>> eric: hello, i'm eric sean. welcome to brand-new hour inside america's news headquarters. >> arthel: topping the news this hour. >> eric: government forces continue their deadly crackdown. top general is assassinated. we'll get the latest from the region. >> arthel: earlier this afternoon, mitt romney wins a key conservative straw poll. but how will he do in maine tonight? we're going to get the results live shortly. having a hard time finding

service for the one you love on valentine's day? "consumer reports" has some unique high-tech solutions for you. >> eric: looking like a two-man fight in the pine tree state. you know where that is? it's maine. the results of maine's first week long caucuses just moments away. the winner can still be anyone's guess. we'll have it in amy moments. mitt romney and ron paul are the understated favorites in that state. along the nation's northeast customer, but the gop leaders are set to announce the polling tally moments from right now. molly line is live in portland, maine with the latest. romney won in 2008. but paul is really coming on strong. maybe he could pull off a stunner. bring us up to date with the latest. >> yeah. it has been a fascinating race here in maine. the state party officials are really excited about all the attention that this far northern state is getting. the race has become a dog fight. maine is really getting a lot of spotlight. they're getting a chance to

really be on the map in this election. you can see the room is packed. tons of excitement with the straw poll results being released. really any minute, they'll step up and get started. when you're talking about the candidates, romney won here in 2008. he's hoping to have another victory. a strong organization then taking 52% of the vote. he's hoping those numbers carry over and that a lot of that organizational strength remains and that he'll be able to bring in a lot of support in main. however, he did make his first visit to the pine tree state yesterday, holding a town hall meeting and so he hasn't been as active as he was in previous election years. but he has been trying to play up the new england roots that he has, that home in new hampshire. take a listen. >> i didn't expect to be doing this either. i'm a business guy. i lived in massachusetts 35, almost 40 years and love it here, love being in this beautiful place. not much snow this year. >> they're talking about his

time as governor of massachusetts. people here in maine are very familiar with his record. santorum and gingrich didn't really play here. they don't have a strong organization. they virtually bypassed the state. the other attention is essentially on ron paul and he had a very active organization here as well. this is a caucus state. his supporters like caucus states. they like that state where they can really have an impact here on the ground. we're seeing a lot of ron paul supporters. they packed a location where he spoke. it will be a fascinating thing to see the numbers come down. eric. >> eric: it will be his first. if romney win, it will president clinton his losing streak he had. molly, how critical is a win moments from now in maine for any of the three candidates? >> you're right. exactly. it would give mitt romney a bit of momentum that his campaign feels like they need to do. this is an election. they want to pick up delegates. for ron paul, this would be his first big win of the cycle.

i had a chance to speak with him earlier told. here is what he had to say. >> it will be a tremendous boost. it would be. technically it's not an all in to it because the delegates -- we're going to get delegates one way or the other, but a win gives awe lot of psychological boost and helps build momentum. >> what's really interesting about the maine caucus is there are a few thousand people that participate. there are over 200,000. well over 200,000. about 275,000 registered republican here's if the state. but only about 5500 showed up to caucus in 2008. so the numbers are small. it could have a big impact because the next nominating contest is more than two weeks away in arizona and michigan. >> eric: romney, paul, gingrich, santorum, we'll see who pull it is off. we'll get back to you thanks. >> arthel: in political fireworks, cpac conference coming to a close today in washington and conservatives from across the country choosing mitt romney as the winner of this year's cpac straw poll.

