facility and will be reunited with his family. these developments coming while secretary of state hillary clinton and treasury secretary timothy geithner are in beijing preparing for economic and strategic meetings with chinese leaders beginning on thursday. it's not clear how the chen case might influence those talks, but this was starting to become a sticky situation between the u.s. and china. china now reportedly demanding an apology from the u.s. for sheltering the activist. we'll have a live report from beijing in the next half hour. our other big story of the morning. new questions about america's longest war, this after a trip to afghanistan by the president that was supposed to sum it all up. president obama saying one year after the death of osama bin laden that crushing al qaeda is within reach. but a car bomb that killed six people after air force one was wheels up certainly a tough reminder that there's a long way to go in that country. we still don't know how much longer the u.s. troops are really going to be necessary or how much this whole thing could continue to cost us. and, of course, there are the politics surrounding this story that just cannot be avoided. we're covering all of the angles this morning. we begin with cnn's nick paton-walsh live in kabul. first to you, nick, in kabul. a very secret mission, a very successful mission, it seems, and now the fallout from the president's visit. take me there. >> reporter: two hours after air force one was wheels up in kabul, a car driving into something called the greenvilleage here, where foreign ex-pats, contract workers live in high security. it's not clear what happened after this blast. some guards at the scene, it's suggested, began opening fire. what we know is there are seven dead, including one school child and ten schoolchildren wounded in this cross fire. all continued explosions. suggestions there may have been other attackers who attempted to enter that compound. a bloody reminder to afghan civilians that despite the edifying speech and phraseology we heard from the president of the united states, those in the capital are no safer. >> so, nick, there's a lot of hoopla. this visit by the president is being touted as the beginning of the end, and yet a lot of things still unanswered. troop levels going forward after 2014, the economic assistance this country may be roped into for a very long time, and those critical diplomatic relations. while we do have signatures, is this whole thing a bit vague? >> reporter: it's a little strange. to be honest, the american speech yesterday was definitely for an american audience. it was about trying to sew up the narrative of why america came here in the first place. they were here to get bin laden. a year after bin laden's death, obama is here to explain how they can move forward. the strategic partnership agreement we signed with president karzai is deeply symbolic because it's something america badly needed to sign because there's an important nato summit in chicago later this month. but left out are key questions. how much money will washington give kabul over the next few years is left unanswered. and a thorny issue of what kind of u.s. military presence will be here is not yet addressed by that document but will be by a later one. this visit very much about trying to explain to americans how this war can come to an end, how america can feel good about this war ending. but simply two hours after u.s. air force one wheels came off of bagram air base here, loud explosions rocking the capital, reminding the avenue fwfghans t no safer. ashleigh? >> let's go straight to the white house and talk to athena jones. she's live there. let's talk about the president. he's facing criticism here about the content of this agreement. tell me about that. >> reporter: he certainly is seeing some criticism on the editorial pages like the national journal and "the new york times." interestingly, republican presidential candidate mitt romney did not criticize him. he said in a statement, i am pleased that president obama has returned to afghanistan. our troops and the american people deserve to hear from our president about what is at stake in this war. success in afghanistan is vital to our nation's security." so mitt romney and several other republicans stopping short of criticizing the president on this important day while he was overseas. i should note, though, as i mentioned earlier, "the new york times" in an editorial wrote, "the white house set it up as a big moment, but the president squandered the chance to fully explain his exit strategy from a war americans are desperate to see brought to an end." "the new york times" there is touching on the extreme unpopularity of this war. i think the white house would say to this, this was a brief speech the president gave while on the ground there at bagram. he was on the ground for only about six hours, all under cover of darkness, a quick in and out trip, of course, due to the security situation that nick paton walsh just discussed. the idea wasn't necessarily to lay out every single thing that was going to happen going forward in the relationship with afghanistan and the u.s. a lot remains to be worked out, as walsh mentioned, exact troop numbers, the amount of money that the u.s. and other allies will pledge to afghanistan. these are the kinds of things that will begin to be discussed a little later this month at that nato summit in chicago. the nato summit they had in lisbon set out a lot of the parameters then. this new summit will establish a new benchmark. i think the white house will say this is the beginning of explaining how this is going to come to an end but that people weren't necessarily expecting point by point, a long detailed speech last night. >> athena jones in washington. thanks. it is six minutes past 5:00, and mitt romney is marking the one-year anniversary of osama bin laden's death with a visit to a new york city firehouse. he was joined by the former mayor at the time of the