saudi arabia's new king pledges continuity but the fractured politics of the region could make for a challenging road ahead. no word on these two hostages whose fate lies in the hands of isis. we'll get a live report from japan with the latest on their situation. don't place all your eggs in one basket. that saying perhaps more relevant to one town's u.s. economy. can this oil boomtown outlive the global downturn in prices? and a lot of air time for some footballs that supposedly didn't have enough air in them. a look at the funniest side of "deflategate." welcome to our viewers in the

united states and around the world. i'm max foster. we begin in saudi arabia where people are welcoming a new ruler whilst mourning the death of a longtime king. funeral services were held on friday for king abdullah who died earlier in the day at the age of 90. he led the kingdom for close to a decade. his half-brother is calling for unity amongst all muslims and promising no major changes in the country's direction. so far it appears the transition in power has been a smooth one, but the new king salomon has a number of important challenges ahead including falling oil prices and the crisis in neighboring yemen. cnn's reporter joining us by phone from amman in jordan with more. today is a significant day because the international community will arrive won't they and they will pay their respects today after yesterday's very solemn process.

>> reporter: yes, max, a day after we saw the outpouring of messages of condolences from around the globe, really to saudi arabia to the royal family, praising the late king abdullah. they were going to be seeing the arrival of more and more world leaders expected to take part in the more formal ceremonies now following the burial to meet with the new monarch, with the king. as we know prince charles is going to be headed to saudi arabia the king of jordan king abdullah and other world leaders. vice president joe biden is expected as he said in the coming days to lead a presidential delegation. of course all eyes are on saudi arabia and what this change in leadership means, although experts really don't expect much change. as we mentioned yesterday, hearing the new king's address yesterday, he is promising the

continuity really seeing what we have seen over the past decade under the rule of king abdullah. max? >> considering the challenges ahead, the regional challenges first of all, what change might you expect there? as you say, a promise of continuity but this is a different king as well. >> reporter: absolutely. it's said that no king in the history of modern saudi arabia has inherited a neighborhood a kingdom with so much turmoil in it right now. if you look at what's going on to the southern border in yemen, this is something very alarming for saudi arabia with you know the sunni saudi arabia seeing the shia movement consolidating power in the capital, sana'a and in the government there. there are concerns also about this chaos, this political chaos and the vacuum in yemen, giving more power to al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, aqap there.

and of course there's also the concern from isis to the north, gaining, you know its power there in iraq and syria. just last month, there was a cross-border attack on saudi arabia that came from isis in iraq. so there's a lot of concern about this. and of course the relationship with iran here. these tensions between iran and saudi arabia the rival iran the shia power in the region we've seen them engaging in somewhat of a proxy war in the region trying to gain dominance in this region. and many feel that this proxy war has really translated into violence with the rise in sectarian tension in the region. so a lot of hope that there could be change in this relationship but so far, if these changes do not happen of course if we see much of this continuity that is also cause for concern when it comes to

saudi and iranian relations when it comes to the tensions and the violence in the region, max. >> thank you very much indeed. now, with the ascension of another elderly son of saudi arabia's founder comes a new round of health concerns. the government is very tight-lipped on the subject, but there is talk that the king could be suffering from some very serious health problems. our brian todd reports. >> reporter: he's seen as a no-nonsense, savvy player inside the monarchy able to sort out the house of saud's legendary internal feuds and bring the hammer down on princes who go astray. >> he was also the enforcer in the family slapping people across the knuckles if they did things wrong. >> reporter: "the washington post" reports saudi arabia's new king salman aziz even maintained a jail on his own property while he was governor of riyadh province. >> someone has to discipline the royal family he has his role. >> reporter: there is genuine concern about the new king's

health. he may have suffered a stroke. he's lost two sons to heart attacks, and there are questions about his mental acuity. >> in meetings with foreign dignitaries, he can function for about five minutes, keeping to his briefing notes, but then he gets confused. he goes off message and becomes very muddled. i'm told by medical experts that this is the classic sign of dementia. >> there are two theories. one is he has real health problems. after all, he's 79 years old. and the other one is he's a very busy man at 79 years old that he shows stress. and for instance in the past two or three years when the king has had his own severe health problems he's had two jobs. >> reporter: analysts say there's little question he'll maintain saudi arabia's role as a crucial u.s. ally and will keep up the fight against isis. what will also likely continue the brutal system of discipline

