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Libyan Rebels in Fast Retreat; War & Peace Efforts in Libya; Personal Info Hacked; A Smaller Refund May Be Better; GOP and CNN Head to Vegas for Presidential Debates; Silvio Berlusconi's 10-Minute Day in Court

Aired April 06, 2011 - 10:59   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed for Wednesday morning, the 6th of April.

A former Pennsylvania congressman is in Tripoli right now with one goal -- persuade Libya's leader to give up power. Well, Curt Weldon says he will propose an interim Libyan government headed by the current prime minister and an opposition leader. Weldon has actually known Moammar Gadhafi for years. He says he is acting as a private citizen.

Libyan rebels trying to regroup outside Al Brega today. Gadhafi's fighters unloaded heavy artillery on the rebels, pushing them back. Rebel leaders complain NATO isn't dropping enough bombs, but NATO says Gadhafi men's are switching from armored vehicles to pickup trucks, making it hard to tell them from the rebels.

Tokyo Electric says it plugged a major leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant. That happened today. Highly-radioactive water gushed into the Pacific for days, if not weeks, now. And workers try concrete, sawdust, even newspaper to stop that leak. Well, a chemical mixture dubbed "liquid glass" finally did the trick.

And today is the first day of the new school year in Japan for many children from the Fukushima area. They are attending Tokyo schools. Children outside the nuclear evacuation zone will go to their usual schools. Teams will check radiation levels to reassure the parents, of course, and school won't begin in the tsunami-hit areas for weeks, if not months.

Forces loyal to Ivory Coast's elected president stormed the presidential palace today. They are searching for Laurent Gbagbo. He's the incumbent president who refused to step down after he lost the election. For a time it appeared that Gbagbo would give up and leave the West African country, but negotiations have collapsed.

Well, the clock is ticking toward a government shutdown as early as Friday. The White House and Congress can't agree yet on a package to fund the government for the rest of fiscal 2011. That's for the next six months. President Obama insists he's not going to sign any more short-term extensions.

After a lot of public outrage, Transocean executives say they are going to donate what they are calling safety bonuses to families of the Deepwater Horizon victims. Transocean says that 2010 was its best year for safety -- really? -- despite the explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed the massive Gulf oil disaster.

Well, these so-called safety bonuses amount to $225,000. Executives are going to keep the other bonuses that are worth $650,000.

In St. Paul, Minnesota this hour, a federal court hearing may determine whether or not there is NFL football this fall. Players are asking the judge to end the owners' lockout. Collective bargaining talks, they broke down. That happened on March 11th. And now owners and players cannot agree on how to split the NFL's profits.

Now it's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the top stories making headlines -- baseball. Right? As America's favorite pastime, Cracker Jack, seventh inning stretch, it's about as apple pie as you can get. But a recent trend of violence now at games is turning this family outing into what could be a dangerous trip to the ballpark.

Our Carol Costello is explaining that story.

And Carol, it is so depressing when you hear what's going on now.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is such a sad story, Suzanne.

I love baseball. I went to my first game in Cleveland when I was 12 years old. I vividly remember Oscar Gamble's humongous afro, and Buddy Bell on third base, and Gaylord Perry on the mound. Going to a baseball game was better than anything. It was magic.

But not so much today. At least not in Los Angeles.

That is where Giants fan Bryan Stow remains in a medically-induced coma after he was beaten for wearing a San Francisco giants Jersey to a Dodgers game. Stow is in critical condition and may not recover. His family is in a state of shock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN STOW, MOTHER OF BRYAN STOW: It's been really hard to think that he came for a game, his first Dodgers Stadium game. And then to be attacked senselessly by two thugs?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just been so hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: She just couldn't go on.

You might expect this kind of thing from those notorious soccer hooligans. In Brazil, alone, four people a year die in soccer violence. But here? Well, maybe it's not so surprising after all.

