Duvalier Taken into Custody in Haiti
VELSHI: Well he made a surprise return to Haiti after nearly 25 years in exile in France. Just a short while ago the country's former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier was taken into custody by armed police. A hearing is to be held to determine whether to place Duvalier, known, by the way, as "Baby Doc" under arrest. Both inside and outside Haiti, Duvalier has been widely accused of crimes against humanity and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the country. CNN's John Zarrella was at Duvalier's hotel when he was led away and he joins us know from Port-au-Prince. John, what's going on?</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, you know, one of his long-time supporters described it an epic moment in Caribbean history. It was just after noon here at the Caribe Hotel where Jean-Claude Duvalier emerged from the third floor hotel room where he has been staying. He came over to the railing at the edge and he waved to the crowd of people, mostly journalists here and camera crews, and flanked by police and S.W.A.T. Team members from the Haitian authorities. He descended that staircase. Came down to the first floor and, again, waved to the crowd. He was wearing a suit. He seemed to smile on occasions. When he got down he was placed in a police vehicle and then the caravan of vehicles made their way down the hillside here and off to a place called the parquet, which is the Haitian court. Along the route one of our people who followed that caravan said that there were a number of supporters who came out and were cheering for Duvalier along that route as they made their way to the parquet. Once they got there, more supporters showed up there, as well. But it was all very peaceful. No disturbances of any sort. Now, a close source, very close to the family, has told us that there is a possibility that he might not even be charged with any crimes at this point. And that there is even a possibility the family believes that he might end up back here at the hotel later today. Now, that would be another incredible twist to all of this. As you mentioned, Ali, there's a lot of questions about what he might be charged with, crimes against humanity, embezzling money. They Preval government had said back in 2007, that if he ever returned, that they would charge him with embezzlement. But no formal charges had ever been brought against Duvalier in this country, not to this point. One other quick point, there were also some civilians, some people here who told us yesterday that they were, in fact, ready to go to the prosecutor and to present charges or ask for charges to be brought against him for some of those crimes. So, we have to see again how all this plays out. The latest development that we got from someone very close to the family was that there is a possibility he might not even be charged with anything today. We'll have to see.</s>VELSHI: John, answer this for me. We -- he knew, the Preval government had said if he comes back, he's going to be arrested. He must have known that. Do we have any clear motivation as to why he returned to Haiti? As we reported, it was relatively unexpected.</s>ZARRELLA: Correct. And the only indications we had from people that we talked to who talked to him was that he had come back to show solidarity with the people. Now, there was supposed to be what we thought was going to be a press conference today by Duvalier. We were then told it was never going to be a press conference. He was just going to issue a statement, a very benign, nonpolitical statement, is what we were told, that was going to say "I'm here because I feel as if I have to be here for the people and I wanted to sew solidarity with the people." That was what he was apparently going to say. There was no other motivations for his return here but to do that. Ali?</s>VELSHI: John, thanks very much. We will stay on top of this with you. You've got a lot of experience covering this very strange development. All right. To another troubled country now. Iraq. A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police recruitment center in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.</s>VELSHI: Officials say at least 65 people were killed, 160 wounded. Most of the victims were young men who gathered to join the police force. Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki called this and other recent attacks heinous crimes. So far, no one has claimed responsibility, but the Sunni Muslim-dominated militant group al Qaeda in Iraq has taken credit for similar attacks. Tikrit is, for the most part, a Sunni city. Now to the political upheaval in Tunisia and why it matters in the United States. Take a look at the map. Tunisia's right at the top of Africa. Up to 1,000 protesters took to the streets of the capital, Tunis, today denouncing the so-called unity government formed after Tunisia's long-time president fled the country last week. At the same time, in neighboring countries, growing concern of a ripple effect. Several face conditions similar to Tunisia's: Egypt, Jordan, Yemen. All of them have strong, if not dictatorial rulers. All are U.S. allies in the fight against terrorism. And all of them have an undercurrent of popular resentment for their rulers. So, this leaves Washington with a difficult dilemma. How much support to give to unpopular regimes that are needed in the fight against al Qaeda? And how much to lend to ordinary people desiring, if not demanding, greater freedom and democracy, something the U.S. says it supports? Let me bring you up to speed. It's 47 minutes after the hour. Some of the top stories we're following. China's president Hu Jintao is scheduled to arrive in the United States in a little over two hours. Vice president Biden will greet Hu at Andrews Air Force base in Maryland, and then President Obama will host him at a White House dinner. The Chinese president will spend three days in Washington discussing issues including trade, currency, and North Korea. Meanwhile, President Obama is trying to mend fences with the business community. He signed an executive order today launching a government-wide review of regulations. He says the goal is to eliminate outdated rules that stifle job creation. He says he wants to strike a balance between health and safety and environmental concerns and economic growth. And a sigh of relief in Philadelphia. Police have arrested a 21- year-old homeless man in connection with sexual assaults and murders of at least three women. Authorities say DNA evidence links Antonio Rodriguez to the so-called Kensington Strangler slayings last November and December in central Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood. No charges have been filed, however. I always like these types of challenges. In today's "Big I," General Electric is looking for, well, a Big I. Between today and March 1st, GE is taking submissions at ecomagination.com for innovative ideas in home energy. They're calling this phase two of their Ecomagination challenge. Winners will be offered varying amounts of cash from a $200 million pot, including five $100,000 cash awards to the most innovative ideas. Other winners will be offered investments and development opportunities with the company. Today, GE received more than 1,000 ideas in the home energy management space. Hard to deny that this competition could have an impact. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, commercial buildings and homes account for 41 percent of all energy use. Now, in the first phase of this challenge, Idaho-based start-up Solar Roadways got $50,000 for this concept that you're looking at. A roadway that recharges electric cars as they drive. Another company, Winiflex, created a technology for cost-effective wind turbines. So, keep an eye out on coverage in March when we'll follow up with the GE Ecomagination finalists. If you want to check the challenge out or maybe even enter it, I'll link to it on my blog, CNN.com/ali. In another big idea, how about cloning woolly mammoths? A scientist at Kyoto University in Japan plans clone the extinct animal in the next couple of years. Dr. Akira Iritani (ph) announced he'll use the same technique to clone the wooly mammoth that was used to clone a mouse from tissue that was frozen for 16 years. Now, this is more complex than it sounds. I posted an article with the details on my Facebook page. We'll let you know how it goes. The president is getting some good news ahead of this week's meetings China's leader. We're going to tell you what the president has to crow about next in our CNN political update.