inside saudi arabia which include floggings and public beheadings. the new king the interior minister to the number three position. he once survived an assassination attempt by an al qaeda operative carrying a bomb inside his own body. ali al ahmed, a critic of the regime says he uses fear and intimidation to wield huge influence behind the scenes. >> he is seen by the west as the counterterrorism hero but inside the country, he's seen as the evil man who oppresses human rights and throw a woman in prison for driving. >> reporter: we pressed saudi officials for comments on the human rights record and on the concerns over the king's health. they didn't respond. brian todd, cnn, washington. the isis deadline for japanese men it's holding as hostages has passed and their fate is unknown. on tuesday, the terror group gave japan 72 hours to pay a $200 million ransom or it would

execute the men. will is covering the story and joins us live. we talked yesterday about the information you were getting. have you had any more details about their state, if i can call it that? >> reporter: no updates from the spokesperson for isis who was e-mailing with the japanese broadcaster. 24 hours ago they were saying a statement was coming at any time. well it's been eerily silent since then. there is no statement. and this calm is in many ways even more nerve-racking than the days leading up to this deadline because one can imagine that at any moment a video could appear online or perhaps some sort of other development. of course family members praying for a positive development, hoping that perhaps there is some sort of discussion happening behind the scenes. however, the japanese government continues to tell us the very latest confirmed information that they have had no direct contact with isis leaving the fate of these two hostages 24 hours after the deadline, still unclear.

just hours before the deadline his mother made an emotional plea for her son's life. >> translator: i would like to say to all the members of islamic state, kenji is not an enemy of islamic state. i ask for his release. >> reporter: gota's mother also noted her surprise that her son left his wife and then two-week-old child to search for his friend in syria. >> translator: my son left this very very young baby to go and leave his family. and i asked my son's wife why he had made this decision. and the response was that my son felt he had to do everything in his power to help and rescue his friend. >> reporter: gota a freelance journalist who frequently reported from war zones made for unlikely friends. cnn has learned that over the past decade he attempted suicide, then lost his wife to cancer and lost his home and business to bankruptcy.

after changing his first name to its feminine form he believed he was the reincarnation of a chinese princess who spied on the japanese in world war ii. in his blog he once wrote, "i look normal outside, but inside i'm mentally ill." but his travels to syria appear to be an attempt to rebuild his life. yukawa met gota last summer and tried to learn from him how to survive in combat. he soon portrayed himself as a soldier of fortune and the head of the private military company, a security company that reuters says existed only online. now these two unlikely friends are in the hands of isis with the very real fear that like five western hostages before them they will soon meet the same horrific end. max, you have to imagine just how difficult it must have been for kenji gota's mother to get up there and stand before all of those cameras and not only beg for isis to spare her son but

also to apologize to the japanese people for the inconvenience that this has caused. that is partially japanese culture and also partially the result of the fact that there are some in this country who feel that these two men, by ignoring warnings and crossing into syria, in some ways brought this onto themselves. nonetheless, you won't find anybody in this country who doesn't want these men to come home safely. and at this point, it's anybody's guess if that's even possible. we'll have to wait and see. >> yeah. thoughts with them and their families. will thank you very much indeed. a colorado woman was sentenced to four years in prison on friday after admitting she tried to become an isis bride. shannon connelley told the court she was not a danger to anyone and was misled by isis. she was arrested at denver's airport last year after she told investigators she was fleeing to turkey to marry an isis member. prosecutors say they hope the sentence sends a clear message to any american who may seek to join the terror group. coming up next on cnn, with

its government in crumbles and rebels controlling the streets, who is actually in charge in yemen? we'll examine who could rise to power. plus on the same day the u.n. raises its death toll from violence in eastern ukraine, the leader of a pro-russian rebel group says he's not ready for peace talks.

