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Fifteen Killed, Over 200 Wounded in Zawiya, Libya; Encouraging News About Jobs Market; Market Reaction to Jobs Report; Evacuating 10,000 Refugees Daily; Dressing Like a Dictator; Human Factor: Assault Inspires Runner

Aired March 04, 2011 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Friday. I'm Suzanne. I want to get you up to speed. It is March 4th.

The economy turned out 192,000 new jobs in February. The Labor Department says the hiring spree pushed the unemployment rate down just a notch to 8.9 percent.

Well, today's jobs report wasn't enough to excite investors. Want to take a look at the stock market.

Looking live there, the Dow Jones down 46 points right now. Blue chips surged almost 200 points on Thursday, making it the best day of 2011 so far.

Wisconsin plans layoff notices today for 1,500 state workers. And that's because the legislature has not approved Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill. Walker says that a curb on collective bargaining rights will ease the deficit, but every Democratic senator left the state to block a vote on that bill.

And Indiana's following Wisconsin's lead and fining its missing lawmakers. The penalty, $250 a day for each absent Democrat. Thirty- five House Democrats left the state, stalling a measure to restrict collective bargaining for state workers.

Libyans spilled into the streets after Friday prayers today, demanding that Moammar Gadhafi step down. Protests are reported in several Libyan cities. Gadhafi forces confronted protesters in Tripoli. That's the capital.

Rebels in eastern Libya say they are driving westward today. The goal, to capture Tripoli.

An American C-130 transport plane is due to land in eastern Tunisia at this hour. That is where 200,000 people are camped out after fleeing Libya. A U.S. official tells CNN the plane is carrying water, tents, blankets and other humanitarian supplies.

Libyan state TV is showing off a massive amount of seized drugs. Now, the regime links these pills to al Qaeda. That's the claim. Moammar Gadhafi claims that al Qaeda triggered anti-government protests by giving Libyan teens hallucinogens. These pills appear to be painkillers.

And talks between the NFL and the Players Union are in overtime today. They extended their bargaining deadline 24 hours. Owners want a bigger share of the $9 billion the NFL takes in every year, or they lock out the players.

President Obama says he's not going to interfere. He's too busy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am a big football fan, but I also think that for an industry that's making $9 billion a year in revenue, they can figure out how to divide it up in a sensible way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Harvard University will allow U.S. Navy recruiters back on campus. Harvard barred the ROTC during the Vietnam War. It kept the ban because gays and lesbians were not allowed to serve openly. But Congress repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in December.

I'm going to speak live with the Harvard president Drew Faust in the next hour.

President Obama and the secretary of Education head to Florida today. The president's going to deliver a speech from a Miami middle school discussing his thoughts on improving the country's education system. But how is the administration actually faring?

Well, that is the focus of today's "Talk Back." Our Carol Costello joins us with more.

And Carol, you noticed the president, not getting involved in NFL dispute. But they're going to get into the education dispute.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Oh, yes. He can't escape that one. That's an important part of his job.

You know, it is true, many of our schools are failing. You can't deny that. But what's the answer?

More and more Republicans think it's the federal government that's to blame. Some even want to abolish the entire Department of Education.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: We used to say as Republicans that we thought education was for the states and the localities, and we have a Department of Education that is consuming $100 billion. And it's time we go back to the Republican roots that says we believe in abolishing the Department of Education.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Well, the Department of Education's budget is actually about $70 billion. A big chunk of that, $23.2 billion, goes towards Pell grants for low-income college students. An even bigger chunk, $25 billion, goes toward No Child Left Behind. It's that Bush-era program for disadvantaged students that really steams Republicans.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says these programs are vital though. He's asking for an 11 percent increase in next year's budget.

Duncan says, "At the end of the day, I believe we have to invest in education." Duncan's spokesperson adds, "If the Department of Education is abolished, the people most at risk are the 20 million disadvantaged students served by the department's program."

So, "Talk Back." What is the answer to America's education crisis?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN, and I'll read some of your comments later in the hour.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

MALVEAUX: Appreciate it. Look forward to it.

