join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn t pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. have given way to sleeping. tossing and turning where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. and welcome back, everyone. a united nations panel now says there is evidence of war crimes in syria. and is urging criminal charges be filed. the panel issued a 131-page report detailing massacres, executions, torture, sexual violence, even abuses against children. abc s terry moran made the journey into the heart of syria for a rare look inside that war-torn nation. reporter: the road from beirut to damascus. we drove into syria along this heavily guarded route, checkpoint after checkpoint after checkpoint. it is now a lifeline. as damascus, the strong hold of the government of president assad, becomes a city under siege. it is a dirty war, in a crucial country. just look at the map. the chaos engulfing syria threatens to spill over into iraq on one time, israel and lebanon on the other. a nightmare scenario for the u.s. the united nations now estimates that 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting, though no one really knows. a u.n. commission called for war crimes investigations of both sides. assad s government, which has sought to crush the rebellion, and the rebels, who are seen as warlords, gangsters, and religious fanatics who regularly post videos of beheadings and other atrocities on youtube. damascus is quiet. no one really walking around. 5 million people hunkered down as the terrible war that s tearing their country apart has arrived here. in fierce battles raging in the city s suburbs. syria s many minorities live in terror of jihadist takeover of their country. before we came here, we visited christian refugees from syria who fled to beirut. they said they were forced out of their villages by muslim fundamentalists, ethnically cleansed. they supported the rebellion at first, but not now. they lost their homes, their communities, their way of life. we lived free as christians, this man tells us, putting up christmas trees and decorations. but now we are being targeted. a dirty war, no end in sight. we come to this country with the permission of the government, who want the other side of the story told. but there s no doubt the rebellion has changed. as ordinary syrians just want the fighting to stop and dread the chaos that s been unleashed here. bashar assad seems to know this. the man who the u.s. said must go told a group of visitors we are sure we will win. there s such a question how deeply america should get involved, if at all. we said we re going to support the opposition, but if that opposition is now radicalized, we give them weapons, whose hands are we putting weapons in? we ve had it happen before and we don t want it to happen again. there are so many people in syria who were for the opposition, and now the opposition has turned against them already. and therefore, that should be a mirror we can look into to determine whether or not we which side we need to help. meantime, the death toll rises. it s sadly a familiar story in new york city, someone falling on the subway tracks. but this one has a very happy ending. that story is coming up next. world news a truly heroic act by three new york commuters saved a man s life. this is crazy. the man passed out and tumbled onto the subway tracks. with just minutes before the train was scheduled to roll in, the group of good samaritans went to work. here s matt kozar. i know it said two minutes till the train was coming in. but i saw the lights, so it had to have been at least 100 feet. reporter: with a train racing into the subway station sunday morning, dennis and two other good samaritans were running out of time. using all of their might, they tried to lift the unconscious man, who had fallen on the tracks. this guy, he had to have been drunk, just fell on the tracks, didn t even brace himself. as soon as he hit the rails, he was bleeding. we got him to the side of the platform, but there was no way we could lift him up. reporter: he says the man was about 6 1 and weighed more than 200 pounds. after unsuccessfully trying to get him on the platform, he says strap hangers helped pull up the unresponsive man, whose face was bloody. dennis works as a personal trainer and says he doesn t consider himself a hero but did learn something about himself from this experience. i m starting to realize you know what? that could have been me and i need to make the best effort to fulfill those things i want to do. reporter: one of the other good samaritans was his best friend visiting. the third man was a cadet at the air force academy. he was the first one to jump on the track. matt kozar, abc news, new york. according to a city council hearing, 141 people were hit by subway trains. 55 of whom died. this is a little more common than you may think. wow. not only that, but in december there were two people who were pushed on to the tracks. ride safe, everybody. please. we ll be back. can help you get there. ®(eszopiclone) like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. welcome back, everybody. this story i didn t find funny, i found it interesting, because one of my pet peeves is sitting in traffic. i go nuts. that start, stop, i go insane. i have no patience for that. so they did this study back in december, and now it s being reported in this journal called scientific reports. it looked at almost 700,000 drivers in boston and their traffic pattern through their cell phones they can track from origin to destination. what it came up with is one of the most detailed maps of urban traffic patterns ever constructed. the traffic jams are caused by just a few drivers. where is everyone going? so, look, no overnight solutions here, but perhaps it shows some patterns that urban planners could use down the road to create better roads for all of us to get to work in less time. so the good power of the cell phone is the story here. they can track you from your house to work and maybe build better highway systems. and speaking of boston, i used to work in boston and it used to take me two hours on the mass pike. it is a nightmare out there. this is a quick fix. have you ever wanted to drink as much as you wanted to drink and not wake up with a hangover? i don t like alcohol, so no. for those of us who do like alcohol, apparently, there are scientists in england who have come up with a booze busting pill. it sobers you up in one instant. it reduces the blood alcohol level in your system. it s being compared to a million little livers in your gut. it s in the early stages, it s being tested on mice, and not tested on people yet. the medical people that are in charge of this behind this in england envision this will be a pill where we can pop a pill, no hangover. not even drunk anymore. that is incredible. i want it. i want it now! i m calling to make my new year s eve plans right now. finally some proof here about men and women do think differently. not just because of the way we re brought up or gender stereotypes, but our brains are wired differently. a new study out, they did 80,000 brain scans and there s proof men and women approach things differently. women have more brain cells in the prefrontal cortex which controls planning, men have more gray matter in the brain that governs intelligence. so we re more inclined to tackle a task with single-minded focus. women have larger areas in the a task with single-minded focus. women have larger areas in the pl) 3 days of walking to give a breast cancer survivor a lifetime that s definitely a fair trade. whoo! you walk with friends, you meet new friends, and you keep those friendships. it was such a beautiful experience. (woman) and it s beautiful undeniable (woman) why walk 60 miles in the boldest breast cancer event in history? because everyone deserves a lifetime. visit the3day.org to register or to request more information today. burning like a fire building up from deep inside it was 3 days of pure joy. susan g. komen s investments in early detection and treatment have helped reduce breast cancer mortality in the u.s. by 33% since 1990. help us continue serving the millions of women and men with breast cancer who still need us every day. register for the 3-day now. (woman) it s just been an amazing, amazing journey. i love these people. and it s beautiful this morning on world news now, legal move. oscar pistorius day in court and the latest evidence in the murder investigation. the demands for justice as his murdered girlfriend is fondly remembered today at her funeral. it s tuesday, february 19th. from abc news, this is world news now. good morning. i m diana perez. and i m rob nelson. all eyes on south africa for oscar pistorius and his day in court. we ll get to that in a second. but also this morning, the sandy hook shooter, adam lanza and what his motivations may have been. why he may be linked to another mass murderer. learning a lot of insight into his mental status. beyond chilling. that s right. an unforgettable display of fearlessness. a young woman who dares to swim with the most dangerous creatures in the ocean. getting up close and personal to a great white shark. you have to admire the bravery. she s actually a model in hawaii that says forget all the magazine covers, i m going to swim with jaws and hang out. no cage, no protective team around her. just me and jaws, just enjoying the swim. but in a second he could turn around and be like nope, there goes your face. that would be my thought process. maybe i m the weird one. but i m not. i don t think so. a big surprise on stage from superstar sting. but this was no ordinary stage. we can t wait to explain the rest of the story to you coming up in just a few minutes in the skinny. got to love sting. that happens to you or anyone you go crazy. we ll tell you in a second. but first, the murder case against oscar pistorius. the courthouse is a mob scene as he was accused this morning. he s accused of premeditated murder of his gird. abc s bazi kanani reports on the investigation from south africa. reporter: world famous for his triumph over adversity, oscar pistorius is facing his toughest challenge yet, facing murder charges for the death of his cover model girlfriend. in his cramped jail cell, this pastor prayed with him. i saw him as a very lonely young man standing there, very heart broken and sad. reporter: she tells abc news when she visited pistorius on sunday, he was humbled. oscar was also devastated about reeva s family, as well as his own. reporter: pistorius is currently losing the battle for public opinion in south africa, where incriminating claims are swirling in media. new reports saying that steroids were found in his house and investigators are testing his blood for the drug that can cause roid rage. aggressive outbursts. that a bloody cricket bat was found in his bedroom. possibly used in a violent argument before the shooting. that his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, may have fled to the bathroom, where she was shot at least three times through the door. oscar pistorius is gearing up for his legal battle with a team of top attorneys and forensic experts, while he makes his second appearance in court. a private funeral service will be held for steenkamp in her hometown. at the moment, it s family coming together, and actually the one person who would be the strongest who held us all together is not here anymore. that s my sister. reporter: bazi kanani, abc news, south africa. in other news this morning, there are reports that newtown shooter adam lanza may have been competing with another serial killer. investigators are looking at a possible link between lanza and a mass murderer in norway. that s because several news articles about the 2011 norway massacre were found in lanza s bedroom. cbs news is reporting that lanza picked sandy hook elementary simply because it was the easiest target. this is important, because the lieutenant up in connecticut who is in charge of this investigation, does say that it s too early in the investigation to go into a motive. so are we connecting dots? because all they have is information that they would have found in either writings or on his computer, something at home. nobody spoke to him or his mom who lived with him. his father hadn t seen him in a long time. it s hard to tell if this is a true motive. no definite link just yet, but it s hard to believe what other reason would that information be found in his bedroom if he wasn t studying it or inspired by it. this was a guy, anders breivik, who killed 77 people back in july 2011. it was in downtown oslo, which doesn t have a crime problem in that part of the world, including many kids. it was a true massacre. 77 folks. this was no small massacre or anything insignificant. that was a big international story. he had articles about that massacre in his room. and not only that, but apparently he was in competition with breivik. he wanted to kill more people than breivik did, which is scary. exactly. russian authorities have blamed inhumane treatment for the death of a 3-year-old boy adopted by a family in texas. the texas investigators say they re still investigating claims that the child was abused before his death. autopsy results on the 3-year-old named max are still pending. russia recently banned american adoptions. investigators are getting to the bottom of just what went wrong with the carnival triumph. a coast guard official says the cause of the fire that disabled the cruise ship was a leak in a fuel tank. the oil dripped on a hot surface and caught fire. the official said that the crew responded appropriately to the fire. the horse meat scandal in europe has now drawn in food giant nestles. the global food company is suspending delivery of all of its products that include beef from one of its german suppliers because they found traces of horse dna in them. among the products, beef ravioli and tortellini. nestle insists there are no food safety issues here. none of the products are sold here in the u.s. burger king is happy to have survived a whopper of a prank. a hacker took over the company s twitter account and announced it had been bought by mcdonald s. the cyber thief replaced burger king s profile picture with the golden arches and posted some obscene messages, as well. burger king got twitter to suspend the account and welcomed all of their new followers. so they got hacked, but at least no horse meat scandal as of yet. and mcdonald s tweeted out they weren t responsible. that s great news. blizzard conditions across the dakotas and western minnesota have made travel very, very dangerous this morning. two people were killed in an interstate pileup near fargo. drivers were warned to stay off the road as visibility was reduced to near zero. even plows were pulled off because they couldn t keep up with the drifting and blowing snow. and now for the rest of the weather, here we go. the storm that could dump a foot of snow on wisconsin and michigan is headed that way. stormy along the gulf coast. chilly and a damp day in los angeles. extremely cold air grips the nation s midsection with wind chills of 25 below zero. fargo will not make it above zero. and just for those of you that want to feel jealous, miami and honolulu, they re the hot spots at a wonderful sounding 81 degrees. i ve got to pack my bags. no kidding. let s just take this show on location. just a couple months in miami. i m sure it s in the budget. the weather was perfect for the third annual recyclable ski or sled race at a ski slope in western illinois. a dozen kids competed for the golden shovel award. to win, they had to make their sled using only cardboard, duct tape, and wax. two sleds going against each other at a time. the one who goes the furthest wins. there was awards for best design and best team spirit. and speaking of design, we saw some video right there where one of the sleds was painted with the jamaican colors, so maybe that was a nod to cool runnings. a little movie inspiration. i would rather do that than ski. i feel much safer in cardboard. i don t have that kind of coordination. i take my chances on on the skis? and the bunny hill. i will take my chances. cardboard, duct tape and wax. wax doesn t hold anything together. what are we using wax for? keep it real. it s fun. at least you re closer to the ground. that is true. coming up after the break, an amazing career move truly for a member of michael jackson s immediate family. you re not going to believe this one. 16 years old by the way. later on one mother in her special delivery. two separate sets of twins. who are these boys and why are they so rare? you re watching world news now. world news now weather brought to you by lunesta. