. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" with christine romans starts right now. >>> a three-day weekend washout, tropical storm beryl making landfall while you slept, dumping heavy rain and with it dangerous surf in the southeast. >>> unthinkable carnage in syria, dozens of women and children slaughtered, a weekend massacre triggering shock around the world. will that shock lead to military action from the u.s.? >>> plus paying tribute to the nation's fallen warriors memorial day, general martin dempsey joins me live. >>> the catholic church trying to solve vati-leaks, did the pope's butler really do it? it's memorial day monday, may 28th. "starting point" begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good morning our "starting point" today, tropical storm beryl washing away holiday plans in northern florida and georgia. it made landfall overnight with drenching rains and driving winds. the hurricane force winds have died down a bit but the beryl will be a super soaker as they call it. rob mar

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ali velshi. glasses. i'm just saying, you never know. i'm brooke baldwin sitting in for zoraida sambolin and our starting point, broken nose, black eyes, george zimmerman's medical report, is it possibly proof he was attacked or that trayvon martin was fighting for his own life. >> we'll look that with a live report. >>> also, air sick. the pentagon now putting restrictions on the most sophisticated, the most stealth expensive fighter jets ever. i'm talking $400 million a plane here for the health and safety of its pilots. is that going far enough? >>> also looser guidelines for diagnosing addiction. listen to this, 40% of college students are alcoholics. 40%. will this help?

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> good to have you with us.aking news. >> we are following that breaking news for you. u.s. embassy in egypt working right now to try to free two u.s. tourists kidnapped at gun point in the town of dahab in sight night regithe sinai regio. they are demanding that a man who was arrested on drug charges be released in exchange for the americans. >> reporter: armed gunmen have kidnapped two american tourists. according to egyptian interior ministry officials, local officials as well as representatives of egyptian intelligence are in direct contact with the kidnappers. the kidnappers are saying that they want the release of one of their tribe members, who was arrested with a large amount of marijuana to be released in exchange for those two american tourists. they say they are in constant and direct contact with egyptian officials to resolve this situation as quickly as possible. the sinai peninsula has been an area where law and order, security and stability have largely deteriorated since the overthrow of hosni mu

let's get to zoraida sambolin for today's headlines. >>> he is has confessed to killing etan patz.olice in camden, new jersey, in the 1980s but nothing came of. according to the relative he admitted killing a boy in new york and dumping the body in the trash. he says police apparently didn't believe the story. hernandez is in a new york hospital on suicide watch await ago psychiatric exam to determine if he is competent to stand trial for murder. >>> lady gaga canceling a concert in indonesia because of islamic threats. the police refused to issue permits for the show after a group threatened violence in lady gaga performed bawling her a devil worshiper. talks are being held to tone down the show but gaga people said she refused to budge. more than 50,000 tickets had been sold for that event. >>> a major milestone in the recovery of a georgia woman battling a flesh eating bacteria. 24-year-old aimee copeland spoke her first words in nearly a month. yesterday, she is also breathing now on her own. her family has called the special day aimee day. you'll remember, copeland has had her

i'm zoraida sambolin, i'm ashleigh banfield.alling for all gays and lesbians to be locked up behind an electric fence. he was greeted by a standing ovation. >> outside the providence road baptist church a different kind of standing ovation. there it is on your screen. hundreds of people from across north carolina and the country gathering to protest pastor charles worley's message. so far the pastor has refused to speak to reporters. cnn's gary tuchman went to north carolina to ask him if he still stands behind that sermon. >> reporter: ever since pastor charles worley made his infamous speech and it went viral, we wanted to get a chance to talk to him to see if he was sorry for what he said and the tone. he dodged the press. we made an effort to find 4i78 and we did. we haven't seen nor heard from pastor worley since his antigay sermon went viral until now. pastor, would you like to take back anything you said? pastor, i want to give you a chance to take anything back if you care to. pastor worley had plenty of opportunity to a

