In for wolf blitzer. It is 1 00 p. M. In washington, 6 00 p. M. In london, 8 00 p. M. In ankara, turkey, and 9 00 p. M. In baghdad, iraq. Wherever youre watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. We begin at the white house where the Holiday Season in the u. S. Has officially kicked off. First Lady Michelle obama and her daughters welcomed the White House Christmas tree. It is an 18. 5foottall douglas fir, it was grown in pennsylvania, and this tree will be on display in the blue room. And speaking of the Holiday Season, 140 million. Thats how many shoppers the National Retail federation estimates will take advantage of deals in the u. S. This weekend. From the pictures, it does look like its off to a good start. Many beginning their black friday holiday on thursday night actually, braving huge crowds for deals at this macys in heralds square in new york city. But in some cases, shopping for the best deal turned into a battle for bargains, literally. In texas, police had to intervene when crowds got rowdy in a walmart. For more on this, lets bring in deborah feyerick. She is live from the newport mall in jersey city. We also have alison kosik. Deb, you have been at the mall since early this morning. Thats when the action really got started. What have you been seeing . Reporter its really interesting. The most intrepid shoppers were here yesterday between 9 00 and midnight. Some stayed overnight at the mall. The Bigger Stores like macys, jcpenn jcpenney, kohls, all of those were open throughout the night and people were loaded up with bags. A lot of people are carrying shopping bags. Theres a family over there, theyve got a bunch of bags. Getting something to eat. Also doing very well, fastfood shores, making sure they keep everybody strong and braced for the shopping, because a lot of people are getting their shopping groove on. You guys came an hour and a half ago. First of all, are more people, less people . What is your perception . Definitely a lot more people here today. This is a lot crazier than it is here normally. Reporter you guys hit macys. What was that Shopping Experience like . I walked through there, too. What was your experience . Inventory is a little messy. Theres stuff all over the place. But you could find some deals. I tried to avoid it because there were so many people there. You cant even walk past aisles. But the handbags, we got a couple of good deals. Myself, my parents, so it was good. So youre not just buying for yourself. Youre also buying some Christmas Gifts right now. Your daughter also got something, so youre making out pretty well. You want to show everybody what you got . Go ahead. I got this bag to put my phone and other stuff ill get sooner or later. Reporter but you do have the cell phone, right . Youre not, like, buying that just to pretend you have a cell phone. Thats good. And the deals pretty much what you expected . Yeah, theyre pretty good. Much better than what you expect. Reporter how long are you planning on staying here . Were probably leaving not too long from now. Reporter i am with you. Unfortunately, im going to stay here a little while. A lot of people really are taking advantage of the sales. The stores have really been pushing. Theyre offering coupons, offering free gifts, offering these deals where if youre the 100th shopper, then you get some money off. Theyre really trying to incentivize people to come to the stores. If you cant, the good thing is you get a backup plan. The plan b is to go to the dotcoms, whether its jcpenney. Com, target. Com. Theyre offering a lot of deals, too. So the deals youre seeing here, you can see online as well. To us, the swell has happened. It was quiet in the morning. But now were seeing a Pretty Healthy group of people who are making their way, shopping, taking advantage of whatever deal they can get, whether it be ten, 20, or in some cases 60 . This is part of my black friday tradition is watching it happen here on cnn, and then doing the Online Shopping later. I wonder, yesterday was thanksgiving, and even some of my coworkers here, they were out last night shopping for black friday, which has now become black thursday. There was a backlash for some stores that they did this. But how important is it that stores open before black friday now . Reporter you know, its very interesting you ask that, because this year of all years, its important for these retailers to get these shoppers in and get them in early, because thanksgiving has come late, which means that window of time to get shoppers in is shorter before christmas. So what are we seeing . Were seeing an online push. Seeing retailers not wait for black friday. They started sending out emails about black friday back on tuesday of this week, and theyre also doing what you said. Theyre doing what everybody has criticized. These stores are opening on thanksgiving day. And people want this, or they wouldnt be coming and the stores wouldnt be opening. Case in point, the flagship macys store right here in new york city, 15,000 people were waiting in line yesterday on thanksgiving to get into the store at 5 00 p. M. The ceo this morning said the ceo of macys said people want this. Listen to him. It was crystal clear, they wanted us to be open last night. We had that in the feedback. But they showed up in massive numbers. And so we could go against their wishes, but our decision is always to do what our customer wants. As for our employees, its very simple. We hired 85,000 additional employees just for the november and december period with the understanding that if they would like to come to work for us, they will be working on these