it's been two days since yemen's government came

crumbling down as rebels stormed the capital city of sana'a forcing the resignation of yemen's president and other officials. for the moment uncertainty rules the country. as cnn's barbara starr reports, u.s. counterterrorism officials are closely watching what happens next in yemen. >> reporter: yemen, a country in crisis with the government resigning and dozens of u.s. diplomats heading home. ♪ at least publicly the white house insists it still can go after al qaeda's most dangerous branch. >> we continue to have a strong counterterrorism partnership with the national security infrastructure of yemen, and we continue to be very vigilant about the ongoing effort to counter aqap in yemen. >> reporter: cnn has learned behind the scenes u.s. intelligence and military officials are urgently reaching out to crucial counterparts in

yemen, trying to keep alive counterterrorism operations to track and target al qaeda in that country. the group that claimed it was behind the paris attacks. the u.s. continues collecting eavesdropping, satellite and other intelligence on potential locations for aqap's top operatives including this leader. >> make no mistake about it, if they have the intelligence and they have the shot they will take it. >> reporter: taking the shot could mean more drone strikes deeply resented by yemenis. there hasn't been a strike since december. but there is also a covert u.s. military special operations commando team nearby perched and ready to conduct a mission on the ground against aqap if ordered. the u.s. is still struggling to catch up to the lightning advances by the rebels this week and is assessing what their plans may be. >> i wouldn't say that it comes

as a complete shock, but yes, it did happen very quickly, and of course in a pretty abrupt fashion. >> reporter: the unrest may reach a crisis point sunday when parliament meets. it may reject the resignation of president hadi making the next step by the rebels uncertain. >> the hutis have been very consistent for years that they are dead set against any foreign presence in yemen, regardless of the mission, and that would certainly include the united states. >> reporter: and there could even be more trouble ahead. there are reports of fighting between huti rebels and al qaeda in yemen's oil-rich areas. that's the last thing this fragile country really needs. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. now, a blunt statement from a rebel leader in eastern ukraine suggests months of fighting there will only get worse. alexander says there's no sense talking about peace because his pro-russian forces are now on the offensive, battling to

expand their area of control. at the same time russian president vladimir putin is accusing ukrainian troops of launching a major offensive of their own. >> translator: unfortunately, we not only did not get any distinct answer to our suggestion but we saw opposite actions, namely kiev authorities gave an official order about full-scale military actions almost all along the perimeter of contact of opposing force. >> the u.n. says the conflict in eastern ukraine has killed nearly 5,100 people since last april. greeks are heading to the polls this weekend to choose a new parliament and a new head of state. the conservative new democracy party led by the prime minister is trying to hold on to power. after parliament failed to elect a new leader in december. but polls now project a win for the far left party. the party is popular amongst greeks who say they're tired of the austerity measures. it's promised to do away with

austerity completely and secure a debt writeoff from the 2010 bailout. a victory could lead to greece exiting the eurozone which has other eu governments concerned. a contagious disease is spreading at a u.s. amusement park. next details on the measles outbreak at disneyland. plus a closer look at a growing movement to parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.

a measles outbreak linked to disneyland is now spreading to other u.s. states. so far there are 78 confirmed cases, 68 of them are in california. 48 have been linked to the amusement park. nine cases have been reported in six other states and mexico. a california health official recommends that children under 12 months old and anyone who's never had a measles vaccination stay away from the park. measles can spread in large part due to children that have never been vaccinated. many u.s. parents still refuse to immuneize their children because they fear there's a link to autism despite scientific evidence showing otherwise. elizabeth cohen reports. >> parents need to know what is being injected into their child. >> reporter: call it the jenny effect. >> without a doubt in my mind i believe vaccinations triggered evan's autism. >> reporter: almost a decade ago, actress generalmyjenny mccarthy

became the spokesperson for the anti anti-vaccination movement despite science showing over and over there's no link between autism and vaccines. in california for example, a study out this week shows low rates of vaccination in san francisco and marin county both wealthy areas. in southern california affluent areas in los angeles have had immunization rates that rival south sudan's. >> when parents choose not to vaccinate, other parents around them may have similar ideas. and so what you get are pockets, groups of people who think the same and so you now have a cluster of children who are susceptible, all kind of living and playing together going to similar schools, houses of worship and the like. so if that bad germ gets into that group, all of a sudden you'll have an epidemic. >> reporter: so why don't parents believe the scientists?

