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everyone. this is "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. r >> i>> i'm r >> i>> i' zoraida sa. it p it is 5:00 a.m. in th. let's get started. there athere are new satellite showip showishowing irantr site. thp this this is the same asked barbara starr will update the story for us. >> get out your best sunglasses because that, while pretty, ain't great. it's a solar storm and it's actually slamming us here on earth right now. the pictures are terrific, but you know what, this could affect your satellite, maybe your tv. not sure if the power grids are going to get zapped by this either. the worst of it is still just two hours away. we've got an eye. and a bank reaching into your pocket once again. there is a brand new fee that is going to make you furious. he's the king of the underworld. recognize that face? james cameron of titanic fame and many other fabulous films. now he's getting in that teeny, tiny sub, and he's going a long way down to the bottom of the world, folks. the deepest anyone has ever gone. jason carroll, he got some exclusive access. we'll get you up to speed on what james cameron is doing and why he's doing it himself. >> i think it is the deepest part of the world. >> it is without question. fascinating. >> i just cannot wait. it is 5:01 in the east here. first a big question this morning, what is iran trying to hide? are they trying to hide something? diplomats tell cnn new satellite images show iran is trying to clean up something at a suspected nuclear site. it's possibly trying to cover up evidence that it was testing a nuclear trigger. so they're saying earth moving vehicles were spotted hauling away possibly contaminated soil. iran just agreed to allow u.n. inspectors into this base this week after previously saying that it was off limits. so what he was going on? kind of thing that could push israel even closer to war perhaps? senator diane feinstein met with israeli prime minister netanyahu and she told erin burnett that israel has not yet made the decision to attack but it may not take much more. >> i believe that israel will attack. i believe that it is important that diplomacy be given an opportunity. israel believes they are prepared to handle it. now what happens after an attack is another story. >> barbara starr is live at the pentagon for us. why is it that we're so concerned about these images? >> reporter: well, this is a site where iran is said to have tested some explosives in techniques it would be used for a nuclear trigger, perhaps not a trigger itself. so that's another key component of this whole cycle that iran is on, that the world worries about. are they headed towards putting all the pieces together that could allow them to make a nuclear weapon. senator feinstein there indicating that that might be the track they're on because she believes israel will attack and israel has said it will attack to prevent iran from getting the capability to make a nuclear weapon, zoraida. >> barbara, we've been talking about this for quite some time. there was an article that came out early february that said that perhaps israel would strike against iran february, march, april. and we've been watching these talks between prime minister netanyahu and president obama, and it almost seems like some of this has been decided and we're just observing on the sidelines. >> reporter: well, you know, hard to say. you know, if you ask the general public, is israel going to attack, is the u.s. going to attack, of course we don't know. these are some of the most closely held secrets. what we do know is that the obama administration continues to press for diplomacy, economic sanctions, and to try and convince israel to give all of that time to work. the u.s. position is that iran is beginning to feel the bite from those sanctions and that it will feel that pressure. hard to say whether that's really how it's going to play out. >> all right. barbara starr, live at the pent gob for us. thank you. it's four minutes past 5:00 now. in syria, the government and its continued slaughter of its own people is having an effect. there's a defection in their ranks. the deputy oil minister, gonzo. he's appearing on a youtube video declaring his loyalty to none other than the opposition who's been struggling against the regime in all of the bombings. all of this at the same time as the obama administration is beginning to weigh some of the military options with regard to that country. senator john mccain has been pretty darn clear he wants airstrikes to try to get rid of bashar al-assad. on cnn ac 360 he urged the president and the pentagon to act. >> if we can do something about it, and we can, we should unilaterally and it's going to require -- excuse me, not unilaterally. no boots on the ground. with other nations who will join us if we lead and we can bring this to a halt. >> and earlier yesterday you should have seen the sparks flying. defense secretary leon panetta head to head, toe to toe with senator mccain and some of the other members of the armed services committee. listen to this reparte regarding syria and potentially ignoring congressional approval. listen. >> our goal would be to seek international permission and we would come to the congress and inform you. >> i'm almost breathless about that because what i heard you say is we're going to seek international approval and then we'll come and tell the congress what we might do and we might seek congressional approval. >> secretary panetta said it would not make sense for the united states to act unilaterally in syria. oh, those videos are hard to watch. hard to watch as the days grow longer. and there's more on the growing crisis in syria as well. later on "starting point" at 7:00 eastern, soledad will talk to michigan congressman mike rogers who's chairman of the house intelligence committee and also a former fbi agent. website of the late andrew breitbart is releasing tapes of president obama during his college years. the tapes of the future president are at harvard in 1991. that's when he was in law school, right? it shows him speaking warmly about and hugging a so called radical professor. the professor's