he finished with 38% of the vote. 7 points better than rick santorum. newt gingrich finished a distant third at 15%. and ron paul finished last with 12%, bringing in mr. doug mckillway live. for the last two years, paul won this thing. what do these results mean? >> could mean a couple of things. from the people i spoke with there, there was a perception that cpac, the gathering was prime rick santorum territory. rich with social conservative, eager to hear his message, fresh off his victory in three states, missouri, minnesota, and colorado. so the results, with romney in first place, santorum in second place, 7 points behind, gingrich in third lace and paul in fourth place, put the first obstacle in the momentum that santorum had been enjoying since last tuesday when he had that hat trick. secondly, the other thing it might mean is you can bet the romney team is high fiving it tonight because this straw poll

was an affirmation that romney can indeed cut it with the conservative heart and soul of the republican party. these were the faithful at this gather not guilty washington this week. romney's campaign tweeted moments ago, honored to have within the cpac straw poll. i'm heartened that so many friends here agree with me about the need for conservative change. end of tweet. many had expected sarah palin to make an endorsement in her keynote speech tonight. it happened the last thing at the convention that. did not happen. here is sarah palin. >> whoever our nominee is, we must work together to get -- so we can start. >> this is a bit of a watershed moment for romney t. may help shed that doubt among some conservatives that he is not conservative enough. >> arthel: water shed moment indeed. i've got a political panel coming up and i'm going to ask them if they think it seems like the conservatives are coalescing around romney.

where you are, you heard again and again from many speakers that you can't separate fiscal conservatism from social conservatism. what are they saying now? >> that view really came into focus at cpac this week with the criticism over the obama administration mandate over contraception. it was for all practical purpose, a financial mandate, but it had huge social implications. some people i spoke with saw mitt romney as a guy with a reputation for fiscal discipline, financial discipline with his experience at bain capital and then turning around the salt lake city olympics. they also look at his long marriage, long happy marriage apparently, his family, all those good looking kids, five kids. he doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke and we know he has not inhaled. so they see the manifestation of somebody who has lived a moral life. so perhaps he represented for cpac a combination of both of those important qualities for conservatives. >> arthel: you got to give him that.

it's handsome family. thanks a lot for that update from our nation's capitol. >> eric: turns out the republicans are not the only ones who took their message to cpac. look at hundreds of protesters. they caused a scene outside of the conservative conference last night. many were taking on republicans for giving tax breaks they said to the so-called 1%. scuffle with police reportedly resulted in no serious injuries. one woman who was arrested for assaulting a police officer. >> arthel: and the bloodshed continues on both sides in syria. now it looks like the violence is spilling over the border. 17 are dead in attacks across the country on the same day that rebels assassinated a syrian general. the killing marks the first of a high ranking military officer in the country's capitol. now it looks like the violence is spreading. world affairs correspondent dominic dinatale has this report from beirut.

>> this had been has been a great shock to the regime of assad coming as it did in the tightly controlled capitol of damascus itself. three gunmen mowed down the big dear general, according to state media and a doctor and the chief of a military hospital. the government limits foreign media access inside the country. comes 24 hours after emergency installations were -- state media saying that. state guns were used by forces again today in the opposition's focal point, activist there is say as many as 15 people died. the crisis has been felt right here where we are in neighboring lebanon. the city of tripoli, a gun fight on friday broke out between pro opposition supporters and muslims from the same sect of the regime.

you're hearing chants against the governments governments gov. it's controlled by hezbollah. said to be helping the syrian government cracking down on pro-democracy protests in syria itself. you can see from one of the banners in the distance, looking at a photo of moammar gadhafi who was killed in libya. wondering whether it's his fate. people here, lebanese and those from over the border in syria want that very much to be the fate of al assad. yet again, tension shifting. this weekend the saudis are trying to sell a new solution. but it was shut down by the russians and chinese. the saudis think they can present this to the u.n. no one is sure if it will help, let alone get the votes. >> arthel: tragic. dominic from beirut, thanks. >> eric: back home, family and friends saying farewell to the

two boys killed in that tragic and unspeakable house explosion at the hands of their father. 7-year-old charlie and five-year-old brandon were visiting their father sunday when they were killed. powell, also died in the blast and was a person of interest in the disappearance of the boys' mother, susan powell. casey stegall live in our los angeles bureau with the very latest. >> hi. absolutely heart breaking story. the pathor telling everyone today that this was not about the adults. it was not about any kind of a police investigation and it was not about assigning blame. instead, today was about celebrating the lives of two children that were cut tragically short last weekend in this story that has gripped the nation. 7-year-old charlie powell and five-year-old braden powell, eulogized by their teachers today as two boys who loved the outdoors, were thrilled to work in their mother's garden, and valued the importance of god. their remains placed in the same casket that lay adorned with flowers at the front of the life

