milin. last time this boat was available was in 2009 and going rate then was between 31 and $34,000 a week. the man in charge of getting it off the beach is tim parker. >> danger is that it has a 10 foot keel on it. it's standing on the keel rocking side by side. and... if you get carried away with pulling too hard you can leave it behind. then the boat is going to sink. >> and... we know that the names were just released within the hour, leslie gardener, a 63-year-old male, and lisa mottowell have been arrested in charged with stealing that boat. and it was a pizza and beer party that. is what they found on board when they went inside. we don't know how they managed to run aground. efforts now trying to get the boat off the sand back out to see. -- sea. >> what a story. mark thank you very much. we're about to get relieve from our dry well. there is a live shot showing calm before ther storm. >> we have clear skies just clouds off shore, and as we look off shore here comes a cold front it continues a good bit of moisture a lot of koud cold air wrapping around that frontal system. first rain drops expected to fall off on the north bay. through wednesday into wednesday night at 11:00 by that point up to an inch and a half of rain in santa cruz mountains. so an important one, we need rain and more after this. i'll give you the accu-weather forecast in just a few minute autos see you then. >> friends holding a vigil for a teenager shot to death in campbell around 10:30 last night. this is the first homicide in campbell since 2007. the mayor believes might have been a case of mistaken identity. >> you r he was just a friendly guy. >> there is no evidence to show he was a member of a gang at this point in time. we're continuing to interview family members and friends. >> the friends brought flowers to the crime scene today. >> and a memorial will be held on thursday for the two police officers shot and killed in the line of duty last thus this, is a photo of the detective with his family. the 28-year year veteran on the far right this, is detective elizabeth but wler her children. they were interviewed sexual assault suspect jeremy goulet when he opened fire and later killed in a shootout with police. a motorcade procession scheduled to start 8:45 thursday morning and travel over highway 17. the memorial was moved to hp pavilion to accommodate a larger crowd as expected to start at noon there. will be a lot feed of the service at the arena in santa cruz. we're going to broadcast the service live at abc 7 news.com. >> three burglary suspects under custody in san jess yeah after a shelter in place for three schools in the area, police say a woman reported a burglary around 10:00. students yents at nearby schools were all placed on lock down about two hours. the three suspects found in the neighborhood and alefted for burglary and possession of stolen property. >> a format that gets rallies today hoping that this is the near it will happen. and this time state republicans are getting behind the effort. nanette? >> november election highlighted the growing influence of latinos. supporters rallied to keep the pressure up. message? keep families together to get congress to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants in the united states. this family is worried dad, jose will be deported. his wife and kids are american born but with a previous deportation citizenship is virtually unattainable. even through marriage. >> my husband is undocumented. for me... and for my kids will be devastated if he gets taken aby. >> some believe this may be the year immigration reform will happen. republicans suffered huge losses during the november election partly because they alienated so many latino was harsh rhetoric on immigration. >> there are two ways to handle a loss, deny it or learn from it. >> at last weekend's state gop conviction, republicans elect aid new leader, one former minute men backed off a hard stance against illegal immigrants insists on talk about republican principles of free market and less government. >> go into communities and listen, then vrx a conversation. instead of making aassumptions if you pander on this one issue somehow you're going wind up with votes. >> participants boarded buses hoping that the new republican attitude opens the door to votes on immigration reforms. final stop, bakersfield on wednesday to rally at congressman mccarthy's office. >> last week two parties couldn't reach an agreement on ways to avoid sequester cuts. an agreement on immigration reform could be just as hard. >> california college students rallied today urging lawmakers to help make higher education more affordable. they're supporting a bill inro produce td by nor yeen evans imposing a tax with oil exare tracted from california lands. >> we have a problem when our colleges and universities receive 13% less in state funding. >> if you cut us down there won't be a few tour so i would like to see them stop cutting us. >> some students left to ask for a reversal of previous cuts to the system skpin creased funding for cal grant program. >> here is a story you probably heard today making a lot of headlines. what doctors are calling a fluke may have tlod a break through in treatment of babies born to hiv positive mothers. a 2-year-old girl in mississippi has been cured of hiv. she was born to an hiv positive mother and was also infected. she was put on high dosages of drugs at birth. her mother stopped giving her the medication at 15 months. the girl has been off hiv drugs for a year now and has been tested five times by five labs and there is no sign of infection. abc news chief medal cal editor says it could trance form the fight against hiv. >> if this approach works high dose treatment at the time of birth koit revolutionize what is being done adoctors believe the drugs wiped hiv from the baby's blood before it could take over dormant cells. certainly remarkable. >> coming up a foreign fashion fogul. >> and a new role arnold schwartzeneggar is about to take on. it will find him flexing muscles again. >> latest push to stop web sites from tracking your every some firefighters being called heroes after using cpr to revive two dogs nearly killed in a fire. the dogs trapped in a burning mobile home outside sacramento. neither was breathing. rescuers spent an hour performing until both were revived it and was remarkable. >> owner of a popular hot dog restaurant says he will rebuild after a devastating fire. flames gutted the happy hound restaurant the owner says he hopes to reopen in about a month. people serving notice there will be clearing everyone out by the end of the week. the ramp has grown quickly after caltrans he fikte fikted -- evicted the homeless from a nearby camp two weeks ago. officials say the state does d.not cooperate with local agencies during january. >> fitness magazine says mexico's carlos slim remains on the top of list with a net worth of $73 billion. bill gates held on to the second place spot at $67 billion but spanish coat maker moved into the top three with $57 billion pushing warren buffet to number four this, is the fifrs time he's been out of the top three since 2000. >> after mazing number autos yes. we don't know any of them. >> wish we did. >> internet privacy heating up again in congress. >> most of the laws are kind of, you know, chew around the edges. you might soon be able to tell web sites to stop tracking you and allow consumers to demand web sites not track them. the groups say this would be a no brainer to nearly everyone but there is push back. >> this business model is based on supplying -- spying on customers. that is whaits all about right now. it's crazy. >> the law introduced by jay rockerfeller if you're a user of evernote the cloud note sharing service you may have had problems signing on this morning. hackers managed to breech it's computer networks. the company says they got encrypted pass are words however no content was compromised. evernote is the latest tech company in recent weeks to fall victims to hackers. the budget showdown might have a direct impact and here is the proof. yellow stone national park will remain closed another two weeks. the service usually hires these contractors to clear snow from park entrance buzz cruise won't get hired until later this month. many will cover fewer programs for visitors because of the showdown. >> thank you. >> sure. >> former 60s sitcom star is not done fighting for womens rights yet. along 500 women came out to hear them speak today and told the crowd the womens' movement has a long way to go. thomas told me she supports this conference because it gives women the tools to follow their dreams. >> it's never too late to follow another dream f your dream ran out or never happened make a new dream. >> it allows women to attend conferences in leadership, health and finance. it's sold out every year since starting in 2006. >> march is now womens' history month in california. state lawmakers passed the resolution today. other honorees include wailly di, the only co-founder of an american -- only woman co-found yes, i should say of an american semi conductor company. and dr. sally rogers dedicating her career to helping developmentally disabled children. >> let's talk about the weather forecast. >> we need this one. >> we need this rain. let'slett me show what you is going on now. i should point out the system is going to be a big snow producer for mountain ranges of california. that does include central sierra. take a look at conditions. a live view looking at sky to the west northwest, clear conditions at the moment. and pretty much uniformed meetings in our east bay hills camera. temperatures now 52 degrees, 56 in napa. on we go to our forecast features, increasing clouds tomorrow, rain developing late tomorrow afternoon skperlly evening in the north bay then sweeping south skbard eastward. we'll have a beach hazard advisory throughout this afternoon. a danger sneaker waves ever are a possible. -- possibility. avoid outcrops and jet yeez now here is our satellite image looping over last 12 hours, frontal system does contain some moisture. there is cold air behind that front as well. we'll see rain arriving into early evening hours. so let's start at 5:00 tomorrow afternoon. there may be some light rain already developing up in the northern most part of the viewing area. it will be wet wednesday morning's kmeet commute. periods of rain and showers tapering off late in the day but there is another wave of rainfall poised to come in, at least showers, thursday morning. lows tonight under increasingly cloudy skies will be into low 40s. and high temperatures in the low to mid-60s up to 63 in san jose. low 60s in pal yos yoe alto. downtown san francisco, a high of 58 tomorrow, 56 in the north bay district. 61 in napa. east bay highs 62 in oakland. 61 fremont. inland east bay, 62 at concord and walnut creek. here is the accu-weather forecast. rainy weather wednesday. showers lingering into thursday. cool wednesday and thursday with highs only into 50s across the bay area, then we can get milder and drier weather over the weekend. sunny skies and high temperatures up to about 70 degrees. you can follow weather conditions at live doppler 7 on twitter for latest conditions rain or shine. get video forecast, power outage information and weather tweets from your favorite weather team, certainly mine. >> thank you. >> okay. >> thank you very much. >> coming up next, fbi files show why witness any houston may have wanted to hire her own bodyguard not just like in the movie. >> the fate of sunset magazine after reports of a big corporate break up that a gull is getting rest after nearly choking to death because of a knotted ribbon. the group wildlife emergency services sent thus rescue video in santa cruz. they say the ribbon is the same kind you'd find to tie a balloon. it took minutes to cut it. they are not sure if someone did this on purpose after being treated the bird is recovering before it will be released. and just another day on the job for officers in contra costa county that had to round up horses who were moseying down an off ramp at i 680. officers korald horses and believe they got lose and horses went to animal service who's contacted the owner today. >> fbi releasing files on investigations the agency conducted on behalf of the late pop star whitney houston showing houston was concerned ban extortion attempt in 19926789 two other investigations in 1998 and 1999 were based on fan mail. houston drowned in a hotel bathroom last year on the east of the grammy awards. >> former governor schwartzeneggar is going back to his roots. we don't mean his acting career, he's go going back to his career as a body builder. he will be group executive editor of flex and muscle and fitness magazines. he will write monthly columns and provide monthly input. >> maybe he'll try for mr. olympia again? >> hmmm. >> well, get ready for the bay bridge to shine just a little bit brighter. >> the transformation maigs you'll see tomorrow evening. well, well, well. growing up, we didn't have u-verse. we couldn't record four shows at the same time. in my day, you were lucky if you could record two shows. and if mom was recording her dumb show and dad was recording his dumb show then, by george, that's all we watched. and we liked it! today's kids got it so good. [ male announcer ] get u-verse tv for just $19 a month for 1 year when you bundle tv and internet. rethink possible. coming up at 6:00 prisoners known as class of 72. removed from death row by a supreme court ruling. what happened to lifers now back on the streets. >> michael finney will be back at 6:00 tonight with some advise on renting a car and his tips just might save you a fortune, too. >> just how much more productive you can be if only you had someone to sort through your e mails for you. it's coming up in a half hour at 6:00. >> we'll see you then, but here they've been testing new light show on the bay bridge behind us there for months but tomorrow, it will mark the official unveiling of the daylight. >> the art project had a grand lighting tomorrow night at 9:00. or will hold it at 9:00. 25,000 lights go on and off in a variety of patterns. artists say the bay winds and fog and waves inspired his work. >> if you can't get to san francisco to see it, we'll be streaming it live on abc 7 news.com. in the evening you can catch a glimgs behind use it is neat. world news is coming up next. i'm dan ashley. this is "world news." tonight, gathering storm. expected to be the worst snow-maker of the year. millions bracing for blizzards as the roads are already turning into ice. vatican imposter? how did this man sneak in, dressed as a cardinal? and what gave him away? sink hole. for the first time, we see the crater that opened up 100 feet deep beneath a sleeping man. and, she's back. what barbara walters tells us tonight about the real concern after that chicken pox and fall. >> it's a serious thing. >> it is a serious thing. >> advice for everyone at home, tonight. good evening. on this monday night, we begin in the heartland, with the month of march barreling in like a lion. look at the map. from montana to virginia, 19 states under winter watches and warnings. two bracing for blizzards. and the huge storm they call an alberta clipper is picking up speed as we head into this night. abc's ginger zee is in the storm zone in minnesota. >> reporter: it's march madness on the roads in minneapolis. persistent plowing in north dakota. tonight, a storm targets the twin cities, then joins forces with another storm from the south. chicago gets it tuesday into wednesday and the mid-atlantic wednesday into thursday. it's been a winter full of snowy headlines. blowing snow is really the problem here. we were there when the blizzard blitzed des moines. i was goggled up in boston. heard thunder snow in topeka. ah, there it is.
>> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. the difficult-to-watch video of a football player punching a woman and knocking her out cold inside a hotel elevator tonight remains at the center of a growing conversation and controversy about domestic abuse and the big business that happens to be america's favorite sport, the nfl. and while it is hard to watch, it's also hard to believe the nfl never saw it until the rest of us did just yesterday. but the commissioner says tonight that is the case. and he now knows that every aspect of this case is being looked at all over again because of the widely held view that this was both a failure of the justice system and a failure of the sport. it's where we begin again tonight with nbc's josh elliott. he's live with us at nbc sports network headquarters. good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. as you mentioned, roger goodell reiterated late today that league officials never saw the video showing the altercation between ray rice and his now wife janay until monday, but the firestorm that tape has generated has the nfl scrambling still. football fans across the country reacting to the video showing the violent altercation between ray rice and his then-fiancee put their anger on display today. a fury directed at rice and the nfl. the collective rallying cry -- too little too late. videos such as this surfaced on social media of fans burning ray rice jerseys. >> he doesn't deserve to be on their team. and that wasn't all. nike, one of rice's sponsors terminated its contract with them. while the ravens as well as major sporting goods chain such as dick's and modell's announced an exchange program allowing fans to return unwanted rice jerseys. >> the give to ray rice. >> reporter: the video gamemaker announced it was pulling rice's image from its best-selling madden football game. all while players from around the league tweeted their outrage. as players we must speak up, stand up for what's right. this is way bigger than football. don't be blind to what's really important. while ray rice's wife janay rice was angry as well but for a different reason. posting on instagram in part, this is our life. what don't you all get. if your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you've succeeded on so many levels. and for the first time since the tape's release, nfl commissioner roger goodell addressed the burgeoning crisis in an interview with cbs news. >> we had not seen any videotape of what occurred in the elevator. >> reporter: still a torrent of headlines from around the country today are calling for goodell to go. >> the nfl was not thinking about women first, the nfl was not thinking about domestic violence first. the nfl was thinking about business and the law first and as a result they're in big, big trouble. >> reporter: the nfl has spent millions marketing the game to gain more female fans. now 45% of the total fan base. many of them now say they are fans no more. >> the nfl is so big and so powerful, it took their own fans to bring them around to the realization that they had really messed this up badly. they're going to have to take leadership on this issue to win those fans back. >> reporter: ray rice broke his silence today, saying, in his words, he had to stay strong for his family. he also confirmed to nbc news that he's hired a public relations firm and will speak about this matter when he says the time is right. brian? >> josh elliott, nbc sports headquarters starting us off again. josh, thanks. now the other big aspect of this story and that's domestic abuse. according to the cdc, nearly one in three american women will have experienced some form of domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime. this very high profile incident has started something of a national conversation about a topic that, of course, is very personal to so many americans and that includes our own tamron hall who is with us in the studio tonight. >> reporter: good to see you. it is personal for millions of families including my own and for those who advocate on behalf of domestic abuse survivors. but this conversation today proves something. you don't have to be personally affected to know that this is a public crisis. 