this morning, a shot at that nfl career for brian banks who was exonerated of all charges just last week and set free. and take a look at this unbelievable video from a happy hour that took a horrifying turn. a truck, you'll see shortly, plows into the middle of this bar pinning customers in a heap of rubble. amazingly no one was killed. "newsroom" starts right now. good morning to you. i'm carol costello. two american tourists on their way to a luxury resort in egypt kidnapped. gunmen pulled them from a car in the sinai sprinkle demanding egyptian officials release a man from jail. authorities have been working feverishly to free those americans and we have good news this morning. just about a half hour ago we learned those tourists were released. our ben wedeman is in cairo to tell us how this went down.

hi, ben. >> reporter: hello, carol. according to the southern sinai governor and senior official there, two americans have been released. they are now in police custody and they are on their way to a hotel. we were told earlier that the americans were being treated well and that they were unharmed. this clearly is part of some local conflict. a man from a tribe in southern sinai apparently had been arrested by the egyptian police yesterday with a large amount of marijuana. apparently the other members of his tribe wanted him released. they saw this opportunity with the two americans who were driving north toward an area near the israeli border. they were forced out of the car and then negotiations began and fortunately they are over and the two americans we are told

are alive and well and now in police custody. >> does this kind of thing happen often in egypt? >> reporter: there was an incident a few months ago where another case of two americans being kidnapped by bedouin tribesmen. it was the same situation. local people have grievances against the central government of egypt and they say kidnapping of foreign tourists especially americans, as a very good opportunity to use them as bargaining chips. it's happened before. it's not common but it certainly is far more common than it used to be in the days of hosni mubarak and this gives you an indication that the security situation in sinai has deteriorated as the state in a sense has really taken a hit since the revolution. carol? >> ben wedeman reporting live for us from cairo. in indiana, a high school

senior is stuck in mexico in danger of missing her graduation on saturday. elizabeth olivas was born in mexico but lived in the united states since she was 4 years old. the honor student returned to mexico recently to get a visa. olivas had to apply within 180 days of her 18th birthday but her previous attorney miscalculated and forgot a leap year day and she missed her deadline. now she's barred from returning to the united states for three years unless she can get an emergency waiver. olivas spoke to soledad o'brien on cnn's "starting point." >> we've been fighting this case for a long time now. because of different errors and different attorneys, we are where we are today. yeah, i knew for a long time. it's just something you try to keep your hopes up and hope that one day you'll get it. >> olivas plans to file the application for the waiver at a u.s. consulate.

we don't know if she'll get it approved on time to make it to graduation on saturday. to politics now. president obama called and congratulated mitt romney for sealing the delegate deal but the pleasantries did not last long. the obama campaign is going into massachusetts to unleash a brand new attack ad and a new strategy. >> people want to know what i stand for. they can look at my record as governor. >> mitt romney was not an effective leader in massachusetts and the proof is in the pudding. >> i worked only under republican governors and i worked well with all of the others. there was not much working with mitt romney. >> mall steinhouser is our political editor. the obama campaign is going after romney's past as governor instead of his ceo experience. >> for about two or three weeks the obama campaign was really firing away at mitt romney over his record at bain capital. that's the private equity firm

that he co-founded. my guess is that web video will soon be a tv ad and is taking on romney as his record as massachusetts governor. they say promises he didn't live up to. they point out job creation and they point out taxes and fees and other things and debt in massachusetts. so it's kind of a full frontal attack. you have that video and you also have david axelrod who arguably president obama's top little adviser. he's going to be later this morning in front of the state house in boston to hold a news conference to say a lot of things we're talking about right here. and of course the state house is where governor romney had his office from 2002 to 2006. carol, one thing that's interesting about this, carol, that attack on romney you heard a lot of that from jon huntsman and other republicans back during the primaries and same with the bain attack. fireworks from the primaries,

obama using in the general election. romney campaign firing back saying the president has no good re that's why he's attacking mitt romney and while the obama campaign is taking offensive today, republicans continue their attacks on the president over solyndra. they got a lot of federal infusions, went bankrupt, romney campaign saying another example of the president wasting taxpayer money. carol, a little over five months to go so stay tuned. i think we'll hear a lot more of this stuff between now and november 6th. >> i think you're right. paul steinhouser live in washington for us. one of the most divisive issues in politics is set to take center stage in the house of representatives as lawmakers vote on a measure banning abortions based on the sex of a fetus. the bill is called the prenatal nondiscrimination act. if passed, a doctor who suspects a woman wants an abortion based on sex, would be required to report her to authorities.

the sponsor of the bill insists this is a growing problem. >> a number of academic papers have now published evidence that the practice of sex selection abortion is increasing here in the united states especially but not exclusively in the asian immigrant community. >> democrats say the bill tramples on women's rights and is a distraction when there are more important issues out there. we'll talk about this controversial bill in depth 20 minutes from now. seattle police are trying to figure out what caused a man to start shooting people in what's described as a mellow coffee house. the suspect shot himself after a five-hour manhunt. >> when the officers and s.w.a.t. started in on the suspect, the suspect saw the uniformed officers and knelt down in the middle of the street and put the gun to his head and shot himself. >> he then died at the hospital. accused of killing four people

at that coffee house. two victims were best friends and members of the same band. god's favorite beef cake. >> he had made that place what it is. it will be a huge loss for the establishment and all of us. >> he was the life of the party. he just made everybody laugh and he will be missed. >> after leaving the coffee house, he car jacked and killed a mother of two in front of several witnesses in another part of town. >> my window was down. i see this guy leaning over this woman kicking her and then he shot her in the face. >> surveillance video from that seattle coffee house shows him walking in and then after the shooting, he appears to be just looking at the aftermath. family members said that he was angry and had mental problems and he had been kicked out of the coffee house before for having run ins with people. our affiliate kiro is in front

of the cafe. thanks for being with us. >> reporter: absolutely, carol. good morning. >> stawicki's brother said they could see this coming. what do we know about this person? >> reporter: he is 40 years old and has been coming to the racer cafe for a while now. regulars who come here as we focus in on candles in rainy seattle this morning, said he was angry and had come here and gotten kicked out of the cafe over the last couple of weeks. they didn't want him around. other regulars who come here to the racer cafe say he was quite odd and just strange. they believe possibly they were targeted when he came back in yesterday morning and opened fire on these customers. some people who know doubt knew who he was when he walked in. carol? >> this man's family said he had mental problems.

