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Penn State Students to Hold Vigil; No Sign of Kidnapped MLB Catcher; Salute to America's Veterans; "The New Promised Land"; Turkey Quake Toll Climbs to 19; New Seven Wonders of the World; Cain Cracks Anita Hill Joke; Gabby Giffords: Recovery "Difficult"; Soldier Guilty of Murdering Afghans

Aired November 11, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to all of you. Happy Friday.

Let's get you caught up on everything making news this hour, "Rapid Fire."

Let's go, beginning with right now the latest on the Penn State child rape scandal. So here's what we know.

A vigil for the victims in this case planned for tonight, 9:30 Eastern Time. This vigil will take place at the old main building that's on Penn State's campus.

The vigil is expected to be a stark contrast to all the rioting. Remember these crowds from Wednesday night by all these students very, very angry over the sudden firing of their head coach, Joe Paterno?

The new interim president of the university is scheduled to speak in just about 45 minutes. Also coming up, we will hear from the mother of one of the alleged victims of former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

That's coming up in a couple of minutes. Stay with us for live coverage here on CNN.

Also, some breaking news right now. Mexico's interior minister, Jose Francisco Blake Mora, is dead. According to government officials, he was on board a helicopter that crashed today just south of the capital, south of Mexico City. Two other ministry officials were also killed as well. In all, nine people died in the crash, including two crew members.

President Obama marking today, Veterans Day, by taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony there at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. He is also spending time with service members both here in Washington, D.C., also in San Diego today. And while he is westward in California, he will be attending a little basketball game between my alma mater, North Carolina -- go Tar Heels -- and Michigan State. It will be played on board the USS Carl Vinson.

Boxing fans paying their respects to legendary fighter Joe Frazier. The boxing legend's casket will be on display at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. It will be there through tomorrow. Frazier's funeral is set for Monday.

And more than 1,000 employees of MF Global's brokerage unit being told today, you're fired, effective immediately. Just about 200 former employees will be hired to just help wind the business down, process bankruptcy claims. MF Global imploded pretty recently after disclosing more than $6 billion in exposure to troubled European debt. Just last week, federal regulators said $633 million was missing a couple weeks ago.

Hazing apparently went too far at a South Carolina fraternity. Nine members of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity at Frances Francis Marion University have been arrested. The sheriff's office says one pledge told him he was beaten with a paddle so hard, he ended up being sent to the hospital for an extended stay.

Some frightened passengers on the Atlanta to Charlotte flight say they frantically texted their "I love yous" when they heard a large boom and smoke filled the cabin. This happened 10 or 20 minutes into this flight. This was last night.

The pilot, thankfully, was able to return safely to Atlanta. Passengers finally made it on to Charlotte early this morning.

And missing baby Lisa Irwin's first birthday is today. She is the little girl who disappeared now just about more than a month ago.

Birthday signs, they are strung up here in her family's home. This is Kansas City, Missouri. Lisa's family's attorney says the family is cooperating with the police in that investigation into little Lisa's disappearance.

And check your calendars. We don't get to say this ever.

It's November 11th, 2011: 11/11/11. People all over the world trying to make this day a little extra special. I'm talking Vegas weddings, overbooked. Expected moms scheduling their C-sections for today.

It's also National Corduroy Day because the stripes look like 11 /11/11. OK. That might be a stretch, corduroy pants. Sorry, just saying.

And just so you know, there are only 50 days left in this year, 2011.

We are near moments away from hearing about seven new wonders of the world. The top locations were voted on by millions of people worldwide. Have you heard about this?

So, among the top sites, the Dead Sea in Israel, the U.S. Grand Canyon, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Also polling high is Indonesia's Komodo Island.

We're expecting this announcement any minute now. As soon as we know, we will let you know here on CNN.

A couple of minutes in. Got a lot to go here in the next two hours.