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. dangerous, so dangerous oh, an underrated michael jackson classic dangerous. oh, boy. here it comes. dangerous like willis. a woman named ocean says great white sharks are simply misunderstood. so like any rational person she swims with them. of course. abc s nick watt sent out to find out what makes her think this is such a good idea. reporter: holy moly. yes, you really are seeing what you think you re seeing. a great white shark, the most feared beast on earth, a killer, and a human, no air tanks, no cage, no fear. and here she is. i understand that, you know, it is dangerous. it is a wild animal. reporter: ocean ramsey is a hawaiian model/diver who can hold her breath under water for 5:45. she means business. you ve heard of the horse whisperer, the dog whisperer. hey, buddy. reporter: even the eagle whisperer. is ocean ramsey the shark whisperer? they re actually cautious and calculated. they re misunderstood as a ravenous, mindless man eating machines and that s not how they are. reporter: california just this week declared the great white an endangered species. experts estimate there are only 339 left along the pacific coast. but ever since jaws, it s hard to generate sympathy for these killing machines. that s why ocean ramsey and the guy who filmed these scenes are driven to such jaw-dropping scenes. the biggest thing is to nail the shot. here is this beautiful shark and this graceful diver swimming along in perfect harmony. it s hard to describe what it s like to actually have a great white swimming towards you or next to you. it s breathtaking. reporter: we ll just take your word for that, ocean. we ll just take your word for that. nick watt, abc news, los angeles. get this stat here. in one year, a single great white consumes about 11 tons of food. that s slightly more than willis. oh! and after eating one big meal, they can rest for up to three months without having to eat. they go into hibernation. i admire her bravery. they don t go into hibernation. i admire the bravery. i just don t get why you can have a nice hawaii model life, why you re out there risking your life. once you have it all, you start looking for other things. right? i guess. i m all out. fresh out. i got nothing to say about that. good luck to you. willis! that s the music they play when willis goes walking into the nightclub. coming up next, fergie s big announcement, and it s not about her career. and what a great job for a famous teenager. coming up next in the skinny. teenager we said. uh-huh. world news now skinny, so skinny welcome back, everybody. this story had the whole staff talking this morning. this is very interesting. we ve seen it before where tv networks will hire, you know, the children of famous people to do some on-air work like chelsea clinton. jenna bush had a job in tv. guess who is the latest one to join those ranks? who is it? michael jackson s oldest son, prince, is now working for entertainment tonight. there he is. he s 16 years. i do question child labor laws, that s a little young. not a full adult just yet. but anyway, all this week, they announced on monday it s made prince an on-air correspondent. he s the eldest child of course of michael jackson. he says i m looking forward i m looking to become well ro d rounded as a producer, director, screen writer and actor. i guess this is his break into the business. you can see the family resemblance of michael, can t you? apparently this is his new gig, he s going to be there at least for the week. i wonder if it s a real career start or whether it is sweeps in tv world. so i don t know if this is a stunt. but that s michael jackson s son, doing our kind of work these days. good luck to him. seems like a nice kid. how do you do that? if you re an artist and being i can t say the word, interviewed, get it out. you re being interviewed just forget what i was going to say. so, we all know that sting can sing, right? now he proved it, because he was at a bar, a karaoke bar and this girl said come on and do it for us. check this out. she drives me crazy that was in malibu, cafe havana. and he killed it. do you know what song that is and who sings it? no. she drives me crazy, fine young cannibals, years ago. that was a big hit back in the day. of course. i remember that hit. she drives me crazy that s the only line people know. in a good voice, though. also, we want to send some congratulations to fergie of the black eyed peas fame. she is pregnant. look at this twitter pic. this is photo shopped, but that is fergie on the right and her husband, whose name i always mispronounce. josh dumel. something like that. i m sorry if i botched the name. that s him as a little kid. and she sent out a tweet that said josh and me and baby makes three. she announced it earlier this month that she s pregnant. so with want to wish her a congratulations. they got married back in january of 2009. she s 37, he is 40. they grew up in similar ways. now they re bringing new life into the world. that s adorable. they re going to make a cute kid. that kid is going to be good looking. that s a whole new kind of lady lump. from the back to the front. really quickly, we want to show you this picture that has not been photo shopped, by the way. jane fonda is at it again. now she s doing dvds for people who are 50 and older. this is called am/pm yoga. there she is, from back in the day, looking hot. and now she s still looking good. look at her go. she s 75 years old, still releasing dvds for workouts! wow. at 32 i can t even do that. i m just going to say, jane still has for 75, she still looks good. she s got it. talk about her lady luck. i may have to work out and give her a call. come on, baby girl. we re done. [ female announcer ] switch to swiffer wetjet, and you ll dump your old mop. but don t worry, he ll find someone else. who s that lady? who s that lady? sexy lady who s that lady? [ female announcer ] used mops can grow bacteria. swiffer wetjet starts with a clean pad every time, and its antibacterial cleaner kills bacteria mops can spread around. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. lovely lady in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it s hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can t get back to sleep. it s an effective sleep medicine you don t take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you re fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines, has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. do the harlam shake that s the harlam shake. something like this. i don t know. a rare birth in texas that we want to tell you about. a mother gives birth to four baby boys. but what s unusual is they re two sets of identical twins. that s why this is our favorite story of the day. reporter: it s like winning the lottery of love. they are going to be rich the rest of their lives. they planned on one baby. when they went to a specialist last year, they got a shock. he was quick to say right away, you have four. of course, i couldn t believe it. if i wasn t already laying down, i would have been on the floor. reporter: they re adding four boys. two sets of identical twins, all delivered valentine s day by c-section at the woman s hospital of texas. doctors say the odds of having two sets of twins from different placentas is 1 in 70 million. tressa had to be extremely careful with her pregnancy. a lot of patients end up being in the hospital for prolonged periods of time. but she stayed compliant and bedrest at home, and i think this is quite a feat for her. reporter: they say they didn t take any fertility drugs, they just wanted a sibling for their 2-year-old son, memphis. they say the four new additions will be some work. i m excited, ready for the challenge. it s preparing the house now. i was preparing for one, now it s four. reporter: the newborns are in the hospital, expected to go home in a couple of months. they named them following the abcd model. we just started thinking originality still. we re going to go with ace, blaine, cash and dilan. i like that. abcd. i like that. that is so cute. and those kids are adorable. can you imagine that? no. look how cute. he looks like an old man. you just had one, five months ago, right? yes. that was your first. that was my first. can you imagine three more? absolutely not. he was running out of room. by the time it was all said and done. he was stretching into my ribs. it was not cute. not at all. props to that couple. beautiful. their hands are all. congratulations. that s adorable. we will be right b-a-c-k. this is abc s world news now informing insomniacs for this is abc s world news now informing insomniacs for two decades. 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. this morning on world news now, deadly blizzard. drivers in minnesota and north dakota are under orders to simply stay off the roads. as one storm after another turned this winter into an unforgettable season. it s tuesday, february 19th. from abc news, this is world news now. good morning, everybody. i m rob nelson. and i m diana perez. accuweather updates these nasty storms in our top story. and climate experts explain why we may be seeing more intense blizzards but less snowfall. we re going to try to make sense out of all this, and mother nature. a whole lot of things that just don t take sense. yeah, it there s a science behind it. but we re getting more intense snow when it snows. exactly. maybe not as frequent, but when it s hitting, it s hitting hard. like we ve seen in the last couple of weeks. i just summed that up into a nutshell. sorry, i just gave it away. don t change the channel. stay with us. also this morning, the woman that claimed someone threw acid in her face, only to later admit she did it herself. now of course, she has a lot of explaining to do. we ll hear her side of this very unusual story. certainly that picture speaks volumes. later on, remembering nba legend jerry buss and how he turned a pro basketball franchise into a team full of superstars. sports legend for sure. a lot of moments like that hoisting that trophy out in l.a. so take a look back at his life, as well. but first, the weather extremes. strong storms hit arkansas, damaging buildings, knocking out power there. on top of that, golf ball size hail fell into the town of prescott. this weather system has moved east where it will bring rain and gusty winds to the gulf coast. the worst is over in parts of the dakotas and minnesota after blizzard conditions forced most drivers off the road there. two deaths in fact are blamed on this storm in the fargo area. visibility was reduced to near zero. and teen snowplows were idle. the storm is weakening, though, as it moves now over wisconsin and michigan. they re looking forward to today s snowfall in southern california. it s the second day of a school holiday for skiers and snowboarders who say they will welcome another foot. a lack of snow has threatened the small businesses who depend on the weather. these storm systems blowing in from the pacific is hitting california this morning and could turn very dangerous in the days ahead. meteorologist jim dicky is tracking that storm and more at accuweather. we re tracking a storm system here that will be the big weather maker that we ll track the next couple of days. as far as today is concerned, it rolls its way down the coast of california. soaking rainfall in san francisco. that rain arrives late in l.a. we ll see heavy snow in the sierra nevada. wednesday and thursday, this rolls its way into the four corners, then moves out to the plains. looking for blizzard conditions into nebraska, south dakota on thursday with the potential for strong thunderstorms once again. rob and diana, back to you. thanks a lot, jim. forecasters say we can expect less snow, but more blizzards because of climate change. abc s david kerley has more. reporter: it doesn t seem to make sense. blistering blizzards. i was up during the middle of the night and it looked like a blizzard outside. reporter: shoveling your sidewalk you may be asking this is global warming? i m ready for spring. yeah, i m definitely sick of winter. reporter: even the comics are getting in on the snow show. global warming is a total hoax. and i ll tell you how i know. because it s cold today where i live. reporter: but new studies confirm what scientists have been saying, we will get less snow. rutgers scientists have documented a million square mile decline of snow over 50 years. and global snowfall over the next 50 years will shrink more than a foot. in the u.s., a 30% to 70% drop in snow by the end of the century. but when we do get snow, watch out. every once in a while, there s going to be a big storm, a kind of knockout punch. reporter: bigger blizzards but less snow? scientists say because a warmer atmosphere can hold a lot more moisture. sucking it up from the oceans. most will come down as rain. but when it gets cold enough, it will turn into snow, a lot of it. and we could get hit by a monster storm. one of these studies is based on computer models. some wonder how good are those models? climatologists say the weather patterns are already changing. get out your snow shovels. snowstorms with two or three feet that used to seem highly unusual that may in fact become more typical. reporter: bigger storms, less snow overall. a new reality. david kerley, abc news, washington. you know, that makes sense. i remember growing up in new york, we had two feet of snow twice in my lifetime. and we ve had two feet of snow since 2010 three times. exactly. so it s not only happening, it s happening really quickly. what i love about that story is people say how can it be this global warming thing going on? it s so cold. it has nothing to do with that. that s why they re shifting terminology from global warming to climate change. the basic science is basically the warmer it gets, more moisture in the air. whether it s stronger hurricanes or stronger snowstorms, all that additional moisture has to turn into something. that is global warming or climate change. depending on what phrase you like to use. global warming doesn t just mean it s getting hotter. that s way oversimplifying it. it is what s happening. the water is melting and now it s in the atmosphere as opposed to being on the glaciers where it s supposed to be. oversimplified, so we need new terminology for the people who don t quite understand it. bigger blizzards and stronger hurricanes. that s the danger of it going forward. a preliminary investigation reveals it was a fuel leak that caused the fire on board the carnival triumph cruise ship. a coast guard official says a line between the fuel tank and one of the ship s engines leaked dripping hot oil on a hot surface, igniting the fire. the official also said the crew responded appropriately. a full investigation is expected to take up to six entire months. people are wondering legally can people sue? well, people are already suing, as you can imagine. we know of two lawsuits that have been filed. the first suit, 25-year-old texas woman sued carnival for failing to provide a seaworthy vessel and sanitary conditions. a second suit, a woman seeking more than $75,000 for damage to her health, severe dehydration and even bruises that she got while waiting in food lines on the ship. this is interesting. the second lawsuit, which was i think it was filed in miami, is the first one that talks about physical ailments and physical damage. everybody else is you just did a bad job of providing me with a good trip, which is what i paid for. she s talking about physical problems that happened, dehydration and violent lines. health issues in addition to poor service. they re basically saying the $500, the free trip and the refund wasn t enough. i m stunned that people weren t satisfied. in the first lawsuit, the plaintiff was forced to endure unbearable odors on the disabled vessel and wade through human feces to reach food lines for hours only to receive rations of spoiled food. wow. bon appetit. we ve got fun. let s move on to some more pleasant news perhaps. connecticut lawmakers are debating a new measure to protect children from secondhand smoke. the new law would ban smoking in cars that carry children 6 years or younger. violators could be ticketed. 