countries. experts saying the risk of the recession of 2012 is all too real. nasa found a new planet, a so-called goldilocks planet. and good morning to you. this is your "a.m. wake-up call" for tuesday, december 6th from the time warner center in new york, i'm carol costello. here are this morning's top stories. the pressure is on in the euro-zone. standard & poor's has threatened to downgrade the credit rating of 15 nations in the european union including france and germany. the agency says it will announce any rating changes as soon as possible following this week's summit. oil giant bp filed a lawsuit against hall by burton during last we're deadly reexplosion in the gulf of mexico. bp saying halliburton destroyed key evidence that pointed to problems with its cement slurry. millions of gallons of oil spilled into the gulf. this is what it looks like in new mexico this morning. yes, that is snow. a wintry storm slammed into the state yesterday. some areas could get up to 15 inches of snow. holy cow. rob marciano, that's just weird. >> yeah, and southern new mexico to boot. i-10, parts of it shut down, i-25, as well. so quite an impressive storm related to what was going on in southern california moving into the plains now. here's a look at the radar. part of that energy is stretching into the northeast in the form of some rain but when the second piece comes through, around about tomorrow or tomorrow night more interesting weather in the form of know away from the big cities and west of i-95. rain on and off throughout the day across the spine of the appalachians and behind that cooler weather for sure. temperatures in kansas city, 30, 16, ooh, i know it's minneapolis, carol but that's still cold for the first week of december. we'll talk more about that. >> that's more than cold. >> the potential for snow across the east coast in the next 15 minutes. >> all right. thank you, rob. breaking news to tell you about out of afghanistan this morning where 18 people are dead following two explosions targeting shiite muslims on the holy day of ashurah. one attack happened when a bomber detonated a guise at a shrine in kabul. the other blast took place in a different city. ashurah commemorates the mart martyrdom hussein, the grandson of mohammed. the fate of the euro is at risk. timothy geithner will join european leaders for talks on how to prevent a collapse of the euro and keep financial panic from spreading. this after standard & poor's warned it may carry out a mass credit downgrade of credit ratings. diane magnay joins us from berlin. good morning. >> reporter: hi, carol. the timing of this downgrade does seem a bit odd. s&p said that it was because it didn't trust the policymaking of euro-zone leaders and that's why it was putting 15 countries in the euro-zone on negative watch including germany which has always been a safe haven for people wanting to invest in bonds. the only countries who aren't on negative watch are greece because you can't bring its rating down any lower. already on junk and cyprus which is already under review and it's training that it should do this the day that the leaders of france and germany announce that they have put forward some proposals to try and get europe to follow rules on its budgets and those proposals will be taken to this very important meeting on thursday and friday where all the heads of state within the eu are going to be coming together and trying to make progress on how to save the euro-zone from unraveling further. as you said the u.s. treasury secretary timothy geithner is also in germany today talking to officials, the head of the european central bank. he's not only going to be talking to his finance minister counterparts on this two-day trip but also heads of state, because of the huge importance of what happens in the euro-zone and how that impacts the u.s. economy, carol. >> diana magnay, thank you. democrats have rolled out a compromise plan. the tax break is worth about 1,000 bucks amelie to the average amelie and it will affect more than 160 million americans. the plan would be paid for by a so-called millionaire's surtax. a 1.9% tax on millionaires and it'll increase fees that fannie mae and freddie mac charge mortgage lenders. it includes cutting the payroll tax paid by workers to 3.1%. it may soon take you long story get your mail. the united states postal service is proposing a 2 to 5-day delivery of regular mail from the current 1 to 3. it's all part of a move by the cash-strapped agency to save 2 billion that means shutting down processing facilities and i'm getting rid of 28,000 postal positions. atlanta area, police are trying to find the person who killed a little girl and dumped her body in a dumpster. investigators found 7-year-old girl rivera. they believe she was beaten and killed after being sexually assaulted. >> it occurred at the apartment complex. we also believe that the murder occurred at the apartment complex. >> police department, the sheriff's department, the gbi are dill yentsly working on this night and day until we find somethi something, we're going to keep