The "L.A. Times" calls the end result of what happened in Los Angeles an unsettling pattern of fan abuse and boorish behavior. The papers says Giants' fans are so jittery in Dodgers Stadium, that one removed his Giants license plate frame before the game, and two little kids begged their mother not to wear her Giants' cap.

But boorish fan behavior is not limited to Los Angeles. I'll bet all of have you a story or two.

So, "Talk Back" today: Is fan violence the new normal?

Tell me what you think at Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your responses later this hour.

MALVEAUX: I certainly hope it isn't. You know? You don't want to take the fun out of all of that. You know?

COSTELLO: I went to Baltimore's opening day game. Right? A beautiful day. The Orioles were doing fantastically, and some drunken idiot runs onto the field.

Like, why? Why does that stuff happen? And why do fans think that they can do that sort of thing?

And, you know, you could say oh, he was drunk. But I'm sorry. I don't know. When I get a little tipsy, my first inclination is not to run on the field, interrupt the game, and then make the players feel in danger.

MALVEAUX: Yes. And you wonder if this means increased security now at these games, that that's necessary. You certainly hope that that is not going to be the case.

COSTELLO: Well, in the Dodgers case, they are looking at security. And they had increased security.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. Unbelievable. All right. Well, we certainly wish him well. We hope he gets better.

All right. Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

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

A live report from Libya. Rebel fighters trying to regroup now after a pounding by Gadhafi forces.

Also, an attempt by police to stop a speeding car. Well, it doesn't quite go as planned.

Plus, an e-mail marketing company now gets hacked, and it's your personal information that's at risk.

And finally, a woman gets a thank you note from the thief. Right? The thief who ripped her off.

And a sex scandal involving the Italian prime minister. That, now going to trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: Rebel fighters in Libya right now are struggling to recover from huge setbacks on the battlefield.

Our Ben Wedeman takes us near the frontlines as rebels raced from the strategic oil town of Al Brega.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Opposition forces in retreat and under fire. Their retreats are like a wild desert rally on methamphetamines. The fighters race down the road that connects Benghazi to Tripoli. Out here, enemy gunners can see for miles and miles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: As this war intensifies, the diplomatic wheels are also spinning. A former Republican congressman is now in Tripoli. He is trying to convince Moammar Gadhafi to give up his power.

I want to take a closer look at both the war, as well as the peace efforts. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, he joins us on the phone. He is in Tripoli. And CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend, she joins us via Skype from West Palm Beach, Florida.

Thank you for joining us.

Nic, I want to start off with you.

First of all, how important is this visit by this former congressman? Do we think it will really make a difference?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It comes at a time when there appears to be a deadlock on the battlefield. It comes at a time when Libya is desperate to rebuild international ties.

Libya has been particularly holding out for relationships with the United States. It feels it can rekindle some kind of diplomatic tie with the United States easier than it can with Europe.

It comes at a time when Gadhafi has sent a letter to President Obama, essentially saying that, I see that you have stopped your air campaign against Libya, ending your alliance with the crusader alliance, which seems to indicate in Gadhafi's language, in his view, that there might be some diplomatic opportunity with the United States. But what Curt Weldon is asking for is for Gadhafi to step aside, for a cease-fire, for Gadhafi to pull out of key cities. It may be unpalatable for him, and there may not be enough in it for the opposition, the idea that one of the opposition leaders, Jalil, could form sort of a temporary administration here with the current Libyan government prime minister, that there could be a transition in a year towards elections and a full parliament.

It's not clear that there will be enough in this for everyone, but it is coming at a time when there is, you know, a space that's on the battlefield. It's a time when diplomacy may have an opportunity -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Nic, do we know if Gadhafi appears to be searching for an out in some way, or is he still vowing to fight until the very end?

ROBERTSON: There's the public position and there's the private position. The public position is to vow to fight to the very end.

The public position is that this is a man who -- and we just heard it from his son, Saif Al-Gadhafi, just a couple of days ago, that he is not going anywhere, that he won't leave the country, and that he is the leader of this country. The private position seems to indicate that he is actually thinking about his legacy, about what sorts of way he may be remembered in the future.

