newest and biggest airliner, a-380. singapore airlines has grounded nearly half of the fleet after tests revealed engine problems. thisomes less than a week after an engine on a qantas a-380 exploded. a stranded cruise ship with passengers onboard crippled by an engine-room fire being towed to san diego. the uss ronald reagan coming to the rescue with food, water, and supplies. cnn has a correspondent onboard. and president obama is in south korea this morning getting ready for the g-20 summit. the main focus will be to stabilize the world's financial markets. the president will also have to answer to critics who say the u.s. is manipulating its currency at the expense of other economies. >> but first from the pacific to the pentagon this morning, people are trying to figure out exactly what was shooting across the sky on monday evening off the coast of california. have a look for yourself. you can see the huge streak arching over the waters just west of los angeles.

the images sent the military into a frenzy because many people thought it looked just like a missile would. chris lawrence live in washington. and some have speculated this was just the trail of an aircraft. looks a little different than that. what's the military saying this morning? >> even respected professors at m.i.t. are saying no, this looks like a missile launch. everyone was trying to figure out what it was. this morning right now, most of the government agencies can tell us what they think it was not. but not necessarily what it was. if that makes any sense. you know, right now, they're saying that the department of defense has no record of any launch. in fact, the pentagon put out a statement saying all dod entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches scheduled or inadvertent during the time period in the area of the reported contrail.

they didn't monitor any foreign missile launch. there was no threat to the homeland. and the faa went back and did a radar replay of this area west of los angeles for that time period. and from what they saw, there were no fast-moving, unidentified objects. and they also say no pilots reported seeing anything unusual around that time. now, we spoke to a pretty respected weapons analyst who said the real story here is how long it's taken the government to figure out it wasn't us. >> why the government is so badly organized that they're not able to get somebody out there to explain it and make the story go away, i think that's the real story. it's absolutely insane that for all of the money we're spending, for all of these technically competent people that they can't get somebody out there to explain what's incredibly obvious. >> now, he says he believes this is a clearly an airplane

contrail. that he says the reason it sort of looks different is it's flying over the horizon, you're accounting for the curvature of the earth, at the angle of which you're looking at even though it's really coming at the helicopter pilot, it appears to be shooting straight up into the air. so, unfortunately at this hour, john, mystery unsolved. >> yeah, i mean, that's what john pike is saying about it. other people are saying it looks like it could be a launch from a submarine. and of course, president obama is in the koreas. and they're putting two and two together to say is this a show of american force that we're just not talking about? >> exactly. >> wow. the mystery deepens. chris, thanks so much. >> you're welcome. now, what's turn into the vacation from hell for a lot of passengers. thousands stranded as well as crew members at sea on a crippled carnival cruise ship. the splendor is more than 100 miles south of san diego this morning, drifting at sea off the

coast of mexico. there's a shot of the cruise ship. it lost power monday after an engine room fire and the ship is being towed to southern california, expected to reach port late tomorrow. the uss ronald reagan delivering 60,000 pounds of food, water, and supplies. cnn producer is onboard the reagan this morning. tell us more about the operation. how is it going? >> reporter: well, it's going very well, and in fact, the reagan concluded its operation. they were on maneuvers literally preparing for deployment when they got this distress call. and so kiran, what they started to do was jumped into the fray by supplying water and critical supplies to the cruise ship. and they used their helicopters as they were about 1,500 yards away from the carnival cruiseship. helicopters transported the water, bread, paper plates, luncheon meats, all sorts of other things and literally dropped it right on top of the carnival cruise ship. they left six cruise members

aboard to help steer themselves to safety. also, one good news is they did not have to bring anybody off the cruise ship on to the ronald reagan to be treated for any medical reasons. and the pilots making these runs, there was one helicopter in particular that made 15 runs back and forth today. every time they dropped another load, they would see the passengers come on out with their cell phones and their cameras and after they got done flashing the supplies, they received all of these congratulatory waves. the ships were in contact bridge-to-bridge, captain-to-captain, but the ronald reagan has a mission here and that's to get ready for deployment. they are headed back on to maneuvers and ready to go through that part of the process, kiran. >> this is interesting. it's interesting that the engineers were not able to restore power to the ship. they say it was operating on auxillary generators, and there was no air-conditioning, no hot food service, no telephones available.

you'd think they would be able to have backup systems if they were crippled by an engine-room fire. >> reporter: well, from the perspective of the ronald reagan looking across there, we could see a single tug boat pulling that ship along. and it's just a massive undertaking. and perhaps there just wasn't enough power with the generators to bring everything back up to full speed, kiran. but one good news is we do know that at least a second tug has joined in on the operation and perhaps the third will be there by morning. >> all right. well, i mean, things are moving along, everybody's safe, but i'm sure quite inconvenient for people who thought this was going to be a little bit of r & r for them. we understand they are getting full refunds. thanks so much, paul. appreciate it. >> i can imagine how much it's going to cost the cruise company too. the food they had to bring over, full refunds, wow, big bill. also new this morning, safety checks for the world's

largest aircraft. singapore airlines taking three of its a-380 jumbo jets out of service. they're replacing an engine in each of the planes after inspections. the inspections followed last week's engine failure that forced a qantas to make an emergency landing. and delivery delays are not the only issues grounding boeing's 787 dream liner airplane. one of the test flights was supposed to make an emergency landing because of smoke in the cabin. everyone got out safely. boeing says until they understand what happened, they're not going to schedule any new test flights. washington state set to ban the sale of caffeinated alcohol drinks. nine high school students were hospitalized last month after drinking four loko. the state liquor authority is expected to vote on a ban today. for its part, the maker is doing all they can to ensure the product is consumed safely and responsibly. are you fed up with your

boss? well, here's some good news, saying what you really think about him or her online may not get you fired. a ruling by the national labor relations board says that comments are protected speech. connecticut woman who was fired was fired illegally for criticizing her boss on facebook. it is a ground-breaking case and we'll get more perspective on it from paul callan. >> if you post something and it stays there, it might not be protected. but if your colleagues weigh in on it, then maybe it is. before you go posting anything, you're going to want to hear what paul callan has to say this morning. eight minutes after the hour, let's get a quick check of the weather headlines. good morning, rob. you'd never say anything nasty about us, would you? >> no, if you're dumb enough to say something nasty about your boss on facebook, you're not smart enough to have a job. >> tell us how you really feel. >> use a little common sense here. it's a tough job market. do what you can to keep what you

have. >> rob will be posting his views on his facebook page later this morning. >> i love cnn. we are looking at showers still across eastern new england and a little bit breezy, but this is trying to move out. once it does, it's going to be real nice. and temperatures will rebound from the 40s where they are right now to into the 50s, and eventually into the 60s as drier and more mild air moves in. but eastern new england still getting pestered by this onshore flow from this system that refuses to leave. so a bit of a slow-go this morning. here's a little taste of what's to come. 76 in st. louis, 78 degrees in dallas, and 69 in raleigh, that's heading to the east. the west continues to get inundated with rain and higher elevation snows. and we'll talk more about that. a lot of ski resorts opening this weekend. we'll run down a few for you in the next half an hour. john, kiran? >> sounds good. we'll be checking your facebook page later to make sure everything's cool. still to come, two freight

trains full of fuel collide. the incredible video as car after car goes up in flames. and the president's in south korea this morning. why recent moves by the federal reserve may shake up his meeting at the g-20. we're live in seoul with the latest. [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply, unlock the doors, and turn on the hazards. or get a car that does it for you. ♪ may not be getting the nutrition they need to keep their bodies strong. carnation instant breakfast essentials supplies the nutrients of a balanced breakfast to help build strong muscles and healthy bones. carnation instant breakfast essentials. good nutrition from the start.

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13 minutes past the hour right now. president obama's getting ready for the g-20 summit in seoul, south korea this morning. air force one touched down less than an hour ago. there you see the president de-planing. his visit will include a meeting with presidents from south korea and china. and the president will deliver a speech to u.s. troops thursday to honor veterans day. paula hancock is in seoul right now. what are we expecting from the third leg of his asia tour, paula? >> reporter: well, kiran, we do know that he is walking into a little bit of a war of words. we've seen from the federal reserve's decision to pump $600 billion into the u.s. economy that there are other countries that don't appreciate that. now, of course we've heard in the past that the u.s. is

calling on china not to allow its currency to be so weak. it's not helping the u.s. economy. but now there are accusations that the u.s. is being hypocritical by trying to really lower its own currency by putting this extra money into the u.s. economy. so we've heard from the german finance minister calling the plan "clueless." so certainly he's coming in for a bit of a battering when it comes to the economic side. he'll certainly be welcomed, it's a diplomatic occasion on the political front he'll be welcomed. but when it comes to the economics and sitting down and talking about the nitty-gritty of how to make sure the economic crisis is over, then he could find a little bit tricky. >> right. he's talking to the u.s. audience when we talk about the fed pumping the billions into the economy in an effort to sure up our economy. a lot of concerns about that. >> absolutely. and the german finance minister

did say that basically the u.s. with that federal reserve move is effectively doing the same as china is doing, which is allowing its currency to be artificially low. of course, it makes exports cheaper, it's very good for a country, not so good for the countries that need to import those goods or want their exports to be sold elsewhere, as well. so this is going to be really the main issue. it's going to be all about currencies, and we are going to be seeing that over the next couple of days. of course the communique coming out on friday, they have to come out with something concrete for this meeting to be seen as a success. kiran? >> paula hancocks for us in seoul today. thank you so much. 15 minutes after the hour. and still to come this morning, fired for comments on facebook. did a connecticut company have the right to lay off an employee for what she said online? also, the rise of the power wives. christine romans will join us with more on why women are more and more becoming the breadwinners of the family. it's 16 minutes past the hour.