attacks, rudy giuliani. romney was calling it totally appropriate for president obama to claim credit for ordering the raid that killed bin laden, but he says still he believes the president crossed a line. >> i think politicizing it was -- and trying to draw a distinction between myself and himself was an inappropriate use of a very important event that brought america together, which was the elimination of osama bin laden. >> mitt romney insisting once again that, had he been president, he too would have ordered the raid that killed bin laden. newt gingrich will officially get out of the race for the republican nomination this afternoon, we're told. the former house speaker is expected to briefly mention his support for mitt romney, and plans are in the works for a formal endorsement in the next few weeks. criminal charges are now expected in the death of florida a&m drum major robert champion. a florida state attorney is expected to announce those charges later on this afternoon. 26-year-old champion died back in november. you might remember police say he was beaten on the bus as part of a band hazing ritual. a fire at the atlanta studios of entertainer tyler perry has damaged two buildings, causing one to partially collapse. no injuries were reported in this three alarm fire, which witnesses say had flames raging out of the top of a four-story building. perry is one of hollywood's busiest and most successful entrepreneurs. last year he topped "forbes" highest paid men list. raking in $130 million in the 12 months beginning in may 2012. ahead on "early start," a cabbie caught on tape mowing down a guy. the story behind this crazy video coming up. and also, a young child recovering from burns because of the allegations against her own mother that this woman took her to a tanning bed. dry mouth is very common. a lot of people aren't really aware of it. water alone isn't a solution. dry mouth can have a profound effect. it can lead to bad breath, to tooth decay. it can lead to just general discomfort. i recommend biotene because it contains supplemental enzymes. biotene works really, really well. they make an oral rinse, a mouth spray, and toothpastes. biotene is specially formulated to make the mouth moist and to really make your mouth feel comfortable. we have patients who really love biotene and who swear by it, which to me is the best recommendation. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect 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happened a few hours after president obama left the afghan capital. the taliban is claiming responsibility. hours earlier, the president met with u.s. troops and signed an agreement with president karzai. that agreement calls for the withdrawal of u.s. troops by 2014 and provides guidelines for cooperation between the two nations into the next decade. a woman from new jersey missed her flight at newark liberty international airport after tsa screeners found land mine casings in her luggage. experts were called to check the baggage area after her suitcase set off alarms. apparently, it turns out, the woman was on her way to an explosives demonstration in california. she was eventually allowed to travel but wasn't allowed to take those weapons with her. tsa wants to remind everybody that even replicas of explosives are not permitted on airplanes. five men arrested in a plot to blow up a high level bridge outside cleveland, ohio. at least three of them are self-proclaimed anarchists, an undercover fbi agent had been following the men since last fall. the explosives attached to the bridge were fakes. the public was never in any danger. the wife of a former close aide to senator john edwards will be back on the stand today. cheri young explaining why she videotaped the home and the possessions of the senator's mistress rielle hunter back in '08. and she told the court the relationship with edwards had soured so much she felt she needed proof there really was a mistress named rielle hunter. shocking video of a cabbie running over a man in montreal. this followed a fight between the taxi driver and a group of people in the street. the guy was seen run down and kicking the cab door before the driver hit the gas. the victim is in stable condition. the driver was charges with assault and hit and run. a brush fire searching 115 acres in suburban tampa, florida, earlier this week, and it was caused by a camp fire that someone left burning behind on a golf course. the fire forced evacuations in the town of hudson and also closed u.s. 19 for hours. 15 minutes after the hour. rob marciano has today's weather. good morning. >> good morning, guys. it's been dry across north central florida. south florida has had some rain, and the midwest seeing some rainfall as well. there was severe weather yesterday. about 15 reports actually of tornadoes and significant hail and wind damage as well. this line is moving towards the green bay. it will get towards milwaukee and eventually towards chicago. a threat for severe weather across this section of the country as well. sliding the map over to the east and northeast. you've been toasty in the southern part of the northeast. rain trying to make its way towards philadelphia and new york city. d.c. is going to be the winner as far as how hot it can be. this is the area of severe threat from the delmarva back to omaha, a moderate risk of severe weather across eastern nebraska. the heat will continue to pump up across parts of the south as well. here it is, temperatures again near record breaking with some spots. with that humidity feeling more like the end of june and beginning of may. here's some of the high temperatures forecast for today. temps in chicago will be a good 15 in some cases, 20 degrees above average, a little cooler in new york. look at d.c., 84 degrees in washington, d.c., and new york, just north of that warm front, you'll stay in the 50s at least for today. warm air coming to you in the next couple. guys, back up to you. >> we're holding you to warmer air. >> sounds like a threat. >> it's like me and stocks. people blame me when they go up, blame me when they go down. >> that's the news, folks. 