Live from Washington, a special show for us here at CNN. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): Dark days at Penn State. Child rape charges against a former football coach. This, as the team prepares for its final home game this weekend. But the real story in this case, the victims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You knew if you were getting in the car with him and you were going somewhere, that he was going to have his hand on your thigh.

BALDWIN: We will also hear from a woman whose child was allegedly raped by Jerry Sandusky.

Plus --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our priority is to find Sky (ph), find out what happened to him.

BALDWIN: New details in the case of that missing 2-year-old boy who was left in the car by his mother while she says she went for gas. Well, now police say there was gas in that car.

Also, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain makes a joke about Anita Hill. You know, the woman who accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

Plus --

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is all that's left of what was a five-story building.

BALDWIN: Dramatic new video of the earthquake in Turkey. We actually see the precise moment when the quake hit.

And outrage. Huge bonuses for executives at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. All of this after the firms were given hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. Here's where we are on the Penn State story right this moment.

Students are planning a vigil tonight. No pre-game pep rally, but really more of a solemn vigil to honor the sex abuse victims. Specifically, at least eight alleged victims of the longtime former Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Tonight's show of respect is intended, at least in part, as a counterpoint to what occurred Wednesday night into the wee hours of Thursday. This was the image that played out. Penn State students ran wild after the school's board of trustees fired their head coach, Joe Paterno.

I want you to take a look at this. This is Paterno. this is Wednesday night after his firing.

He had failed to go to police all the way back in 2002, when this graduate assistant came to his home and told him he had witnessed a graphic sexual act between Sandusky and a 10-year-old boy at a school athletic facility.

Now, Penn State's longtime president, he's out as well. His replacement spoke late this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODNEY ERICKSON, INTERIM PRESIDENT, PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: My heart aches for the victims and their families, and my mind searches for answers like millions of others across the nation. This is a tragedy for many lives, and it will take all of us some time to come to grips with the full magnitude of all the damage that has been done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Officials are voting today to authorize a special investigation. They still don't know everything that happened surrounding Jerry Sandusky.

We've got Beth Karas standing by for us on campus there at Penn State. But before we go to her, we need you to know this: the mother of the child identified as Jerry Sandusky's victim number one, she gave an interview today in shadow. Victim number one described in the grand jury indictment against Jerry Sandusky as being subjected to oral sex on more than 20 occasions.

The mother told ABC News about her initial suspicions two years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": At some point he came to you and he said he wanted some information about how to look up sex weirdos.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What did you think of that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I asked him who he was looking up, and he said he wanted to see if Jerry was on there. And I said, "Well, why would you look him up?" And he said, "I don't know. He's a weirdo."

And I proceeded to ask him if there was something he needed to tell me, and at that point he didn't indicate anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That mother said that everything began to unravel. She asked her son why he didn't step forward more forcefully. The son's reply simply was, "You don't say no to Jerry."

Now to Beth Karas, on campus at Penn State.

Now, Beth, we know school officials today said they would authorize -- they would vote, I should say, to authorize that investigation. Do we know whether a vote has actually taken place? Do we know anything about these investigators?

BETH KARAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The trustees met earlier today and announced the establishment of a special committee to conduct its own investigation.

It is going to be headed by a trustee, Ken Frazier. He'll be the chairman. The vice chair is going to be the Pennsylvania education secretary. The members of the committee were not all announced, but they will be comprised primarily of trustees, but also faculty, students, and other members of the community.

Now, it's unclear what the power of this committee will be. I assume, because it's an arm of the state, that they will have subpoena power, so they can compel testimony as well as subpoena documents.

Right now they're seeing behind me. A group of students has just begun singing the school alma mater. They're going around campus and doing this all day. And they have just chosen right now to do it for us.

BALDWIN: If you didn't point it out, I was about ask myself what the singing was.

Speaking of the students, we know there is that vigil planned tonight, 9:30 Eastern Time.

What are we expecting? I imagine a much different scene than we saw play out Wednesday night.

KARAS: Oh, yes. It couldn't be more different.