4.7 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year with women ages 18 to 24 most at risk. only 55% of the cases of domestic violence are ever reported to police. >> and he slapped me on the bed and duct taped me. >> reporter: i recently sat down with a group of strong women who are the faces behind the numbers like sheena. this woman told me she and her daughter were abused. >> he then grabbed my daughter's thigh and just squeezed it with the same pressure that he was squeezing my neck. >> reporter: in 2004 my own sister was found dead in her home. while no one was ever brought to justice police told my family all signs pointed to domestic violence. sadly, she is not alone. today the hashtag why i stayed was trending on twitter. >> she may stay because she believes it's better to keep her family together. she may stay because she loves the abuser. there are a lot of complicated reasons why people may stay. >> reporter: then-senator now vice president joe biden introduced the violence against women act which was signed into law 20 years ago. it allows funding for shelters, gives prosecutors and police more power and allows an order of protection to follow a person state to state. >> the one regret i have is we call it domestic violence, as if it's a domesticated cat. it's the most vicious form of violence there is because not only the physical scars are left, the psychological scars that are left. >> reporter: and since 1996, the national hotline for domestic violence received 3 million calls, brian. that means on the line with the woman asking for help. and who answered? someone who was there. that's incredible. >> tamron, we appreciate you being here tonight because it is so personal. thank you very much. tamron hall with us in the studio tonight. we shift gears to our other major story this evening. the president preparing to address the nation tomorrow evening to prepare the american people for a long campaign to destroy the terrorist group isis. tonight our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll reveals nearly half of americans think we are less safe than we were before 9/11. that's the highest since we started asking this question back in 2002. our senior white house correspondent chris jansing on the north lawn of the white house where the president met with congressional leaders about this isis threat earlier today. chris, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. that meeting lasted almost an hour and a senior white house official has just told me that the president asked for one specific thing from congressional leaders and that's the authority to train the syrian opposition. it would require a congressional vote and, although he didn't get a commitment in the meeting, house speaker john boehner issued a statement saying he would support the president if he chose to deploy the military to help train and play an advisory role. now, senior diplomat officials say time is of the essence. they believe right now they can get a buy-in from other counties -- countries in the region to help. they've been working toward that. also in that meeting, the president did not ask leaders to vote to authorize military action. he doesn't think he needs that. and sources say he didn't ask for additional funding for the isis operation either. he did outline the speech he's going to deliver tomorrow night to the american people and the scheduling in primetime does raise the stakes. it points to both the seriousness of the threat and awareness of the white house that it's making people increasingly nervous. brian? >> chris jansing at the white house tonight. we'll see you back there tomorrow night. our moderator of "meet the press" and political director chuck todd with us here in new york with more on the new poll numbers. >> the spike in the 9/11 fear all comes from the coverage of the beheadings of the two american journalists. the most followed news story that we've tracked in five years. and that's where the anxiety level comes from. and that's why we've seen such a flip on somehow we now want to see intervention in syria. 61% in our poll say they'd like to see some military action including 33% who would actually like to see us send combat troops. talk about a flip. a year ago we were talking about military strikes in syria. a year ago only 21% wanted to do that because it didn't impact americans. that was about chemical weapons and assad. chris just talked about the stakes for the president tomorrow night. he's got a major political problem on his hands. handling a foreign policy in our poll has just plummeted. just 32% approve of the job he's been doing. 62% disapprove. it's a huge spike this summer and it's all about what has appeared to be unsteadiness in handling this isis crisis. >> we'll have answers tomorrow night. our whole team will be on the air tomorrow night with live coverage of the president's address to the nation. again 9:00 p.m. eastern time here on this nbc station. now to business news, and it is tech season in the business world. and for apple today that meant product rollout day including the first all-new product in the post-steve jobs era of ceo tim cook. the apple watch. jacob rascon was there for the announcements. with us from cupertino, california, tonight. jacob, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening, it was a major moment for apple and ceo tim cook. a lot on the line here. a lot to prove. and with a handful of new products, the apple event seems to have lived up to the hype. the test now becomes will consumers buy it. [ cheers and applause ] >> good morning! >> reporter: departing from tradition, apple ceo tim cook skipped the apple company updates. >> everything's great. >> reporter: and jumped right into what he called the greatest phones in the world. >> these are the new iphones. >> reporter: the biggest change might be the bigger sizes. then there's the faster processor, improved cameras, more user friendly text message options and a host of other one-ups. >> we have one more thing. >> reporter: cook has been criticized for not producing a truly original apple product since iconic apple co-founder steve jobs' passing. today he answered his critics with the apple watch. >> amazing what you can do from your wrist. >> they've been under pressure for not innovating. i think you can just feel morale in the company on this front rising. >> reporter: it comes in different colors and sizes and wristbands. and cases. apple says it's their most personal product ever. and there was something else. both phones and the watch come with apple pay, a mobile payment system that apple hopes will eventually replace your wallet. >> google has had it in various android phones for a while but people haven't wanted to use it that much. the apple brand and the apple marketing machine and the partners they've lined up will probably give them the best chance that anyone's had yet to actually make this work. >> reporter: the eyes of the world were trained on apple today. >> apple watch -- >> reporter: and while the laundry list of new ithings will impress the masses, the tech giant still has a lot to prove. the question is will consumers buy it. >> what's the new thing? >> reporter: cook told brian williams during product development that's what apple's all about. >> our whole role in life is to give you something you didn't know you wanted and then once you get it, you can't imagine your life without it. >> reporter: and, of course, how can you get this apple watch? it comes out early next year starting at 349. both of the iphones you can start to preorder on friday. and brian, people are already lining up to buy them. >> something you didn't know you wanted. those words reverberate. jacob rascon out in cupertino, california, thanks. tonight the threat of severe weather and flash flooding continues in the american midwest. torrential rain, tornado watches in several states and to the west parts of arizona, nevada still under water. a nearly 30-mile stretch of i-15 north of vegas remains shut down. at one point cameras caught a van washed away by rushing water. this is a major artery between las vegas and salt lake blocked. officials say it could remain that way for several more days. still ahead for us on a tuesday evening, diagnosing autism earlier than ever before. how a small group of parents were actually able to reduce the symptoms in their children, guarded excitement tonight in the autism spectrum community. and later a fairytale cinderella story. a young woman about to make history. as we said before the break tonight a groundbreaking but small new study is offering hope to so many families that just maybe there could be a way to reduce the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder if you catch them early enough. the numbers, as we've reported, are staggering. 1 in 68 kids now diagnosed in the spectrum. this new study is a small one as we said, and it's preliminary but it could lead to significant changes in the way the parents flag those early symptoms and then help their children. we get our report from our national correspondent kate snow. >> reporter: as a baby, isabel was unusually fixated on objects. >> say good morning, isabel. she wouldn't turn to look at me. she'd still just be looking at the bars on her crib as if i wasn't there. >> reporter: so when her parents heard about the work sally rogers was doing they moved the family to northern california to be part of her study of seven infants. >> parents aren't asking us where do i find therapists for my child. their very first questions to us are always what can we do. >> reporter: like isabel the babies all showed early signs of autism. not seeking a parent's attention or interacting. abnormal repetitive behaviors or fixations, not making age appropriate sounds like mama or dada. for 12 weeks, researchers taught the parents how to read cues. >> is that too much? okay. >> we learned to pick up on her eyes away or a tiny frown. >> reporter: when the infants made sounds, their parents were forced to make sounds, to communicate that it matters. it became a way to force eye contact. the change in isabel was dramatic. >> december of 2011 she was 8 or 9 months and that was a very typical look just kind of disengaged. and then this april of 2012. and that, i mean, that makes me want to cry just looking at it. it's a -- it's just light-years beyond where she was. >> reporter: isabel is 3 now, an age when many toddlers are just being diagnosed with autism. she's no longer on the spectrum at all. of all seven infants studied, six caught up on learning skills and language, a hopeful sign, but every child with autism is different. >> i think parents should be reassured that the earlier we start intervention the better but it's never too late. >> reporter: these methods need to be tested again in larger studies but even this pilot study offers encouragement that perhaps very early intervention can make a difference. >> this was, as we said, a small study. big, big results tonight and big news. kate snow, thanks. we're back with news about changing tastes in this country. quha americans are eating less of and drinking more of these days. home depot is dealing with what will likely be the largest breach of credit card information in retailing history. it's feared 60 million accounts were exposed. home depot's been scrambling in recent days to get on top of this and reassure customers. today the attorneys general of four separate states launched an investigation into the data breach. economic trends to report beginning with job openings. they remain near their highest levels in 13 years. hiring is the highest pace in seven years but a rising tide not lifting all boats. mcdonald's has posted its worst sales decline in a decade. down by much more overseas than they are here, and we don't know what this says about us either, but the u.s. has overtaken france as the largest consumer of wine on the planet. americans are producing more wine and drinking more of it than the french. a tip of the hat to our friend ann compton over at abc news. retiring today 41 years to the day after starting her career as a correspondent. she has covered seven presidents, traveled to all 50 states and along the way she and her husband raised four children. and trust me, ann made life better for all of us who covered the traveling white house. thanks to her consistently good company, high energy and good cheer. so to our friend ann, we say well done, congratulations, and enjoy grandparenting. well, a little kid has been recorded for posterity and forever just by being a little kid. there was president obama saying good-bye to an outgoing secret service agent and his wife when their son did a face plant on the soft and inviting couch there in the oval office. his family now gets to cherish this photo forever and blow it up during his rehearsal dinner. when we come back, a fairy tale beginning for a young woman who's already made history. last night here we talked about horton who came to be known for his uncanny ability to hear a who. tonight we have the story about another icon of our childhood, cinderella. and the opening tonight on broadway of a landmark rodgers & hammerstein production that's all about magic and history. we get our report tonight from nbc's rehema ellis. >> reporter: it's the newest look for an ageless story. >> cinderella! >> reporter: starting tonight keke palmer is the first african-american woman to step into cinderella's shoes on broadway. >> i didn't think it was possible because i didn't even think being an actress was possible. >> reporter: but when the rodgers & hammerstein producers saw her, it was magic. >> when she walked in and started singing and reading the lines, it was just love. she had everything we were looking for. >> pterodactyl. >> reporter: since her 2006 breakout role in "akeelah and the bee" she's been someone to watch. from nickelodeon to several other movies. >> try to have a little fun. >> reporter: now at 21, she's the nation's youngest talk show host with her own program on b.e.t. ♪ in the arms of my love >> reporter: when palmer got the call for broadway she says she was overwhelmed. >> i don't even know how to describe this feeling. i was just very -- this is crazy. this is crazy, girl! >> reporter: but she says this is more than just a role. >> this is the dress. >> reporter: oh. >> when cinderella turns into cinderella. >> reporter: the play "cinderella" is also about encouraging girls to broaden their expectations. >> young black girls that think that certain things aren't possible. it's good for them just to be able to see someone that looks like them and lets them know it's possible. but lets them know just because you have never seen it doesn't mean that you can't be it. >> reporter: keke palmer, a young woman living a cinderella dream. ♪ in my own little corner >> reporter: on broadway. ♪ in my own little chair ♪ i can be whatever i want to be ♪ >> reporter: rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. beautiful story to end on for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we'll leave you tonight with what you might have seen if you had a cloudless sky where you live last night. last of the supermoons this year, the harvest moon. usually a harbinger of cold weather. look back for you here tonight night. -- tomorrow night. right now at 6:00, he works for the public, but he's accused of getting personal perks. now a new turn as a result of our investigation. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang in for jessica aguirre. >> and i'm raj mathai. tonight, he's no longer in charge. a local official feeling the heat after he uncovered he racked up personal travel awards using personal money. last we cek we exposed the director of child services in santa clara county. tonight, jenna sussco has the fall out. >> raj, john bar tannian is no longer calling the shots. less than an hour ago, the county announced he is on paid administrative leave, effective today until an investigation into his travel expenses is completed. until then, the county executive's office will oversee the day-to-day activities at that apartment. our investigation exposed bartannian racked up credit card and hotel reward points on the county's dime. we went through thousands of travel documents, dating back to 2008, and found he put more than $55,000 worth of hotel stays and registration fees on his personal card for more than 30 employees. the county then paid him back while he banked those rewards. we even found he got points for conferences he didn't attend. bartannian has been with the county for 13 years. he was appointed director last year. we requested an interview with him last week and again today after this announcement, he declined due
>> our son did make progress, has caught up. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evenin news" with scott pelley. >> schieffer: good evening, i'm bob schieffer. this is our western edition. since the horrible tape surfaced yesterday, a baltimore ravens running back ray rice beating his then-fiancé, there's been a torrent of criticism that the national football league had been insensitive to the whole issue of domestic violence. rice was fired by the ravens and suspended indefinitely but not permanently by the league, but questions have been building about how much the league knew and when officials knew it. late today, commissioner roger goodell gave his first interview, and norah o'donnell of "cbs this morning" got it. norah. >> reporter: bob, commissioner roger goodell was adamant that no one, he says, in the nfl had seen this second videotape before monday. he called it new evidence, and he said it's the reason they decided to suspend ray rice indefinitely. when did you first learn about this second tape? >> yesterday morning. i got into the office, and our staff had come to me and said there's new evidence. 