name, derrick bell. he was the first black tenured professor at harvard. they were protesting the lack of diversity of harvard staff at the time. so the website claims news media and professors intentionally suppressed the tacpes during th 2008 election with radical leftists. ben shapiro says this is the smoking gun and only the beginning. so ben shapiro will actually join bsoledad at 8:00 a.m. >> there had been all those warnings before breitbart died that this was going to come out so i'm surprised. there you go. >> some of this is aired before so it's not that surprising. i'm kind of interesting to see wham this is all about. >> the conspiracy theorists jumped all over this and suggested this might have been something behind breitbart's death. i don't think that's going to end any time soon. we want to mind your business at 8 minutes past 5:00 a.m. the u.s. markets bouncing back after their worst loss of the year on tuesday. it was super tuesday but not for the markets. the dow, nasdaq, s&p on wednesday had some strong gains though getting a boost from the good news from the economy including private sector jobs, slight drop in the national average gas. two days in a row. we're watching for three. >> even though it's a little bit, every little bit. >> don't spend it all in one place. >> let's bring in christine romans. you heard me be a little bit earlier, we were whispering. it's bank fees. i opened an account yesterday and oh, my gosh. >> free banking is dead. free banking is dead in this country. one of the reasons why years ago, 20 years, 25 years ago they started free banking, it was a way for banks to get young people who were getting their first bank account, the idea be free at first, then you do so many other things with the bank that they'd make money off of you. now it costs about 250 to $300 a year per bank account, per checking account. the government won't let them give all these fees to people anymore. they're finding new ways to charge people if they can. the government can't jack up your interest rate on your credit card anymore, or the banks account. there's rules to protect you. the banks say we can't afford free checking. >> is it cat and mouse? do they do it and get their wrists slapped? >> the laws are very clear. they do it with exactly the right amount of time to warn you it's going to happen. wells fargo is the most recent, expanding in the west, six more states. they'll be charging $7 a month for what was free banking, free checking. and the company, wells fargo, has been reaching out to customers, been telling them this is coming, this is how you can avoid it. usually you can avoid it by keeping up to 500, sometimes up to $7,000 in the account, by having another relation slp, by a direct deposit, a mortgage serviced through them. the onus is on you people to make sure that you know what you can do to avoid these fees because i really -- this is not the kind of economy where you should be paying for the use of your own money. >> shop around also, right? some of them say you have to maintain $1500 of a balance and some are smaurl ler balances. >> absolutely. i think the bottom line is for the quote, unquote, little guy who doesn't have a boat load of money, they don't want you. i really don't think they want you. >> what's going on with the free market here? you hear this on the republican campaign trail. the free market takes care of itself. >> the free market has people going to credit unions. you had 4,326 people every day opening up a credit union membership. every single day the end of last year. that's a record. record number of staassets. >> is there a down side? >> no. they're saying i have a small account. i don't want to get feed, nickelled and dimed to death. it depends if you have a large and complicated -- fom some people a traditional big bank will be better. just make sure you know what those fees are. >> so these credit unions are not the poka karantes of the world? >> that's right. >> what does it mean? >> caring little. >> i'm not sure the crew noticed. >> i need a full screen. >> we have something called word of the day. there you have your word of the day. you learned something. >> no cheering. no cheering. >> bravo. >> there is so little love from this crew. honest to god, they try to kill me every day with these difficult words. >> how do you spell it? >> i'm going to give it to you. you'll use it in the next half hour. >> careless or indifferent person. it's a political season. there's plenty. >> christine romans doing the job for us. we'd like to give you the early read for the day at 12 minutes past 5 clock this morning. >> here's one, cutting through the red tape to get to the green. today the house is expected to start the debate over the jobs act. it's a bill that will start smaller businesses bypass sec hurdles that make it tougher for them to go public. >> more news that could directly affect your 401 k being called a make or break day in greece. today is the deadline for banks to accept a debt deal. the final hurdle greece must clear to meet all the conditions of its second eu bailout. it is not the doning of the age of a care yus, but look at that. a stunning image from nasa of a big solar storm. the waves are battering our planet. it does have an effect on you. when you wake up, squint. brunt of it is expected to hit in two hours. space weather experts say that the wave of charged particles may actually mess with satellites. hopefully not until our show is over. it might also disrupt power too. grids, communications over the next 24 hours. >> satellites? >> us folks who grew up in the north, these images that you see on your screen, that would be the awe ror ra borealis. >> now i want to know if i should be worried. rob marciano, do you have anything on that for us? >> nothing to be worried terribly about. the next six to eight hours we'll see more influx. that's when radio communications or at least the power grid or planes flying over the poles may be affected. this is the strongest flair. x 5 rated coming out of this sun spot. this is the strongest one that we've seen since 2006. we're entering the cycle where the sub goes in and out of a solar minimum, maximum every 11 years. we're getting towards the peak. the next couple of years we'll see a lot more of these sun spots with solar flares that emit these cmes of highly charged particles of plasma hurled towards the earth at 3 to 5 million miles an hour. they get here anywhere from a 1.5 to 3 days later. you'll see blackouts, maybe some power grid blackouts, gps, satellite interruptions. that's all possible. the brilliant a ror ra bore rab. southern illinois, indiana, rain. it will get into ohio and kentucky. the severe threat will remain down to the south. but the winds will continue to kick up with this and the heat pump as well. temperatures well above average. 