do we know how he got the gun? >> reporter: we do not at this point. we don't know how he got the gun. that will be some of the investigation that police will be up to today as well as along with us today in this investigation to try to figure out his background. how he got ahold of that gun. he did, we believe, have possibly two different guns. a gun that we saw on the suv that you talked about, the woman who was shot in that car jacking. there was a gun found on the car there. and then when police confronted him later in the afternoon, he shot himself as well. so there are two different guns involved in this. and we do not know at this point how he got ahold of them or how long he had those guns. >> thanks for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. the former rutgers university student convicted of bullying his gay roommate goes to jail today. dharun ravi will serve 30 days. prosecutors are appealing that

sentence saying it's too lenient. tyler clementi committed suicide after learning ravi spied on his intimate encounter with another man. you have to watch this. people are chatting and drinking at a bar when that happens. a truck just smashes into them. several people are pinned underneath the truck. a good samaritan used his own construction equipment to move the truck and free the people trapped underneath. six of them had to go to the hospital. but no one died. believed the driver had a medical problem causing her to lose control of the truck. in just a few hours the first private spacecraft to dock at the international space station will return to earth. and while it ends an historic mission, it also signals the start of a new era for the commercial space industry. lizzie o'leary joins me now. when is the splashdown? >> the splashdown is going to be a little bit longer. we're waiting. that will happen several hours from now.

but the first few steps have happened. very early while you and i were both sleeping, the arm of the international space station sort of let go of the dragon capsule like a very slow careful softball toss. and what has happened now is the first burning stage has happened. that means that the capsule, you see it there moving away from the space station and it burned one of its rounds. burned away a little bit and then the next thing that's going to happen is this deorbit burn. they'll bring it down out of orbit before some of the crucial steps that bring it much closer to earth. it's a cool shot there when you see it pull away from the space station. >> it's unmanned. that kind of suspense will be taken away. it will be a great image. will we actually get to see it coming down? >> hopefully we'll get to see it splashdown. it will splashdown off the california coast. what happens is it fires a series of different burns and

then it has parachutes that will deploy once it gets about 10,000 feet over ground level. it will splash down in the ocean. this is the only one that's supposed to splashdown. it's the first one that's gone to the space station. they hooked it up. in the future they want to try to land on the ground. one really important thing to note, this is the first time that one of these capsules has been able to come back from the space station. the russian and european and japanese ones actually are destroyed after they get up there. this is very important to try to get it back down. >> cool. lizzie o'leary, thanks so much. the nation's unemployment lines could get a little shorter if one group of companies has anything to say about it. still ahead, their push to put americans back to work. a great. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards,

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and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. 17 minutes past the hour. we have photos from inside the seattle coffee house of the man believed to be the gunman in shooting spree. five people were killed in two separate shootings. a sixth person remains in critical condition. he shot himself as police closed in. he later died. cleanup under way in north

carolina after remnants of tropical storm beryl spawned a tornado that damaged 60 homes. the national weather service says a twister touched down on the outer banks but no one was hurt. beryl still created powerful winds and high surf. people who say they were hurt by formaldehyde in fema trailers are likely to get a paycheck. the company agreed to pay $43 billion. about 630,000 people could get some of that money. final approval may not happen until september. a new survey shows several companies are doing their part to put americans back to work. their goal? to fill an estimated 26,000 positions. alison kosik is at the new york stock he cexchange. this sounds promising. >> there are good job openings

out there. career builder released the top ten companies that are making big hires in a big way. topping the list, first transit. they will hire 10,000 workers in bus driver and technician positions. the second on the list believe it or not is a bank. wells fargo has 4,500 openings in customer service, tellers, personal bankers and other areas and coming in third on the list, community health systems. that's the health care services provider. it has 4,000 nursing, physical therapy, i.d. and administrative position open. other companies on the list including at&t, coin star, bob evans and liberty mutual. it's great news. it gives a sense that some companies are getting more confident and people have a few more options when looking for a job. we want to focus on positive today. we got lackluster data on jobs today as well as economic growth. think about positive and at least some companies are hiring at this point, carol. >> we could do a little glass full on this thursday. >> yes. >> thanks so much, alison.

>> you spend five years in prison wrongly accused of rape. brian banks is a free man and following a dream deferred. his second chance at the nfl. don't forget if you head out the door, you can take us with you. watch us on your mobile or computer at cnn.com/tv. i went to a small high school. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful.

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now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question this morning is how far should we go to fight obesity? new york city is sending out the soda police. in a move to curve obesity, mayor bloomberg plans to ban sugary drinks over 16 ounces. it's part of a long campaign it fight the fat. but apparently this did not shock people into diet soda drinking. more than half of new york's adults are obese or overweight

so good-bye supersized sugary sodas. mayor bloomberg banned smoking in restaurants and parks and prevent food stamp purchases of sugary soda like it does with tobacco and alcohol. >> so the government to make the decision that shouldn't include something else that experts tell you is detrimental to your health and contributing to number one public health issue remaining in this city and in this country that's getting worse. it's not unreasonable. >> the new york city beverage association says the city's attack on soft drinks is over the top. mainly because americans are drinking less of it any way. what about banning those huge candy bars or big huge hot fudge sundaes? no word yet from the mayor's office. the talk back question for you today, how far should we go to fight obesity? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. the house votes today on a bill that would ban abortions based on the sex of the fetus.

the bill's sponsor says it's a growing problem in the united states. is that really true? we'll discuss next. cream... a touch of sugar... and pure natural flavors. coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally. mary? what are you doing here? it's megan. i'm getting new insurance. marjorie, you've had a policy with us for three years. it's been five years. five years. well, progressive gives megan discounts that you guys didn't. paperless, safe driver, and i get great service. meredith, what's shakin', bacon? they'll figure it out. getting you the discounts you deserve. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years.

good morning. i'm carol costello. stories we're watching right now in the "newsroom." opening bell just moments away. stocks are headed for a positive open today which is good news since may has been a retched month for wall street. disappointing reports on jobless claims and manufacturing this morning could have cast a cloud that the economy is improving. the islamic center of mur y murphi murphiesborrow says construction will continue. a planning commission did not give enough public notice for the project. the islamic center says it will reapply for a permit and mosque leaders say they are discriminated against because of their faith. you have to watch this. people are chatting and drinking

at a bar when a truck comes smashing through a bar and into them. several people pinned underneath the truck. a good samaritan rushes over and uses his own construction equipment to move the truck and free people trapped underneath. six of them had to go to the hospital. no one died. it's believed the driver had a medical condition causing her to lose control of her truck. one of the most divisive issues in politics is set to take center stage in the house of representatives as lawmakers vote on a better banning abortion based on the sex of the fetus. it's called the prenatal nondiscrimination act. if a doctor suspects a woman wants an abortion based on sex would be required to report her to authorities. the lawmakers that sponsored the bill insists this is a growing problem. >> a number of academic papers have now published evidence that the practice of sex selection abortion is increasing here in the united states especially but

not exclusively in the asian immigrant community. >> sex elective abortion is widespread in countries like china but there's no hard evidence it is widespread in the united states. the u.s. sex ratio is squarely within biologically normal perimeters. with me to discuss, will cain on the right and maria card oona o the left. thank you to talking about a contentious issue. it's tough. congressman wright says sex selection is a concern within asian communities. is that true? >> i don't know it's as widespread as he's saying. to the extent it happens once, anybody in this country i believe and women especially would be against it. even as pro-choice as one might be, you are against that act.