'there's a video that you need to see." and i watched it then. >> reporter: did you know that a thcond tape existed? >> well, we had not seen any videotape of what occurred in the elevator. we assumed that there was a video. we asked for video. but we were never granted that opportunity. >> reporter: so did anyone in the nfl see the second videotape before monday? >> no. >> reporter: no one in the nfl. >> no one in the nfl, to my is ledge, and i've been asked that same question, and the answer to that is no. >> reporter: how is it that the nfl couldn't get their hand on this second tape, but a web site called tmz could? >> well, i don't know how tmz, or any other web site gets their information. we are particularly reliant on law enforcement. that's the most reliable. it's the most credible. and we don't seek to get that information from sources that are not credible. >> reporter: the question becomes, did the nfl drop the ball or was the nfl willfully ignorant about what was on this tape? >> well, we certainly didn't know what was on the tape, but we have been very open and honest, and i have, also, from two weeks ago, when i acknowledged that we didn't get this right. that's my responsibility, and i'm accountable for that. >> reporter: but what changed? i mean, on the first tape, she was lying unconscious on the ground, being dragged out. did you really need to see a videotape of ray rice punching her in the face to make this decision? >> no. we certainly didn't. and i will tell you that what we saw on the first videotape was troubling to us in and of itself. but what we saw yesterday was extremely clear, is extremely graphic, and it was sickening. and that's why we took the action we took yesterday. >> reporter: what does that mean that he was suspended indefinitely? does that mean ray rice will never play in the nfl again? id i don't rule that out. but he would have to make sure that we are fully confident that he is addressing this issue clearly. he has paid a price for the actions that he's already taken. >> schieffer: so ray rice could return to football possibly? >> reporter: well, you heard the commissioner say, "i don't rule that out." he clearly would have to show that he's taken some additional steps, so that's clearly going to get some attention. >> schieffer: and the commissioner's own status, did he say anything about that? >> reporter: well, there have been some calls for commissioner goodell to step down. i asked him if he feels like his job is on the line. and he said, "no, i'm used to the criticism. i'm used to that. every day, i have to earn my stripes," he said. >> schieffer: thank you very much, norah. >> reporter: thanks, bob. >> schieffer: and you can see much more of norah's interview with commissioner goodell first thing tomorrow on "cbs this morning." the woman that rice assaulted is now his wife, janay palmer. today she essentially told everyone to butt out. on instagram, she defended rice. she lashed out at the media and to the public writing: "to make us relive the moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing. to take something away from the man i love just to gain ratings is horrific." well, that video has focused attention on domestic violence, but too often it goes unreported. elaine quijano found many victims feel they have no choice but to stay with an abusive partner. and we caution you, some of the images in her report are disturbing. >> reporter: this is what happened to 38-year-old angela brower the day she tried to leave her abusive boyfriend. >> he punched me in the eye with every bit of force he had and it knocked me unconscious. >> reporter: the beating left brower with multiple bruises, a broken nose and broken eye socket. the tennessee woman posted pictures of her injury on facebook. >> it helped me to see what the ern i loved had done to me, and then after all the responses i got and all of the messages and- - and all of the other women responding the way they did, i continued to put my pictures on facebook to make other women aware that this is not what love looks like. >> reporter: every minute, 20 americans are victims of physical violence by a partner or spouse. that's 10 million people a year, according to the cdc. 85% of them are women. lil corcoran runs a women's shelter in northern new jersey. you don't like it when people ask, "why did she stay?" why don't you like it when people ask that question? >> when we join in that sort of pile-on, we're kind of just reinforcing this idea that there must be something wrong with her, she must be stupid. why can't she figure this out? and i like to see the focus change on, what's wrong with him? why does he do this? if someone pushes him to the point where he feels he needs to hit them, why doesn't he leave? >> reporter: corcoran says the most dangerous time for a woman in an abusive relationship is the period when she tries to leave. r.'s why angela brower believes her boyfriend tried to kill her. >> i would tell any woman that the first sign of abuse, walk away. because it never gets any better. it always gets worse with each occurrence. >> reporter: victims' advocates tell us many women do leave their abusers, but they stress, before leaving, there has to be a safety plan in place, bob, so the situation doesn't go from dangerous to deadly. >> schieffer: all right. well, thanks, elaine. president obama will address the nation tomorrow evening about his strategy for defeating isis. that is the sunni muslim group that's been carrying out a campaign of terror across iraq and syria, and beheaded two american journalists. the president briefed the leaders of congress at the white house today in advance of the speech. we have a series of reports tonight. first, chief white house correspondent major garrett. major. >> reporter: bob, in a 70-minute meeting, president obama told the congressional leaders he has all the legal authority he needs s carry out his strategy against isis and doesn't need a congressional vote. but he did ask congress in the coming days to give him $500 million and the legal authority to train syrian fighters battling isis within that country. afterward, house speaker john boehner said he would support air strikes targeting isis leaders and sending more u.s. military advisers to iraq. the pentagon has recommended both to the president. now, tomorrow's speech appears short on specifics. e ere will be no timetable for defeating isis and no cost estimates for the emerging military campaign. the president may use the address to announce an expansion of the air war into syria. he's been considering that option for the better part of two weeks. bob, senior white house officials stress that u.s. military action alone will not defeat isis. the united states will need help from a still-evolving international coalition that will include the iraqi government, the syrian rebels, kind of out-matched militarily and under-armed; and help from neighboring countries, including but not limited to turkey, saudi arabia, and the united arab emirates. >> schieffer: okay, major, thank you. the united states was drawn back into iraq when isis began to overrun kurdistan in the north. the massacre of refugees and the threat to the kurdish capital erbil triggered the u.s. air strikes against isis targets. scott pelley is in erbil tonight on assignment for "60 minutes." scott. >> pelley: bob, tonight, the kurdish government here is asking the united states to greatly expand the air strikes and to rush heavy weapons into the fight. we spoke to the head of intelligence for the kurdish government, a man who knows isis better than just about anyone. masrour barzani's intelligence thrvice helps pick the targets for u.s. pilots in support of kurdish forces on the ground. are the u.s. air strikes now enough to defeat isis? >> i think it's very useful and we are very thankful to everything that the u.s. is doing so far, but i don't think it's enough. we believe that the strikes should target the nerve system and the leadership of isis, wherever they may be. >> pelley: i think you're a.lking about syria. >> even in syria. >> pelley: you would like to see u.s. air strikes in syria. >> we do, yes. >> pelley: barzani told us the kurds are talking to the white house about major support for the kurdish army, known as the peshmerga. >> we are asking the united states that they should help the peshmergas with heavy armament. >> pelley: are we talking about tanks and artillery? >> why not? yes, tanks, helicopters, heavy armaments, m-raps, because these are very important. >> pelley: m-raps are armored troop carriers and the peshmerga we met looked like they could use them. there was evidence of a battle won, but all of the weapons they reloaded were light-- no catillery, no effective armor. you can imagine how they feel about the sound of american jets. >> thank you, america. thank you, obama. >> pelley: iraq had been building a future, but its aspirations are now occupied by a past it cannot escape. we found families, what's left of them, running from isis' brand of religious extremism. nadia told us the men of her village were herded behind a school. there was shooting, and a boy came to tell the women what he saw. what did the little boy say? "all the men were being killed but we didn't believe him because he was just a little boy." with the men, more than 100 in a mass grave, nadia told us the women were loaded into dump trucks and taken to a city to be given away as prizes to isis soldiers. she escaped. she told us, "my friends are all captive. i don't know anything about my brothers. but most of all, i want my mother. tell them i just want my mother." (crying) >> pelley: as the intelligence minister said at the beginning of the story, the safe haven for isis is centered in syria. one of the most experienced reporters in the region is holly williams, and she is on the syrian-turkish border for us tonight where she is finding a change in the support for isis there. holly? >> reporter: scott, there has been a dramatic change since early this year. when we spoke to syrians in this area back then, many of them told us that they supported isis because it was fighting against the syrian regime. they said that isis was trying to help people and that it wasn't using violence to enforce strict islamic law. but that has now all changed. many syrians are now simply too frightened to speak to us for fear of retribution, and when they do talk about isis, they mention executions and beatings, and many syrians now say while they still hate the syrian president bashar al assad, isis is much worse than his regime ever was. >> pelley: thanks, holly. and now with the rest of the day's news, we'll leave erbil, iraq, and return to bob schieffer in new york. bob. >> schieffer: thank you very much, scott. cbs news will bring live , verage of the president's address tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern time, 8:00 central, that is 6:00 in the west. well, apple is betting customers will leave their credit cards at home and do their shopping with their phones but are they secure? and the super moon rises when the cbs evening news continues. you know.... there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. mmmm. these are good! the tasty side of fiber. from phillips denturthan real teeth.erent they're about ten times softer and have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident kills 99.99% of odor-causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains. for a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture everyday. finally, the purple pill,hr the #1 prescribed acid blocking brand, comes without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protection™ ♪ [music] defiance is in our bones. defiance never grows old. citracal maximum. easily absorbed calcium plus d. beauty is bone deep. >> schieffer: it is always big >> schieffer: it is always big news when apple rolls out a new product, and today was no exception. a new iphone was introduced, but john blackstone tells us that was not the star of the show. >> it is the next chapter in apple's story, and here it is. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: what apple c.e.o. tim cook unveiled today isn't called the iwatch, it is the apple watch. so far, smart watches on the market have been met with limited success. tech analyst tim barjarin. >> they haven't been big sellers. part of it is most of the smart watches on the market today have been for geeks. they really don't have a lot of style. >> reporter: the apple watch will have style, but it will work only in conjunction with apple's iphone. >> iphone 6. >> reporter: with the iphone 6 unveiled today, apple adds yet another feature. >> and now i'd like to talk about an entirely new category of service, and it's all about the wallet. >> reporter: apple wants the iphone to replace credit cards. the company is launching a mobile payment system that would allow consumers to make purchases simply by tapping their phones. but it comes just a week after the company's icloud service was linked to the theft of nude photos of jennifer lawrence and other female celebrities. is it going to be tough to convince consumers to pay with their phone? industry analyst ross rubin says what the company calls apple pay can be more secure than credit cards. >> your credit card number is never actually transmitted. apple pay comes up with a temporary number for use on a case-by-case base. >> reporter: apple says credit card issuers like visa, mastered card, and american express have all agreed to use the mobile payment system, along with major banks and large retailers, including macy's and whole foods. the missing link, bob, may be willing consumers. >> schieffer: john, thank you. a major highway in nevada could remain closed for days because of severe flooding. a truck driver shot this video yesterday while he was stuck on interstate 15 after a torrential rain. someone waded out to help passengers in that van and was swept beneath it. moments later, the van went into a ravine. incredibly, everyone survived with only minor injuries. a killer shark killed a swimmer and stayed around after the attack. that's coming up next. to stay in motion. ds staying active can ease arthritis symptoms but if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions, or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. and now celebrex may be available for as little as $4 a month. terms and conditions apply. to learn more, go to celebrex.com. i'm j-e-f-f and i have copd. i'm l-i-s-a and i have copd, but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way of hosting my book club. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours. and breo helps reduce symptom flare-ups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. breo is not for asthma. breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. breo won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. breo may increase your risk of pneumonia, thrush, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking breo. ask your doctor about b-r-e-o for copd. first prescription free at mybreo.com ♪ [music] jackie's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. >> schieffer: a shark killed a swimmer today in eastern australia. ine shark, believed to be a great white, was still swimming in byron bay hours later. beaches were closed. the attack happened just a few yards from shore. another swimmer pulled the man out, but he'd lost too much blood and could not be saved. tonight is your last chance this year to see a super moon. that's when the moon is full and closest to earth. last night, people climbed a cliff in sydney, australia, to get a better look. this was the view in st. petersburg and over the golden dome at the university of notre dame. this is also a harvest moon, because it is so close to the start of fall. the white house posted this photo of the president saying good-bye to a retiring secret service agent and his wife in the oval office. what a keepsake it's going to be for them. and especially for their young son who can tell all his friends for years to come about his visit to the seat of power. what these children are doing d behelp a whole lot of other kids lead better lives. that story is next. ex they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. i wish... please, please, please, please, please. 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[ applause and cheers ] >> reporter: that "thing" is the most personal device apple says it's ever created, the $349 apple watch is the first new product unveiled under tim cook. >> because you wear it, we invented new intimate ways to connect and communicate directly from your wrist. >> reporter: since the ipad some have questioned whether cook's creativity was fading. >> all the other new products apple introduced have come from steve jobs. so this is really a new era for apple, you know, with tim cook really showing that he is in charge here. >> reporter: this year, the iphone got bigger, thinner and faster. the media checked out the new devices in the pop-up showroom. the iphone 6 and 6 plus have redesigned keyboards and updated cameras, improved battery life. >> we are launching the biggest advancement in the history of iphones! >> reporter: both the iphone and watch will work as wireless wallets. [ beep ] >> that's it! [ laughter ] >> it lived up to the
it's finally friday, december 29th. we'll get to both live shortly. we'll start with this wow eyebrow raising interview in the "new york times" with the president after weeks of watching his allies try to discredit the special counsel's investigation, president trump is actually giving robert mueller the benefit of the doubt, sitting down with the "new york times" with an interview at his golf club. stunning comments about the justice department, the attorney general and north korea. more on that in a moment. >> but on russia, the president took a different tone than many have been taking in the last several weeks. here's the new york time's reporter. >> he thought bob mueller was going to be fair to him which undercuts an argument many in his party have been making in the last several weeks. calling the investigation party san. but at the same time, the president repeated a lot of the complaints and criticisms that he's had about the investigation. >> among those complaints, the investigation is bad for the country. president trump told the times it makes the country look very bad and it puts the country in a very bad position. so the sooner it's worked out, the better it is for the country. >> president trump also told the newspaper 16 times, in 30 minutes, there was no collusion with russia he also says some congressman have been unbelievable in pointing out what a witch hunt the whole investigation is. >> the comments coming amid-rising tensions between the u.s. and russia, becoming more confrontational because of a series of issues. frederi frederi frederick is live. >> reporter: you're absolutely right. the tone has grown a lot more confrontational. we feel like it's been throughout this entire past week. one of the reasons was that op ed by rex tillerson only a day ago. but it feeds into a general feeling. the russians called that op ed confrontational, even called it fake news, if you can believe that. the russians were saying they believe the u.s. is trying to drive a wedge between russia and china because the u.s. believes they are becoming too popular. the russians are saying that isn't going to happen and warning against the u.s. using what they call language of strength and power against russia. you can feel is become more confrontational but especially as far as the investigation into possible collusion is concerned. we've also seen the russians sour over the past couple of weeks. for a long time they were thinking relations would get better at least in the first year president trump was in office. it seems to be dawning on them that's not going to be the case. one of the most recent thing is the u.s. putting missile defense. russians calling that a provocation. they say they are conducting missile tests. it seems as though the confrontation is heating up a lot. >> beif vladimir putin hasn't rd over this interview yet i'm sher he will grab a newspaper soon. thanks. president trump also taking a not so subtle shot at attorney general jeff sessions. you'll remember sessions recused himself from the special counsel's investigation months ago after it came to light he met with russia's ambassador during the campaign. when asked whether president obama thinks former president obama's was more loyal than his own ag. he said i will say this. holder protected president obama totally protected him. when you look at the things they did around holder protected the president and i have great respect for that. i'll be honest. >> president trump also spoke about hillary clinton, and the e-mail investigation. asked if he would order the justice department to reopen the probe into the e-mails, he told the times this. i have the absolute right to do what i want with the justice department, but for purposes of hopefully thinking i'm going to be treated fairly, i've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter. now, in the past he has expressed frustration the department of justice led by attorney general jeff sessions hasn't gone after clinton. >> president trump going on to defend his decision to keep trade active with china. telling the times quote, china is hurting us bad on trade because i have been soft because the only thing more important is war. >> it's the first time he's directly admitted being soft on china. >> president's comments came hours after he accused the chinese of secretly shipping oil to north korea. president tweeted caught red-handed. very disappointed china is allowing oil to go into north korea. there will never be a friendly solution to the north carolikor problem if this continues to happen. i hate to say, it was reported thursday morning on fox. cnn's alexander fields live in beijing. presumably not getting the intelligence from fox but the community. what do we know about the oil shipments from china to north korea? >> reporter: well we do know the president gets a hold lot of his information from cable news but we also know that various government agencies had been talking about the possibility of these illegal shipping networks sprouting up as a result of the sanctions that are intended to cut off the resources and revenue that flows into north korea fuelling this rogue regime and its elicit programs. it was back in november the department of treasury warned about these. illegal ship to ship transfers are being made. the they say they involved ships from a few different countries but that those do include vessels coming from china. this is something that made news as a result of south korea media reports saying that there were satellite images showing the transfer. that is prohibited under the sanctions we've seen passed. more evidence that this could be happening, well south korean authorities came out today saying that back in november, they actually seized a hong kong-based ship leased by a taiwan ease company. again, illegal under the sanctions, perhaps that's exactly what president trump has referring to, but that was a bold tweet issued overnight saying china had been caught red-handed. major allegations suggesting china was breaking the sanctions. the ministry of foreign affairs has maintained a position that china is upholding fully the sanctions and if it finds evidence of any companies or ships violating sanctions, they would be dealt with. this all at a time we thought things were coupling in cooling in the region. >> days after suggesting more bipartisanship. he didn't make that prospect any easier. he said he would have hammered out a bipartisan tax bill if democrats asked but also attacked a key democratic senator he'll need. west virginia senator. we hear bs from the democrats. joe's a nice guy but talks, doesn't do anything. let's get together. let's do bipartisan. then you don't hear from him again. the president said democrats should come to him for deals on infrastructure, health care and a way to help dreamers but made it clear he won't do a deal on the dream act without building that war. >> president trump doesn't shy away frommive going himself credit. he predicts the tax cut will be far bigger than anyone imagined. the president says not so humbly, i know the details of taxes better than anybody. better than the greatest cpa. i know the details of health care better than most. >> mr. president trump predicts he'll be re-elected in 2020. saying the country is starting to do well again and the media will come to love him. the president tells the times, another reason i'm going to win another four years is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if it you'll not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes. without me, the "new york times" will indeed be not the failing "new york times" but the failed "new york times." the president added that the media basically will let him win. we will let him win reelection in 2020. okay. >> yes, that happened. >> i don't know what to say. speechless. >> no. you shouldn't. >> interestingly enough, i mean maybe the ratings would be impacted but to put an end to certain media outlets -- >> bit of a stretch. >> quick end, blunt end to roy moore's senator hopes. a circuit judge denying the attempt to delay the certification of results after claiming voter fraud. moore refuses to concede though jones won by more than 21,000 votes. moorish eued moore issued a statement calling it fraud leaulent. here in new york city. >> this is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century. >> devastating. 