eastern. up next, "cnn newsroom," a critical plumbing problem on the international space station. a broken valve knocking out one of the station's cooling systems. astronauts taking the first of three daring space walks to fix it. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. oh, the weather outside is frightful, and the travel -- eh, not so delightful. nearly 95 million people are getting out of town for the holidays, expect severe icing, powerful thunderstorms, and flight delays with your holiday cheer. >> since i'm in charge, obviously, we screwed it up. >> president obama talking about his health care rollout and what he calls his biggest mistake of 2013. according to cnn's new poll numbers on the president's

performance, that wasn't his only problem this year. and right now, an emergency mission is under way at the international space station to fix a broken cooling system. we'll take you to the space walk live, and one astronaut will tell you why these missions are so risky. you're in the "cnn newsroom." good morning, everyone, happy holidays. thanks for being with us on this saturday morning. i'm pa la brown. >> i'm victor blackwell. and we have how many, just four days until christmas. i wrote that myself. choreographed it, too. 10:00 here on the east coast, 7:00 out west. thank you for joining us this morning. a brutal start to winter for the midwest. you know, the ice storm, the warning, ice storm warning in effect across oklahoma. emergency crews are working to move downed trees and keep roads clear. meanwhile, the ohio river valley braces for heavy rains that are expected to cause flooding.

>> yeah, really kind of a mess. and horrible timing with this kind of weather, because all of this is happening, of course, as we kick off christmas travel. we're now not seeing too many disruptions at the airports. of course, that could change. we're expecting snowfalls on major hubs like chicago, new york, boston. of course, we could expect delays there. we've got team coverage tracking this brutal weather. nick valencia out in kansas city, missouri, and jennifer gray at the cnn weather center. nick, we'll start with you. >> reporter: well, pamela, good morning. it has gotten progressively colder out here in kansas city. it feels about 12 degrees right now. and though we haven't seen the worst of it yet, officials have prepared for -- take a look. -- thrown down on the roads making sure they're prepared for the freezing rain and snow expected later today in this forecast. you talked about flight cancellations, delays. well, southwest is a main carrier -- airline out of this airport. they tell us so far, no cancellations, no delays. that's the good news. i mentioned the worst is coming,

so if you are getting a flight today, are catching a flight, it's best to check with the airline. if you're hitting the roads, in missouri, interstate 44 very slick out there. the whole midsection of the country feeling the brunt of the severe weather system from mexico up towards wisconsin. seeing places like oklahoma waking up with severe weather, ice, freezing rain, kansas hit hard, as well. a big concern as far as airport travel is chicago, o'hare. so be mindful if you're traveling out of that airport. but here we're just sort of waiting for the worst of it, guys. it hasn't gotten too bad yet, though we did see light snow flurries, however slight they were, it was coming down a little while ago. right now, it's cold out here. >> it's funny. as the morning has progressed, nick, we've seen you sort of bundle up more with your hat. >> yes. now you have on gloves. i think there's a scarf coming soon. i'm just waiting for the earmuches. >> reporter: you add layers progressively, as the degrees go down. the hat, borrowed it from the

photo journalist. we're bundled up. some thermal packs, some heat going for us. this is serious, guys. it's severe weather system, and it should be taken seriously by everybody being affected. >> well said. nick valencia in missouri. let's look at the forecast for the weekend and bring in cnn meteorologist jennifer gray to tell us what we can expect. nick makes a great point, although we're being light about nick and his wardrobe, this is serious, because it's dangerous. >> yeah, it really is. it's affecting millions of people. it's not just the ice. the snow. we have a severe component to this. the first day of winter, talking about possible isolated tornadoes. and so, when you're out doing your christmas shopping, getting out for some holiday parties, keep that in mind, especially in the south. right now, we're not seeing anything severe. we're just seeing a line of showers and storms that are traveling from the southwest to the northeast. the ice right now is the big concern. we see the accumulations, quarter of an inch, half an inch, in place like oklahoma city, tulsa, and that's

continuing to push to the east. so interstate 44 not easy going right now. we were talking about that severe threat. we have a slight risk across much of the mississippi river valley, on into the ohio valley. we also have a moderate risk, including places like shreveport, jackson, little rock, memphis, even nashville, as we go through the afternoon. these are the areas you'll want to watch out and pay attention. we could see isolated tornadoes and damaging winds along with these. so tracking the storm system, this is today, this evening. and you can see through memphis, little rock, even northeast louisiana, seeing some strong showers and storms that will continue to push to the east as we go throughout the overnight hours into sunday. and then, it will just sort of set up shop on the east coast. sunday afternoon into the first part of monday. and then it should fizzle out. this is mainly a rain event. the reason is, very warm temperatures. we could see possible record-breaking temperatures today with temperatures in the 70s in places like d.c. and atlanta. guys. >> all right, jennifer gray, thank you.