One of the proposals that Weldon brings here is that Gadhafi could get the honorary chairmanship of the African Union, or some similar type. Or we've heard other ideas that he might sort of have his name emblazoned on the Libyan flag, as crazy as that may sound to a lot of people.

It does seem to indicate that he is thinking in terms of, you know, his time may be up. According to people close to him, he's been thinking that for several years now. How real it is, it does seem to indicate at least there's a gap between that public position and a private reality check -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you very much.

I want to bring in Fran Townsend, our CNN national security contributor. She was a member of the CIA External Advisory Committee and visited high-ranking Libyan officials at the invitation of the Libyan government last year.

Fran, first of all, with Gadhafi here, how does that work? Because you were invited to go there. You had a chance to see what Gadhafi was like, how he operates. This former congressman is going.

What do they do? Do they just walk him up and, you know, introduce him? How does that work?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Representative Curt Weldon has been there before. He was there after the turnover of weapons -- the weapons program in Libya. And so I suspect, based on what's been publicly reported, that Weldon was actually invited.

Now, Weldon has made clear he's not going there representing the State Department, the administration. He's going as a private citizen.

He has laid out publicly what he believes a solution would look like, including Gadhafi stepping down. And the question really is, does he have the relationship with Gadhafi to persuade him to do that? And then, does he have the ability to sell such a plan to the administration? I'm skeptical on all counts.

MALVEAUX: He says, according to his op-ed, it's going to be very hard to simply bomb him into submission. He's talking about Gadhafi.

You know Gadhafi. What is your impression?

TOWNSEND: Well, look, I have complete faith in our military, that if they were given the mission to bomb Gadhafi, that they could do it successfully. The real question is, what the congressman is saying we can't through a no-fly zone by enforcing that, force him out of power. There is something to be said to the congressman's position on that, because, of course, we know La Belle disco bombing during the Reagan administration, we did bomb Gadhafi's compound. The country has survived and suffered under sanctions for many years before the turnover of their weapons program.

This is one headstrong, very determined leader. And so, if he really wants to stay, it will be difficult to dislodge him. It sounds from Nic Robertson's report like Gadhafi, perhaps under pressure from his sons, who have the most to lose here, is now prepared to have some conversation with Western powers about a transition.

MALVEAUX: Fran, you know, being under the Bush administration and having worked for former President Bush, is it harmful, is it helpful to have a private citizen involved in discussions, potentially, with the Gadhafi regime? We know the State Department and White House are aware of his visit, but they can't be thrilled with this.

Does it help if you've got a private citizen somewhat going rogue?

TOWNSEND: No. And I will tell you, Suzanne, similar things happened during the Bush administration.

Typically, what happens is these leaders who are desperate will reach out to someone, a private citizen like Curt Weldon, and invite them. And whether that's North Korea or that's Libya or other dictatorships around the world, it is absolutely unhelpful. Because they don't speak for the administration, because they are not representing the president in his position, it is rife for these people to be used to the advantage of the dictators, to allow them to be able to appear as though they are willing to engage when they're not, really, and they know it.

And so my view is this is almost always harmful and never has the kind of result that you would hope for.

MALVEAUX: All right.

Fran Townsend, thank you very much.

We should note as well that the former congressman is going to be a guest on "THE SITUATION ROOM" on CNN later this afternoon.

Well, this time tomorrow, I'll be talking with billionaire Donald Trump. He says he is not ready to announce whether or not he is running for president, but you can bet we will be asking him that very question. Donald Trump joins me live tomorrow at 11:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: You'll want to check out CNNMoney.com's lead story now. It is actually on mortgages. It takes a look at the interest rates here, saying that interest rates, they might be low but, still, people are having a hard time getting loans. Those who are trying to work it all out, no mortgage for you, it says.

Also taking a quick look at the stock market. The Dow Jones now up some 27 points. That is some good news.