30 representatives have signed on to support the measure. six states already ban smoking in cars with kids. virginia and utah are considering it, as well. here s one to make your scratch your head. lawmakers in mississippi thought their state ratified the 13th amendment outlawing slavery. but a clerical error was just discovered and corrected. mississippi legislators ratified that amendment back in 1995, yeah, 95. but the paperwork was never sent to the u.s. archive to make it official. the oversight was uncovered after fans of the movie, lincoln looked up mississippi s ratification. so a few weeks ago, mississippi s secretary of state corrected the problem 18 years late. congress did it in 1865, mississippi took its time and got to it in 1995, and didn t even get that correct. a very wise person said this evening, a state with so many is, and they can t see. that was very cool. a veteran teacher at a central california high school is on administrative leave after being accused of stealing from the students. the unnamed teacher was caught on a cell phone camera allegedly taking things from student s backpacks. that camera was set up by students after some of them discovered things had gone missing. police are looking into whether a crime was committed. if the teacher stole from the students, i think we can say there was a crime committed. we ll see you in detention. a big merger in office supplies looks to be in the works. the wall street journal reports office max and office depot could announce a deal this week. both have been battered by a weak economy and online competition, as well. six years ago, regulators blocked office depot and staples from merging because it would be too big. but there s more competition now from big box stores and from the internet, as well. office max, office depot. they re similar enough they can get together. staples could jump in there, too. if you were watching yesterday morning at this time, you know we told you about a guy who ran sunday s marathon in texas carrying two tires on his shoulders. meet nicholas from pennsylvania. next monday, the 9-year-old will run a full marathon in antarctica, and he s doing it for a good cause. ultimately he wants to run a marathon in all seven continents. and while he s doing it, he s raising money for operation warm which provides winter coats for underprivileged children. which was funded, by the way, by his grandfather. this is incredible. there s a sound bite where he says, all he wants to do is meet the penguins. that s rough terrain for that little dude. pack warmly, that s for sure. his dad is a doctor, his parents say that he s been checked out by sports analysts and doctors and his own pediatrician and he s running and all that wear and tear on your body. no problem at all. he s completely healthy. good to see a kid that young with such a sense of charity. yes. good for him. coming up, why nascar driver danica patrick faces an uphill challenge every time she races. and the hoax that captured headlines worldwide. that woman who claims she was attacked with acid, then admitted she did it herself. a whole lot more on that. you re watching world news now. world news now weather brought to you by lysol power and free. about the ones we love. d free ourselves from g lysol power & free has more cleaning power than bleach. how? the secret is the hydrogen peroxide formula. it attacks tough stains and kills 99.9% of germs. lysol power & free. powerful cleaning that s family friendly. another step forward in our mission for health. have given way to sleeping. tossing and turning where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. .but he d wait for her forever, for any reason, and would always be there with the biggest welcome home. for a love this strong, dawn only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands, it has 50% more animal protein. .to help keep rocky s body as strong as a love that never fades. if he ever lets her leave again. iams. keep love strong. welcome back, everyone. this is a birre st welcome back, everyone. this is a bizarre story we have to tell you about. a woman who said she was attacked with acid and later admitted she did it herself. this is crazy to say the least. this story is tough to hear and a warning it may be tough to watch. she said she did it because she couldn t stand the way she looked. abc s abbie boudreau spoke with her and brings us this story. reporter: from victim i could hear it bubbling and sizzling my skin. reporter: to villain. it makes me sick. reporter: three years ago, in vancouver, washington, 28-year-old bethany told police out of nowhere a woman threw liquid acid in her face. but it turned out to be a hoax. she did it to herself. in this explosive interview with abc news, she s speaking out on camera for the first time. i made a mistake. and i hope that people will forgive me and give me a chance, because i m a good person, i promise i am. reporter: she s hard of hearing and said she had an undiagnosed case of body dismorphic disorder that causes an obsession over minor or imagined flaws. it was like fire to my face. i was so happy. i thought i found the answer. reporter: but she says when the pain became unbearable, she couldn t bring herself to drink the acid. i m freaking out, like this isn t working. what am i going to do now? reporter: so she drove down the street and screamed for help. somebody screamed out, did someone do this to you? i said yes and that s when it all began. reporter: she even gave police a fake description of the alleged attacker. if anybody knows any information of the girl that did this to me and help find her. reporter: did you like all that attention with the cameras and microphones? yeah, i did. and that moment i felt like i was cared for and i mattered. reporter: two weeks past before police pieced together the clues. and bethany confessed. and i m so sorry to everybody. i really truly am. reporter: in her new book facing the truth, she says she s starting to feel more comfortable in her own skin. it s hot. reporter: so this is the new you? yes. reporter: now no longer seeing that monster in the mirror. i m sorry. it s hard. i m still me, i m still the same person, but better, you know, i m getting better every day. reporter: abbie boudreau, abc news, los angeles. wow. it s a sad situation. it is. really. a lot of people are making fun of her because if you have a disorder where you don t like the way your face looks, why throw acid in your face? that s kind of my point. that was my basic point. don t make me laugh. i m not telling a joke. that is a good question. i m trying to get through this. all i m saying is, it s a sad situation. she has a disorder and a lot of people suffer from this disorder. there are there are a lot of people suffering through this. i m glad she s come around. let s leave it at that, shall we? and we ll be right back. indeed. world news the legendary owner of the l.a. lakers died monday at the age of 80. he s credited with building the team into the elite franchise it is today. espn s shelly smith looks back on the life and legend of jerry buss. ladies and gentlemen, we proudly welcome to the hollywood walk of fame, jerry buss. reporter: jerry buss was a renaissance man and a rock star. but most of all, he was a champion, ten times over. none of this would have been possible, none of this is possible without the greatest owner in the history of team sports. reporter: buss grew up in wyoming but moved to california while pursuing his masters and doctorate at usc. he made his fortune by turning a $1,000 investment in apartment complexes into a multimillion dollar business. real estate gave him the power, but sports remained his passion. in 1979, he fulfilled that in buying the los angeles lakers, the los angeles kings, and the great western forum, for $67.5 million, in what was at that time the biggest financial transaction in sports history. that same year, buss invested in another gold mine, magic johnson. and they created the showtime era. did you ever dream your laker team would win the championship in its first year? i ve been praying for it for 8 months and 4 days. reporter: over the next four decades, the lakers added nine more nba titles, including three straight with shaquille o neal and kobe bryant. along the way, buss remained steadfast behind the scenes, handing over the responsibility of the organization to his children, namely his son, jim, and daughter jeannie. under buss, the lakers became a national obsession and a bastion of greatness, rivaled only by the hated boston celtics. nothing gave buss more pleasure than beating them one more time in 2010 to give him his 10th trophy. every day he was alive, buss lived as a legend, and as a champion. incredible legacy. in case you re wondering, he made arrangements for the team to stay within the family. there are questions who will become the face or the voice of the team now, and maybe some speculation magic johnson, seems appropriate enough, may take on that role. as far as marketing goes, he was a legend. maybe magic johnson can do the same. nice life and nice work. role. be back. nice work. we ll be back. e frustrating. it s hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can t get back to sleep. it s an effective sleep medicine you don t take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you re fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines, has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. the rid-x septic subscriber program helps prevent backups by sending you monthly doses right to your door so you will never forget to maintain your system. sign up at rid-x.com. and you ll dump your old duster. but don t worry, he ll find someone else. who s that lady? who s that lady? sexy lady, who s that lady? [ female announcer ] swiffer 360 dusters extender cleans high and low, with thick all around fibers that attract and lock up to two times more dust than a feather duster. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. and now swiffer dusters refills are available with the fresh scent of gain. all you want to do is ride around, sally ride, sally, ride ride, sally, ride. oh, willis. driving nearly 200 miles an hour does not just require laser sharp focus and quick reflexes. it also requires serious strength, which makes danica patrick s achievements all the more impressive. here s abc s paula faris with more about what patrick has to do to make sure she s race ready. reporter: in the 65-year history of nascar, there s never been a female winner. danica patrick in green. reporter: but after winning the pole position, danica patrick is in position to change that. just like anybody else in this moment. i m happy, i m proud. reporter: how did she do it? she credits her team, state of the art car and grueling workouts. biology tells us men s muscles outperform women s in endurance sports and racing is like a three-hour workout. so she says she focuses on her upper body strength, building neck muscles like a line backer to stay upright during the hard turns. controlling the steering wheel is like holding a medicine ball in front of you for two hours. punching the brake pedal on the turns is like pushing down 300 pounds, while battling 150 degree temperatures inside. add a bodysuit on that, drivers can sweat off seven pounds in a single race. any doubt that she s in the best physical shape she can be? no doubt in my mind. she s constantly working out, watching her diet. reporter: take a look at this. danica dwarfed by her male counters. eight inches shorter, 50 pounds lighter. she s leveled the playing field despite those differences. she s not set out to be the fastest girl, she s set out to be the fastest driver. and she proved that. reporter: even the daughter of one of her fiercest competitors, jeff gordon, taking a photo not with her dad, but with danica. she s already shattered history, marking the track s fastest speed in decades. next sunday, danica patrick may just do it again. i don t give myself a super high chance of winning but i give myself a chance to win. absolutely. reporter: paula faris, abc news, new york. she s an incredible role model and accomplished quite a lot at 30 years old. you can. forget go daddy. go mommy. she s doing her thing. good for her. go, girl. oh, yeah, that s the way i race. i m always the fastest on the track. really? no. i don t work out. i couldn t do anything on a racetrack. so you re saying you re fast? yes. this morning on world news now, demanding answers, as more troubling details emerge in the oscar pistorius murder investigation, the olympic athlete now faces the judge. while family and friends of his murdered girlfriend gathered today for her funeral. it s tuesday, february 19th. from abc news, this is world news now. good tuesday morning, everybody, i m rob nelson. and i m diana perez. we ll get to the very latest on the pistorius case. and also this morning, demanding answers from actor alec baldwin. he s accused of using a racial slur during a confrontation with a new york tabloid photographer. hear what he has to say or not say. interesting story. how many times have we seen this before? remember, it was the words with friends game, now another dust-up with the photographer. maybe what makes this one different is there was some slurring going on, some stereotypes that he was using against these folks. it s about what he said and why he said it. some anger management issues for mr. baldwin. a little bit. then the dangerous journey inside the unpredictable war torn nation of syria. terry moran gives us a look at inside a country accused of war crimes. later on taking action. every day heroes knew what to do on a new york city subway platform when a man passed out and fell. as danger approached. i feel like we ve seen a lot of these cases. yes. there was a case of a woman who was dragged and thrown in, that happened in pennsylvania. there was another woman here who passed out and fell. we keep seeing these things happen. luckily some good samaritans on the scene with seconds to go to get out of there, most of the time. there are the cases where that didn t happen. before that, oscar pistorius, he s back in court for a bail hearing today in south africa. meanwhile, some of his major sponsors are distancing themselves from him. pistorius arrived at this courthouse for his hearing this morning. his lawyers and police are to reveal details about the death of the olympic athlete s girlfriend. and abc s bazi kanani is there. reporter: famous for his triumph over adversity, oscar pistorius is now in his toughest battle yet. his agent says all of the track star s future events have been canceled as he focuses on the legal battle against charges he murdered his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp on valentine s day. we have no doubt there is no substance for the allegations. reporter: pistorius family and friends insist the shooting was an accident, that he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder. but new details cast doubt on that explanation. while police officials refused to comment to abc news on the claims, one respected local newspaper, city press, reports several police sources said that a bloody cricket bat will be a key piece of evidence, possibly used in a violent argument before the shooting. that steenkamp was wearing a night gown and her overnight bag was found in the bedroom. that he fired the first shot in the bedroom and she may have fled to the bathroom, where she was shot three more times through the door. he is teaming up with his attorneys, while he makes his appearance in court, a private funeral will be held for steenkamp in her hometown. at the moment it s family coming together. and the one person who would be the strongest who held us all together unfortunately is not here anymore, and that s my sister. reporter: bazi kanani, abc news, south africa. wow. some