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Rebels Ship Oil Out of Libya; Engineers Plug Nuclear Leak in Japan; Ivory Coast Palace Stormed; Talk Back Question; Changing Landscape In Oklahoma; The Cash To Be A Contender; Weather Update

Aired April 06, 2011 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

Want to get you up to speed.

A warning now from U.S. nuclear engineers. Flooding Japan's damaged nuclear reactors with water to cool them off could backfire big time. Documents obtained by "The New York Times" indicate that the heavy weight of the water could rupture the stress containment vessels.

U.S. experts also say that seawater probably left salt deposits in the reactors that are now blocking water flow. They fear there may not be much nuclear cooling that is actually going on, especially in two of those reactors.

Today is the first day of the new school year in Japan. And many children from the Fukushima area are attending classes now in Tokyo. Children outside the nuclear evacuation zone will go to the usual schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAKIBA YAMANO, WORLD VISION: For them to regain their routine and their normal life, it's so important for them to become sterilized and then recovering from their stress and then the grief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: School will not begin in tsunami-hit areas for weeks or perhaps even months.

Well, a former Pennsylvania congressman, he's in Tripoli right now, hoping to persuade Moammar Gadhafi to give up power. Curt Weldon says he'll propose an interim Libyan government headed by the current prime minister and an opposition leader. Weldon has known Gadhafi for years, and he says his mission is private.

Libyan rebels trying to regroup outside Al Brega while their leaders complain that NATO isn't dropping enough bombs. NATO says that Gadhafi's men are switching now from armored vehicles to pickup trucks, making it hard to tell them apart from the rebels.

And Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a no-show today for his sex trial. After 10 minutes, a judge rescheduled proceedings for late May. Prosecutors claim Berlusconi had 13 sexual affairs with a Moroccan-born woman known as "Ruby the Heart Stealer." She was 17 at the time, and both deny a sexual relationship.

An expected meeting between President Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner, that has not happened today. The president vowed to keep meeting until the White House and Congress agreed on a deal to fund the government and avoid a shutdown on Friday. Well, the president says Republicans have got to change their approach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't have a "my way or the highway" approach to this problem, because if we start applying that approach, where I've got to get 110 percent of everything I want, or else I'm going to shut down the government, we're not going to get anything done this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The NFL labor standoff went before a federal judge in Minnesota today. Now, players want an injunction to end the owners' lockout. The two sides cannot agree on how to divvy up the league's $9 billion a year in profits. The dispute has put the NFL's 2011 season now in doubt.

Want to get back to Libya. We have now confirmation that rebels are now shipping crude oil out of the country. And that success comes amid some setbacks that we're seeing on the battlefield.

Our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman, he joins us from a rebel-controlled area that is in eastern Libya.

Ben, thank you so much.

These rebel leaders, they're extremely frustrated right now with NATO taking over air strikes. What is the main complaint here?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we have here -- actually, this gives you a go ahead idea of what's going on. We're about halfway between Brega and Ajdabiya. And, in fact, yesterday evening, this area was under the control of loyalist forces.

They have been pushed back about 10 kilometers. Just about 45 minutes ago, the rebels were firing some rockets and missiles just to the side of the road. The Libyan army responded with either mortars or artillery. It's very hard to tell. But it just gives you an idea of how quickly the frontline can shift in this part of the country.

We did hear just a little while ago aircraft overhead, but we heard no air strikes. Actually, I just heard a big thump in the background. But, by and large, you'll hear this complaint from everybody from the senior military officials in Benghazi, down to the fighters here on the road, that they just aren't getting the kind of support they need from those NATO aircraft, which have yet, it seems, to cut off the supply route to Brega, allowing the Libyan artillery men to replenish their ammunition and to continue their bombardment on this part of the country -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: So, Ben, what does this mean for the rebels? Are they moving forward? Are they now forced to retreat? Is there a stalemate?

WEDEMAN: I would call it a stalemate. It appears that this battle may go on for quite some time between Ajdabiya and Brega.