and now to some breaking news. four u.s. servicemembers were caught in the crossfire and injured when someone opened fire at their aircraft in south sudan. now, they were on a mission to evacuate americans from an area of heavy fighting and had to abort it. >> all of this as secretary of state john kerry has sent a special envoy to south sudan to encourage dialogue. violence has raged in the world's youngest nation, ever since last weekend when the government says it thwarted a coup attempt. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins us live. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, pamela and victor. the pentagon says four u.s. troops were wounded when their aircraft took gunfire as it was attempting to land on this evacuation mission in a place called bohr in the south sudan. this is a town where a couple of days ago it was reported that the rebels took over, and, of

course, president obama calling south sudan a country at the precipice. what happened? two v-22 aircraft, typically flown by special forces in this part of the world, were coming in for a landing. they were there to evacuate american citizens working for the united nations. gunfire hit the aircraft. four of them were wounded. this is about as dire as it can get, because the pilot has to make an immediate decision what to do, not knowing if he's going to lose an engine, if a fuel line is ruptured. by all accounts, the pilot got out of there very fast. the wounded are now back in nairobi, kenya, getting medical treatment. but now, the question is what happens next? a lot of work going on right now to determine how to get those americans out of there. >> because there are, as you pointed out, dozens of americans still there, and the violence is escalating, and just looking at what happened there, with the service members, obviously that

just shows how dangerous a situation is there. >> yeah, barbara starr -- >> go ahead. >> well, i was just going -- i'm sorry, i was going to say that's absolutely right. this is some of the most dangerous work the military does to go into the middle of hot combat zones to get american citizens out, and they say they are going back, and they're going to try to do what they can to get the americans out of there. >> all right. barbara starr, thank you so much. we want to turn it now to ken, a reporter for our affiliate ntv in nairobi, kenya. ken, you've been briefed on the situation in south sudan, is that right? >> reporter: yes, yes, we have some information, but basically, because this operation involves the u.s. marshals, we have very skant information, and they're very cagey with the information. and the late information here and there trickling in, and we have also tried to talk to the military here to gather some information, because as we speak, our own government here

in nairobi, you can come back home or decide to stay in south sudan and face the violence. we have reporters on the ground embedded in the military. we know it's risky operation. and going by what happened to the u.s. military, we know it's very risky. so little information here and there, but we have some information. >> ken, before you go, have these four u.s. troops be transported to kenya for treatment? has that been confirmed? >> reporter: indeed, we have that information that immediately the pilot made that decision to turn back and head back to uganda. what we don't know, and what is not key, where exactly they are. because i have called the two major hospitals, the nairobi hospital, and the kenya international hospital, where we usually see casualties being taken and the survivors, but

unfortunately, they're not in those hospitals. the only option here is an assumption, and because i've spoken with our military, and they're very cagey with the information, but they told us to go through the defense. the only option we're remaining with is the military facility, armed forces memorial hospital in nairobi where our own military are treated. it's safe to assume they may be there, if at all -- they're here in nairobi, that's the only place now we're looking at and we're thinking they're there for treatment. again, we're waiting for further information, because this is critical, and the government has informed us, and in a matter of hours or even minutes they will have some information. we'll definitely share it with you. >> all right, ken there with you in nairobi, from ntv, thank you. urgent repairs happening right now, more than 200 miles above earth. right outside the international space station. up next, canadian astronaut

chris hatfield offers his take. >> live pictures here. stay with us. we'll be back. ♪ checkin' target off my list, ♪ ♪ last minute deals on toys and gifts. ♪ ♪ that's my holiday, ♪ that's my kind of holiday. ♪ wrap it up, pop, lock and shop, ♪ ♪ buyin' presents that i forgot. ♪ ♪ that's my holiday. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. if so, if you're sleepingack, be in your contact lenses,ctor what you wear to bed is your business. ask about the air optix® contacts so breathable they're approved for up to 30 nights of continuous wear. serious eye problems may occur. ask your doctor and visit airoptix.com for safety information and a free one-month trial. thanks for giving me your smile. thanks for inspiring me. thanks for showing me my potential.