i'm zoraida sambolin.appening at half past the hour. a man hunt on in mississippi. police say a killer may be posing as a fake cop, pulling people over, and shooting them dead. police are urging drivers to keep going if they see flashing lights behind them and to also dial 911 at the same time. >> that is incredible. >> it really is. >> this is not what you think about when police are behind you. >>> john edwards' defense team trying to convince jurors that nearly $1 million trying to cover up his affair constituted gifts, not illegal campaign contributions. lara haggard, a former chief financial officer for the edwards' presidential campaign in 2008 yesterday testified that she never considered the money to be a campaign contribution and never felt the need to report it to the federal election commission. >>> we're also following breaking news for you. we have just learned that former news international ceo rebecca brooks will face criminal charges for her role in the u.k. phone hacking scandal. she is ac

. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. up first, boldly going where no private spacecraft has gone before. >> zero and launch of the spacex falcon 9 rocket as nasa turns to the private secretary tore resupply the international space station. >> what a sight, huh? it happened not too long ago, a rocket built by the commercial space flight company, spacex blasted off an hour ago from cape canaveral, launched the unmanned dragon capsule to the international space station. the world's first commercial space station supply flight. nasa hanging its hopes on the mission now that the retired space shuttles are museum exhibits. john zerella is live in miami. i was watching you as it went into space. no glitches this time, right? >> reporter: no glitches, this is huge. you cannot understate how important this launch is. it paves the way for a whole new era in space flight. the white house releasing a statement saying it represents the potential for new era in american space flight. only four nations in the world have the capability

i'm zoraida sambolin. let's get started. >>> tropical storm beryl making landfall in northeastern florida near jacksonville beach. it's packing a wallop, 70-mile-per-hour winds, torrential rain, more than 24,000 people without power this morning in the area. take a look at the pictures on your screen. that shows you the wind. the wind warnings, storm warnings all up along the atlantic coast from florida to georgia to the carolinas, putting a severe dent in a lot of the memorial day festivities. rob marciano has been pretty much up all night in the severe weather center watching all of this. things getting better tleels for now? >> well, the wind has died down but the rain is still coming. this event is far from over. at one point winds at 70 miles an hour, almost a hurricane. and some could argue that it was a minimal category 1 hurricane when it made landfall. here it is on the radar scope. just reading the latest from the national hurricane center, their 5:00 a.m. advisory, winds now down to 50 miles an

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> just hate when that happens. just ruins your morning, doesn't it? good morning, everybody. zoraida and i are here to bring you the news from "a" to "z." it's 5:00 in the a.m. let's get started. >>> first, donald trump sucking the air out of the whole evening, stealing mitt romney's thunder after last night's texas primary victory. romney now has more than enough delegates to clinch the republican nomination, but not everyone is talking about that this morning. instead, it seems to be all about the trump and barack obama's birth certificate again. the donald campaigning with romney in las vegas yesterday, reviving that old debate over whether the president has born in this country. let's just say he was. it's been proven. but it's triggered this spirited exchange with wolf blitzer in the situation room yesterday. >> a lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate. >> how can you say that -- >> many people do not think it was authentic. his mother was not in the hospital. there are many other things that came out. and frankly, if you would

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm ali velshi. ashleigh banfield is on assignment. did you sleep well last night? >> i slept wonderful. >> at least one of us did. >> we certainly hope you slept well. frenzy over the facebook ipo. exactly how much it will cost you to get a piece of the social network when it goes public. there's so much interest that facebook is boosting the amount of shares it will offer to the public. the eight-year-old company could be worth more than mcdonald's by happy hour tomorrow night. we'll keep you here as well, ali. let's bring in christine romans. >> of course. >> it's very interesting. let's get to it. >> institutional investors, windows has closed for them to say they want to get in. those are the big guys. the little guys are waiting to find out what the ipo price will be and put in your limit orders. that's what i keep advocating. what price do you think you want to pay for facebook stock when it starts trading under the ticker symbol fb? one reason there's so much hype aroun

