. >>> good evening, everyone, i'm erin burnett in for piers morgan. we have breaking news for you tonight. we are looking live at the crippled carnival triumph, the ship that at this moment is a few miles away from where i'm standing at the port in mobile, alabama. it has literally been hell on the high seas for 4,229 people. 3,144 passengers and 1,086 crew members. it's not over yet. carnival says it's going to take four to five hours to get the passengers off the ship, once they actually arrive. the ship will be behind me. children and those with special needs will disembark first. it's a ship that has been described as a floating toilet. some of the conditions that passengers have been telling me about have been disturbing. now, passengers are going to be carrying their own luggage, that's part of why it takes a lot of time. you have luggage for more than 4,000 people that has to get off the ship. in terms of what passengers will receive for this. they're going to get $500, a free flight home, a full refund for their trip and a credit for a future

erin burnett "outfront" starts erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> we are moments away from a news conference where we expect to learn what happened in that cabin outside los angeles yesterday. last night, we heard this. >> burn it down! >> just do it, right now! [ bleep ]. >> in a few moment, we hope to find out if the body found in that cabin is the suspected cop killer and also what led to his death. plus, thousands of people are trapped on board a crippled carnival cruise ship. they're running low on supplies and living this their own filth. and two of president obama's key nominations could be on hold. one of the senators considering a delay, rand paul, is with us to tell you why. let's go "outfront." and good evening, everyone. tonight, we have breaking news on the los angeles man hunt that ended with a body dead inside a mountain cabin. in just a couple of moment, we could learn if christopher dorner was the man found last night. authorities have been working to identify the charred remains and police say they have reason to believe it is

i'm erin burnett. american embassy attacked. a suicide bomber struck at a security checkpoint at the american embassy in turkey today, and this time the white house immediately labeled it an act of terror. >> a suicide bombing on the perimeter of an embassy is by definition an act of terror, a terrorist attack. however, we do not know at this point who is responsible or the motivations behind the attack. the attack itself is clearly an act of terror. >> an act of terror regardless of who is responsible or what their motivations are. more on that in a moment, but first, chris lawrence at the pentagon. chris, the turkish government says it does have a bit more sense of who the attacker was, what are they saying? >> reporter: erin, they think it is a man named etchvech shamly. they say he trained in europe on how to make bombs and has attacked before. the group is a throwback to the cold war, a far left revolutionary group that wants to overthrow turkey's government and establish some sort of communist state. >> and why would they

. >>> tonight erin burnett explores how the oscar pistorius murder case in trial in south africa will from cases in the u.s. these are important questions and differences. watch erin burnett outfront at 7:00 on cnn. >>> jodi arias back on the stand after another day of graphic, graphic testimony. today could be the day she finally testifies about killing heric ex-boyfriend, travis alexander. stay with us. why turbo? trust us. it's just better to be in front. the sonata turbo. from hyundai. but at xerox we've embraced a new role. working behind the scenes to provide companies with services... like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. reducing document costs by up to 30%... and processing $421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. how's that for an encore? with xerox, you're ready for real business. >>> colorado is working out rules on who can buy marijuana in that state. beginning neck month the state expects a wave of out of state visitors coming for pot which voters mad

. >> coming up at 10:00 a.m., a cnn special anchored by erin burnett and chris cuomo in new york and kris ychristiane amanp rome. >> i want to say happy birthday to teddy and joseph, your 6-year-old twins. >> it's a big day back home. thanks for that. >> a big day in the berman household. that is it for "early start." >> "starting buoyapoint with so o'brian" starts right now. >>> welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning, the pope's final day as head of the catholic church. in just about seven hours the office of the pope will be empty when benedict xvi is officially in retirement. this morning he blessed the cardinals who will pick his successor. >> translator: may he bless all of you in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. >> we're live in rome this morning with the historic moment and what it means for the church. we'll be talking with monsignor rick hilgartner of the u.s. conference of catholic bishops. senior simone campbell will join us and father edward beck is our guest. and time is running out. two proposals meant to avoid drastic spending cuts b