center church outside of seattle a little earlier. while the children's choir sang "amazing grace." father of susan powell speaking briefly at this service where his wife was by his side. >> charlie and braden, we were privileged to provide support for the last 3 1/2 months. all their teachers there, social workers, the police, everyone was doing everything they possibly could to keep them safe and to help them and love them. >> the boys were living with their maternal grandparents because their father, josh powell, had lost custody of them. their visits with josh were supposed to be supervised, but the social worker tells police that charlie and braden on sunday were so excited to see their father, that they ran ahead of her when they arrived at his home and once they were inside the house, josh powell slammed the door in her face and

locked it. she called 911 and moments later, that explosion. josh powell was the sole suspect in his wife's disappearance. susan went missing two years ago. you remember in utah. josh told investigators that she vanished from their home while he had taken the boys on an overnight camping trip. her body has never been found and authorities say they have never filed any formal charges because they simply did not have enough evidence in this case. eric? >> eric: so tragic. thanks so much. fox news alert. soup collins is speaking, setting up the results of the caucus straw poll in that state. will paul win his first? will romney come back? let's listen. >> for the first time since 1966, the blane house and the

state house have been guided by our republican values. a commitment to good jobs in the private sector, a belief in the value of hard work and education and a dedication to balanced budgets and tax relief. maine now has a government that as governor la page says, puts people before politics. [ applause ] the morning after that fantastic 2010 election, the "new york times" ran a story with this headline. it said: overnight maine turns red. well, the only problem with that

wording is it did not happen overnight, as everybody here knows. it took a phenomenal amount of hard work by each and every one of you, by those who stepped forward to run for office and with the dedication of all the proud maine republicans. what a difference this has made. what governor lapage and our republican majorities have accomplished in such a short time is nothing short of extraordinary. they've enacted the largest tax cut in maine's history. [ applause ] and that includes removing 70,000 of maine's lowest income families from the tax rolls.

we've relieved the tax burden on our job creator, our small businesses. we reformed welfare programs to focus on those truly in need. we've begun to repay the long-standing debt owed to maine's hospitals. we've tackled the looming crisis in state pensions and we brought future competition to the health insurance market. our republicans in augusta did as they promised they would do. [ applause ] and american needs that same leadership in washington. so won't you please, please send two republican house members to

serve with olympia in may? [ applause ] my friends, 150 years ago in the dark days of 1862, our nation was on the brink. in that perilous time, president abraham lincoln drafted the emancipation proclamation, making it clear that the armies he led as commander in chief were the vanguard of freedom. his state of the union message that year was brief and powerful. its words came from his heart. not a teleprompter.

[ laughter ] [ applause ] >> arthel: that is republican senator susan collins addressing the crowd there, as we await the results of maine's caucuses. very exciting. today's a game of political ping-pong, i'd like to say, bringing in now to discuss what's happening, democratic national committee member debbie dingell, and phyllomesser, president of the new frontier and former director of the republican governor's association. i want to say welcome to both of you. phil, i'm going to start with you because we just got the big news there coming from cpac, romney winning there with 38% of the vote there. of course, ron paul took it twice, two years. so what is this saying to you? are you reading the tea leaves? i ask you, is this a sign that perhaps the conservatives are finally coalescing around mitt romney? >> yeah, this was a big day for

mitt romney anyway you cut it. i'm anxious to see the maine results, which we're all waiting on. cpac, there is a lot of talk in the media about the consternation and the lack of satisfaction with governor romney coming into cpac. but the reality is, look, of the 3400 votes that were cast in cpac, mitt pulled 38% today. that's a solid validation by the conservative movement that they think he's a standard bearer they can get behind. regardless almost of the results in maine where most people expect ron paul to win, this has been a good day for romney. >> arthel: i see you're behind your man. >> i think maine is important. i think maine is important. i don't want to poopoo the results. this win by romney at cpac is meaningful. >> arthel: indeed it is. i want to remind everybody that we are awaiting the results from there in maine and when we get those caucus results in, we'll bring them to you live.