Also taking a look at another story, a massive breach of information and your privacy. Last week, the e-mail marketing company Epsilon was actually hacked, and now some big-name companies say that some of their customers' e-mail addresses and their names are now being leaked.

Our Alison Kosik, she is in New York with that story.

So many of us, Alison, have been talking about this because we're really concerned. A lot of us, our information is out there. We buy things.

So who does this impact? Who does it affect? How do we know if our information has actually been leaked now?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you this much, Suzanne -- this list is just growing and growing. We've just learned two new companies, big companies, Verizon and Target, their information was targeted. Add this to the growing list: J. Crew, Victoria's Secret, Chase, Capital one. But it's really concerning that Verizon's information was exposed, because they have 140 million customers.

All right. So the big question everybody has is, how do you know if your information could be affected?

Well, a company -- one of these companies may go ahead and e-mail you, letting you know that their information was compromised. So far, keep in mind it's just e-mails and customer names that were compromised. Your financial information was not -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: So, Alison, what can people do to protect themselves if they think, my information is out there, it's been compromised?

KOSIK: You know what? With something like this, you really just have to be smart, you have to really be on guard.

You could wind up getting what's known as a phishing e-mail. It's a fake e-mail that looks real. And the goal of this kind of scam is to kind of lure you and to get you to hand over personal information, whether it's your user name, your password, your Social Security number.

Keep in mind that no reputable company is going to be asking you for this personal information through an e-mail. And if you get one of these phishing e-mails and you're really not too sure, get on the phone and call the company and ask them if it is a legitimate e-mail. Now, keep in mind, though, with whatever happens with this, the worst- case scenario is that you may just have to change your e-mail address, or you may just wind up getting a lot of spam. So, if you play it smart, it could just be an annoyance, but that, of course, is if you play it smart. And make sure you don't turn over your personal information -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Great advice, Alison. Appreciate it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MALVEAUX: Well, we have a variety of choices for you today in today's "Choose the News." Let us know which one you would like to see in the next hour. Vote by texting 22360.

First, returning to laughter after living through a tragedy. We take a look at the tsunami in Japan through a child's eyes and the steps experts are taking to help them cope.

Plus, the U.S. state popularly known as Native American Country now has more Hispanics than Native Americans. See how that has become a blessing and a curse, some believe, for Hispanics living in Oklahoma.

And being a British royal has its perks -- palaces, planes, cars, just to name a few. But Kate Middleton, she's going to have to give up some basic rights when she marries Prince William later this month.

So, vote by texting 22360. Text 1 for "A Child's View of Tragedy" 2 for "Hispanics in Oklahoma"; or 3 for "Royals Give up Rights." The winning story will air in the next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's what we have got for you "On the Rundown."

A glimmer of hope. They have stopped the leak now at that Japanese nuclear plant.

Also, Italy, the sex scandal that is now rocking Europe.

And why smaller tax refunds could pay off for you in the long run.

Well, to this story, the main story. Workers at that crippled nuclear plant in Japan, well, they win one battle, at least, but a government official warns that the fight is far from over.

Now, here's the encouraging news. Crews managed to plug a leak that allowed highly-radioactive water to gush into the Pacific Ocean.

Michael Friedlander, he's an engineer and a former senior nuclear plant operator. He joins via Skype from Hong Kong.

Michael, you have been great at just putting all of this into perspective for us. What does this mean? We've got good news and we've got bad news today. MICHAEL FRIEDLANDER, FMR. SR. POWER PLANT OPERATOR: Well, the way I characterize this, Suzanne, is it's good news, and now the work is in front of us. As we have sort of seen these things play over the last several days, we had a water leak in the turbine building that was running into a cracked pipe into the ocean. We figured out how to seal the crack that's in the pipe. Now the real challenge before us is to get rid of the water that's in that turbine building, because once that's out of there, then hopefully there won't be any more leaks.

MALVEAUX: So, explain how they managed to, first of all, plug that leak. They tried sawdust, concrete, newspaper. What is this thing, liquid glass?