but this bill actually does absolutely nothing to make sure that that goes away. that's why this bill actually represents politics at its most cynical because if franks really wanted to address discrimination and gender and equality, why are he and republicans against the equal pay act? why do they want to repeal health care reform that actually helps women with prenatal care that helps their unborn babies both boys and girls be healthy. why vote against the state health insurance for children? so i think it's absolutely cynical. it does absolutely nothing at its core to fix the problem and it is yet another attack on women's health in this country. >> okay, will. this is a question for you. are abortion rights activists right when they say it's an attempt to chip away at abortion rights for all children? >> this issue forces us to

confront two aspects of the abortion debate. you could be against discrimination of females but not opposed to ultimate discrimination which is discrimination that determines life. will you be able and facilitate killing women. now maria thankfully adopted some logical consistency there and said it's not about how prevalent it is. if it happens once it's inappropriate. i think it forces people to confront that hypocrisy. i don't like that she spun out to talk about equal pay and things like that. this is a discrimination issue. you have top acknowledge that. this forces the debate to the fundamental question of when life begins. if you admit as maria did that it's wrong to have gender selective abortion, to abort females, you have to ask yourself why? why is that wrong? you'll get to the question of when life begins. that's the core issue of the debate. and in this country unfortunately we have debates around the periphery on this

issue. >> still hanging out there, will. there's no hard statistical evidence to prove this is happening often or even frequently or even at all. >> those words often and frequently carry no meaning. if it happens once, then it's a problem. we know that there is video of a planned parenthood facility that was allowing this to happen. at least once. i think maria and i are on the same page on that portion of this debate. if it happens once, it's wrong and too much. >> i'm sure you saw that planned parenthood video. is that really what was happening? >> i think you would have to call planned parenthood and have them speak for that. the staff member no longer works for them and they believe the video was a hoax and setup. back to will's point about hypocrisy. this bill is representative of the hypocrisy on the right for those republicans like franks

who say this is an effort to eliminate sex discrimination and gender equality. there are many ways to get at the real problem and republicans have all voted against those measures. that's why i americans will actually see this as a cynical political ploy to continue to chip away at pro-choice rights and women's health rights in this country. >> last word, will. >> i think i see that when life begins and who you select to live or die is a basic level and not hypocritical level to say not by the sex of the baby. >> you want to fix sex discrimination and vote against the violence against women act. >> you can debate this issue all day because people have strong views on it. i get it. will cain, maria cardona, thank

you for being with us this morning. let's talk about something lighter. check out crazy crowds. a sea of justin bieber fans almost prompted a call for emergency in norway. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning.. you can feel. introducing the all new cadillac xts, available with the patented safety alert seat. when there is danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat.

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this is crazy. >> crazy. the crowds were so crazy at this concert that it almost had to be canceled all together. according to bieber's manager, the police in oslo were threatening to declare a state of emergency. imagine that. yesterday's free concert in oslo apparently drew thousands and thousands of fans from all across europe to the norwegian capital and local authorities weren't prepared for that. the situation really could have gotten very out of hand. bieber and his manager both tweeted to their fans begging them to listen to the police for their own safety. actually "showbiz tonight" spoke with bieber's manager as they were on the way to the show in a police rescue boat. it was truly a crazy moment. somehow peace was maintained, the concert outside of the norwegian opera house did happen to the delight of everyone. bieber is in paris. the show will be broadcast as part of a special justin bieber believe all around the world on

june 21st. we now know that emergency threat level bieber is a reality. >> yes, we do. okay. let's talk about season five of "true blood." it's right around the corner. at the premiere there was some baby vampire talk. >> i don't know if she would want you calling her a baby vampire. people will speculate. the premiere happened last night in los angeles. fans were eager for the upcoming season and to see the premiere episode but the buzz was about co-stars and husband and wife, the two leads in the show. steven is the vampire in the show, bill. they are expecting their first child together as you can see from anna's growing baby bump. she declined to talk about her pregnancy except to say she's doing great. obviously she looks great too. show makes the premiere on hbo on june 10th. i cannot wait to see what happens next with her character

returns. >> i love that character. you're right. a.j. hammer, thank you. a.j. will be back with us in the next hour with more showbiz headlines including the boss, bruce springsteen taking on big banks. one group of congressional members is taking action and they want the nation's churches to help.s ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is. with new chef's picks from lean cuisine. new dishes on the culinary cutting edge

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just about 43 minutes past the hour. we have pictures from inside a seattle coffee house of the man believed to be a gunman in a shooting spree. in all five people were killed in two separate shootings. a sixth person remains in critical condition. we are still awaiting a verdict in the edwards corruption trial. jurors are in the ninth day of deliberations. four alternate jurors will not be there today. the judge told them they don't have to come to court every day. edwards is accused of using campaign contributions to hide his affair with rielle hunter. michael bloomberg wants to ban the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks basically any food spot that gets a letter grade from the health department. the plan would limit drink sizes to 16 ounces and could go into effect by next march.

the new york city beverage association says soda does not drive obesity rates. u.s. attorney general eric holder pulled no punches telling a council of african-american pastors the sacred right to vote is under assault and they as church leaders should educate their parishioners about new laws meant to keep them from the polls. >> my travels across this country i heard consistent drum beat of concerns from citizens who often for the first time in their lives now have reason to believe that we are failing to live up to one of our nation's most noble ideals and that some of the achievements that define the civil rights movement again hang in the balance. >> also counseling hundreds of black ministers and representatives from aclu and irs that offered advice about what pastors could and could not say from the pulpit to protect their tax exempt status. pastors cannot tell their parishioners who to vote for

only instruct them on how to decipher new strict voter i.d. laws in their respective states. the voting summit was hosted by the congressional black caucus in washington. the chairman of the cbc representative emmanuel cleaver joins us now. congressman, welcome. >> good to be with you. >> so what are you advising black pastors to do? i know love offerings are in the mix. >> absolutely. in some states where the new requirement for government issued i.d. is part of the law, we want to make sure that seniors are able to make that purchase. we also believe it really amounts to a poll tax but that's the law and so what churches are going to do is to collect money from the congregation so seniors who can't afford to pay $28 for government issued i.d. would be able to get it. in addition to that, the pastors are going to have voter

registration nonpartisan voter registration. they are also going to make vans available to carry people to the polls. it's a bit embarrassing that the world's largest democracy is maybe unintentionally, i'm not sure, not ready to make accusations, truth of the matter is that we're restricting access to the polls when we should be encouraging it. >> congressman, i think some people don't understand why showing a picture i.d. at a polling booth makes people not vote. i mean, pretty much everybody has a picture i.d., don't they? >> no, they don't. for example, there's a well publicized story this past week about a gentleman in his 90s who no longer has government issued i.d. usually that's your driver's license. it's not your social security card. it's your driver's license. if you are 90, the chances are