some of them are convinced the government is working with the pharmaceutical industry and just want to sell vaccines. >> i am more willing to take the chance of her getting one of these, you know rare viruses or diseases than give her these side effects of these vaccines which a lot of the times is autism. >> i do not see that there is ever an acceptable time to inject a known toxin, a known poison a heavy metal, into the body of a six-pound and up child in order to help save their life through a vaccine. no poison is safe. no poison can be given to a child and it's okay. >> reporter: the supposed link between autism and vaccines was championed by british scientist andrew wakefield. but his paper was discredited and redacted from the "british medical journal" in 2011. >> the study is not a lie. the findings that we made have been replicated in five countries around the world. >> sir, that's not true.

you've been offered the chance to replicate your study and you've never taken anybody up on that. you've had plenty of opportunity to replicate your study. >> i am telling you that this work has been replicated in five countries around the world. >> reporter: that was not true. but even so many parents still believe wakefield was right, still believe the government is lying to americans, and still refused to vaccinate their children no matter what. elizabeth cohen, cnn, reporting. now, the recovery of airasia flight 8501 enters a new phase. just ahead, how divers are planning to bring the plane's fuselage up from the bottom of the java sea. the u.s. and cuba end a first round of historic talks. and coming up, what the american secretary of state has to say about the future of diplomatic relations with the island nation.

hey, jennar fuzz mike troober munny sling... awwwwww scram! i'm crust mike jubby roll bond chow gonna lean up an kiss bet. peas charty get town down. [laughter] ♪ borf a liver tute face stummy wag ♪ pow pam sha-beeps stella nerf berms. saxa-nay nay? badumps a head. temexiss gurrin. juppa left. fluppa jown! brone a brood. what? catch up on what everyone's talking about with the x1 entertainment operating system. preloaded with the latest episodes of the top 100 shows. only from xfinity.

welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm max foster. here's an update on the top stories we're following for you this hour. saudi arabia's new ruler, king salman is pledging to stay the course after the death of king abdullah. the late saudi ruler was buried on friday in riyadh. some observers say the new 79-year-old king salman faces serious health problems of his own. the ransom deadline by isis for two japanese hostages has passed and there is no word on their fate. muslims in japan prayed for the hostages on friday hoping for their safe release. on tuesday, isis gave japan 72 hours to pay $200 million or it would execute the men. turmoil is bubbling in yemen today. protesters in the southern city of demanding a return of their

government that resigned in the face of a rebel uprising. demonstrators say they won't accept any orders from houthi rebels who now control the capital city of sana'a. it's unclear who is in charge of the country. we have new developments in the crash of airasia flight 8501. recovery crews are using balloons to try to raise the fuselage from the bottom of the java sea. only 69 bodies have been recovered after 162 people on board the plane, and investigators think most of the remaining bodies are inside the fuselage. let's go to cnn's reporter live with the details for us. because of the fact that many of the bodies may still be in the fuselage, a very delicate operation. >> reporter: yeah max, it is. it was one that they were trying to avoid for the time being where almost a month to the day since the plane took off on its flight path and went missing in

bad weather. and what they had said initially, the search teams, is that their mission really was to find the victims, to bring them back home and return them to their families for a burial. but unfortunately, they encountered a lot of problems trying to get that mission done. and here's why. this is what one of them told us. >> translator: when the divers tried to go deeper into the wreckage of the cabin, they were obstructed by dangling cables and other debris. it has become a problem for the divers to find out exactly how many bodies are in there. >> reporter: and that's exactly why they decided to stop trying to recover the bodies one by one and instead to lift the fuselage in its entirety in one go and that is a mammoth task. and they have been hindered for many days now because of the weather conditions max. and so today in earnest, finally at first light this morning, we

saw the first dive teams going down into the java sea. and what they're doing, max, if i give you a little bit of details about this is that they are effectively attaching giant balloon, if you like. it's a lifting bag, one bag. it weighs around ten tons so that gives you an idea of the size of it and the scale of the operation. it took a dive team a good wild to get that down into the sea. a number of hours to attach it to the fuselage. and then between 6:00 and 10:00 a.m. they began the process of actually blowing it up. so it will be under the fuselage this giant balloon, which they hope would help it float and lift to the top of the sea. it was looking very positive and then at 10:00 a.m. four hours after they started that operation, one of the truss ropes that were attached like belts to the fuselage and the bag broke, and unfortunately