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welcome back, everybody. live pictures here more than 200 miles above earth, outside of the international space station, where two astronauts are entering the fourth hour of the emergency space walk there. they're fixing a cooling system. we just learned today's excursion has been extended to seven hours. as it turns out, the astronauts are so far ahead of schedule, they're trying to remove that faulty cooling pump today rather than simply disconnect it. it could mean that they'll only have to make two space walks to get that job done, rather than three. >> the third one was going to be on christmas. i don't know what christmas is like at the iss, but you want to have that day off if you can. nasa has taken special precautions to protect astronauts rick and michael,

after an italian astronaut almost drowned on a space walk when the helmet started to fill with water. joining us is canadian astronaut and i would say astronaut superstar chris hatfield. chris, give us an idea -- good to have you, give us an idea of what they're trying to accomplish today, now that they've condensed the schedule into two space walks. >> essentially what happened, it's as if in your house, if your air conditioner failed op full cold, so you kept getting colder and there's no way to control the little thermostat in it, so they're taking out that whole box, which is the size of a fridge and going to put a new one in, but with the level of experience that rick and mike have, and how well they've done, they're way ahead. they'll get christmas day off if things go as planned and just sent mike inside to top off his oxygen, so things are going well. hopefully, they'll get it far

enough ahead, between this space walk and the next one, they'll get everything done, get the station back to running order and back to business. >> chris, kind of bring us into the space walk and paint a picture for us. what's going through their minds, what's it like for them outside the international space station right now? >> you know, people don't realize the air around the world really evens out our temperature, but when you get above the atmosphere, in the direct sun, it's like a plus 150 degrees celsius, and in the shade, it's meanous 120 degrees celsius, so when they're in the sunshine, they're just getting fried, and when they go behind the world, into the shade, it's intensely cold. and rick was having trouble coming out of the shade of the earth last time. his feet were just starting to freeze, like really painfully. so it's one of those realities of working outside on a space walk. but two things are in your mind, the importance of the job you're doing and the incredible visual beauty of being in between the world and the universe alone.

it's an amazing place to work. >> and then, for one of the astronauts, it's his first space walk. >> for hopkins, his first. i want to remind people on the right, you're seeing live pictures courtesy of nasa tv. if you get a ripple in the screen, you saw that, forgive them, it's a live shot from 200 miles above the earth. we're grateful for everything we're able to have here, to see from the helmet cam. i want to ask you, chris, the importance of what they're doing today, there are science experiments that could be compromised if this isn't repaired quickly and have there possibly been some science experiments that have already been ruined because of the lack of cooling? >> we, of course, live inside the center of the station. it's cooled by those big air conditioning cooler units, and it's the external fluid, kind of the fluid that's outside of the ship, it's ammonia, that the valve failed in. so they're swapping out that box.

they've had to cut down to about half normal cooling on board the station. that means they needed to shut down some of the experiments, stop generating so much heat. and i don't think they lost any science. i think all it does is delay stuff. we've run about 200 experiments all the time on the station, and it's as if the a.c. or heater was messing up in your house for a while, you have to modify operations, hopefully with the skill and the hard work that people have been putting together for the last couple of weeks, they'll put everything back to normal after two complex and inherently risky space walks, but we'll have everything back to normal and power everything up in time for christmas. we even have a little christmas tree that hangs from the -- i was there for christmas last year, so they'll have a little christmas tree hanging from the ceiling. >> so what is christmas like on the iss now that you bring it up? >> we have special food, of course, we've ordered in advance. i brought christmas cards from everybody's family last year. there's a guitar on board, so we

played christmas carols, you have a chance to phone your family and friends whenever you have the right satellite link-up. and it's not a normal christmas, but it's really a nice one, and it's shared amongst crew -- russians, americans, japanese astronaut up there right now, so it's a real nice international celebration of the time of year. and we had a really good time last year. i'm sure if they get these space walks done, they'll have even more reason to celebrate the season. >> they have an added inc. sentive there. >> they do. i like how you added special food we ordered in advance, as if there's delivery for the day. >> food catered to the international space station. chris hadfield, thank you so much. so fascinating to hear your perspective as an astronaut. stay with us. astronaut mike will join fredricka whitfield live at noon to talk more about the emergency space walk. some target customers say they've been robbed by hackers. >> i had gone to target the saturday before the money started coming out.