unless you are an exceptional person like my dad, you no longer are driving. you don't have any current government i.d. with a photograph. it does create a problem. 18% according to a new york university poll of seniors don't have government issued i.d. so that is an impediment to voting. >> some conservatives out there say if the attorney general under george w. bush, john ashcroft met with high pastors and priests, he would have been esk orated for it. why not invite pastors of all color to yesterday's event? >> there were pastors of all color at the conference. it is a conference of national black churches. the truth is there were nonafrican-americans in the place. we have a long history in the african-american community of nonblacks pastorring black

congregations. we would never exclude people on the basis of color because it's been done to us. we would never do that. we also know that the churches historically made a major role in getting people to vote. in florida, the state discontinued after the last election the program which allows people to leave church on sunday and go vote. >> i think that some people think that the appearance was suspect because you have a group of black ministers preaching to mostly black congregations. we know that president obama needs the black vote in mass to win. and it seems like it is just -- is seems like this is aimed at black voters only and meant to bring black voters to the polls

in droves. >> first of all, i think i want to repeat what i said earlier. this was not an exclusionary conference. we have people, you know, from different races there. and different genders. number two, there was not one time, not one time in the entire program televised that we promoted barack obama. that was not the issue. we promoted voting in the world's greatest democracy and we believe that historically the black churches played a major role in getting people out to vote. and we think that's going to continue. we have to try to have maximum participation in the political process by all americans including african-americans and latinos and other minorities and that's what we're working at. it would seem to me the nation ought to celebrate that we're trying to get people out to vote and we have not said to them, to the pastors, have the people

vote for president barack obama. that was never the intention of this meeting and the attorney general never mentioned barack obama. that'svote. >> congressman, thank you for joining us today. we appreciate it. >> good to be with you. >> don't forget to talk back on one of the big stories of the day, the question, how far should we go to fight obesity? facebook.com/carolcnn. your responses after a break.

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we asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question, how far should we go to fight obesity? this from jeff. will they also ban ice cream and cheese burgers, how about a slice of new york cheesecake. from lisa, i guess for some people that's what it takes. what happened to self-control? i allow my kids one soda per week. time to be a parent and say no once in a while, say no to yourself too every now and then. >> from don, i was a medical provider and i've seen the physical and financial cost of obesity firsthand. it's obscene and out of control. this from ryan. let's be real i'm fat and it's my fault. i know it i love food. fat people need to stop passing the blame on to someone else. we need to admit responsibility because we're the reason we're

fat, not because of soda. >> this is ridiculous. let's get a little chip in everyone and when they don't get their 20 minutes of daily exercise the fitness police show up at their home. >> from cody, this should show you how big of an issue the obesity issue has become, when no one wants to take care of themselves someone has to step in and regulate because it's costing the rest of us. thanks as always for your comments.

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as you may know, i've been training for a triathlon in conjunction with dr. sanjay gupta's fit nation. one thing i'm learning is how to run. yes, it turns out there's a right way and a wrong way. watch as fit nation's athletic

director april analyzes the way i move. >> i want you to run the same way that you would normally run. and then just run back toward me. i want to take a look at what you're doing. >> okay. >> give me that sprint. >> okay. >> okay. >> i'm ready. >> not bad. you look like you have a nice mid foot strike which is good. you want to land mid foot underneath your center of gravity, so directly underneath your body. what you did there, don't want to strike with that heel. this is a breaking motion. you're not overstriding which is really good. your stride is not too wide, not trying to step out in front of yourself. >> i run like this. but i've heard you're supposed to run like this. and kick your feet up to your rear end. >> you want to talk small efficient steps. bring the leg up and down, up and down. you don't necessarily have to have that exaggeration of complete butt kick.

>> does april have the most fantastic arms you've ever seen? she does. next thursday april will tell us how to avoid the annoying stitches you get in your side when running, part of the 2012 fit nation triathlon challenge with dr. sanjay gupta. you'll get a tip every thursday right here. jeff fischell is here today. a man wrongly accused finally gets to chase -- i love this story. >> amazing. he's been wanting to play in the nfl and now he is getting his chance. the seattle seahawks are given brine banks a tryout. ten years ago banks was a high school football star, recruited by football power usc. at 16 his life changed when he was accused of rape. his attorney told him to plead no contest and he went to prison for five years. last week a judge threw out his conviction. presented knew evidence showing banks was falsely accused. it's been ten years since he's played football competitively but he wants another shot.

pete carroll who recruited banks to usc is the seahawks coach. he's giving banks a tryout next week. can he make it in the nfl. good luck to him. to the nba, playoffs, a monster game for the celtics, rajon rondo, taking on the heat. rondo, 44 points, ten assists, eat rebounds, played every minute of the game including overtime but not enough. lebron james 34 points for the heat, d-wade and 23, miami wins 115-11. they're up 2-0 in the series heading back to boston. stanley cup finals game one overtime, l.a. and new jersey. the kings catch the devils sleeping, kopitar the break away, goalie mar tan brodeur, the kings win in overtime. game two saturday night in new jersey. >> thanks, jeff. >> okay. next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts right now. and good morning to you.

i'm carol costello. ahead in the newsroom, we are learning new information on a developing story. two americans kidnapped in egypt overnight just released. details on how u.s. officials were able to help set them free. some of the world's most dangerous terror suspects are detained in guantanamo bay. this morning, we're learning why they sometimes have felt like they lived on sesame street. unbelievable pictures from a happy hour the took a horrifying turn. a truck plows right into the middle of that bar, pinning customers. amazingly no one killed. now more on a story that's been developing all morning in egypt. kidnappers have released their two american hostages. the americans were on their way to a vacation resort in the sinai region when bedouins snatched them from their car. cnn's ben wedeman is in cairo. ben, everyone's safe now? >> yes, carol, everyone is safe at this point. what we've been told by senior officials in the southern sinai

is that they are in police custody, they have been taken to a hotel. earlier we had spoken to a bedouin sheikh who had been in contact with the kidnappers and he assured us that they were being treated well, they weren't being harmed. in fact, they were being treated in his words in a friendly way. this does underscore the fact that when kidnappings have taken place in the sinai before, the people are held, treated fairly well. they were these two young americans in their early 30s, were hold only for about 24 hours and they are now safe and have been released and are in police custody. carol? >> ben wedeman reporting live from cairo this morning. now to syria, state television says the regime has freed 500 anti-government protesters, but president assad's forces reportedly are attacking the town of houla again with rockets and mortars. opposition activists say the shellings started right after u.n. observers left town. houla was the site of that

massacre last week that left more than 100 syrians dead. most of them women and children. syria says it's looking into the attack and will finish their investigation this week. the government denies that its forces were responsible. the private spacecraft called dragon should be back on earth in the next hour. about 11:00 eastern time. its mission at the international space station will end with a big splash in the pacific ocean. it launches a new era for the commercial space industry. the final frontier isn't about nasa anymore. aviation and regulation correspondent lizzie o'leary joins me now to tell us about what's happening now in space. >> well, dragon is starting its return home. it's not going to be quite back down in an hour, but it will be begin that dior bit flight, means getting out of orbit and back down into the atmosphere, heading toward its splash down off the coast of california. it's going to splash down about 500 miles west of baja and that's what's starting to happen

