calling an emergency meeting in less than two hours. we begin with jill dougherty live at the state department. jill, good morning. what are we hearing from the white house about this? >> soledad, obviously president obama is condemning this, calling it highly provocative. he issued a statement and said north korea's nuclear weapons and bollistic missile programs constitute a threat to u.s. national security and to international peace and security. and he continued the u.s. remains vigilant in the face of north korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region. obviously ther obvious obviously, there is grave concern. the north koreans are saying they have a different type of weapon, more sophisticated, more powerful. what is happening right now is that the u.s. and international organizations are monitoring what they -- what they can from this test. they are sending the united states, sending planes aloft and what they do, they have sensors on them, and they try to sniff the air in a way and figure out exactly what kind of explosion that was. because there are a couple of different types of explosions, and depending on that, we could find out how much they can do of testing in the future and perhaps create a bomb. soledad. >> jill dougherty, thank you, jill. ahead, we'll talk to gordon chang, author of "nuclear showdown." we'll discuss that, straight ahead and iran announcing its converting about 20% of enriched uranium to reactor fuel. it's significant, because once converted, uranium can lo number longer be used to make weapons. that still leaves a massive number, but people think u.s. a step in the right direction. don't expect any olive branches from the president as he delivered his state of the union address. the president will point a partisan finger at congressional republicans as he lays out him agenda for immigration reform, climate change. and in the audience, victims of the sandy hook massacre along rocker and gun rights advocate ted nugent. brianna keilar with more on what we can expect. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. >> reporter: how times have changed. when he addressed congress one year ago, president obama faced sagging poll numbers and a tough road to re-election. the result? a state of the union address that contained few new proposals and largely fell flat. not like this will year. >> the party gained seats in both the senate and the house. the american people broadly speaking are with him and so he can deliver a speech without the kinds of political constraintsf. >> reporter: it will book end the president's inaugural speech last month, when he laid out aggressive themes on gun control and immigration and mentioned unexpected subjects. >> none can avoid the raging fires, crippling drought, more powerful storms. our nourn journey is not comple until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. >> reporter: president obama is expected to lay out more specifics, the overall fork husband be the economy and adding jobs for the middle class. that topic got surprisingly little attention in the inaugural address. >> he hasn't given us an idea of whether there is a significant agenda that he wants to pursue, designed to try to accelerate economic growth and economic recovery. that's been the big missing piece all the way through the past year and we'll see whether it's filled in the state of the union. >> to that end, president obama will frame much of the agenda under economic growth. as he talks about tax reform and government spending and his proposals on education, climate change and immigration. but while the wind is at his back, observers say president obama can't appear too bull headed at the start of the second term. this really is a rare chance for president obama to talk directly to the american people in a very long form way and, soledad, from aides i've spoken with, we are expecting to hear themes are familiar. he'll talk about the middle class, tackling deficit reduction in "a balanced way." not just the spending cuts that republicans are primarily pushing to offset the major across-the-board spending cuts set to kick in next month, but also with tax increases. >> brianna keilar, thank you. a little later this hour, we'll speak with gene sperling of the national economic council and ron john, wisconsin senator, about what we can expect from the president's speech tonight. watch the state of the union address right here on cnn. complete coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. state of the union, of course, a hot ticket in washington, d.c. who made the short list to get a chance to sit in the first lady's pocket. clint romesha, the army staff sergeant that received the medal of honor for bravery on the battlefield. we'll talk more about him and the ceo of apple, tim cook. before the state of the union, cook will address the apple investors conference in san francisco. the first lady will also host the parents of hidaya pendleton, she was gunned down days after she performed for the president's inauguration. chicago police have two suspects in custody. one 18-year-old michael ward. the other is 20-year-old kenneth williams. gang members. they told police the shooting of revenge for a gang attack last summer and the chicago honors student was not the intended target. ted rowlands live with more on this story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. superintendent gary mccarthy here in chicago said he called the parents of hidaya pendleton who are in washington preparing to watch president obama's state of the union address and said the parents were relieved to find out that there has been an arrest and people in chicago and across the country who have been following that were relieved as well. what is really heartbreaking about this case is that this was a clear case of mistaken identity and hadiya pendleton had nothing to do with these two gang members who thought they were on a revenge mission. >> michael ward has confessed and indicated that hadiya was not the intended target. in