Certainly, what is clear that given their capabilities -- or lack of capabilities may be a better way of putting it -- their light weaponry, their poor organization, their poor communications, they simply don't (ph) seem to be able to take this town of Brega, which is extremely important. We're talking about the renewal of exported oil from this part of the country.

Brega has one of the most important refineries and export facilities for oil and natural gas from eastern Libya. As long as that remains in the hands of pro-Gadhafi forces, that means they cannot export that oil. They can't get the money.

This oil that they're exporting from Tubruq today for the first time will bring in as much as $100 million in revenue to their coffers. So it's extremely important if this part of the country that's free of Gadhafi's rule is going to function properly to get that oil flowing -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Al right.

Ben Wedeman, on the ground there in eastern Libya.

Thank you, Ben.

Well, now it's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories making headlines today. Baseball, right, known as America's past time. From Cracker Jack, seventh inning stretch, it's about as apple pie as you can get. But a recent trend of violence now in the games is turning this family outing into what could be a dangerous trip to the ballpark.

Our Carol Costello explains why.

Because it's such a sad story. And a lot of people, they hear this and they're a little worried.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, a sad story coming out of California between a Dodgers fan and a San Francisco Giants fan.

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: 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 in the United States? 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, and I'll read your answers within the hour.

MALVEAUX: Certainly hope it isn't. All right. Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

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

They call it liquid glass. It's a look at the stuff used to stop the leak at Japan's nuclear plant.

Also, beyond the headlines of the fighting that is taking place in the Ivory Coast.

Plus, advice aimed at protecting babies could be affecting the shape of their heads.

And Madonna responds to rumors of an FBI investigation. And finally, from flying high into space to diving deep into the sea, we're going to talk live with Sir Richard Branson about his latest ventures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, we've got some good news for a change in the Japan nuclear crisis. Engineers now have finally plugged an eight-inch leak that let highly-radioactive water into the ocean. Now, this is the leak before they plugged it. This is now. You see the water has actually stopped.

They injected something called liquid glass. So what exactly is this stuff, liquid glass? How does it work?

CNN's Chad Myers joins us to explain all of this.

Chad, tell us, what is this stuff? Is it really glass at all? Do we know?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kind of.

MALVEAUX: Yes?

MYERS: But it's not -- I mean, glass is melted in heat, silica, melted in heat and then cooled. And it is really glass.

This is not heated. This is not melted. This is not -- this was just poured in there almost like a mortar, like a cement.

Now, they tried cement earlier, but it didn't work because it was too water-soluble. It kind of just washed out with the radioactive water. But this is a synthetic silica-based polymer.

Polymer, a little bit less reactive with water. It just kind of sits there and oozes in the cracks. It's a sealant made from silicon. It's found naturally in the earth.

I mean, it's basically quartz. It's sand. It's basically the entire Sahara Desert.

You pick that stuff up, you grind it up, you can make silicon dioxide. And as you make it and you put it together, you put it in with lime, you put it in with some -- you put it in with some sand, and all of a sudden, you have something that can block holes, the same way that when you grout your shower, the water that you take in your shower doesn't go behind the nice tiles that you have and into the wall. It's literally a grout.

And finally, it worked. But it didn't work for three days. It was still leaking for a while, and finally it oozed into all the cracks that it needed to get and it stopped that water.

MALVEAUX: Chad, it reminds me of the BP oil spill. They were, like, throwing everything at that to try to stop the oil.

MYERS: Well, wouldn't you?

MALVEAUX: And there was, like, newspaper and concrete, all of that stuff.

MYERS: We did the junk shot. Remember when they threw those golf balls and everything else in there trying to just clog the hole?

That's kind of the idea. They didn't throw rubber in this, but that was the same idea, get whatever you can, get it working, get it stopped, get the flow stopped. And get the water out, because that was the water that's leaking into the ocean. They get it out, and now they have to use all this other area for the very radioactive water.

MALVEAUX: OK. And where do they store that? How do they store that? Because we still don't know. I mean, is there any solution to that, the long-term problem?

MYERS: They have a platform that they're going to try to move. This was the last that I knew. And the platform was almost the size of a soccer field, a football field.