now. it successfully unhooked from the international space station. remember this is such an important thing in part because it is this first commercial cargo flight and in part because so far this is the only cargo capsule that has the ability to go up to the space station and then come back. the russian soyuz capsule can do that with people, but the cargo capsules have been designed to burn up in flight once they are headed back down to the earth. so this is really a game changer, both on the private space flight front and on the ability to bring things back from the space station, carol? >> interesting. they can reuse the thing, right? >> well, the idea is to do that. i mean this is all kind of, as you know, with a lot of space, it's trial and error. so they are trying to figure out how this works. this will splash down, frankly, in a way that's reminiscent of those mercury capsules in the beginning of the space race. in the future, spacex wants to be able to actually land them on the ground and sort of move

toward more of that model. in the future they also want to be able to send astronauts up there. this is slow, it's trial and error. they've got more in the works and there's another company in virginia that is trying to do this too. they both have contracts with nasa for these flights as nasa, you know, turns its attention to other things, going deeper into space, heading towards mars. >> lizzie o'leary reporting live from washington. family members of the shooting suspect in seattle say it's no surprise. andrew stawicki tells the seattle times that his brother had anger and mental problems. police say he killed himself after killing four people in a seattle coffee house and then carjacking and killing a mother of two. now police are investigating how stawicki got ahold of two guns and our affiliate reports there's speculation stawicki targeted customers at the cafe where he had been kicked out several times in the past few weeks. here's proof how your world can change in the blink of an

eye. you see these bar patrons in minnesota enjoying their drinks and talking to each other. they have no idea what's about to happen. oh, my goodness. out of nowhere a truck plows through the wall, instant chaos. several people ended up in the hospital, two have serious injuries. police say the driver of the truck apparently had a diabetic reaction and lost control of her vehicle. the colleagues of a controversial tennessee mosque up in the air. the islamic center of murfreesboro says construction will continue despite a judge's ruling. the judge said a planning commission did not give enough public notice for the project. the islamic center says it will reapply for a permit. mosque leaders say they are being discriminated against because of their faith. new numbers on the state of the economy this morning, and they aren't painting a great picture. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. tell us fast. >> all right. so it looks like the economy, carol, kind of tapped on the brakes in the first three months

of this year, but hey look on the bright side it's not a negative number. at the same time it's just not as positive as we want to see. what we're talking about here is economic growth as i said in the first three months of this year. this is the government's second reading and what it showed is that the economy grew at a 1.9% rate. that's weaker than the 2.2% that was estimated a month ago. there are a couple reasons, big reasons, for the slow down. for one, people just didn't spend as much money as previously thought. also, the government, it's really cut down on its spending at a pretty good clip as well. you know what it is, it's more evidence this is a bumpy recovery and it's a big pullback from the 3% growth we saw in the last three months of last year. now, 3% is at the least of where we need to be to see the job market really pick up. but analysts are kind of optimistic at this point. they expect to see a little bit more improvement in the second quarter, but guess what, carol, we've got that big wild card called europe. a lot of uncertainty there that can have a big impact right here in the u.s.

>> let's focus on jobs. so employers were hiring this month, just not as much as expected? >> yeah. you know what's interesting, is that's really becoming a theme. private employers, we've learned lately, they've been adding more than 100,000 jobs for several months now, but the thing is it's just not enough. we're seeing that trend continue this month. payroll processor adp said there was a gain of 133,000 jobs this month. everybody had expected more. and this report is actually the appetizer to what's coming up tomorrow, the official government jobs report, and that accounts for both private and public jobs. now the expectation for friday is that we'll see a gain of 155,000 jobs that were added last month. now while it sounds like it could be a big gain the truth of the matter is we really need to see about double that. and over a sustained period to really begin to chip away at the millions of people who are out of work. carol? >> alison kosik, live at the new york stock exchange. now to the youngest human spellchecker in u.s. history. lori anne madison the younger

ever at the national spelling bee. she's 6 years old and nailing words like this. dirigible. dirigib-i-r-i-g-i-b-l- d-i-r-i-g-i-b-l-e. dirigible. >> she's so cute. dirigible. you know how to spell that, right? lori almost made the semifinals but this pesky noun got in her way. ingluvies. engluvi-n-g-l-u-v-i-e- e-n-g-l-u-v-i-e-s. ingluvies. >> that is incorrect. >> ingluvies is ingluvi i-n-g-l-u-v-i-e i-n-g-l-u-v-i-e-s. >> oh! she's still a good sport and even got some high fives from fellow competitors and you get the feeling there are more bees in her future. it's probably the last place you'd expect to find big bird,

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12 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now, a little more than 90 minutes ago kidnappers in egypt released two american tourists. the tourists, both of them men, are now safe and on their way to a hotel. the gunmen kidnapped them this morning driving through egypt's sinai region. they demanded the release of a plan arrested yesterday on drug charges. not clear if that man was released as part of the deal with egyptian security forces. cleanup now under way in north carolina after remnants of tropical storm beryl spawned a tornado that damaged 60 homes. the national weather service says a twister touched down on the outer banks. no one was hurt. despite losing strength after making landfall monday in florida beryl created powerful winds and strong surf. people who say they were hurt by fer mall da hide in fema trailers set up after hurricane katrina are likely to get a check. companies that made the trailers

agreed to a $40 million settlement. final approval might not happen until september. i know elmo and the gang bring back fond memories of your wonderful childhood, but what if you heard this for hours and hours and hours. ♪ this is the song la, la, la elmo's song ♪ ♪ la, la, la, elmo's song >> i like it. >> la, la, la, la ♪ >> to think he wrote this alone. >> if you had to listen to that hours and hours you would probably say it was torture, right? reportedly that's what it is because it happened at guantanamo bay, of all places. let's bring in pentagon correspondent chris lawrence. chris, even the man who composes "sesame's" music was surprised to hear what was going on at guantanamo. here's his reaction. >> my first reaction this can't possibly be true. this is just too crazy.

