liz palmer in cairo, thanks. >>> joining us now from st. louis is derrick sweeney's mother joy. good to have you with us. wednesday morning, you actually got to speak with derrick. what did he say and tell you? >> i was elated to be able to spoke to him and hear his voice. he, of course, i asked him if he did anything and he said, no, they did not, none of -- actually, i did find out that he is roommates with one of the boys and the other one is a friend of is from school. all three boys do know each other. he said that they did not do anything and neither did his friends. >> what do you mean by that? meaning there have been allegations of them throwing things off of a rooftop. he is saying we didn't throw anything? >> he said, no, we weren't even on a rooftop. >> where were they when they got picked up? how did it haall happen? >> they were standing on some stairs. they cut us off. i asked him if he did anything and i said you didn't -- well, actually, i didn't make it leading. i said you didn't do anything, did you? he said, no, of course, not, i wouldn't do that. i said i kne

. >> liz palmer in cairo, we will see you later in the broadcast. >>> this morning, nasa will launch a new unmanned rocket for a nine-month journey to mars. its mission, to find out if life exists or may have existed on the planet. on board is a new generation rover known as the curiosity, a nuclear powered rolling laboratory about the size of a car and cost more than $2 billion and the rover can drill, dig, and even sniff the martian landscape in search of life. joining us with all of the details is cbs news space consultant bill harwood. good morning, bill. >> good morning. >> reporter: what is the curiosity looking for terms of whether there is life or there may have been life on mars? >> well, it's not looking for life itself. what it's trying to find out is mars ever habitable either in the distant past or even today from they will be looking for carbon compounds. you know to have life as we know it you have to have water and energy and carbon and organic compounds. they know water was there in the past and still there in the form of ice. so by looking for organics and trying to

we will have the latest from liz palmer in cairo coming up in just a few memberships. >>> before we get, we'll find out this morning if michael jackson's doctor is going to prison. earlier this month, he was found guilty on of giving the pop star a fatal dose of pro propofol. we tell jury find the defendant conrad murray guilty. >> he was convicted of in voluntary man slaughter in the death of michael jackson. if prosecutors have their way, he could be behind bars a lot longer than that. just two days after this rehearsal in 2009 the king of pop died from a fatal dose of powerful anesthetic propofol. >> it was dr. murray's repeated, incompetent and unskilled act that led to mr. jackson's death. >> reporter: the jury agreed and prosecutors will today ask a judge to issue the maximum sentence, four years in prison. that's not all. prosecutors are asked murray to pay jackson's three children more than $100 million in restitution, a debt they hope will keep murray from profiting from my book or movie deals. why the maximum? prosecutors say it's because murray has shown no remorse. instead,

liz palmer in cairo this morning. liz, thanks. >>> before we got the news of the students' release, i got a chance to speak to derek sweeney's mom. i asked her what he had to say. >> i was just elated to be able to speak to him and hear his voice. he -- of course, i asked him if he did anything and he said no, they did not. none of him -- actually, i did find out that he is roommates with one of the boys and the other one is a friend of his from school. all three boys do know each other. and he said that he did not do anything and neither did his friends. >> what do you mean by that, meaning that there have been allegations of them throwing things off a rooftop. >> right. >> he said we didn't throw anything? >> no. he said they weren't even on a rooftop. >> where were they when they get picked up? how did it happen? >> they were standing on stairs. i didn't get to -- they cut us off. i asked him if he did anything. and i said you didn't -- actually, i didn't make it leading. i said you didn't do anything, did you? he s

>> liz palmer, thanks. >>> three american college students who were detained in egypt a week ago are now back in the u.s. and they are telling their stories. one of them derrik sweeney joins us from his home in jefferson city, missouri, along with his mother joy. derrik, welcome home. >> thanks. >> thanks for getting up early for us. you have denied thaw were throwing anything off rooftops that you were throwing fire bombs as was initially alleged. video the egyptian authorities have shown and i know you've seen it and we will show it now. they say this is you wearing a face covering among the protesters. first of all, is it you in the video and second of all what you were doing there when you picked up? >> yeah. it's interesting that they show that video. and that does appear to be me. and as you can see in it, i'm just standing there. and they -- i don't know where they derived this story that i'm throwing something in the video, but i think that anybody who watches it will see that i'm just standing there and we were on muhammad ma mood street there. >> what made you go down to th