We are now following breaking news. This is out of Libya, a place, a town call Zawiya.

These are deaths that are reported. We know that from the latest reports, according to a doctor at a hospital in Zawiya, there are 15 people who have been killed, that have been taken. Over 200 now wounded. The hospital now saying that most of these are gunshot wounds, and the hospital is running out of medical supplies.

Our Nic Robertson, he is covering this major story that's making breaking news. He is out of Tripoli.

Nic, what do we know about the very latest here? Obviously, a hospital that's been inundated, according to one official, saying there's a river of blood here in the hospital, the situation is very bad.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is Zawiya, of course, 40 minutes' drive from here. We were amidst the anti-government protests of several thousand, heavily armed, last weekend. They had told us they had feared a government crackdown. The government had told us that they wanted to avoid a crackdown, that they thought they could negotiate a solution.

We were in Zawiya yesterday when the government took us there. They didn't take us into the center of the city. We could see there was a heavy army presence around the city, and a very heavy presence as we passed by there very late last night.

What we understand from state television here is they characterize the situation in Zawiya this way -- they say the terrorist-armed elements in the center of the city have been defeated. They say the terrorist leader has been defeated, and the others have surrendered their weapons.

They say that they have now captured some 31 tanks, 19 armored personnel carriers, 45 anti-aircraft guns, a figure that belies belief, I have to say, because we were there and we saw several tanks, several anti-aircraft guns, RPGs, rocket-propelled grenades, but nothing like the amount of weaponry the government is talking about. But those accounts now coming in from the hospital, 15 dead, 200 wounded, rivers of blood.

The hospital, inundated, unable to cope. It is a situation we're trying to get clarification on here with officials in Tripoli right now, something we would like to go out to Zawiya and report on further. But the restrictions have been on us, and it's not clear we'll be able to do that -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Nic, it's a very simple, very basic question here, but who do we believe is responsible for these killings?

ROBERTSON: From what we saw, the anti-government forces would not have had the strength to break out of the lock that they were in or anywhere to go to had they broken out of the government forces surrounding the city. The government has said that it didn't want to lead operations in there because it wanted to avoid bloodshed.

We know that the government was bracing all across the country that it controls for these anti-government protests expected after Friday prayers. It would appear at this stage -- and this is an appearance -- it would appear that there had been violent clashes. Exactly what triggered them, we don't know.

We know that just over a week ago, 16 people were killed in the same square in the center of Zawiya that we visited with the anti- government protesters when government forces went in and "opened fire" on innocent civilians. How the events unfolded on this day, it's not clear. But what we are learning now is that the dynamic in that city has changed. The government saying they can control it, and sources obviously sympathetic with the opposition are telling us that there has been a blood bath in essence -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: So we believe that this could have been a battle from both sides, but, essentially, it is the government, the Libyan forces, those that are on Gadhafi's side, who attacked these people who have now been killed and wounded, who are arriving at that hospital?

ROBERTSON: It would appear to be the case. There was a report earlier in the week that we were unable to confirm ourselves that the government had tried to send forces into the center of the city to take control of it, and they have been in fact defeated.

It's not without a -- it would be quite within the bounds of reality here to believe that some of the forces involved in the fight would have been civilians, sort of following the leadership, because there's a strong tribal attitude here that they may have been in the fight here. So it may not just have been government forces against the anti-government protesters. There may well have been civilian elements in there as well.

It's not clear. It's going to be very important to find out what triggered this and what brought it about. But from what we saw when we were there last week, the two sides were separated by quite a large no man's land.

There was no doubt about it that the anti-government forces were well armed, did have heavy machineguns, did have anti-aircraft guns, did have rocket-propelled grenades. And it's very clear that perhaps a couple of miles away, the government had tanks and equally heavy forces.

In that area, as late as almost midnight last night, about 12 hours before these events had happened, we saw well-trained government forces with bayonets fixed on their weapons. They appeared well- coordinated. And from what we understood, and from one of the superior -- perhaps "elite" is too strong a word, but from one of the superior army brigades operating in that area.