and it was absurd but it didn't like the idea that i was helping break down prisoners. but it was much worse when i heard later that they were actually using the music in guantanamo. >> did it work, chris? >> well, that depends, carol. you know, this was apparently something that went on years ago. i don't think this was an al jazeera film commissioned about torture, i don't think they're saying it's still going on but they're documenting that went on in the past. they talked to former prisoners at guantanamo and they also talked to some of the former military guards who had worked there. i think it just goes to show you that it's not so much what you hear, and we have heard reports that hard rock, heavy metal music had been used in cases like this, these are relatively, you know, sing songy kind of songs. i mean i first heard "sesame street" 30-something years ago

and it's still engrained in my head. ♪ can you tell me how to get >> it's something that we all remember, and so it's not so much what you're hearing, but the repetitive nature of hearing it over and over and over and over again. i think a lot of parents have always joked for years that, you know, hey, it feels like torture when their kids just listen to these songs over and over and over again, but this really is saying that some of these prisoners were forced to listen to songs for hours and hours, for days on end, carol? >> does that constitute torture, though? >> if you look at what's been found by some of the people who have looked at this, it depends. there was a judge appointed by the bush administration who found that a prisoner was tortured at guantanamo bay and that even though the techniques that the u.s. agents were using were authorized, they were used in such an aggressive, and

persistent manner, that it became torture. so in other words, what they did was authorized, but using it over and over to the extent that it was that judge found it had become torture. >> chris lawrence, reporting live for us this morning, thanks. >> yep. now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you, how far should we go to fight obesity? new york city is sending out the soda police. in a move to curb obesity mayor bloomberg plans to ban sugary drinks over 16 ounces. it's part of a long campaign to fight the fat. ♪ but that apparently did not shock people into drinking diet so soda. according to the city's health

department more than half of new york's adults are obese or overweight, so good-bye super sized sugary sodas. mayor bloomberg has banned smoking in vaunts and parks and wanted the government to prohibit food stamp purchases of sugary soda like it does with tobacco and alcohol. >> for the government to make the decision that should not include something else that the experts all tell you is very detrimental to your health, that is contributing to the number one public health issue remaining in this city and in this country that's getting worse. it's not unreasonable. >> new york city beverage association says the city's attack on soft drinks is way over the top. mainly because americans are drinking less of it anyway. what about banning those huge candy bars or giant hot fudge sundaes? no word from the mayor's office. the talk back question for you today, how far should we go to fight obesity? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. also coming up -- tavis smiley and cornell west join us

in our studios. i'll talk with them about their new book and a controversy surrounding the attorney general's address to african-american ministers and what he calls a new threat to voting rights. [ woman ] for the london olympic games, our town had a "brilliant" idea. support team usa and show our olympic spirit right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen. tom chipped in 10,000 points. karen kicked in 20,000. and by pooling more thankyou points from folks all over town, we were able to watch team usa... [ cheering ] in true london fashion. [ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders

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attorney general eric holder pulled no punches. he told a council of african-american ministers the sacred right to vote is under assault and they, as church leaders, should educate their parishioners about new laws meant to keep them from voting. >> my travels across this country, i've heard a consistent drum beat of concern from citizens who often for the first time in their lives now have reason to believe that we are failing to live up to one of our nation's most noble ideals and that some of the achievements that define the civil rights movement, now hang, again, in the balance. >> and with that, holder started another partisan war with some conservatives charging he's using his office to get black voters to the polls to get his boss, barack obama, re-elected. note holder did not tell pastors to tell their parishioners who to vote for, only how to help voters decipher new strict, voter i.d. laws. joining me cornell west and tavis smiley, in atlanta to promote their book "the rich and the rest of us, a poverty

manifesto." thank you for being with me today. >> good to be here. >> thanks, carol. >> the congressional black caucus hosted this meeting of black ministers and eric holder was speaking. some conservative say that was improper. why was the u.s. attorney general there. he's supposed to be nonpartisan, supposed to be the top office enforcer in the land, why was he there? >> because he is the top enforcer in the land and because he is in a nonpartisan position and because voting is a nonpartisan issue. if the attorney general of the united states isn't going to protect the right of every citizen to have access to voting without being intimidated, without being tricked out of their exercise of that vote, then what is he or she going to do? he absolutely should have been there. he said absolutely what he should have said. this is much ado about nothing. this is the right politicizing the issue. here's the bottom line, this issue is a nonissue. there is no evidence anywhere in the country that voter fraud is rampant from california to the

carolinas. this is about republicans, this is about the right, doing the exact opposite, trying to create an issue to keep african-americans, to intimidate them from exercising their precious right and the attorney general ought to protect the right of any americans. >> they would say what's the big deal? you show a picture i.d. at a polling place, what's the big i.d. ? we all have driver's licenses. what's the big deal? >> we know there's a long history of very clever tactics to try to ensure that black people don't gain access to the right to vote. as tavis said, this is a universal issue. he's defending rule of law. he's right. he's defending the rights of all americans. he's right. we know on the ground in practice -- >> why isn't he talking to a group of white priests and pastors too? >> if there were a long history of white priests being treated in that way and white persons he would be there because he's defending rule of law. i agree with him and the obama administration. in our text, we're talking about poor people, about americans of all colors. we are talking about unnecessary social misery and we're talking about an unjust system that

tilts towards the rich and wealthy and too many working and poor people are falling between the cracks. >> do those voter i.d. laws apply to the voters you've talked to across the country? do they have picture i.d.s? >> that's who these laws are suspended to hit disproportionately, the poor, the weak, the vulnerable, those who feel dr. king famously said back in the day, that black folk in the south could not vote, black folk in the north had nothing for which to vote and in many ways this is eerily reminiscent of that era, that there's so many americans, namely poor americans, who don't really see a distinction between the parties, what's in it for them and politicians want to exploit that. because they think the poor does not vote they're always under attack and under assault. we say budgets are moral documents and ins they budgets we see being debated in washington the poor are on the ones whose backs these are being balanced. you can't talk in this campaign about the middle class as republicans and democrats for

the white house want to do, speaking to the angst of the middle class. the new poor are the former middle class, so we can't have another campaign this time without talking about poverty. >> well, so far, and i know the campaigns i guess won't start in earnest until the republican national convention, but i haven't heard either candidate talking about the poor. they talk a lot about the middle class but i don't hear the word poor. >> we heard brother mitt romney say something about the poor that was not too elevating or encouraging. we heard barack obama talk about the poor in terms of what his programs have done, our argument is neither party is really hit the issue of poverty in the way it in which it ought in terms of massive investment in jobs, education, housing. treat the poor the way we treat investment bankers. >> so you say the poor traditionally don't vote. why should they mention the poor then? they're in it to win an election, right? >> that's the point. it's not that poor people don't vote. many poor americans do vote. they don't see how the process is benefiting them, number one.

the point i was making when we talk about the middle class a moment ago, if the new poor are the former middle class we know they vote because that's who we play to on the campaign trail. and when you're middle class and you've done everything right, gone to school, you've worked at a job, and through no fault of your own, you've lost your home, you've lost that job, you've lost your 401(k), lost your savings, this ain't a black or brown issue, this is americans of all races, colors, creeds are being deonized by this process. corporate greed is impinging on the rights of too many americans. it's not just the poor, the per ren nally poor, the middle class being impacted by this and they do vote. >> final word, what would you like to hear from let's say mitt romney? >> he would have to undergo a fundamental spiritual and moral transformation. he would have to say i'm going to treat poor and working people the same way i treat investment bankers and those who are on paying capital -- >> he does. >> he's wrong.

we though that argument is unpersuasive. we want to hear barack obama say i want to treat poor and working people in the same way we treated investment bankers on wall street. both parties are tried to wall street, it's obama ends up being much better than mitt romney. >> nothing has changed since 2008? you have been on the road a long time. >> in 2008 -- >> talking about this. >> quickly in 2008 in the three debates between mccain and obama the word poor or poverty didn't come up one time. it didn't get debated four years ago. fast forward four years, one out two of americans is in or near poverty. 150 million of us are struggling with poverty in this country. that's what happens when you ignore issues that ought to be higher up on the american conversation. >> tavis, cornell, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you, carol, for having us. a so-called war on women over? at least in voters' minds. a new poll kind of makes you think so. but a new ad attacking mitt romney makes you wonder. our political buzz panel weighs in next. [ male announcer ] fighting pepperoni heartburn and pepperoni breath?