In fact, it's going to be peaceful, candlelight. It is going to be on the lawn behind me. That's the old main building behind me where the president of the university's office is located.

The lawn there will have at least 8,500 students. That's the last check of the registration of the RSVPs, 8,500. They could be up to 10,000 students. It is a show of support tonight for the victims, the alleged victims of this sex abuse scandal.

BALDWIN: What about, Beth, looking toward tomorrow? I mean, Penn State, they have three more games left in their seasons. Going into the game tomorrow, we know Penn State ranked 12th. They're playing another ranked team. They're playing Nebraska.

Because of everything that's really imploded there this past week, has the excitement been drained out of tomorrow's game?

KARAS: Actually, I don't think the excitement has, although people are very conflicted. It will be the first time in more than four decades that Joe Paterno is not there.

McQuery, who witnessed the alleged March, 2002 incident, will not be there as well, at least on the field. But the town -- I was just talking to a police officer from town who said this place is going to be very different in a couple hours, when 100,000 people descend on the town.

It is just going to be blocks of traffic, and really hard to navigate, because people turn out for these games, and they do expect it tonight as well. And for tomorrow's game.

But people obviously are conflicted about these allegations and what has happened to the reputation of Penn State around the nation. Nonetheless, supporters of the team will be there. They want to win.

BALDWIN: Yes, I was reading a bunch of lettermen plan to be on the sidelines, one of the student stores selling these blue-out shirts, and all the proceeds go to child abuse in the state of Pennsylvania.

So, Beth Karas, at Penn State.

Thank you so much.

And again, that game, noontime tomorrow.

A disgraced American soldier and a cold-blooded murderer guilty on all charges ranging from rape to murder in Afghanistan. He called his victims "dirty savages," cut off their fingers to keep his trophies. More on this coming up.

And if you are a baseball fan, you're probably keeping up with this story, the kidnapping of a 24-year-old Washington Nationals player. He's in Venezuela, home this week, supposed to be there to play on a team there, go home from Christmas. Well, he's not the only one who has been taken. Family members of other athletes have been kidnapped and held for ransom.

More on that.

Also, this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that every mom and wife, but every mom, grieves a little when you send them off. You start kind of a grieving process. You want them to come home safe, but you don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We are talking about our men and women serving in the military.

And there she is, Robin Meade. She has been traveling the country talking with military families, visiting bases for the past year. What better way to celebrate our American heroes than this day, Veterans Day? Robin is going to join me live about her journey and the special coming up tonight.

We'll get the preview. That's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Veterans Day is a great day to remember the people who have fought for this country and who are fighting right now. If he were here right now, I would tell him, thanks for serving us and our country.

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Police in Venezuela may be close to solving the kidnapping of a Major League Baseball catcher grabbed at gunpoint from his family's home back in Venezuela. The player is this man, Washington Nationals catcher, rookie catcher, Wilson Ramos.

I have Joe Lemire of SportsIllustrated.com on the phone with me.

And Joe, just as far as news today, if police say they are hopeful, what kind of progress are they making in finding him?

JOE LEMIRE, SI.COM: Well, for the most part, the investigation has been very quiet, not wanting to say anything that might interfere with the case. But recently, the deputy justice minister, Mr. Edwin Rojas, in Venezuela said that investigators are making progress and that they have faith in a quick resolution.

There were some earlier reports that there is some advanced investigative tactics, perhaps including some aerial overhead surveillance. They found two different vehicles that were used in the abduction, but still no report, no contact with the family, and no recent report of sighting of Wilson Ramos.

BALDWIN: And from what I read in "The Washington Post" -- being here in Washington, the local paper, that's what I've also been reading -- they've said so far, no one has called his family in Venezuela demanding any kind of ransom.

Is that what you have?

LEMIRE: Yes. As of yet, there has been no known contact.

BALDWIN: And Venezuela, there have been 895 registered kidnappings just this past year, and that's I guess what's on the record.

Why are police staying so mum on this one, so guarded?

