American alan gross freed from a cuban police. Senator obama set to announce the most sweeping overhaul. Threaten 9 11style attacks attacks against theaters that show the interview. Pakistan vowing revenge against the taliban. Funerals held. Three days of national mourning. Californias wet weather is expected to continue. Heavy downpours brought flash flooding. Police rescued stranded drivers. A midair scare on an American Airlines flight from korea to dallas when it hit severe turbulence. Jeb bush announcing that he is officially exploring a run for president. Why is jeb bush out ahead of you . Maybe he has more ground he needs to gain. Could be bush versus clinton. It will be like 1992 all over again. Unrest in the middle east. Gridlock congress. Everyone was talking about bill cosby. An intense manhunt in portland. Police are looking for a man who threw four pipe bombs out of his car as Police Chased him. Japan having a potato shortage. Mcdonalds will only sell small fries. A bicyclist had a runin with a deer. Hes banged up, but as far as the deer, nobody knows. Longest in nhl history. Lets go home. Bjugstad wins for the panthers. Mom called telling her sons to knock it off. What has it been like raising these two boys . Well, it hadnt been easy. On cbs this morning. Its a stressful time for us bowl wealthy americans. Its hard to find the perfect present. This is called a cats paw. Thats it. Is this for a child . Announcer this mornings eye opener presented by toyota. Lets go places. Welcome to cbs this morning. As you wake up in the west Obama AdministrationOfficials Say an american prisoner in cuba has just been released. Alan gross spent five years in custody. He is free after a prisoner swap. Bill plante is at the white house where president obama plans to speak to the nation in less than two hours. This is big news. It is big news. When we hear from the president , we can expect to hear about coming sweeping changes in the u. S. cuba relationship. This could be very big. The president will informally announce grosss release. Gross of course was captured almost five years ago to the day. Hes now being released after a Long Campaign by his family. Hes been described as very ill. Heres what his wife judy had to say earlier this year. Hes just very very depressed and very hopeless. And talking about doing something drastic because he refuses to stay where he is for ten more years. Were down to the wire here we really are. He has to be the priority. They need to get him home now. At this hour gross is on an air force plane headed for washington, d. C. Hes expected to arrive in about two hours around noon eastern time, 9 00 in the west. His family will be there to greet him. Hell probably see the president when he lands at Andrews Air Force base just outside of washington. Now, his release comeselea comu. S. Ises rele iees. Cuban prisoners who have been convicted of espionage and have been held in florida. Now, this if it signals a big change in u. S. Relations with cuba, could be very politically divisive. Norah. Thank you. This is remarkable. This is because alan gross has been held for five years. Saying he was really depressed, a hunger strike. Is this a pathway to full diplomatic relations . Yeah normalizing relations with cuba. It will be interesting to hear all the details, what happened behind it. More straight ahead. Well bring you the president s remarks at 9 00 a. M. Pacific. You can watch coverage of the story all day on cbsn. The new 24 hour digital threat network. The new threat to anyone who goes to see a controversial new movie. Thursdays new York Premiere of the interview was reportedly canceled. Hackers said the world would be quote, full of fear if the movie hit the theaters as scheduled on krps christmas day. North korea is outraged by the movie but denies any connection to the threat. Bob orr is in washington with how Law Enforcement is responding. Bob, good morning. Good morning. The fbi and department of homeland are busy working to determine if this is some kind of scare tactic, angry rhetoric, or perhaps a real warning about a pending attack. Still police are on guard. We take those threats very seriously reporter Los Angeles Police chief charlie beck says the lapd will take extra precautions after an online message warned of a bitter fate for moviegoers who, quote, seek fun in terror. Remember the 11th of september 2001. The message goes on to threaten theaters. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. If your house is nearby, youd better leave. As a result at least one theater chain has reportedly opted out of screening the film. When reaching by cbs this morning, representatives from the chain, carmike, would not comment. Sonys new comedy the interview stars james franco and seth rogan. As reporters assigned to kill the leader of north korea. The film premiered last week in l. A. Under heavy security. Now the actors have canceled promotional appearances. But the movie is still set to hit theaters nationwide on christmas day. At this point, sony is leaving the decision whether to show the film up to individual theater owners. I dont think people should be afraid to go to the theaters to see this movie. That achieves the goal the hackers set. The hackers who call themselves guardians of peace have already exposed everything from sonys confidential Financial Information and top secret scripts to embarrassing executive emails bashing hollywoods alisters. Tuesday, they released more than 30,000 new emails, reportedly all too o from sonys Top Entertainment executive, michael l lynton, and the hackers are threatening to do more damage. They call this latest online warning just the beginning of