So, again, it's not just clear. We just don't have enough information right now, Suzanne, to get into the granular details.

MALVEAUX: OK. Nic, we'll get back to you obviously when the details develop, but it certainly sounds like from what one doctor described at that hospital as a bloodbath. Fifteen people killed, more than 200 wounded.

We are not actually sure. Still trying to sort out which side actually suffered, but clearly a battle that ensued in that area, and a lot of carnage.

Thank you, Nic.

Here is a look at what's ahead "On the Rundown."

First, we're going to break down those new jobless number with a Georgia Tech economist.

Also, we're going to take a look -- a NASA rocket launch ends in failure.

And Mike Huckabee. He has a problem with actress Natalie Portman's pregnancy.

Plus, is Oprah heading to Egypt? It's one of the stories that is trending today.

And finally, it suits him -- Mubarak's name in pinstripes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not like they had a spool of fabric and then printed his name on it. They created a fabric that has his name woven into it. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

MALVEAUX: And there's some encouraging news this morning about the job market. The unemployment rate fell again last month to its lowest level in almost two years.

The Labor Department says the jobless rate for February dipped to 8.9 percent. Now, that is from 9 percent in January. The economy added 192,000 jobs. That's what's in line with what economists had predicted.

Our Thomas "Danny" Boston, he's a professor of economics at Georgia Tech, and he's here to help us break down these numbers.

So nice to see you again.

THOMAS "DANNY" BOSTON, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, GEORGIA TECH: My pleasure. Good to be back with you, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Very nice.

I understand there is a certain number, a significant number, of jobs that have to be created in order to have any type of real meaningful dip in the unemployment level.

What are we looking for? What are we hoping for?

BOSTON: Right. Well, we would like to have in the neighborhood of 250,000 jobs. You know, 150,000 would do if we were only in normal circumstances, but we have such a high rate of existing unemployment, that we need to elevate that number a lot more.

MALVEAUX: Now, the economy has actually raised the number of jobs, created jobs significantly over the last five months. What does that say to you? Is that good news for us, or is it too soon?

BOSTON: That's good news. No, no. No, it's good news.

And I think it says to me as an economist that we can put a fork in the concern about economic growth. We don't have to worry about that anymore. It has taken hold across the board, but it hasn't been accompanied by significant increases in employment, and we thought that that would be the case early on.

MALVEAUX: And so if job numbers increase, the mark increases, what does that say about the federal interest rate? Is there a fear that the Fed would raise the interest rate?

BOSTON: Yes, that's the big problem. All right. We are entering an entirely new phase in terms of economic performance and economic policy.

And the new phase is this -- the economy is growing very, very rapidly, and at its current rate it will probably exceed 4 percent. The unemployment rate, however, is very stubborn. It's not going down. But this economic growth is also going to encourage the Fed to increase the interest rate in order to contain inflation.

And so we have this dilemma. That is, there is going to be pressure to contain inflation and, at the same time, the economy has not generated enough jobs. So that's a real problem and a new balancing act that the Fed and the administration is going to have to deal with.

MALVEAUX: All right.

Danny Boston, very nice to see you again.

BOSTON: My pleasure. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: OK. Have a great weekend.

BOSTON: OK.

MALVEAUX: The great recession, it hasn't stopped Americans from swiping their credit cards and racking up debt. Credit reporting agency Experian puts the average amount at more than $42,000.

Now, the question is, which cities have the most debt?

Well, Dallas rounds off the top five. Number four, Honolulu, at a little more than $4,900. Atlanta comes in third.

The top two cities in just a minute. Here's a hint -- they're both in the South.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Before the break, we learned that Dallas, Honolulu, and Atlanta are among the top five cities with the most credit card debt.

Which two cities top the list? Jacksonville, Florida, comes in at number two. And San Antonio, Texas, is the city with the most credit card debt. The average amount owed there is close to $5,200.