And it's just sitting there and it's floating. It's a park right now in Japan. And they're going to surround it and make little pools and pods to put this water in it and to move away from this area.

Now, the good news is, most of the radiation that's coming out of this water is iodine. Well, the 131. You've heard all of this.

Its half-life is eight days. What does that mean? It means that in eight days, it's half as radioactive as it was eight days ago.

So it's like stepping half as close to the wall. Eventually -- you're never going to touch the wall, it's still going to be radioactive, but by the time you get 10 times closer to the wall than you are now, there's almost no radioactivity left.

MALVEAUX: All right, Chad. Thanks for the breakdown.

MYERS: Sure.

MALVEAUX: A little piece of good news there.

(NEWSBREAK)

Well, the future of space flight is here. The man behind the high flyer is back with yet another invention. I'm going to speak live with Sir Richard Branson from high in the sky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A political standoff that began with votes may be ending now, unfortunately, with violence. Opposition forces in Ivory Coast have now stormed the palace where the country's long-time president is holed up. Laurent Gbagbo refuses to leave office despite losing re-election last year.

Our CNN's John Vause, he joins us with the very latest.

You know, we don't even know where Gbagbo -- where he is and what kind of state he's in right now. How is this going to be resolved?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's a very good question. And right now, it's a very fluid situation, as they say.

We were talking about this just yesterday. It all looked like it was going to be resolved, that the U.N. and the French peacekeepers, they were negotiating to Laurent Gbagbo to surrender. The only thing at issue here was, which country would he go to with his family and his small group of followers? Now it appears that those negotiations are stalled.

There's conflicting reports that Gbagbo has been taken into custody, that he's now on the loose somewhere, they don't know where he is. The bottom line, though, is that it is all over for Laurent Gbagbo.

And the problems now with these forces who are loyal to the internationally-recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, storming his presidential residence is that if this had been a negotiated settlement, a peaceful end, it would have helped with reconciliation for the country, because, after all, even though Laurent Gbagbo lost that election back in November, he still go 46 percent of the vote. So he does have significant support in the country.

MALVEAUX: He has some power.

VAUSE: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Now, since this conflict, I mean, 1,300 people have lost their lives. If they storm the palace, if he gives up power, does the fighting end? Do we think it will end?

VAUSE: Well, the immediate fighting comes to an end, because the fighting over the last week or so has essentially been forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally-recognized president, taking the country and forcing Laurent Gbagbo back to the main city, Abidjan. So, now that's pretty much over. There are some reports there are small groups of militias who are armed, who are roaming the streets of Abidjan.

The bigger question is, what happens to the rest of the country going forward? Because this election back in November was meant to be a reconciliation between north and south. The country had been bitterly divided for many, many years. This election was meant to bring an end to that. It hasn't. MALVEAUX: And John, our country, you know, faced now with three wars, engaged in three wars at the same time. When people look at this story, it's upsetting, it's very sad.

What kind of impact does it have for Americans?

VAUSE: Well, you know, there is a humanitarian crisis. You have women and children being killed. You have residents living in Abidjan who are too scared to go out. They're running short on food and water.

But as far as a direct impact for anybody here in the United States, no, there isn't really. I mean, there's the price of cocoa, which goes into the cost of chocolate. That could go up. But, you know, that's so far down the road, it doesn't really matter.

But you could make the same argument about Libya. What does Libya impact directly on the United States? The United States doesn't really buy much oil from Libya, so there's no direct impact on what happens in Libya to the United States.

It's the same thing with the Ivory Coast. The United States is a country that talks about self-determination, freedom and democracy, and that's what the people on the Ivory Coast want.

MALVEAUX: Do we think this is in any way related to a religious conflict? Because we know that the leader, the outgoing leader, as well as the one who won the election, are of different religious backgrounds.

VAUSE: Yes. Laurent Gbagbo is Christian. Alassane Ouattara is a Muslim. But this really isn't about religious issues yet.