on doing it. >> police say her parents are not suspects. jerry sandusky may soon face his accusers, all eight alleged victims of the former penn state football coach will reportedly testify against him in open court. this according to abc news. the hearing is set to begin next tuesday. sandusky is accused of molesting them over an eight-year period. the godfather of gridlock, that's what president obama's top strategist david axelrod is calling gop presidential front-runner newt gingrich. on "piers morgan tonight" he slam his tv ad saying the republicans' theme of working together to solve problems will be a hard sell given his past. >> i don't think there's any single person in this country who did more to create the kind of discord in washington that we see today than newt gingrich. he is the godfather of gridlock. he was the one that created an environment in which people started treating each other as enemies and not as opponents here in washington and shut the government down three times when he was trying to close the department of education and to defund the epa and to cut medicare in order to give tax cuts to the wealthy. he was the one who led to the impeachment of a press and now he's offering himself as someone who can bring the country together. that will be a hard sell. >> but gingrich continues his rise to the top of the polls and the former house speaker says he is ready to take on all contenders. jim acosta has more for you. >> reporter: at a news conference gingrich insisted he can go toe to toe with mitt romney. even with a much smaller operation. >> we have all these articles, about how businesses are getting leaner and flattening their hierarchy, people now would work from home, you have virtual organization, all of these cutting-edge ideas and then you have a group of kong sult tants who believe you have to be slow, cumbersome and expensive. the donald has had the number one show in the country. he is a genuine american icon in his own right. why wouldn't you want to come and hang out with him? >> reporter: part of the plan included a visit with donald trump who has had enough meetings with white house hopefuls to host a show but gingrich's tailoring a more serious image with a new ad drawing comparison to reagan's morning in america spot but it's eerily similar to, yes, we can. >> yes, working together we can and will rebuild the america we love. >> reporter: team obama is sitting up and taking notice. with gingrich surring to the top of the latest des moines register poll. >> a lot of people inside the beltway and outside woke up today to a very different political environment and one in which newt gingrich is very much for real. >> reporter: democrats seem all too eager to face him in an interview with the blog talking points memo house democratic leader nancy pelosi noted she may dredge up the investigations during the 1990s. i served on the investigative committee that investigated him. four of us [ kimberly ] when i was 19, i found myself alone with two children and no way to support them. people told me i wasn't going to do anything. and i just decided i have more to offer than that. i put myself through nursing school, and then i decided to go get a doctorate degree. university of phoenix gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people's lives. my name is dr. kimberly horton. i manage a network of over a thousand nurses, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. stocking will open the day higher but the rally that started earlier yesterday fizzinged with growing concerns about the debt crisis. standard & poor's put the euro-zone nations on notice for possible downgrades. all three major indecks ended up, the dow with a gain of 78. credit cards, oh, they're making a comeback. a company that processes card transactions says consumers are starting to return to prerecession buying. on black friday 7% more paid with credit cards than last year and banks are doing everything they can to get you to pull out the plastic. so you want to be the next james bond. britain's top spy agency is looking for new recruits. all you have to do is crack an online code. brian todd has more. >> reporter: here's your challenge. 160 combinations of numbers and letters. and a countdown clock. you've got just a few days to your deadline. if you crack this code cow be the next real-life james bond. >> bond, james bond. >> reporter: maybe not. but if you're a british citizen and you solve this cryptographic puzzle you could be recruited. posted online publicized on facebook and twitter put out by the government's communications quarters. a whiz bank eavesdropping post whose mission is to help catch terrorists. an official tells us this puzzle has gotten thousands of hits and at least 50 people have solved it. if you do that you're con gratd lated. offered a chance to apply. what do you think of this as a recruiting tool? >> i think it is a great idea. it brings sort of awareness of the need for cryptographers. >> reporter: this man says for people with reasonable training in math and computer science this code probably