FRIEDLANDER: My understanding from the drawings and some of the information that was released was they actually bored a hole down underneath and around the pipe and then from that bore hole, they injected this silica, it's like a synthetic material that's absorbent, as well as you can fuse it together with a resin setting and it actually encases the outside of the pipe in sort of a plastic or semi- glass shield and then that actually seals up the leak.

MALVEAUX: Mike, why do you suppose they didn't go for that in the beginning, use that in the very beginning? Was this just kind of a trial and error type of thing that happened and they just didn't really know this would work?

FRIEDLANDER: Well, you know what? A couple of things. Number one, the water is extremely radioactive and so it's difficult to get people and equipment in there to actually do a really detailed survey.

Number two is everything is underground. So it's a bit like poking around trying to find out in this long pipe, we saw some of the pictures of it, you know, it's probably 20 or 30 feet long, and find out exactly where underground leak was, was causing a bit of a problem. Because you could poke a hole in the ground and with potentially no luck in terms of where you're sealing it.

So I think it was a bit of a luck and I think it was a bit of detective work on their part to actually find out where it was at.

MALVEAUX: And Michael, let's talk about the bad news here. We've obviously got good news, but nuclear safety officials are warning now that there are other problems that could happen here, because you're talking about the buildup of this water inside, it may lead to more leaks. So you had one that was plugged up but now the potential is that others could form.

FRIEDLANDER: Well, you know what? This is sort of a very telling illustration of the complexities that these guys are having to deal with every day.

Now the report that was reported in the "New York Times" earlier today was really more one -- from the people who had the luxury of sitting back and asking all of the right questions. It sort of gave us a laundry list of the things that we need to be looking for and the things that we need to be considering on an ongoing basis.

But in my view, what that report really underscored is the absolute essentialness of getting on long-term cooling as quickly as possible. Because once we do that, then we're no longer injecting water in the reactor and we can start processing things properly.

MALVEAUX: All right. Michael Friedlander, thank you very much.

Well, this nuclear crisis, the earthquake, tsunami, disasters that shattered daily life in Japan. At the time we spoke with iReporter Ryan McDonald right after the quake hit and he joins us via Skype from Japan with an update how things are going.

So Ryan, it's great to see you again. The last time we spoke things were pretty hectic for you. It was a tough, tough time. How are you doing now? Before you wanted to get out of Japan. Did you get out? How'd you do?

RYAN MCDONALD, CNN IREPORTER: We didn't get out. We stayed in Kitakata (ph), which is a city about 60 miles away. Things are so much better now. The only problem we're having now is that sometimes we forget that there was a problem and I'll go to the store and it will be closed or we'll go to a restaurant and they won't have any vegetables and they won't have a salad. So it's very, very small problems compared to what we were having before.

MALVEAUX: Where are you now? How close are you to the Fukushima reactor, the nuclear plant?

MCDONALD: I'm about 35 miles away from it. I'm in Koriyama City, Fukushima prefecture.

MALVEAUX: And what is it like being there? Getting electricity, gas?

MCDONALD: To be honest, it's almost normal. Everything is great. At one time, the lines for gasoline were about five hours long. But now it's normal. There's no line. Food, there's no line. Some of the convenience stores are a little low on food, sometimes on like nonperishable food because people are still stocking up, but I can buy as much as I want, I can buy as much water as I want. That's not a problem.

MALVEAUX: And Michael (ph), we're looking at pictures here. You're a school teacher and we're seeing a lot of kids clapping and dancing, that kind of thing.

How are things for the young people, for the children? I understand that you have even more students now from other areas?

MCDONALD: Right. Some of the students from the coast like Tomyoka (ph) and other areas like that, they can't go back. There's no school, there's no town, they have no house. So they've come here and they're going to start school with our Koriyama students on Monday.

And they're just going to have to incorporate themselves. They don't have school uniforms, they don't have books, they don't have anything. They weren't prepared for this at all. But what we've been doing recently is going to some of the shelters and just playing with the kids.