>> and millions of target shoppers could be affected. now the retail giant is saying, sorry. but will that be enough? we'll look at how you can protect your financial information. that's next. ♪ [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette, you celebrate a little win. nicorette mini delivers fast craving relief in just 3 minutes. double your chances of quitting with nicorette mini. in just 3 minutes. hall we do is go out to dinner.? that's it? i mean, he picks up the tab every time, which is great...what? he's using you. he probably has a citi thankyou card and gets 2x the points at restaurants. so he's just racking up points with me. some people... ugh! no, i've got it. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on dining out and entertainment,

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offering a 10% discount to its customers all this weekend. this comes, of course, after the retail giant revealed that 40 million of its customers had their credit and debit card information hacked. target says shoppers who used their cards at its stores between november 27th and december 15th may be affected by this. >> a security researcher showed cnn's lori segal just how easy it is, or easy it can be for hackers to get information about you from the magnetic strip on a credit card. >> i'm connected to this phone wirelessly right now, so in realtime, i'm stealing credit card data. i have to log in. i could make a selection here, and then i can do a credit card swipe. i now have all of the credit card data right in here. >> all right. ben feinstein is the director of operations at secure works. ben, thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> how does this happen? >> all of the details aren't out, so it's difficult to understand what exactly occurred at target.

there's a long history of payment card breaches we can look at and help to understand what may have occurred. if you may remember to the tj max, the attackers were able to obtain access to the wireless network, the individual tj maxx, in the back-end systems, able to control the data. and fast-food stores and grocery chains that suffered a breach. it was malicious software crafted to target the point of sale systems at the retailers. so we've seen a trend of the cyber criminals adopting the malware that is targeting the point of sale systems. it's also available for sale, and some of the cases, actually targeted and crafted specifically for the individual attack. >> and the challenge really with these hackers, it's sort of a cat-and-mouse game, because when they figure out, okay, well, they're now catching on to us,

they just continue to evolve with more sophisticated strategies. is that right? >> absolutely, pamela. what we see is as security controls improve, the attackers are adapting and they're evolving and getting better at their tactics, techniques, procedures. so it's a cat-and-mouse game. >> which is concerning. >> so what can we do? we go and we're not going to go back to cash. how can we protect our information? >> so basically, there's some things consumers can do. one is to regularly monitor the charges on your credit cards, so at least once a month, with your statements, but i would recommend on a daily basis look at any charges occurring on your cards, so that the banks and the card holders make this very easy, you can get text alerts, e-mails as transactions are happening. so it's not a lot of overhead to look at your cards on a regular basis. additionally, if you're shopping online or in person to prefer a credit card over a debit card, you have protections when you use a deb i'd card, as well, but it's easier to get your money back in a more timely fashion

and your credit card, you have a 30-day buffer there as opposed to the funds being debited directly out of the account if you're frauded with the debit card. >> in london, security breaches have gone down 30% because of the chip and p.i.n. tell us about that, and whether we could see more of that here in the u.s. and how that protects us. >> yes. so the rest of the world, particularly europe, including canada, has adopted a technology known as emv, chip and p.i.n., so instead of a magnetic stripe, it's a chip that stores your information. the major card brands are driving adoption of chip and p.i.n., we're lagging behind the rest of the world. they're driving that adoption by shifting the liability to the retailers on a schedule starting in late 2015 and extending into 2017 for different types of card transactions. so they're incentivizing the

retailers to adopt this new, secure technology by shifting the liability onto them if they fail to adopt it. >> i think you made a good point today that people could actually use, to use the credit card, and maybe pay that off with a debit account, because the debit account takes money that you actually have. the credit card takes -- is paid not using your money. it's the credit card companies' money instead. all right, ben feinstein, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> giving us the tips on how to protect our money. >> very important, especially as we're spending a lot over the holiday season. barring something unexpected, president obama won't see the white house again until 2014. he got the last word before heading to hawaii on vacation, or did he? our political commentators have their say up next, right after this break. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit.