interesting new details emerging, as well in this. apparently according to a newspaper in south africa, the star pistorius had just applied for and was denied, he applied for firearm licenses for three shotguns, two revolvers and a rifle, so six more guns he wanted. and apparently he did have a permit for the pistol. which is what they believe was used in the shooting. but six more guns he wanted to get his hands on? south africa has a serious crime problem, but how many guns do you need to defend yourself from the burglar coming in the house? this story is getting a little bit of traction. the british police are reporting that police are saying that boxes and boxes of steroids were found inside the house as well. so now i guess people are saying it s roid rage where people go nuts on those drugs and get in this fit of anger and rage as they call it here and they said the hull of unopened packages, included every form possible, including capsules and syringes. and apparently his car was in the driveway at the time with the engine running, according to a published report just this morning. so lots of interesting clues here. what it adds up to we don t know yet. we re not sure which reports are true or not, but there s a report she was wearing a nightgown. so was it true that she was there to surprise him for valentine s day? but lots of things happening and going on. so it s a whole lot of things we have to put together. clear to see why that case has riveted the country. moving on to an nfl player who is in some trouble this morning. dejuan bowers was arrested for carrying an illegal handgun. the tampa bay buccaneers player blew the whistle on himself. he was taken into custody and posted $10,000 bond. if convicted, he faces at least 3 1/2 years in prison. colorado house democrats pass new ammunition limits and also expanded background checks as part of a package of bills responding to recent mass shootings. one of those was at a movie theater in aurora, where 12 people were killed. we remember that horrendous scene from july. legislation still has to be passed in colorado state senate. not sure how that will play out. but obviously taking action because something like that happened in their backyard. and just talk about the difference between lawmakers here. rhonda fields, the democratic representative for the area where the aurora shooting happened, said enough is enough, i m sick and tired of the bloodshed. but a republican representative of a different part of colorado is saying this bill will never keep evil people from doing evil things. it s interesting to see the opposing sides, even in a state where this was a mass shooting, they still stand by their sides. still resistance there. one republican lawmaker called it a knee jerk reaction to what happened in newtown and what happened in aurora. so there s no guarantee how this will play out. that other side often says, look, even people who support gun control have made the same point. you re never going to stop everything. crazy is always going to be crazy. but maybe make guns a little less accessible would put a dent in the problem. but that s a pointed debate. how accessible are the guns to the people who don t know how to manage guns and two, the people who have mental illnesses and shouldn t have guns in their hands in the first place. that s what is at the center of all this. a former boyfriend is questioning whether mindy mccready could have been released from an inpatient rehab center too early. the country star was found dead sunday by an apparent suicide at her arkansas home. she had threatened to kill herself after losing custody of one of her sons earlier this month, yet she was allowed to leave the court-ordered rehab. she starred in that show celebrity rehab and the fourth person to commit suicide. wow. in other news, alec baldwin is going another round with the tabloid press, and this time controversial remarks are involved. he attracted a crowd of reporters yesterday in his neighborhood here in manhattan. they wanted his reaction to claims by a photographer that he used a racial slur during a confrontation on sunday. as you re about to see, baldwin was not remotely interested in talking. can you set the record straight? why would i bother doing that with you? all right, alec. in a statement he called the claim one of the most outrageous things he s ever heard. both he and the photographer have filed complaints with the police. a few thousand customers are without power in arkansas after severe weather moved through. strong winds knocked down several buildings, but there were no immediate reports of major injuries. golf ball-size hail was reported in the town of prescott. and drivers in the dakotas and western minnesota have been ordered off the roads after a raging blizzard reduced visibility to practically zero. snow plows were pulled off the road, as well. winds were gusting up to 50 miles per hour, and there were dozens of accidents because of the whiteout conditions. wind chills could hit 30 below zero. can t imagine what that feels like. that snowstorm is hitting the great lakes region this morning with another storm right behind it. it s one after the other after the other. what a fun winter it s been. meteorologist jim dickey is tracking both of those storms. he s at accuweather and has the latest. morning, jim. good morning rob and diana. we re tracking two systems here today. one that s more or less weakening, drifting towards the northeast. heavy snow into canada. as far as the great lakes, just a nuisance event. couple inches by the time all is said and done with soaking rainfall in the afternoon along the i-95 corridor. this while the next system, an area of low pressure is riding down the west coast. we ll see heavy rainfall into san francisco throughout the day. major delays at the airport there while the rain spreads into l.a. into the afternoon and evening. midweek, this will move out into the plains. thursday looking for blizzard conditions in the central and northern plains. strong thunderstorms in the lower mississippi valley. rob and diana, back to you. many thanks, jim. hang on to your hats for this one. it comes to us from deep in the french alps. that s where a modified mini cooper did something completely crazy. which is to say the driver hit a ramp and did a full on wait for it back flip. whoa! it is being touted now as the world s first ever back flip in a car. the driver was fine, and the car relatively unscathed. but look at the tires and the suspension on that car. you need that for the potholes in the bronx. french alps, bronx, same landscape. coming up next, the pill that promises to take your booze buzz away. and later on, heroes on the subway platform. three smart guys sense danger, took action and made headlines. you re watching world news now. world news now weather brought to you by united health care. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn t pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you re eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn t pay. and could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to me, relationships matter. i ve been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i ll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] with these types of plans, you ll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral to see a specialist. so don t wait. call now and request this free decision guide to help you better understand medicare. and which aarp medicare supplement plan might be best for you. there s a wide range to choose from. we love to travel and there s so much more to see. so we found a plan that can travel with us. anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn t pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. have given way to sleeping. tossing and turning where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. and welcome back, everyone. a united nations panel now says there is evidence of war crimes in syria. and is urging criminal charges be filed. the panel issued a 131-page report detailing massacres, executions, torture, sexual violence, even abuses against children. abc s terry moran made the journey into the heart of syria for a rare look inside that war-torn nation. reporter: the road from beirut to damascus. we drove into syria along this heavily guarded route, checkpoint after checkpoint after checkpoint. it is now a lifeline. as damascus, the strong hold of the government of president assad, becomes a city under siege. it is a dirty war, in a crucial country. just look at the map. the chaos engulfing syria threatens to spill over into iraq on one time, israel and lebanon on the other. a nightmare scenario for the u.s. the united nations now estimates that 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting, though no one really knows. a u.n. commission called for war crimes investigations of both sides. assad s government, which has sought to crush the rebellion, and the rebels, who are seen as warlords, gangsters, and religious fanatics who regularly post videos of beheadings and other atrocities on youtube. damascus is quiet. no one really walking around. 5 million people hunkered down as the terrible war that s tearing their country apart has arrived here. in fierce battles raging in the city s suburbs. syria s many minorities live in terror of jihadist takeover of their country. before we came here, we visited christian refugees from syria who fled to beirut. they said they were forced out of their villages by muslim fundamentalists, ethnically cleansed. they supported the rebellion at first, but not now. they lost their homes, their communities, their way of life. we lived free as christians, this man tells us, putting up christmas trees and decorations. but now we are being targeted. a dirty war, no end in sight. we come to this country with the permission of the government, who want the other side of the story told. but there s no doubt the rebellion has changed. as ordinary syrians just want the fighting to stop and dread the chaos that s been unleashed here. bashar assad seems to know this. the man who the u.s. said must go told a group of visitors we are sure we will win. there s such a question how deeply america should get involved, if at all. we said we re going to support the opposition, but if that opposition is now radicalized, we give them weapons, whose hands are we putting weapons in? eventually turn back on america. we ve had it happen before and we don t want it to happen again. there are so many people in syria who were for the opposition, and now the opposition has turned against them already. and therefore, that should be a mirror we can look into to determine whether or not we which side we need to help. meantime, the death toll rises. it s sadly a familiar story in new york city, someone falling on the subway tracks. but this one has a very happy ending. that story is coming up next. world news now continues after this from our abc statio a truly heroic act by three new york commuters saved a man s life. this is crazy. the man passed out and tumbled onto the subway tracks. with just minutes before the train was scheduled to roll in, the group of good samaritans went to work. here s matt kozar. i know it said two minutes till the train was coming in. but i saw the lights, so it had to have been at least 100 feet. reporter: with a train racing into the subway station sunday morning, dennis and two other good samaritans were running out of time. using all of their might, they tried to lift the unconscious man, who had fallen on the tracks. this guy, he had to have been drunk, just fell on the tracks, didn t even brace himself. as soon as he hit the rails, he was bleeding. we got him to the side of the platform, but there was no way we could lift him up. we kept trying and trying. reporter: he says the man was about 6 1 and weighed more than 200 pounds. after unsuccessfully trying to get him on the platform, he says strap hangers helped pull up the unresponsive man, whose face was bloody. dennis works as a personal trainer and says he doesn t consider himself a hero but did learn something about himself from this experience. i m starting to realize you know what? that could have been me and i need to make the best effort to fulfill those things i want to do. reporter: one of the other good samaritans was his best friend visiting from poughkeepsie. the third man was a cadet at the air force academy. he was the first one to jump on the track. matt kozar, abc news, new york. according to a city council hearing, 141 people were hit by subway trains. 55 of whom died. this is a little more common than you may think. wow. not only that, but in december there were two people who were pushed on to the tracks. ride safe, everybody. please. we ll be back. can help you get there. ®(eszopiclone) like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. welcome back, everybody. this story i didn t find funny, i found it interesting, because one of my pet peeves is sitting in traffic. i go nuts. that start, stop, i go insane. i have no patience for that. so they did this study back in december, and now it s being reported in this journal called scientific reports. it looked at almost 700,000 drivers in boston and their traffic pattern through their cell phones they can track from origin to destination. what it came up with is one of the most detailed maps of urban traffic patterns ever constructed. the traffic jams are caused by just a few drivers. where is everyone going? so, look, no overnight solutions here, but perhaps it shows some patterns that urban planners could use down the road to create better roads for all of us to get to work in less time. so the good power of the cell phone is the story here. they can track you from your house to work and maybe build better highway systems. and speaking of boston, i used to work in boston and it used to take me two hours on the mass pike. it is a nightmare out there. this is a quick fix. have you ever wanted to drink as much as you wanted to drink and not wake up with a hangover? i don t like alcohol, so no. for those of us who do like alcohol, apparently, there are scientists in england who have come up with a booze busting pill. it sobers you up in one instant. it reduces the blood alcohol level in your system. it s being compared to a million little livers in your gut. it s in the early stages, it s being tested on mice, and not tested on humans yet. the medical people that are in charge of this behind this in england envision this will be a pill where we can pop a pill, no hangover. not even drunk anymore. that is incredible. i want it. i want it now! i m calling to make my new year s eve plans right now. finally some proof here about men and women do think differently. not just because of the way we re brought up or gender stereotypes, but our brains are wired differently. a new study out, they did 80,000 brain scans and there s proof men and women approach things differently. women have more brain cells in the prefrontal cortex which controls planning, men have more gray matter in the brain that governs intelligence. so we re more inclined to tackle a task with single-minded focus. women have larger areas in the brain dedicated to gut feelings. and the male pattern indicates we re far more concerned about problem solving than emotion. bottom line this morning on world news now, legal move. oscar pistorius day in court and the latest evidence in the murder investigation. the demands for justice as his murdered girlfriend is fondly remembered today at her funeral. it s tuesday, february 19th. from abc news, this is world news now. good morning. i m diana perez. and i m rob nelson. all eyes on south africa for oscar pistorius and his day in court. we ll get to that in a second. but also this morning, the sandy hook shooter, adam lanza and what his motivations may have been before the massacre in newtown. why he may be linked to another mass murderer. learning a lot of insight into his mental status. beyond chilling. that s right. an unforgettable display of fearlessness. a young woman who dares to swim with the most dangerous creatures in the ocean. getting up close and personal to a great white shark. you have to admire the bravery. she s actually a model in hawaii that says forget