12 dead including a 1-year-old, as a fire rages through a bronx apartment building. hear from the fire commissioner next. ♪ holy night ♪ sleep in heavenly peace ♪ sleep in heavenly peace vof hundreds of families, he'se hmost proud of the one the heads he's kept over his own. brand vo: get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. quickbooks. backing you. breaking news. five official the in new york are trying to determine what sparked the deadliest fire in the city in h at least the last 25 years, at least 12 people killed. officials say the fire started on the first floor of an apartment building just before 7:00 last night. firefighters arrived within three minutes battling flames in frigid temperatures by the fire quickly spread to the top floors. >> we're here at the scene of an unspeakable tragedy in the middle of the holiday season, a time when families are together. tonight here in the bronx, there are families that have been torn apart. >> this tragedy is without question historic in its magnitude here, and our hearts go out to every family that lost a loved one here and everyone that's fighting for their lives. >> victims raging from 1 to 50 years old. >> apple apologizing to customers for how it rolled out and update that could slow down older iphones. to make up for it, the company will offer cheaper battery replacement. on the website apple posting a long explanation saying we know some of you feel we have let you down. we apologize, first and foremost we would never do anything to shorten the life of any apple product. they will temporarily drop the price of replacement batteries in january. it will go back up to $79 in 2019. the software up date deliberately slowed down older phones. some thought it was a ploy to get you to upgrade to new devices. a number of people have filed lawsuits and seeking class action status. if you read that apology, apple's not really apologizing for slowing, they're apologizing for having communicated it. >> it makes you feel like they're not going to stop that process. speaking to someone who's had no iphone allreset. final preparations under way for new year's eve. security and weather a factor in new york. athe athe >> reporter: it's an iconic event and massive security challenge, one the nypd is used to undertaking. the police commissioner said preparations for this year's event began as the last of the confetti was being swept up after last year's celebration. there will be an increased police presence. this entire area will be sealed off to traffic starting early in the day and the 12 access points spectators will be using will be manned by teams of police. there will be police with heavy weapons, dogs capable of detecting radiological material, sanitation trucks and cement blocks will help seal off the area. they all say there is no direct credible threat to times square or new york city, but that everyone should remain vig ji lent. based on last year's numbers, we could be up to 2 million people celebrating. although that number might be diminished slightly by the fact this is set to be the coldest new year's eve in 55 years. the mayor warned to pay attention to the weather. okay. thanks very much. it looks cold. the entertainment world mourning the loss of actress rose marie. ♪ if he's tall or short he's my cup of tea ♪ >> the 94-year-old best known for her role as sally rogers on the dick van dyke show. she also had a run on the game show hollywood squares. career spanning nine decades beginning as a child star. she earned three emmy nominations and given a star on the walk of fame. in case you missed it, it's frigid outside. more global warming. we end 2017 the way we spent so much of it, reading bizarre tweets from the president of the united states, in this case, confusing weather with climate. we'll explain next. oh, sorry i'm late, sir. when you said you were at the doctor, but your shirt says you were at a steakhouse... that's when you know it's half-washed. add downy odor protect with 24-hour odor protection. downy and it's done. you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. 4:23 eastern time. in a tweet as bizarre as it is lacking for scientific knowledge the president suggested climate change to be a good thing apparently not realizing climate change and weather are not exactly the same thing. he fired off this tweet. in the east, it could be the coldest new year's eve on record, perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming that our country was going to pay millions to protect against. president tweets further distancing his climate policy from the vast majority of scientists. he has a habit of linking it to global warming. a white house official did not respond when asked whether the tweet indicates anything about the administration's policy. it's worth pointing out the president's golf course in ireland got permission to build sea walls to stop erosion. go figure. >> interesting. just how much colder will it get? meteorologist derek van dam has our new year's forecast. >> good friday morning. if you are head the out to watch the ball drop in times square this weekend, bundle up, bring every piece of winter gear you own. 11 degrees is the official midnight forecast. when you factor in h the wind it will feel like a mere 3 below zero. it could top out in the top three ever coldest. the coldest was in 1917 where it was only one lonely degree in times square. fridgid arctic air. national weather service has once again issued wind chill warnings and advisories from upstate new york through maine. that will likely be re-issued through the weekend. well below freezing from boston, new york, portland, 11 in pittsburgh. 26 in d.c., atlanta, running at least 20 degrees below where they should be. chances of more lake effect snow this weekend. >> better you than me that you will be in times square on new year's eve. >> i think at least 8 hours. >> not nearly enough time in this two hour program to discuss everything eyebrow raising in the president's surprise interview with the "new york times." why he's going easy on china, what he thinks about the special counsel and harsh words for his own attorney general. is this a phone? or a little internet machine? it makes you wonder: shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. revealing new insight from president trump on key topics for next year. he thinks the russian special counsel will be fair to him. what he said about his own attorney general and north korea just might stun you. we have live coverage and reaction to the comments ahead. >> and a holiday season tragedy in the bronx. at least a dozen people killed in the deadliest apartment fire in new york city in a quart he century. >> welcome back to "early start." >> it is 4:30 eastern time. after weeks of watching his allies trying to discredit the special counsel's investigation, the president giving robert mueller the benefit of the doubt. mr. trump sitting down with the "new york times" for an impromptu interview at his golf club in palm beach. >> on russia, the president took a different tone. here's "new york times" reporter on cnn last night. >> he thought bob mueller was going to be fair to him with undercuts and undermines an argument many have been making the past couple of weeks. calling the investigation party san. at the same time the president repeated a lot of the complaints and criticisms he's had about the investigation. >> among those complaints the investigation is bad for the country. president trump told the times it makes the country look bad an puts the country in a bad position so the sooner worked out, the better it is. >> he also told the newspaper 16 times in just 30 minutes there was no collusion with russia. he also says some congressmen have been kboquote unbelievable pointing out what a witch hunt it's been. >> comments coming amid-rising tensions between u.s. and russian. growing more confrontational. cnn's international correspondent is live for us in h moscow. has he reaengtcted to the inter? >> reporter: we believe they will be studying it closely. especially some of the things he said about the mueller investigation. but you're right. the tone does seem to be growing more confrontational. you recall that yesterday we were talking about that op ed from secretary of state rex tillerson, which the russians had a very harsh reaction to yesterday afternoon calling it confrontational and even calling it fake news if an op ed can be fake news. they said the u.s. is trying to drive a wedge between china and russia because they believe they are becoming too strong on the international stage. the spokeswoman for russia's foreign ministry saying any language from the u.s. of power or of any sort of economic pressure is not going to work with the russians. you can see how things are becoming more confrontational, more difficult. the tone is becoming more sour and the russians say they believe a move by the u.s. to put a missile defense system in japan which is there to guard against north korea is also provocation n provocational. certainly the tone quite harsh at this time. we'll wait and see if they react to the interview by president trump. >> japan looking to deploy this missile defense system after north korea has fired off 23 missiles since february, two of them over japan. cnn's reporter thanks so much. president trump saying a shot at jeff sessions. remember, sessions recused himself from the special counsel's russian investigation months ago after it came to light he met with russian's ambassador during the campaign. when asked whether he thinks he eric holder was more loyal, he says i don't want to get into loyalty but i will say he protected president obama. when you look at the things they did and holder protected the president, i have great respect for that. i'll be honest. >> president trump also spoke about hillary clinton and the e-mail investigation. asked if he would order the justice department to reopen the probe into the e-mails he told the times this. i have the salute right to do what i want, with the justice department, but for purposes of hopefully thinking i'm going to be treated fairly, i've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter. in the past, mr. trump has expressed frustration the department of justice department hasn't gone after clinton. >> president trump going on the defense to keep trade active with china pointing to the north korea threat telling the times china's hurting us badly on trade but i have been soft on china because the only thing more important than trade is war. >> it's the first time mr. trump has directly admitted being soft on china. he called north korea a nuclear men mass. >> hours after he accused them of shipping oil. tweeting caught red-handed. it will never be a friendly solution to the north korea problem if this continues to happen. trump was asked by the times how recently the possible transfer happened, and oh said it was very recently. in fact i hate to say it was reported thursday morning on fox. this interview with the times staggering among the things he says, president xi treated us better than -- in reaction. >> reporter: this is a complex we've seen unfold. there's a -- it doesn't stop the president from putting up these harsh words, bold allegations essentially accusing china are violating the resolutions it has signed on to. what's the evidence for this? the president is suggesting there's an illegal shipping network that is moving resources into north korea. that's in direct violation of the u.n. sanctions. this issue came to light earlier this week when south korean media reported it had obtained satellite images showing chinese ships transferring oil to north korean vessels. this is an issue brought up earlier saying this could be happening. and now i've got even the state department saying these ship to ship transfers are happening and they involve ships from several countries, including china. then president trump puts out this very accusatory tweet. so what's the fallout from that? well china had already come to its own defense earlier this week as a result of those south korean media the ros. they say china is upholding all of the u.n. security counsel resolutions and they say if they have clear evidence that any of their ships are participating in these transfers or any chinese companies are skirting sanctions that they could go after them and deal with them. south korea says there is more evidence that the sanctions are being skirted. in fact they say in november they seized a ship based in hong ko kong with an illegal transfer. we know the goal of the trump station is to cut that oil flow going into north korea. they want to cut that flow because it fuels the military and economy. it's another way of course to isolate this rogue regime with the hope of bringing north korea to negotiating table. >> literally fuels that nuclear development program. alex, a busy day for you in store. thank you. days after suggesting more bipartisanship was in store or will be in 2018, president trump didn't make that prospect any easier, he said he would have hammered out a bipartisan tax bill if democrats asked, but he also attacked a key democratic senator he'll need in 2018 to get anything done. west virginia senator joe manchin. we hear bs from the democrats, joe's a nice guy but he talks and doesn't do anything. let's get together, let's do bipartisan. i say good, let's go. then you don't hear from him gec again. we're not ic making that up. he should come to him on health care, but he made it clear he won't do a deal on the dream act without building a wall. in in interview the present doesn't shy away from giving himself credit. he predicts the tax cut will be far bigger than anyone imagined. the president says i know the details of taxes better than anybody. better than the greatest cpa. i know the details of health care better than most. >> mr. president trump predicts he will be re-elected in 2020 for a lot of reasons, saying the country has started to do well again and the media will have to let him win. the president telling the times another reason i'm going to win another four years is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if i'm not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes. without me, the "new york times" will indeed be not the failing "new york times," but the failed "new york times." a quick and blunt end to roy moore's senate hopes and alabama circuit judge denies the attempt to delay the certification results after claiming voter fraud. the state made democrat doug jon jones' victory official. roy moore refuses to concede. moorish eued moore issued a statement calling it fraudulent. apple apologizing to customers for how it rolled out and update that could slow down older iphones. they will offer cheaper battery replacement. they issued an explanation. we apologize. first and foremost, we have never and would never do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any apple product did. to make amends, apple will temporarily drop the price of replacement batteries to $29, starting in late january. the price will go back up to the usual $79 in 2019. lots of customers werup set with the company with a software update that slowed down older phones. some thought it was a ploy to get you to upgrade to new devices. in fact a number of people have filed lawsuits and seebing class action status. >> still waiting. still waiting for my phone to turn on. >> waiting a while. >> apple. we love you. meanwhile, horrific news here in new york city. >> this is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century. >> just awful news here. 12 dead including a 1-year-old as a fire rages through a bronx apartment building. we'll hear from the fire commissioner next. he's a nascar champion who's she's a world-class swimmer who's stared down the best in her sport. but for both of them, the most challenging opponent was... pe blood clots in my lung. it was really scary. a dvt in my leg. i had to learn all i could to help protect myself. my doctor and i choose xarelto® xarelto®... to help keep me protected. xarelto® is a latest-generation blood thinner... ...that's proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots from happening again. in clinical studies, almost 98% of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. here's how xarelto works. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes with at least six blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective... ...targeting just one critical factor, interacting with less of your body's natural blood-clotting function. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to 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a 1-year-old. officials say the fire started on the first floor of an apartment building just before 7:00 last night. firefighters arrived within three minutes battling flames in frigid temperatures but it quickly spread to the top floors. >> we're here at the scene of an unspeakable tragedy. in the middle of the holiday season is a time when families are together. tonight here in the bronx there are families that have been torn apart. >> this tragedy is without question historic in its magnitude here, and our hearts go out to every family that lost a loved one and everyone that's fighting for their lives. >> officials say the victims range from 1 to 50 years old. we'll have a live report in the next hour. this is the last trading day of the year. what a year it's been in the market. as the dow enters toward that 25,000 mark it has been quite a ride. 25,000 is a psychological milestone that's pretty much marks the explosive growth we've seen in the past year. the blue chips first hit 20,000. then early august, 22,000. and in october, 23,000, and just 30 trading days after that, 24,000. that's just the dow, which is only 30 stocks. the s&p 500. as for the nasdaq, it's had his own head lines. now if the nasdaq closes higher today, it will have had 11 out of 12 months of gains in 2017. that would be a first. fine fall preparations under way for new year's eve authorities in new york have a close eye on security and the weather. athena jones braving the bitter cold has more. >>reporter: the new year's eve celebration is an iconic event and a massive security challenge. it's one the nypd is used to undertaking. the police commissioner says that preparations for this year's event began as the last of the confetti was being swept up after last year's celebration. we're told there will be an increased police presence this year due in part to the two recent terror attacks right here in new york. this entire area will be sealed off to traffic starting early in the day, and the 12 access point that is will be used to access this area will be manned by teams with heavy weapons, dogs, there will also be sanitation trucks and see meacement blocks. there is no credible threat but everyone should remain vigil lent. we could see up to 2 million people out here celebrating on sunday night. although that number could be diminished slightly by the fact this is set to be the coldest new year's eve in 55 years. bundle up and take precautions if you're planning out to celebrate. freezing out there. the entertainment world mourning the loss of actress rose marie. ♪ >> rose marie was best known for her role as salary rogely roger dick van dyke show. she earned three emmy nominations and she was given a star on the hollywood walk of fame in 2001. she was 94 years old. meanwhile at least 14 people killed after a fire breaks out in a roof top restaurant in mumbai overnight. police say more than 20 others were injured when the smoke and flames erupted after midnight. it happened in a compound. not clear what started the fire. the prime minister expressed his sympathies. parting with the president and fabio just got a lot more expensive. how much more? we'll get a check on cnn "money" stream next. >> did you say fabio? >> i did. frederik pleit in a tweet as bizarre as it was lacking in scientific knowledge, president trump sarcastically suggested climate change to be a good thing apparently not realizing climate change and weather are not the same thing. he fired off this tweet. perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming. our country and not other countries was going to pay trill trillions are dollars to protect against. >> mr. trump has a his itry of linking the temperature in any one place to the existence of global warming, something climate scientists have said is iaccurate. a white house official did not respond when asked whether the tweet indicates anything about the administration's policy. it is worth pointing out the president's golf course in ireland recently received permission to build sea walls to preve prevent erosion. the company cited global warming on its application for the wall. is he acknowledging global warming? >> the important distinction is not whether you believe climate change is man made or not. but just acknowledging the differs between local weather and climate change is an important distinction for all of us. just how much colder will it get in meteorologist derek van dam has the forecast. good morning. much of the eastern two thirds of the country under the grips of an arctic climate. we do have light snow today from chicago to michigan. the big weather story is the cold arctic air settling in from the great lakes to the new england coast line. 11 dearing f 11 degrees for the forecast in the big apple. it will feel like negative 3 factoring in the wind. by the way, this puts it at the coldest new year's eve celebration in new york city since 1962. elsewhere, it will be equally as cold from atlanta to d.c. and new york city of course relatively speaking. we're talking temperatures running 20 to 30 degrees farren height where they should be. by the way, we also have the potential for more lake effect snow setting up down wind from lakes. >> thanks very much. let's get a check on cnn "money" stream this morning. the dow picked up 60 points. set to end the year with six straight weeks of gains. that's a first since 1954 and with the holiday shopping season wrapping up, trading was light all week. yesterday had the second fewest amount of shares traded on any day this week. uper has reachber has reach a 15% stake. south bank completed a tender offer yesterday to buy shares from uber employees and inves r investo investors. that's a 30% so-called discount from its most recent valuation at $68 billion. uber and south bank confirmed the offer yesterday. the transaction expected to close in january. arguing with the president doesn't come cheap. mar-a-lago raising the prices for the new year's eve bash. tickets up from there $525. that's money that's going into the club and into the president's pocket. in 2017 revellers not only had the opportunity to meet the president but also celebrities like sylvester stallone and fabio. this year the president is expected to attended ball again. no word on fabio but this brings up the conversation about buying access to the president and the president possibly profiting off of his position. >> go back in time to when the president was first inaugurated. he doubled the initiation fee. "early start" continues right now with an eyebrow raising interview with the president in the "new york times". -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com revealing new insight. president trump on key topics for next year. he thinks the russian special counsel will be fair. but what he said about the attorney general and north korea will stun you. a holiday season tragedy in the bronx. at least a dozen people killed in a deadly apartment fire. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm alison kosik sitting in for christine romans. >> happy friday december 29th. 6:00 p.m. in beijing, we'll check in live in those locations shortly. we start with the eyebrow raising interview with the president and the "new york times." after weeks of watching his allies try to discredit the special counsel's investigation the president is giving robert mueller the benefit of the doubt. mr. trump sitting down with the "new york times" for this interview at his golf club in palm beach. >> on russia, the president took a different tone than many in the republican party we've seen lately. listen to "new york times" reporter on cnn last night. >> he thought bob mueller was going to be fair
undercuts and undermines an argument many in his party have been making that they've been attempting to discredit and undermine mueller's investigation calling it partisan, so this goes against that but at the same time the president repeated a lot of complaints and criticisms he's had about the investigation. >> among those complaints, the investigation is bad for the country. president trump telling the times it makes the country look bad and puts the country in a bad position. the sooner it's worked out, the better it is for the country. >> president trump also told the newspaper 16 times in just 30 minutes there was no collusion with russia. he also said some congress men have been unbelievable in h pointing out what a witch hunt the whole investigation is. >> the president's comments coming amid-rising tensions between the u.s. and russia. the tone growing more confrontational. cnn's international correspondent frederick pli-- >> reporter: actually, yes. we just got off the phone with the kremlin a couple of minutes ago. this is the spokesman for vladimir putin. i'm going to fly over some of the things he told us on the phone. he said i'm not quoting exactly here because we're still in the middle of working that out. he said the russians had repeatedly stated what he called their opinion on anti-russian his tier ysteria hysteria. the russians say they are still perplexed in connection with all the ongoing investigations, and they also go on to say, this of course is an internal affair of the united states but in this case this is damaging to our y bilateral relations.what the pr. he believes this investigation is damaging to the relations, damaging to the standing of the united states. you're right. we have seen the tone between moscow and washington grow more confrontational. we had the op ed by secretary of state rex tillerson. the russians called that confrontation. au calling the op ed itself fake news. you can see relations are not good and don't seem to be improving. >> all right. live from moscow. thanks very much. president trump going on to defend his decision to keep trade activea. telling the times china's hurting us very badly on tried b trade but i have been soft because the only thing more important than trade is war. first time he has directly being easier on china. >> it is of course the hope they pressure poyongyang to stop the advancement of nuclear weapons. comments coming hours after he accused the chinese of shipping oil. caught red handed. there ever never be a friendly solution to the problem if this continues to happen. he could still take action on trade. trump was asked by the times how recently the oil transfer happened. he said it was very recently. in fact i hate to say it was report the thursday on fox. alex is live in beijing. this is going to get quite the reaction from them. when was the last shipment. >> reporter: the president may have watched just on thursday but certainly government agencies have been following and aware of for sometime. back in november, where you had the treasury, the u.s. treasury talking about the possibility of north korea working to skirt the sanctions by using an illegal network of ships in order to try to bring oil into the country, the very bold acquisition from trump is that china is allowing that to happen. that tweet saying that china has been caught red-handed came on the heels of a south korean report saying there were images of chinese ships transferring oil to north korean ships. that is a flagrant violation of the sanctions aimed at curbing and curtailing the resources that flow into north korea. officials in beijing not taking this lying down. in response to those media reports and in response to questions about the president's tweet today officials say they are fully upholding all sanctions and resolutions. they went on to say if they had any clear evidence of chinese ships or companies acting illegally defying these sanctions that those companies and individual vessels would be dealt with. is it this happening? china says no but south korean officials say they have further evidence. they say back in november they actually seized a ship that had left a port in south korea and it was registered to hong kong and leased by a company in taiwan. evidence they say of this illegal network, the very thing that the president is now saying that he's drawing attention to, something he says he won't tolerate. sure will be an interesting next 24 hours. 6:06 there in beijing. joining us to talk about this and making "early start" debut, brenna williams. >> appreciate you getting up early. still combing through the gold that is the "new york times" interview with the president. so much to get to including the fact that we as the media will basically have to let the president win re-election in 2020. what's your headline? >> the one thing that stood out to me is he mentions he wants to be bipartisan on some of these big deals he's looking to make moving forward. obviously tax reform kind of went through without that bipartisan deal but he mention the infrastructure, daca. he wants to be bipartisan but slamming joe manchin. the president is kind of a tale of both sides of the spectrum. >> i think that stood out to me, the president taking a not so subtle shot at jeff sessions. the you remember sessions recused himself from the special counsel's russian investigation months ago after it came to light that he met with russian's ambassador during the campaign. trump saying this, i have absolute right to do what i want to do with the justice department, but for purposes of hoping i'm going to be treated fairly i've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter. first of all, can he have the absolute right to do what he wants because he's the president of the united states? >> no. in short. no. you can't do whatever you want. there are obviously things in place to keep you from doing whatever you want. as well as public opinion, keeping that moo minin mind. he mentions the hillary clinton e-mails and deleting 33,000 e-mails, which was a line that was mentioned on the campaign trail multiple times and since. 2016 will never go away but the fact he mentioned that but says i'm not getting involved with this. the i think it was really interesting -- i believe the quote was it's too bad sessions recused himself from the russian investigation. and he goes on to talk about how former attorney general eric holder was very loyal to president obama. >> let's talk about that because that was the next thing i wanted to ask you about. he says eric holder totally protected president obama. when you look at the irs scandal, the guns for whatever, these were real problems and holder protected the president. i have great respect for that, i'll be honest. the i have great respect for that. what do you make of the president suddenly complimenting eric holden. >> the one thing we know about president trump is that loyalty is the most important thing to him. loyalty above anything else. i mean he says that all the time. it's been something that's come up with multiple members of the cabinet. and we know that that is the most important thing to him. even though eric holder is a democrat, president obama is a democrat. he showed loyalty, which is the number one thing that is important to president trump. i was not surprised at all to see that he valued that in someone else, even it was somebody from the other party. but the fact that he said it's too bad his own attorney general felt he needs to recuse himself goes to kind of the tension we've seen between president trump and really anything having to do with this russian investigation. >> you know what strikes me about this interview is how it came about. no aids sitting by him. just chatting it up. and of course you think about what he said -- he gave himself several pats on the back. for one thing, about knowing taxes better than a cpa. i know the details of taxes better than anybody. better than the greatest cpa. i know the details of health care better than most, better than most. if he knows taxes better than anybody, i want him to be do my taxes. better yet, let me see his taxes, huh? >> i think one thing we do know is what are you guaranteed in life? death, tarkxes and the fact tha donald trump will probably not release his taxes. >> it's fascinating we didn't get an end of the year press conference which is tradition. instead he sat down with the "new york times" and talked to them without any aides. someone said what interview? right? so just somebody from the quote failing "new york times," in his words, was able to sit down with the president of the united states and just chat it up for 30 minutes instead of having a normal end of the year interview press conference where multiple outlets got to ask him questions. that was one of the most fascinating things that you can just walk up to him. some of his friends stopped by, were chatting. just -- you know -- >> shooting the breeze. >> shooting the breeze. >> right about one thing. he is selling copies of the "new york times," because people are going to pick up the paper this morning. >> if you haven't read it, you want to read the transcript. >> it's fascinating. >> thanks so much. we'll see you in about 30 minutes. >> thank you. okay. some horrific news right here in new york city. >> the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century. >> 12 people dead including a 1-year-old. and a fire rages through a bronx apartment building. hear from the fire commissioner next. us lives here. where we can find common ground... big enough to dance on. for a better us, donate to your local y today. ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour. with gocentral from godaddy. frederik pleit breaking news overnight. fire officials in new york trying to determine what sparked the deadliest fire in the city in at least 25 years. at least 12 killed including a 1-year-old. officials say the fire started on the first floor of an apartment building just before 7:00 last night near the bronx zoo. firefighters arrived within three minutes battling flames in frigid temperatures. the fire quickly spread to the top floors. >> we're here at the scene of an unspeakable tragedy in the middle of the holiday season is a time when families are together. tonight here in the bronx there are families that have been torn apart. >> this tragedy is without question historic in its magnitude here, and our hearts go out to every family that lost a loved one here and everyone that's fighting for their lives. >> victims rage frnge from 50 y old and 1-year-old. we have a live report in the next half hour and the mayer will be on "new day" this morning. apple apologizing to customers. to make up for it, the company will offer cheaper battery replacements. on the website posting a long explanation saying we know some of you feel we've let you down. we apologize. first and foremost we have never and would never do anything to shorten the life of any apple product. to make amends they will temporarily drop the price for replacement batteries. the price will go back up to the usual $79 in 2019. a lot of customers upset with the company about a software update which deliberately slowed down the phones. a number of people around the world have filed lawsuits over the feature and are seeking class action status. we have final preparations under way for new year's eve authorities in new york have a close eye on two big factor, security and the weather. athena jones has more. >> reporter: good morning. the new year's eve celebration in times square is an iconic event and a security challenge, one the nypd is used to undertaking. the police commissioner said preparations began as the last of the confetti was being septemb swept up after last year's celebration. this entire area will be sealed off to traffic starting early in the day and the 12 access points will be manned by teams of police. police with heavy weapons, dogs that are capable of detecting radiological material. there will also be sanitation trucks and cement blocks to help seal off the area. they all say there is no direct credible threat to times square or new york city but everyone shut remain vigilant. after last year's numbers we could see many out here celebrating although the number might be diminished slightly by the fact this is set to be the coldest new year's eve in 55 years. the mayor warned folks to pay attention to the weather and take precautions. good advice. the t entertainment world mourning the death of actress rose marie. ♪ she was best known for her role as sally rogers on the dick van dyke show. also a long run on hollywood squares. her career spanned nine decades. she was given a star on the hollywood walk of fame. she was 94 years old. >> in case you haven't noticed, it's freezing cold. the obvious answer is more global warm aing. we end 2017 the way we spent so much of it. the president confusing global weather with global climate. ing. join the un-carrier, and get four unlimited lines for only forty bucks each. plus, netflix for the whole family. on us. so, they get their shows... let's go, girl! you're gonna love this bit! and you get yours. watch however you want. on your phone, tablet, or tv. for just forty bucks per line. with no extra charges. let's rock this joint! all on america's best unlimited network, t-mobile. 