LEMIRE: Well, I think without having received any sort of word, there is always some question of the motives of this incident. Kidnapping, as you mentioned, is on the rise in Venezuela. Ball players, in particular, several of their family members in the last few years have been kidnapped with contact made seeking ransom money.

Wilson Ramos is the first active Major Leaguer that is known to have been kidnapped. And so one can probably draw conclusions that there is some sort of monetary incentive. But without that sort of contact, no one wants to jump to any conclusions.

BALDWIN: OK. And so, just quickly, Joe, tell me about Ramos. I mean, I know he's a rookie catcher. I know he went home and was about to play on a home league back there, really excited to be with his family for the holidays. What more -- tell me more about him just as a player.

LEMIRE: Sure. He's a very young -- promising, young catcher. He came up in the Minnesota Twins farm system, was traded for (INAUDIBLE) a little over a year ago, and spent this past year with the Washington Nationals, who have a future Hall of Fame catcher in Ivan Rodriguez. But Ramos had been playing so well, and Rodriguez knew at the end of his career that Ramos had taken the primary starting position.

Like a lot of young players, particularly those from Latin America, will often return there and play anywhere from a handful to a few dozen games in the local winter leagues. It's sort of seen as a common practice for a little extra work and training, but also, it's a way to play in front of your home fans, many of whom either don't have the ability to come to the states to see them in person, or don't have the access to watch games on television. So, it's common for players to return home and pay in front of their native fans, and Wilson was about to do the same before this recent incident.

BALDWIN: Here's hoping they find Ramos, and find him safely and soon.

Joe Lemire, SI.com.

Thanks for hopping on the phone. Appreciate it.

Now this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN MEADE, HLN ANCHOR: How do you guys keep that from breaking? Like, it looks like the crackers will break.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we kind of edge them in between.

MEADE: Games.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have some of those.

MEADE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Take a moment and think about anyone you may know who is serving or has served our country. They are our true American heroes. Today is Veterans Day. We certainly salute you. HLN anchor, my friend, Robin Meade, she salutes them as well on her show. She traveled the country, gathering compelling stories from military families. She's live. She's going to talk to me a little bit about her special coming up tonight.

CNN NEWSROOM will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Not too far from where I sit is Arlington National Cemetery. I want you to take a look at these images. This is President Obama earlier this morning, laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns. All of this as the nation pauses today for Veterans Day.

And whatever you are doing right now, take a moment, thank a veteran. When you see someone in uniform -- oftentimes I see people in the airport -- look them in the eye, say thank you, give them a hug, buy them a cup of coffee. Let them know you certainly appreciate their service.

And today we formally recognize all American veterans. But really, it's just a reminder of something we should be doing every single day. And for those who gave their lives, a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay.

I want you to listen as President Obama spoke just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This generation of service members, this 9/11 generation, has borne the burden of our security during a hard decade of sacrifice. Our servicemen and women make up less than one percent of Americans, but also, more than one million military spouses and two million children, and millions more, parents and relatives, all of whom have shared the strains of deployment and sacrifice on behalf of the country that we love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, speaking of our veterans, tonight our sister network, HLN, is airing a Veterans Day special by "Morning Express" host Robin Meade. And Robin is in Atlanta. I'm here in Washington.

So, Robin, between your show and your singing, my friend, I'm not sure quite how you pulled off these travels across the country, but I'm glad you did. Tell me how you god this idea for this special that airs after night.

MEADE: Yes. Every morning on our show, every hour, we do just a salute to the troops. And the president mentioned the families there.

Normally, when we do these salute to the troops, it's like 30 seconds, is all on our show, but it's the family members saying, I love my person in the military, I'm so proud of them. This is their picture. I just want to say thank you, thank you for all the things that you do.

So this special focuses not only on our military loved ones, and our vets, but the people who really hold down the fort when they are gone. And that is the family members.

So we've been shooting this, like, since January, at West Point. We went to Jacksonville, Florida. We were in Warner Robins, Georgia. So we have a number of different stories.