I saw a story on CNN earlier about playing helps kids cope and that's exactly what we're doing. We're just playing with the kids. In some of the videos and the pictures you have there where we're just playing games, English games, very simple at some evacuation shelters. So it does two things. It keeps their mind off the problem and it lets their parents relax, who are also in the shelter and they don't have to constantly watch the kids and they can relax and sleep some.

MALVEAUX: And I understand that you're going at least on the weekend to try to help clean up some of the debris?

MCDONALD: Right. We're going out to the coast not near the reactor. We're going to stay about -- we're going to stay out of the evacuation zone. We can't enter that. We're going to a city called Hawaki (ph), and we're going -- actually, going below Hawaki to a town called Ena (ph). It's a small town and we're just going to help.

We have a connection there and we're just going to help move whatever they need. We're going to show up and say, what do you need? We're here to do whatever you want. And some people went today and yesterday and they said that they just picked up tatami mats and doors and beds and stuff like that. So, we're just going to do whatever they need on the coast Saturday.

MALVEAUX: All right. We wish you very well, Ryan. We're so glad things look like they're getting better. They seem to be better since the last time we spoke with you and that you're very much involved in making things better for people there. Appreciate it.

Well, also a reminder to vote in today's Choose the News. Vote by texting 22360.

Text one to see how Japan's children will viewing the tragedy and what experts are doing to help them cope.

Text two to see how a state popularly known as Native American country has transformed into having more Hispanics than Native Americans.

And text three to see why Kate Middleton, she's going to lose some basic rights after she gets married to Prince William this month.

And, the first lady of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The trail lasted just minutes -- 10 minutes. But, the details are coming out of it, only intensifying the sex scandal. We're going to take you to Milan for the story that is rocking Italy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Wiretaps and a dancer they call Ruby the heart stealer, and possible abuse of power by Italy's prime minister? Sex scandals in Rome as old as Antony and Cleopatra. But the details that we're hearing out of the Berlusconi trial are still turning heads.

Our Diana Magnay is in Milan with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A young girl, then just 17, allegedly paid by Italian Premiere Silvio Berlusconi for sex. Moroccan dancer Karmia El Mahroug, aka Ruby the Heart Stealer, who is now the centerpiece of the most explosive trial in Italian political history.

Mr. Berlusconi says he never paid her for sex and never knew she was underage, though he admits he did place a call to the Italian police asking for her release after she was brought in for theft, an alleged abuse of office with a maximum 12-year sentence. But Berlusconi says he did nothing wrong. He was told she was related to the then- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

But understand why Ruby Gate has so scandalized Italian public life and you also need to imagine what's rumored to have gone on in the basement of Mr. Berlusconi's private villa near Milan. Italians have been fed a steady media diet of leaked prosecution wiretapped conversations. They describe evenings of apparently highly charged eroticism, now widely labeled in the press as bunga bunga parties.

GIUSEPPE FUMAGALLI, OGGI MAGAZINE: We know his room with some seats, someone says there is a pole, like the pole of lap dancing. And around that, someplace to get changed. So because one of the theory of bunga bunga is that the girls get dressed as a nurse or policeman or fire girl and they keep -- then they take care of the premiere later.

MAGNAY: They take care of him and he allegedly takes care of them. According to transcripts of wiretapped conversations confirmed by the prosecution, the girls go home with cash.

FUMAGALLI: What is incredible is the families of the girls participated to this -- to the -- wanted to have information about how the bunga bunga was doing so they called their daughter asking what did you get last night? Five thousand. Oh, what did he give the other one? She got 7,000. Why 7,000 and the other --

MAGNAY: The prime minister says bunga bunga is just a joke and that the evenings he hosts are civilized dinner parties. But through Ruby Gate, a new and tautly (ph) world is emerging around Italy's Prime Minister. The public not sure what to believe about their premiere's private life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And Diana Magnay joins us from Milan.