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm ashleigh banfield.planning to demonstrate outside a north carolina church this saturday. why? because the pastor of that church called for gay and lesbians to be held behind an electric fence until they die out. this is not a joke. it was a mother's day sermon. >> a great, big, large fence, 150 or 100-mile long. put all the lesbians in there. fly over and drop some food. do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. and have that fence electrified so they can't get out. feed them and -- you know what? in a few years, they'll die out. >> i think we tried that once, america, japanese interment camps. didn't turn out so well. among worley's florks there seem to be a lot standing by him. gary? >> reporter: a prayer service was held at this north carolina church. hundreds of people turning out, supporting their pastor and supporting the comments he made on mother's day. we want to talk to pastor charles worley. we have been here for a couple of days to do that. he refused to do so. we've been told,

i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from "a" to "z." it's 6:00 a.m.eo surfaces of an american hostage kidnapped by al qaeda in pakistan. warren weinstein is begging president obama to agree to a list of kidnaper demands or he says he will be killed. >> look, i am vice president of the united states of america. the president sets the policy. i am -- >> vice president joe biden is hinting that the white house view of same-sex marriage could actually be evolving. all this has key vote comes in the matter in a battle ground state. >>> selling social media. facebook founder mark zuckerberg hits the road to impress investors ahead of his company's highly anticipated initial public offering. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> we begin with breaking news this morning. american hostage warr ren weinstein is alive. al qaeda releasing a video of the 70-year-old maryland man begging president obama to agree to his kidnappers' demand or else he'll be killed. weinstein was abducted last august in pakistan. here is part of the video that the militants just posted onl

i'm zoraida sambolin.atter of hours we will know how much it will cost you to own a piece of facebook. it is expected to be as high as $38 a share. >> a repaare flesh-eating bacte strikes another victim, a mother diagnosed days after giving birth to twins. this comes after doctors fight to save a georgia grad student. >> disgraced former senator john edwards, the defense rested its case yesterday. edwards and his daughter, kate, were not called to testify. neither was rielle hunter, edwards' former mistress. edwards faces up to 30 years behind bars for allegedly use ing $1 million of illegal campaign contributions for covering up the affair with hunter. >>> christine romans is with me now. these are our reasons why you should or shouldn't buy facebook. bear with me for a second for the big reason. the second transformation of the internet. those of you old enough to remember those disks you used to get for aol, take them home, dial up compuserve. it gave you all this information that you didn't have somewh

i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin.o "z." >>> up first, the longest serving republican in the united states senate, probably out looking for another job this morning. he is indiana's richard lugar. you recognize him. he was recognize him. he was sent straight into retirement after losing a republican primary battle last night against a backer of the tea party. lugar served six terms in the senate. and if you do the math, that is 36 years. cnn's political editor paul steinhauser is live in washington. this is one everyone was watching. it's not like it wasn't expected. polls going in show he was in big, big trouble, but does it speak bigger volumes about where this electorate is at right now? >> yes, especially the republican electorate. this party has become more conservative over the last couple of years and this is a sign of it. and richard lugar, i guess, didn't change with the times. tea party groups in indiana have been targeting him for two years now and got a lot of support over the last year or two from the larg

. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 5:00 a.m. >> president obama hopping off the fence, folks, and right into the political frying pan. all of this with the historic endorsement of same-sex marriage. no sitting president has ever done what barack obama did yesterday during an interview with abc news. here are the words that touched off millions of lives across the country and may have just redefined the race for the white house. >> i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> pretty strong words. pretty clear, too. dan lothian is live in washington, d.c. with us this morning. it took a long time for the president to evolve to this position. but why now? and why this way? >> that's right. well, the president had been under a lot of pressure to really state his position on this. and some top members of his administration over the last few days had come out and made their positions clear. and so the president finally came around on this after almost two years. he said after talking to his friends, his da

zoraida sambolin has an update on what's happening in that manhunt, the two sisters have been found alive and unharmed. zoraida, good morning. >> absolutely that manhunt finally over, the two missing sisters found alive and physically unharmed. the accused kidnaper is dead. fugitive adam mayes shot himself in the head after a suite team tracked him down in union county, mississippi. the fbi had just put mayes on their ten most wanted list. he was charged with kidnapping the two girls after murdering their mother, jo ann bain and older sister, 14-year-old adrienne. mayes was a family friend of the bain's and a relative says he believed he was the girl's biological father. cnn's george haul is live in atlanta with more details for us. okay we're going to mind your business instead this morning. u.s. stock futures are down right now, indicating markets here are expected to open lower this morning. lots of uncertainty in the markets this week over instability in greece and overall concerns about growth of the economy. one stock taking a beating overnight, morgan chase, did you hear about that

i am zoraida sambolin. >> i am ali velshi. it's 5:00 a.m.