Sometimes it may be about the wounded warrior and how in the world they were able to come back and maybe still serve, or other times it's about that family. And we happen to catch, like, a piece where a battleship was deploying, and we have to be there that day. And I was so amazed by how the parents are able to convey to their children every day that your dad or mom is gone, it's one step closer that they come home.

BALDWIN: Right.

MEADE: So -- yes. And I wanted to show a little piece of tape here for you just as an example about how important the families are to our military here.

BALDWIN: Well, we have this woman. All three of her sons and her husband are all deployed. Here she is, Alise Baldwin.

MEADE: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISE BALDWIN, BLUE STAR MOMS: I think that every mom and wife -- but every mom -- grieves a little when you send them off. You start kind of a grieving process. You want them to come home safe, but you don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: My goodness, my goodness.

ROBIN MEADE, HOST, HLN'S "MORNING EXPRESS WITH ROBIN MEADE": You need to have your Kleenex ready for this special. It's not all tears of fear. Like she -- you know, she's what they call a Blue Star Mom and she was preparing packages. It helps her take action.

She's preparing packages of little goodies that she sends to the troops in Afghanistan. She does have, like she said, four family members in the military. Something else you'll see on this special, we take you inside a battleship.

And not only do you notice like the high tech things there that help protect our shores, but it's the people who work together and how you have hundreds of people on this destroyer that work so seamlessly together.

And then, we will also -- yes, one of my favorite parts is at one point during the year on our show, we had a surprise military union where two new military moms --

BALDWIN: I watched that.

MEADE: Yes, surprise. They were in Afghanistan and brought their babies to the set and, no, their husbands were right there. We take you behind the scenes of how in the world did they pull that off.

BALDWIN: Did you pull that off?

MEADE: Yes. It's kind of like an Oprah moment.

BALDWIN: I remember, because that was the first time that the fathers actually not only got to see their wives, but, surprise, they got to see the little ones for the first time.

Before I let you go, I was reading about the special. Tell me quickly about the Mr. Moms. Tell me who these guys are.

MEADE: Right. So we also focused on, once again, the family is really the focus here with our military loved ones. So we talked to two couples, both of whom the moms were deployed at the moment, but the dads were also in the military. So you have two military spouses, while mom's deployed, dad is at home doing the little daughter's hair and he's like, I don't know how to do her hair.

It's the little things that you don't think about that military families do that make it all work for them and it's so tough for them. But it was a real great inside look at how are the dads keeping things together while mom's deployed.

And then moms come home and then it's their turn to go, really amazing. You think about how many children don't have their mom and dad home at the same time because they are serving us, the country.

BALDWIN: It gives you goose bumps.

MEADE: Yes.

BALDWIN: And I thank you for, you know, doing the segment. I thank you for this special. Let's just remind everyone. You're special "Salute the Troops, Stories of Courage," because that's exactly what it is, airs tonight 7:00 p.m. Eastern on HLN.

MEADE: If you're busy eating pizza tonight, 7 p.m. Eastern then it's also playing Saturday night and Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

BALDWIN: Well, there you go.

MEADE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Robin Meade, "Salute to the Troops." Thank you so much, Robin. Have a wonderful weekend. I'll see you back in Atlanta.

MEADE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, Silicon Valley, the promise land for tech entrepreneurs, but some minority-led firms are often times having trouble getting in the door.

So one professor is stepping in. He's doling out some controversial advice. What that advice is, is next.

Also dramatic video here. This is from Turkey's latest earthquake plus survivor stories as thousands are still homeless. Some people are scared. Other people, they are getting angry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here's a question. Is it necessary to have a white front man for African-American entrepreneurs to succeed in Silicon Valley? That is the controversial piece of advice this professor gave a group of blacks who are putting everything on the line just to try to succeed there.

Soledad O'Brien gives us a preview of her "Black in America" special report. She is calling it "The New Promise Land, Silicon Valley" airs Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern. Take a look.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: For our documentary "Black in America" this year, we wanted to focus on African-Americans who work as technology entrepreneurs. They are eight of them.

