back in the u.s., landing at joint base san antonio last night. one said he didn't know if he would ever make it back home. the americans in the deal and convict leonard francis were flown to miami. a federal judge has blocked a california law, banning carrying guns in most public places. a judge set a law set to go into effect on january 1st, violated the second amendment. california's attorney general plans to appeal. and ryan gosling has released "ken e.p." including the christmas edition of his hit song from the "barbie" movie, "i'm just ken." i'm shenelle kahl, cbs news, new yo it's thursday, december 21st, 2023. this is the "cbs morning news." >> free at last. free at last. thank god almighty, free at last. >> back on american soil.

ten americans freed as part of a prisoner exchange with venezuela. who the u.s. had to give up in a move to improve relations with a major oil-producing nation. back on the campaign trail and not backing down. donald trump responds to that bombshell court decision that could bump him from colorado's primary ballot. why his gop rivals are criticizing the move. renewed hope for another cease-fire? the israel and hamas talks to stop the fighting in exchange for the release of more hostages. good morning, and good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. we start with that major prisoner swap with venezuela. ten americans are now home, back with their families just in time for the holidays. six of them landing in san antonio, texas. also back in u.s. custody, a fugitive known as fat leonard who fled last year after pleading guilty to a major military bribery case. cbs' jarred hill is joining us

here in new york with more on this exchange. fat leonard? >> reporter: yeah, yeah. we'll get to that in a second. you know, this is huge for these freed americans as well as their families. it's also really a bold move by the biden administration as it tries to improve relations with venezuela. it's a country that's a major oil producer, and the source of the largest migrant crisis in the western hemisphere. a new beginning for american citizens back on u.s. soil in texas last night. the group freed in a prisoner swap with venezuela. >> free at last. free at last. thank god almighty, free at last. >> i'm incredibly grateful to be home. >> reporter: eyvin hernandez, a los angeles public defender, said he spent 20 months in a makeshift detention cell after he was wrongfully arrested on terrorism charges. >> it's been a long time coming. it was probably most difficult thing i've ever been through. >> reporter: ten americans in total were freed in the exchange, four flown to miami. fugitive leonard francis, known as fat leonard, was also returned to america. the malaysian defense contractor

escaped u.s. house arrest in california last year and fled to venezuela while awaiting sentencing in one of the biggest bribery and corruption scandals in u.s. navy history. president biden defended the deal last night which also required venezuelan president nicolas maduro release 20 political prisoners and an opposition leader in his country. >> americans, people have been held illegally, and made a deal with venezuela that they'll hold free elections. >> reporter: the u.s. released maduro ally colombian businessman alex saab who had been arrested on federal money laundering charges. maduro said saab had been physically and psychologically tortured, claims the u.s. denied. we can go back to fat leonard now. he is due in court in miami later on today. back to you. >> jarred hill in new york. thank you so much. it appears the road to the white house will soon be detoured to the nation's highest court. that's where former president donald trump is anded to take

his newest battle following a historic decision by colorado's supreme court to remove him from the ballot. cbs' robert costa has more on the fallout. >> reporter: former president donald trump fighting back against an unprecedented ruling in colorado which found the republican frontrunner ineligible for the state's ballot. his lawyers vow to appeal. >> can you believe what's going on in our country? >> reporter: the controversial 4-3 decision said that trump was disqualified from seeking the presidency due to his engagement in an insurrection and called out his direct and express efforts exhorting his supporters to march to the capitol. an appeal will likely pull the supreme court deeper into the 2024 election. >> will they take it? i think most people would say they almost have to. and they have to move super quickly because colorado's going to finalize its ballot in about two weeks. >> reporter: the former