meanwhile, debbie, let me talk to you. it appears that there is chaos, confusion and chaos among the conservatives. how are you guys there in the democratic side of the aisle, how are you planning to capitalize on this? >> i hear phil begin to frame maine for whatever it's going to be. there is no question that mitt romney needed this boost today to stop the rick santorum momentum. but 38% is not an overwhelming number. fox's own poll that you saw in the last couple of days showed that 49% of the republicans don't feel they've got the right candidate yet in the field. so you're going to see -- >> arthel: debbie, hang on for me. let me go back to portland, maine, where we're going to get those results announcing right now. >> maine is considered a beauty contest. maine is considered a beauty contest when it comes to

caucuses. that is to say, there is no national delegates won or bound to any presidential candidate in our caucus process. at the caucuses, we elect state delegates, election clerks and in some case, town officers. we also do -- those who participate in the caucuses to participate in a poll. this was an unofficial, nonbinding poll that you simply shows a snapshot or takes a current pulse of which presidential candidate has the most support at the participating caucuses throughout throughout the state. some caucuses decided not to participate in this poll. and will caucus after this announcement. the results will not be factored in, the actual votes will not be factored in after the fact. we will make the breakdown of the actual votes at the municipal polls available for campaigns and the press on february 13. again, this is unofficial

nonbinding poll. we will elect our national delegation from the state convention on may 5 and 6. i'm now going to announce the winner of the maine gop presidential poll. that winner is mitt romney. [ cheers and applause ] excuse me. thank you. thank you. let me go on. mitt romney received 39% of the vote. a total of 2190. ron paul received 36% of the vote. a total of 1996 votes.

santorum received 18% of the vote with 989 votes. and gingrich received 6% of the vote with 349 votes. there were 61 votes cast for others besides these four nominees. we would like to congratulate mitt romney on his win in this main caucus. [ cheers and applause ] thank you. we would also like to thank both mitt romney and ron paul for personally visiting our state and that's big deal. [ cheers and applause ] maine people were excited to cast their first vote against the obama agenda and our

activists are excited to be working with our republican presidential nominee to defeat barak obama in maine. maine people are tired of obama's extreme agenda. we owe many thanks and congratulations to our volunteers across the state who worked so diligently organizing these caucuses. these caucuses would not have been possible without their commitment to our republican principles and the commitment to supporting our political philosophy. it was one of those so many people turn out in maine to participate in this preference poll and participate in our caucus process. we are truly grassroots party and work as they started is critical to moving our party forward and winning this november. we now look forward to selecting our national delegation to the maine state commission in may. i'd like to personally thank again our activists who participated in this process, the success of this contest

proves once again that maine people, republican party is back. thousands of middle and lower income maine working people have spoken and their choice was mitt romney. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> arthel: clearly in front of a very enthusiastic mitt romney crowd there, charlie webster announcing the winner. mitt romney 39% to ron paul 36%. bringing in debbie and phil to continue this conversation about this. calling it political ping-pong. i want to get back to you, phil, because i want to know now that mitt romney has won maine, how important is maine to you now? >> i think this has been the most fascinating presidential contest. i got to tell you. this is a huge win for romney,

obviously. a lot of people thought that ron paul was going to sew this up and frankly his strategy for a while has been say, look, i can go to these caucus states and win delegates. i know he put in a noble effort. he was up there an awful long time. mitt there's a a couple of times. but this win is a huge shot in the arm for mitt romney coming on the back of the cpac nguyen, maine caucus win. this will do a lot to quiet the voices that have been complain being the trajectory of the last week of his campaign and it shows you how quickly momentum can shift in this political environment that we live in. so this is a big night for mitt. >> arthel: indeed it shifts by the day and minute, it seems like. it is exciting. debbie, let me bring you back in and let's talk about that percentage there. you got mitt romney at 39%. just 3% ahead of ron paul at 36%. you were saying that that's not really a major impresssive number as it pertains to cpac. how do you see this result here in maine? >> i think -- i love your description of ping-pong. you're absolutely right.