This time in a three-bedroom house and they work around the clock trying to get their start-up ideas for a dot-com business launched and then pitched to investors.

In this documentary, we explore does race matter when it comes to success in Silicon Valley. There's a professor who's mentoring the eight in the house and his advice to them is stunning. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I be critical about the community?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You folks don't help each other.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Professor Vivek Wadhwa says investors in the valley practice pattern matching. They see entrepreneurs who are successful, mainly young, white males and invest in those who fit the pattern.

PROFESSOR VIVEK WADHWA, NEWME MENTOR: When I did Raise Venture Capital, my buddies advised me, get a white guy to be your front man. And I did that.

I hired very impressive, you know, six-foot tall polished white guy and let him do the talking. That's the way it is. I'm telling you. I've done it. That's the way the system works. You might as well understand it and then use it to your advantage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still kind of speechless.

WADHWA: There's so many kids in Berkeley or Stanford you can hire.

HANK WILLIAMS, NEWME ENTREPRENEUR: There's is something raw and very direct about it that is jarring.

WAYNE SUTTON, NEWME CO-FOUNDER: It's very sad. We're in 2011 and we have a black president and he's not putting money in our pocket directly. What do we have to do? Play the game until we're successful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And we're there every minute of their nine-week program to see if they can turn those dot-com ideas into viable.com businesses. Be sure to watch "Black in America 4 - The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In Eastern Turkey, the death toll from Wednesday's earthquake is now rising to at least 19. The tragedy is also causing some political aftershocks.

But I want to begin with this dramatic new video of the quake the moment it struck. Here now is CNN's Ivan Watson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dramatic escape seconds before an entire building collapses. The earth just won't stop shaking in eastern Turkey.

Security camera footage shows Wednesday night's 5.6 magnitude earthquake knocking out electricity in the eastern city of Van and sending three men racing into the street just seconds before Bairam Hotel came suddenly tumbling down.

(on camera): This is all that's left of what was a five-story building, a pancake pile of rubble. It is now the scene of a dramatic rescue operation that's working round-the-clock.

(voice-over): Fortunately, rescue workers an heavy equipment were close by to help. They've flooded the area after a much more powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake slammed the Van region barely three weeks ago killing more than 500 people.

On Wednesday some these rescue workers became victims of the latest quake. Emergency workers pulled this Japanese volunteer from the rubble.

MIYUKI KONNAI, SURVIVOR (through translator): And I tried to open my eyes, but I could not because of lots of dust getting into my eyes. When I finally managed to open my left eye slowly, there was a ray of light I could see in what I thought was complete darkness. That light gave me relief and gave me hope to live. That was the light from the computer I was using. WATSON: Miyuki Konnai escaped, but one of her fellow Japanese volunteers died from his injuries. Amid stories of tragedy and hope, there's also anger. Residents confronted Turkish officials on Thursday demanding resignations.

Riot police charged the crowd just yards away from collapsed buildings. In the days ahead, there will be more questions about government enforcement of building codes and pressure to resettle hundreds of thousands of people made homeless.

But for now, Turkey's earthquake survivors are just looking for a warm place to sleep. Most of them clearly too scared to step in to their own homes. Ivan Watson, CNN, Van, Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ivan, thank you.

And now to a list -- tweet me @brookeb@cnn. The "New Seven Wonders of the World" were just announced. Here they are, The Amazon, Halon Bay, Vietnam, Iguazu Falls, Brazil, Jeju Island, South Korea, Komodo, Indonesia, Puerto Princesa Underground River, Philippines and Table Mountain, South Africa.

You've been in any of these places? These top locations, by the way, were voted on by millions of people all around the world and then the results will be finalized over the course of the next two weeks.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, she arrived in Safeway in Tucson 11 months ago, ready to greet her constituents, shake some hands, say hello when she was suddenly shot in the head.

You know, she's recovering faster than anyone thought and she has also given her first interview. We will hear her voice in just a moment.