president is asking the supreme court to put off weighing a separate issue. whether presidential immunity protects him in the 2020 election interference case. special counsel jack smith is asking the court to fast track that question. with the first cast ballots of 2024 less than a month away, trump's republican rivals have weighed in. >> this is all intentional. this is what the democrats and left want. >> we should have this race fair and square with him on the ballot just like everybody else. >> reporter: and across the aisle, president biden pulling no punches about january 6th. >> is trump an insurrectionist, sir? >> i have to let the court make that decision. he certainly supported the insurrection. no question about it. >> reporter: my top republican sources tell me that in the coming days they expect trump's rivals to not bring up his legal challenges directly, but they will bring up issues about trump's electability, the chaos that surround his campaign to

use a word used by former ambassador nikki haley, who's gaining in the polls in new hampshire and elsewhere. robert costa, cbs news, washington. there are new signs of a diplomatic breakthrough that could bring another cease-fire between israel and hamas. this as the israeli military says it uncovered a major underground command center. they say hamas used to move weapons, militants, and supplies throughout the gaza strip. israel also released new information about the three hostages mistakenly killed by israeli soldiers. they say the three escaped from captivity five days before their death, and their voices could be heard on a gopro camera that was attached to a military dog killed in action. the mother of one of the three, yotam haim, spoke to the battalion involved in the incident telling them that it's not their fault, and they must never hesitate to shoot if they see a terrorist. cbs' imtiaz tyab reports from jerusalem. >> reporter: gaza is gripped with hunger. in the south, lines as far as

the eye can see as people wait hours for something to eat. according to the u.n., israel has only allowed 10% of the necessary food into gaza, pushing half the population of more than two million into starvation. as the israeli military continues to carry out massive strikes, hands poke out from under the rubble near rafah. more victims in this brutal 11-week war which has already claimed the lives of over 20,000 palestinians according to the hamas-run ministry of health. "i was with my cousin playing in the street," this little girl says. "a rocket exploded, and all this rubble fell on top of us." but in what's being described as, quote, intensive talks on a new cease-fire, hamas' political leader, ismail haniyeh, arrived in cairo amid reports a breakthrough could be possible in the coming days. the gulf between israel and hamas remains huge. hamas says it will only discuss

a permanent cease-fire, but israel says it will only agree to limited humanitarian pauses until all hostages are released and hamas is defeated. "those who think we will stop are not connected to reality," prime minister benjamin netanyahu said. but after three hostages were accidentally killed by israeli soldiers sparking fury across israel and putting netanyahu under even more pressure to make a deal. and the u.n. security council has again delayed a vote on the new resolution to get desperately needed aid into gaza. but there's growing hope the u.s. may actually support the resolution with some changes despite israel's staunch objections to it. imtiaz tyab, cbs news, jerusalem. to the weather now and heavy rains continue to fall in parts of california bringing a risk of flooding to the central and southern coast. the storm earlier swept through the san francisco bay and sacramento areas.

it comes as millions get ready to travel for christmas. the heaviest rain is falling with half a foot possible in some areas of southern california. the national weather service says that there's a high risk of street flooding along with the possibility of mudslides on canyons and mountain roads. gusty winds are also expected. california's rain comes as people in the northeast clean up from storms that damaged homes, washed out roads, and downed trees. hundreds of thousands lost power, mostly in maine. at least five people were killed, though, and dozens had to be rescued. more than five inches of rain fell in several states across the northeast. wind gusts hit nearly 70 miles per hour along the new england shoreline. coming up, dramatic new bodycam video. we'll show you how police officers responded to the deadly mass shooting at unlv. and later, outage at x. users around the world report disruptions overnight on the social media platform. this is the "cbs morning news." "cbs morning