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bottom of the hour now, welcome back to "newday saturday." i'm pamela brown. >> and i'm victor blackwell. let's start with five stories we're watching this morning. >> number one, two astronauts hard at work outside the international space station. their mission today? to disconnect a 780-pound cooling pump. >> it's about the size of a refrigerator. it's filled with toxic ammonia, and it's broken. the progress today is ahead of schedule to fix what officials say is a critical problem, and

just one more space walk may be needed to finish repairs. and at number two, prosecutors in newark say old-fashioned police work and modern technology helped them snare four suspects in last weekend's carjacking there. and the shooting death of a young new jersey lawyer and husband. the news conference was a short time ago. the four men in custody face murder and other charges. and a brutal winter storm is expected to disrupt travel just in time for the holidays. some airports along the east coast are seeing delays. washington, d.c., seeing a backup of around 30 minutes right now, and, of course, that could get worse. the numbers expected to go up as the storm pushes east. more than 94 million people expected to travel for the holiday. this morning, the pope gave his first christmas message to the curea, and he urged the vatican staff to act in a professional way and service the rest of the church. he also told them to avoid gossip. in his first nine months, pope

francis has taken steps to reform the vatican's administration. number five, media pr justine sacco has explaining to do. listen to this. look at the tweet that appeared on her account. going to africa, hope i don't get aids. just kidding. i'm white. >> hmm. >> the tweet has now disappeared, so has the account, but there's a lot of outrage, as you'd imagine. we're still waiting to hear from sacco, herself. >> maybe tweets in response to this have been pretty entertaining, i guess you could say. >> entertaining, but also people -- people have also been hurt by that. >> upset by that. >> millions of people on the continent are dying of aids. >> right. serious. >> and they believe she made light of it. let's talk domestically now. president and mrs. obama with kids in tow arrived in hawaii early this morning for vacation. the president will take a breather from what most agree has been a very difficult year for him in washington. >> yeah. brand-new cnn/orc poll reflects

that sentiment. the president's approval rating remains at 41%, an all-time low reached last month, down from 55% approval last january. before he left town, the president met with reporters for an end-of-year news conference, and topics ranged from the bungled rollout of healthcare.gov to the government shutdown to nsa spying on americans and world leaders' phone calls. >> the director of national intelligence months ago, got a question from a democrat, not a republican, about whether some of this was going on, and he denied it. doesn't that undermine the public trust? >> you're conflating me and mr. flapper -- >> we have a pair of commentators standing by. errol lewis at new york 1, and will cain, columnist at "the blaze." good morning. >> good morning. >> we have that sound bite off the top, because that stood out to me. i want to come to you first, errol, is james clapper, the president's guy or not? it struck me he was trying to

put some space between a guy he chose to be the director of national intelligence. >> well, no, one of the many jobs, one of the unwritten tasks in clapper's position is to take the heat and to create some sort of plausible deniability for the guy who hired him, namely the president of the united states. so, you know, look, whatever consequences are going to be visited on this administration, it will be clapper who takes the brunt of it, because it was clapper, who according to what he thought were his confidentiality rules chose not to tell everything he knew about the wiretapping situation to congress. congress, of course, is furious, but it's worth noting there are members of congress, like peter king, who aren't looking to sort of go after clapper and accuse him of all kinds of criminal wrongdoing. so it remains up in the air. but it is, in the first instance, going to be clapper's problem more than the president's. >> all right. well, let's go to, of course, the healthcare.gov rollout. that has been all the talk the past few months. the president suggesting in this press conference that that was

his biggest mistake of 2013, all of the technical glitches there with the website. do you think he can move past it? >> no, i don't, pamela, because i don't think it's over. errol just said that james clapper's job required him to not tell everything he knew. that's a euphemism for not tell the truth, to lie. and that is the beginning, but not the end of the president's problems on obamacare. if you like your health care plan, you can keep it, was the lie of the year for 2013. but that's not the end. the failures of healthcare.gov are not the end of obama care. they've made exemptions for people on the individual mandate. you're pulling, you're pulling at the economic strings of obamacare, and over 2014, we'll see the problems compound, get worse, changes to the employer market. i think you're going to see a bailout of the insurance companies, because they cannot deal with a market run by government whim when the economics are not there for them. you'll see insurance companies going out of business --

>> the bailout was built into the whole thing. i mean, that's -- that was the whole idea behind obamacare was to keep private insurance at the table. they're getting a windfall like you can't believe. they're not the ones complaining, neither are the million people who signed up in the last 90-odd days. >> irerrol, i'm sorry, i respect you, but you're not paying attention. >> there's a difference between hoping the program will fail and hoping this administration will fail, and, you know, the reality on the ground, which is that 1 million people have health insurance they didn't have. let's remember there were -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> i'm sorry, errol, we're not dealing with an issue in the realm of hope. we're looking at the writing on the wall, reality. you want to point out 1 million people signed up, you're at a net negative of 4 million, because 5 million lost the insurance they had, you are negative 4 million. that's not the way this program was sold. >> i'm saying the insurance -- the insurance companies, and you're saying the insurance companies who sent out the cancellation letters, as they do