Also, Wolf Blitzer joins me for America's Choice 2011 politics update. That's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How he's going to react, if he's going to recognize me.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Mommy! When your mommy and daddy is away, it's hard to concentrate on your work and missing your mommy and daddy at the same time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. That's --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to be strong, don't you?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes, we have to be brave, strong, and don't worry about them too much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you surprised that I came home early? Are you upset with me because I didn't tell you? No? Are you happy? I missed you buddy.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I missed you too, mommy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The sexual harassment scandal pretty much any politician's worst nightmare. For presidential hopeful, Herman Cain, it's new material.

Last night, the GOP candidate was caught on camera cracking a joke when asked about Anita Hill. Remember she is the woman who tried to derail Clarence Thomas' nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court claiming he made unwanted sexual advances towards here.

I want to play this sound. You're going to hear Herman Cain is a little tough to hear so we've added the words. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Did you hear the latest news today? Anita Hill is going to (inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Is she going to endorse me so that's what he was saying. Well, we just got comment from Herman Cain on this statement minutes ago. He was outside the Russian Tea Room in Manhattan after this fundraiser, take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAIN: I want to get back on message. I want you to fix this economy so people can go back to work. Not continue all these contingent on self that does not matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And there he goes, Herman Cain in Manhattan. And keep in mind, we are just about a little under a year away from election day, and the race for the nomination for the White House in the Republican side, pretty exciting already.

Republican presidential hopefuls are facing up again tomorrow night. Wolf Blitzer joins me now in Washington. Obviously, the last debate, one of which you got the helm, pretty interesting, pretty surprising. What are you looking for this weekend?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": More of the same, except this time it's -- the stakes are getting even more important. Each debate now, the next general election a little bit less than a year from now, Brooke, but remember January 3rd, about a month and a half or so, not that long we start in Iowa.

Then a week later, in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, it's coming up really quickly right now. So the pressure is going to - if you think the pressure was intense going into this next round of debates, it's going to be even more so now and we've seen some really dramatic developments taking place as Rick Perry's numbers have collapsed over these past several weeks.

And Herman Cain's numbers have gone up. They seemed to be going down just a little bit right now although he's raking in a lot of campaign money. Newt Gingrich, as you know, Brooke, is coming up slowly, but surely.

He's now emerging as one of the top tier candidates. Who would have thought that was possible only a few weeks ago, but now Newt Gingrich is doing really, really well and slow, but steady progress on that front.

Look, Mitt Romney has been very steady. He's maintaining his significant frontrunner status, but and it's a huge but, he doesn't seem to be going up. They are still looking, a lot of these Republicans, for someone who is not Mitt Romney.

They thought maybe it was Rick Perry. Others thought it would be Herman Cain. Some people are clearly beginning to think Newt Gingrich is potentially the un-Mitt Romney, if you will. So there's a lot of excitement.

We have this debate will be watching this weekend. I'll be moderating the next CNN debate, November 22nd, right here in Washington, D.C., on national security and foreign policy, right, at Constitution Hall.

A few thousand people will be inside. It will be an important and exciting event for a lot of the people out who are there thinking about this upcoming primary and caucus season.

BALDWIN: If people keep stopping me through the halls here in the D.C. Bureau, and they thought it was wonderful that I crashed "The Situation Room" yesterday. So can I -- can I be invited back?

BLITZER: Are you going to do that again tonight?

BALDWIN: I'm officially asking.

BLITZER: At 3:30, but if you come closer to 3:50, I think we can do that.

BALDWIN: I think we'll do that. We'll see you next hour in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And you know what? There's been a lot of talk. Have you heard about the talk about the upcoming huge TV interview with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords?

This is the first time we will hear her speak at length since she was shot in the head at close range. That was 11 months ago. Who will forget that weekend? It was January.

We learned that a gunman had opened fire on Giffords while she was meeting with a crowd of her constituents there at Safeway in her hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Six people died.