i'm ali velshi. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. >> ali walks up at 4:00 a.m.ldwin, in for soledad o'brien, my final day. ticker symbol fb, it is facebook friday, the day the social network becomes a publicly traded company. millions hoping the price is right for them to get in on it. >>> did he take the money and run? senator is saying eduardo savran cheated the u.s. out of hundreds of millions in taxes. >>> his head bleeding, nose busted up, getting a first look at to what george zimmerman appeared like after he shot and killed strf of interest and martin's surprise autopsy report. >>> new details into the fight to get back the only american soldier ever to be taken alive by the taliban, including the terror group saying it's been waiting years to "hunt down such an important bird." that's how they describe bowebebow bowe bergdahl. good to see you. our "starting point" po

i'm ali velshi. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. >> ali walks up at 4:00 a.m.ldwin, in for soledad o'brien, my final day. ticker symbol fb, it is facebook friday, the day the social network becomes a publicly traded company. millions hoping the price is right for them to get in on it. >>> did he take the money and run? senator is saying eduardo savran cheated the u.s. out

. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 5:00 a.m. >> hard to talk at this hour. >> we start with this. new details about how the cia stopped an al qaeda plot to blow a passenger jet out of the sky. all of this right around the anniversary of osama bin laden's death. we've got new fears about whether that bomb just might have been undetectible. senior administration officials telling cnn that the intended user of the bomb is, quote, not a threat anymore. u.s. counterterrorism official says the explosive device is similar to the one that was used by the so-called underwear bomber back on christmas day of 2009. only this time, more sophisticated and harder to detect. barbara starr is live at the pentagon this morning. what do we know about the bomb itself and about how this all unfolded? >> well, very little detail being made public at this point, ashleigh because officials say operations intelligence operations are still ongoing. clearly, pointing to the fact they still feel there are elements of whatever this organization is that was behind this throughout. and they believe it is al qae

zoraida sambolin is off.bizarre story, hard way to die and a strange twist in the case, a woman plunges 1,000 feet in a hang gliding evidence and evidence in the instructor's stomach. >>> a widow who unleash eed wil animals on the town. >> a human rights hero in the diplomatic firestorm between the united states and china. secretary hillary clinton and officials say he's free to study abroad. he says he wants to come to the u.s. and interrupted a capitol hill hearing yesterday to request a meeting with our secretary of state. >> translator: i want to meet with the secretary clinton. i hope i can get more help from her. the thing i'm most concerned right now is the safety of my mother, my brothers, and i really want to know what's going on with them. >> secretary clinton is going to wrap up her visit to china this morning. we'll monitor that news conference and bring you her comments later on in the broadcast. >>> new details in the death of future nfl hall of famer junior seau and his painful, final moments a

welcome to "early start," i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ali velshi, in for ashleigh banfield. i said lighting really changes a place. it looks yellow. >> it was painted. >> i had no idea it was painted. it's all new. that's our beautiful new studio. what a pleasure to work with you. >> i'm so excited to have you here. you are wired, dude, you are wired. >> that's okay because there's lots of news this morning. >> up first this morning, heads about to roll. at jp morgan chase. according to bloomberg, the firm's entire london staff could be dismissed. the banking giant also expected to accept the resignation of this woman, ina drew. pulling down a salary of over $15 million a year. drew and two other company executives being held accountable for a stunning $2 billion loss. ceo jamie dimon doing damage control on sunday talk shows is. >> it was a stupid thing that, you know, we should never have done but we're still going to earn a lot of money this quarter. it isn't like this company is jeopardized. we hurt ourselves and credibility, yes, that we have to fully expect and pay the

. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin.d fugitive list. well this morning, it turns out that adam mayes is dead. the dramatic and abrupt end as cops closed in on him in tennessee. that murder/kidnapping suspect, we'll tell you what happened. >>> plus it was the biggest art heist ever, the hunt for $500 million worth of art stolen from a museum 22 years ago. right now, federal agents are all over the home of a reputed connecticut mobster. we'll tell you what they found so far. >>> also was presidential candidate mitt romney a bully? he's now responding to allegations he harassed a prep school classmate who later came out as gay. his adviser from the campaign will join us live. it's friday, may 11th and "starting point" begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> welcome, everybody. our starting point is with headlines. zoraida sambolin has an update on what's happening in that manhunt, the two sisters have been found alive and unharmed. zoraida, good morning. >> absolutely that

. >>> welcome back to "early start," i'm zoraida sambolin.t half past the hour. al qaeda releasing a video of u.s. hostage warren weinstein, begging president obama to agree to his kidnappers demands or else he will be killed. weinstein was abducted last august in pakistan. >>> two bodies found in the home of a man suspected in the kidnapping have still not been publicly identified. the fbi is not saying much about the search for a missing mother from tennessee. and her three young daughters who disappeared more than a week ago now. >>> and the facebook frenzy is building, from wall street to main street. everyone's buzzing about the social networking firm finally going public one week from friday. this morning, the company is kicking off its big road show with facebook's top management meeting with big potential investors. ashleigh? >> thanks, zoraida. 31 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. >>> an autopsy will be performed on the body of a man found murdered in a barn at churchill downs. louisville said he had been in some kind of altercati

. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 5:00 a.m. >> hard to talk at this hour. >> we start with

i'm zoraida sambolin. here's what's happening.t in support of same-sex marriage. it's a very risky political move, some say. conservative christians are outraged. and the president could face a backlash from african-americans and latinos. >>> a pair of powerful explosions in the syrian capital of damascus. during the morning rush hour. 40 people killed. 170 are wounded. the syrian government says it was the worst work of terrorists. it was the work of terrorists, that is. >>> and two california police officers are ordered to stand trial after being caught on camera beating a mentally ill homeless man to death. ashleigh? >> zoraida, thank you. >>> this morning, a brand new era in american history as president obama becomes the first president ever to support sa same-sex marriage. he made the statement in an interview with abc. >> i've just concluded th ed thr me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> and while the nation is nearly evenly split on thi

zoraida sambolin is on assignment today. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's get you started. >>> it could be a day that brings a brand new era in the middle east, but we're not sure what kind of era it's going to be because this is election day in egypt. millions of people going to the polls for a historic vote. their first chance to cast a free vote for a leader in that country in its 5,000 years of existence. this is what they fought for last year in tahrir square. remember these images, the people toppling their leader, hosni mubarak? there's so many unknown ins this story? will women have more freedom? will egypt go to the islamists? will the attitude toward israel change for the better or the worse? and one of the candidates backed by a terrorist group? all of this as we consider fears there could be more bloodshed if the military leaders in power don't like what the vote tells them. our ben wedeman is live in cairo. i know we have a very long delay in our connection with you, but get me up to speed on how things are going so far, ben. >> reporter:

welcome to "early start," i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ali

. >> this is zoraida sambolin. we're bringing you the news "a" to "z." it is 5:00 in the east.

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm ali velshi. ashleigh banfield is on assignment.ep well last