fact, the offenders had it all wrong. they thought the group they shot into included members of a rival gang. instead, a group of upstanding determined kids who, like hadiya, were repulsed by the gang life-style. >> reporter: police were able to solve this by canvassing the neighborhood and getting tips from people in the neighborhood. no witnesses came forward, a disappointment according to chicago police. a $40,000 reward on the table. and this was a case that was broadcast every day for the last two weeks. hoping somebody would step up to be a key witness. that didn't happen. they are pleased that they were able to make these arrests and got a partial conversion. >> thank you, ted. other stories making news this morning. >> this morning, new information about why pope benedict xvi decided it was time to step down. at a news conference minutes ago, the vatican saying the pope is not suffering from any specific disease. he just doesn't feel he has the strength to continue. and the pope has been thinking about resignation for a year. lots of names mentioned as possibilities to replace him. today, we have an idea of when the new pope will replace him. following developments live from vatican city. what have be learned in the news conference? >> reporter: good morning, john. in fact, father frederico lombardi is holding the news conference, and providing a few details. not a whole lot new. a few bits of information that are helping us to figure out what is going to happen here in the next few days. one of the things he said is that as you mentioned that there was no specific illness involved in the pope's decision to resign. he did say that the pope had had his pacemaker battery replaced recently. a normal operation, no problems. some of the italian press speculating that perhaps there was a problem with that operation. and another thing that they talked about was the idea that the pope's last general audience will be wednesday, the 27th of february and that will be the last big public audience before he resigned on the 28th, and i -- i'm willing to bet -- this is just speculation on my part, that most of the college of cardinals will want to be here for that. a chance to have a sendoff for the pope, a very public sendoff for the pope and then after the 28th, he will go first to the papal summer residence and then new details about the monday astery within t y -- monaster vatican where he will take up residence after the summer home. it is where a number of religious figures have retired. it has been remodeled slightly and has a chapel in it. >> so many steps of history-making steps going on at vatican city over the next month and a half. we'll speak with cardinal donald wuerl, named as a possibility of the cardinals that could become the next pope. check out this picture, a lightning bolt struck the dome at the vatican just hours after the pope's announcement. a sign? filthy conditions and a low supply of food on the carnival cruiseship. that ship anded back on land on thursday. 4,200 people on board will be towed to a port in mobile, alabama. the definition of american hero. clint romesha awarded the medal of honor. he received the highest military honor for defending his outpost in afghanistan against all odds during a taliban attack. he says u.s. a high honor and a heavy burden. >> i stand here with mixed emotions of both joy and sadness. the joy comes from recognition for us doing our jobs as soldiers on distant battlefields. but it's countered by the constant reminder of the loss of our battle buddies. >> somber man. a somber and serious ceremony. but romesha's just adorable son stole the show with his antics. playing hide and seek with the press. dogs for days, primped pooches strutting to win over judges at the westminster dog show in new york. best in show will be crowned tonight. judges picked winners in four categories, best of sporting, working, and terrier groups coming up today. terriers hope to continue their unfounded dominance at the dog show. >> it's so great. i have never gone in person. >> i have. a lot of times. one of the stories they make you cover again and again and again. ahead this morning, we'll continue to talk about north korea, they say their overnight nuclear test in response to u.s. hostility and that stronger actions could be on the horizon. the question? what is the threat to national security? up next, we'll talk to north korean expert gordon chang. and the navy s.e.a.l. that he killed osama bin laden says the military has turned its back on him. has he been abandoned, that, straight ahead. [ female announcer ] today, jason is here to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. welcome back. new overnight. north korea confirming a third successful nuclear test. say it's a defensive measure against the united states for "hostile activity" against their country. the u.n. security council calling an emergency meeting, it will take place less than two hours from now. gordon chen joins us. author of "nuclear showdown." what has been done, 11 times more powerful than what was done in 2009. what does that clearly reveal to you about north korea's access and where they might be going? >> it reveals they have crossed a critical technical threshold. a powerful device, may be miniature. remember, in december, they crossed another threshold, another launch of a three-stage myself i'll. you put these two together, and you can see why north korea is making its a real threat. u.s. run by a militant, unstable regime. a problem, not just for north korea's neighbors, but the united states as well. >> u.n. security council called a meeting that will take place in less than two hours. what happens in the meeting? what should happen? >> i think what should happen is crippling sanctions on north korea, the security council not willing to do because of china. we can -- people say north korea's been sanctioned out, nothing more we can do. that's not true. in 2005 the united states put on the financial sanctions which hut north korea. we took them off in 