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there are concerns about toxic gas coming from a volcano erupting in iceland. the gas is venting from a 2.5-mile-long fissure that formed. there were earlier predictions that it could reach the capital of reykjavik. officials say there's less chance of that now since wind directions have shifted. they also say lava flows are slowing. we are learning more about the victims of a news helicopter crash, and new footage of the mass shooting at unlv. those are some of the headlines on the "morning newsstand". "the las vegas review-journal" reports police began releasing video of officers responding to the shooting at the university of nevada-las vegas. >> a group of kids in there to evacuate. >> let's go. >> officers can be seen searching for students and leading them to safety earlier

this month. three professors were killed, a fourth was wounded, and the gunman, a longtime professor who was turned down for a job at the school, was shot and killed by campus police. the video was released in response to media records requests. more videos are expected to be released in the coming days. abc news says two people were killed when a philadelphia tv station's news helicopter crashed. the chopper went down in a wooded area in new jersey tuesday while returning from an assignment at the jersey shore. 45-year-old photographer christopher dougherty and 67-year-old pilot monroe smith died. the abc station says they were members of the news team for years. federal investigators are looking into the cause of the crash. and "the washington post" says a confederate statue at arlington national cemetery was removed after a legal battle. the more than century-old monument was taken down yesterday after a federal judge lifted his temporary injunction halting the removal. he said that he toured the site

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powerball 16. breaking overnight, social media platform x is back up and running after a massive outage this morning. users around the world reported problems with their timelines. the website down detector said that there were more than 90,000 reports of users not being able to use the platform. no word on what caused the outage. could a mega media merger be in the works? and there's a toyota recall. here's shanelle kaul with today's cbs "money watch." >> reporter: u.s. stocks snapped a hot streak wednesday with all three major indices closing in the red. the dow lost 475 points. the nasdaq was down 225, and the s&p 500 lost 70 points. toyota is recalling one million vehicles for potential airbag problems. the issue could cause airbags not to deploy. the recall names toyota and lexus vehicles with model years from 2020 to 2022 and includes

models like camry, sienna, corolla and the rx 350. impacted customers will be notified with the manufacturer saying it will inspect the vehicles and make necessary repairs. a big media merger could be on the horizon. warner bros. discovery held early talks with paramount global this week to discuss a potential partnership. the talks have been described as preliminary and may not end in a deal. cbs news is a subsidiary of paramount. and a new exclusive dating experience on tinder. the app is now offering an invite-only $499 monthly subscription. tinder select gives you access to the app's most sought-after profiles and allows you to direct message other profiles without first matching. the first batch of invites went out in september. less than 1% of the app's users get a spot. that's your cbs "money watch" report for this thursday morning. i'm shanelle kaul, cbs news, new

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had ♪ i'm just ken anywhere else i'd be a ten ♪ that's ken or actor ryan gosling from this summer's blockbuster "barbie" movie releasing his "i'm just ken, merry christmas barbie" ballad. the song is a holiday remix of the "i'm just ken" track from the movie. the song ends with "merry christmas, barbie, wherever you are." and it was a tight game between the new york knicks and the brooklyn nets last night in brooklyn. and then in the fourth quarter of the game, it all came to a grinding halt when this happened. >> take a look at the ball here as it comes off of quickley. bang, right there. wow. >> the knicks' immanuel quickley lost the ball, and it went straight toward rapper travis scott who was in the front row causing his drink to spill on the court. the mess was toweled up, and the knicks won 121-102. come to the orangutan

4-month-old siska, berani. you are the father. >> there you go. it took former talk show host maury povich to set the record straight at the denver zoo. zoo officials didn't know weather whether -- whether orangutan berani or jaya had fathered the new baby siska. but the dna results came in, and tanks to paternity test expert povich, we now know who's the daddy. coming up on "cbs mornings," singer-songwriter barry gibb talks with anthony mason at his home in miami about his kennedy center honor and the legacy of the bee gees. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news." . i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news." so congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! what is — wow!

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thank you for joining us this morning. it is thursday, december 21st. >> let's get started. >> i didn't know if i would ever make it out and it's really scary to be in a place where you are used to having freedoms and you are locked into a cell. >> freed from a nightmare after a prisoner swap in venezuela. a berkeley man coming home for the holidays. we work this weekend so we got to get home. >> worth the hassle to come see family. >> travel trek to see family. it is pricey in the sky and packed on roads. the leadup to christmas and tips to get yo