5:24 eastern time. in h a tweet as bizarre as it was science technology president trump suggested climate change to be a good thing. apparently not realizing they're not the same thing. the president fired off this tweet. in the east it could be the coldest new year's eve on record. perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming that our country but not other countries was going to pay trillions are dollars to protect. >> mr. trump has a history of linking the temperature in any one place to the existence of climate change, something scientists have said is inaccurate. the president's golf course in ireland recently received permission to build sea walls to prevent erosion. the president's company cited global warming on the application. >> meteorologist derek van dam has the new year's forecast. >> good friday morning. if you are headed out to watch the ball drop in times square this weekend bundle up. 11 degrees is the official forecast. when you factor in the wind is will feel like 3 below zero. this putting it at the coldest new year's eve forecast in h new york city since 1962. it could top out in the top three. the coldest was set in 1917 where it was only one lonely degree in times square. frigid arctic air settling in h. chance of snow from chicago in grand rapids michigan. likely be reissuing advisory throughout the weekend. well below freezing from boston, new york, port lntsland, 11 in pittsburgh. actual temperatures not much more promising for new year's eve. 14, chicago, atlanta running at least 20 degrees below where you should be. by the way, chances of more lake effect snow this weekend. back to you. thank you derek. we've lonely got about 30 minutes left in this program, not nearly enough time to discuss everything the president said that raises eyebrows in his "new york times" interview. why he's going easy on china. what he thinks about the special counsel and harsh words once again for his own attorney general. "early start" back after the break. if only harry used some... ...bounce, to dry. he would be a less wrinkly, winning guy. pain from a headache whcan make this...ld, ...feel like this. all-in-one cold symptom relief from tylenol®, the #1 doctor recommended pain relief brand. tylenol®. ♪ (christmas marching band music) (drumsticks click) wifiso if you can't live without it...t it. why aren't you using this guy? it makes your wifi awesomely fast. no... still nope. now we're talking! it gets you wifi here, here, and here. it even lets you take a time out. no! no! yes! yes, indeed. amazing speed, coverage and control. all with an xfi gateway. find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. revealing new insight. president trump on new topics next year. he thinks the russian special counsel will be fair. but what else he says will stun you. live coverage straight ahead. >> holiday season tragedy in the bronx. at least a dozen people killed in the deadliest apartment fire in new york city in a quarter century. welcome back to "early start." >> 30 minutes past the hour. fascinating interview. among the nuggets, the media will basically have to let donald trump win reelection in 2020 but so much more to get to. after weeks of watching his allies trying to discredit the investigation. he thinks the special counsel will treat him fairly. sitting down at palm beach. >> here's "new york times" reporter michael shear on cnn last night. >> he thought bob millueller wa going to be fair to him which undercuts and undermines and ag m his party have been making. attempting to discredit and undermine his investigation. so this kind of goes against that, but at the same time, as you said, the president repeated a lot of the complaints and criticisms that he's had about the investigation. >> among those complaints, the investigation is bad for the country. president trump told the times it makes the country look very bad and it puts the country in a very bad position, so the sooner it's worked out, the better it is for the country. >> he also told the newspaper 16 times in 30 minutes there was no collusion with russia. he also said some congressmen have been unbelievable in pointing out what a witch hunt the whole investigation is and that his base is even stronger than ever. >> the president's comments coming amid rising tensions between u.s. and russia, growing more confrontational the last few days, cnn's correspondent. what is the president saying? >> reporter: they certainly have commented on it. generally also dementcommented . in a call we were on as well, stated that he believes u.s. ru russia relations is one of the major disapoint of the past year. you can clearly see how the kremlin feels about how things are evolving between the u.s. and russia. they also commented directly on the interview the president gave especially regarding the mueller investigation. the same spokesman saying the russians have repeatedly stated their opinion on the anti-russia hysteria in the u.s., they are perplexed by the ongoing investigation. they went on to say this is an internal affair of the united statess but in this case it is damaging to our bilateral relations. actually quite a similar tone to the one the president took. also saying he believes this is weakening the united states. the russians have repeatedly said that as well. this is embarrassing. and the russians continue to maintain they did not meddle in the elections in the united states in 2016. but it certainly seeps as though the russians, sort of dawning own them now that this investigation is not going away and also the whole complex of u.s./russia relations is not going to improve quickly. >> certainly not going away. interesting the russians are calling it anti-russian hysteria in the u.s. thanks very much. president trump going on the defense in decision to keep trade active with china pointing to the north korean threat. i have been soft on china because the only thing more important to me than trade is war. >> it is the first time mr. trump has directly admitted being easier on china and hopes they pressure pyongyang to stop its advance ment of nuclear weapons. president trump's comments came hours after he accused the chinese of secretly shipping oil to north korea. the president tweeting caught red-handed. the they disappointed in china allowing oil to go into north korea. the president says china, if they don't help with north korea, he could still take action on trade. asked how recently it happened, he said it was very recently. in fact i hate to say it, it was report the thursday morning on fox. not sure why he -- live for us in beijing. what is the intelligence on the chinese shipping oil to north korea? >> reporter: look, this is something that officials from a number of countries have been looking at longer than thursday with this "fox news" report. we know pyongyang has provided constant over the last year. a wrath of sanctions aimed at cutting those sources of revenue, but the reality here is a question of whether or not north korea is finding ways to skirt those sanctions to specifically get the oil they need for their economy, also for their military. one way to do that is work through the illegal shipping networks and the president very boldly accusing china on twitter of allowing this to happen in of the the waters off north korea. china's allowing it to happen and happening in these ship to ship transfers. these are prohibited by the u.n. security counsel's resolution. china is denying this. they responded to the claims earlier this week when south korean media outlets published reports there were satellite images showning transfers. chinese officials have said china is doing its part to fully uphold and implement all sanctions against north korea and they say if they find any evidence of ships or companies participating in forbidden activities that they would deal with those specific entities. however south korean authorities are saying they have evidence. in fact they say they seized a ship in november. they say that ship had left a port in south korea, traveled into international waters and provided oil to north korean vessels. that is now under investigation. >> just when things were quieting down, alex field live for us tonight in beijing. thanks. let's go back to brenna williams to talk more in depth about this interview. media didn't get a year-end news conference but got a 30-minute interview. during the 30 minutes, it felt like it was one of these interviews where it was a stream of consciousness if you read through the transcribed text of it where we get kind of a bird's-eye view into where the president sits on the political spectrum, where he was talking about daca and not being centered ec center centered. we need the wall. we see the drugs pouring into the country. i'm moving in both directions. i guess we can sort of intimate both directions meaning from republican to democrat. is that what we can surmise? >> i think to remember is first and foremost, the president is a businessman. he wants his wall. democrats want -- many republicans in congress want to work on daca, but you can't get anything with donald trump without giving a little bit. so i think that that's interesting. i would not say that he's making a radical swing to the left by any means. but i mean i was also fascinated by how wide ranging this interview was. le every line there was something to dig into. that's one thing you can say for president trump, is that he -- everything out of his mouth is something that you want to pay attention to. everything that he tweets, everything that comes from his thumbs is something you want to pay attention to. so, for better or worse, everything he said is something we're going to be talking about for, probably the next few days, like you said. we didn't get an end of the year press conference. this is basically what we get. >> it's interesting you maengs that, no end of the year press conference but what we hear is he wanted to give one. he wants to defend his accomplishments and discuss these things. he might be better suited to do it except when he goes on and says this about the justice department. quote i have absolute right to do what i want to do with the justice department, but for purposes of hopefully thinking i'm going to be treated fairly, i've stayed involved with this particular matter. that's what asked about if he would investigate hillary's e-mails. does the president of the united states have the right to do whatever he wants to do with the department of justice? >> no. like i said earlier, you can't just do anything you want, even though you're the president without angering members of congress, the public. he is still the eelectric the president of the united states. even though later on in the interview he essentially says the press is going to let him win again in 2020. that was fascinating to me, because i was unaware -- i don't know about you guys, that the press chooses the president, but that was the implication. i still think it's the voters but he had a lot to say. he doesn't -- can't do whatever he wants despite what he is -- may imply, but even so, i think he's showing restraint. >> another standout point from the interview was this not so subtle jab he took at jeff sessions who recused him several from the special counsel investigation. he says too bad jeff recused himself. i don't want to get into loyalty but i will say this holder protect the president obama, totally protected him. when you look at the irs scandal or the guns, these were real problems and holder protected the president and i have great respect for that. i'll be honest, i have great respect for that. >> he's trying to get a message across isn't he? >> not so subtle. while being a good businessman is his forte, being subtle is not. there's been tension between donald trump and attorney general sessions almost since the beginning. he's hot been happy about that recusal. he hasn't been super quiet about that. but i think it's really interesting that he values loyalty so much that he even admires it in the other party, and goes on to compliment former attorney general holder, and he says that he really appreciates that loyalty. we do know that loyalty is the number one thing with president trump. if it you're unloyal to him, you may be on the chopping block. >> he loves loyalty and numbers as well telling he has 158 million people from various social media platforms. you don't love the numb -- i think the most common word in the transcript is inaudible. i lost count at 18. >> apparently it was noisy. >> perhaps that's the reason. my highlighter ran out. but before we go i want to ask you, it's our last show of 2017 and you have a knew piece coming out. not everything in 2017 was an utter dumpster fire. tell us what you mean by that. >> so 2017, like 2016, was kind of a rough year but there were some heart warming moments that we all witnessed kind of as a country together. obviously the terrible shooting back this summer on the republican baseball team, and i thought that one of the more heart warming moments was when steve scalise came out and threw out the first pitch at the nationals game. i thought that was a wonderful moment and everyone was very supportive of that. and senator john mccain obviously dealing with his cancer diagnosis and whenever he returned to the floor he returned for a very controversial vote on procedures on the obamacare vote but he received a bipartisan applause, and there's a lot of infighting and a lot of party san ship in wogt. think that it w think that really nice that was recognized. first lady melania trump visited children's hospital in arome. there were a lot of low moments in 2017 but some real moments of light as well. >> thank you for that. we needed that. thank you. happy new year to you. >> happy new year. >> it is good to remember there were some great moments. do come back for us. >> i would love to. >> thanks for coming. >> happy new year. ahead, horrific news right here in new york city. >> this is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century. >> just awful news out of the bronx, 12 dead including a 1-year-old as a fire rages through a bronx apartment building. we're live next. (burke) at farmers, we've seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. even a swing set standoff. and we covered it, july first, twenty-fifteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. breaking news overnight fire officials in new york trying to determine what sparked the deadliest fire in new york city in the last 25 years. cnn's reporter at the scene. good morning, scott. >>reporter: good morning. the fire started on the first floor of this building, which is a stone's throw away from the bronx zoo. the fire department respond the quickly, three minutes or less according to city officials but the flames seemed to spread faster. 150 firefighters here battling the flames but not everybody who made it out. those who did had to climb down the fire escapes into bone chilling temperatures, our local affiliates reported speaking to one woman waiting outside frantically because the last text she received from her mother said she was stuck inside a third floor apartment. all told, there are 12 people confirmed to be dead. they range in age between 1 and 50 years old. there are other people who have been injured. the mayor and fire commissioner say this is the worst fire in the city in decades. >> we're here at the scene of an unspeakable tragedy. in the middle of the holiday season is a time when families are together. tonight, here in the bronx there are families that have been torn apart. >> this tragedy is, without question, historic in its magnitude here, and our hearts go out to every family that lost a loved one here and everyone is fighting for their lives. >> the mayor said there still may be more fatalities from this fire because there are still people in the hospital. this building has 29 units inside. according to public records it's only had four complaints since 2004, and none of them seem to be fire related. dave, obviously the cause of this is unclear. the fire department is obviously investigating. >> nay yor billbill -- did save people. >> all right. parting with the president and fabio just got a little more expensive. we'll get a check on cnn "money" stream next. i'm alive ♪ ♪ i'm alive, i'm alive ♪ ♪ i'm alive, i'm alive ♪ alive! gives you more vitamins and minerals than leading brands. because when you start with more, you own the morning. alive! hi, i'm the internet! you knoarmless bowling.lt? ahhhhhhhh! you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour. all right. two of the best teams in the nba head to head. celtics making an epic comeback. >> we've got more. >> yeah. good morning, guys, after the refs made the head lines after that christmas day showdown. they stole the headlines again deciding this game. very questionable call the at the end. the rockets did have a 26-point lead. 11 second the left. the refs call an offensive foul even even though he was basically getting a bear hug. then, again, watch this. called for a foul before the ball is even there for a second strait play. unreal. celtics win, 99-98. there were only two refs in h this game because one hurt his back during warmups. harden said you can't have these two officials for a game like this. >> you can't have two official in the a professional game. there's a lot of no-calls. that changes the dynamic of the game. this is a professional game, national tv. can't have it. >> the alamo bowl, we get to that. big comeback in the forth to win a wild one, 39-37. everyone's talking about this after the game. a kid took off his shirt to reveal a stampford shirt. this is the fan in question. he tweeted the pick out afterwards. he said come on, guys, it's the -- to be fair, he goes to a high school in the dfw area and is planning on applying to go to stanford. i guess you can wear both shirts. oklahoma state and virginia tech. the win, 30 to 21 but failed badly when hitting the coach with a gatorade. they hit gundy while he was shaking hands. i can only imagine how mad he must have been. he got hit with gatorade by the opposing players. >> with gunds gundy have you to the mullet. thank you, my friend. happy new year to you. let's get a check on cnn money street. the dow ticking up yesterday 60 points. it is set to end the year with six straight weeks of gains. that's a first since 1954. with the holiday season wrapping up, trading was light all week. yesterday had the second fewest amount of shares traded on any day this year. dow and s&p futures are moving up this morning. and this is the last trading day of 2017. partying with the president isn't cheap. mar-a-lago raising prices for their annual new year's eve bash. for nonmembers, $750 from $575 last year. that is money going into the club. it is going into the president's pockets. in 2017 refuse he ellers not only had the opportunity to meet the president but celebrities like sylvester stallone and dave's favorite, fabio. >> you got it. i love fabio. >> no word on fabio. this of course raising a lot of questions about access, buying access to the president and money going into the president's pockets because of the presence he holds. >> all right. we want to thank all of you for joining us this year. it's happy new year for us. >> happy new year. it's been a great week. >> "new day" has bill de blasio on that tragic fire here in the bronx. and also this intriguing "new york times" interview with president trump. we'll see you next year, everybody. >> bye. i think the public trust in this whole thing is gone. >> president trump contradicting his supporters saying he thinks special counsel mueller will treat him fairly. >> i think it's just a way of him trying to project everything is fine. i have it under control. >> president trump mocking global warning in a new tweet. >> w