to 40% of their people every single year, that they are just blameless? they're simply victims of the government? >> i'm telling you the insurance companies are going to be victims of this program. that's correct. they're going to not be able to sustain a business model that requires did you. >> they kick 40% -- they kick 40% of the relevant customers off the rolls every single year! so now, all of a sudden, it's not their fault? they've been doing this for -- that's why we have a crisis. >> this is going to be enlightening for everyone. i want to explain something very simple. the insurance companies got in bed with the government under the premise we will cover older and sicker people if you'll promise younger people have to pay more. what we're seeing now is the obama administration -- yes, had these people kicked off their plans, hoping that they would have to buy more expensive plans, and now they're granting exemptions to that. what you're going to see -- >> so wait. so wait. >> -- not get healthy people. >> will, mwill, when they kicke

40% off last year, the year before, the year before, whose fault was that? was that the government's fault? >> they kicked them off and have plans in place. they can select them. what obamacare did, they required the plans would no longer exist. you change over. now, the one you had before, poof, gone. >> all right. history -- >> let me get in here about one element, errol, i want to get to something that gets beyond specifically healthcare.gov and the aca. the president's credibility problem, the president's trustworthiness with americans, his approval rating at an historic low, eroding when it comes to looking out for the middle class. it's easier to bump your numbers when it comes to the economy if people are getting jobs. but how do you get above 50% on credibility and trustworthiness? >> i mean, my sense is that for the administration, it's an

important but subsidiary task. the president had 70% approval ratings when he was first inaugurated and couldn't get a single republican member of congress to vote for the financial bailout and the stimulus that was needed to keep the collapse of the economy from happening. so, i mean, whether he's popular or not is not going to make things easier for him as far as doing the basic tasks. i think probably for this administration it's a subsidiary, an important task to get that approval rating up, just so people like us won't talk about it all weekend. >> that approval, it's people trust -- >> -- health insurance, and nobody's going to be reporting about that, we'll be talking instead about this approval poll. >> it's not approval. i'm talking about trustworthiness and credibility. i've been told twice we've got to go. i want to get to that point. it's not approval. it's not a popularity contest. it's trustworthiness and credibility. we'll continue the conversation later throughout the day.

errol lewis, will cain, thank you. new details coming out today about the carjacking and fatal shooting of the young new jersey lawyer. four men now in custody, and they face murder charges. we'll have a live report on this story up next. i earn every month" card. it's not the "i only earn decent rewards at the gas station" card. it's the no-games, no-signing up, everyday-rewarding, kung-fu-fighting, silver-lightning-in-a-bottle, bringing-home-the-bacon cash back card. this is the quicksilver card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so ask yourself, what's in your wallet? ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. where their electricity comes from.

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thanks for inspiring me. thanks for showing me my potential. for teaching me not to take life so seriously. thanks for loving me and being my best friend. don't forget to thank those who helped you take charge of your future and got you where you are today. the boss of your life. the chief life officer. ♪ so, if you're sleeping in your contact lenses, what you wear to bed is your business. the chief life officer. ask about the air optix® contacts so breathable they're approved for up to 30 nights of continuous wear. serious eye problems may occur. ask your doctor and visit airoptix.com for safety information and a free one-month trial. there are new details this morning in the carjacking and shooting death of a young new jersey lawyer and husband. >> yeah, this is a really disturbing story. dustin freedland was gunned down

last weekend after he and his wife went christmas shopping. cnn's alexander field joins us from newark, new jersey, where a press -- where a press conference with prosecutors just wrapped up. alexandra, what did you learn? >> reporter: pamela, prosecutors say the four men who now face murder charges were after the silver range rover that belonged to the attorney. justin freedland, parked at a new jersey parking mall. police are now telling us, investigators say that the four suspects arrived at the mall in a suburban. they say two of the suspects took off in freedland's range rover after he was shot and his wife jumped out of the car. the other two suspects took off in a suburban. all four men were arrested overnight in newark, in new jersey, and also in pennsylvania. prosecutors spoke this morning, investigators say that the problem of carjacking has been an epidemic in essex county.