. >> i'm zoraida sambolin..m. >> president obama hopping off the fence, folks, and right into the political frying pan. all of

let's get right to zoraida sambolin with our headlines this morning. >> good morning to you.ssee girls are safe this morning. their suspected kidnapper fugitive adam mayes is dead. fbi official say mayes shot himself in the head last night and was later pronounced dead. the girls were found in a wooded area in union county, mississippi. they showed signs of exposure and dehydration and have been taken to the hospital for observation now. >>> and florida a & m's band director out of a job this morning quitting in wake of the school's hazing scandal. he had been on paid administration leave since november following the death of robert champion. champion died in a band hazing incident. 13 people have been charged in his death. famu's board of trustees is meeting next week to discuss the future of the band. >> he may have inside track for mitt romney's number two. a poll suggests ohio senator rob portman won't make the battleground state turn red in november. 40% back president obama according to a poll. 44% are for romney. if portman is on the ticket, the race remains a dead hea

happy you're with us, welcome to "early start," i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ali velshi in for ashleigh let's get started. >> up first this morning, pain at jp morgan chase. according to bloomberg, the banking giant will accept the resignation of ina drew as early as today. she's one of the highest ranking women on wall street. pulling down a salary of over $15 million a year. the entire staff of the company's london chief investment office could also be dismissed. more fallout from the investment firm's staggering $2 billion loss stemming from the risky trades. the so-called proprietary trades are what took down aig during the financial crisis. jamie dimon doing damage control on sunday's talk shows. >> this is a stupid thing we should never have done but we're still going to earn a lot of money this quarter. it isn't like the company is jeopardized. we hurt ourselves and credibility, yes, that we have to fully expect and pay the price for that. >> and christine romans is with us this morning. and burning question at least for me is why should i care? >> you should care because, look,

i'm christine romans in for zoraida sambolin this morning.the hour. more than 100 internal al qaeda documents that detail future terror targets are being described by intelligence officials as pure gold. they were found by german authorities embedded in a porn video on a microchip taken from an al qaeda operative last year, they include plans to seize cruise ships and execute the passengers. >>> may day protests for workers' rights happening all over the world. labor strike has shut down the golden gate ferry this morning and other cities are bracing for more disruption as occupy wall street plans to regroup. >>> the wife of former john edwards aide, andrew young, will be back on the witness stand this morning. cheri young broke down in tears yesterday and jurors had to be excused early after she testified the former senator asked her family to hide an affair he was having, hide it for the good of the country. >> thank you. half dozen dangerous and exotic animals including two leopards and a brown bear are on the verge of being shipped back t

. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin.d fugitive list. well this morning, it turns out that adam mayes is dead. the dramatic and abrupt end as cops closed in on him in tennessee. that murder/kidnapping suspect, we'll tell you what happened. >>> plus it was the biggest art heist ever, the hunt for $500 million worth of art stolen from a museum 22 years ago. right now, federal agents are all over the home of a reputed

>> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" starts right now. >>> good morning. american tourists being pulled out of their car in egypt, kidnapped at gun point. kidnappers have announced their demands. we'll be live with the latest details straight ahead. >>> the obama campaign changing tactics, going after mitt romney's record as massachusetts governor. a new ad being released this morni morning. the current governor of massachusetts, duvall patrick, will join us to talk about what's true and what's not. >>> plus a truant student thrown in jail in texas. why this 17-year-old is missing school is now catching the nation's attention. and new developments as well in her story. it's thursday, may 31st. and "starting point" begins right now. >>> welcome, everybody. our "starting point" is this breaking news. two american tourists have been kidnapped in dahab, egypt, in the sinai region. the kidnappers, it appears, are trying to negotiate some sort of prisoner exchange. jill daugherty joins us. what do we know? >> the state department is in touch with the families of

. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 6:00 a.m. here in the east, just about. the cia stopped an al qaeda plot to blow a passenger jet out of the sky around the one-year anniversary of osama of osama bin laden's death. >>> new fears about whether the bomb may have been undetectible. senior administration official told cnn that the intended user of the bomb is not a threat anymore. u.s. counterterrorism official says the explosiove device is similar to the so-called underwear bomber on christmas day 2009. barbara star is live at the pentagon. what can you tell us about the woman, sounds scary that it's undetectible by security. >> that's what the fbi is analyzing, how undetectible it might be. nic robertson is reporting that saudi arabia was the source of the tip about the device, the plot this whole effort to try to put another bomb an an airline er bound for the united states. the fbi has the device and so it's looking at it. this is something al qaeda in yemen has tried to put through before, no metal content devices on planes bound for the united states. you