ericson studies the amount and impact of plastic debris in the ocean.uccessfully fishing the surface, we wondered what might be below. out here the water looks very clear, but you never know what's lying underneath. the bags we found do more than just litter the ocean floor. this is the marine mammal center. its staff and volunteers rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured animals. >> he's not very responsive. he'll get an initial assessment. >> reporter: dr. bill van bond is director of veterinary science. >> whales, sea lions, dolphins, in my personal experience, i've seen all three of those animals with bags in them. >> reporter: if a marine mammal swallows a plastic bag can it kill the animal? >> it could. it could. but i think the bigger concern is the unseen effects of these materials. >> as those plastic bags migrate out the deep ocean, they fragment very quickly. one plastic bag can turn into 10,000 particles the size of fish food. >> reporter: ericson has traveled to remote locations on rotating ocean currents known as gyres have trapped debris

. >> thanks, catherine, sony's ten-year partnership with ericson, sony is looking to gain control of swedish electronicsmaker ericsson to beef up mobile phone operations as competition heats up worldwide. sources say sony is in talks with its swedish partner. the japanese firm aims to take over the gent venture to make it a wholly owned group company or boost its shareholding. sony ericsson mobile communications was set up ten years ago as a 50/50 partnership. it sells cell phones and markets around the world. through an effective buyout of the joint enterprise, sony aims to boost its mobile phone operations and speed up decision making. >>> in other news, the eu has begun discussing efforts to boost the capital of european commercial banks. the measures may include the injection of public money. german chancellor angela merkel added that europe should not hesitate to recapitalize its banks if it prevents greater economic damage. concerns are rising in europe that falling bond prices of not only debt-ridden greece but also of italy and spain may have a negative impact on the regional

. >> officials say carla chambers, hillary neiman and teresa ericson preyed on unwitting surrogates forborn babies to the highest bidder. here's how it worked. chambers arranged for surrogates to be impregnated with donated embryos. neiman preyed on desperate parents. eriksson falsified documents in san diego superior court to close the transaction. special agenting in charge keith slaughter. >> trafficking in human life without having a parent ahead of time is really i think quite troubling. it crosses that line i think from the surrogate adoption type world to simply dealing with children as commodities. >> reporter: officials say they pocketed millions from their scheme which produced about a dozen babies. authorities say there could be more. all three women who ran the ring refused cnn's repeated requests for comment and they pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. they face a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. law enforcement officials say in exchange for their guilty pleas, they're recommending home detention for the three women instead of serving

let's dig deeper on the christie side with our cnn contributors eric ericson and donna brazile and "the york times" national political correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, to you first, it's a tough one to track. they're all being tight. they're saying the governor spoke to his wife over the weekend. i was told it will happen this week unless something crazy happens, and it could happen as early as wednesday. consistent with your reporting? >> we're hearing the same thing. i think time is actually running out for him. i mean, south carolina moved up the date of its primary because florida moved up the date of its primary. we're talking some 85 days away perhaps until the iowa caucuses. it's very hard to put this together. it's not any 85 days we're talking. debates between now and then. herman cain was right. there are some issues that if conservatives looked at him with a little sharper magnifying glass i think they wouldn't be necessarily as pleased in this. surely he has been taking the lesson from rick perry as well. tough to do this at this point. some republicans say, oh, it's the sam

of mostly white conservatives, tea party members, who according to conservative commentator eric ericsonrter: and cain's skin color gives him cover to say things that the whites and other gop candidates don't dare say. >> i don't think racism in the country today holds anybody back in a big way. >> reporter: imagine a white person, let alone another gop candidate, uttering or even insinuating the same thing. >> what herman cain said made bigoted statements. >> i think he gets a pass largely because he's a black conservative and can say what black conservatives can say the same way a black person could say or any white person could say. their experience in the united states. >> reporter: and experience that cain believes he's more in tune with than a black man whose job he wants. >> he's never been part of the black experience in america. i can talk about that. i can talk about what it's meant to be poor before i was poor. >> reporter: four years later, like candidate obama, candidate cain. by chance or design, has landed on america's