of the elementary school for good. >> his public defender isn't talking to reporters about the case. martin springer is being held on $2 million bail and charges will be filed against him next week. cnn "newsroom" continues with ashleigh banfield in new york. >> nice to see you. we have such a busy day. hi, everybody. it's 1:00 in the busy hour ahead. let's get straight to the news. the race for president is picking up. tomorrow brings