i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, hurting the poor because washington has no courage.gain today, all we heard was blame when it comes to the forced spending cuts to take effect in eight days. president obama made some talk radio appearances. >> whether or not we can move republicans at this point to do the right thing is what we're still trying to gauge. >> now, he's called the cuts severe and brutal. house speaker john boehner, guess what, completely agrees with that. he's called them deep and dangerous, but they're not doing anything about it. here's the thing about the cuts. they're going to hurt some people that nobody wants to hurt. people already in pain, more than 4 million homebound and disabled seniors may have to go without dinner this year because of cuts to meals on wheels programs in the forced cuts. 70,000 children from lower income families will not be able to enroll in preschools and day care centers because of the forced spending cuts. the owners of about 10,000 homes and small businesses destroyed by hurricane sandy won't get the money needed for repa

i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, the countdown is on again. we're now just ten days away from washington's latest deadline for forced spending cuts. otherwise known by the distinctly unsexy and misused word sequester. today, president obama said, again, something must be done. >> so these cuts are not smart. they are not fair. they will hurt our economy. they will add hundreds of thousands of americans to the unemployment roles. this is not an abstraction. people will lose their jobs. >> so there are two solutions. number one, lawmakers find another way to punt, ie delay the cuts for another month. or two come up with a major plan to slash the debt in this country. number two is not going to happen. the punt and pay, i kind of like it. that is not going to happen. number one haze decent chance but number one is a fail too. after all, the feared forced cuts are 2.5% of projected total federal spending. we have an economics professor at nyu and former director of the congressional budget office. at this point, are the cuts inevitable? why is the

i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, february 5th, the new groundhog day. >> if they can't get a bigger package done by the time the sequester is scheduled to go into effect, then i believe that they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms. >> a smaller package. because you can't get a deal done in time? so of course, it's not the first time washington has kicked the can down the road. we know that. remember when we first heard about sequester, that bizarre word that is now part of the lexicon? it was august 2011 and the word sequester came out of the failed deal on the debt ceiling. then came the fiscal cliff, that was the next chance to prevent all of the cuts. washington punted, they said hey, three more months, we'll solve it then. nope. now three months is coming so guess what? they will punt again. you know what, thinking about it today, it reminded me a lot about this. ♪ put your little hand in mine ♪ put your little hand in mine ♪ put your little hand in mine ♪

i'm erin burnett "outfront" investigating the cruise ship nightmare. what caused the crippling fire that left more than 4,200 people stranded at sea for five days and could it have been prevented? carnival "triumph" was towed to a ship yard in mobile, alabama. i looked at that ship as it was starting to be towed to that final dock. all of the passengers were unloaded earlier in the morning. now investigators are trying to find out how the engine room fire started and why it knocked out the ship's entire power. because here's the thing. when we first heard about the incident, carnival reported that "the fire extinguishing system kicked in and soon contained the flames." president and ceo jerry cahill said he didn't think it had anything to do with the delay the cruise ship experienced earlier this month thanks to a faulty propulsion system. but several passengers that i spoke to last night told me stories similar to this. >> the smell. and we were on the first floor, like i said. so next thing you know, i went -- laid back down. next thing you know, you

i'm tom foreman in for erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, no guns, no alcohol, but no jail either. tonight the olympic blade runner oscar pistorius is free. >> i come to the conclusion that the accused has made a case to be released on bail. >> south africa's chief magistrate told the courtroom early this morning pistorius, accused of murdering his girlfriend, is not a flight risk and would not commit more violence if released from jail. and with that, pistorius met the requirements for bail which was set at about $112,000 u.s. pistorius is believed to be staying at his uncle's home. he's had to surrender his passports and guns. he must report to police twice a week and refrain from consuming alcohol. the pistorius family members shook hands after the decision and proclaimed oscar's innocence. >> we know oscar's version of what happened. that tragic night. and we know that that is the truth. and that will prevail. >> but will that version of events add up when pistorius is back in court on june 4 the? "outfront" tonight, former prosecutor wendy murphy and criminal defense attorney