Let's see how the marks are reacting to the February jobs report out today.

Alison Kosik, she is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, what's going on with investors in the markets today going into the weekend?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hi, Suzanne.

Yes, I think we've gotten all of the gains we can get out of this report. I'm talking about the jobs report.

I mean, we look at yesterday, the markets had a really good day. The Dow, almost up 200 points, and it was on the expectation that we were going to have a strong jobs report today. And we did have a strong jobs report.

The problem is it didn't kind of blow it out of the water. Wall Street expected better. So that's why we are seeing the markets lower right now.

Taking a look now, the Dow down 68 points. The Nasdaq, off by 12.

So you're seeing investors take profits off the table not only because of kind of missed expectations, but also oil prices. They're up over $103 a barrel.

But, you know what? If we look at the market overall, especially at the S&P 500, we are up five percent for the year. And we like to look at the S&P 500 because it is the broadest measure of what's going on and it closely mirrors what's happening with our 401(k).

It also tells us what investors are feeling like. And we look at trends, and this trend is on an upward trend. And so what happens now is that those expectations, they're up a little bit more, and that goes for Wall Street as well.

So, now, whenever economic reports come out, Wall Street is going to be expecting to see even better than those expectations. So that's kind of the trend we're seeing. It is not necessarily bad, it shows we are in the middle of an economic recovery -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Alison, thank you. We certainly hope that it's good news for all of us.

Appreciate it. Have a great weekend.

We're following two breaking news stories. Want to update you on both of them.

This, out of the Middle East, Zawiya. This is a town in Libya, and we are getting reports now that 15 people have been killed, 200 wounded, according to a doctor at a local hospital there. He says there is a river of blood at the hospital, where these injured are being treated, that there was attacks that happened earlier in the morning, that people started arriving just hours ago, and they believe that these attacks came from armed terrorist elements.

The doctor and says that many of those there are in critical condition, wounds to the head, as well as the chest. And that that hospital is now running out of medical supplies, a situation that he describes as dire and very, very bad.

As you can imagine, a lot of people trying to get out of Libya. They have fled to Tunisia. That is where we are following another breaking news story.

A C-130 from the United States, a U.S. flag, just landed at the local airport in Tunisia. Our own Ivan Watson, he is there covering that aspect of the story. This is a huge U.S. military humanitarian effort to aid those who fled Libya. And this starts with two C-130 military planes that are carrying, we are told, about 4,000 blankets, 40 rolls of sheeting, and 9,600 water cans. You can imagine what is taking place on the border as many people flee the crisis in Libya to Tunisia. Now U.S. humanitarian aid arriving at that critical airport to try to help those people who are suffering.

Well, almost two million children in South Africa have been orphaned by AIDS, left without a parent or mentor. Now, this week's CNN Hero is redefining the word "family" through the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMY STOKES, CHAMPIONING CHILDREN: Kohl (ph), are you going to help me do this other one?

In 2003, my husband and I went to Johannesburg and we adopted our son.

Here you go.

HIV/AIDS has really decimated some of these communities.

Seeing all of the children and so few adults to help them grow up, with none of the adults you care about has ever lived past 35, then why would you think you can? Why would you stay in school? Why would you invest in yourself?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me something good that happened in school will week.

STOKES: I had to find a way to bring the caring, nurturing effect of other adults for that child to invest in themselves.

I'm Amy Stokes. I use the Internet to create a global village where the mentors and kids can interact face to face on a regular basis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you?

LESLEY YANIV: How was your day at school? Did you work in the garden?

STOKES: That mentor shows up every week, a relationship starts between one person here and one person there, and then that relationship expands.

My mentor is so good, I like him very much.

Because they want to connect with that special someone, they're going to learn keyboard skills. The skills that they will need to have jobs and to be able to do whatever they need in the future.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first I was nervous. OK, I love you.

YANIV: Love you, too. Bye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's part of my family and also part of my life.

STOKES: It's a bite-sized opportunity to change the world. And there's no commute.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's what's ahead "On the Rundown."