all the magazine covers, i m going to swim with jaws and hang out. no cage, no protective team around her. just me and jaws, just enjoying the swim. but in a second he could turn around and be like nope, there goes your face. that would be my thought process. maybe i m the weird one. but i m not. i don t think so. a big surprise on stage from superstar sting. but this was no ordinary stage. we can t wait to explain the rest of the story to you coming up in just a few minutes in the skinny. got to love sting. that happens to you or anyone you go crazy. we ll tell you in a second. but first, the murder case against oscar pistorius. the courthouse is a mob scene as pistorius was formally charged this morning. he s accused of premeditated murder of his girlfriend. abc s bazi kanani reports on the investigation from south africa. reporter: world famous for his triumph over adversity, oscar pistorius is facing his toughest challenge yet, facing murder charges for the death of his cover model girlfriend. in his cramped jail cell, this pastor prayed with him. i saw him as a very lonely young man standing there, very heart broken and sad. reporter: she tells abc news when she visited pistorius on sunday, he was humbled. oscar was also devastated about reeva s family, as well as his own. reporter: pistorius is currently losing the battle for public opinion in south africa, where incriminating claims are swirling in media. new reports saying that steroids were found in his house and investigators are testing his blood for the drug that can cause roid rage. aggressive outbursts. that a bloody cricket bat was found in his bedroom. possibly used in a violent argument before the shooting. that his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, may have fled to the bathroom, where she was shot at least three times through the door. oscar pistorius is gearing up for his legal battle with a team of top attorneys and forensic experts, while he makes his second appearance in court. a private funeral service will be held for steenkamp in her hometown. at the moment, it s family coming together, and actually the one person who would be the strongest who held us all together is not here anymore. that s my sister. reporter: bazi kanani, abc news, south africa. in other news this morning, there are reports that newtown shooter adam lanza may have been competing with another serial killer. investigators are looking at a possible link between lanza and a mass murderer in norway. that s because several news articles about the 2011 norway massacre were found in lanza s bedroom. cbs news is reporting that lanza picked sandy hook elementary simply because it was the easiest target. this is important, because the lieutenant up in connecticut who is in charge of this investigation, does say that it s too early in the investigation to go into a motive. so are we connecting dots? because all they have is information that they would have found in either writings or on his computer, something at home. nobody spoke to him or his mom who lived with him. his father hadn t seen him in a long time. it s hard to tell if this is a true motive. no definite link just yet, but it s hard to believe what other reason would that information be found in his bedroom if he wasn t studying it or inspired by it. this was no small massacre. this was a guy, anders breivik, who killed 77 people back in july 2011. it was in downtown oslo, which doesn t have a crime problem in that part of the world, including many kids. it was a true massacre. 77 folks. this was no small massacre or anything insignificant. that was a big international story. he had articles about that massacre in his room. and not only that, but apparently he was in competition with breivik. he wanted to kill more people than breivik did, which is scary. exactly. russian authorities have blamed inhumane treatment for the death of a 3-year-old boy adopted by a family in texas. the texas investigators say they re still investigating claims that the child was abused before his death. autopsy results on the 3-year-old named max are still pending. russia recently banned american adoptions. investigators are getting to the bottom of just what went wrong with the carnival triumph. a coast guard official says the cause of the fire that disabled the cruise ship was a leak in a pipe between the fuel tank and engines. the oil dripped on a hot surface and caught fire. the official said that the crew responded appropriately to the fire. the horse meat scandal in europe has now drawn in food giant nestles. the global food company is suspending delivery of all of its products that include beef from one of its german suppliers because they found traces of horse dna in them. among the products, beef ravioli and tortellini. nestle insists there are no food safety issues here. none of the products are sold here in the u.s. burger king is happy to have survived a whopper of a prank. a hacker took over the company s twitter account and announced it had been bought by mcdonald s. the cyber thief replaced burger king s profile picture with the golden arches and posted some obscene messages, as well. burger king got twitter to suspend the account and welcomed all of their new followers. so they got hacked, but at least no horse meat scandal as of yet. and mcdonald s tweeted out they weren t responsible. that s great news. blizzard conditions across the dakotas and western minnesota have made travel very, very dangerous this morning. two people were killed in an interstate pileup near fargo. drivers were warned to stay off the road as visibility was reduced to near zero. even plows were pulled off because they couldn t keep up with the drifting and blowing snow. and now for the rest of the weather, here we go. the storm that could dump a foot of snow on wisconsin and michigan is headed that way. stormy along the gulf coast. chilly and a damp day in los angeles. extremely cold air grips the nation s midsection with wind chills of 25 below zero. fargo will not make it above zero. and just for those of you that want to feel jealous, miami and honolulu, they re the hot spots at a wonderful sounding 81 degrees. i ve got to pack my bags. no kidding. let s just take this show on location. just a couple months in miami. i m sure it s in the budget. the weather was perfect for the third annual recyclable ski or sled race at a ski slope in western illinois. a dozen kids competed for the golden shovel award. to win, they had to make their sled using only cardboard, duct tape, and wax. two sleds going against each other at a time. the one who goes the furthest wins. there was awards for best design and best team spirit. and speaking of design, we saw some video right there where one of the sleds was painted with the jamaican colors, so maybe that was a nod to cool runnings. a little movie inspiration. i would rather do that than ski. i feel much safer in cardboard. i don t have that kind of coordination. i take my chances on on the skis? and the bunny hill. i will take my chances. cardboard, duct tape and wax. wax doesn t hold anything together. what are we using wax for? keep it real. it s fun. at least you re closer to the ground. that is true. coming up after the break, an amazing career move truly for a member of michael jackson s immediate family. you re not going to believe this one. 16 years old by the way. later on one mother in her special delivery. two separate sets of twins. who are these boys and why are they so rare? you re watching world news now. world news now weather brought to you by lunesta. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. dangerous, so dangerous oh, an underrated michael jackson classic dangerous. oh, boy. here it comes. dangerous like willis. a woman named ocean says great white sharks are simply misunderstood. so like any rational person she swims with them. of course. abc s nick watt sent out to find out what makes her think this is such a good idea. reporter: holy moly. yes, you really are seeing what you think you re seeing. a great white shark, the most feared beast on earth, a killer, and a human, no air tanks, no cage, no fear. and here she is. i understand that, you know, it is dangerous. it is a wild animal. reporter: ocean ramsey is a hawaiian model/diver who can hold her breath under water for 5:45. she means business. you ve heard of the horse whisperer, the dog whisperer. hey, buddy. reporter: even the eagle whisperer. is ocean ramsey the shark whisperer? they re actually cautious and calculated. they re misunderstood as a ravenous, mindless man eating machines and that s not how they are. reporter: california just this week declared the great white an endangered species. experts estimate there are only 339 left along the pacific coast. but ever since jaws, it s hard to generate sympathy for these killing machines. that s why ocean ramsey and the guy who filmed these extraordinary scenes are driven to such jaw-dropping scenes. the biggest thing is to nail the shot. here is this beautiful shark and this graceful diver swimming along in perfect harmony. it s hard to describe what it s like to actually have a great white swimming towards you or next to you. it s breathtaking. reporter: we ll just take your word for that, ocean. we ll just take your word for that. nick watt, abc news, los angeles. get this stat here. in one year, a single great white consumes about 11 tons of food. that s slightly more than willis. oh! and after eating one big meal, they can rest for up to three months without having to eat. they go into hibernation. i admire her bravery. they don t go into hibernation. eating wise. i admire the bravery. i just don t get why you can have a nice hawaii model life, why you re out there risking your life. once you have it all, you start looking for other things. right? i guess. i m all out. fresh out. i got nothing to say about that. good luck to you. willis! that s the music they play when willis goes walking into the nightclub. coming up next, fergie s big announcement, and it s not about her career. and what a great job for a famous teenager. coming up next in the skinny. teenager we said. uh-huh. world news now continues after this from our abc stations. skinny, so skinny welcome back, everybody. this story had the whole staff talking this morning. this is very interesting. we ve seen it before where tv networks will hire, you know, the children of famous people to do some on-air work like chelsea clinton. jenna bush had a job in tv. guess who is the latest one to join those ranks? who is it? michael jackson s oldest son, prince, is now working for entertainment tonight. there he is. he s 16 years. i do question child labor laws, that s a little young. not a full adult just yet. but anyway, all this week, they announced on monday it s made prince an on-air correspondent. he s the eldest child of course of michael jackson. he says i m looking forward i m looking to become well rounded as a producer, director, screen writer and actor. i guess this is his break into the business. you can see the family resemblance of michael, can t you? apparently this is his new gig, he s going to be there at least for the week. i wonder if it s a real career start or whether it is sweeps in tv world. so i don t know if this is a stunt. but that s michael jackson s son, doing our kind of work these days. good luck to him. seems like a nice kid. how do you do that? if you re an artist and being i can t say the word, interviewed, get it out. you re being interviewed just forget what i was going to say. so, we all know that sting can sing, right? now he proved it, because he was at a bar, a karaoke bar and this girl said come on and do it for us. check this out. she drives me crazy that was in malibu, cafe havana. and he killed it. do you know what song that is and who sings it? no. she drives me crazy, fine young cannibals, years ago. that was a big hit back in the day. of course. i remember that hit. she drives me crazy that s the only line people know. i can t help myself in a good voice, though. also, we want to send some congratulations to fergie of the black eyed peas fame. she is pregnant. look at this twitter pic. this is photo shopped, but that is fergie on the right and her husband, whose name i always mispronounce. josh dumel. something like that. i m sorry if i botched the name. that s him as a little kid. and she sent out a tweet that said josh and me and baby makes three. she announced it earlier this month that she s pregnant. so with want to wish her a congratulations. they got married back in january of 2009. she s 37, he is 40. they grew up in similar ways. now they re bringing new life into the world. that s adorable. they re going to make a cute kid. that kid is going to be good looking. that s a whole new kind of lady lump. from the back to the front. really quickly, we want to show you this picture that has not been photo shopped, by the way. jane fonda is at it again. now she s doing dvds for people who are 50 and older. this is called am/pm yoga. there she is, from back in the day, looking hot. and now she s still looking good. look at her go. she s 75 years old, still releasing dvds for workouts! wow. at 32 i can t even do that. i m just going to say, jane still has for 75, she still looks good. she s got it. talk about her lady luck. i may have to work out and give her a call. come on, baby girl. we re done. [ female announcer ] switch to swiffer wetjet, and you ll dump your old mop. but don t worry, he ll find someone else. who s that lady? who s that lady? sexy lady who s that lady? [ female announcer ] used mops can grow bacteria. swiffer wetjet starts with a clean pad every time, and its antibacterial cleaner kills bacteria mops can spread around. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. lovely lady in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it s hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can t get back to sleep. it s an effective sleep medicine you don t take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you re fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines, has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. do the harlam shake that s the harlam shake. something like this. i don t know. a rare birth in texas that we want to tell you about. a mother gives birth to four baby boys. but what s unusual is they re two sets of identical twins. that s why this is our favorite story of the day. gina reports now from our station in houston. reporter: it s like winning the lottery of love. tressa and manuel are going to be rich the rest of their lives. they planned on one baby. when they went to a specialist last year, they got a shock. he was quick to say right away, you have four. of course, i couldn t believe it. if i wasn t already laying down, i would have been on the floor. reporter: they re adding four boys. two sets of identical twins, all delivered valentine s day by c-section at the woman s hospital of texas. doctors say the odds of having two sets of twins from different placentas is 1 in 70 million. tressa had to be extremely careful with her pregnancy. a lot of patients end up being in the hospital for prolonged periods of time. but she stayed compliant and bedrest at home, and i think this is quite a feat for her. reporter: they say they didn t take any fertility drugs, they just wanted a sibling for their 2-year-old son, memphis. they say the four new additions will be some work. i m excited, ready for the challenge. it s preparing the house now. i was preparing for one, now it s four. reporter: the newborns are in the hospital, expected to go home in a couple of months. they named them following the abcd model. we just started thinking originality still. let s get something different. we re going to go with ace, blaine, cash and dilan. i like that. abcd. i like that. that is so cute. and those kids are adorable. can you imagine that? no. look how cute. he looks like an old man. you just had one, five months ago, right? yes. that was your first. that was my first. can you imagine three more? absolutely not. he was running out of room. by the time it was all said and done. he was stretching into my ribs. it was not cute. not at all. props to that couple. beautiful. their hands are all. congratulations. that s adorable. we will be right b-a-c-k. this is abc s world news now informing insomniacs for two decades. this morning, oscar pistorius back in court. the olympian appearing before a judge, once again, said to be sobbing uncontrollably. the world watching the small courthouse, where we re learning more about that fateful night. all this on the day his girlfriend s family says their good-byes. cyber warfare. breaking overnight, invasive attacks on u.s. interests online. and now, we may know who s behind them. severe storms. the powerful system that brought whiteout conditions is now on the move. rough weather is in store for millions today. and a daredevil with a driver s license going end-over-end. all of it, in a mini cooper. and good morning. we begin this morning with breaking news. emotional, new details about the murder case against olympic runner oscar pistorius. those details all stem from last thursday s shooting death of pistorius model girlfriend. they re being laid out in a small courthouse in pretoria, south africa. abc s bazi kanani is there. and she joins us, now, by phone. bazi, what can you tell us? what is the latest? reporter: good morning, rob and diana. this morning, we are get the first official details of what may have led up to the shooting of oscar pistorius girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. this is a bail hearing for oscar pistorius.