♪ 19 minutes now after the hour. time for some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. looked literally like a bomb went off. incredible video to show you this morning of a fire ball more than 100 feet in the air after freight trains collided in poland. not just any freight trains, one of them hauling oil, the other gasoline. more than half, 33 tanks caught fire. the most amazing part of it all,

polish media said there were just a couple of injuries. >> amazing. oil and gasoline, bad combination. meanwhile, a beer for a buck. this deer went through the window of a bar. this was in ohio. awaitress got on top of the bar in a panic. but one of the quick-thinking employees. the poor thing's sliding all over the bar floor. he's trueing to get out. opened that back door, and that's when the deer -- he opened the back door to run out himself. but, anyway. the buck made it out okay. >> deer don't do well on linoleum floors, do they? >> no. mr. peanut will not be silenced anymore. the planters mascot finally has a voice in a new ad campaign. >> at planters we know -- >> how to throw a remarkable party, serve classy snacks and

be a gracious host, no matter who shows up. richard, didn't think you were going to make it. >> hey, sorry about last week, i don't know what got into me. >> yeah, well, forgive and forget. >> that voice sounds familiar, it might. it's the voice of iron man. robert downy jr. they're also calling this a random act of culture. 60 opera singers at a macy's in philadelphia breaking out into the "hallelujah" chorus. let's listen. ♪ hallelujah ♪ hallelujah >> there you go. in fact, there are 1,000 more of these planned over the next three years. >> actually, they sound pretty good. coming up, the city of san francisco putting its stamp of disapproval on mcdonald's happy meals.

voting to ban the treats until the meals meet nutritional standards. >> and conan o'brien getting a little revenge on the competition and also settling a score with his old friend tom hanks, the man who invented coco. the highlights from night two coming up. 22 minutes after the hour. [ woman ] you know, as a mom, i worry about my son playing football. which is why i'm really excited. because toyota developed this software that can simulate head injuries and helps make people safer. then they shared this technology with researchers at wake forest to help reduce head injuries on the football field. so, you know, i can feel a bit better about my son playing football. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood.

25 minutes past the hour right now. christine romans is minding your business. she has a very interesting story this morning, dubbed the rise of the power wives. about how households and who's earning the money has changed dramatically over the past ten years. >> women still make 80 cents for the male dollar. a real hastening of a trend where more and more women are making more money than their husbands. first, this week new numbers that show that women will save more this year than men. when asked, 68% of women say they will save more of their money compared with 62% of men. so that shows you that women still are a little bit unnerved about their financial situation and still concerned about the future. they're more likely to save. but when you look at other numbers and you broaden it out a bit, you can see that this rise of the wives has been taking hold. in 1970, only 4% of men made less than their wives. by 2007, 22% of men made less than their spouse.

22%, and that's from 2007. everyone, many demographers think that number has gotten larger. >> pre-recession, right? >> pre-recession, the recession that was a hecession. some 75% of the job losses were men. you look at the unemployment rate for men it's 9.7%, for women, it's 8.1%. women have faired a little better because men have been hit by manufacturing, housing, construction trades, they've lost a lot of these jobs. women as they've acquired and accumulated more education over the past few years, past few decades have found themselves in many cases 1/5 of the women are outearning their husbands right now. if you look at the statistics, it's fascinating, because the divisions in the household haven't changed that much. women's primary job of acquiring the care giver. a study found that women are responsible for more of the

house work than men. so the division of labor hasn't changed as quickly as the the situation has for couples. it's really fascinating look at marriage in america. >> i know this sort of gets well out of the realm of business, but the situation's creating increasing tensions on marriage because there are a lot of men who don't like the idea that they're not the breadwinner in the family and so a lot of marriages are going south because of it. >> also, when you look at the demographic trends, fewer people are marrying. we saw that from the census numbers. younger people are sort of remaking their idea of success. it used to be that the best cohorts as they call it to be in the demographic tables was married, married women with education with two children. you knew that was -- that was where you were with an advanced degree. now maybe not so much. things are changing a lot. i think it's going to be fascinating to watch these trends over the next two years, especially when you're looking at how households are run and what kind of opportunities that's creating, and what kinds of tensions it is creating.

w one thing i know about families and money is that debt is the single biggest concern, money concern of families, and that if families can pare down their debt, they can stay more happily married no matter where they are on the income strata. it might be one reason why women are saving more in some of these studies. women are very concerned about saving more. if you save more and have less debt, you are happier in your marria marriage no matter where you are. 28 minutes past the hour. time for a look at our top stories. it could be a while before alaska's senate race is decided. more than 30,000 absentee ballots have to be counted, then all the write-in votes will be tabulated by hand. and that could take three days alone. but as it stands now, republican joe miller with 34% of the vote with 41% of the ballots cast for write-in candidates, the majority of those presumably are for senator lisa murkowski. >> and it's today they start

counting all those write-in ballots. the performance of the airlines slipped a bit in september. 81.5% of their flights were on time, that's down 1% from september of 2009. hawaiian airlines is the top perfr, have more likely tried cigarettes, illegal drugs, and alcohol, and have also been more likely 3.5 times more likely than their peers to have had sex. the u.s. military surge in afghanistan has a flip side, a civilian surge. and nowhere is it more evident than inside the bustling u.s.

embassy complex in kabul. our jill dougherty takes us behind the walls of the heavily fortified compound. and jill is here with us this morning. good to see you. >> good morning. you walk around the embassy grounds in kabul and you can see how the embassy has grown. just two years ago, there were only 320 government u.s. civilians in afghanistan. and since president obama's civilian surge began, that has tripled to 1,100. they're from 16 different departments or agencies. those civilians are slowly moving into locations throughout afghanistan, but 740 of them live and work at the embassy. and even finding room for them is a real challenge. >> reporter: we're getting an exclusive tour inside the massive u.s. embassy compound inside kabul. >> you'll see that crane right over there, and that's more construction going on. >> reporter: our guide, former commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan and current

ambassador, carl ikenberry. >> we believe this is the largest and most rapid build-up of civilians we've had in any mission globally since the vietnam war. >> it starts with a staff meeting and a contribute to those killed in action. >> -- killed by shrapnel wound -- >> reporter: then some quick business in the hall. >> i got that report that you had on the governance which is excellent. and you're turning that into a table? >> yes. we set it up last night. >> okay. good. thanks. >> how are you doing? >> reporter: but it's not just about diplomacy. >> hi, guys, how are you doing? >> he's also a facility manager in chief. >> what's the -- what's on the menu today here? >> today we've got some veal. >> upstairs, the ambassador's wife invites us into the residence. u.s. diplomats can't bring their families.

ching eikenberry is the only spouse living in kabul. some living quarters are less spacious. the state department shares this tiny room with five other men. >> we have no bathroom, we have no shower, we have to walk outside to another place about 100 yards away to take a shower and go to the bathroom. >> reporter: not easy, is it? >> not easy at all. >> reporter: this is the coffee corner, where you can get a pretty mean cappuccino. even in a war zone, some other comforts of home, like a gym and a pool. >> there is a lot of pressure here. and people that they can predict friday will be their slow day, it's a day they come to the pool, exercise. >> so even though u.s. troops will begin to slowly reduce their presence in afghanistan next july, the civilian effort

is going to continue long after those troops begin going home. and the state department is planning to open two new consuls in herat, afghanistan, coming this year. >> how many pools are there? >> i think it's just one, but it looks pretty darn good. >> pretty cool. and a coffee cart. >> it's not luxury, it's pretty tough over there. >> of course. >> it's nice they can give them a few creature comforts, though. jill dougherty, thanks so much. >> great series. thanks, jill. she was fired for making some comments about her boss on facebook. now she has the backing of the national relations labor board. we're going to talk to paul callan about whether she has a good case. and happy meals may be a happy memory in san francisco. 33 minutes after the hour. [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision,