particular holiday days. Thats what we need to have filled. A bit of irony in this whole shopping on thanksgiving. Analysts are saying, you know what . These stores dont wind up making any more money by opening up on thursday. They just basically move the sales from black friday a little earlier, so it winds up making the holiday Shopping Experience, at least until black friday, more of a marathon than a sprint, just for that one day, friday. I cant blame shoppers. I would rather stay up late maybe on thanksgiving than get up early. So i cant blame them. Work off the turkey. Exactly. Thank you so much. Deb, thanks to you as well. Youre in it for the long haul. Well be checking back in with you. Americans, though, they arent the only ones taking advantage of the deals. Black friday madness has begun international. Shoppers scrambling there at the store in london trying to grab tvs and other electronics. Stores gave deep discounts. They extended their hours. They advertised special deals. Jim bolden explains why retailers have imported this american tradition. Reporter this is black friday british style. You start with customers lining up outside a store, in the dark, early in the morning. The cab driver is actually in the queue with me. I didnt know they even did it here. But i used to do it in america a few years back. The deal is here now, so take it now. Reporter add in the rush through the doors. Grabbing 200 l. E. D. Tvs. It sold 8,000 in the first hour. Add in another import, a few cheerleaders wearing black and white, of course, and you have that most american of holidays. Black friday shopping. I need the xbox. Wheres the xbox . Black friday makes sense in the u. S. Because it follows a national holiday, thanksgiving. It happens on a day when most people are off from work and its a chance to kick start the christmas spending. Whereas here in the uk, black friday is just any other friday. Reporter it was started here by the likes of apple and amazon. Now retailers like tesco, john lewis, boots all have black friday deals. One of the big uk retailers pushing it out is asda, its owned by walmart and trying to offer huge discounts. Last year, asda ran short of big screen tvs. Now theyre relying on the Parent Company to fill the shelves as opposed to local suppliers, to sell a lot more 40inch l. E. D. S for around 200. All the tvs that we are selling in black friday are being sourced from relationships that weve got with walmart, or directly from walmart factories. Today well sell well over 20,000 televisions in black friday today. Reporter police in manchester, england, say there were several arrests overnight after being called to seven tesco stores. The chief of police there slammed the store for not having enough security. In london, police were called to three more stores. This trend now flies in the face of the timehonored british tradition of the january sales. We need to ensure that we can save the money before christmas rather than discounting them after christmas when people have already spent the money. It doesnt hurt that many people in britain get paid monthly, so this black friday also sees the last paycheck before christmas, an early present for retailers perhaps. And its always nice to have jim bolden with us. Hes joining us now from london. That is quite a scene there in your story, jim. Unbelievable. Its crazy. Is this going to stretch throughout the weekend . Yes. In fact, because we dont actually get the thanksgiving, we dont get the turkey, so people were lining up today, then they had to go to work or school, so there is expected to be an even bigger crush on saturday going into sunday than we have cyber monday. But i have to tell you, seeing these people, seeing the cheerleaders, i wasnt expecting that. Its an extraordinary import from the u. S. To come here. Its not just apple. Now everybody wanted to get involved and give people a really deep discount. So i think its just going to grow and grow here in the uk. Well be watching, jim. Great to see you. Thank you so much. Now, lets talk about the ferguson protests. They moved from the streets to retail stores. This digital poster has been shared and retweeted since the grand jury declined to indict officer Darren Wilson on monday. Its blackoutblackfriday. Jason carroll is at the walmart in ferguson. Im wondering if youre seeing the boycott happening there. Reporter here at this walmart in ferguson, the parking lot has started to fill up, so not sure what type of effect the boycott is having so far. I can tell you that this walmart here opened up late. 8 00 this morning. That is late for a black friday. But considering what happened out here last night in its several other walmarts in the area, demonstrators showed up and so did the national guard. They blocked off the parking lot here at this walmart, preventing people from coming in. Those that did show up were told that the walmart would not open until 8 00 this morning. Protests not just at walmart, but also at target. There was a target there in brentwood. Thats about half an hour from where we are. Dozens of protesters showing up at that target. Shouting things like hands up, and shut it down for michael brown. Back out here at this walmart, where a few demonstrators showed up here this morning. We spoke to one woman from wisconsin who talked about why she decided to demonstrate for michael brown. Black lives matter more than black friday. We give thanks one day, and then the next day, well trample each other for a 50 tv. Reporter there have been calls all across social media on twitter, on facebook to shut businesses down here in ferguson and across the country. But, you know, you talk to Small Business owners who are out here, especially those along west fluorescent, those that were looted and some of those that were burned, some of those Small Businesses arent sure if they will ever be able to reopen. Brianna . Thanks, jason. Oil prices are dropping again on the heels of yesterdays opec decision to keep production at current levels. This decision moved the market to its lowest price in over four years, just below 69 a barrel in the United States. And that means that you can expect gas prices to stay at or below the current price in the u. S. , which is 2. 