I mean, you have Muslims who mostly are from the north, they live in the south. The Christians who live in the south, they also live in the north. However, the World Council of Churches has issued a statement saying they are concerned that if the violent continues, it could quickly descend into religious and (INAUDIBLE).

MALVEAUX: All right. John Vause, thank you so much for bringing attention to the Ivory Coast.

Well, we have a variety of choices for you in today's "Choose the News" segment. And I want you to let us know which one you would like to see later this hour. All you have to do is vote by texting 22360.

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

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

And being a British royal, it's got its perks, of course. You've got the palaces, the planes, the 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"; vote 2 for "Hispanics in Oklahoma"; or 3 for "Royals Give up Rights." The winning story will air later this hour.

Richard Branson has done it again. He has explored commercial rocket flight. Now he is heading the opposite direction, deep under the ocean.

I'm going to talk to him live about his latest adventures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Time is running out on Capitol Hill. We're going to tell you what all of the bickering over the budget means for you.

And why your doctor's best intentions could be leaving your baby with a flat head.

Plus, he is changing the future of flight. We'll talk with billionaire Sir Richard Branson.

Well, the clock is ticking toward a government shutdown. It could happen as early as Friday. The White House and Congress, they can't seem to agree on a plan to fund the government for the rest of fiscal 2011. That is for the next six months.

Want to bring in our congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar, who's on Capitol Hill, and our CNN's Tom Foreman. He's in the Washington bureau.

But, Brianna, I want to start off with you.

First of all, President Obama, yesterday, we saw, came out and gave a very stern warning that if congressional leaders didn't come together, he would have them back at the White House today.

Have they been summoned? Have they been invited? What is the state of play?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, they have not been summoned to the White House, Suzanne. There was a meeting last night between House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Both Democratic and Republican sources telling us that it was positive, that it led to discussions today among top aides. And sources telling us the fact that there isn't a meeting at the White House today, that maybe you can actually read into that as a positive sign -- Suzanne. MALVEAUX: We hope i9t's a positive sign. What are the sticking points, Brianna, for this new budget?

KEILAR: Yes. You know, of course the sticking points have to do with the amounts of cuts, the dollar amount. But there's also something else in play here, and it has to do with some hot- button social issues.

There are policy provisions that House Republicans want. One of them would be to defund health care reform. One would be to defund Planned Parenthood.

Republicans, arguing that this would guarantee federal dollars don't go to abortions. Democrats say already they don't. So you can see, you get into those kinds of issues, and you're really talking about things that Democrats and Republicans are opposed on. There's also a provision that would say to the Environmental Protection Agency, you cannot regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

So you can see that between Democrats and Republicans, these are areas that are in discussion and certainly are contentious between the two sides -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Brianna, do we have any sense of what impact the government shutdown would have on people who are outside of Washington?

KEILAR: You know, the administration's budget office just held a conference call. We got a lot of really good information, so just bear with me as I go through this, because they really detailed some of the ways that you at home are going to feel this.

The IRS will be affected because of this. It's tax return season. So, if you filed, if you did a paper return, you may see an interruption in dealing with that. If you filed electronically, you would be OK. On the upside, audits would be suspended.

If you were applying for a new loan, either for a small business through the Small Business Administration, or for a home loan through the Federal Housing Authority, that would be suspended. If you're applying for a new clinical trial through the National Institutes of Health, that would be held up.

Federal employees -- and we're talking 800,000 people -- 800,000 Americans, Suzanne, would either see themselves on unpaid furloughs or they would be working without pay. And also, the military, according to the OMB, would only be paid through Friday, and then they wouldn't be paid after that until the government would resume operations.

Of course, we've been telling you national parks all across the country would shut down. So if you're planning a vacation, that could certainly affect you. And we'd be seeing local effects for sure here in Washington, D.C. because with those closures, with the tourism dollars here, a lot of businesses would be affected here and anywhere where there's a national park where businesses are relying on those dollars, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: A lot of people potentially impacted by the government shutdown. Brianna, thanks. Get back to us, please, if they all work this all out. Appreciate it.