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paul callan is with us this morning. this is a big one because this is the first time that the nlrb has ever jumped in to a fight like this. >> it's a very big one, john. and it's just another example of the social networking networks getting into all aspects of american life. we've seen it with college students, now we're seeing it with labor issues. >> so what the nlrb is basically saying is your facebook page is kind of like your water cooler at work. people gather around and say this is wrong. they're talking about working conditions. and maybe that involves dising your boss, as well, and the labor relations board is saying facebook would be just like a water cooler as long as there's a conversation going on. >> that's right. and it's really interesting because traditionally american companies, as a matter of fact, most workers probably look in their manuals and they will see they are prohibited from making postings on facebook or other social networking sites, violation of company policy, you can't wear a company outfit and

post a picture. and these rules have thought to be sacred in the past. now the nlrb says if you are discussing work conditions on facebook and other workers are participating, it's legal conduct and can't be prohibited. >> that's the key, is it? other co-workers have to be participating? it's not like you can have a blog where you ranted about something, it has to be a conversation. >> yeah, it's kind of a technical rule. but the rule is basically that the workers have to be engaged in what's called concerted activity. and that means -- a number of them have to be discussing work conditions. now, in the case here involving this ambulance service, the woman made a posting critical of a supervisor and then other workers chimed in also attacking the supervisor. she was then fired for disloyal conduct and violating the facebook policy, and the nlrb came in and said this is protected activity. but i think you have to remember here, this is the first part of the situation. early stages, there's a whole appellate process. i don't know if ultimately the courts will uphold this ruling.

it's going to be very controversial. >> companies across america, of course, are wrestling with social media, and the policies they have in place and what people can and cannot do. for companies with a blanket policy as this ambulance company did that you cannot post anything about the place you work, particularly in derogatory fashion on a social networking site. does that render that policy now either ineffective or just basically illegal? >> well, any company that has such a policy has to look at it and weigh whether -- and they're going to have to consult with their attorneys about this whether this rule is going to be applied nationwide. so they're going to look at this policy. but i think companies are really worried about this. because remember, if a worker criticizes a company on a facebook site and say they have 500 friends on facebook. it's not only going to the fellow workers, it's going to the 500 friends. and i think when lawyers start arguing about this, they're going to say, you know, this is really not about workplace conditions. this is about a company's entire national reputation and the nlrb

should take a different look at it. so it's going to be a fierce battle in the courts, i think. >> but the labor relations board also said even if you're making disparaging or discriminatory comment about the company, that may be protected. >> in this ruling, they did say that. because she described her supervisor as a 17, which is a psychiatric patient. okay. that's what they used. so she was saying her -- he's a psycho, her supervisor. that would be disparaging, normally. and one would wonder whether that would be protected. that's not really criticizing work conditions, it's really attacking and libelling a supervisor. but the board here said because he was a supervisor, she did have the right to criticize. >> i was wondering where the line is drawn. if you're having -- if you're posting things online, do they have to be specifically about working conditions or you can just say my supervisor, my boss joe is a real jerk and get away with it? >> well, the first thing i would say to workers out there and

union workers in particular, be very careful about this. even though you might have a legal right to post, you might not advance very quickly in the job if you're attacking your supervisor online. but, i -- and you can't attack them for personal qualities outside of the workplace. as long as you focus on inside, you're okay. >> you raise one point. we were talking about this off camera, but who can and who cannot do this? >> you've got to be careful. this only applies to unionized workers and workers capable of joining a union. so for instance, people who are professionals. a lot of white-collar workers would not apply to them. if you have a supervisory role in your company, it does not apply to you. so don't criticize the boss higher on the food chain. you might get fired legitimately. be very careful habit wabout wh criticize on facebook. >> the bottom line, if you're going to write something on your page, you want to talk to paul before you do. >> that's a great idea, john. thank you very much. >> good to see you. >> kiran?

still to come, conan o'brien and tom hanks go way back. so why was coco so upset on just his second night of the show. also, a return to summer for the midsection of the country today. rob's going to have this morning's travel forecast. 78 in dallas, 76 in st. louis, what is going on? 42 minutes past the hour.

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45 minutes past the hour right now. you know, it's estimated that 1 out of every 110 children is now diagnosed with autism. and it remains a medical mystery. and for the parents, the questions are endless. >> but a group of researchers has developed the piece of cutting-edge technology that could unlock this mysterious disorder. rob marciano is live with this morning's "edge of discovery." what's this all about? >> quite a fascinating technology. this autism, certainly as kiran mentioned, a lot of mysteries behind it. and the university of southern california developers there have unlocked some of those mysteries with a very interesting technology in the form of robots. and that could be the next big step in education. >> reporter: could this face inspire learning? researchers at usc think so.

designed with kid-friendly features like big eyes and the ability to blow bubbles, this robot named bandit is a magnet for children. >> kids get really excited and get very motivated. we can use it for motivating exercise, motivating doing homework, motivating studying, for learning social behavior. we think of robots as social integrators. if you can put a robot in a playground, a lot of kids will flock to it and play with it. >> reporter: this robot is guided by artificial intelligence software like motion tracking and speech recognition. researchers believe that fully a autonomous robots might make teachers some day. >> they can teach them school material and also get them to do jumping jacks. >> reporter: while that may be years away in the u.s., it's already helping rehab stroke patients and providing a resource for children with autism. >> there are a lot of people, children and adults who need

one-on-one care and attention. robots can step in and provide the care for which we don't have human care. >> well, they cost about $10,000, and that price will be dropping. so a lot less than i originally thought. and they're being tested in some l.a. hospitals. so the future is near, my friends. all right. this thing is near, as well and refuses to go away for folks in new england. so continued showers across parts of eastern massachusetts, a little bit breezy and damp, but this will finally go away and we'll get into nice weather in the east coast. some of that wind will translate to some delays at the airport at boston and new york, laguardia airport. 60-minute delays there. some light snow in salt lake city, yeah. they saw about 15 inches or so in the past 48 hours. as a matter of fact, let's take some of the snow. just out of colorado where a number of ski resorts are either open or beginning to open. breckenridge scheduled to open this weekend. keystone has recently opened. so yeah, they are piling it up

there in high country of colorado. and in utah, as well. timberline in oregon is open, and we mentioned yesterday that the north carolina ski resorts of all places are already hope. we're off to a good start. still snowing in parts of the sierras and the cascades and the wasatch, as well. a pretty good, moist flow for these folks. but it's kind of being blocked to get any farther east by a big ridge of high pressure that's pumping up warm temperatures in places like chicago and minneapolis, got into the 60s yesterday. chi-town may hit 71 today, 77 degrees the expected high temperature in st. louis, 60s are on the way for you guys up there in the big apple. a little bit like spring over the next couple of days. just get through today. >> looking forward to that. rob, as far as the snow goes, i heard we're heading into a la nina year. is that true? >> yeah, northwest will get more typically during the la nina years.

so mt. hood meadows and up through crystal, south of seattle. those are the spots to look for. but let's just hope that everybody has a white christmas. >> that'll be great. thanks, rob. >> thanks. still to come, a mysterious object shooting across the sky off the coast of california raising a lot of questions still unanswered this morning. was it a missile? what is the pentagon saying? and what is the pentagon not saying this morning about it? and washington state expected to ban the sale of caffeinated alcohol drinks. the same type of beverage that sickened nine college students at an off-campus party last month. we'll have all of those stories coming up. ten minutes till the top of the hour. [ male announcer ] montgomery and abigail haggins

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and it's six minutes till the top of the hour. new this morning, according to the associated press 1 in 5 drivers will be 65 or older by the year 2025. more aging drivers means more risks for everyone on the road. researchers say fatalities from crashes begin to increase at around age 75. and a driver over 85 is more likely to die in a crash than a teenager. not to mention the kid on the skate board and the bicycle they hit before the crash. we first told you about this yesterday. san francisco's board of supervisors banning most mcdonald's happy meals with toys

as they're currently served. the new ordnance requires mcdonald's and other fast food outlets to meet nutritional standards for their kids meals. conan o'brien beat all of them on opening night. nielsen said more than 4 million viewers watched his first show on corporate cousin tbs. and his twitter army had a lot to do with that. the median age of his audience was 30. >> wow, an advertiser's dream and probably conan's, as well. last night on show number two, coco, took a little time to settle another score, this one with tom hanks. >> can i mention this? you ruined my life because -- you started -- you did. you have. >> careful with that hand gesture. because out of context, it looks like you're doing the shake weight. >> this is what happens when -- here's what it looks like when you take grandma to applebee's.