it's 2:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast. the u.s. president is speaking openly, candidly, about the russia investigation and the u.s. justice department. some of his comments surprising. >> right. he tells "the new york times" he believes special counsel robert mueller will treat him fairly if the russia investigation. mr. trump also told the newspaper the probe makes the country look very bad and it puts the country in a very bad position. so the sooner it's worked out the better it is for the country. >> here's another thing. mr. trump repeated 16 times during that interview that the probe had uncovered no collusion with russia. michael sheer is one of the reporters who worked on the "times" story. listen. >> it was about a half an hour interview and totally impromptu down at the president's golf club in west palm beach, florida. but there was a lot there. the thing that struck us most was the comments that the president made about the russia investigation. notably, that he thought bob mueller was going to be fair to him, which really undercuts and undermines an argument that many in his party have been making for the last several weeks, that they've been attempting to discredit and undermine mueller's investigation, calling it partisan. so this kind of goes against that. >> well, let's talk now with scott lucas. he's a professor of international politics at the university of birmingham and founder and editor of ea world view. joining us from england. scott, happy holidays. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> first, it's interesting how this interview came about. in the grill room at his golf club in west palm beach, florida. no white house aides were around. and he talked about the russia investigation all by himself. what do you make of that? >> well, some things are not surprising. i am not shocked that donald trump would say again and again absolutely no collusion with russia. >> he said it 16 times. >> 16 times. just to make sure. but we do have this takeaway, after weeks of trying to undermine special counsel robert mueller and the fbi not only through statements from white house sources but from donald trump himself on twitter saying they were unjust, they were biased against him, they were unfair, they were compromised by supporting hillary clinton, he says oh, well, robert mueller is now okay, i can deal with him. the reason why? we know from sources, multiple sources that donald trump believes that he will soon be cleared of all charges by muell mueller. at times he gets frustrated and angry, but at other times, including because he gets people who say it's all going to be okay, he thinks that this will be swept away. he thought it would be swept away by thanksgiving. then it was christmas. now it's the new year. here's the question. when it becomes clear that this investigation will not disappear in the next few weeks and that donald trump will not be absolv absolved, and he won't be because there are still many witnesses to be interviewed, many documents to be looked through, will he again get frustrated and then turn against mueller and once more say that mueller and the fbi are institutions that are damaging the u.s. and his allies will say they're planning a coup against the president? >> right. he's up, he's down, he's up and down. this investigation certainly has had its wear and tear on this president. so we'll wait and see what happens next. it is interesting, as you say, that republicans and conservative news outlets are also going after mueller and all of a sudden the president is standing by him. let's look at another quote that he gave answering a question about hillary rodham clinton and the e-mail investigation, whether he would bring that up again. he said, "i have absolute right to do that, do what i want to do with the justice department." >> that goes back to the trump that we know and love, and that is that he sees no reason why the justice department should work in effect independently, including with mueller. he was angered that attorney jeff sessions recused himself from the investigation. therefore, sessions could not limit it. he has been angered with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein for not clamping down on the investigation. and what he has effectively said, in contrast to the rest of the interview, is look, i can do whatever i want to with these agencies regarding the inquiry. well, of course, he can't. and the danger here is that when trump finds out he can't work with agencies, we get episodes, as we get in may, when james comey was fired as the fbi director. and that raises the possibility of obstruction of justice. so far from sweeping away the investigation statements like these by trump often reinforce it. >> right. he brought up president obama and his attorney general eric holder saying holder was loyal to president obama, indicating his frustration of course with his attorney general jeff sessions, who recused himself from the russia investigation. what do you make of that? >> well, we know that he was frustrated not only with sessions but to reinforce the point that we've just made he asked james comey, the fbi director, for a personal pledge of loyalty soon after the inauguration. he repeated that request until comey was fired. that is part of the case that has been made against trump by his critics, which says he tried to step in and kill this investigation, which would be obstruction of justice. now, whether robert mueller agrees with that, we have to wait and see. but i think it's interesting that trump, you know, we get these moments where he's a bit more relaxed, he's not as aggressive, he's had a few days away from washington, where he prefers to be in florida, yet even when he's relaxed he leaves these hostages for fortune. and once we get back to washington in the new year and the pressure's back on everything can get intense. and remember, one other thing, on a different topic we're talking about, this is the same man who last night denied climate change. just went on twitter and flat out said you know, it's going to be really cold on new year's eve, therefore climate change must not be happening. which of course is a shot across the bow against all scientists and all people who think maybe this climate change is real. >> right. scott lucas. thank you. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and we'll talk about that climate change tweet a little later here on the show. confusing climate with weather. big difference there. in the meantime, a tweet from the u.s. president sent out thursday morning, it's raised some eyebrows. >> mr. trump wrote, "caught red-handed. very disappointed that china is allowing oil to go into north korea. there will never be a friendly solution to the north korea problem if this continues to happen." >> also from that interview with the "new york times" the president said this -- "china hurting u.s. very badly on trade, but i've been soft on china because the only thing more important to me than trade is war." let's go live to cnn's alexandra field following the story live in beijing this hour. always a pleasure to have you. alexandra, this response a very sharp one from the u.s. president. has there been any response, though, to the tweet or the accusation? >> well, the accusation has had a response, george, and that tweet "caught red-handed" is certainly sure to garner some notice, some attention. that said, it probably won't shock people here, they have seen president trump take this kind of tone with china throughout this past year when it comes to the issue of how to rein in and deal with north korea. on the allegation itself, this accusation that china is allowing oil into north korea, a move that bo defy u.n. sanctions, the ministry of foreign affairs did respond to that earlier this week, denying those allegations and those accusations. and that was actually a direct response to south korean media reports which suggested that there were satellite images showing chinese ships transferring oil to north korean vessels. flat out you had the ministry of foreign affairs here saying that that wasn't happening, that china is doing its part in fully implementing and upholding these wide-ranging u.n. sanctions that you have seen leveled against north korea several times throughout the course of the last year. the spokesperson for the ministry went on to say that if there was evidence that chinese ships were involved in this kind of practice that this is something that would be dealt with. fast forward, you get this very accusatory tweet from president trump, and now we are hearing from state department officials, one official who is saying that the state department is aware that there has been an effort to skirt u.n. sanctions by using ships to transfer prohibited goods, that involves refined petroleum and also coal coming from north korea. this state department official says that ships from several different countries appear to be involved in this and that some of the ships come from china. so we are awaiting further response from officials here in beijing, but they continue to put out the same line, really, in the face of all accusations from the trump administration, that they are doing their part to uphold sanctions. this is a touchy issue for china. we know that it's the priority of the trump administration of course to cut off the resources that fund the illicit activities of the regime. they want to cut off the flow of oil to north korea because the economy there and the military are so heavily dependent on the foreign oil that comes from china. again, it's touchy for china because they don't want to spark a crisis on their doorstep, the kind of crisis that could send millions of refugees coming across that border right here into mainland china. george, natalie? >> alexandra field following the story live in beijing. thank you. in new york city at least 12 people are dead after fire swept through an apartment building. four others are critically injured. >> the fire commissioner says the fire started thursday evening, started on the first floor of the building and then spread fast. the youngest victim, a 1-year-old baby. new york's mayor called it the worst fire tragedy in 25 years. >> we're here at the scene of an unspeakable tragedy. in the middle of the holiday season a time when families are together. tonight here in the bronx there are families that have been torn apart. this is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century. based on the information we have now, this will rank as one of the worst losses of life to a fire in many, many years. >> it's a terrible tragedy. the cause of the fire still under investigation. but here's the thing. more than 100 firefighters, they fought that fire in extremely cold conditions. >> jay dow from cnn affiliate wpix has the latest from the scene. we warn you, though, some might find this video disturbing. >> reporter: it now ranks as one of the worst fires in new york city history in recent memory. >> go! >> reporter: residents stood in 13 degree weather thursday night and watched as firefighters frantically wheeled one unresponsive victim after another, performing chest compressions along the way. away from a burned five-story building at 2363 prospect avenue in the belmont section of the bronx. >> the last i heard was my mom text my sister that they were trapped in the room. >> reporter: christine, she declined to share her last name, stood in shock at the corner. her mother's last text message, she was trapped in her third-floor apartment with her 8-month-old granddaughter with no way out. >> i asked if the third floor was cleared, and i just -- they just looked at me and looked away. >> reporter: residents recall climbing out of their apartment windows to escape the fire, which they told us may have started on one of the lower floors. >> what floor do you live on? >> third floor. >> third floor? >> yeah. >> you saw the smoke coming in your apartment? >> yes. >> and that's when you left through the back window? >> yes. >> you climbed down the fire escape? >> yes. >> get out of the way, now! move, move, move, please! >> so no word on the cause of that fire in new york. now we turn to mumbai, india. at least 14 people there were killed in a fire at a rooftop restaurant. most of the victims women attending a birthday party. 21 others were injured. >> the fire reportedly started in a top-floor restaurant before overtaking the whole building. police say the restaurant's owner and manager could be held responsible for homicide. the united states and turkey have taken steps to ease rising tensions. on thursday they lifted all visa restrictions on each other's nationals, ending a nearly three-month dispute. >> it started when turkey arrest a local u.s. staff employee for suspected ties to exiled cleric fethullah gulen. turkey blames him for that failed coup last year. the number of people killed in the war in yemen keeps growing. the u.n. reports 68 civilians were killed in separate air strikes tuesday. by thursday, 109 civilians had been killed. that's in just ten days. >> tuesday's air strikes hit areas by iran-backed houthis in western yemen. a u.n. official said all parties in the conflict had shown a complete disregard for human life. the saudi-led coalition dismissed his comments as biased. well, apple is trying to make amends after admitting it slowed down the performance of some of its older iphones. what the company is offering some of its customers. the story ahead. also, millions of people in the northern u.s. are dealing with freezing temperatures and lots of snow. we're talking lots of snow. meteorologist derek van dam will give us the lowdown coming up here. ♪ let out your inner child at the lexus december to remember sales event. lease the 2017 rx 350 for $399 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. not in this house. 'cause that's no average family. that's your family. which is why you didn't grab just any cheese. you picked up kraft mozzarella with a touch of philadelphia for lasanyeah! kraft. family greatly. and i'm the founder of ugmonk. before shipstation it was crazy. it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders i have to ship out. shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everything's pretty much done. it's so much easier so now, we're ready, bring on t. shipstation. the number one ch of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free. ♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪ apple is scrambling to counter customer outrage and multiple lawsuits after it revealed it deliberately slowed older model iphones. apple says chemical aging of batteries could be one reason behind the lower performance of iphone 6 and 6s devices. they say they'll cut the price of battery replacement and issue a software update to help monitor battery health. >> my wife has always thought something was happening with those phones. the company issued a letter to customers stating this in part, "we know that some of you feel that apple has let you down. we apoll jooid. we have never and would never do anything intentionally to shorten the life of any apple product or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades." >> let's bring in cnn tech reporter heather kelly. nice to see you. but apple did say it deliberately slowed down the iphone operation. so what's up here? >> it did. it's important to know if you read the letter today it's not actually apologizing for slowing them down. it's more apologizing for how it was communicated or rather not communicated at all to customers. and it's going to keep on doing it going forward. it's just going to try to be a little more transparent with what it's doing with this update it's going to roll out soon with ios. and it's going to help people get up to the full potential with cheaper batteries. >> so the apology seemed a little bit less than sincere. what's up here with apple? is it losing its way sort of? >> i don't think it's less than sincere at all. i think they're being very careful about what they're apologizing for. it's actually a pretty clever workaround, like on the tech side, as a way of stopping these phones from shutting down automatically because their batteries are old. i think it's kind of clever. but it's obviously angered a lot of people. hence the many lawsuits, which i'm sure apple is not pleased with. i mean, it will be seen like if they can get over this loss of trust, this letter shows they're definitely a little panicked about that. >> and how are people, people that have been kind of curious about their iphone and what it's been doing, george's wife is one of them p if they're thinking what's wrong with my iphone, how will you know if this is how you're being affected, this is the situation? >> well, it's only certain iphones. they're looking at iphone 6 and later. if you have an iphone -- an iphone 7 and later, you shouldn't really be experiencing too much of this problem. at least not yet. it could come up in the future. you can definitely go to an apple store and ask them to check the life of your battery, how many charges it has on it, what percentage it's at, and they can tell you if it's time to pay that $29 for a new battery. >> beats the 70-something-dollar charge. do you think this will do anything to customer loyalty or tarnish apple's integrity? >> i mean, we have like a little apple scandal maybe once a year. i don't know if this is batterygate. it doesn't seem to have a lasting impact. in the end iphones are often a superior product to the competitors and doing clever things like this might be one of the reasons why. but they definitely need to work on communication about these kinds of issues. >> right. in this era of apologies for other things we've been seeing apple needs to get its apologies straight, learn how to apologize. >> big year for apologies. definitely. >> heather, thank you. >> sure. thank you. >> text me. i'll see if i get this quickly. >> or not. a blast of arctic air has brought record low temperatures and historic amounts of snowfall to parts of the united states. look at that. some of these images just incredible. >> yeah, that right there is ohio. it got so cold in an area that parts of brandywine falls in cuyahoga national park just froze right over. >> very cold. the u.s. president also weighing in on these cold temperatures. take a look at this tweet. "in the east it could be the coldest new year's eve on record. perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming that our country but not other countries was going to pay trillions of dollars to protect against. bundle up," the president says. donald trump is right that the temperatures will be frigid for new year's eve. but the tweet misleading. look, this is a very clear distinction, so between climate and weather. >> that's right. he did get the fact that new year's eve forecast is looking absolutely frigid in new york city. but just as you mentioned, he is kind of almost suggesting that global warming doesn't exist. and we know there are facts and science to prove that wrong. and what's really interesting is that noaa has just released that 2017 looks to be ranked as one of the top three warmest years on record. okay? so that is just one of many scientific backgrounds we could look at. we've got 2016, 2015 coming in in a close first and second. and then you see pictures like this. this is in minnesota, the minnehaha falls freezing over. and you say global warming? what global warming? well, there is a marked difference between the weather and the climate, as george mentioned. trying to explain this to you, weather phenomenon is something that is measured in how the atmosphere behaves between minutes and, let's say, as far as a week or two in advance. the climate, however, is how the atmosphere behaves over an average of at least 30 years. so you can see the difference there. we're talk iing short-term vers long-term trends in patterns across the world. one thing's for sure, the weather pattern, the distinct change in the jet stream that's going to pull our arctic air in from the north is going to bring temperatures downhill for new year's eve across the new england coastline, including in new york city where the big apple is and where the ball will be dropping at midnight on the 31st. of course 8 degrees is one of the coldest temperatures ever for a minimum temperature at least for new york city on new year's eve. in fact, it ranks up there as the coldest since 1962, just as donald trump suggested. of course when you start factoring in the wind, that brings down your body temperature. you have the risk of hypothermia and that's not what we want to see. national weather service suggesting people bundle up. obviously, it's going to be cold. wind chill factor is well below freezing in many locations. just seeing images like this just incredible to see what the u.s. is dealing with right now. but again, a marked difference between weather and climate. we'll end with this because everybody loves this type of video. this time of year. this is actually frozen -- excuse me, boiling water turning to ice crystals in a matter of seconds. that's how close it is across the midwest. >> i was up in new york and i'll tell you, i've never experienced cold walking in the streets of new york city like that. i was like get me out of here. >> and i know you fly back to new york city this weekend, and it will be even colder. >> awesome. >> maybe stay in atlanta. >> yeah, i think so. >> derek, thank you. all right. a wisecracking star of the 191960s "dick van dyke" show has died. >> she was a charmer. rose marie was 94 years old. the actress and singer played the witty sally rogers on the sitcom. her trademark black bow in her hair, always searching for a husband, and earning three emmy nominations along the way. >> born rose marie mazzena, she was first a child star, baby rose marie, who began her nine-decade career at just 3 years old. besides numerous acting and nightclub gigs, she became a fixture on tv game shows. rose marie died at her home near los angeles. >> she was a good one for sure. well, it's official. alabama gets its first democratic u.s. senator in a quarter century. but the republican who wanted the job still won't admit he lost. that's coming up. plus a high-speed rail station opening soon in jerusalem named for the u.s. president. how israel is getting swept up in trump mania. 