I want to talk more about the debate over how much to cut. What kind of projects would be on the chopping block, for instance? Our Tom Foreman, he's got that part of the story. And Tom, if you could, can you walk us through the different budget proposals and some of this things being proposed to actually get slashed?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, if you're sitting at home and you're just baffled by all this, as many people are, we're going to trying to break this down here so it all makes sense.

First thing you have to know, you heard a lot of news yesterday about Paul Ryan introducing a new budget plan that talks about Medicaid and all that. That's the 2012 budget. That's not what we're talking about in this current dispute.

What we're talking about here is the president's proposal for the 2011 budget, which is from October of last year to October of this year. This budget was proposed last year and pushing $4 trillion. It was not passed for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it was a midterm election year, so neither party really wanted to get tangled up in this.

So, what they did is they've had continuing resolutions to keep the government operating ever since then at the 2010 funding levels. In the process of doing that, they've had various deals they've struck, which include $10 billion worth of cuts to the president's proposal because everybody knows the economy is having trouble. So, they've agreed to about $10 billion worth of cuts.

Republicans have now passed a version that has $61 billion in cuts to the president's proposals. And as Brianna mentioned a minute ago, Suzanne, those include some real hot-button things for the Democratic side of this equation. $5 billion from Amtrak and high- speed rail, for example. $1 billion from Head Start and Even Smart. $400 million from National Public Radio. Basically yanking their funding. $300 million from NASA. $300 from Job Corps. $69 million from the Peace Corps.

So, these are really striking at the policy and political center of the Democratic side. That's one of the reasons the Democrats are fighting so hard against this. Republicans are saying, look, you have to make the cuts. We think these are the good cuts.

So, now we had a series of counteroffers as the Democrats wanted to have about $33 billion in cuts. We've been hearing since late yesterday afternoon about maybe a compromise around $40 billion in cuts. The negotiations, though, continue. All this comes down to, Suzanne, is really simple. It's politics. It's policy. And price. And at any moment, anyone of those may be sitting up on top. But their ability to settle somewhere between that target number, this number and somewhere else, wherever they wind up, that will determine whether the government shuts down or not. And then they can look at the 2012 budget and start the fight all over again.

MALVEAUX: Unbelievable how that debate in Washington is going to impact so many people across the country. Tom, thanks for that breakdown. Appreciate that.

Well, in another story, the way babies are put to bed might be changing, if you can believe this, the shape of their heads. Our Elizabeth Cohen will break down what this means for your child.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: For years, parents have been told to rest babies on their backs when they put them to sleep to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Well, researchers say a side effect of that advice is more babies now have flat heads. A new report says that the number of reported cases has increased 900 percent between 1999 and 2007.

Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us. This is something a lot that got a lot of people's attention here. Even the most beautiful little baby, maybe the head is a little flat in the back. Do we really think, is it important? Is it not important? What is this report telling us?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, most of the time it's not important. It's a cosmetic thing, and we all want our babies to have these nice little rounded heads. But sometimes they get flattened out.

So, actually, we have a picture of a baby with the flat had. You can see, you know, the ears on either side. Then you get this one sort of flat end there. It's because babies' heads are soft and malleable. And if they rest too much on one surface one way, they can get kind of flattened out on one side.

MALVEAUX: So, why do they think this is happening more and more? Is it just the fact that babies are being put on their backs when they go to bed?

COHEN: That's a big part of it. I mean, since 1992, pediatricians have been telling parents, backs to sleep. So put your child on their back to sleep to decrease the chances that they'll get SIDS. And SIDS raids have plummeted. That's a great thing. So, that probably is part of the reason.

But Suzanne, whenever I see a number like 900 percent, I think there's got to be something going on here. And we did talk to pediatricians, and they did say, yes, there are probably other things going on here. Parents are probably more aware of this and are reporting it more often. There are probably several reasons why this might be true. It's not just because of the backs to sleep campaign.

MALVEAUX: Should a parent be worried if their baby has a flat head? Is it important?