that s way oversimplifying it. it is what s happening. the water is melting and now it s in the atmosphere as opposed to being on the glaciers. so we need new terminology for the people who don t quite understand it. bigger blizzards and stronger hurricanes. that s the danger of it going forward. a preliminary investigation reveals it was a fuel leak that caused the fire on board the carnival triumph cruise ship. a line between the fuel tank and one of the ship s engines leaked dripping hot oil on a hot surface, igniting the fire. officials said the crew responded appropriately. a full investigation is expected to take up to six months. people are wondering legally can people sue? we know of two lawsuits that have been filed. 25-year-old texas woman sued carnival for failing to provide a seaworthy vessel and sanitary conditions. a second suit, a woman seeking more than $75,000 for damage to her health, dehydration and bruises she got while waiting in food lines. the second lawsuit, which was i think it was filed in miami, talks about physical ailments and damage. everybody else is talking about you did a bad job of providing me with a good trip. she s talking about physical problems that happened to her on the trip. health issues in addition to poor service. they re basically saying the $500, the free ship and the refund wasn t enough. i m stunned that people weren t satisfied. in the first lawsuit, plaintiff was norlsed to wade through human feces, only to receive rations of spoiled food. wow. bon appetit. we ve got fun. let s move on to some more pleasant news perhaps. connecticut lawmakers are debating a new measure to protect children from secondhand smoke. violators could be ticketed. 30 representatives have signed on to support the measure. six states already ban smoking in cars with kids. virginia and utah are considering it, as well. here s one to make your scratch your head. lawmakers in mississippi thought their state ratified the 13th amendment outlawing slavery. it was ratified back in 1995, but the paperwork was never sent to the u.s. archive to make it official. the overnight was uncovered after fans of the movie lincoln looked up mississippi s ratification. so a few weeks ago, mississippi s secretary of state corrected the problem 18 years late. congress did it in 1865, mississippi got to it in 1995 and didn t even get that correct. a very wise person said this evening, a state with so many is, and they can t see. a veteran teacher at a central california high school is on admin straytive leave after being accused of stealing from the students. the teacher was caught taking things from backpacks. it was set up by students after some of them discovered things had gone missing. police are looking into whether a crime was committed. if the teacher stole from the students, i think we can say there was a while committed. a big merger in office supplies looks to be in the works. the wall street journal reports office max and office depot could announce a deal this week. both have been battered by a weak economy and online competition, as well. six years ago, regulators blocked office depot and staples from merging because it would be too big. but there s more competition now from big box stores and from the internet, as well. office max, office depot. they re similar enough they can get together. staples could jump in there, too. if you were watching yesterday morning, we showed you a man who ran a marathon with two tires on his shoulders. next monday, this 9-year-old will run a full marathon in antarctica, and he s doing it for a good cause. he wants to run a marathon in all seven continents and he s raising money for operation warm which provides coats for underprivileged children. this is incredible. there s a sound bite where he says, all he wants to do is meet the penguins. that s rough terrain for that little dude. pack warmly, that s for sure. his dad is a doctor, his parents say that he s been checked out by sports analysts and doctors and his own pediatrician and he s running and all that wear and tear on your body. no problem at all. he s completely healthy. good to see a kid that young with such a sense of charity. coming up, why danica patrick faces an uphill challenge every time she races. and the hoax that captured headlines worldwide. that woman who claims she was attacked with acid, then admitted she did it herself. you re watching world news now. it s time to change the way we clean. it s time to free ourselves from the smell and harshness of bleach. and free ourselves from worrying about the ones we love. lysol power & free has more cleaning power than bleach. how? the secret is the hydrogen peroxide formula. it attacks tough stains and kills 99.9% of germs. lysol power & free. powerful cleaning that s family friendly. another step forward in our mission for health. have given way to sleeping. tossing and turning where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. .but he d wait for her forever, for any reason, and would always be there with the biggest welcome home. for a love this strong, dawn only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands, it has 50% more animal protein. .to help keep rocky s body as strong as a love that never fades. if he ever lets her leave again. iams. keep love strong. welcome back, everyone. this is a bizarre story we have to tell you about. a woman who said she was attacked with acid and later admitted she did it herself. this story is tough to hear and a warning it may be tough to watch. she said she did it because she couldn t stand the way she looked. abc s abbie boudreau spoke with her. reporter: from victim i could hear it bubbling and sizzling my skin. reporter: to villain. three years ago, in vancouver, washington, 28-year-old bethany told police out of nowhere, a woman threw liquid acid in her face. but it turned out to be a hoax. she did it to herself. in this explosive interview with abc news, she s speaking out on camera for the first time. i made a mistake. and i hope that people will forgive me and give me a chance, because i m a good person, i promise i am. reporter: she s hard of hearing and said she had an undiagnosed case. it was like fire to my face. i was so happy. i thought i found the answer. reporter: but she says when the pain became unbearable, she couldn t bring herself to drink the acid. i m freaking out, like this isn t working. reporter: so she drove down the street and screamed for help. somebody screamed out, did someone do this to you? i said yes and that s when it all began. rep police a fake description of the alleged attacker. if anybody knows any information of the girl that did this to me and help find her. reporter: did you like all that attention with the cameras and microphones? yeah, i did. and that moment i felt like i was cared for and i mattered. reporter: two weeks past before police pieced together the clues. and bethany confessed. and i m so sorry to everybody. i really truly am. reporter: in here new back facing the truth, she says she s starting to feel more comfortable in her own skin. this is the new you? yes. reporter: now no longer seeing that monster in the mirror. i m sorry. it s hard. i m still me, i m still the same person, but better, you know, i m getting better every day. reporter: abbie boudreau, abc news, los angeles. wow. it s a sad situation. it is. a lot of people are making fun of her because if you have a disorder where you don t like the way your face looks, why throw acid in your face? that s kind of my point. that was my basic point. don t make me laugh. i m not telling a joke. i m trying to get through this. all i m saying is, it s a sad situation. she has a disorder and a lot of people suffer from this disorder. there are there are a lot of people suffering through this. i m glad she s come around. let s leave it at that, shall we? and we ll be right back. indeed. the legendary owner of the l.a. lakers died monday at the age of 80. he s credited with building the team into the elite franchise it is today. ladies and gentlemen, we proudly welcome to the hollywood walk of fame, jerry buss. reporter: jerry buss was a renaissance man and a rock star. but most of all, he was a champion, ten times over. none of this would have been possible, none of this is possible without the greatest owner in the history of team sports. reporter: buss grew up in wyoming but moved to california while pursuing his masters and doctorate at usc. he made his fortune by turning a $1,000 investment in apartment complexes into a multimillion dollar business. real estate gave him the power, but sports remained his passion. in 1979, he fulfilled that in buying the los angeles lakers, the los angeles kings, and the great western forum, for $67.5 million, in what was at that time the biggest financial transaction in sports history. that same year, buss invested in another gold mine, magic johnson. and they created the showtime era. did you ever dream your laker team would win the championship in its first year? i ve been praying for it for 8 months and 4 days. reporter: over the next four decades, the lakers added four more titles. buss remained steadfast, heading over the responsibility of the organization to his children, namely his son jim, and daughter jeannie. under buss, the lakers became a national obsession and a bastion of greatness, rivaled only by the hated boston celtics. nothing gave him more pleasure than beating them one more time in 2010 to give him his 10th trophy. every day he was alive, buss lived as a legend, and as a champion. incredible legacy. in case you re wondering, he made arrangements for the team to stay within the family. there are yeses who will became the face or voice of the team now and maybe speculation magic johnson, seems appropriate enough, may take on that role. nice work. we ll be back. e frustrating. it s hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can t get back to sleep. it s an effective sleep medicine you don t take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you re fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines, has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. the rid-x septic subscriber program helps prevent backups by sending you monthly doses right to your door so you will never forget to maintain your system. sign up at rid-x.com. and you ll dump your old duster. but don t worry, he ll find someone else. who s that lady? who s that lady? sexy lady, who s that lady? [ female announcer ] swiffer 360 dusters extender cleans high and low, with thick all around fibers that attract and lock up to two times more dust than a feather duster. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. and now swiffer dusters refills are available with the fresh scent of gain. all you want to do is ride around, sally ride, sally, ride ride, sally, ride. driving nearly 200 miles an hour does not just require laser sharp focus and quick reflexes. it always requires serious strength, which makes danica patrick s achievements all the more impressive. abc s paula faris has more on what patrick has to do to make sure she s race ready. reporter: in the 65 year history of nascar, there s never been a female winner. but after winning the poll position, danica patrick is in position to change that. just like anybody else in this moment. i m happy, i m proud. reporter: how did she do it? she credits her team, state of the art car and grueling workouts. biology tells us men s muscles outperforms women s. so she says she focuses on her upper body strength, building neck muscles like a line backer to stay upright during the hard turns. controlling the steering wheel is like holding a medicine ball in front of you for two hours. punching the brake pedal on the turns is like pushing down 300 pounds, while battling 150 degree temperatures inside. add a bodysuit on, drivers with sweat off seven pounds in a single race. any doubt that she s in the best niz call shape she can be? no doubt in my mind. she s working out, watching her diet. reporter: danica dwarfed by her male counters. eight inches shorter, 50 pounds lighter. she s leveled the playing field despite those differences. she s not set out to be the fastest girl, she s set out to be the fastest driver. reporter: even the daughter of one of her fiercest competitors, jeff gordon, taking a photo not with bad but with danica. next sunday, danica patrick may just do it again. i don t give myself a super high chance of winning but i give myself a chance to win. reporter: paula faris, abc news, new york. she s an incredible role model and accomplished quite a lot at 30 years old. good for her. hey. go, girl. oh, yeah, that s the way i raise. i m always the fastest on the track. really? no. i don t work out. i wouldn t do anything o now, demanding answers, as more troubling details emerge in the oscar pistorius murder investigation, the olympic athlete now faces the judge. while family and friends of his murdered girlfriend gathered today for her funeral. it s tuesday, february 19th. from abc news, this is world news now. good tuesday morning, everybody, i m rob nelson. and i m diana perez. also this morning, demanding answers from actor alec baldwin. he s accused of using a racial slur with a tabloid photographer. hear what he has to say or not say. interesting story. how many times have we seen this before? remember, it was the words with friends game, now another dust-up with the photographer. maybe what makes this one different is there was some slurring going on, some stereotypes that he was using against these folks. it s about what he said and why he said it. some anger management issues for mr. baldwin. a little bit. then the dangerous journey inside the unpredictable war torn nation of syria. terry moran gives us a look at inside a country accused of war crimes. and a man passed out and fell as a train approached. i feel like we ve seen a lot of these cases. yes. there was a case of a woman who was dragged and thrown in, that happened in pennsylvania. there was another woman here who passed out and fell. we keep seeing these things happen. luckily some good samaritans on the scene with seconds to go to get out of there, most of the time. there are the cases where that didn t happen. before that, oscar pistorius, he s back in court for a bail hearing today in south africa. meanwhile, some of his major sponsors are distancing themselves from him. pistorius arrived at this courthouse for his hearing this morning. his lawyers and police are to reveal details about the death 06 his girlfriend. and abc s bazi kanani is there. reporter: oscar pistorius is now in his toughest battle yet. his agent says all of the track star s future events have been canceled as he focuses on the legal battle against charges he murdered his girlfriend on valentine s day. we have no doubt there is no substance for the allegations. reporter: pistorius family and friends insist the shooting was an accident, that