that scuttled the operation. they did try and carry on reattaching it but then bad weather conditions yet again, choppy waters high winds, incredible waves they have to deal with have stopped the operation for the day today. we're told they'll start again at first light tomorrow. max? >> and where are we in the process of learning about what caused this crash? are we any nearer with information that you've had? >> reporter: yeah max, one official has told cnn that they are 90% done with reading, so to speak, the data on that black box, or as it is orange box, flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders as well. so they are 90% of the way through. we're expecting their preliminary report sometime next week. we've been given data but we're not really sure when it's going to come out. and if indeed it will be made public. so under law, they don't have to

make that public. of course particularly the victims' families and all of us watching this want to know what they have found. but we're not sure if they are going to be willing to share that information with the public or if they'll share that with us at all. but we do believe that they are 90% of the way through. one more update for you today, max, we understand that 69 victims have now been recovered from the water. not all of them have been identified yet, though. so still a slow and painful process, of course for the victims' families. max? >> it really is isn't it. saima, thank you very much indeed for that update. now, after more than 50 years of animosity, the u.s. and cuba are takeing the first steps to re-establish diplomatic ties. the assistant secretary of state led a u.s. delegation to cuba this week and she met with cuban dissidents on friday as well as the wives and female

relatives of political prisoners. jacobsen spoke with our wolf blitzer about the future of cuba/u.s. relations. >> your boss the secretary of state, john kerry, he spoke about possibly visiting cuba himself. listen to what he said. >> when it is timely, when it is appropriate, i look forward to traveling to cuba in order to formally open an embassy and begin to move forward. >> you think that we're all months away from that? >> well i think, you know i think nobody says that better than my boss, and he used the words "timely" and "appropriate." he knows better than anybody that when you have to move forward on something that has to overcome 50 years of distrust and difficulty it's not easy. and that it has to be something done by mutual consent.

so neither of us has unrealistic expectations. we certainly don't anticipate that this will take years to get done but it's very difficult to put a precise date on it because it depends not only upon us and how quickly we can get things done but also upon the cuban government which has not always moved swiftly in response to things that we would like to get done. so we've just had our first round of conversations, and i've learned over the years that to predict how quickly things will go is sometimes not the best -- not the smartest move. >> as you know the cubans they want the state department to remove cuba from the list of state-sponsored terrorist countries. are you ready to do so? >> what we are doing is what the president asked the secretary of state to do which is to review the designation of cuba on the

state sponsor of terrorism list and to do so within -- represent him with a recommendation as the process requires within six months. we began that process immediately after the president's announcement and we will continue that process without prejudging the outcome of it. we did hear from the cubans their request that they be removed from that list and we told them what i'm telling you, which is we've begun that process. we don't know exactly what the outcome will be but we will do it as quickly as possible understanding that it is both important to them but more importantly has been requested by the president and by my boss, the secretary of state. >> there you are. well up next, we'll take you to the heart of u.s. oil country. we'll look at whether a boomtown in north dakota can weather the plunge in oil prices. plus your days of browsing

for suitcases and hourglass clocks while flying on planes could be numbered. details on the skymall bankruptcy are next. [ male announcer ] you wouldn't leave your car unprotected. but a lot of us leave our identities unprotected. nearly half a million cars were stolen in 2012, but for every car stolen 34 people had their identities stolen. identity thieves can steal your money, damage your credit and wreak havoc on your life. why risk it when you can help protect yourself from identity theft with one call to lifelock, the leader in identity-theft protection? lifelock actively patrols your sensitive, personal information every second of every day, helping to guard your social security number, your bank accounts and credit, even the equity in your home -- your valuable personal assets. look. your bank may alert you to suspicious activity on your credit or debit card. but that still may leave you vulnerable to big losses if a thief opens new accounts in your name or decides to drain your savings, home equity, or retirement accounts.