COHEN: No. It really isn't important. I mean, it is a cosmetic thing. If you are concerned, you should certainly go to your doctor. There's no question. And there are treatments you can do. I mean, you can give your child tummy time. You know, that's a good thing to do, and that's when you give them time when they're awake to be on their stomach. You can also put a -- sometimes a doctor will tell you to put a helmet on the child, and that can help sort of reshape -

MALVEAUX: So, that's a way to round out the head there?

COHEN: Right. That's a way of rounding out the head. And in rare cases, a child will need surgery. Most of the time, luckily, that's not necessary. And it just corrects itself.

MALVEAUX: If there's a parent out there who thinks, okay, I don't want my baby to have a flat head, maybe I'll turn him on his stomach and have him sleep on his stomach. Is that okay?

COHEN: No! Just makes me shudder as a parent and as a public health person. No. Life is more important than looks. You want your child on their back to go to sleep. You don't want your child to get SIDS. If a flat head is a side effect, parents should not worry. Bring it up with the pediatrician, talk to them, but it's not a cause for worry. You want your child to be alive.

MALVEAUX: That's the most important thing. Bottom line. OK. Thank you, Elizabeth.

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is drawing attention now to the hundreds of thousands of Libyans forced to flee their country during this civil war. "Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer is following that for us in New York.

A.J., good to see you. This is something we're getting into Jolie doing. She's very active with her work in the United Nations, and now she's taking on this cause?

A.J. HAMMER, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" CO-HOST: Yes, Suzanne, Angelina Jolie takes her job as U.N. goodwill ambassador very seriously. This is definitely not a vanity project for her. She made a surprise appearance at the refugee camps at the Tunisian border of Libya, and she toured a camp which holds thousands of Libyan refugees. Getting the chance to meet with a lot of them, and according to the U.N., the Libyan civil war has created around 440,000 refugees.

Now, Jolie isn't just donating her time. The Jolie-Pitt Foundation covered the cost of flying 177 people back to their countries of origin. She even purchased an ambulance to assist the injured who are arriving from Libya.

Jolie did something very similar in Afghanistan recently. So, obviously, staying involved and helping out wherever she can is very important to her.

However, that doesn't make her immune at all, Suzanne, from ongoing rumor and speculation. The latest headline, while pictures were taken on the trip that show Angelina with a new tattoo. And some people think her new tattoo indicates she and Brad Pitt will be adopting another child. Others are saying it's a tribute to Pitt. Suzanne, I choose to balance the important stuff with the stuff people like to gab about. So --

MALVEAUX: I want to know about the tattoo as well.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: All right, that's good. Fair enough.

You have another story out there involving a celebrity in an African country. Malawi and Madonna, who has been dealing with her own issues out of there. What's taking place? What's happening?

HAMMER: Yes, this has gotten a little complicated. Last week, "The New York Times" reported that Madonna's efforts to build an all-girls school in Malawi had been abandoned. The reason that was given was the collapse of a fundraising charity dedicated to the school. So then in the aftermath of that story, reports started swirling around that the FBI and IRS were investigating the charity and possibly even Madonna.

Well, Madonna's rep is now setting the record straight to "Showbiz Tonight." Let me tell you what she's telling us. "In recent days, a number of wild and totally false rumors about Madonna's philanthropy spread by bloggers and tabloids have begun appearing on the Internet. As we've said previously, Raising Malawi is currently undergoing a series of positive changes in an effort to serve more children. Neither Madonna nor Raising Malawi is being investigated by the FBI or the IRS. It's unfortunate that people have chosen to say thing about Raising Malawi and Madonna that are not true. Madonna remains committed and focused on what matters - helping the children of Malawi."

And of course, Madonna adopted a baby boy from the country back in 2006, Suzanne. And I'm glad Madonna's rep is stepping up here because I really hope that all of Madonna's terrific efforts, she's done a lot of great work with Raising Malawi over the years. I hope none of it is thwarted by the circumstances surrounding this particular project being abandoned.

MALVEAUX: All right. A.J.'s got scoop. Thank you, A.J. Appreciate it.

If you want more information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, A.J.'s got it this evening on "Showbiz Tonight." 5:00 and 11:00 Eastern on HLN.