psychologically, this has been a very good day for mitt romney. but when you get through the psychological win of today and the boost that he needed to get from what happened last week, these numbers are not strong numbers. when you're looking at the kind of support that republicans need to have for their general election candidate, i think you're going to continue to see this ping-pong back and forth. michigan will be a critical state for mitt romney. everybody expects him to do well. but there could be some surprises even coming out of michigan. so these numbers are not overwhelming. >> arthel: debbie, let me jump in there, debbie, if you're saying the conservatives don't trust mitt romney, and you see that they're still split and not sure who they really want to back. so i ask you as i started before we went to the announcement, then what are the democrats doing to capitalize, if you will, on this confusion and chaos that's happening amongst the conservatives? >> well, first of all, you've

seen president obama despite some controversy had clearly had a good couple of weeks on the economy. i think ping-pong is a good word to use that's going to happen between democrats and republicans over the next few months. i don't think anybody -- i think this is going to be ba and forth. it's a very volatile electorate. mitt romney's position changing on global warming, immigration, you can go through a litany of issues that conservatives don't trust him on. they don't have -- >> arthel: debbie. >> they don't have an emotional attachment. >> arthel: i apologize, i have to get to our reporter in maine. i have to give phil the last word here. phil, give me 20 seconds. what do you have? >> basically in a nutshell, this reframes the way the race is going to be portrayed going out of maine. this is a big win for mitt romney. there is going to be a lot of consternation, you've heard in the last couple of weeks is going to go away. this basically shrinks the field, i think, probably to

romney and santorum. at the end of the day, ron paul didn't get done what he had to, which is to show he can win in a caucus environment. >> arthel: phil and debbie, it still ain't over yet, thank you very much for your insight. >> eric: two wins for mitt romney within two hours. getting 38% of the vote at cpac in washington and now 39% in this unofficial caucus poll in maine. let's now go back to portland, maine molly line. the reaction? >> you know you can actually hear some of it. when the big announcement was made, the former massachusetts governor mitt romney had won, thereof a big cheer. that's because a lot of romney supporters were here. ron paul was at his own event. the big cheer here if this room was for mitt romney who did garner the majority of the votes here. 39%. over 2,000 people voting for mitt romney.

36% for ron paul. he had just under 2,000 people voting for him. santorum garnered 18%. gingrich, 6%. the state party, the major statement they made today was that this is a record breaker for them as far as caucus turnout was concerned that they had more towns caucus, more people caucusing and the knoll spotlight. it's been a real dog fight up until this point. it really put maine on the map. this was their chance to shine. they had a close dog fight of a race. they said this would come down to romney and paul facing off and we see how close the numbers are. these numbers might linger in the minds of the public because we've got another two weeks to go before the next votes are cast and the next contests held in arizona and michigan. the tiny little state where just over 5,500 people participated in these caucuses, may have a big impact tonight. eric? >> eric: kind of a booster shot for romney who suffered from the three losses that santorum won. the tea party, very strong in that state, helped put governor

lapage in office and what's interesting with these numbers is that ron paul actually doubled the numbers he got in 2008. he garnered 18% back then. he's up to 36% now. and yet it seems a strong tea party state has lined up behind romney. significance in that? >> fascinating stuff. big cheer went whup it was announced ron paul got 36% of the vote that. number, that increase in support, they're acknowledging that. for the crowd that supported ron paul, they're excited about these numbers and feel like this is great for him going forward. he's been talking about picking up delegates on the trail and potentially his goal is competing hard in these caucus states. we've seen a lot of ron paul supporters. he's clearly continuing to work hard and they seem very happy with this close finish. they're not giving up the bragging rights so quickly. >> eric: allall right. molly, terrific. we are awaiting ron paul who is

stepping up to the podium. here he is, ron paul, with his reaction. no. we have lost that transmission at the moment. we'll get back to it as soon as we can. many people thought that ron paul would win in maine. there he is about to speak momentarily about the very first place he garnered 36%. >> the revolution is only beginning. [ cheers and applause ] we have a ways to go. i do want to recognize the staff and all of you, all the volunteers and all the work that's been done. it's been fantastic. thank you very much. it encourages me because it's an important issue. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] i have one slightly discouraging announcement. i wished all the caucus had met today. [ cheers and applause ] because i was disappointed.