he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder. but new details cast doubt on that explanation. while police officials refused to comment to abc news on the claims, one respected local newspaper, city press, reports several police sources said that a bloody cricket bat will be a key piece of evidence, possibly used in a violent argument before the shooting. that steenkamp was wearing a nightgo nightgown, and she may have fled to the bathroom where she was shot three times through the door. oscar pistorius hearing for his legal battle with a team of top attorneys a private funeral will be held for steenkamp in her hometown. at the moment it s family coming together. and the one person who would be the strongest who held us all together unfortunately is not here anymore, and that s my sister. reporter: bazi kanani, abc news, south africa. wow. some interesting new details emerging, as well in this. apparently according to a newspaper in south africa, pistorius had just applied for and was denied he applied for a firearm licenses for three shotguns, two revolvers and a rifle, so six more guns he wanted. and apparently he did have a permit for the pistol. but six more guns he wanted to get his hands on? south africa has a serious crime problem, but how many guns do you need to defend yourself? the british press is reporting that police are saying that boxes and boxes of steroids were found inside the house as well. so now i guess people are saying it s roid rage where people go nuts on those drugs and get in this fit of rage as they call it here and they said the unopened packages included every form possible, including capsules and syringes. and apparently his car was in the driveway at the time with the engine running, according to a published report just this morning. so lots of interesting clues here. what it adds up to we don t know yet. we re not sure which reports are true or not, but there s a report she was wearing a nightgo nightgown. so it is true she was there to surprise him for a valentine s day whatever? but lots of things happening and going on. so it s a whole lot of things we have to put together. clear to see why that case has riveted the country. moving on to an nfl player who is in some trouble this morning. dejuan bowers was arrested for carrying an illegal hand gun. he blew the whistle on himself. he was taken into custody and posted $10,000 bond. if convicted, he faces at least 3 1/2 years in prison. colorado house democrats pass new ammunition limits and also expanded background checks as part of a package of bills responding to recent mass shootings. one of those was at a movie theater in aurora, where 12 people were killed. legislation still has to be passed in colorado state senate. not sure how that will play out. but obviously taking action because something like that happened in their backyard. and just talk about the difference between lawmakers here. rhonda fields, the democratic representative for the area where the shooting happened, said enough is enough, i m sick and tired of the bloodshed. but a republican representative of a different part of colorado is saying this bill will never keep evil people from doing evil things. it s interesting to see the opposing sides, even in a state where this was a mass shooting, they still stand by their sides. one republican lawmaker called it a knee jerk reaction to what happened in newtown and what happened in aurora. so there s no guarantee how this will play out. even people who support gun control have made the same point. you re never going to stop everything. crazy is always going to be crazy. but maybe make guns a little less accessible would put a dent in the problem. but that s a pointed debate. how accessible are the guns to the people who don t know how to manage guns and two, the people who shouldn t have gunses in nar hands in the first place. that s what is at the center of all this. a former boyfriend is questioning whether mindy mccready could have been released from an inpatient rehab center too early. she was found dead sunday at her arkansas home. she had threatened to kill herself after losing custody of one of her sons earlier this month, yet she was allowed to leave the rehab. apparently she s the fifth person from celebrity rehab show to commit suicide. wow. in other news, alec baldwin is going another round with the tabloid press, and this time controversial remarks are involved. he attracted a crowd of reporters yesterday in his neighborhood here in manhattan. they wanted his reaction to claims by a photographer that he used a racial slur during a confrontation on sunday. as you re about to see, baldwin was not remotely interested in talking. can you set the record straight? why would i bother doing that with you? all right, alec. in a statement he called the claim one of the most outrageous things he s ever heard. both he and the photographer have filed complaints with the police. a few thousand customers are without power in arkansas after severe weather moved through. strong winds knocked down several buildings, but there were no immediate reports of major injuries. golf-ball size hailed was reported in the town of prescott. and drivers in the dakotas and western minnesota have been ordered off the roads after a raging blizzard reduced visibility to practically zero. winds were gusting up to 50 miles per hour, and there were dozens of accidents because of the whiteout conditions. windchills could hit 30 below zero. can t imagine what that feels like. that snowstorm is hitting the great lakes region this morning with another storm right behind it. it s one after the other after the other. what a fun winter it s been. meteorologist jim dicky is tracking both of those storms. he s at accuweather and has the latest. good morning rob and diana. we re tracking two systems here today. one that s more or less weakening, drafting towards the northeast. heavy snow into canada. as far as the great lakes, just a nuisance event. soaking rainfall in the afternoon along the i-95 corridor. this while the next season, an area of low pressure is riding down the west coast. we ll see heavy rainfall into san francisco throughout the day. the rain spreads into l.a. into the afternoon and evening. midweek, this will move out into the plains. thursday looking for blizzard conditions in the central and northern plains. strong thunderstorms in the lower mississippi valley. rob and diana, back to you. many thanks, jim. hang on to your hats for this one. it comes to us from deep in the french alps. there s where a modified mini cooper did something completely crazy. which is to say the driver sit a ramp and did a full-on, wait for it, back flip. whoa! it is being touted now as the world s first-ever back flip? a car. the driver was fine, and the car relatively unscathed. but look at the tires and the suspension on that car. you need that for the potholes in the bronx. french alps, bronx, same landscape. coming up next, the pill that promises to take your booze buzz away. and later on, heroes on the subway platform. three smart guys sense danger, took action and med headlines. you re watching world news now. i m only in my 60 s. i ve got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn t pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you re eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn t pay. and could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to me, relationships matter. i ve been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i ll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] with these types of plans, you ll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral to see a specialist. so don t wait. call now and request this free decision guide to help you better understand medicare. and which aarp medicare supplement plan might be best for you. there s a wide range to choose from. we love to travel and there s so much more to see. so we found a plan that can travel with us. anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn t pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. have given way to sleeping. tossing and turning where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. and welcome back, everyone. a united nations panel now says there is evidence of war crimes in syria. and is urging criminal charges be filed. the panel issued a 131-page report detailing massacres, executions, torture, sexual violence, even abuses against children. abc s terry moran made the journey into the heart of syria for a rare look inside that war-torn nation. reporter: the road from beirut to damascus. we drove into syria along this heavily guarded route, checkpoint after checkpoint after checkpoint. it is now a lifeline. as damascus, the strong hold of the government of president assad, becomes a city under siege. it is a dirty war, in a crucial country. just look at the map. the chaos engulfing syria threatens to spill over into iraq on one time, israel and lebanon on the other. a nightmare scenario for the u.s. the united nations now estimates that 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting, though no one really knows. a u.n. commission called for war crimes investigations of both sides. assad s government, which has sought to crush the rebellion, and the rebels, who are seen as warlords, gangsters, and religious fanatics who regularly post videos of beheadings and other atrocities on youtube. damascus is quiet. no one really walking around. 5 million people hunkered down as the terrible war that s tearing their country apart has arrived here. syria s many minorities live in terror of jihadist takeover of their country. before we came here, we visited christian refugees from syria who fled to beirut. they said they were forced out of their villages by muslim fundamentalists, ethnically cleansed. they supported the rebellion at first, but not now. we lived frey as christians, this man tells us, putting christmas trees and decorations. but now we are being targeted. a dirty war, no end in sight. we come to this country with the permission of the country, who want the other side of the story told. but there s no doubt the rebellion has changed. as ordinary syrians just want the fighting to stop and dread the chaos that s been unleashed here. bashar assad seems to know this. the man who the u.s. said must go told a group of visitors we are sure we will win. there s such a question how deeply america should get involved, if at all. we said we re going to support the opposition, but if that opposition is now radicalized, whose hands are we putting weapons in? we ve had it happen before and we don t want it to happen again. there are so many people in syria who were for the opposition, and now the opposition has turned against them already. and therefore, that should be a mirror we can look into to determine whether or not we which side we need to help. meantime, the death toll rises. it s sadly a familiar story in new york city, someone falling on the subway tracks. but this one has a very happy ending. that story is coming up next. a truly heroic act by three new york commuters saved a man s life. this is drazy. the man passed out and tumbled onto the subway tracks. with just minutes before the train was scheduled to roll in, the group of good samaritans went to work. here s matt kozar. i know it said two minutes till the train was coming in. but i saw the lights, so it had to have been at least 100 feet. reporter: with a train racing into the subway station sunday morning, dennis and two others were running out of time. using all of their might, they tried to lift the unconscious man, who had fallen on the tracks. this guy, he had to have been drunk, just fell on the tracks, didn t even brace himself. as soon as he hit the rails, he was bleeding. we got him to the side of the platform, but there was no way we could lift him up. reporter: he says the man was about 6 1 and waked more than 200 pounds. after unsuccessfully trying to get him on the platform, he says strap hangers helped pull up the unresponsive man. dennis works as a personal trainer and says he doesn t consider himself a hero but did learn something about himself from this experience. i m starting to realize you know what? that could have been me and i need to make the best effort to fulfill those things i want to do. reporter: one of the other good samaritans was his best friend visiting. the third man was an air force cadet. matt kozar, abc news, new york. according to a city council hearing, 141 people were hit by subway trains. 55 of whom died. this is a little more common than you may think. in december, there were two people pushed on the tracks. ride safe, everybody. we ll be right back. can help you get there. sta®(eszopi) like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. welcome back, everybody. this story i didn t find funny, i found it interesting, because one of my pet peeves is sitting in traffic. i go nuts. that start, stop, i go insane. i have no patience for that. so they did this study back in december, and now it s being reported in this journal called scientific reports. it looked at almost 700,000 drivers in boston and through their cell phones they can track from origin to destination. what it came up with is one of the most detailed maps of urban traffic patterns ever constructed. the traffic jams are caused by just a few drivers. so look, no overnight solutions here, but perhaps it shows some patterns that urban planners could use down the road to create better roads for all of us to get to work in less time. so the good power of the cell phone is the story here. they can track you from your house to work and maybe build better highway systems. and speaking of boston, i used to work in boston and it used to take me two hours on the mass pike. it is a nightmare out there. this is a quick fix. have you ever wanted to drink as much as you wanted to drink and not wake up with a hangover? i don t like alcohol, so no. for those of us who do like alcohol, apparently, there are scientists in england who have come up with a booze busting pill. it reduces the blood alcohol level in your system. it s being compared to a million little livers in your gut. it s being tested on mice, and the medical people that are in charge of this behind this in england envision this will be a pill where we can pop a pill, no hangover. not even drunk anymore. that is incredible. i want it. i want it now! i m calling to make my new year s eve plans right now. finally some proof here about men and women do think differently. not just because of the way we re brought up or gender stereotypes, but our brains are wired differently. a new study out, they did 80,000 brain scans and there s proof men and women approach things differently. women have more brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, men have more gray matter in the brain that governs intelligence. so we re more inclined to tackle a task with single-minded focus. women have larger areas in the plain dedicated to gut feelings. and this morning on world news now, legal move. oscar pistorius day in court and the latest evidence in the murder investigation. the demands for justice as his murdered girlfriend is fondly remembered today at her funeral. it s tuesday, february 19th. from abc news, this is world news now. good morning. i m diana perez. and i m rob nelson. all eyes on south africa for oscar pistorius and his day in court. we ll get to that in a second. but also this morning, the sandy hook shooter, adam lanza and what his motivations may have been. why he may be linked to another mass murderer. learning a lot of insight into his mental status. beyond chilling. that s right. an unforgettable display of fearlessness. a young woman who dares to swim with the most dangerous creatures in the ocean. getting up close and personal to a great white shark. you have to admire the bravery. she s actually a model in hawaii that says forget all the magazine covers, i m going to swim with jaws and hang out. no cage, no protective team around her. just me and jaws, just enjoying the swim. but in a second he could turn around and be like nope, there goes your face. that would be my thought process. maybe i m the weird one. but i m not. i don t think so. a big surprise on stage from superstar sting. but this was no