>> now you're talking. now, i have to say, you started -- it was just -- >> it was just a thing. you guys did it on another thing. someone referred to you as coco. >> and so you repeated it, got people chanting it. and now my kids -- i have little children who call me sometimes coco instead of daddy. which enrages me. >> it's a sample of my power. >> do not screw with this guy. >> well, the revenge was, a little later in the interview they were talking about whales, and they doused tom hanks with water. tonight coco welcomes madmen's john hamm, charlyne yi and

fistful of mercy. your top stories coming up in just a minute. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week,

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is it a missile? what is it? the mysterious object that appears to be soaring into the sky off the coast of california. the pentagon cannot explain it. so we are trying to get to the bottom of the mystery this morning. welcome, glad you're with us, it's wednesday, november 10th, i'm kiran chetry. >> i'm john roberts, thanks for being with us. more trouble for the world's newest and biggest airliner, the a-380. singapore airlines has grounded nearly half of the fleet after tests revealed engine problems. comes less than a week after an engine on a qantas a-380 exploded after takeoff. thousands of passengers and crew members stranded at sea on a crippled carnival cruise ship. a navy aircraft carrier coming

to the rescue with food, water, critical supplies. we're going to get a live report from onboard the uss ronald reagan. that is the ship that's coming to help in just a moment. and to millions of movie fans, she'll always be the dude. these days after jeff bridges is an oscar winner and pursuing another passion, making sure no child in america goes hungry. we'll talk to jeff bridges about his important campaign later on this hour. but first, from the pacific to the pentagon this morning. people are trying to figure out what was shooting across the sky monday night off the coast of california. take a look at the video, you can see the huge streak arcing over the waters. the images sent the military into a frenzy because some people thought it looked like a missile. our chris lawrence is live from washington this morning. what is the military saying what they think it is this morning? >> well, kiran, they're more saying what they think it was not. more so than saying what it is. by that i mean they're ruling out certain things but still

can't even this morning definitively say exactly what it was that -- that this helicopter captured in such vivid detail. right now, the dod is saying they don't believe it was any of their systems. there was a lot of speculation this could have been a missile launch, sort of a show of force to say north korea, while president obama's traveling in asia -- other people are saying this was an inadvertent launch by a submarine or some sort. both of those very troubling. the pentagon now saying that all department of defense entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches, scheduled or inadvertent during the time period in the area of the reported contrail. now, norad also said they didn't find any evidence of foreign missile launch, no threat to the homeland. and the faa went back and did sort of a radar replay this area west of los angeles trying to see if there was anything there. but they say when they did so,

that there seemed to be no fast-moving, unidentified objects. and none of the pilots flying in that area at the time reported seeing anything unusual. we spoke with john pike of globalsecurity.org. well-respected, defense analyst. he says that the real story here is that the pentagon and all these government agencies could not identify exactly what it was for so long. >> the government is so badly organized that they're not able to get somebody out there to explain it and make this story go away. i think that's the real story. i mean, it's absolutely insane that for all of the money we're spending, for all of these technically competent people that they can't get somebody out there to explain what's incredibly obvious. >> pike says it's an obstacle illusion, what looks to be going straight up in the air was going straight at the camera because

of the curvature of the earth. he says it's just the contrail of a jet plane. kiran? >> interesting, you worked at the pentagon for a long time. is there any wiggle room in that statement? they say no agencies are reporting a scheduled or inadvertent launch, or is that just -- we take that at face value? >> yeah, at this point, they're basically saying, look, they checked with the air force, they checked with the navy. because there are bases out there, you know, the air force launches rockets, nasa will launch rockets from that area, as well. so it's within the realm of possibility, but right now they're saying the navy, the air force, you know, nasa, they're all saying we didn't launch anything. so -- and it's come down to basically was this perhaps the contrail of a jet plane or perhaps even, you know, some sort of amateur projectile that someone put up there? i think the thing that pike was getting at was, wow, look how long it took. over 24 hours and still nobody

could exactly say what this was. >> right. all right, chris lawrence for us this morning, thanks. the toilets are working, that's good news for the thousands of passengers and crew members stranded at sea on a crippled carnival cruise ship. the splendor is dead in the water. it lost power monday from an engine-room fire drifting at sea off the coast of mexico. the ship is being towed to san diego right now. it's expected to reach port late on thursday. a naval aircraft carrier came to the rescue delivering food and supplies. >> reporter: just a great sense of satisfaction here on the uss ronald reagan as the carrier came in to help the distressed carnival cruise ship splendor. we're about 200 miles southwest of san diego right now. and there's one pilot who made several of these runs in her helicopter to the splendor

delivering food and supplies said pretty interesting for those people. they got a visit from helicopters and saw an aircraft carrier nearby and she's sure that wasn't on the itinerary for the cruise. no one had to be brought to the sick bay aboard the carrier. and they said when they did see people on the ship itself, these are the pilots and crew members aboard the carrier who went off to help the people aboard the carnival cruise ship. they said most of them were in good spirits. they were snapping photos of the helicopters. they were taking pictures with their phones, and a lot of them were waving congratulatory sendoffs to all of those aboard here. what the carrier was doing was bringing vital supplies to the carnival cruise ship. that includes water, bread, sandwich meat, granola bars, paper plates, but most of all, they were bringing water. what happened here was the aircraft carrier left its maneuvers. they were getting ready for some predeployment and basically they got that distress call and they said they were more than happy to help out.

john, kiran? >> all right, paul, thanks so much. not the vacation a lot of those poor passengers signed up for. >> a lot of people worried about that when they go on cruise ships, as well. thankfully it happens very rarely. >> and they're getting tugged back to shore. hopefully it'll be over soon. also new this morning, more safety checks for the world's largest plane. singapore airlines taking three of the a-380 super jumbo jets out of service. they're replacing an engine in each of the planes after inspections following last week's engine failure that forced a qantas a-380 make an emergency landing. boeing says no more test flights for the 787 dream liner. one of the flight test planes was forced to make an emergency landing in loredo, texas, the other day. there was smoke in the cabin. the crew had to evacuate, everyone got out safely. boeing was trying to figure out what happened. washington state is now set to ban the sale of caffeinated alcohol drinks.

nine college students were hospitalized last month, you may remember, after drinking four loko. it's a caffeinated malt liquor known as blackout in a can. for its part, the maker of four loko says they're doing all they can to make sure the product is consumed safely and responsibly. are you fed up with your boss? here's some potentially good news. saying what you think about him or her online may not get you fired. a ruling by the national labor relations board says those comments and certain cases are protected speech. and a connecticut woman was fired illegally for criticizing her boss on facebook. the new problems that have now cropped up that we never had to deal with before. >> got to be careful, though. it's only certain people who can do that and maybe get away with it. >> rob marciano's not one of them. so keep your thoughts to yourself this morning. >> you don't bite the hand that feeds you. that's what daddy told me. and so far, so good, there's no

wood to knock on. i'll keep my mouth shut. what's going on across the east coast is transformation of some unsettled weather to what's going to be some spring-like weather. but the unsettleness is still happening across eastern new england. this brought the wind, damaging wind from portland to maine, the rains and the snows to parts of southern new england. and now it's still bringing kind of some dreary weather across parts of eastern massachusetts. but that will slowly move off today. and it's only getting to about midway through connecticut. 50 degrees right now. it's 45 in philadelphia, and 45, 46 degrees currently in baltimore. you will see things rebound as we go through time. i don't know, but we'll go back to -- there you go. 30 to 60-minute delays in boston, new york city, salt lake city. the inner mountain west is getting hit pretty hard with snow in the valleys.

as far as the midsection of the country, we're pumping up the heat, temperatures will get to a record-breaking territory in some spots. we broke some records yesterday across the upper midwest. it'll be 68 degrees in minneapolis, 71 in chicago, and 77 degrees in st. louis. that is enough to get you sweating. and some of that warm air will be making its way to the northeast tomorrow and the next day. john, kiran, back up to you. >> thanks so much. two freight trains full of fuel collide. the incredible video as car after car goes up in flames. we've got it for you. also air force one touches down in seoul, south korea. president obama getting ready for the g-20 summit. we're going to take a look at some of the key issues facing the group. it's nine minutes past the hour. during its first year, the humpback calf and its mother

are almost inseparable. she lifts her calf to its first breath of air, then protects it on the long journey to their feeding grounds. one of the most important things you can do is help the next generation. at pacific life, we offer financial solutions to accomplish just that. ask a financial professional about pacific life. the power to help you succeed.

coming up on 13 minutes after the hour, the president is visiting his third country as he continues his trip through asia this morning. the g-20 summit is the main event in seoul, south korea that gets underway tomorrow. cnn's paula hancocks is in seoul today. and what's on the president's plate today? >> reporter: well, john, we know that the u.s. president barack obama has actually just sent a letter to all of the leaders of the g-20. in it he's basically rallied the call for global contributions to make sure that the global economy is strengthened. that, of course, is a given. in it he also makes a point that he's made once before that the best contribution that the u.s. can offer -- to the u.s. economy to be doing particularly well. he says that strong growth, job creation within the u.s. will help the situation around the world and help the u.s. dollar.

now, we know tomorrow on thursday there will be all the leaders meeting to discuss what exactly -- the global economy. we know that the main thing everybody will be talking about is currencies. and we heard this in the letter, as well, that mr. obama sent to the leaders. he said that countries have to make sure they're not going to allow their currencies to be artificially low, to trade at these artificially low levels. so of course their exports are cheap, but it doesn't help the rest of the global recovery. obviously the u.s. is talking about china when it comes to this issue. and they've talked about it a lot in the past. what we could see, as well, is mr. obama coming under a fair bit of flak from other countries because of that federal reserve move recently, that $600 billion injection into the u.s. economy through treasury bonds. john? >> yeah, unfortunately for those countries, though, they don't

really have any alternatives to what the fed is doing, paula. >> reporter: absolutely. we heard from the german finance minister. he's called what has happened "clueless." so certainly particularly damning from the germans. and they've also said that the u.s. is kind of being hypocritical when they're criticizing china for not actually -- for allowing the currency to be so weak so it helps the individual country of china. so you need this international economic cooperation for this meeting to be a success. and of course, national interests come into every country. john? >> paula hancocks for us this morning in seoul. thanks. coming up, we'll be speaking with oscar-winning actor jeff bridges. he's taking a lead role in the fight against hunger. specifically childhood hunger in our country. we're going to talk to him about the campaign to end it coming up. 15 1/2 minutes past the hour. fiber one chewy bar.