and your credit report may only tell you after your identity's been compromised. but lifelock is proactive protection and watches out for you in ways that banks and credit-card companies alone just can't giving you the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. whenever the patented lifelock identity alert system detects a threat to your identity you'll be notified by phone, text, or e-mail, helping you to stop identity thieves before they do damage. you even get a $1 million service guarantee. that's right. if your identity is ever compromised, lifelock will spend up to $1 million on experts to help restore it. you wouldn't leave your car unprotected. don't leave your money, credit and good name unprotected. call now, and try lifelock risk-free for 60 days. act now, and get this document shredder free. that's a $29 value. ♪ or go to lifelock.com/go. try lifelock risk-free for 60 days

and get this document shredder free -- a $29 value -- when you use promo code go. call now. (coughing) coughing disrupts everyone's life. that's why so many people are turning to delsym for longer lasting cough relief. delsym has an advanced time release formula that helps silence coughs for a full 12 hours. up to twice as long as other cough liquids. all night... or all day. well, if you're a driver you've probably noticed it prices at the pump have dropped a lot thanks to tumbling oil prices which have more than halved actually since june. brent crude is trading close to a six-year low. and there are new concerns about the world's biggest petroleum

exporter. saudi arabia has a new king who is big on continuity. the kingdom has refused to cut production. saudi arabia is a major player in opec and observers say it's embroiled in a showdown with u.s. shale oil producers. that's having ripple effects. so what happens when an entire community stakes its survival on the oil industry? poppy harlow went to north dakota to investigate. >> we wanted to see what this oil boom was all about. >> we just decided to go where the work was. >> i know the last time we had the oil boom things slowed down pretty bad. >> taking a bit of a nosedive right now with the price of oil going down quite severely. >> you see rigs that are being pulled in and shut down. >> so we've already been laid off once. >> a lot of people are. a lot of people are real scared about it. >> reporter: this is williston,

north dakota. we're right on main street, and this is oil country. they call it black gold and for workers here it's meant steady work and great pay. the latest unemployment rate, less than 1%. but with oil falling from 100 bucks to less than 50 what happens to boomtown if the boom goes bust? >> i hope that they've done a lot of planning and preparation in case the oil does go away. >> reporter: because it could. >> because it very well could. >> reporter: it's winter on the great plains over north dakota's oil fields. >> a native of liberia, john roberts came here for better work. he made $18 an hour driving oil workers to and from the rigs. but when oil prices fell he and thousands more were laid off. >> i need a job right now. i need to eat. i need to gas my car.

i still have a farm in iowa. i need to take care of that ranch. >> reporter: you have four kids back in liberia that rely on you making money. >> rely on me. >> reporter: the vast wealth pumped out from the shale that lies below these towns isn't a sure bet. north dakota's oil rig count has fallen to the lowest level since 2010. >> i think we could very realistically be down to 50 drilling rigs come june. >> reporter: from? >> peak of probably close to 200. >> reporter: jim's trucking company hauls 130,000 barrels of crude a day. how bad is it? >> well, you know, it's not bad yet, but everybody knows it's going to get bad. the writing's on the wall. a lot of jobs lost. 20,000 jobs probably. pretty quickly by june. there will be some sad times. >> reporter: but this is boomtown. >> was boomtown. >> reporter: despite the gloomy outlook, his company is still hiring and training workers. who are optimistic. >> there's enough oil, there's

enough work to be able to stay employed for a long time. >> reporter: still concerns linger and stem from factors overseas. some industry analysts suspect saudi arabia keeps pumping more oil, lowering prices even further in an attempt to cripple u.s. production. >> i think there's a battle royale right now between opec and u.s. shale producers. >> reporter: so who is going to blink first, them or you guys? >> i think them but it's going to be a little bit of worst. i think bachen will be one of the worst-hit basins in the u.s. because of the high cost. >> reporter: dan evenrerhart is the ceo. what are they telling you? >> some are saying brace for a showdown and some are saying they're going to add rigs. >> reporter: as u.s. companies slow production perhaps no place in america will feel it more than right here. have your hours already been cut back? >> yes, they have. >> reporter: michael ferguson wanted to move his family of nine up here from colorado.