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31 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now, the city of seattle still searching for answers after a gunman kills five people in two separate shootings before taking his own life. police say a sixth victim remains in critical condition but is not expected to survive. dharun ravi the former rutgers student found guilty of spying on and intimidating his gay roommate reports to jail.

he was given a 30 day sentence, 300 hours of community service and fine of more than $11,000. a little more than an hour from now the dragon space capsule is expected to splash down in the pacific ocean. during its historic nine-day mission the spacecraft delivered food, supplies and equipment to the international space station. it's the first private space capsule to dock at that space station. political buzz is your rapid fire look at the topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock, playing is cnn contributor will cain, leans right and pete dominick who hosts a show on sirius xm radio, leans left. welcome. >> good morning, carol. >> good morning. first question, the planned parenthood action fund has endorsed president obama and has put out a romney is anti-woman ad. listen. >> mitt romney says -- >> planned parenthood going to get rid of that. >> saying he will deny women birth control and cancer screenings they depend on. when romney says --

>> do i believe supreme court should overturn row v raid wade? yes. >> he's saying he will deny women a right to make their medical decisions. >> a poll shows romney is up 13 points in personal popularity, all his gains have come among women. does this prove the war on women is over in voters' minds? pete? >> no. no, not at all. i mean, by definition if you're anti-planned parenthood you're anti-woman. if you're anti-abortion or anti-choice you should be for planned parenthood. they prevent more abortions than any other organization in the world. but mitt romney still wants to ban abortion, defend planned parenthood, get rid of lan b, cut medicaid which covers insurance for one in three pregnant women, reform medicare and that's going to hurt older women who are disproportionately poor older women two-thirds of which need this not to mention what he would do to public

education, k through 12 teachers, over 78% which are women. i have many more stats. >> i know. will? >> well, let me show you something this doesn't prove the war on women never existed, it never existed regardless of what we play or try to prove or disprove it with. it wasn't there. what this does prove women were capable of seeing the b.s. and not buying into this war on women nonsense. it's really kind of insulting when you think about it to women to suggest that they can't see the issues underlying these debates. to simplify things and say, you know, mitt romney, he doesn't want to make certain businesses provide contraception for free to its employees means he would deny access to birth control to women? or that he's opposed to planned parenthood deny them the ability to make their own medical decisions. this oversimplification is so insulting to women. >> you got a little extra time because pete did. second question, the republican vice president race is on. rob portman is on his way to

israel to meet with netanyahu and marco rubio made a trip to cuba on a solo fact-finding mission. instant international cred. the question, seriously? will? >> look, let's start with this, we'll call its sarah palin fallacy, that who is the vice presidential nominee actually matters? americans just don't look at who they're going to vote for president and say you know what, i don't really love the first guy but his backup, that's somebody i can get behind and then make their decision. the vice presidential nominee just isn't that important. you know, and the truth is, take a guy like rob portman. you know, whether or not he's visiting with netanyahu won't determine if he gets the vp nod he doesn't carry ohio. >> ouch, pete? >> i disagree with my very good friend, will cain, and his beautiful hair. americans do care. you're a heartbeat away from the president, but it is about cred and we're picking on republicans because they're running for

this. i can see rob portman in israel, right, he's going to say, king beebe will say, who are you? i'm the junior senator from ohio. why are you here? i'm here for a photo op. can you hold up this sign saying florida voters, vote for me and republican mitt romney. i mean, it's -- i don't know if it's the vp race or the amazing race. >> oh, point taken. okay. your buzzer beater, 20 seconds each. third question, fox and friends aired a four-minute ad attacking barack obama, complete with ominous music and dreary stats. >> we don't have a silver bullet when it comes to gas prices. >> exxon is making $40 billion a year and we're pay $3.50 for gas. we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices. >> the american people are demanding a solution to high gas prices. >> you've seen how quickly the price of gas is going up. >> hats off to chris. >> yeah. it looked like a romney campaign ad, but it was actually produced by fox news. even the conservative website

hot air was critical. ed morrissey writing if anyone wanted to look for evidence that the overall fox news organization intends to campaign against obama rather than cover the campaign, this video would be difficult to refute as evidence for that claim. fox management says the ad aired without their knowledge and was not approved. but the question for both of you -- is fox news mitt romney's best friend? pete? >> well, does fox news own an nfl team or a nascar team? i mean, i think they're always going to pull for the anti-obama candidate. i don't know that they're friends. but this ad, mine, carol, imagine somebody on your team producing this ad and you seeing this and running it. now the only time you know when fox is going to a commercial, is when it's like a diabetes or an erectile dysfunctionion commercial because you can't tell what's a commercial and what's fox news which is daily making americans more dumb. >> will? >> i agree with ed morrissey

totally on this. i think the natural inclination of conservatives would be, other news networks they're biased. if fox is doing something like this it's tit for tat. if you can criticize some news networks for showing bias you should cret size every news network and this does not look good into doesn't it have to be against fec or fcc rules? isn't there some legal infraction i would imagine some. >> he puts me into the legal expert box and i feel very uncomfortable. >> you look like a lawyer. i apologize. >> who has beautiful hair. >> going to law school does not give you the answers, pete. it lets you know how to find the answers. >> you're a lawyer. >> fight amongst yourselves. time is up. thanks for playing today. bruce springsteen takes a dig at bankers and stands up for the every man. what boss had to say about getting through hard times. [ female announcer ] the power to become a better investor has gone mobile.