>> you have the right to be safe and the expectation that you should be safe in this county and in the state of new jersey. and in particular, you shouldn't have to worry that wherever you go, whether it's in downtown newark, the shore hills mall, or anywhere else, that someone will put a gun to your head and take your car. >> reporter: the four men arrested are all between the ages of 29 and 33, along with murder charges, they also face carjacking and weapons charges. if convicted of those charges, they face a maximum of life in prison. they're all being held on $2 million bail. pamela, victor? >> hmm. >> all right, alexandra field in newark for us. thank you for the update. four u.s. service members were injured when someone deliberately fired at their aircraft in south sudan. now, they were on a mission to evacuate americans from an area of heavy fighting, and they had to abort it. now, the u.s. is reassessing how to get the aircraft back into the area to, again, try to

evacuate the civilians. we've got new video of the south sudanese troops in one of the violent areas. violence has raged there since last weekend. i mean, it's been a violent area for sometime, but has really increased since last weekend when the government thwarted a coup by the recently former vice president. here's an interesting question a lot of people are asking. >> this is a talker. >> all this week. was suspending the star of "duck dynasty" a brilliant p.r. move, or was it a knee-jerk reaction that a&e will regret? some people are now saying that both the star and the network could benefit from the backlash. we'll find out how, next. stick with power. stick with technology. get the new flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare.

welcome back, everyone. right now at this hour, a critical repair mission taking place 200 miles above earth at the international space station right outside of there, where an emergency mission is under way to repair a broken coolant system. today's walk is expected to take

about seven hours, and this is the first space walk scheduled. the repair mission could be wrapped up, one more trip outside, and that's one less trip than we initially thought. astronauts rich mastriaccio and mike hopkins are doing the space walk now. this is the first space walk for hopkins. >> he may have wanted a third, although it was goi ining to be christmas. >> the reality tv show's network, a&e is staying quiet. >> more than 200,000 people have signed petitions demanding a&e and phil robertson's suspension, but the network executive told cnn, the network isn't second-guessing its decision and noted that conversations about robertson and the show will continue after the holiday. although important to note here, a&e is having a "duck dynasty" marathon tomorrow. >> he was suspended indefinitely after "gq" published an

interview calling homosexuality unhappy and sinful, and saying black people were happy before the civil rights movement. david johnson, ceo of strategic vision, a branding and public relations agency. >> when he said, what is sinful, and the first thing he said was homosexuality. oh, well, the murderers, rapists, child molesters, hey, we got the pass this time, because really, don't you think those things are worse than -- you would think in the good book, homosexuality, really, that's the worst sin you can think of automatically? i think what they wanted to do, they knew it would offend a great deal of people, and they said, let's nip this at the bud, not have this go on and on, and groups saying you need to get rid of him. they didn't realize what kind of backlash they would get from the fans of "duck dynasty." >> we know what a following they have, so they can't be surprised by the backlash. and we were talking about this,

we would have been more surprised had he come out perhaps in support of -- >> i wasn't surprised by that. i mean, this -- this goes to his brand, david, i want to come to you. what i think surprised a lot of people about paula deen is it contradicted her brand. >> exactly. that was the whole thing. since i deal with a p.r. agency, if jennifer is watching, we're not taking reservations, but you're right, part of the appeal for "duck dynasty" is this tell it like it is, this christian person, and that's his brand, his appeal. that's why they're reacting. they're not shocked. a&e shouldn't be shocked. he's made remarks, over the past three years, actually a p.r. person from a&e going to the "gq" interview. the three big winners from this, as far as brands, are, of course, "duck dynasty" world talking about it, a&e, everyone will be tuning in, and "gq" more people will be buying the

magazine than ever before. >> and you touched on paula deen, and there've been others in a similar situation. alec baldwin, more recently, and the list goes on, isn't this a little different, because he is a reality tv star? don't people want him to be real? >> to be real, and the other thing is, too, what we're seeing with this, is the power of social media. if social media wasn't around, we wouldn't be talking about this now. it wouldn't be driving the narrative. social media will keep this alive, because it's a slow holiday news time, and that's all we'll be talking about for the next weeks, "duck dynasty." >> go ahead. not to preempt you, but we were talking about this, too. since when do reality tv figures' values or what their opinions have to align with the network that the show is airing on? >> yeah, what about that? >> there are plenty of controversial reality tv shows. >> i know i work on star 94 mornings and have been in radio for nearly 20 years, i know