isn't too hard. what kind of crucial intelligence can you gather by code breaking. >> signal intelligence can be valuable because it's one of the rare forms of intelligence that if done properly if you get access to the right things will give you the and i's intention. >> reporter: stout and other experts say governments like britoain need cyberwarriors mor than ever. they want people with an interest in so-called ethical hacking. illegal hackers need not apply. how will that play? mark mayfray is a former hacker who co-founded ei digital security. he says sophisticated hackers might find this puzzle gimmicky. >> the thing that i would have found funny or interesting as a teenager hacker would have been to hack the server that's hosting this challenge and actually change the challenge to have some funny message or some other thing. >> reporter: other cyberexperts say the code is too easy. an official at the british government communications head dwaers says it's not designed to be overly difficult but to promote awareness of what the agency does. maiffret says if that's the goal then it's worth it. getting a career in legitimate cyberespionage. brian todd, cnn, washington. here's what we're working on for our 5:30 half hour. the u.s. postal service facing serious money issues. it wants to cut 31,000 jobs. president obama's chief strategist explains why he thinks night gingrich is to blame for washington's gridlock. it's 26 minutes after the hour. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." 0 with kinect, this season's hottest games and...sweatbands. [ grunting noises ] ahh! this is gold. [ mom ] woo! [ game ] snaps up the ace. i'll never be popular. [ game ] next game decides our winner. [ male announcer ] get low prices on this season's hottest games. like kinect sports season 2 for xbox 360 with kinect. rated e for everyone. backed by our christmas price guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing. a killer on the loose after a 7-year-old girl is found beaten, sexual assaulted. police call it one of extreme violence. now the hunt is on for her murderer. good morning to you. this is your "a.m. wake-up call" for tuesday, december 6th. from the time warner center in new york, i'm carol costello. here are this morning's top stories. stock markets reacting to euro-zone's warnings. dow futures are up after the dow closed yesterday s&p put 15 of the 17 euro-zone countries on review for a possible downgrade. the gloves are coming off in the gulf oil spill. bp says halliburton destroyed evidence. halliburton was a contractor and says it's reviewing court papers. winter doesn't tart for another couple of weeks but don't tell that to people in new mexico and texas. a brutal snowstorm closed parts of interstates 10, 25 and 0 in new mexico. add to that gusty wins and dangerous windchills. it is just plain nasty. rob, this has got to be the weirdest want in the history of man. >> we're just getting going. just one week into it. if you go by the official calendar of the 21th or 22nd we're still not in it. new mexico getting it. quirk question got less than an inch yesterday enough to break a record. the snows are putting out but blowing know is creating hazardous conditions and some is stretching toward kansas city. second system is rain and warmth. new york back through d.c., as far as the snow is concerned most of this is blowing snow and the rainfall across the northeast continues to come down. some of this will be heavy at times. maybe an inch or two in spots, delays in new york and philly, d.c., chicago, atlanta and charlotte if you are traveling today. yeah, we're just getting going, carol. so fasten your seat belts. talk more in april, i guess. >> i'm already strapped in. thanks so much. >> we are following this breaking news out of afghanistan this morning. 18 people are dead following two explosions targeting shiite muslims on the holy day of assure hurah ashurah. a bomber detonated a device at a shrine in kabul and another blast took place in a different city. ashurah commemorates the murder of hugh cane, the grandson of the prophet mohammed. talks on how to prevent the collapse of the euro. they may carry out a mass downgrade of credit ratings and diana magnan joins us with more. good morning, diana. >> reporter: it's no real surprise given the conditions in europe that s&p decided to carry out this massive negative watch on 15 euro-zone countries. if you look you have a situation where the banks are having difficulties lenning. you have the very real possibility of a sovereign default. the country defaults on its debt. you have the very real possibility of recession in the euro-zone but the question is why did s&p decide to do it now? only yesterday the leaders of france and germany came up with some proposals that markets reacted to extremely well that they were hoping the rest of the euro-zone would ratify on thursday and friday at this key eu summit and those proposals are really to try and get some better budget discipline across all of the various countries at the euro-zone so the seven members are able to