a christmas gift. Saying, quote, whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures entertainment. Now, this new message does not shed any particular new light on whos responsible, but Law Enforcement sources tell us the evidence points to either hackers inside north korea or maybe outside surrogates who are acting at the direction of the communist regime. North korean authorities, for their part are denying any involvement. Charlie. Bob, thanks. Violent turbulence rocked the plane for 45 minutes. The plane made an Emergency Landing in tokyo yesterday. Michelle miller shows us what happened then. Reporter this video posted to youtube is said to show the terrifying moments the boeing 777 encountered a harsh winter storm over japan. Show me the bowl that hit your head. American Airlines Flight 280 with 240 passengers and 15 crew members on board was near the start of its 11 1 2hour trip, from soule to dallas when it hit turbulence. Mark stanley of texas said the shaking which lasted 45 minutes caused the plane to buck like a bronco. All of a sudden there was a big drop and food and plates and everything started flying all over the place. These pictures show the destruction. An overturned meal cart. Beverages splattered on the overhead luggage bins. Upon landing in tokyo at midnight, local time crews help the injured off the plane. Five people were taken to the hospital. And although the airline confirmed none of the injuries are life threatening, passengers were left rattled. Ive flown millions of miles. This is the worst ive ever seen. Now the dallasbound passengers are hoping for a less eventful trip. For cbs this morning, michelle miller, new york. This morning were getting our first look inside the school in pakistan where taliban gunmen massacred more than 100 children and burned female teachers alive. Clarissa ward is in london. Good morning. Good morning. Pakistans Prime Minister has lifted a moratorium on the Death Penalty as three more Staff Members died from their injuries, and in schools across the country this morning, we have seen children gathering and praying together for those who lost their lives. As families continue to bury their dead, three days of mourning begin. Terrorist attacks are all too common in pakistan. Few have been quite as deadly or as brutal as this one. Almost all of those killed in yesterdays eighthour siege were students. One boy who escaped described the attacks. Suddenly there was gunfire behind us, he said. Some kids were killed and i was shot in the back. The attack began at around 10 00 a. M. At least seven men stormed into the military run School Opening fire indiscriminately on teachers and students with guns and grenades. Soon after, Pakistani Army commandos arrived on the scene. Gunfire and explosions were heard from inside. The militant planted bombs throughout the school. When it was over, more than 140 people were dead, leaving a nation reeling. What did we do wrong, the schoolboy from peshawar asked. Were not from the school or the army or the taliban but they killed small kids. The taliban claimed it was revenge for Ongoing Military Operations in northern waziristan that have targeted their hideouts near the Afghan Border and which have claimed more than 1,000 lives by the armys own count. One of the many funerals being held today is for the schools principal mrs. Tahera kazi. Relatives of kazi told cbs news she was initially evacuated, along with other teachers but she then went back inside a brave decision that was to cost her, her life. Oh, my goodness clarissa what a way to end that story, thank you so much. Just to hear that student say what did we do wrong. And the principal to say ill take the bullets for the children and does so. We have new information this morning about the ending of that deadly siege in sydney, australia. Were learning about the man who held the hostages inside the cafe was on a terrorist watch years ago. The gunman and two hostages were killed at the end of the standoff. Ben tracy is in sydney where people continue mourning those victims. Ben, good morning. Gayle, good morning. If you want to see something amazing, look at this. This memorial in the center of sydney doubled in size as people continue to come here to pay their respects to those two hostages who lost their lives. Were also learning more about just how terrifying the ordeal was. This new video shows the marksman, from the newsroom just across the street from the lindt cafe. 30 minutes later the gunfire ended the 17hour standoff. One woman was crying as she held up a black flag in the window. Another trembling and then collapsing. John obrien was one of the first hostages to escape. He gave a brief statement wednesday. I never felt so much relief when i turned the corner and saw the armed police waiting for me. Reporter there is growing anger in sydney that the hostage taker Man Haron Monis was out on bail after being charged with 40 counts of Sexual Assault, being an accessory to murder and having wellknown extremist views. Andrew scippioni is commissioner of the New South Wales police. Are you rn soed that given his criminal background he was out on bail . Man got bail from the very beginning. Should he have been watched more closely by the police . If somebody is on a National Security watch list, then we pay particular attention to them. But on this occasion this particular individual was not. Reporter in downtown sydney where streets are now reopened, police have launched what they call operation hammerhead, increased patrol throughout the city. But the police are far outnumbered by the thousands still waiting in line to pay their respects at the ever growing flower memorial. Family