ordinary stage. we can t wait to explain the rest of the story to you coming up in just a few minutes in the skinny. got to love sting. that happens to you or anyone you go crazy. we ll tell you in a second. but first, the murder case against oscar pistorius. the courthouse is a mob house as he was accused this morning. he s accused of premeditated murder of his gird. abc s bazi kanani reports on the investigation from south africa. reporter: world famous for his triumph over adversity, oscar pistorius is facing his toughest challenge yet, facing murder charges for the death of his cover model girlfriend. in his cramped jail cell, this pastor prayed with him. i saw him as a very lonely young man standing there, very heart broken and sad. reporter: she sells abc news when she visited pistorius on sunday, he was humbled. oscar was also devastated about reeva s family, as well as his own. reporter: pistorius is currently losing the battle for public opinion in south africa, where inkrim collating claims are swirling in media. new reports saying that steroids were found in his house and investigators are testing his blood for the drug that can cause roid rage. that a bloody cricket bat was found in his bedroom. possibly used in a violent argument before the shooting. that his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, may have fled to the bathroom, where she was shot at least three times through the door. oscar pistorius is gearing up for his legal battle with a team of top attorneys and forensic experts, while he makes his second appearance in court. a private funeral service will be held for steenkamp in her hometown. at the moment, it s family coming together, and actually the one person who would be the strongest who held us all together is not here anymore. that s my sister. reporter: bazi kanani, abc news, south africa. in other news this morning, there are reports that newtown shooter adam lanza may have been competing with another serial killer. investigators are looking at a possible link between lanza and a mass murderer in norway. that s because several news articles about the 2011 norway massacre were found in lanza s bedroom. cbs news is reporting that lanza picked sandy hook elementary simply because it was the easiest target. this is important, because the lieutenant up in connecticut who is in charge of this investigation, does say that it s too early in the motive. so are we connecting dots? because all they have is information that they would have found in either writings or on his computer, something at home. nobody spoke to him or his mom who lived with him. his father hadn t seen him in a long time. it s hard to tell if this is a true motive. no definite link just yet, but it s hard to believe what other reason with would that information be found in his bedroom if he wasn t studying it or inspired by it. this was a guy, anders breivik, who killed 77 people back in july 2011. it was in downtown oslo, which doesn t have a crime problem in that part of the world, including many kids. it was a true massacre. 77 folks. this was no small massacre or anything insignificant. that was a big international story. he had articles about that massacre in his room. and not only that, but apparently he was in competition with breivik. he wanted to kill more people than breivik did, which is scary. exactly. russian authorities have blamed inhumane treatment for the death of a 3-year-old boy adopted by a family in texas. the texas investigators say they re still investigating claims that the child was abused before his death. autopsy results on the 3-year-old named max are still pending. russia recently banned american adoptions. investigators are getting to the bottom of just what went wrong with the carnival triumph. the cause that disabled the cruise ship was a leak in a fuel tank. the oil dripped on a hot surface and caught fire. the official said that the crew responded appropriately to the fire. the horse meat scandal in europe has now drawn in food giant nestles. the global food company is suspending delivery of all of its products that include beef from one of its german suppliers because they found traces of horse dna in them. among the products, beef ravioli and tortellini. nestle insists there are no food safety issues here. none of the products are sold here in the u.s. burger king is happy to have survived a whopper of a prank. a hacker took over the company s twitter account and announced it had been bought by mcdonald s. the cyber thief replaced burger king s profile picture with the golden arches and posted some obscene messages, as well. burger king got twitter to suspend the account and welcomed all of their new followers. so they got hacked, but at least no horse meat scandal as of yet. and mcdonald s tweeted out they weren t responsible. that s great news. blizzard conditions across the dakotas and western minnesota have made travel very, very dangerous this morning. two people were killed in an interstate pileup near fargo. drivers were warned to stay off the road as visibility was reduced to near zero. even plows were pulled off because they couldn t keep up with the drifting and blowing snow. and now for the rest of the weather, here we go. the storm that could dump a foot of snow on wisconsin and michigan is headed that way. stormy along the gulf coast. chilly and a damp day in los angeles. extremely cold air grips the nation s midsection with wind chills of 25 below zero. fargo will not make it above zero. and just for those of you that want to feel jealous, miami and honolulu, they re the hot spots at a wonderful sounding 81 degrees. i ve got to pack my bags. no kidding. let s just take this show on location. just a couple moments in miami. i m sure it s in the budget. the weather was perfect for the third annual recyclable ski or sled race at a ski slope in western illinois. a dozen kids competed for the golden shovel award. to win, they had to make their sled using only cardboard, duct tape, and wax. two sleds going against each other at a time. the one who goes the furthest wins. there was awards for best design and best team spirit. and speaking of design, we saw some video right there where one of the sleds was painted with the jamaican colors, so maybe that was a nod to cool runnings. a little movie inspiration. i would rather do that than ski. i don t have that kind of coordination. i take my chances on on the skis? and the bunny hill. cardboard, duct tape and wax. wax doesn t hold anything together. what are we using wax for? keep it real. it s fun. at least you re closer to the ground. that is true. coming up after the break, an amazing career move truly for a member of michael jackson s immediate family. you re not going to believe this one. 16 years old by the way. later on one mother in her special delivery. two separate sets of twins who are so rare. you re watching world news now. have given way to sleeping. tossing and turning where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don t drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness, and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there s a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. dangerous, so dangerous oh, an underrated michael jackson classic dangerous. oh, boy. here it comes. dangerous like willis. a woman named ocean says great white sharks are simply misunderstood. so like any rational person she swims with them. of course. abc s nick watt sent out to find out what makes they are think this is such a good idea. reporter: holy moly. yes, you really are seeing what you think you re seeing. a great white shark, the most feared beast on earth, a killer, and a human, no air tanks, no cage, no fear. and here she is. i understand that, you know, it is dangerous. it is a wild animal. reporter: ocean ramsey is a hawaiian model/diver who can hold her breath under water for 5:45. she means business. you ve heard of the horse whisperer, the dog whisperer. hey, buddy. reporter: even the eagle whisperer. is ocean ramsey the shark whisperer? they re actually cautious and calculated. they re misunderstood as a ravenous, mindless man eating machines and that s not how they are. reporter: california just this week declared the great white an endangered species. experts estimate there are only 339 left along the pacific coast. but ever since jaws, it s hard to generate sympathy for these killing machines. that s why ocean ramsey and the guy who filmed these scenes are driven to such jaw-dropping scenes. the biggest thing is to nail the shot. here is this beautiful shark and this graceful diver swimming along in perfect harmony. it s hard to describe what it s like to actually have a great white swimming towards you or next to you. it s breathtaking. reporter: we ll just take your word for that, ocean. we ll just take your word for that. nick watt, abc news, los angeles. get this stat here. in one year, a single great white consumes about 11 tons of food. that s slightly more than willis. oh! and after eating one big meal, they can rest for up to three months without having to eat. they go into hibernation. i admire the bravery. they don t go into hibernation. i admire the bravery. i just don t get why you can have a nice hawaii model life, why you re out there risking your life. once you have it all, you start looking for other things. right? i guess. i m all out. fresh out. i got nothing to say about that. good luck to you. willis! that s the music they play when willis goes walking into the nightclub. [ jaws theme plays ] coming up next, fergie s big announcement, and it s not about her career. and what a great job for a famous teenager. coming up next in the skinny. teenager we said. uh-huh. skinny, so skinny welcome back, everybody. this story had the whole staff talking this morning. this is very interesting. we ve seen it before where tv networks will hire, you know, the children of famous people to do some on-air work like chelsea clinton. jenna bush had a job in tv. guess who is the latest one to join those ranks? who is it? michael jackson s oldest son, prince, is now working for entertainment tonight. there he is. he s 16 years. i do question child labor laws, but any way, all this week, they announced on monday it s made prince an on-air correspondent. he s the eldest child of course of michael jackson. he says i m looking forward i m well rounded as a producer, director, screen writer and actor. i guess this is his break into the business. you can see the family resemblance of michael, can t you? apparently this is his new gig, he s going to be there at least for the week. i wonder if it s a real career start or whether it is sweeps in tv world. so i don t know if this is a stunt. but that s michael jackson s son, doing our kind of work these days. good luck to him. seems like a nice kid. how do you do that? if you re an artist and being i can t say the word, interviewed, get it out. you re being interviewed just forget what i was going to say. so we all know that sting can sing, right? now he proved it, because he was at a bar, a karaoke bar and this girl said come on and do it for us. check this out. she drives me crazy that was in malibu, and he killed it. do you know what song that is and who sings it? no. she drives me crazy, fine young cannibals, years ago. that was a big hit back in the day. of course. i remember that hit. she drives me crazy that s the only line people know. in a good voice, though. also, we want to send some congratulations to fergie of the black eyed peas fame. she is pregnant. look at this twitter pic. this is photo shopped, but that is fergie on the right and her husband, whose name i always mispronounce. josh dumel. something like that. i m sorry if i botched the name. that s him as a little kid. and she sent out a tweet that said josh and me and baby makes three. she announced it earlier this month that she s pregnant. so with want to wish her a congratulations. they got married back in january of 2009. she s 37, he is 40. they grew up in similar ways. now they re bringing new life into the world. that s adorable. they re going to make a cute kid. that kid is going to be good looking. that s a whole new kind of lady lump. from the back to the front. really quickly, we want to show you this picture. which has not been photo shopped by the way. jane fonda is at it again. now she s doing dvds for people who are 50 and older. this is called am/pm yoga. there she is, from back in the day, looking hot. and now she s still looking good. look at her go. she s 75 years old, still releasing dvds for workouts! wow. at 32 i can t even do that. i m just going to say, jane still has for 75, she still looks good. she s got it. talk about her lady luck. i may have to work out and give her a call. come on, baby girl. we re done. [ female announcer ] switch to swiffer wetjet, and you ll dump your old mop. but don t worry, he ll find someone else. who s that lady? who s that lady? sexy lady who s that lady? [ female announcer ] used mops can grow bacteria. swiffer wetjet starts with a clean pad every time, and its antibacterial cleaner kills bacteria mops can spread around. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. lovely lady in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it s hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can t get back to sleep. it s an effective sleep medicine you don t take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you re fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines, has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. do the harlam shake that s the harlam shake. something like this. i don t know. a rare birth in texas that we want to tell you about. a mother gives birth to four baby boys. but what s unusual is they re two sets of identical twins. that s why this is our favorite story of the day. reporter: it s like winning the lottery of love. they are going to be rich the rest of their lives. they planned on one baby. when they went to a specialist last year, they got a shock. he was quick to say right away, you have four. of course, i couldn t believe it. if i wasn t already laying down, i would have been on the floor. reporter: they re adding four boys. two sets of identical twins, all delivered valentine s day by c-section at the woman s hospital of texas. doctors say the odds of having two sets of twins from different placentas is 1 in 70 million. tresa had to be extremely careful with her pregnancy. a lot of patients end up being in the hospital for prolonged periods of time. but she stayed compliant and bedrest at home, and i think this is quite a feat for her. reporter: they say they didn t take any fertility drugs, they just wanted a sibling for their 2-year-old son, memphis. they say the four new edition will be some work. i m excited, ready for the challenge. it s preparing the house now. i was preparing for one, now it s four. reporter: the newborns are in the hospital, expected to go home in a couple of months. they named them following the abcd model. we just started thinking originality still. we re going to go with ace, blaine, cash and dilan. i like that. abcd. i like that. that is so cute. and those kids are adorable. can you imagine that? no. look how cute. he looks like an old man. you just had one, five months ago, right? yes. that was your first. that was my first. can you imagine three more? absolutely not. he was running out of room. by the time it was all said and done. he was stretching into my ribs. it was not cute. not at all. props to that couple. beautiful. their hands are all. congratulations. that s adorable. we ll be right back. stay with us. ck. stay with us.
HSBC Accelerates Wealth Management Strategy in U.S. with Opening of Flagship Wealth Center at Hudson Yards streetinsider.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from streetinsider.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
HSBC’s Venture Healthcare Report: Are we out of the woods, yet? provides an overview of investment activity, valuations and step-ups for venture-backed healthcare companies.
DENVER, Sept. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Pax8, the leading cloud commerce marketplace, today announced that HSBC Innovation Banking will be the company's primary banking partner. The newly established relationship