keep to the rules as much as countries like germany. as you said, timothy geithner is here been sent by the u.s. president ahead of this very key summit to try and reinforce the message that the united states is consistently put toortd to europe that it must get its fiscal house in order. it must get agreement because it isn't just the euro-zone at stake. the problem of the euro-zone have much wider ramifications across the global economy and on the u.s. economy. carol. >> diana magnay reporting from berlin, thank you. democrats have ruled out a plan to extend the payroll tax cut before it expires at the end of the year. it is worth $1,000 annually to the average family and it'll affect more than 160 million americans. the plan was paid for by a so-called millionaire's surtax. a 1.9% tax on millionaires and increase fees that fannie mae and freddie mac charge mortgage lenders and includes cutting the payroll tax to 3.1%. it may take you long story get your mail. the u.s. postal service is proposing a two to five-day delivery. it is a move to save $2 billion. it means shutting down hundreds of processing facilities and i'm getting rid of more than 28,000 postal positions. a heartbreaking story out of the atlanta area this morning. police are trying to find the person who killed a little girl and then dumped her body in a dumpster. investigators found 7-year-old jorelys rivera yesterday. last seen on friday playing near her apartment complex in canton. police calling the case one of extreme violence. they believe rivera was abducted. sexually assaulted, beaten and then killed. >> the abduction occurred at the apartment complex. we also believe that the murder occurred at the apartment complex. >> police department, the sheriff's department, the gbi are diligently working on this. >> police say her parents are not suspects. jerry sandusky may soon face his accusers. all eight alleged victims of the former penn state football coach will reportedly testify against him in open court. according to abc news. the preliminary hearing is set to begin next tuesday. sandusky is accused of molesting the boys over an eight-year period. the alleged victims were part of his charitable organization the second mile. the godfather of gridlock, that's what president obama's top strategist david axelrod calls newt gingrich. on "piers morgan tonight" he slammed his tv ad which launched in iowa saying the republicans' theme of working together to solve problems will be a hard sell given his past. >> newt gingrich is the godfather of gridlock. he was the one that created an environment in which people started treating each other as enemies and not as opponents in washington. he tried to shut down the government three times and give tax cuts to the wealthy and led to the impeachment of a preside president. i think it will be a hard sell. >> his momentum keeps on building. a new "washington post"/abc poll shows he is the front-runner in iowa. far ahead of mitt romney and ron paul who were each at 18%. let's talk more about it with "the washington post" political reporter nia-malika henderson. this came out of nowhere. >> yeah, and that's the thing about newt gingrich. there's been this boom and bust cycle in the republican race with folks like michele bachmann or rick perry. his timing has been great. we're four weeks ahead of the iowa caucuses and here he is coming doing so well in some of these polls in iowa, even in florida. there is a new poll out that will come out later today out of south carolina that shows him with a commanding lead over mitt romney who at this point has got to be worried he's been only able to grab 21%, 22%, 23% of the republican vote. i think this thing between romney and gingrich is going to get tougher. you see democrats stepping up their attacks on gingrich. there was axelrod as you showed that clip calling him the godfather of gridlock but some of those things he said about defundings epa and wanting to shut down the education department, music to the ears of a lot of gop primary voters who look at the way this government, this current administration has behaved and winter somebody in there who has what they see as the know-how but the guts and anger to do something about it. and so far they look at the feel and right now see gingrich as their guy. >> okay, so i'm looking at pictures of donald trump and newt gingrich because he sat down with donald trump. what is with this donald trump obsession? >> i don't -- i ask myself the same question. because here is a guy who as far as i can tell doesn't have any constituency. sure, he gets great ratings on his reality tv show. again, that's a reality tv show but somehow he has i think at first dubbed himself something as a kingmaker in this race threatening to run if he doesn't like any of these guys who are actually running and they have followed suit. so far in going to visit him, you had all of these candidates with the exception of ron paul and jon huntsman who spent time with donald trump in new york. there is a bit of a controversy over this because you have karl rove saying republican