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MALVEAUX: A baseball game between two rival teams turns violent, ending with one fan in a coma and police searching now for suspects. And that brings us to today's "Talk Back" question. Carol Costello has more on our "Talk Back" series. Carol? Going to get to us, I think -- Carol is coming.

Come on, Carol!

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I am coming.

MALVEAUX: We got you. Come on.

COSTELLO: Did you go to me early, because I was sitting right there, I swear!

MALVEAUX: Tell us, Carol, what do you have? What are people talking about?

COSTELLO: OK. People talking about this baseball incident, this violent incident that happened out in California. Our "Talk Back" question today, is fan violence the new normal?

This from Eddie. "I'm from Los Angeles and I can say that I am deeply embarrassed by the actions of the idiots who committed this heinous act. I really hope that this is not going to be the new norm."

This from Charity. "This is totally insane. I don't care how die hard fanatic you are. It's a game, people."

This from Marvena. "My son was assaulted by two classy Chiefs fans at a Chiefs/Titans game in Kansas city. They threw beer on him and then threw a beer bottle at him, hitting him in the back. I hope violence is not the new normal. I thought we were better than that."

This from April. "It's just another example of the bully culture that's developing across our country. We wonder why our kids bully each other across school? Take a look at these adults."

Please, continue the conversation, facebook.com/carolcnn. And thanks, as always, for your comments.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

MALVEAUX: At this time tomorrow, we'll be talking with billionaire Donald Trump. He says he's not ready to announce whether he's running for president, but you can bet we're going to try to push him on that, ask him that very question. Donald Trump joins us live tomorrow at 11:00 Eastern.

Well, in just a few moments I'm going to be speaking with billionaire explorer, that is Sir Richard Branson. He is thousands of feet in the air. But first, we've got a question for you. What have human beings explored more? The surface of the moon or the ocean floor? The answer and Sir Richard Branson's latest endeavor, that's coming up next.

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MALVEAUX: So what have human beings explored more, the surface of the moon or the ocean floor? You might be surprised to learn that the answer is the moon. We have focused most of our energies on outer space, while the depths of the oceans have gone largely ignored.

Well, here is the story that you wanted to see. Hispanics now outnumber Native Americans in a state defined by its deep American Indian heritage. Our CNN's Ed Lavandera explains how this is changing the landscape is Oklahoma.

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside the Oklahoma History Center, the story of American Indians takes up a large wing. The influence of Native Americans is deeply engrained in the state. The Latino history of Oklahoma fits in a modest corner, but Michael Dean says that's quickly changing.

MICHAEL DEAN, OKLAHOMA HISTORY CENTER: Today there are more Spanish radio stations in Oklahoma City and the metro area than there are country music stations.

LAVANDERA (on camera): In 1900, state historians say they could only count 134 Mexican families that lived here in the state of Oklahoma. Today, the Latino population of this state is more than 332,000 people.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Marcelino Garcia's story is like a dream come true. Came to Oklahoma illegally in 1979, started washing dishes in a restaurant, became a U.S. citizen. Thirty-two years later, he owns 12 Chileno's (ph) restaurants, a tortilla factory, two meat markets and a banquet hall.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Who are all these guys here?

MARCELINO GARCIA, RESTAURANT OWNER: These are all my brothers. Sersa (ph), Wanil (ph), Gasus (ph), Armando (ph).

LAVANDERA (voice-over): And brought most of his family to Oklahoma, too. But Garcia says his success as a Mexican businessman often raised suspicions.

GARCIA: They think I run the mafia (ph) in Oklahoma.

LAVANDERA: Mario Jamison owns a Native American jewelry store. He's seen his own American Indian culture slowly disappear. And he urges Latinos to hold onto their culture.

MARIO JAMISON, NATIVE AMERICAN: I'm talking folklore and ethnic food. These things, over time, are lost through generations.

GARCIA: My dream was to have a little restaurant to work myself and my family. But I think I passed my dreams 100 times. More than I ever dreamed.

LAVANDERA: For Marcelino Garcia, Oklahoma is a land of unlikely opportunity.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Oklahoma City.