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bruise springsteen lashes out at bankers and financiers. he pulled no punches during a concert in germany. a.j. hammer has what he said. >> yeah. well, carol, there's this report out in reuters about springsteen's appearance last night in berlin that says he was lashing out at bankers, but you know, he's actually been targeting bankers for a whilep. he kicked off a european tour for his album "wrecking ball" called his angriest album and you can see that in songs on the

album "we take care of our own" and he actually rips greedy thieves and robin barons. another song "jack of all trades" the banker man gets fatter and the working man gets thin, and he sings, it's still fat and easy on bankers hill, up on bankers hill the party's going strong, down here below, we are shackled and drawn. so yeah, carol, the boss is angry again, but he's really doing what he's always done in his music, trying to step up for the little guy. >> okay. let's talk about justin bieber. i realize e ed bruce springstee could be his grandfather. >> bieber fever is off the charts. according to bieber's manager crowds were so crazy that at a concert in oslo almost had to be canceled, carol, police were threatening to declare a state of emergency. it was a free concert yesterday in oslo and apparently it drew so many fans from all across europe to the norwegian capital

that the local authorities weren't at all prepared for what was going down. the situation, obviously, could have gotten very ugly. thankfully it did not. peace was maintained. the concert outside the norwegian opera house ended up happening and you will be able to see and feel like you're a part of all the craziness because the show was filmed for nbc, going to be broadcast as part of a special called "justin bieber believe" all around the world, and you can watch that from the comfort of your living room no crowds included on june 21st. unless you have a bunch of people over. >> i can't wait for my bid at bieber fever. >> re-enact the madness, invite over 1,000 friends. >> thank you. want everything on everything breaking in the entertainment world, a.j. has it on "showbiz tonight" at 11:00 eastern on hln. soon, you may not be able to buy the super sized slurpees and sodas. we'll tell you which city is trying to make them illegal. yep uhuh let's find you a room. at hotels.com, you'll always find the perfect hotel. cause we only do hotels.

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two american tourists kidnapped hours ago in egypt have been released. the gunmen kidnapped them this morning while they were driving through egypt's sinai region. the gunmen demanded the release of a man arrested yesterday on drug charges. it's not clear if that man was released as part of a deal with egyptian security forces. cleanup now under way in north carolina after remnants of tropical storm beryl spawned a tornado that damaged 60 homes. the national weather service says a twister touched down in the outer banks. no one hurt. despite losing strength after making landfall in florida, beryl still created powerful winds and high surf. people who say they were hurt by formaldehyde in fema trailers set up after hurricane katrina are likely to get a check. companies that made the trailers have agreed to a nearly $43 million settlement, about 60,000 people could get some of that money. fund approval might not happen until september. to a controversy brewing in new york this morning. mayor michael bloomberg wants to ban the sale of large sodas and

other sugary drinks at all city restaurants movie theaters, ballparks and other places. alina cho has more on this story. my talk back question and got a lot of reaction to it i must say. >> i'm sure. i'm sure, carol. good morning. we're talking about 20,000 establishments in new york city. it would be the first time in this country that this would happen. and it isn't the first time that mayor bloomberg has been out front on the issue of health and fighting obesity. you'll remember, that mayor mike championed the ban on smoking in restaurants, a ban on artificial transfats and now, he wants to ban sugary drinks like sodas that come in bottles or cups larger than 16 ounces. this is 20 ounces here. so this would be banned if this goes through. the ban would include all new york city restaurants, food carts, and any other establishment that receives a letter grade for food service in the city. that's something new yorkers are

very familiar with. here's a good argument why. watch. ♪ >> doesn't that look good, carol? a man drinking a tall glass of fat. if you're reading along it says drinking one can of soda a day can make you ten pounds fatter a year. don't drink yourself fat. you see the screen there. the suggestion is to drink water, seltzer, or low-fat milk instead. the ban, we should mention, would not affect diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks or alcoholic beverages and it would not apply to grocery or convenient stores. if you're boiling it all down, it appears that the ban will affect mostly places where you can actually order food. the idea, of course, being, carol, eat your calories, don't drink them. >> okay. so i'm wondering something though, alina. i mean, could this apply to some types of coffee drinks?

is our venti starbucks mocha in trouble? >> it depends. you know, we actually just got an explanner on this because i'm sure a lot of people are asking, carol, what about coffee drinks? the proposal will limit the sale of large coffee drinks with excessive sugar, if, this is a big if, if the drink is composed less than 50% milk. for example, a large coffee with several shots of caramel syrup will likely be banned while the large frozen latte with a lot of milk, probably won't. it's all a little bit confusing, which is why the mayor will be holding a news conference at noon eastern today. >> i know you'll be watching. >> i will. >> thanks so much. we asked you to weigh in on this topic, our talk back question of the day. how far should we go to fight obesity. facebook.com/carolcnn. your responses next. [ female announcer ] did you know the average person smiles

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♪ to the world she's the queen of england, a monarch celebrating 60 years on the throne. to some of the people closest to her she is a beloved grandmother. max foster has more on a side of queen elizabeth most of us will never see. >> reporter: it's normal to see royals on a walkabout but it was the queen who popularized this type of royal mingling and she knows the next generation will modernize things in their own way. elizabeth ii is keen to pass advice on to the next generation. here you see her giving tips to the duchess of cambridge on a tour of lester in central england. a royal source tells me, they have a warm relationship. but the queen didn't interfere with kate and william's wedding last year. in fact, she advised them to do

it their way. the only thing she did insist on was the uniform. she and william have always been close. >> i think it's very close. very close and he sees her very often and they discuss things. i know he loves doing that, which is quite understandable. and she's very forthcoming to them. >> has she been a mentor to him? >> yes. i think she always finds time. she will never say no, if she can't because she's busy she lets you know and you find another time. she's always there. >> reporter: harry is also close to his grand mother, during his tour of jamaica in march the younger prince spoke on behalf of all her grandchildren. >> she gins all her virtues as a leader and as a head of state with those of being a wonderful, careful, grandmother. to whom we, her grandchildren r utterly devoted. >> reporter: and the grandchildren are also close, coming together in a crisis,

such as when they went to visit prince philip when he was recovering from a heart operation in december. princess anne's daughter zara shares the queen's love of horses which keeps them close. but princesses beatrice and eugenie famous for their hats, said it best, when they revealed the queen was known to them simply as granny. max foster, cnn, london. and you can watch the celebrations marking 60 years of queen elizabeth's reign here on cnn. our coverage begins sunday morning at 11:00 eastern. we asked the furlow family to bring in their favorite dvds cause we want to show them something new. you ready? let's go. walmart can now convert your favorite dvds from disc to digital. no way. if hulk smash disc... it's no big deal. now you'll never break them, scratch them or lose them. we can use that. you'll never break them.

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we asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, how far should we go to fight obesity? this from roger, so what if new york city bans sugary drinks over 16 ounces. anyone who wants more soda will buy multiple 16 ounce drinks. this is another typical restriction of freedom. all those good intentions takes a way our right to choose, it becomes a dictatorship. from awa, i'm an african on my maiden visit to the united states. why haven't americans welcomed obesity as a way of life? if parents fail to play their role as role models then the

government should step in. facebook.com/carolcnn if you would like to continue th conversation and thanks, as always, for your comments. we got a lot of great ones today. thank you. i'm carol costello. thank you for joining me today. cnn newsroom continues with kyra phillips. >> 8:00 on the eahe -- 11:00 on east coast. a federal appeals court in boston has ruled the defense of marriage act unconstitutional. doma as it's called defines marriage as strictly heterosexual one man one woman. it denies all sorts of benefits to gay couples and that's one reason the court in boston says it cannot stand. cnn legal contributor paul callan joins me on the phone. paul, let's talk exactly about what this ruling means right now and then we'll move into what this could mean at a higher level. >> okay. let me start, kyra, by saying