"erin burnett outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, country superstar mindy mccready found dead at age 37. dr. drew talked to her just ten days ago. we asked him if anyone could have saved her. >> and we're learning more on the night an olympian's girlfriend was shot and killed. and we speak to one of the couple's closest friends. >> and the president has a guys weekend. so why are some people all hot and bothered about it? let's go "outfront." >>> good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. "outfront," suicide of a music star. authorities believe country singer mindy mccready shot herself late yesterday on the front porch of her home in arkansas. the violent end came as no surprise to her friends. early success was followed by a lot of struggles. 37 years full of suicide attempts, custody battles, even an appearance on a celebrity rehab show. her boyfriend died just a few weeks ago on the same perch where her body was found, also an apparent suicide. yesterday, she shot his dog before she killed herself. with all the wa

i'm erin burnett. toght, the fourth most powerful man in the world resigns. pope benedict xvi surprised many of his 1.2 billion fall ors worldwide when he said he was going to step down at the end of the month, and the reason, his age. nearly one in four americans identifies as catholic. according to the church, the catholic population worldwide has about 15 million members in 2010. the latest year for which there was data. about 17% of the planet is catholic. now, a church is believed to be the third largest landowner in the world, so it's hard to estimate what the church owns and what it's worth. economists estimate annual spending just by the united states by the catholic church and its entities was about $170 billion in one year, 2010. sister simone campbell is the executive director of the national catholic justice lobby. brian finny worked for opus dei. scary guys. let me start with you, sister simone. i wart to start with a serious issue. $3.3 billion has been paid out by the church in the past 15 years to settle rape and molestation charges of boys ag

i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, we have breaking news.assive development in a massive manhunt for a trained killer who is vowing revenge on the los angeles police department. we are just learning that a burned out truck near big bear lake, which is about 100 miles east of los angeles, belongs to christopher jordan dorner. dorner is the 33-year-old former lapd officer who has threatened, quote/unquote, unconventional and asymmetrical warfare on his former colleagues. he's also a former navy reserve lieutenant, and is accused of firing on four officers today, one is dead. dorner is also wanted in connection with a double homicide in irvine, where the daughter of a retired police department captain, monica quan, and her fiance, keith lawrence, were killed in the parking lot of their apartment. dorner is suspected of being on the run since sunday, and police warn he is armed and dangerous. and according to a chilling manifesto he posted online, dorner's shooting spree targeted officers and hair families and it isn't over yet. antonio villarai

i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, a little less confrontation, a little more action. a lot of people want that. it was a song made famous by elvis presley, but apparently not something that is so popular in washington. we're nine days away now from the forced spending cuts that are going to take effect, and while we may be short on time, we are not short on blame. president obama for one was busy today with no less than eight local television interviews. the president, according to the white house, telling his side of the story directly to the american people, blaming republicans in this interview with wcvb boston. >> the way this arose was back in 2011, the republicans were threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the united states. and we had to avoid that. the hope was that they would use this year and a half to come up with a sensible deficit reduction package. now, we've reduced $2.5 trillion on our deficit. we've got about $1.5 trillion more to go. there's a better way to do it than this, but the key is for them to go ahead and put forward the bala

. >>> coming up at 10:00, a special on the pope's last day, anchored by erin burnett and chris cuomo here in new york. this will be broadcast on cnni. this is history. you'll want to stay all day. back to rome for live coverage of pope benedict's last day. >>> and forced spending cuts, it appears just about everyone in washington believes this ax will drop. a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afib-related stroke. there is limited data on h