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18 1/2 minutes past the hour. it's time for a look at some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. and this was incredible video we couldn't stop looking at. looked like a bomb went off. video of a fire ball shooting more than 100 feet in the air. happened after a freight train collided with another freight train. one was hauling oil, the other was hauling gasoline. this happened in poland. more than half of the 33 tanks caught fire in an incredible chain reaction. and the most amazing part of all of it, according to polish media, there were just a couple of minor injuries. you heard about quarter draft night, how about a beer for a buck? a deer busted through a bar right before happy hour on friday and absolutely made a mess of the place too. broke a table and tore up chairs. the waitress got on top of the bar in a panic. it managed to finally exit out the back door after an employee who was trying to get away from

the buck crashed that door open. >> i love how they had video not only of that, but they had video -- the other video outside. >> he's taking off and then there's the buck right behind him. >> he's lucky he didn't get hurt. he could've broken a leg easily slipping around the store. he was okay, thank goodness. how about mr. peanut? he's not going to be silent any longer. for the first time in almost a century the planters peanut mascot finally has a new voice in the ad campaign. >> just serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up. richard, didn't think you were going to make it. >> hey, sorry about last week, i don't know what got into me. >> yeah, well, forgive and forget. >> if it sounds familiar, it's actually the voice of robert downy jr. >> well, 30 years and she is still using the same perfume.

yes, strawberry short cake turns 30 years old today. she made her debut back in 1980. she's had a few makeovers over the years, and now moms are introducing them to their own little girls. >> i had the coolest toy, she blew a strawberry-scented kiss at you. and yes, my daughter has one too now. >> excellent. good to see everything old is new again. >> exactly. they're calling it a random act of culture. 650 opera singers dressed as average, every day customers at a macy's in philadelphia breaking out in the "hallelujah" chorus. ♪ hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ >> looks like some of the other shoppers joined in, as well. may happen to you this holiday season. in fact, 1,000 more of these random acts of opera are planned over the next three years. >> they sound really good. >> yeah, they did. >> way to spice up the holiday

season. >> because macy's isn't crowded enough in the holiday season. well, americans' wish list. the number one gift most people want this holiday season. a cell phone addiction tied to sex and drugs. a new warning about what else your teenager may be doing if he or she is constantly texting or constantly online with social networking. 22 minutes after the hour. ♪ when you're responsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can count on.

okay, now here's our holiday gift list. aww, not the mall. well, i'll do the shopping... if you do the shipping. shipping's a hassle. i'll go to the mall. hey. hi. you know, holiday shipping's easy with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. yea, i know. oh, you're good. good luck! priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.90 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

♪ and if you can't come up with a good, thoughtful gift, maybe you want to give somebody a gift card, which brings us around to christine romans. minding your business with new rules for gift cards. >> and also a new survey from the national retail federation. >> come on, you can't stand getting gift cards. >> a starbucks gift card is about the only useful thing. >> i don't know if it's how old we are or what. teenagers love them, they think their parents have terrible taste. >> kids love them. >> the national retail federation is a trade association for retailers. so they like these gift cards because you pay $25 and maybe a little bit more or you don't spend $25 and then they get the $25 anyway. so this is what they say you

want to get for christmas, 57% say gift cards, the number one gift on the list, 48.2%, clothing, books, 47.3%, jewelry. my personal favorite, 23%. gift cards are better for you now. a couple years ago you would hear me and other people say gift cards have a lot of trips and traps, be careful. some of these things have been taken away. for example, they can't expire in five years like they used to be able to. you don't get inactivity fee now unless they've been dormant for a whole year. and there's no fee to replace a lost or stolen card. that was a reason why a lot of personal finance experts said you were getting ripped off. but still a couple things to be careful for. still penalties after a year and there still could be some confusing disclosures depending on what kind of gift card you're getting. my advice always on these for gift cards, if you're giving them, be aware that billions of these never get redeemed. so you're giving your money and the person might never get a gift. if you're getting them, use them

right away. because the longer you keep them in your purse, the more likely you're going to pay some kind of fee or forget about it. so there you go, i like gifts. >> and the retailers always get mad at me when i do these stories because they love gift cards because they're getting paid right away, you're getting in the store, you might buy more. >> or you might buy rest and they keep the rest. >> or you don't do anything with the card and it's paid. >> starbucks and itunes cards. >> my husband loves gift cards from book retailers like amazon and borders. >> and because you can get what you want. i know the parents of teenagers love to give these because the teenagers think their parents have terrible taste. >> my nieces all want abercrombie or the aeropostale cards. >> i'll tell you that spending is down. spending this year will be up maybe 2%. but people are going to spend on average i think $689 for food, decorations, and gifts, $780 in

2007. so you can see that people still are not back to their pre-recession levels of spending, and maybe that's a good thing. maybe we don't need to be buying all the stuff we don't need. >> now the retailers are going to hate you. >> christine romans doing her part this morning to depress the retail industry. >> unless you're buying her rings. other than that, don't spend money. >> or her books. top stories this morning, a mystery off the coast of california. stunning images show an object streaking upwards, it looks like, in the skies west of los angeles. to some, it looks like a missile or a rocket. right now, the pentagon can't explain what happened. the faa says radar replays do not show any fast-moving unidentified object. a carnival cruise ship crippled at sea with 2,500 passengers and crew members onboard. the uss ronald reagan rushing in with tons of food, water, supplies after an engine-room fire left the vessel dead in the

water monday. the president focusing on the world economy this morning as he gets settled into seoul, south korea. the g-20 summit will get underway tomorrow. the president has a meeting set with the president of china and the president of south korea. coming off of his oscar-winning performance of "crazy heart," jeff bridges could score another nomination this year. he has two films coming out next month including the cohen brothers remake of "true grit." right now, jeff bridges is focused on a different kind of campaign. one that kicks off today to end childhood hunger. >> look around you, 1 in 4 kids in the u.s. faces hunger. it's not always easy to see the signs, but in this land of plenty, there are kids that don't know where they will get their next meal. join "share our strength" in food network and join the pledge to end childhood hunger in america. >> joining us from washington,

jeff bridges, the national spokesman and the group's founder and executive director billy shore. thanks to both of you this morning. >> good morning, kiran. >> jeff, you've been passionate about this for a long time. tell us about this new campaign, the no-kid hungry campaign that launches today. >> well, i'm so excited about it. as you heard what you just showed on the -- on the tv there. we're in dire straits. we have 17 million of our children who are living at homes with food and security, meaning they're not sure if they're going to get a nutritious meal or not. and share our strength. and bill shore has come up with a wonderful campaign to end childhood hunger by 2015. and we're going to be working with governors and mayors to really locate the gaps in the programs that are already in place such as the snap program,

which is formally food stamps and the wic program and school meal program. >> right. and, you know, you mentioned the number, the figure 17 million. and billy, that's a shocking number to think nearly 1 in 4 kids has some question about whether or not they're going to be hungry at the end of the day. i know that you launch this program and try to make a dent in it. why are we seeing this problem seeming to grow? >> that's right. well, with the economy in the condition that it's in with 44 million americans living below the poverty line, 41 million americans on food stamps, and half of them being children, we're going to have a lot of hungry kids in this country. i think the key thing as jeff just pointed out, though, this is a solvable problem. we have the programs in place, they have bipartisan support, they have a track record of success over 30 years. programs like school lunch, school breakfasts, the snap program. if we can get more kids who are eligible enrolled in these programs, we're working with president obama to do that. we're working with governors across the country to do that.

we could actually solve this problem of childhood hunger. >> you know, jeff, it also struck me as a bit of a strange split. here we are dealing with hunger, but also a big health care issue in our country is obesity, childhood obesity is even a platform of the first lady. so as a country, where are we going wrong here in terms of nutrition? when you have childhood obesity on one side and this food insecurity on the other? >> they are so connected. they're really -- two sides of the same coin, really. obesity is, you know, caused in large degree towards poor nutrition. wouldn't you say, bill? >> i think that's right. and part of our campaign has a major nutrition component called cooking matters. because families of particularly low income families need to have the resources and the information to make the right choices for their kids. when we're talking about no kid hungry, we're talking about obesity and nutrition, as well. >> so jeff, people are sitting at home saying how can i get involved? what can i do about it? >> great question.