Refugees trapped at the Libyan border. We're going to take you live there.

In New York, smashed liquor bottles everywhere. Now police are looking for the woman who did it.

Also, Oprah Winfrey gets invited to Egypt.

We are paying a close eye on Zawiya, that out of Libya. The number of refugees fleeing there dramatic, but that place, that town is where 15 people killed, more than 200 wounded, that according to a local doctor at a hospital.

Well, the violence in Libya has now jumped to 200,000 in Libya, that is according to the International Organize of Migration. And we've been keeping you updated on the refugees that are massing at Libya's border with Tunisia. The cluster of white dots on this satellite picture shows a sprawling tent city on the border where thousands of refugees are stuck.

Our Becky Anderson, she is at that border crossing.

Becky, I understand that you're on the Tunisian side, is that right?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And in fact, we are three miles down from the border at exactly what you have been looking at on that satellite image.

As far as the eye can see behind me, a sea of tents, an emergency tented camp, set up by the U.N. There are about 20,000 refugees on this side of the Libyan border, and the majority of those today here at the tent are Bangladeshis.

There have been more than 40,000 Egyptians who have been served through this tented accommodation who have now, thankfully for them, been evacuated out of the airport in Djerba about 100-odd miles away from here.

So today what the U.N. are focusing on here is the plight of 10,000 Bangladeshis. And their stories, Suzanne, are some of the most painful and sorry that we have really heard since we have been here. Many of them say that about eight days ago, having not been paid by the companies that they work for in Libya for about two months, they just started fearing for their lives.

So they started walking for the Tunisian border. On the way, they say, they were robbed of their mobile phones and any money that they still had by the Libyan police.

They got to the border three days ago and they were literally left there. Their governments have really given them absolutely no help at all.

So those here, the aid staff and the Tunisian army are trying to do something for them. And today, this has become their temporary accommodation. They walked the three miles, which, I guess, is nothing, given where they have come from of late, and now they're being set up here.

They're quite optimistic. Many with smiles on their faces because they just say, at this point, they want to go home. There have been a couple of flights that have left for Dubai with these guys and we are hoping that the international community now can help these Bangladeshi migrant workers out -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Well, Becky, we've learned that one of the American C- 130s has landed in Tunisia, not exactly sure if that's close to where you are, but they have blankets, they have water bottles.

How desperately do the people that you have been talking to need those supplies?

ANDERSON: Listen, you are absolutely right. That is about 100 miles or so from here, and the buses from here will slowly but surely get them down to Djerba airport where that plane has just landed.

It's desperate here, but it's certainly not the humanitarian catastrophe, Suzanne, that the U.N. were fearing in the last couple of days. They've got some water here, they've got food. And then they're queuing for food. We saw them washing when they got here earlier on this morning.

I mean, you know, they're poor, they're dirty, they are hungry, but they are being served there. But that aid that is coming in on those flights, which we hope the flights will then take these guys out, that aid is going to be incredibly important for the guys here.

It's not just Bangladeshis, that's the majority here today. There's guys from Somalia, lots of Vietnamese, lots of people from migrant men from places whose governments really are struggling to help them out. So it's down to the international community to do that at this stage -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Becky, thank you so much. Appreciate that report.

Well, the spreading chaos across the Middle East has us asking the question, when should the U.S. and our military make a foreign crisis our business. Well, we asked you to weigh in yesterday, and recent polls show Americans want the U.S. to mind its own business. More than half favor cuts to military spending and foreign aid.

Now here's what you said. Daniel Hart on Facebook, "Never, -- unless our national security is immediately threatened. We don't have the family resources...thanks to Iraq and Afghanistan. The billions of dollars being spent there can be a better use here at home."

Moses Ola (ph) in Uganda posted this on Facebook, "The rest of the world has always seen the U.S. as the settler of disputes and unrest. The way they are perceived alone is enough to convince them to intervene in every disorder in every nation."