16 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. we're giving you a read on the water cooler stories. papers from miami, fayetteville, and newark. let's start with the miami herald. apparently, folks at that paper covered an old my space page of george zimmerman, dates back to 2005. zimmerman's attorney has confirmed it is legit. apparently, there are some posts on it about past run-ins with the law and also this is not favorable. disparaging remarks about mexicans. i want to read from you what it actually says. "i don't miss driving around scared to hit mexicans walking on the side of the street. wanna be thugs messin' with people's cars when they ain't around don't make you a man in my book. working 96 hours to get a decent paycheck, getting knives pulled on you by every mexican you run into." zimmerman's words on a my space page in 2005. reporting on a pastor who said parents should punch their kids if they show signs of being gay. that pastor now says he was joking about punching your kids if they show signs of being gray. shawn harris is the senior pastor of bareen baptist church in fayetteville. here's a snippet from the sermon. >> dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. man up. give him a good punch. okay? you're not going to act like that. you were made by god to be a male, and you're going to be a male. >> pastor harris now says he does not advocate hitting children, wishes he could take back that remark, but he's not backing down from his overall message, saying, "effeminate behavior is ungodly. i'm not going to compromise on that." what's interesting to me is the congregation is amen, yes, and affirmatively respond to go that message. >> you wonder how many of them are doing because everyone else is doing. >> no one else is saying a word. >> may not feel the same way, that's for sure. no matter what the message, wrong way to say it. "star ledger" in new jersey, a mother arrested for bringing her 5-year-old little girl to the tanning booth. yes, a tanning booth for a 5-year-old. here's the mugshot. she's tan here. you should see how tan she ultimately got. the little girl got a sunburn, and authorities say the 44-year-old mother, patricia, took the daughter to a stand-up tanning booth without the staff knowing. she's now charged with child endangerment. new jersey law does ban children from under the age of 14 from using tanning salons. for her part, she disputes these charges. she said she did bring her child to the salon and even into the room with her but that she wasn't in the actual tanning booth. but the little girl told her teachers at school that she got a burn while tanning with mommy. the mother says she got a burn while playing in the backyard. for an expanded look at all of our top stories -- >> i just laugh, right. >> in this day and age too. just head to our blog, by the way, because you can get more information on there. cnn.com/earlystart. get ready for the facebook road show. how mark zuckerberg reportedly plans to hype the upcoming facebook ipo. ♪ we were skipping stones and letting go ♪ [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ helping you do what you do... even better. let's start with car insurance x. this one does save people a lot of money and it's very affordable. it was very delicious. could you please taste car insurance y? this one is much more expensive. ugh. it's really bad. let's see what you picked. oh, geico! over their competitor. you are a magician right? no., oh. you're not?, no., oh, well, give it a shot. i am so, so sorry. it was this close. new venus & olay. olay moisture bars help lock in moisture... while five blades get venus close. revealing smooth and goddess skin begins. only from venus & olay. whispering about 401(k)s and what our responsibility is in life. 22 minutes now past 5:00. by the way, if you were watching the stocks yesterday, dow jones industrial average nice close. four-year high yesterday. reason to clap. good jump start to the month of may with all three major indices closing nice and high. and i say that it's great sitting beside christine because you get one thing you need to know. i get tons of things you need to know. the one thing you need to know is -- >> make sure you're investing in your 401(k). if you're a young person in particular, make sure you sign up for the 401(k). average 401(k) prices rose 8%, and that's according to fidelity. people are putting more money into their 401(k)s, and believe it or not, a lot of the growth coming from strong stock market performance for people but also you at home and your employer, you're putting more money into the 401(k). when you put it in, your company matches. so the one thing you need to know about your money today, make sure that you're investing in it, and i'm going to tweet and put on facebook a link to make sure you figure out how you should be balanced. it's called asset allocation. you know what you're doing. you've got to be balanced too. that's the other part of the equation. >> reallocating your assets every four months or so. >> or at least once a year. >> any particular time of year? >> i like to do it after february. it's the shortest month of the year. i always do it after february. other people do it at tax time. other people do it the end of the year. do it whenever you want. do it on your birthday. >> that's good advice. the other big business story today is facebook. >> you mentioned that, which is great. facebook is start to go get geared up for the big ipo that everyone is waiting on. >> the social network is going to have a new ipo fast approaching. "the wall street journal" citing a story saying they'll begin trading may 18th. they'll shop its stock to investors, and that kickoff starts on monday. on its about page, you're going to see the company's mission statement, "to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connecte