now that plan is on hold. rig workers typically do 12 to 16-hour shifts. but if his hours are cut more, he may move back home. >> it wouldn't be financially feasible. >> reporter: so you working 40 hours a week doesn't make sense here? >> no. it's not worth being away from the family for that. >> reporter: and with housing so expensive here many rely on their employer for a roof over their head. >> since i'm no longer employed with the company, they gave me 24 hours to leave. >> reporter: 24 hours. >> 24 hours. >> reporter: to leave your house. >> to leave the house. if i go outside, my car is there with all my belongings. >> reporter: as you can see, people in the oil industry here are scared. but when you talk to folks all across town in different jobs many of them say they're not concerned at all. in fact they think that this oil rush has just begun. >> there you go. have a great day. >> i hate the word boomtown because boom means boom or bust. and we're not busting anymore. >> reporter: you're not worried?

>> not at all. >> i'm not worried at all. >> no i'm not worried. things do slow down a little bit in the winter. i definitely anticipate a pickup in the spring. >> reporter: from pharmacy to the motel to housing developments local businesses are still thriving. >> it's been great. great. we're up from last year at this time. >> i'm hoping it continues. and i'm sure it will. >> just flew in last night, got a job. >> i'm not worried because it's going to come back. we don't have any other alternative to oil right now. we'll be the base for an industry that's going to support north dakota for 40 more years. >> we're 8900 wells into a 60 to 70,000-well play. so we're 15% into this. >> reporter: the mayor of watford city north dakota insists his town needs to grow even if the oil industry declines. >> we're thousands of housing units behind where we need to be. in the meantime it helps non-oil businesses try to get caught up. no one has enough employees out here.

>> reporter: but not everyone here is so sure. >> if they move away who's going to pay the bill for the new school? >> reporter: and that's the same story with a lot of things around town. >> everything. new apartment buildings going up. wow, huh? it can't go on forever. >> reporter: do you think people are preparing themselves for the fact that it can't go on forever? >> that's a good question. >> reporter: so is the sun setting on boomtown? it all depends on how far oil falls and for how long. leaving the promise of what tomorrow will bring on the minds of just about everyone here. poppy harlow cnn, williston, north dakota. now, airline travelers all over the world could soon lose a familiar sight. we're talking about the skymall catalog. it's been in the seat back pockets of airplanes for 25 years. but the company is filing for bankruptcy now. skymall sells a lot of stuff you're not quite sure you need but intrigues you anyway like

life-sized yeti statues, singing gondola pool toys and a tree face wearing a u.s. college football cap. last year delta and southwest airlines both ended their contracts with skymall. so they're all collector pieces now. the nfl announces its initial findings in deflategate. and if you thought tom brady's hat looked funny, wait until you hear what late-night comedians and social media had to say about it. that's next.

a very wintry mix of snow and very cold rain is hitting the east coast. our meteorologist is at the world weather center with the details on that. hi, derek. [ no audio ] well i thought that you might be able to hear him. i can't hear him, so i think we'll come back to derek in a moment. now, baseball fans are mourning the loss of a legend. hall of famer ernie banks has died. banks was the first african-american to play for the chicago cubs. he was known as mr. cub and mr. sunshine because of his kind of -- his very kind demeanor actually. in 2013, he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom. his family attorney says his death was not from natural causes and the family will hold a news conference on sunday.

banks was 83 years old. the nfl confirms for the first time that the new england patriots used underinflated footballs in their playoff game against the indianapolis colts. but there's no word yet on who they think is responsible. or what action if any, they'll take. in the meantime late-night comedians and social media are having a field day with the controversy. richard roth has details. >> reporter: the nfl quarterback nicknamed the golden boy couldn't find his midas touch to put an end to the nfl ball deflation controversy. >> you know i didn't alter the ball in any way. >> reporter: reaction from many quarters failed to back brady. and social media was even more pointed. ellen degeneres tweeted that the nfl has once again hired a blimp, this time to apologize. the press conference itself felt like a comedy skit. >> some guys like them round, and some guys like them thin. some guys like them tacky. some guys like them brand new. some guys like old balls. i mean they're all different.