>> liz palmer, thanks for cairo this morning. >>> this morning with penn state university still reeling from the sex abuse charges, officials are bringing in a pretty big name to find out what happened and who knew about it. anna westerner is in state college, pennsylvania with more. >> now the university is taking steps to try to restore that reputation, bringing in the former head of the fbi, louis freeh to lead an independent investigation. >> we have been tasked to investigate the matter fully, fairly and completely. >> reporter: former fbi director louis freeh will lead a team of exprosecutors, former fbi agents and others to look into the university's conduct leading up to the scandal going back as far as 1975. >> this examination will include, among other things, any failures or gaps in the university's control environment, compliance programs and culture, which may have enabled the alleged misconduct to occur. >> reporter: penn state trustee kenneth frazier told reporters he was connected in part because he has no connections to the university and he will have free rein. >> that

now when carlson palmer had to complete when he did to liz murphy.he last score enough to give them a win over chicago. >> to be seven and for this point in the season we have an opportunity to control our own destiny and it is as like as said before is the position that you want to be in. >>gary: for you keeking experts, the could this, 74 yds in the air. a yards a golden to the end zone. that is a record.--80 yds and it goes into the end zone, that is a record. not taking the to the 49ers. this is one thing that you can finally complain about. we cannot say anything is wrong with them they were off to a terrific start. but they gave up nine sacks. harbaugh and staley talk about what happened to the offensive line. >> we have some problems from the game as likely win a game. you go back and look at what you can fix and where you can get better and this game is no different. >> the raiders defense was good thing and doing a lot of great things. we have to do a lot better going forward. we watched them and get it corrected. >>gary: and now adomakinsu

. >> elizabeth palmer is in cairo with the latest. liz, good morning. >> good morning. well, this protest is picking up steam now. activists have called for a million man march today across the country. here in cairo, you can probably see tahrir square behind me. it's filling up with many thousands of people. day four of this uprising, small numbers of protesters skirmish with police. in tahrir square itself, thousands of peaceful demonstrators from all political parties assembled around clear and common demand for democratic reform. >> we need to have a clear cut timetable. we need to have a president by april. we need to have a proper democracy in place and a proper system so that we know where we stand. >> overnight, the beat of anti-military chanting stills tahrir square. the crowds want to get rid of the generals running egypt. the military took power last february. some welcomed them back then. most tolerated them as caretakers until a government could be elected. the general ves lost all man credibility by maneuvering to hang on to power. the protesters want the

. >> elizabeth palmer is in cairo with more. good morning to you, liz. >> reporter: good morning. it's pretty loud here. i'm in tahrir square which is filling up once again very fast, but you ask about the students. that's right. we think they are still in the police station here. they are certainly still in custody, working with their lawyer going through lengthy bureaucratic procedures before they are finally physically allowed to go free. at the american university of cairo dorm where the three students lived, friends were waiting to welcome them, relieved to hear the egyptians weren't going to press charges. >> my first reaction, just because i know them personally, was that there's no way that they could have had those, you know? i don't think they would of figured out how to get molotov cocktails. >> i wanted to come here and see them before they leave. i've been freaking out the past few days. >> reporter: the three who haven't been seen by family or friends except in this police video on egyptian state television, may not be freed from custody until the end of the muslim w

. >> correspondent elizabeth palmer is in cairo with the latest for us this morning. liz reporter: good morning. yes, as you say, they are still in custody, being held in the prosecutor's office. the american university tells us this morning that they were interviewed yesterday by the general public prosecutor and, today, there is another interview scheduled, this time with the prosecutor responsible for state security. egyptian state tv announced the students arrest and showed them looking appeal and scared. luke gates in the middle with what appears to be a as you recall mask against tear gas. gregory porter on the left. and derrik sweeney on the right. all three were studying arabic whose main campus are on the center of the action on tahrir square. the building overlooks the streets where the most intense fighting is going on a spokesman for the ministry told us they had been picked off after spot on the roof throwing fire bombs down. derrik sweeney, his mother. >> he is extremely passionate about democracy and freedom and he is very convicted and he believes in stand