you can start out by going to nokidhungry.org and find out what you can personally do to end childhood hunger in our country and take the no kid hungry pledge. that i believe no child in america should go hungry. and by taking this pledge, i'm adding my voice to the national movement of people who are committed to end childhood hunger in america by 2015. >> well, i know a lot of people will be logging on. bill, i want to ask you, are you concerned at all that with the new congress it might be tougher to get some of these programs approved? i know there's a big wave of concern about spending and a call for pulling back and not spending as much money right now in the current economic environment we're in. >> yeah. and clearly we have some political divisions in this country, which the elections highlighted. but i think this is one thing, i think, that represents common ground for almost all americans. the idea of making sure that the next generation has what they

need. and as i mentioned earlier, the kind of programs we're trying to get more kids involved in have had bipartisan support for a long time. and actually, if you think about this in the long-term, we could save a lot of money for this country by making sure the kids get the early nutrition that they need. that they start off light healthy. this is not just a hunger issue, it's an education issue, it's a health care issue. so the savings, we've estimated you could actually save $90 billion by making sure that no kids are hungry. so this doesn't necessarily need to be a -- a budget issue. >> yeah, the no kid hungry campaign, we're not saying that we should create new programs, but more efficiently use the ones that are already in place. i understand there's $1 billion that states could be using to end hunger in their states that is not being used. isn't that right? >> that's right. and those dollars could be some important stimulus dollars. >> exactly, right. >> hey, jeff, we have a lot of

jeff bridges fans on the show. i wanted to ask you a question about the new movie. it's a new take on the movie that won john wayne an oscar. are you scared about this role at all? big shoes to fill. >> well, no, i had a great time. i got to work with the brothers again, you know. we did big labowski together, so it was wonderful to get back with those guys. they're masters, and it's really great to make a movie with them. they're referencing the charles portis novel "true grit," not so much the film. and one of their first bits of direction to me was, don't even worry about that film. that's not -- we're not making the redo of that movie, we're talking about the book here. >> right. and what do you think when people say, oh, he could win two oscars in a row. do you buy into any of that? or you don't think about it? >> i don't think about it until somebody requests asks me, and wouldn't it be wonderful?

>> thanks for joining us this morning. the program's great. no kid hungry.org, and "true grit" comes out christmas day. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> nice talking with you, kiran. looks like he plays a great part. and "crazy heart" was so terrific too. i'm a guitarist, and i read a great article about him in the guitar guitar magazine. he's remarkable. >> he's a good guy. and to be taking this on right now, as well. he has so much going on in his life, and wants to give back. >> good for him. take a look inside the u.s. embassy complex in kabul. our jill dougherty gets an exclusive tour to see what's going on behind the fortified walls and why the staff risks their lives to do all this. that's coming up. and hypertexting and hypernetworking, does it also spell trouble? coming up, why sex and drugs are way more common in teens who

text and use essential networking sites too much. 37 minutes after the hour. okay, now here's our holiday gift list. aww, not the mall. well, i'll do the shopping... if you do the shipping. shipping's a hassle. i'll go to the mall. hey. hi. you know, holiday shipping's easy with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. yea, i know. oh, you're good. good luck! priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.90

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20 minutes now till the top of the hour. the u.s. military surge in afghanistan has a flip side. a civilian surge. and nowhere is it more evident than inside the bustling u.s. embassy complex in kabul. >> and in the other part of her series, "the afghan offensive," jill joins us now. it's great they gave you access the way they did to get an inside look at what life is really like there. >> that's really true. we've been in it almost every day when i was there for several

weeks. but to have a whole day to wander around, look at things, and have the ambassador show us around is pretty special. yeah, so -- you know, and as we were walking around, you can see how the embassy has grown. just two years ago, there were only 320 u.s. government civilians in afghanistan. and since president obama's civilian surge has began, that has tripled to 1,100. and the civilians are slowly moving out into locations throughout the country, but 740 of them are living there and working at the embassy. finding room for them alone is a real challenge. >> reporter: we're getting an exclusive tour inside the massive u.s. embassy compound in kabul. >> you'll see that crane over there. and that's more construction going on. >> reporter: our guide, former commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan and current ambassador karl eikenberry. >> we believe this is the

largest and the most rapid build-up of civilians we've had in any michelle globssion globa the vietnam war. >> reporter: a tribute to those killed in action. >> specialist kristin southworth army killed by shrapnel wounds -- >> reporter: then some quick business in the hall. >> i got that report that you had on the governance, which is excellent. and you're turning that into a table? >> yes, sent it up last night. >> thanks. >> how are you doing? >> reporter: but it's not just about diplomacy. >> hi, guys, how are you doing? >> reporter: he's also a facility manager in chief. >> what's on the menu today here? >> oh, today we've got some veal. >> reporter: upstairs, the ambassador's wife invites substance abuse the residents. u.s. diplomats can't bring their fames, ching eikenberry is the

only spouse living in kabul. >> i decided to make it a little more homey. >> reporter: the state department shares this tiny room with five other men. >> we have no bathroom, no shower, we have to walk outside to another place 100 yards away to take a shower and go to the bathroom. >> reporter: not easy, is it? >> not at all. >> reporter: there are some compensations for working in this post, and this is one of them. the coffee corner where you can get a mean cup of cappuccino. a gym and a pool. >> there is a lot of pressure here. and people can predict friday will be their slow day, it's a day where they come to the pool, exercise -- >> reporter: and even though u.s. troops will begin to slowly reduce their presence in afghanistan beginning next july, the civilian effort is going to continue long after those troops

begin going home. and the state department is planning to open two new consulates. they're going to be in herat, western afghanistan and in the north, and those will be opening in the first half of this coming year. >> we talked about this as we were watching. does he get out and about much? or is he tied really? >> no, i think he gets up pretty much -- we went to herat with him for a trip. and the local community. and then also they bring a lot of people into the embassy for meetings, dinners, you know, kind of like the outreach to the political and local community. >> right, which is what you see happening in other countries. a little more challenging in afghanistan. >> yes. and security as you can imagine is amazing. >> great opportunity to spend an entire day. >> yeah. >> great theorys too, jill. >> is it spring or not? warm temperatures making a comeback. plus hurricane season's not over yet. rob marciano with a look at unusual weather across the country. 45 minutes past the hour. [ woman ] you know, as a mom,

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rid of this pesky low that brings unsettled weather. it should be a drier afternoon. temperatures in mid-40s to about 50 in bridgeport and mid 40s from baltimore to philly. some of the wind will create delays today through boston and new york, but not quite as bad as it's been the past couple of days. salt lake city maybe 15 to 30-minute delays. a couple of storm systems that come into the inner mountain west. mt. hood, some snow video from the mountain packs. there's the government camp at about 4,000 feet or so as they make their way over to eastern oregon or to timberline lodge, which is open for business for skiing. other spots, if you want to hit the hill. copper, loveland, wolf creek, everywhere from vermont to north carolina, oregon, utah, and colorado. these are the resorts that will be opening this weekend and more to come. you bet as we get towards thanksgiving. meantime, it's going to feel

like spring across the midsection of the country. across the mississippi river valley, up through the ohio river valley, and the western great lakes could hit 71 degrees today in chicago. grand forks hit record highs, 68 degrees in minneapolis, on the cool side in new york, but you'll rebound nicely tomorrow back into the 60s. john and kiran, enjoy that spring weather. >> we sure will. a little opportunity to get out there and enjoy the autumn air before it turns to snow. all right, thanks, rob. >> thanks. sex, drugs, brawling, texting, and facebooking. the more you text, the more risky behavior you engage in according to a new study. we'll talk to the guy behind it. what's going on there? 49 minutes after the hour. [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply, unlock the doors, and turn on the hazards. or get a car that does it for you. ♪

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seven minutes to the top of the hour and time for your "aum house call." if your child is texting too much, keep a closer eye on what else they're doing. a study says hyper texting teens much more likely to binge drink and other risks for young people with social networking inses about thely. joining me is dr. scott frank. dr. frank, great to see you this morning.

you have identified the two at-risk groups who are hyper texters and hyper networkers? >> hyper texting is defined as 120 or more texts on a school day. and hyper networking is three or more hours on a social network's website on a school day. >> young people who really are almost obsessed with using sms messages and social networking? >> they're spending a really excessive amount of time online and unconnected with friends through social media and in doing so they have perhaps taken pure pressure to a cyber pure pressure level, a high-tech peer pressure that may be part of what's contributing to the statistics you were describing. >> all right. let's talk about that and whether there's a cause and effect in a second but let's put up the statistics. these are stunning.

hyper texters, more than 120 messages in school are according to your study 40% more likely to have smoked. two times more likely to have tried alcohol. 43% more likely to be binge drinkers. 41% more likely to try drugs and three times more likely to have had sex. those findings are just stunning. >> they are a wake-up call, think i, to parents and perhaps to teens themselves. >> so what -- is there a cause and effect here? the texting leads to the behaviors or is it just somebody who may be prone to at-risk behaviors tends to find fascination in texting and social networking? >> well, clearly, our study does not demonstrate cause and effect. we are not saying that texting causes these behaviors. our study really is the first to point in the direction of doing

further research to get a handle on exactly how these different factors are related. we can speculate about it. we can recognize that these kind of connections, social connections, may be facilitating or enabling these kinds of behaviors but we certainly can't think of them as causing them. >> you know, there's other disturbing findings with hyper networkers, the young people that use it more than three hours a day. two times more likely to attempt suicide, three times more likely to have an eating disorder and two times more likely to be cyber bullied. you can see how they may be interrelated but appear to be more at risk for mental health issues. what's behind that? >> you're right. the hyper networkers definitely have more of the mental health issues going on.

and not sure why that is. we simply recognize that that association is there. the other things that those hyper networkers are more likely to have, however, is less sleep. less physical activity. so their physical health is also impaired in addition to their mental health and certainly physical and mental health is very much connected. >> is there a particular population group that is involved in hyper texting, hyper networking and demonstrates these at-risk behaviors than another? >> well, you know, it's really somewhat surprising that hyper texters and hyper networkers tend to be more often kids who have parents with lower education, minority kids, and kids who come from households without a father. but the statistics we have described are controlled for those factors, controlled for so those statistics are of concern

to everyone, not just to those groups. we've talked for many years of a technology gap, however, between the -- those with less parental education and those with more. so it appears at least as far as networking and texting that technology gap is disappearing. >> yeah. you know, you also found that the hyper texters and hyper networkers more likely to report of a permissive parent and maybe a parenting issue involved here, as well. dr. scott frank, we'll hear more about this. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you, john. >> kiran? actually, no. top stories coming your way after the break. stay with us. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it'd be like every atm in the world was your atm. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking(tm) account. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 zero atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a great interest rate. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no minimums.