candidates should not be participating in this. it provides like a circus-like atmosphere to this very serious race and not only that gives donald trump a platform who actually might run as an independent. december 27th in iowa, so far gingrich has said he'll be there for the sheer entertainment value and certainly i think a lot of people might tune in for that reason alone. >> i know. i just keep thinking in my mind of different scenarios of how it will go if donald trump is the moderator. if he doesn't like an answer will he say "you're fired." nia, thank you. we appreciate it. 41 minutes past the hour. a check of what's coming up at the top of the hour. alina cho, good morning. >> you're fired. good morning, carol. welcome back. you seem well rested. coming up on "american morning" in 20 minutes speaking of newt gingrich. he is the fifth contenders to have a one-on-one with the donald but does donald trump's endorsement really matter? we'll talk more about that. cnn's mary snow will have that report. more sex abuse allegations, this time against the boston red sox. two men claiming they were sexually abusedly a clubhouse manager at fenway park. we'll have those details. and the legal saga of rod blagojevich is winding down. a two-day sentencing hearing will begin this morning. he was convicted of 17 corruption-related charges. so will the judge give him the max? we'll be back right after this. e there's magic. and you now understand what nature's been hiding. ♪ at dow we understand the difference between innovation and invention. invention is important. it's the beginning. it's the spark. but innovation is where we actually create value for dow, for society, and for the world. ♪ at dow, we're constantly searching for how to use our fundamental knowledge of chemistry to solve these difficult problems. science is definitive. there is a right answer out there. [ male announcer ] the same 117 elements do the fundamental work of chemistry. ♪ the difference, the one element that is the catalyst for innovation, the one element that changes everything is the human element. ♪ is the human element. usa prime credit... this peggy... hi, i'm cashing in my points... peggy? no more points - coupons now. coupons? coupons. coupons? next, you convert coupons to tokens. tokens? then you trade tokens for credits. and then i get the cash? then you call back. bye bye. peggy? hello? what just happened? want rewards that make sense? switch to discover. america's #1 cash rewards program. it pays to discover. hour. here's what's all new. standard & poor's is threatening to downgrade 15 nations in the european union. the rating agency says it's keeping watch of the euro-zone's debt crisis citing a rising risk of a recession in 2012. nasa says it's found a brand-new planet, a so-called goldilocks planet known in the goldilocks zone, not too hot and not too cold and could have conditions just right to sustain life. but they haven't found a sign of it yet. nasa's kepler telescope made the discovery. americans are on the ball. a new survey shows a third of americans are already done with their christmas shopping. shoppers took advantage of last month's big deals on black friday and cybermonday. the survey from america's research group says if retailers want to win sales now, they will have to offer bigger incentives. in sports check this out. hockey play of the day, the capitals at the panthers. thomas fleischmann says through four defenders. an amazing no-look pass and finds its way to weiss who scores and they win 4-1. rob marciano is in the chair. >> hockey in florida. who would have thought about that years ago? good stuff. good morning. we have a problem with fog. we had it yesterday across the northeast. now it's more southeast of an issue back through jacksonville. low visibility here that will limit your action across south carolina. the fog is not as bad across the i-9 accorry dore across the northeast because rain has mixed things up. it is mild. but with that rain and low clouds you will see delays in new york and philly. d.c. and metro airports, as well, if you're traveling through those and chicago, atlanta and charlotte to a lesser extent. behind this somewhat clearer weather. fire threat continues. santa anas in los angeles and the snow is record-breaking snow moving out of new mexico but still at this hour portions of i i-10 and i-25 are sit down near the mexican border. carol, back to you. >> boy, you're not kidding except for the northeast. very slows start. i'm enjoying it. shh. i want s t to revel in it a lit longer. the unrest has caused a major drop-off in the tourist trade in egypt. runoff races for seats in parliament and jim clancy is live at the great pyramids. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning to you, carol. what a great place to be and, you know, tell rob the weather here is just spectacular but we have a minor problem. that is the turmoil, political on the streets, the violence in egypt has left this country wishing more tourists were coming. you know, the tourist tri is huge, 11% of the economy. 