i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, breaking news on the alabama hostage crisis. it is now over. 5-year-old ethan, the little boy's name, he's at a hospital. we found that out a few seconds ago. he's with his family. there's heavy security there as well tonight. and the big headline, he's safe. he was abducted from his school bus and held in an underground bunker for six days. we can also report that the kidnapper, 65-year-old jimmy lee dykes is dead. i want to get straight to martin savidge who is covering this story in midland city, alabama, about 100 miles south of montgomery. what more can you tell us about this little boy ethan and where he is and how he is tonight? >> we know he's surrounded by a very happy family. that would be his mother, his siblings, and extended family and we have been told that he is in good shape physically. of course, what's got to be determined is how is he doing mentally after this long ordeal. >> i know that's going to be a big question. there have been reports that the little boy may have had some sort of autism. that he really c

i'm erin burnett. and "outfront" tonight, in mobile, alabama, we are waiting for more than 4,000 people to arrive, after being stranded on a carnival cruise ship that lost power after an engine fire on sunday. 3,142 passengers and 1,086 crew members have been stuck on the "carnival triumph" for five day. they've had no hot water, they've had limited food, they've had few working toilets. here is the latest. at this moment, we understand that the ship is about 25 miles away from the dock where i'm standing. it's traveling at about six miles an hour and according to carnival, it's scheduled to arrive between 10:00 tonight and midnight. now, it's currently about 55 degrees here in mobile. and that temperature is dropping. most of the passengers don't have clothes for this climate. they were going on a caribbean cruise. a lot of them are very cold. and even after they arrive, carnival says it's going to take from four to five hours to disembark every passenger from the ship. that's going to happen behind m

i'm erin burnett here with martin safvidge in mobile, alabama. we're surrounded by families, people reuniting, media. it is the world here, and we have aeady heard from people who are excited, people who are angry, people who were emotional, people who were taking it all in stride. just the full monopoly of human emotion. >> they're just very, very happy to be here, off the ship, and finally in many cases into the arms of loved ones they have been waiting for. that's what we're watching for here. we're going totally unskrimecri with this. >> you want to step in? >> sure. >> come on in. please come on in. hi, there, sweetie. >> identify yourselves. >> my name is betty. this is my daughter, melissa mcdavid, and her daughter, cameron mcdavid. we have our husbands and riann and madeleine. we went on a cruise with my son-in-law andy. >> three generations of family here? >> yeah, and we came for her 40th birthday. >> welcome. probably not the birthday you expected. >> it's all right. >> what was it like? >> it made you appreciate hot water, flushing to

i'm erin burnett. "outfront," chris christie, maybe they're just not into you.imes seem to have changed a bit for the new jersey governor. it wasn't too long ago that conservatives were crushing on the tough-talking christie. here's one of the most bizarre things i've ever heard rush limbaugh say. >> is it wrong to love another man? because i love chris christie. >> where's the love now? the powerful conservative political action conference, to annual d.c. event that turns into a republican party of who's who is not even giving the governor an invitation. the reason, he's just not conservative enough. so wile all the 2016 white house hopefuls from his party, paul ryan, rand paul, marco rubio, they're parading around the conference next month, it's like a bunch of peacocks going around, showing your colors. are you red enough? chris christie will be left out in the cold. but don't worry, this is what people love about christie. he does not give a wit. he is who he is. here he is today in the video obtained by the new jersey star ledger. >> yeah, apparently i have

i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, an historic blizzard is slamming the northeast as i speak. we're expecting up to 3 inches of snow accumulating an hour, which is incredibly quick. it's been slow coming here to new york. the accumulation will be dramatic and severe. the snow fell the last blizzard in this city was 2011, 20 inches of snow. we'll see if this will set a record overnight. to give you an idea how big this storm is, how many states are affected tonight, this is a picture from nasa that we're looking at. you can see the storm right now stretches all the way north up in maine all the way down to the mid-atlantic and new jersey. there are near whiteout conditions across the northeast and i am in new york city where the mayor is warning the storm is unpredictable, he's been instruct is everyone to stay inside though there are a lot of the people out tonight. pictures of destruction from superstorm sandy are fresh in his mind and the mind of many people in the new york city area. new york city police commissioner ray kelly is here with me. we'll be talking in just a mom