And Ben Kiehl tweeted, "The U.S. should respond militarily when human atrocities are being committed and the U.S. can get allies to participate."

And then Michael Berenti says, "Only if it presents a confirmed threat to the U.S. soil."

Well, check this out, it's hard to believe. Broken glass all over the place, a woman goes on a bottle-breaking binge at a liquor store. The story in our "Guilty Pleasures."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, some would say this gives new meaning to the term "getting smashed." Check out this video in today's "Guilty Pleasure."

A woman goes through a liquor store in West Nyack, New York knocking bottles off the shelves. A scene recorded by a surveillance camera. Police are trying to figure out who the woman is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN TRAVOLTA, ACTOR: I pulled a sled up them stairs. That's murder. I don't know how Santa Claus does it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I love it. "Welcome Back, Kotter," the TV show's cast, including John Travolta, are reuniting at the TV Land Awards next month. The show is receiving the 35th Anniversary Award.

Well, how to dress like a dictator? You might want to check out former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak for some pointers. He likes his name in pinstripe, I understand. He's not alone.

Our CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sure, any filthy rich dictator can have his name monogrammed on sheets, towels, shirts, but look closely at the suit of Egypt's former president. Closer, closer -- this is no eye exam. Hosni Mubarak's pinstripes actually spell out his name over and over again.

VERENA VON PFETTEN, EDITOR IN CHIEF, STYLEITE.COM: He strikes me as the type of man who is going to buy a suits with his name on it.

MOOS: You practically need a magnifying glass to see it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really, the seam is just great.

MOOS: It's monogramming for me megalomaniacs worn by then- President Mubarak during a state visit in Slovenia in 2009. With a single suit, Mubarak has knocked Moammar Gadhafi right off the fashion throne. Mubarak's suit is being called "dictator chic," "despot swag," "it's actually kind of gangster".

Fashion websites are agog.

VON PFETTEN: It's not like they had a spool of fabric and then printed his name on it. They created a fabric that has his name woven into it.

MOOS: So who made it?

STACEY JONES, PROFESSIONAL CLOTHIER, TOM JAMES CO.: It looks like hours.

MOOS: Stacey Jones represents Tom James Clothing. While they have no report of creating Mubarak's suit at their mill in Scotland, they've made plenty of others like it.

For instance, the suit worn by the owner of the New Orleans Saints when they won the Super Bowl. One stripe says --

JONES: "New Orleans Saints." And then the very next strips, he had "Super Bowl Champions."

MOOS: Boxer Evander Holyfield ordered two successive suits.

JONES: The first one says "The Champ" in the stripe and the second one says "The Champ Again."

MOOS (on camera): If you want to see your name in pinstripes, a suit like Mubarak's will set you back about $15,000, unless you want it in the fanciest cashmere, in which case it costs about $25,000.

(voice-over): Mubarak, by the way, did not misspell his suit. His first name, "Hosni" can be spelled with either an I or a Y at the end.

(on camera): At least you don't have to worry about them mixing up your suit at dry cleaners.

(voice-over): But aren't you supposed to keep your distance from dictators.

(on camera): If you were Mr. Mubarak, how close would I have to get to know that his name was on the suit?

JONES: About this distance.

MOOS: Really, you could see it?

JONES: Yes.

MOOS (voice-over): Maybe instead of his name, he should have woven what one guy posted, "If you're reading this, you're too close."

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Here's your chance to "Choose the News." We're going to tell you about three stories and you vote by texting the one you want to see.

First choice, women are far superior to men in just about everything, right? Of course, we all knew that. We're going to show you research to back it up.

Or, second story, you can pick royal wedding security. We will walk you through the route that Prince William and Kate Middleton are going to travel when they tie the knot next month, and you may be surprised bite possible threats that are along the way.

And then finally, a woman honored for standing up to a subway flasher. She is being called a "shero" for making sure the offender was brought to justice.

So vote by texting 22360; vote 1 for women do it better, 2 for royal wedding security, or 3 for the "shero" who brought a subway flasher to justice. The winner is going to air in the next hour.