10 to 20 degrees above average. how does 71 sound for you in d.c. 66 degrees in new york city? 75 in atlanta. 45 in chicago. still windy in places like michigan. we've got some brush fire just north and west of detroit. this thing burning yesterday because of the high wind. a little bit cooler today. i assume that the firefighters got a quick handle on this out of auburn hills, michigan. the warm winds along the i 935 corridor will be a balmy day. enjoy that. >> we are enjoying it. thank you, rob. this just in, folks. gas prices dropping for the third day in a row. >> it's an alarming three-day trend. >> exciting. national average for a gallon of gas stands at $3.76. that is down only a fraction of a cent. aaa posted this on their website. gas may be dropping slightly. prices are still up more than 14.5% so far this year. >> 5:15, folks. i'm not sure that that's good news either. either you're up real late or up real early. coming up, there is absolute outrage. are you ready for this one? she wins a million bucks and she keeps on collecting some good old-fashioned welfare from you and me, folks. we'll tell you about it. and afghan air force troops established by u.s. funds are reportedly under suspicion of running drugs and illegal weapons out of the country. you're watching "early start." creamis gone. but what about your wrinkles. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it has the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to visibly reduce wrinkles in just one week. "why wait if you don't have to." rapid wrinkle repair. he turn right. come on -- nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh. how'd that get there? [ male announcer ] we can't hide how proud we are to have nine 2012 iihs top safety picks, so we're celebrating with our safety in numbers event. that's the power of german engineering. right now, lease the 2012 passat for $219 a month. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. 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[ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories. . courtesy of wbiv the lovely and talented station in detroit giving us our tower cam. beautiful shot at 19 minutes past 5:00. it's 58 degrees in detroit. go figure. beginning of march, that's warm and toasty. >> look what's going to happen later. >> drop about seven degrees. not too bad. if you're in this time of year, this is usually super chilly. this is still winter in detroit. >> normally you like to see those numbers go up, not down as the day progresses. >> 19 minutes past the hour. christine romans is here with the stories making news this morning. >> good morning, ladies. let's talk about iran first. new satellite images raising more fears about iran's nuclear program. diplomats say they show iran cleaning up a suspected nuclear site possibly to cover up work on a nuclear detonator. u.n. inspectors have been denied access to the military base. now to syria where the bloody crackdown on the opposition apparently reached a tipping point for bashar al-assad's deputy oil minister. he announced in a youtube video posted by activists that he was defecting from the regime and joining the revolution of the people. "wall street journal" reporting afghan troops established largely with american funds, they're being investigated for allegedly running drugs and running illegal weapons out of the country. officials say one investigation is led by the u.s. military coalition, another by the u.s. drug enforcement administration. huge recall from toyota this morning to tell you about. 680,000 cars and trucks including tacomas, camrys. they say the safety system in some vehicles losing power because of bad installation. some vehicles are getting stuck while they're in park. and after winning a million dollars in michigan's lottery amanda clayton was still collecting the $200 a month in state food assistance she had been receiving before her windfall. a local detroit station caught up with clayton during a shopping spree. she told a reporter she thought it was okay because she wasn't working. cnn affiliate wdiv spoke with the michigan department of human services and the department released a statement saying in part, under dhs policy, a recipient of food assistance benefits must notify the state within ten days of any asset or income change. dhs relies on clients being forthcoming about their actual financial status. if they're not and continue to accept benefits, they may face criminal investigation and be required to pay back those benefits. the state says clayton has now been removed from public assistance. michigan state representative dale zorn pushing for a law to keep lottery winners from getting state benefits. conservatives rail about this. they say it shows the safety net out of control. no one checking and progressive and liberal economists say this happens once or twice or three times. it's very, very rare. >> a flagging system would make sense here. didn't she realize that, hey, maybe i should call somebody, give this back? >> and apparently the onus is on her according to the state. she has ten days to say, oh, i have a he got some money and to back off. remember, these are cards now. they're not like stamps anymore. it's a card usually and the card is automatically reloaded. it's like a debit card you use. >> is she loopy and thought this is my debit -- she got luld into the idea this is a debit card. >> it looks like she knew it was free government money. she was using it because she wasn't working even though she did get her lottery winnings. >> i wouldn't want to