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MALVEAUX: If your choice did not win or you just want to check out the runners up, I'll have links to them on my page at facebook.com/suzannecnn.

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MALVEAUX: The race is on for the Republicans. We're talking about the race to raise enough cash to be a presidential contender. President Obama hopes to raise as much as a billion dollars for his re-election campaign. Our Tom Foreman takes a look at how the GOP is doing so far.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Suzanne.

You know all of the eyes are going to be on this until early July, how much money can a Republican raise who wants to challenge President Obama, because that's going to be the real measure of whether or not they're real contenders.

We only have some real numbers so far. We know that Ron Paul has raised $4.7 million through his PAC and for his re-election campaign. We know Michele Bachmann has raised $2.2 million through her PAC and re-election campaign. We know Mitt Romney has $1.9 million raised through his PAC.

These numbers don't mean a whole lot, though, because we're so early in the process. We need to see what some other people are going to bring to the table. People like Haley Barbour, who you know has deep ties in the RNC and through Republican governors all over the country. People like Newt Gingrich, another long time player out there. Tim Pawlenty, another proven moneymaker.

And what about Sarah Palin? Mike Huckabee? Donald Trump? Any number of other people, may we may not even list here. The real goal for them is just this. Between now and July, proving they can be moneymakers and real contenders.

In part that's because one Republican strategist I talked to said, he believes that just getting the nomination is going to take about $100 million on the Republican side. Beyond that, once you have that much, to get elected could take $500 million to $700 million. Another strategist, Suzanne, told me it could be a lot more than that. Why? Because no matter who gets the nomination, they have to go up here and take on the president in what could be a billion dollar war chest.

This is going to be a titanic battle. But watch these numbers start coalescing around one person in coming months. That will give you an idea of who one of the biggest contenders may very well be.

Suzanne. MALVEAUX: All right, thanks, Tom.

And tomorrow we're going to be talking with billionaire Donald Trump. He says he's not ready to announce whether he's running for president, but you can bet we're going to ask him that very we. Donald Trump joins us live here tomorrow at 11:00 Eastern.

Want to bring in our own Chad Myers to give us the latest -- the update on a weather situation.

A lot of storms that we got, I understand, they're coming their way.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, there's rain going to New York City. There's slow airports across parts of the Northwest. Rain into Detroit. Also along here, the I-70, the 80 corridor there. Even into Buffalo some light snow. Yes, I did say that. I know it's -- it has four letters in it.

But, here you go, from Seattle back down to Eugene, you get above about 5,000 feet, that's where you get the snow. Here we're talking about snow right down on the land level, not in the mountains, and that's going to continue for quite a bit of the day today.

The snow continues in the west. Great skiing conditions. This is great spring skiing. We're getting -- there's a lot of spring breaks here. I know some of them are over already, but the spring skiing out west has been absolutely phenomenal.

Let's get out of spring and get into summer. Brand new forecast from Colorado state. Their Atlantic hurricane prediction. Sixteen named storms, nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes. That should be 10, five and about two. Should be 10 named storms, five on average, and two, almost three major hurricanes. So that could be quite a significant season, again, as we come up.

Now, those numbers will change. They always do. They look at whether the water is warm, whether the water is cold, whether there's sheer, whether there's wind. All those other kind of things. Here's the airport delay I was talking about just popping up right there. Ground delays at Newark Airplane. That means just departure delays. About 55 minutes. Not canceling to many planes out there. The weather is pretty good. You may see some slowdowns coming up in Detroit as the humidity is high, it's raining there, the visibility is a little bit low, the ceilings are coming down a little bit and that always can slow down an airport 20, 30 minutes. But not going to cancel to many flights.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: That's a good thing.

Speaking of flying, we've got Richard Branson. He's about 15,000 feet in the air, we understand. We've been trying to get him live. We're going to get him and we're going to bring that interview to you tomorrow. Richard Branson. Promise that we'll come through for you. In the meantime, our CNN NEWSROOM continues right now in with Randi Kaye, who's in for Ali Velshi.

Hey, Randi.