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thanks so much for joining us. 10th of november. i'm john ronts. >> i'm kiran chetry. mystery in the sky. still no closer to being solved this morning. was this a missile? was this a rocket or just the con trails of a plane of a bit

of an optical illusion? even the pentagon seems to be baffled by it. this morning, we are life with more on what that unidentified stream may actually be. stuck at sea. thousands of passengers on a cruise ship. more than a 100 miles off the coast of california. fire in the engine room leaving it dead in the water on monday. a naval aircraft carrier called in to help. "uss ronald reagan." pay raises all around. google giving its employees a bonus and a raise. we'll tell you why and how much it's expected to cost the internet giant. but first, look. up in the sky. is it a bird? is it a plane? is it a missile? people asking questions about what this was off of the coast of california near los angeles on monday night. >> that's right. some say it's looks like a missile and others convinced it's an optical illusion caused by a plane. as for the pentagon, they're really not saying really what

they think it is either. chris lawrence live in washington. saying what it is not, right, chris? >> reporter: yeah. they don't think it's a missile launch. norad took a look at this saying no foreign military launched any missile at that time. the faa went back and did radar replays of that time period. they didn't track any fast-moving unidentified object. none of the pilots in an area at that time reported seeing anything and now the pentagon is saying all d.o.d. entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches, scheduled or inadvertent in the time period in the area of the reported contrail. of course, all kinds of theories. some speculated it could be a launch, a show of force to someone like, say, north korea because president obama's traveling in asia. some speculated that it could be

an inadvertent launch, a mistake by, say, a u.s. navy sub. all kinds of theories out there. one respected analyst says he thinks it's clearly the contrail of a plane and an optical illusion basically that, you know, it looks like it's going straight up when really it's coming straight at the camera and he says the government should have come out and said that almost immediately. >> why the government is so badly organized that they're not able to get somebody out there to explain it and make the story go away, i think that's the real story. i mean, it's absolutely insane that for all of the money we're spending, for all of the technically competent people they can't get somebody out there to explain what's incredibly obvious. >> reporter: well, obvious to him but not everyone. you know, i got to tell you. sometimes you take an idea to the pentagon and say, hey, we have heard this, what do you think? they can shoot it down pretty roughly. you know, they -- you know, they could have just said privately,

look. this is a plane you idiot. you know, when they want to shoot something down, they'll tell you in no uncertain terms it is ridiculous and in this case, reading the statement, nothing at this time that leads us to believe it's a missile launch. still looking into this. so still far from saying this mystery is solved. john, kiran? >> you said from a jet, couldn't they check on flight data and information to see if there was a plane in the sky at that time in that location or can they not pinpoint it with that much certainty? >> reporter: yeah. and again, even with that, like the faa said they looked at the radar replays. didn't see a fast-moving object and others say if it was moving at rocket speed, it would be a blip on the radar. it might be moving so quickly. so, none of these people can really agree as to exactly what this was. >> hmm. all right. the mystery continues.

chris lawrence for us this morning, thanks. >> fascinating, though. we got an e-mail from somebody earlier who was in the northwest coast earlier this year. saw exactly is same thing with a 747 as it climbed out so maybe it was an aircraft. >> yep. but as chris said, why didn't the pentagon say, it's an airplane, idiot? >> maybe they don't know yet. a carnival cruise ship stranded since monday. more than 100 miles off of the mexican coast and more than 3,000 passengers, more than 1,000 crew stuck at sea. the naval aircraft carrier "uss ronald reagan" coming to the rescue with tons of food, water and critical supplies. >> the cruise line ship is "splendor" and towed back to san diego. that takes another day. our pauler havecammen is on board the "ronald reagan" and reports back on the relief mission. >> reporter: just a great sense of satisfaction here on the "uss ronald reagan" as the carrier came in to help the distressed

"splendor." we're about 200 miles southwest of san diego right now and one pilot that made several of the runs in the helicopter to the "splend "splendor" said, interesting for those people. they got a visit from helicopters and saw an aircraft carrier nearby and sure that wasn't on the itinerary for the cruise and no one was brought to the sick bay here aboard the carrier an said when they did see people on the ship itself, these are the pilots and crew men aboard the carrier who went off to help the people aboard the carnival cruise ship, they said most in good spirits. snapping photos of the helicopters. they were taking pictures with the phones and waving congratulatory sendoffs to those on board here. what the carrier was doing was bringing vital supplies to the carnival cruise ship, includes water, bread, sandwich meat, granola bars and most of all

bringing water. what happened here was the aircraft carrier left the maneuvers. they were ready for predeployment and got the distress call and as they said they were more than happy to help out. john, kiran? >> paul on board the "uss ronald reagan" for us this morning, thanks so much. the g-20 summit, the main event of the president's third leg through southeast asia, landed in seoul earlier this morning, expected to defend the food and drug administration reserve's move to pump $600 billion into the economy, getting an earful of it from china and germany saying it's an indication the united states doesn't know what it's doing. well, today, election officials in alaska are expected to start counting tens of thousands of those write-in ballots in the still undecided senate petraeus between joe miller and incumbent lisa murkowski and pretty sure it's a republican. which one, they don't know. miller filed a lawsuit to block

officials from using discretion in determining voter intent. murkowski ran as a write-in candidate. the city of san francisco putting its stamp of disaprufl on mcdonald's happy meals and other fast food kids' meals with toys. the city board of supervisor banning them until they meet certain nutritional standards. more hints of sarah palin to indeed be planning a run for the white house in 2012. the former alaska governor appeared as a fund-raiser for a christian school in pennsylvania last night. listen to what she said after a student finished a rousing rendition of "god bless america." >> daniel, that singing, absolutely beautiful. daniel, would you like to sing at an inauguration? not necessarily mine! >> well, she also told the audience that she needs to pray about her decision if she does decide to run for president and won't be to shake things up but

in it to win it. >> want to put some money on it? >> no. i'm saving up for christmas. >> i'll bet she runs. >> we'll have to see. >> well, i know a guy to take a bet, any bet. rob marciano with a look at the weather forecast. would you put money on her running? >> i would. you have to get me -- if i were to take the other side of the bet, i have to take pretty good odds, yeah. that's money in the bank. how well she does, we have to wait and see. we are looking at this forecast which is going to bring some heat to the mid section of the country. western part is looking at some storminess continued and the east coast finally is going to get into some decent weather. i should say the northeast. much of the east coast is decent the past couple of days but eastern new england peppered with onshore flow. boston, misting, freezing, damp and dreary. the typical down east kind of stuff. temperatures hovering in the upper 40s elsewhere and the

further west you go away from, say, boston and hartford and bridgeport, the warmer it will be. raleigh to 69. st. louis to 76. 78 degrees in dallas. a few record high temperatures in the upper midwest yesterday and there you see out west where the rain's falling in the valleys and snow's falling at the higher elevations. more about that and we'll talk about skiing, you know, getting towards that time of year where the resorts are opening. highlighting those in a half an hour. >> looking forward to that. thanks so much. >> send in the i-reports out at the slopes. see what it's like. >> good idea. >> send us your snow shots. >> rob would like to be there firsthand. it is official. tina fey is funny. she received the top prize a median in the mark twain prize for american humor. >> the "saturday night live" alum packed the kennedy center. betty white paid tribute as only betty white can. >> i was so thrilled when they asked me to be part of this

wonderful honor for tina. it is tina, yes. especially since i'm probably the only one here who actually dated mark twain. >> i want to thank everyone involved with the kennedy center or as it will soon be known, the tea party bowling alley and rifle range. >> following in the footsteps of richard pryor, bill crosby and loren michaels. what do you think? if sarah palin runs in 2012, will tina fey reprize -- >> of course. >> or will she say, look, i did it in 2008, that was enough? >> that's money in the bank for her. she did it recently. pretty funny. >> does she need more money in the bank? my god! >> she is one of the power wives throughout. >> i would think so. >> congratulations to her. tim allen could be returning to television. abc order add pilot for a new

show called -- i'm so sick of this phrase. man up. described as a family-themed comedy with allen as a guy who's fighting for his manhood in a world of women. it's been ten years since this comedian tim allen's "home improvement" went off the air. >> 12 minutes after the hour. we'll be back right after this. ♪