Diana, trial opened today. It only lasted, what, 10 minutes or so? But in that 10 minutes, I understand there were some pretty detailed accusations.

What happened? What did we learn? MAGNAY: Well, the most important thing that happened in those 10 minutes was that Ruby's lawyers stood up and said we are not going to be suing Mr. Berlusconi for damages in a civil lawsuit because, she said, that would mean that he was guilty of the charges which would mean that Ruby herself was a prostitute and had had sex with him, which she denies.

And the lawyer for Mr. Berlusconi seeing she wasn't suing for damages that suggested that no damage had been done. So that was really what happened in the first 10 minutes of the hearing and the next trial date will be on the 31st of May.

But even if that was only very short, don't expect this trial to be short. We can expect it to go on for a long time. There are around 200 witnesses, there are thousands of pages of documents that the prosecution is using with a lot of details from those wiretapped transcripts, and a lot more that we haven't yet seen that we can expect to come out over the coming months, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Diana, Berlusconi is accused of having sex with an underage prostitute, hosting these wild parties.

What do most people think when they think of their prime minister?

MAGNAY: Well, this is a man who is no stranger to court cases. He's had really as many as 17 over the last 20 or so years. The fact of the matter is, is this one really does seem to be sticking, you know? Here, we're not talking about just corruption or embezzlement or tax evasion. Here, we really are talking about paying for sex with a minor, crimes that do not go down well with the public here.

We're also, as a result of these wiretapped conversations that are coming into the public sphere, seeing that he is possibly blurring public and private life, swapping allegedly political favors for sexual favors, things that really haven't gone down well with the public at all, and you can see that in his approval ratings.

So that even though he won't be judged by a court for quite some time and is obviously innocent until proven guilty, it does appear in the court of public opinion, he's already has been judged -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Diana, thank you, out of Milan.

Well, if you've done your taxes and you're getting money back, that's pretty cool. But the big question now, what to do with it. Our Carmen Wong-Ulrich, she is here with top tips and a smaller fund, if you can believe this, might actually be better for you in the long run.

Carmen, is that true?

CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN BUSINESS CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Suzanne.

That's right. Of the 82 million Americans filing taxes before this year's deadline of April 18th, more than 69 million of those taxpayers have received a refund or are going to, according to the IRS. Now the average refund, $2,952. And according to the National Retail Federation's Annual Tax Return Survey, 42 percent of Americans will put this fund toward paying off debt, 42 percent also said they put some of the refund in their savings account, while around 13 percent say they are going to spend their refund on a big ticket item, and almost 12 percent say they are going to use it on a vacation.

But before you go out on a spending spree with your newfound cash, there are a few reasons why and how you should get a much smaller check next year. First, now why don't you want a big refund? Well, cause it means that you're paying too much in taxes. Taxes that you don't owe with every single paycheck.

So think about what you can do with that money every week. If you're paying too much in taxes, your, in effect, handing over money that is not owed meaning you can't use it for the things you need. And not only once a year like paying off debt and saving, two items where interest earned or saved should be yours, not the IRS's.

So how do you change how much of a refund you get without ending up with a huge bill? Change your withholding number on your W-4. To find out what the number should be, take the time to use the withholding calculator at IRS.gov. Have your paystubs on hand so you can complete the calculator accurately. It's well worth the time. Change your W-4 and calculate just how much more you're going to be seeing in your paycheck in the coming year.

And once you have plans for the money, plans that you have for your refund this year. For example pay down debt every month instead of once a year. Sock away savings automatically an earn a little interest. And, of course, if you don't owe and your savings is in good shape, well you can save up for that vacation -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: We all need a little vacation, huh, Carmen? All right, thanks. Great advice.

Well, what happens in Vegas could affect the presidential race. Details in our political update.

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MALVEAUX: We have new information crossing the Political Ticker right now. CNN and the GOP have locked in Las Vegas. That's right. Mark Preston, part of "The Best Political Team on Television" live from the Political Desk in Washington, D.C.