there was one caucus that i think we would have done very, very well. we lost by -- >> eric: we're having technical issues with ron paul as he was leaking to the second place finish that surprised some in the political arena. mitt romney again got 39% to paul's 36%. the race moves on and continues. the next contest at the end of the month -- >> arthel: february 28 in arizona and michigan. >> eric: it goes on and on. >> arthel: it's a big deal, especially for mitt romney as there is talk that the conservatives are not getting behind him. now he has a great narrative to carry throughout the next couple of weeks until we get to february 28, which is a big deal because as you said, you called it a booster shot. it's what romney needed. but again, we're waiting for perhaps we'll get that shot back from ron paul. but i want to bring you up to speed of what's happening here. the big sinus mitt romney is the win there are in the maine caucuses, getting 39% of the

vote to ron paul's 36%. again, as eric pointed out, four years ago, ron paul got 18%. so even though he lost by close 3%, in fact, let me get back to portland, maine, we're going to listen to see what ron -- no, we don't have it. it's a big deal because even though romney won 39% to paul's 36%, it's still a big deal because ron paul doubled numbers are four years ago. you just heard paul intimate he wished he could have waited the results from one of the other municipalities there because he feels like he would have had a strong showing there. we will take a break, right, guys? okay. we're going to wait. ron paul. in the meantime, we do have other news. i'm very curious about this report because you're talking about high credit card interest rates. >> eric: the economy has been so big in this race.

interest rates have had a split personality recently. for mortgage and car loan, they've been going down. if you look at your credit card statement, it's been going up. up to double digits. why do the credit cards we carry in our waltz, why are they so high when it seems other things are dropping? we have an expert talking about that right now. michael see more is joining us, president of uni private well strategies. thank you for joining us. how can we cut our credit card debt? how come those number aren't dropping like the others? >> you know, this is one topic that frosts my windshield probably more than any other. this is something that, to me, is just flat out abuse of the american people. if you remember tarp, wasn't that long ago, 2008-2009, we bailed out these companies. we bailed out the discover financial with a billion dollars at 5%. we bailed out american express with $3 billion at 5%.

since that time, the value of these companies based on their stock market capitalization has gone up more than 500%. so clearly there is a disconnect here between how much money these companies are allowed to make and make it off the backs of what they charge us. >> eric: then why do they keep them as high as they are? this is tied to the prime rate? n it is peg to do the prime rate. but then you have what's called their margin, which is what they use. it's a number out there that they throw on there to compensate them for the quote unquote, risk that they have to take to do this. remember, there is all kinds of stacking the deck here. they say that our rates are tied to prime, which is 3 and a quarter, which has been that for quite some time. but they can borrow whatever they want from the federal reserve discount window at 0.75%.

so they've got a little spread built in right there. >> eric: so they're making a lot of money on us, then. >> clearly. they say they got it stacked anywhere from 7, 8, 9% on top of that prime rate. look at it this way, if they weren't taking care of risk, how did the value of these companies go up 500% in three years? >> eric: how do we got the -- is it possible to get the rates down at all? i've got something in the mail this morning. you always get those fake checks, whatever they are at 0%. i'm reading the thing. it says, i can write this check to pay off my credit card balance at 0%. then i look at it. it says there's a $5 fee. not much. or 2%. let's say you got 1,000 bucks, you're paying 20 bucks to try to pay off something that they say allegedly is free. is all this stuff worth it? how do we get our rates down and how do we make it beneficial for us?