And each week, we look at ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things. For a long time, being a successful, long distance runner was the primary goal for Toby Tanser, but as CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains, one particular run in Africa changed his focus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Toby Tanser was an elite runner, talented enough to keep up with the best in the world, the Kenyans.

TOBY TANSER, FOUNDER, SHOE4AFRICA: I run 13 minutes high (ph) for the 5K.

GUPTA (on camera): Thirteen minutes.

TANSER: Actually, I think it was 4:28 or 4:30 and I did a half marathon at a 4:49 pace or something.

GUPTA (voice-over): But while running one day in Africa, this happened. TANSER: Two guys came walking towards me and he pulled out a machete down on my head, and the other one had like a homemade baseball bat and he swung like this and it smashed against my skull. And they robbed my shoe, my watch and sunglasses, and they were just stealing my other show when I woke up.

GUPTA: He almost died, but it was a chance for Toby to find his calling.

TANSER: Who is going to be number one?

I believe very much in fate, and I think it happened to me for a purpose.

GUPTA (on camera): They wanted to kill you for your shoes and you have taken that whole experience and said, you know what, if they want shoes, we'll give them shoes.

TANSER: Two years ago, we took 7,000 pairs to that island where I was robbed.

GUPTA (voice-over): His organization is called Shoe4Africa, and as you might guess, he donates running shoes to those living in Africa. What he found is even one pair makes a difference.

TANSER: So this boy, he took the shoes and he started training. Boom, boom, boom, five years later, he won the world championships.

GUPTA (on camera): Wow. That gives me goose bumps.

(voice-over): And in case you're curious, yes, Toby is back to running.

TANSER: I thought, like, what is something that someone has never done before and that's gone from absolute sea level to the top of the world's highest free-standing mountain and, you know, as fast as possible.

GUPTA: But his main focus is giving everyone a chance to run.

TANSER: If you come in, you're buying a pair of sneakers, why don't you put the other pair into a box and send them over.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: We have scathing remarks from former-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. His attack is against Oscar winner Natalie Portman for being pregnant and not married. Our political team is on that.

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MALVEAUX: A top Republican takes a swipe at the White House over spending cuts. Candy Crowley, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," live from the Political Desk in Washington. Hey, Candy, good to see you. What's crossing?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Suzanne.

You remember that there was lots of bipartisanship yesterday. The vice president met with Republican leadership and the Democratic leadership to try to figure out basically how they're going to fund the government from now until this October. And we now have about two weeks for them to do it before we hit the next deadline.

So in that meeting, according to a lot of folks who were there, you know, the White House said, you know, we could cut another 6 billion out of this. And today, Mitch McConnell reacted by calling it unacceptable and indefensible. So let's just say that they need a little more talking.

We knew when the vice president came out, he said, well, it was a good discussion and we'll meet again, that they seemed very far apart. Because if you take the president's cuts, the 6 billion offered, you take the cuts the Republicans have already gotten, 4 billion, you are still about 50 billion short from what Republicans want. So, so far a no-go and we are looking at yet another deadline.

Also, Mike Huckabee, as you know, has a book, he's making the rounds and he's also making a lot of news, and I think the two you might know are connected.

He was on a conservative radio talk show with Michael Medved, and Medved sort of led Huckabee into a question by saying -- talking about Natalie Portman, the star of "Black Swan" who won the Oscar, who thanked her fiance for giving her her best role yet, which is that she's pregnant. And Medved said, well, I think the best gift he could give to her would be a wedding ring, and this is how Huckabee responded.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: One of the things that's troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts, hey, look, you know, we're having children, we're not married, but we're having these children and they're doing just fine. But there aren't really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie. And I think it gives a distorted image that, yes, not everybody hires nannies and caretakers and nurses. Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Needless to say, again, Mike Huckabee -- this is the third sort of headline quotation that he's had out there in about as many days out selling this book. Somehow Dan Quayle and Murphy Brown come to mind. I think we've had this argument before, although Murphy Brown was a fake figure that Dan Quayle took on for being an unwed mother whereas Natalie Portman is an actual person leading her life, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: You wonder, Candy, if you think it was successful, the last go-round, if it worked, if he's sing that same tactic or trying to get to that same group of people that Dan Quayle was trying to appeal to.