Mark, that's a backdrop for you, huh, for a presidential debate. Not bad?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: It certainly is. And you know what, Suzanne, on October 18th, you're moving your show out to Las Vegas. You and I are going to live it up on the town.

MALVEAUX: Love it. Love it.

PRESTON: We're going to have a little bit of work to do, though. CNN has just been selected, Suzanne, by the Western Republican Leadership Conference to host a debate in Las Vegas at the Venetian Resort.

Look, very big news in this presidential cycle. Nevada plays a very important role in the presidential nominating contest. You know, Suzanne, 16 states will be represented at the Western Republican Leadership Conference in Nevada during the week of October 17th. So there's going to be a lot of important political opportunities, grass- roots supporters and also elected leaders who are going to be at this four-day conference. This debate will be one of the centerpieces of it -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Mark, we've spent a lot of time in the campaign. The last go round in Vegas, in Nevada, very important state. Give us a sense of why Vegas specifically and some of the things that they're dealing with there, cause obviously there's hot political issues when people look at the upcoming election.

PRESTON: Yes, Suzanne, you're absolutely right. Two reasons. One, for the Republican presidential nominating process, Nevada, the state of Nevada has been chosen to be one of the four early voting states. So Republican voters out there, caucus voters will be able to weigh in on the presidential contest before all the other states will. Again, one of the four early voting states.

But you're absolutely right when it comes to issues. We're talking about immigration, we're talking about home foreclosures, and we're talking about a stagnant economy. Look, Las Vegas is one of those cities that really suffers when we're in a downward economy. Because when people have money, they want to go out it, they go to cities like Las Vegas.

So those are certainly going to be some of the main issues we expect to be talking about come October 18th.

And again, very big news. CNN selected by the Western Republican Leadership Conference to host a debate at their four-day conference -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Mark, let's make sure you and I, we'll move that show, we'll move our show out there. We'll host from there and see how it goes. Very much looking forward to that debate.

Thank you, Mark.

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

Well, a reminder to vote in "Choose the News." Vote by texting 22360.

Text 1 to see how Japan's children are viewing the tragedy and how experts, what experts are doing to help them cope.

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And text 3 to see why Kate Middleton, she's going to lose some basic rights after she gets married to Prince William. That happening this month. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A baseball game between two rival teams turns violent, ending with one fan in a coma and police searching for suspects. And that brings us to the "Talk Back" question. Our Carol Costello has more with this.

And, Carol, obviously, just devastating to hear this news.

COSTELLO: Oh, this poor man. He's in a medically induced coma in California. It's just something that should never have happened.

Our "Talk Back" question today -- Is fan violence the new normal?

This from Christopher, "Just go to any Oakland Raiders game. I'm personally a San Francisco 49ers fan and have seen numerous accounts of violence in the Raiders parking lot against anyone who cheers for the opposing team."

This from Anna, "We stopped going to Astros game because everyone around us was just there to drink. There were kids around us having to listen to these drunk morons and some of them even started making threats to people who told them to shut up."

This from Jeremy, "I live in Pittsburgh. I have been to Steelers- Ravens games and that's the epitome of fan violence and sporting events. Regardless of who you root for and against, you should not be subject to violence at any level. Even at college sporting events."

And this from Kimberly, "Philly is another place for their disgusting fan behavior. Low class, some of them are. I've heard of Philly fans at an Eagles game spitting on kids wearing a Dallas jersey. I understand team pride, but come on people, spitting on kids???"

Keep the conversation going, Facebook.com/CarolCNN.

MALVEAUX: You got to wonder where the civility is, huh?

COSTELLO: Where did it go? Maybe we should ban all drinks at games. Maybe that's the answer to this. Although, you do see some bad behavior from people who have not even had a drink.

MALVEAUX: Well, hopefully, it will get better.

Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

MALVEAUX: Well, he says he's not ready to announce if he's running for president, but billionaire Donald Trump, he has committed to doing an interview with us here. He's going to join us tomorrow live noon hour, don't want to miss it.

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