For months, we have watched as Giffords struggled to recover. A bullet traveled through her skull. The damage so severe she had to relearn how to walk and how to talk.

And now we are getting ready to watch this remarkable woman tell us how she's doing. Her full interview set for Monday night. It's an ABC exclusive with Diane Sawyer and here is just a piece.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you feel?

REPRESENTATIVE GABRIELLE GIFFORDS: Pretty good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it painful? Is it hard?

GIFFORDS: Difficult.

GLORIA GIFFORDS, REP. GIFFORDS' MOTHERa: I think Gabby's got a message now that exceeds the political one.

DR. NANCY HELM-ESTABROOKS, GIFFORDS' SPEECH PATHOLOGIST: I'm not putting any cap on her. I can't begin to think how far she might go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wow, finally hearing her voice for the first time. By the way, you can also read about give Giffords' recovery. She's co- written this book with her husband, her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly.

They're calling it "Gabby, A Story of Courage and Hope." It hits bookshelves next week.

Coming up, a military court marshal decides the fate of a disgraced U.S. sergeant. He gunned down unarmed Afghan civilians, cut off their fingers to keep as trophies. More chilling details.

And these tattoos that he has on his left leg. Have you heard about this? That's coming up.

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BALDWIN: Although this is Veterans Day when we should be spending the day honoring Americas troops, our men and women in uniform. They are sad occasions when someone in the military disgraces the uniform. And Sergeant Calvin Gibbs did precisely that.

A military court marshal has found Gibbs guilty of murdering three Afghan men last year. CNN's Patrick Oppmann joins me live from Seattle.

And Patrick, I know the details of this case. Cutting off fingers of these victims, these civilians, apparently to keep, you know, as trophies is obviously incredibly sickening. What is the max sentence he could face? PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the max sentence is life in prison that's what Calvin Gibbs was sentenced yesterday, but if he maintains good behavior in prison, he could be out within ten years.

It's an incredibly complicated case it's gone for the better part of the year, but really boils down to this. Prosecutors said that five soldiers didn't like the missions they were going in Afghanistan.

Didn't think they were seeing enough action, Brooke, so they made up their own mission, went after civilians, shot them, threw grenades at them and killed three civilians in separate incidents and Brooke, they planted weapons on them.

Said they were Taliban fighters. They got away with this. Prosecutors said for about five months and all during this time Calvin Gibbs was cutting off fingers and pulling out teeth to keep as trophies, Brooke.

When he asked last week when he was on the stand and testifying, why you would cut off someone's finger that he had just killed, he said it was like taking antlers from a deer.

BALDWIN: I read that quote as well and it gave me the shivers. But, Patrick, I also saw this photo. Let's bring up the picture. This was on cnn.com. You talk about these three civilians in Afghanistan.

This is Gibbs left leg, right. So his pant leg is pulled up. You see these are skulls. These are tattoos of schools. By my count, Patrick Oppman, there were six.

Apparently this represented his kills. So if three represent the civilians in Afghanistan, dare I ask what the other three represent?

OPPMANN: That's a good question. Investigators are working on that right now because what they say is three of those skulls represent kills in Afghanistan. The other three kills represent kills in Iraq. He's on his third tour, Brooke.

In previously in 2004, Gibbs talked about, various testimonies, how he shot a family in Iraq. It was a car coming towards him and he opened up his weapon thinking that they were enemies.

He used this as an example, you can kill civilians and nothing will happen to you. The army is going back to reopen that case and he could be charged with criminal wrongdoing. He could possibly be charged again. So as we talk, they are looking into whether this kill squad in effect during other deployments and other tours, Brooks.

BALDWIN: Despicable. Patrick Oppman, thank you so much for us in Seattle. Let's take a quick look at the big board and see how stocks are doing on this Friday afternoon.

Take a look at that. Up triple digits, up 248 points, the Dow is just above the 12,000 mark. We are just about 60 minutes away from the closing bell. Let's take you live to the stock exchange, next.

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