>> eric, you have to be mathematical. this is one thing that for your viewers out there, i have battled these companies personally myself on behalf of my clients and for myself. number one, balance transfers can be great if you qualify for them, they send them to you. but like you said, look at the numbers. most balance transfers, the average is only about ten months until that 0 or 1 or 2% goes away. be aware of what it goes up to. one thing that i urge everybody to do, 'cause there is many people that don't qualify for balance transfers and they don't get the checks, eric, that they can write because the economy hurt these people. call your credit card companies and beat them up. we bailed them out. don't be ashamed. don't be afraid to make the call. most of these credit card companies don't want you to know they have workout programs. they have lower rates. if you don't like what they tell you the first time, call back a

week later, call back a week after that. but you can absolutely do something about it with the company you're with. >> eric: michael, that is great advice that actually you can ask them to lower your rate potentially and that will be -- that would help a lot of people. michael, thank you. great advice. pay off those credit cards. >> thank you. >> arthel: coming up, our nation he honors a hero for bravery on the battlefield. marine sergeant earns one of our country's highest military decorations. his incredible story is coming after the break. ♪

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between taking insulin, of ttesting my blood sugar. is this part of your life? freestyle lite test strips? why, are they any beep! wow, that hardly needs any blood! yeah. and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? yep, which is great for people who use insulin and test a lot. max and i are gonna run out and get some right now. or you can call or click today and get strips and a meter fr. test easy. >> eric: iran is making a shocking nuclear announcement as the country celebrate has major

milestone. ahmadinejab says very soon this country will have some big news on the nation's disputed nuclear program. the state news agency denies it has anything to do with nuclear weapon, it's doing very little to calm iran's neighbors. peter doocy has the latest. >> on saturday in tehran's assady square, about 30,000 iranians got together to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the islamic revolution. when their president, ahmadinejab, addressed the crowd, standing atop a replica of the american drone that crashed in his country late last year, he said that within the next few days, the world will witness the inauguration of several big new achievements in the nuclear field. you might think that means weapons, but iran's official news agency, irna, insists that the big reveal will deal with scientific application of nuclear know how to the betterment of life standard and augmenting level of food and agriculture production. less than a week ago on monday,

the united states laid out new sanctions on iran and on thursday, the state department explained iran's intentions like this. >> they are living in a state with a government that would rather spend money on a nuclear weapons program than on the welfare of its people. >> as things heed up in iran, the pentagon is readying 20 of its 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs. they asked for and received $81 million in reallocated money from congress for urgent upgrades to the massive ordinance penetrators. the air force's chief of staff says the orders for the weapons have nothing to do with what's happening in iran and it is worth pointing out that the underground facility where iran says it's enriching uranium is believed to be out of a bunker buster's range. eric? >> eric: wow. peter doocy reporting from washington. we'll have a lot more about this tomorrow on america's news headquarters at 11 a.m rudy guiliani will be here to talk iran, the assassination of the nuclear scientists, and what

the world can do next. rudy guiliani here 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. >> arthel: sounds good. i'll check that out. so you like a daily cup of joe? >> eric: a few. >> arthel: a new way to get your daily fix of caffeine. instead of drinking it, inhale it. what? the brain child of a harvard professor, the little inhaler is sparking a big controversy. annan has more. i don't drink it. i inhale it? >> there you go. the controversial new caffeine inhaler is called aero shot. it has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. the professor who created it is defending it among criticisms it will become the next club drug, similar to mixing potent energy drinks with excessive alcohol. >> that's why we have on the package consume three aero shots maximum a day. like all energy products we have labels that are advising

intelligent use. >> dr. edwards says his product is intend for athlete, travelers and 9 to 5:00 o'clock looking for an instant energy boost and argues that his packaging contains warnings not to take more than three doses each day. but critics like new york senator charles human railroad concerned inhaling a shot of caffeine can be too fast and easy. >> if this were something that you were tired, you would take shot of it at your office desk, it's one thing. but if kids are going to take ten, 20 doses while at a party and it's going to make them drink dangerous levels of alcohol, that's another. >> senator schumer led the push to ban the highly concentrated caffeine and alcoholic drink 4 loco. he asked the food and drug administration to research the product before it is widely on the mark here in the united states. the f.d.a. has not yet responded to the senator. but in a statement, they said this: we will consider whether a violation of the federal food, drug ask cosmetic act coward and if so, whether regulatory action