20 million people are supported by this tourist trade out of a total of 85 million egyptians and vital to the economy, add to that the win, the first round win by the islamic parties, the people and tourism trade are nervous about where this is going and hoping more of our viewers are going to come to egypt because it is a great time to come and i don't work for the tourist board here but offici officially tourism is down 25%, carol, but in reality it's at least 50% and probably even more. that's one of the fallouts, one of the repercussions of democracy and all of the tumultuous change. the people of egypt know something about history as you can see behind me and they feel that this is a historic change for this country and for the entire middle east. back to you. >> jim, i don't even see what egypt can say to the world. i mean, come visit us in this particular climate. they're sort of just stuck, aren't they? >> reporter: well, no, let's be honest here. there's absolutely no problem for tourists coming into egypt. all of the trouble was centered around tahrir square right in the heart of egypt. yes, it makes it more difficult to get to the egyptian museum but luxor and here where people will go to the polls on december 14th and vote in the second round of these elections, things have been calm indeed and tourists here, many from southeast asia seeing a lot of russian tourists today but really the numbers of europeans, u.s. tourists is down sharply. there you're looking at the great pyramid of kufu, the largest of the three pyramids and menkara off to the left of your screen and the sphinx in the middle. people are puzzled here why more tourists aren't coming. the news media has turned them off more than anything but you should know that's not what it's like across europe. prices are down, vendors are only too happy. plenty of camels to ride. >> i'd come tomorrow if i could. we hear you, jim, thanks for showing out the great pictures. jim clancy reporting live this morning. 51 minutes past the hour. we'll be right back. okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ] will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. it's that time of year when we're making our lists and checking them twice but for most people there's always someone hard to buy for. to help us out lori segal is here with some of the best tech toys. so excited to hear about them. hit me. >> you know, so listen, if we're thinking about the out of the box ideas and something that's a little different besides the tablet and other essential gifts there's the ik, a girl came in and showed us this gadget. if they play games on their ipad you can use this, it tufrps your gaming experience into an arcade experience and put your ipad in there and you have a joy stick in an old school arcade game and download over 100 different games that will go along with this and really cool so it is great for that person that likes to game at about $100. get it on sale for $70. that's a really cool one and the ihome ip 4, $199 but what it is, it is an old-school boom box but has a great digital twist. put your ipod in it and the sound is amazing. we were testing it out. it was a lot of fun. for those of us that like the old school boom box, it's a really good solution and everybody loved it. so, you know, those are some out of the box ideas. if you don't want to get the typical tablet. >> those are two terrific ideas. i wrote those down. stocking stuffers, don't want to spend so much, any ideas? >> yeah, you know, everything is so expensive but there's something calls digix. flying off the shelves. everybody tries to use their smartphone during the holidays when wearing gloves, it's impossible to navigate it. you can put digits on your gloves. silicon pats and what they do, make it so you can use your touch screen in subzero weather which is really great. a nice solution. i say it's kind of making your gloves a little geeky but definitely working out if you want to check your e-mail and don't want to wait till you get inside. >> and you can continue to use your phone constantly. thank you very much. laurie seegal, always appreciate it. check out cnnmoney.com. that's it for this tuesday edition of "a.m. wake-up call." "american morning" continues after a break. make it a great day. ♪ motor home ♪ i'm the rocket man! [ both ] ♪ rocket man ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone? ahh. [ male announcer ] crystal clear fender premium audio. one of many premium features available on the all-new volkswagen passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ and i think it's gonna be a long, long time ♪ it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. ♪ hat's that? big piece of potato. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. whoa. whoa. how do you top great vacations? whoa. getting twice the points on great vacations. whoa! use chase sapphire preferred and now get two times the points on travel, and two times the points on dining and no foreign transaction fees. whoa! chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. apply now at chasesapphire.com/preferred