and friends of torec johnson, one of the hostages who were killed, visited on wednesday. Very moving. Thank you for supporting us. Through this terrible time. Reporter now today australias Prime Minister said the hostage taker did have a legal license for the gun he used. And as for that terror watch list, he says he was on that list in 2008 but for unknown reasons, dropped off of it in 2009. Norah. All right, ben, thank you. This morning, a big republican name says he will spend the rest of this year seriously thinking about 2016. Jeb bush wrote on facebook i have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for president. Nancy cordes is in washington. Nancy, good morning. Good morning. Good morning to our viewers in the west. What this announcement means is that bush can start openly courting donors to gain their support. But it sounds like he himself may still need some convincing. In the interview, the former Florida Governor made it clear he isnt sold on the idea yet. If i can get comfortable with being a candidate that gives people hope that we can fix some of these big problems to take advantage of our opportunities, thats what im pursuing. Thats not an easy decision though. Why decide now right before the holidays . Rick davis, who ran the campaign in 2008 says bushs decision has a lot to do with mony. He was crosspressured by the mitt romney boon who said, jeb, if you dont get in, i going to go with mitt. Because mitts an s ans ans calling around. Reporter a recent poll shows mitch leading 114 president ial prospects. Unless mitt romney decides to make a run for the presidency. Then bush falls to number two. If he doesnt define himself, he will lose a lot of supporters. If he doesnt define himself, they will and it wont be a flattering picture. Reporter and theyve already started. Conservative activist brent bozell tweeted tuesday, another bush versus another clinton . Political vomit. While Rush Limbaugh took issue with bushs moderate stance on topics like immigration reform. Here comes jeb announcing hes going to explore via a committee the idea of running for president , and hes going to do it in a unique way. Hes going to do it by ignoring the base. Democrats got in on the act, too, sending out fundraising emails asking, are you ready for the next president bush . But theres only so far they can take that argument when their own frontrunner hillary clinton, is pretty connected to a former president herself. Nancy, thanks. The white house says president obama will sign legislation imposing new sanctions against russia. They would turn up the heat on president putin as the country faces its worst economic crisis in years. Charlie dagata is in moscow where russians are beginning to worry about their finances. Charlie, good morning. Reporter good morning. The ruble continued its backslide today but nothing like the nosedives in the past couple of days. The russian finance minister is quoted this morning as saying that the government intends to sell off foreign currencies in order to prop the ruble up. Banks and money exchanges have been packed by the lucky few with dollars to cash in. Scooping up rubles at cutrate prices, after catastrophic losses against the there are this week. If you have dollars, youre winning, says this shopper. But if you have ruble, you wont have a chance to buy any cheaper. Shopkeepers have had to reprice products daily. The majority of russians are not so fortunate. Their disposable incomes are disappearing into russias thin air and all they can do is watch. This woman says she lives on a pension and has had to cut back on food in order to buy medicine. Yesterdays huge hike in the Interest Rate from 10. 5 to a staggering 17 has made borrowing from russias embattled banks in order to get by an impossibility now. This farmer and father of four told us he fears he may face bankruptcy. I must find some money to start it, the planting. And i think i dont have enough at the moment. Yeah. What are you going to do . To go to the bank. Its going to be expensive. I know, i know. The percentage is going higher and higher. Reporter and the only forecast is for russia to sink further and further into an expected recession next year. Russian president Vladimir Putin has remained defiant in this economic crisis essentially blaming the west for all of russias problems but he will face journalists questions during a televised press conference tomorrow. Gayle. Thank you charlie. It is 7 19. Ahead on cbs this morning, this newly released video is raisin good morning. Dense fog in livermore and dublin. Scattered showers in the area will intensify during the day because of that right there that batch offshore. Now, today were expecting within the next 24 hours half inch of rain, light winds east 5 to 10 miles per hour, temperatures 50s and 60s, a break thursday and half inch of rain expected on friday. Nnouncer this National Weather report sponsored by kay jewelers. Every kiss begins with kay. A mother goes on live tv to prove she knows best. Oh god, mom. And im your mother. Ahead, a christmas plea for two brothers to just get along. The news is back here on cbs this morning. Stay tuned for your local news. Announcer this portion of cbs this morning sponsored by mercedes mercedesbenz mercedesbenz, engineering some of the most advanced vehicles on the road today. And at this special time of year they shine even brighter. Come to the winter event and get the mercedesbenz youve always wished for now for an exceptional price. [ho, ho, ho, ho] lease the 2014 cla 250 for 329 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Feel a cold sore coming on . 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