2007, so there is a lot more than we can do. >> are you seeing changes in china. very supportive. but here is the -- an article, an editorial that ran in the china state-run newspaper "global times." if north korea insists on a third nuclear test despite attempts to dissuade it, it must pay a heavy price. we are not advocating giving up the sino/north korea friendship. but pyongyang shouldn't misread china, china won't put its relations with pyongyang above other strategic interests. that's fairly harshly worded. >> it is. a good rhetorical shift. we need china to go for tough sanctions and enforce those sanctions. right now, china has been letting the north koreans sell a lot of missile technology to the iranians, crossing over chinese territory. april 15th last year, in the big military parade in pyongyang, six chinese missile launchers sold to pyongyang. we need to have some important conversations with china, we've not been willing to do that in the past. >> you mentioned iran. quickly, let's talk about that. iran getting access to the opportunities that north korea is creating and being successful with. what happens there? >> in 2006/2009, iranians on site in north korea for the two previous nuclear tests. north korea sells everything it develops to the irianians, long-range ballistic missiles, nuclear reactors, processed uranium, you name it. this is a joint nuclear weapons development program in tehran and pyongyang. we need to stop those sales. >> gordon chang, nice to have you back. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you bet. the president mentioned the word jobs 42 times in the state of the union speech last year. did he keep the promises he made? christine romans will look at whether the president was true to his word or not, coming up next. ♪ let's go. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the all-new cadillac xts... another big night on the town, eh? ...and the return of life lived large. ♪ welcome back, everybody. we're coming to you live from washington, d.c., the president will give his state of the union speech. we are joined by -- wait a minute. not yet. nice to have you with us. john berman sticks around with us. the state of the union. very strong today. the central theme for the president in his state of the union address, in fact, all of them, has been jobs, and the job market. and jobs is exactly what we are expecting that we'll hear about tonight. and the past year, the labor market has improved. but 12 million people are still out of work. we want to begin with christine romans who breaks down the president's previous jobs promises. good morning. >> the president in the same address issued the word jobs, 42 times. i ran the text of that speech through the word cloud. this word cloud. shows the weight of all the words in the speech last year. look at how jobs prevails. more weight than anything else except the word america. how has he done? 2 million jobs added. and the unemployment rate 7st%. and this from the press briefing yesterday. >> continue to build on the job creation we've achieved. over 6.1 million jobs created by our businesses, over the past 35 or 36 months. >> all right. fact check on those numbers. true, soledad. the private sector has been claiming jobs for 35 months, adding 6.1 jobs. here is the reality check to the fact check. down more than 3 million jobs since the recession began in december 2007. in the hole. and the jobs are not the same quality as those lost. look at this study by rutgers university. it found 54% of people who found work, unemployed people who found work, had to do so by settling for lower pay. how much lower pay? 34% took a pay cut up to 10%. 26% took a pay cut of 50%. the president needs to assure that the economy can strengthen. >> it will have to be about jobs, jobs, jobs, exactly what he will say and the spin is what people will be looking forward to. christine, thank you. we'll continue our conversation about the state of the union, coming up with gene sperling. and also washington -- wisconsin senator ron johnson is our guest. he will kill me because i said that. what does it take to be a "sports illustrated" swim suit model. a couple words come to mind. kate upton on the cover of "sports illustrated" swim suit issue. tells david letterman how tough it was. talk about that, straight ahead. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. 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[ male announcer ] get adt installed for just $99. and ask about adt pulse, advanced home management here today. adt. always there. welcome, everybody. developing news is what we start with overnight, north korea with a third successful nuclear test. the country's minister said it was a defensive measure regarding hostile activity from the united states and more drastic measures could be on the way. the u.n. security council will meet beginning in about 90 minutes. what can you tell us about the test? >> reporter: well, soledad, would you have to assume that north korea is once step closer to developing a nuclear arsenal and becoming a nuclear state. it did this by certainly conducting this third nuclear test, which is says was a success. it says that it -- it tested an atomic bomb that was more powerful, smaller, and lighter than previous ones tested, which certainly indicates that they are on the way to creating a -- a miniaturized nuclear war head that will put on a ballistic missile. we know they have the technology to launch this missile. they launched one that put the satellite into orbit. north korea to mainland usa, it has that capability. this is north korea showing the united states it is a force to be reckoned with. it believes by having a nuclear arsenal, it has a nuclear deterrent, it will be able to keep its sworn enemy, the united states, at bay. soledad. >> anna coren, thank you. john berman has a look at other stories making news. >> thank you, soledad. three days after the blizzard, thousands still trapped in their homes. some cities are beginning return to normal, but