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you using this guy? it makes your wifi awesomely fast. no... still nope. now we're talking! it gets you wifi here, here, and here. it even lets you take a time out. no! no! yes! yes, indeed. amazing speed, coverage and control. all with an xfi gateway. find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. and welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom" live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you. this hour, u.s. president donald trump says he believes the special counsel robert mueller will treat him fairly in the russia probe. that puts him at odds, though, with other republicans who've criticized mueller lately. the president insisted in that interview 16 times to the "new york times" that there was no collusion with russia. at least 12 people were killed in a fire at a new york city apartment building. four others are in critical condition. the youngest victim, a 1-year-old baby. the mayor calls it's worst fire tragedy in new york in 25 years. former international football star george weah set to become the next president of liberia. in a runoff election carrying more than 60% of the vote. apple is apologizing over slowing the speed of some of its iphones. it says battery may be behind the performance. apple says it will cut the price of battery replacement and issue a software update to help monitor battery power. the u.s. state of alabama a deep red state that typically votes republican but it's about to get its first democratic u.s. senator in 25 years. >> democrat doug jones has now been certified as the winner of this month's special election. in january he will fill the seat left vacant by jeff sessions, who was picked to become u.s. attorney general. >> as you can see, the final vote against republican roy moore was close but not close enough to trigger an automatic recount under state law. we get the latest now from cnn's diane gallagher. >> broke every record in the history of the state for special election. >> reporter: doug jones officially certified by the state of alabama to be its next u.s. senator. >> this election has been conducted with the utmost integrity. it's been safe, secure. it's been credible. >> reporter: in spite of a final hail mary from the roy moore campaign alleging potential voter fraud. >> this election was fraudulent, and what we need to do is ask the secretary of state to do his job and to investigate this. >> reporter: moore's refused to concede to jones after losing the election earlier this month by more than 20,000 votes. >> when the vote is this close, it is not over. >> reporter: but most republicans, including the president, have called for moore to concede. >> as far as roy moore, yeah. it's certainly -- i would certainly say he's done. >> reporter: and the state of alabama says those voter fraud accusations just aren't true. >> people are entitled to their own opinion, but they're not entitled to their own facts. >> reporter: moore calling to delay certification until there is a thorough investigation and for a new special election. but minutes before the state certification a circuit court judge denied moore's complaint. the complaint alleges out of state residents had been allowed to vote in that election. fraud experts concluded that fraud had taken place. one of those experts is richard charnin, who has blogged about jfk conspiracy theories and the murder of dnc staffer seth rich. and moore is questioning the high voter turnout in jefferson county where a large percentage of the population is black, calling it highly unusual. the alabama secretary of state says many voter fraud complaints have already been dismissed. >> more than 60 of those have already been fully adjudicated and dismissed. but we have several that are still active and we'll continue to investigate those until they are fully adjudicated. >> reporter: doug jones' campaign released a statement saying, "this desperate attempt by roy moore to subvert the will of the people will not succeed. the election is over. it's time to move on." moore's complaint also brings up allegations he had relationships with teenage girls while he was in his 30s and several others accusing him of assault. moore denied those accusations throughout his campaign. >> these allegations are completely false. i did not date underage women. i did not molest anyone. >> reporter: but he released an affidavit he signed of a polygraph test he says he took after the election over the allegations made against him. moore states, "the results of the examination reflected i did not know nor had i ever had any sexual contact with these individuals." >> the democrat senate-elect will head to washington to begin serving in january. >> all right. diane gallagher reporting there for us. now to israel, where you could soon drive down donald trump street. a picnic at a park named for the u.s. president. or even visit a rail station that has his name. >> it's donald trump-mania. it's a big thank you to mr. trump for recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital earlier this month. for more on that here's oren lieberman. >> reporter: salahedin street in jerusalem, one of the main arteries to the old city's famed damascus gate. the largely palestinian state named after the great muslim leader goes straight into the heart of the muslim quarter. now a jerusalem city council member wants to name it after a different leader, president donald trump street. it's part of a wave of projects across jerusalem and israel being dedicated to the american president. another street in the southern israeli city of ashkelon also to be dedicated to trump. a park in a city in northern israel will be called donald trump park. the mayor even getting a thank you letter from the president. the biggest project of all will be right in the old city of jerusalem, an underground stop for the soon to be operational high-speed rail named donald j. trump station. the idea came from minister of transportation israel katz. >> translator: people will arrive overseas, pilgrims, jews and muslims. they will come on the train in the safest and quickest path to the most important places and they will hear on the microphone that you are arrived at the station of the western wall and temple mount named after president donald trump. >> reporter: katz shows me around the planned site of the station entrance. it will leave passengers a few feet away from the western wall. trump became the first sitting u.s. president to visit the holy site in the u.s. city in may, a move that was hailed by the israelis as a diplomatic victory, who saw it as acceptance of israel's control over the holy site. but not nearly as big as trump's recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel. >> but today we finally acknowledge the obvious, that that jerusalem is israel's capital. >> reporter: israel has lauded trump as a hero even as the majority of the world overwhelmingly rejected trump's decision. any change to the status of the old city can set off demonstrations and protests across jerusalem and the region. and the high-speed rail project has already run into its share of controversy since the tel aviv-jerusalem line runs under part of the west bank. this underground stop in the old city for its location and its namesake is no less controversial, no matter how deep it's buried. oren liebermann, cnn, jerusalem. liberia will soon have a new president. how one of football's all-time greats became a political force in his home country. >> we'll have that coming up. it's been 100 days since maria hit puerto rico and still much of the island will start 2018 in the dark. ♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪ a joyous celebration in liberia as the west african nation welcomes a new president. and he's an ex-footballer. george weah won tuesday's runoff, getting more than 60% of the vote. >> the country will have its first peaceful transition of power since 1944 if weah's inauguration goes snoothly. our patrick snell has details. >> reporter: dancing on the streets of liberia. supporters of former football star george weah celebrate a hard-fought victory over vice president joseph boika in liberia's presidential election. the country held a runoff vote on tuesday after neither candidate won more than 50% of the vote in the initial ballot in october. this week's election was also delayed after claims of fraud were investigated and later dismissed. weah was extremely popular with the country's youth, who wanted to see change in the country's government, which was criticized for not doing more to tackle problems like poverty and corruption. whether or not the 51-year-old will enjoy success as president is yet to be seen, but he certainly enjoyed plenty on the pitch. among others, mr. weah played for monaco, psg, and ac milan. he was africa's first and only ballon d'or winner and was named footballer of the year on three occasions. patrick snell, cnn, atlanta. >> patrick, thank you. now to puerto rico. many residents there starting the new year still in the dark. it's been 100 days now. 100 days since hurricane maria struck that island. much of it still doesn't have electricity. >> it's not the way to ring in the new year, is it? cnn's layla sanity yooeg reports that is unlikely to change as well anytime soon. >> reporter: it's more than just the flip of a switch. >> whoo! >> reporter: finally, a hint of what life was like before hurricane maria. after more than three months without power, ida is one of the lucky few who just got power. ♪ >> she says "i want to take a hot shower." that's what she's excited about. a hot shower. >> reporter: this city in southeastern puerto rico has a massive generator to power its substation. it's enough to power part of the town, not a permanent solution. not enough to turn the lights back on for all 38,000 people. it's always been known for its agriculture. now it's known for that area. where hurricane maria came in with 155-mile-per-hour winds, knocking out electricity immediately. the mayor says he doesn't know when power will be restored. he believes they were the first to deal with maria and they could be the last. mayor rafael surillo was born and raised in these mountains near the coast. he calls maria a monster that destroyed them. he's saying the urban area could get power very soon but this area, the mountainous area, he says it could be summer before they see it, which take note, summer is when the hurricane season begins. miles away from town, high up in the mountains where the power lines are harder to fix, this woman has little hope her home will be back to normal soon. maria rushed in through the windows and doors and it ruined more than furniture. it ruined her life. for now new paint is all she can afford to fix any of it. >> [ speaking spanish ]. >> reporter: she has no idea when she'll get power back. i'm asking her if she thinks it will be soon. >> no. >> reporter: without power cheryl and her children lost more than the lights. without power they don't have water. the mayor says the problem, constant bureaucratic delays. for a month they had power workers here but not enough materials to actually carry out their work. >> yay! >> reporter: mayor surillo calls this a start. he says they need more generators, power poles, cables. the u.s. army corps of engineers admits a shortage of supplies stemming from other natural disasters is part of the reason it took so long to get power back to people like ida. >> [ speaking spanish ]. >> reporter: she doesn't have to wash clothes by hand anymore. back in town tonight ida will spend the night in a home overjoyed. power is the best christmas gift they could ask for. but for the families up in the mountains, the sun sets on another night as they wait for their gift to arrive. layla santiago, cnn, yabucoa, puerto rico. >> layla, thanks. >> that was certainly a headline from this year. and coming up here, we'll look at? other headlines from this year, including hollywood, which generated many. some stories were fraught with controversy. >> while others helped renew faith in love. cnn counts down the top entertainment stories when we return. whoooo. when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. don't sweat your booking. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices. when i met my team at ctca, they put together a comprehensive plan, that gave me an opportunity to accomplish my goals, and my dreams. learn more at cancercenter.com 2017, what a year forehead lines, for royal engagement to a monumental mixup at the oscars. it's been a big year in entertainment. >> cnn reporter nischelle turner counts down the top stories from hollywood. >> reporter: from political spoofs to muse call tragedies entertainment and news intersected like never before in 2017. >> all right. first of all, i'd just like to announce that i'm calm now. >> "saturday night live" hit records after the latest presidential election and kept the momentum by going by spoofing trump's presidency throughout 2017. >> lock him up. >> alec baldwin's portrayal of the president and kellyanne conway and melissa mccarthy's scene stealing take on sean spicer made it required viewing and earned all three actors emmy awards. movies aren't just a boy's club anymore. from batman to the avengers, super hero films have dominated the box office over the last decade, but in 2017 wonder woman proved females have just as much power on the big screen. >> your wrath is over. >> the first female led super hero film of the 21st century received critical raves and ruled the summer box office becoming one of the year's highest grossing films. wonder woman also became the biggest live action film ever by a female director turning star gall gadot and patty james into winners. news from taylor swift and jay z, it was a spanish diddy that took over the air waves. "despacito." this became the first spanish tract to hit the u.s. since "the macarana." it became the most viewed youtube clip with over 4.5 billion views. breaking royal news, prince harry officially engaged to american actress meghan markle. >> it's time for another royal wedding. the pair met on a blind date and harry told reporters he knew the star was the one from the start. >> didn't let you finish proposing. i said, can i say yes now? >> she didn't let me finish proposing. it was like, can i give you the ring? she was like, oh, yes, the ring. >> reporter: all eyes will be on what markle will wear down the aisle when they marry may 19th. la la land. >> the most awkward mixup. >> faye done away and warren baity screwed it up. moonlight had in fact won the award. >> there's a mistake. "moonlight," you guys won best picture. >> the uncomfortable picture continued as baity explained he had been given the wrong envelope. that proves that when it comes to live tv, well, anything goes. details are coming in very much breaking right now. a terror attack outside an arianna grande concert in may killed 22 people. it injured nearly 60 people. grande returned in early june to have a one love manchester concert and visited fans injured at the royal manchester children's hospital. a few months later a gunman opened fire killing 58 and injuring hundreds more. it took place during jason aldean's popular route 91 harvest festival. the las vegas attack is the deadliest shooting in american history. aldean paid tribute to the victims with an emotional performance on snl in october. #metoo shakes up hollywood. a series of sexual harassment allegations against numerous hollywood heavy weights sparked an outcry sure to change the entertainment industry forever. harvey weinstein and kevin spacey were a few ofthe men called to task for the alleged indiscretions. #metoo denounced sexual harassment. it was included in "time magazine's" silence breakers person of the year. the power of social media continued to keep entertainment in the news inspiring both change and conversations. it's sure to continue in 2018. nischelle turner, cnn, hollywood. >> nischelle, thank you so much. in northeast china an art expo is on display for people who are willing to step into the bitter cold, and i mean cold, to see this one. >> it's packed with all kinds of creations made of snow and ice. here's amber walker. >> reporter: a dazzling 3d light show complete with polar bears, tigers, and melting ice effects debuts in china. the lights adorn a model of harbin's saint sophia cathedral made completely of snow. this is the first time a 3d light show has launched at the 28-year-old snow sculpture art expo known as a global leader of snow sculpture art. the main skuculpture is a skier anticipating the beijing olympics in 2022. the annual exhibit is a main feature at the famous harbin ice festival luring sight seers from all corners of the globe to a series of enchanting winter activities, competitions, glittering light shows. there are penguins that slide, siberian tiger sightseeing and palaces fit for a snow king. a wonder land saturated with rainbow colors sure to bewitch any adventure seeking traveller willing to brave the cold of the frosty ones ahead. amber walker, cnn. >> stunning. that will wrap up our first hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george howell. let's do it again. another hour of "cnn newsroom" will be with us. stay with us. 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(avo) to help control cravings. one ingredient in contrave may increase suicidal thoughts or actions in some children, teens, and young adults in the first few months. serious side effects are mood changes like depression and mania, seizures, increased blood pressure or heart rate, liver damage, glaucoma, allergic reactions, and hypoglycemia. not for patients with uncontrolled blood pressure, seizure history, anorexia, bulimia, drug or alcohol withdrawal, on bupropion, opioids, maois, allergy to the ingredients, or pregnant. may cause nausea, constipation, headache, and vomiting. reduce hunger, help control cravings with contrave. now you an talk to a doctor online and get free shipping at getcontravenow.com. a surprising comment from the u.s. president on the russia investigation this hour. fatal fire to tell you about in new york. a baby is among the dead and what the mayor is calling the city's worst fire tragedy in 25 years. and apple apologizes after all the outrage over the slowing down of older phones. now the company's trying to make it up to all of you. we'll see what you think about what they're doing. >> see what's happening with that. 3:00 a.m. here at the u.s. east coast. cnn world headquarters in atlanta. i'm george howell.
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