79 a gallon on average. A gunman wearing a vest opened fire on a consulate, a courthouse and a police station. Police in austin, texas, are looking at a potential explosive device that may have been left behind in his wake. Well tell you what weve learned. And with chuck hagel announcing his departure, whos on the president s short list for a replacement at this critical time . We have some new names that could be under consideration. And the United States not fully in compliance with the u. N. Convention on torture . Well tell you what else the u. N. Had to say. Were learning more about a gunman who opened fire at government buildings in downtown austin, texas. He fired more than 100 rounds at the Mexican Consulate, the federal courthouse, as well as the Austin Police headquarters before he was shot dead. Our Victor Blackwell has been following this story. How did this whole thing unfold, victor . We just listened to some of the dispatch recordings, and we know that the first calls came in at about 2 22 local time. You have to consider this was a holiday. As the police chief described, there were crowds there because the bars had just closed at 2 00. What we know is that the people who called in said that it sounded like a machine gun or some semiautomatic weapon because there were so many shots, as you said, more than 100. They dont know the sequence in which they were shot yet, but as you said, the Mexican Consulate building, the new federal courthouse in downtown austin. Also a branch of the bb t bank were all damaged. We have a bit of a description of the suspect. A 50yearold white man who lived in austin and has a criminal record, although no details about that record. I have to tell you, as dramatic as the details of the event are, how it ended, those are just as dramatic. Were told that a sergeant, who was securing the horses with the mounted division, was holding on to the reins of two horses with one hand and with the other hand fired a single shot, and then that suspect fell to the ground. It has not yet been confirmed if it was that single shot or selfinflicted gun wound that killed this 50yearold suspect. Wow. And theres also this concern that police have, they think the suspect may have left explosives at his home or in his van. Is there an update on that . Well, the officers, they r h rushed in to drag this suspect away, they noticed two things. Cylinders inside his vehicle. They suspected that possibly those could be ieds or some type of bomb. He was also wearing a vest that they suspected could have been a suicide type vest, but the bomb squad was called in. The swat team was called in. Those two things were cleared, so there were no explosives there. But the chief, when asked if they would be searching his home, said that they would approach that location with the possibility of a threat. Maybe booby traps at that location. No update yet if those have been found. But we can tell you that a small green propane tank was ignited outside the Mexican Consulate, but that fire was put out before it caused any damage to the building. All right, victor. Thank you so much for that report. Well be following along with you. And still ahead, a United Nations committee highly critical of the United States for racial profiling, Excessive Force by police, and other human rights issues. And later, president obamas search for a new defense secretary. Well tell you who is on the expected short list. Your Medicare Coverage begins october 15th and ends december 7th. So call to enroll in a plan that could give you the benefits and stability youre looking for, an aarp medicarecomplete plan insured through unitedhealthcare. What makes it complete . It can combine medicare parts a and b, which is your hospital and doctor coverage with part d Prescription Drug coverage, and more, all in one simple plan. For a low monthly premium or in some areas, no plan premium at all. An aarp medicarecomplete plan offers you benefits like an annual physical, preventive screenings, and immunizations for a 0 copay. Youll also have access to a local network of doctors and much more. 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Thats how the United Nations committee against torture describes the killing of michael brown. Meeting in geneva today, the panel said it has to respect the decision not to prosecute officer Darren Wilson, but it also accused the u. S. Of not being fully in compliance with the u. N. Convention on torture. Specifically, the group was critical of the use of racial profiling and excessive use of force by u. S. Police. But it did not specifically mention events in ferguson. Joining me to talk about this is cnns phil black, hes in london. Earlier this week, the same Committee Urged president obama to be transparent on alleged cia torture. Is the u. S. Suffering a credibility crisis here on human rights . Well, this United Nations committee has certainly come up with a pretty long list of concerns. Ways in which it believes the United States is not living up to the u. N. Convention against to