CROWLEY: Of course.

MALVEAUX: But I know you have some other news as well. The last world war, one veteran who passed away earlier this week, not likely to be honored in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Can you tell us why?

CROWLEY: Well, his name is Frank Buckles and he came from West Virginia and there were those who wanted to use the Capitol Rotunda to honor him.

Now, mind you, this is a man who spent most of the rest of his life, he was the oldest living World War I vet, so our last World War I vet, and he'd spent a lot of his elderly years trying to get a memorial for World War I veterans. Surprising, I think, to a lot of people that there isn't one, considering that Washington is pretty much a city full of memorials.

Nonetheless, Senator Rockefeller had asked that he be allowed to lie in state in the Rotunda. It is apparently not going to happen. Speaker Boehner has said no. Rockefeller kind of took a little hit t it at him about it saying, I'm really surprised why he wouldn't want to do this. And Boehner has said, well, this was a decision by both Boehner and Democratic Leader Senator Reid.

So the exact rationale, I'm not sure of at this point, but there does not look like there will be an honoring of him on Capitol Hill, at least in the Rotunda lying in state, but there will be one at Arlington National Cemetery, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: OK. Candy, great to see you. Look forward to "STATE OF THE UNION" this weekend.

For the latest political news, you know, where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

A lot of people are sounding off on our "Talk Back" question today. What is the answer to America's education crisis? Your responses are up next.

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MALVEAUX: We're getting new video in just now into CNN. This is out of Tripoli, Libya, and you can see, it's a deadly situation there as protesters -- there are two sides that are clashing, those both for and against Moammar Gadhafi, as things heat up in several cities throughout the country in Libya.

Let's take a listen.

(VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: What looks like kind of smoke bombs, explosives, emergency personnel that you saw just sped by on the street there. Clearly, things heating up in Tripoli.

We also have information, we're keeping a very close eye, this out of Zawiya, Libya, this is where reports now from a doctor at a local hospital report that 15 -- at least 15 people killed, more than 200 wounded. One doctor at that hospital calling it a bloodbath. We're going to have a live report out of that town in just 10 minutes.

On another story, President Obama and the secretary of education head to Florida today. The president's going to deliver a speech from a Miami middle school on improving the country's education system.

So what is the answer to America's education crisis? That's the focus today of our "Talk Back" segment. Our Carol Costello, she's here with your responses.

I know people, you know, they're focusing on what's happening overseas, abroad, but a lot of people here say, look, you know what, there's a lot of serious issues we have to deal with, number one is education.

COSTELLO: Number one is education. A lot of thoughtful answers to our "Talk Back" question today. What is the answer to America's education crisis?

This from Brandon, "Get rid of the bad teachers, utilize more technology in the schools, and quit leaning on the government."

This from Jim, he says, "First it's time we get away from 19th century teaching practices and move into the 21st century with interest-based education. Second, get rid of the Republicans."

This from Michael, he says, "It's time for Internet education, home schooling study, and take your test over the Internet and save the taxpayers and the schools money."

This from Nester, he says, "Young, fresh teachers wanted. Those old-fashioned teachers should get a retirement package. They are so annoying with their seniority --" and I can't say the last word, but you get the picture.

Facebook.com/CarolCNN, please continue the conversation and I'll see you again in about 10 minutes.

MALVEAUX: All right, great.

COSTELLO: Sure.

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Carol.

Well, don't forget to "Choose the News." Vote by texting 22360 for the story that you'd like to see in detail. Vote 1 for proof, that's right proof that women are better in just about everything. Vote 2 for a look at royal wedding security. Or 3 for "shero" who was honored for bringing a subway flash tore justice. The winning story airs in the next hour.

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