there's morals clause, there's comments we make. you have freedom of speech. you won't get arrested with your comments. it has nothing to do you won't lose your job for your comments. i feel bad. this family seems like a very nice family. phil seems like a really good man, really has values. but i don't -- i think maybe it's a generational thing that he doesn't realize how his comments hurt a lot of gay people and members of -- members who have gay family members, it's, like, oh, my gosh, really? we're not that bad of people. and i think it's just a sad situation all the way around. >> all right. our thanks again to jimmy alexander and david johnson. >> maybe it's not so odd for late december. cars slipping and sliding all over the roads, but it seems like we've been dealing with winter weather for weeks now. meteorologist jennifer gray is here to talk about the science behind it all. >> that's right, guys. we, as today is the official start of winter, but if you ask a lot of people across the country, they'll tell you they feel like winter has been here for quite a while. we talked to an expert, we break

it down to find out the science behind winter. stay with us. this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. it's not the "juggle a bunch of rotating categories" card. it's not the "sign up for rewards each quarter" card. it's the no-games, no-messing-'round, no-earning-limit-having, do-i-look-like-i'm-joking, turbo-boosting, heavyweight-champion- of-the-world cash back card. this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. now tell me, what's in your wallet? no, i'm good. ♪ [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette, you celebrate a little win. nicorette mini delivers fast craving relief

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it's literally out of this world. these are pictures from the international space station where astronauts are trying to repair a broken coolant pump. they began the mission around 7:00 a.m. eastern time. rick and mike are the astronauts on board, and they're conducting this mission now, and nasa will conduct at least one more space walk later this week. >> today is the first day of

winter, but you wouldn't know it from the weather the past two weeks. >> yeah, what's been going on? from arizona to maine, we've seen ice and sleet and snow, all during what was supposed to be fall. and in some places, tornadoes are still threatening this weekend, deep into december, not something you normally hear about, december? >> yeah, we've had huge temperature swings. 30 degrees below normal, 30 degrees above normal a couple days later, but the big story has been winter, long before the official start of winter. we talked to an expert, brought him in, and tried to break it down and see if there was a rhyme and a reason, and a science behind winter. there's no doubt about it, winter is not only officially here, it's been here for weeks. >> you have to drive maybe 10 miles an hour at the most. >> plenty of salt. the back roads are starting to stick. it looks like it's coming down pretty good. >> i'm going to stay in for this. >> because? >> get out of the way. >> at least six winter storms have hit the u.s.

coast-to-coast, impacting tens of millions of people. what's the science behind all of the extreme weather? >> in terms of the storms we've seen in october, november, december, as i often tell peo e people, you know, the atmosphere doesn't have an on-off switch that knows when winter begins. >> dr. marshall shepherd is a president of the meteorological society. he said there's one big reason for the wild weather, the jet team. >> when we have the el nino-neutral conditions, the jet stream patterns, we get the strong dips in the jet stream patterns, and in the dips, cold air, and in the hills, we're going to have warm air. and so, generally the jet stream pattern is the governing force and function of the weather in the wintertime. >> reporter: case in point -- denver, colorado. in a matter of 10 days, the mile high city went from negative temperatures to a near balm may 70 degrees. the time of year when it should be hovering around 40. we're talking about 30 degrees above normal. and in the big "d," an ice storm

earlier this month took dallas from a high of 79 degrees to freezing in three days. and in philadelphia, december 8th winter storm, dropped more snow in one day than the city received all year last year. so we will see an occasional storm. i think we have seen above-normal snowstorm activity for this time of the season. it's still interesting that we see the chance for tornadoes this weekend here in the united states, but indeed, this has been a year of extremes. >> and we also talked about something called the arctic oscillation, another tool that meteorologists use to -- >> the what? >> arctic oscillation. and basically when it's positive, we have warmer temperatures. when it's negative, we have colder ones. and from the beginning of

january, we'll see the chilly temperatures at the start of 2014. >> that's going to be fun. >> i know. >> way to go, jennifer. >> helping you to get the cold healed and then the cold weather comes again. >> all right. jennifer gray, thank you for that. really interesting stuff there. that will do it for us. thank you so much for being a part of the saturday morning with us. >> we've had a lot going on. we'll continue to look at -- through the morning and the early afternoon to this space walk. >> yeah. >> if we have the live pictures from nasa, i just want to put those up if we have them. i want people to see, here we are, this is mission control. they've got two astronauts who are out working today. here's a live helmet cam. they're working to replace a pump -- >> cooling pump, yeah. >> cooling pump at the iss. it's about the size of a refrigerator. don't think it's something coming out of your car. it's about 700 pounds. this is the first space walk for one of these guys. so we're going to continue to watch this throughout the