>> reporter: and that just started the ball rolling. >> yes, any time we get to talk about tom brady's balls is a good day for me. >> gloria allred is now representing 9 of the 11 balls tom brady allegedly squeeze.dsqueezed. >> reporter: in boston brady and his balls are godlike. >> 11 of 12 footballs were deflated. oh no! you know what's not deflated? my love of the frickin' pats. you hate us 'cause you ain't us. >> reporter: these balls are the most famous since those discussed in "goodfellas." >> don't go busting my balls. >> go home and get your shine box. >> reporter: we know how that turned out. but with a week still to go to the super bowl you might have to remind people there's a game scheduled. >> i guess we are talking about the balls that tom brady handles. >> reporter: social media observers highlighted a glaring branding error. the patriots news conference was sponsored by gillette's flexball. in the rounder sport of

basketball the milwaukee bucks' mascot was caught red-handed pumping up the ball. >> deflategate which means now my wife will have to use a different term to describe our honeymoon. >> if you guys really want to know how we got the air out of those 11 balls, i'll show you. we smoked them just like we did the colts. >> reporter: richard roth, cnn, new york. >> okay. let's see if we can speak to derek this time. he's talking about that awful weather on the east coast of the u.s. hi derek. >> we'll try this again. i think you'll want to double check your flight plans for any of our international viewers heading to john f. kennedy international airport in new york city. we have a pretty classic nor'easter taking place at the moment. this radar, well it speaks a million words. you can just see the amount of precipitation blanketing the east coast of the united states.

the rain/snow line just south of the big apple. it is warm enough to keep us all liquid precipitation for baltimore as well as the nation's capital. but a few inches of fresh snow have already fallen near work. and some of that leading edge of our snowfall reaching the boston region as well. we have winter storm watches and warnings. where you see that shading of purple and pink stretching from boston right through southeastern portions of pennsylvania this is all thanks to a low that developed across the gulf of mexico produced some significant precipitation and is now moving along the east coast of the u.s. this is a fairly classic nor'easter setup. however, this is a very quick-moving storm. so the snowfall totals will be rather light. in fact this is what we're expecting, anywhere between seven and ten centimeters of snowfall. so three to five inches maximum. then we look towards the end of the weekend into early next. an alberta clipper sweeps across the upper great lakes, bringing

snowfall to michigan and perhaps some snowfall along the east coast as well. hey, max, i'm wondering if perhaps you've got your binoculars or your backyard telescope ready because we have the possibility of seeing an asteroid this monday. something that won't be possible once again until the year 2027. this one's a half a kilometer wide and it gives us a very unique viewing opportunity. we can actually get outside, of course, if the skies play along and see it with our day-to-day binoculars. notdefinitely up for that. what part of the world? >> anywhere in the world you'll be able to see it. >> derek, thank you very much. thank you for joining us. i'm max foster in london. i'll be back in another hour with more news. you're with cnn. [ male announcer ] stop! living with hair loss, that is. losing your hair is no fun and no one wants to be bald but there is hope. getting my hair back was the best thing that ever happened to me. i'm happy with the way i look now. i'm very excited about my hair. i feel beautiful.

i love my hair. [ male announcer ] hair club offers all proven hair loss solutions backed by our commitment to satisfaction guaranteed. if you're not 100% satisfied with the solution you choose hair club will apply the purchase price to another proven hair loss solution or transplant more hair at no charge. it was the best thing i've ever done. it looks good on me. [ male announcer ] call in the next five minutes to get your free brochure at no obligation. it will tell you everything you need to know about your hair-loss problem and it's free if you call now. i am more pleased than what i had even imagined. i at least look, i would say five years younger. i'm 52 and i look better now than i did when i was in my 40s. i feel great. [ male announcer ] and that's not all. the first 100 people who call will also receive $250 off any hair loss solution from hair club. call now!

. desperation and fear continue for two japanese hostages still being held by isis. now some 28 hours after the group's ran some deadline. we're following all the developments coming up. israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu will soon be making his way to the u.s. but it's not likely we'll get the red carpet treatment from the white house. and wait until you see what one ambitious 13-year-old boy did with his legos and that's likely to help so many. welcome to our viewers in the u.s. and around the world i'm max foster let's get straight to the top stories this hour. it's 1 p.m. in saudi arabia where the new king says he plans to keep the country on the same track as his late half-brother. king abdullah was laid to rest on friday after his death at the age of 90. the ceremony was short