is warranted. health experts say too much caffeine can cause increased heart rate, dehydration. it runs 3 bucks a dose and can be found in a few places. we checked this morning and had t had the effect like a cup of coffee. >> arthel: you do it responsibly, but i can see the concern of it getting into the hands of young folks and they overdose it. i remember going to a pulmonary specialist and i had to take a puff of whatever they give as mathics and i had to wait -- i'm waiting in the office for this thing to take effect. i kid you not, i opened the door to the nurse, i said, get me out of here or i'm jumping out of the second floor window. i can't take it. so it could be too much, is the. >> you're right. >> arthel: thank you very much. >> thank you. >> eric: the u.s. marine earning the silver star, the nation's third highest military decoration for heroism in afghanistan.

he is sergeant philip mccullough, junior, being recognized for amazing bravery doing a six-hour battle with the taliban last year. the enemy surrounded his unit, firing from all sides and the sergeant leading his squad in the counter attack, take a look at this very special ceremony today. >> after six hours of fighting and himself wounded in the leg, he returned. by his bold leadership, judgment and dedication, sergeant mccullly upheld the highest tradition of the marine corps and united states naval service. >> eric: he says he systems it on behalf of all fallen warrior, quote, he says, for my brothers who aren't here anymore. arthel? >> arthel: indeed. valentine's day is almost here and i'm told you're supposed to scrap the flowers and candy. we've got gifts for that special person in your life, going high-tech. "consumer reports" joins us with

some great gift giving ideas. here is a sample coming up next. . i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian, and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to help keep bones strong and 10 grams of protein thelp maintain muscle. and our great taste is guaranteed your money . learn more at boost.com. [ dad ] i choose great taste. i choose boost. 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,

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>> arthel: valentine's day right around the corner and the rush is on to find the perfect gift for the techy in your life. >> eric: the latest issue of "consumer reports" has some great ideas for gadgets that will keep their romance alive all year round.

carol is the associate web editor for "consumer reports" and has a list here. hi. >> arthel: i got to tell you, a lot of techies out there. let's start with this first gift you have here of the the samsung blu-ray disk player for $120. >> that's right. very romantic. the reason we picked this, first of all, the products that we picked are tested and rated by our labs and we liked them all. so that's one of the reasons we wicked them. this not only plays blu-ray disk, but you can access netflix and blockbuster, so you can stream movies. you can get movies off your computer so you never have to leave your house. >> arthel: suddenly i'm changing my mind. my heart is going. this next one really might get me going. >> this is the apple ipad 2, which is pretty much the rolls royse of tablet computers. it's the best one. it's our highest rated. it has a beautiful screen, very touch sensitive and you can assess the multi media, like the love poetry we're showing right

now. >> arthel: $730. and the droid raiser. >> it's a hot phone right now. the thinnest smart phone out there, it's light, it works on 4 g. and it actually comes in purple now, which i thought was kind of sexy. >> arthel: i'm sorry. that's my favorite color. keep going. >> and this is the nikona really, really nice camera. it comes in red. i was into the colors of these. 12 mega pixels and 12 x zoom. >> arthel: it's $199. >> right. this is $200. >> arthel: for $100? >> this is the nook simple touch e reader. it's our top rated e reader. is purr passed the -- surpassed the confirmedle. that's -- kindle. our idea is to download some romantic books and give it to

your loved one. >> arthel: that sounds good. >> eric: that's the nook? >> that's the nook. >> eric: i vote for that. i still like flowers and chocolate and strawberry covered covered -- >> arthel: carol, thank you very much for bringing all the tech gift there is. listen, that will do it for us. i'm arthel neville. i'm here with eric shawn. don't go anywhere because we have a lot more to come. harris faulkner is up next and has the fox report. >> eric: more coming up on the fox news channel. look, every day we're using more and more energy. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet?

natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪

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