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coming up on 15 minutes after the hour. and those of you who have been anticipating the debut of boeing's new 787 dream airliner, you have to wait longer. boeing says no more test flights. the 787. one of the flight test planes forced to make an emergency landing in laredo, texas, yesterday. the reason, smoke in the cabin. they had to seat down the emergency slides. everyone got out safely. more checks for the world's largest plane. singapore taking three of the planes out of service saying it's replacing an engine in each after inspections found they were stained with oil. all of these renewed inspections come less than a week after an engine on a qantas a380 exploded shortly after takeoff. three ex-marines busted for

selling firearms. there were cases of ak-47s and other rifles at the home of the suspected ring leader who served in iraq. the arrests come a week after a navy s.e.a.l. and others were charged with smuggling for the black market. alcohol and calf nated drinks in the large, large container equivalent to three beers and a bunch of coffee. nine college students hospitalized last month. washington state is getting set to ban the sale of those drinks. known as blackout in a can. the state liquor authority expected to vote on a ban today. the maker of it says it's doing all it can to ensure it's safely consumed. 41 years later, a pardon for jim morrison might be in the works. he was convicted of indecent exposure after a concert in miami in 1969. he was appealing the verdict in 1971 when he died in france at the age of 27.

outgoing florida governor crist says he is considering a pardon for the late rock star. >> wouldn't that be ironic? tim allen's returning to television. according to dateline.com, they've ordered a new pilot for -- i'm so sick of this phrase. man up! it's described as a family-themed comedy with allen as a guy who's fighting for the manhood in a world of women. seems like yesterday. >> sharron angle going to play his love interest? >> perhaps. google surprises all of its employees around the world with a little bit of a november surprise. yep. everybody's getting a raise. being called an award for talent. christine romans breaks down why google feels the need to do it when so many other companies are cutting costs.

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earlier, just a few hours ago, former president george w. bush appeared on oprah. that's true, yeah. yeah. yeah, when asked about being the

leader of the free world, oprah said it's not bad. >> there's conan. he's back! and the red-head is out for reven revenge. conan o'brien beats all of them on the opening night. nielsen says more than 4 million watched on tbs. and the twitter army with that. the median age of the audience, just 30 years old. >> last night, conan took a little time to settle a score with hanks. hanks gave him the nickname coco that o'brien says he hates. the pay back came with a few humpback whales tie whales are breaching. >> no. they're not breaching. they're lunging. if they were to breach, they're 40% of them would come out of the water. conan would -- that was amazing!

i was wrong. they were breaching. >> tonight he welcomes jon hamm with a guest appearance in the opening montage on monday and fist full of mercy tonight. >> that's why tom hanks is priceless. didn't miss a beat. water poured on his head and body and wipes it calmly with a tie and kept the joke going. >> professional. very professional. loved it. >> christine romans is here now. how can you beat that? >> i know, right? thanks. >> be careful. a bucket up there. >> i know. for anybody that bork r worksality google, google, a verb, so rare, google is announcing to its employees in an e-mail and very happy if you got this e-mail getting a 10% raise and a thousand dollars after tax bonus because the ceo says they value their talent and they want to reward them. google is going to give 23,000

of their global employees this raise. effective january 1st. also going to tweak the way they're paid so more of the compensation, bonus goes into the paycheck so they feel it every time they get paid. that's going to be about $23 million that they're going to be passing out and a thousand dollar after-tax bonus. why does the company say they're doing this? they say they believe that the competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company. c-net has the memo of the ceo to his employees but a lot of people are commenting this is part of what is a war for talent in this industry. something you guys, we have talked about a lot here with engineering, i.t. and health care. you are seeing companies having to become quite competitive with keeping people in areas that are in good demand and some high-profile defections of google experts over to facebook and other places, too, so this is a really interesting turn of events for people that work at google, a company whose stock

above $600 a share and down from the peak it had been but i can remember when the stock only a couple of hundred dollars and people saying, can it go higher? been a place that's lucrative place to work for and rewarding the employees. >> talking about a 10% raise, do we know the average salary at google is? >> i know it's everybody that works there so high paid software engineers, it's people who are answering the phones at the front desk, everybody across the company around the world. what's interesting about the compensation structure change i think, too, is they're going to put more of a bonus in the paycheck so they feel it all the time. they're feeling the effects of what is a very great industry for this company. it's also good, gm, for example, had good profit news today and other companies showing they're getting the footing underneath them. >> right. >> especially if you're an i.t. engineering, health care. there's exciting things

happening. we told you, too, a year ago i was told watch for the war for talent. >> can you connect the dots for us? if i'm sitting at home with the news i graduated college, can't find a job. see the bleak unemployment number of 9.6%. what do i do -- >> cutting edge software e engine engineer. >> paying you to keep. >> the top 10% or 20% all the time of what you're doing. they're going to be the cream of the crop. there's a war of talent in every industry, even not just software engineering. you know why? they have cut to the bone so much that now that the demand is better, they want to deep you. that's a good place to be in. very good place. >> christine romans, thank you very much. bad-mouthed the boss on facebook and got fired for it. the controversial and groundbreaking case coming up. controversy at u.s. airports about the new body scanners an and not just passengers are

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the president is visiting his third country as he continues his trip through south asia this morning. the g-20 sum schmidt the main event in seoul, south korea,

tomorrow. >> paula hancocks is in seoul with a look at what's on the president's plate today. hi there, paula. >> reporter: hi, kiran. this g-20 meeting should be interesting one. for weeks there's been a lot of talk about a potential currency war and comes to a head on thursday when this meeting actually starts. now, of course, this starts it out when the u.s. accused china of keeping the currency artificially low to help exports and helps china but not the countries that trade with china and now some of that verbal fire coming the other way after the u.s. federal reserve decided on the $600 billion injection into the u.s. economy. what they call qe-2 and countries accuse the u.s. of hypocri hypocrisy. we heard from the german finance minister saying the policy, quote, clueless end quote. so certainly, there's a lot of fighting walk out there and the meeting has not yet even begun.

>> there's also a little bit of controversy over there, paula. first lady michelle obama and her hand shake with an indonesian minister, what's that all about? >> reporter: that's right. this happened when there was a welcoming lineup for the president and the first lady. the indonesian information minister. he is a conservative muslim, apparently he doesn't shake hands with women for that reason. at least women he's not related to or his wife and he did shake the hand of the first lady. this is somewhat of a social media incident now. it was tweeted about by many people within indonesia and apparently a female reporter saying he's never shaken my hand and does for the first lady. he had to tweet and say i was forced into it. so now there's kind of a debate on twitter, on facebook. was he forced into it? was he the first to put his hand out? it's become a bit of an incident online.

>> hmm. people will be checking out the videotape for sure. interesting, though, of the cultural morays visiting other nations. thanks, paula. top stories this wednesday morning a. mystery off of the coast of california. these images show an object streaking across the sky west of los angeles. to me people it looked like a missile or a rocket. right now, the pentagon doesn't have a full explanation for what it was. the faa says radar replays of the area do not reveal any fast-moving unidentified targets. people think it's a plane climbing out over the ocean to altitude. a carnival cruise ship crippled at sea. passengers and crew members on board. it is being towed to san diego. should arrive tomorrow night. the "uss ronald reagan" rushing in with tons of food, water and supplies after an engine room fire left it dead in the water monday. more than 100 miles off the coast of mexico. health ep demonstrate sick a national emergency in haiti this

morning. health officials say the cholera outbreak there reached the capital city of port-au-prince. 73 people there now have the infection. cholera already killed nearly 600 people in haiti. commercial airline pilots are being warned not go through airport body scanners. in a letter to his members, the president of the u.s. airline pilots' association calls those scanners, quote, intrusive and he goes a step further warning of health risks saying based on medical information, us apa has determined it may subject pilots to significant health risks. we reached out the the union to talk to us this morning. they declined our request but we have with us a current pilot and writes the ask the pilot plog for salon.com. good to have you with us. thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >> i know you have broader concerns of airport security in

general and whether the tsa is targeting safety measures as they should, but first this message of the pilots' association. what's your take? >> there may be some health issues. i'm not an exnert that area so i can't say for sure but it's obviously something we need to consider but as you just touched on, i think we need to back away from this because, really, the overarching issue here isn't body scanners. it's about why are we running airline crews through standard security in the first place? when i say that, you know, i'll be accused of being elitist or looking for special treatment and that's not it. i think airline crews are looking for the same thing that all americans are looking for, which is effective security and reasonable security. and i as an airline pilot in my full uniform with the credentials one day had a butter knife taken from my luggage.

i mean, they held up the line for that. that's not reasonable security. that's not improving security. it's not good for the airlines. it's not good for the customers and for the traveling public. that's what we're dealing with now and need to get past. >> you bring up the issue of pilots and people agree with the issue of pilots saying this initial screening for pilots is slightly ridiculous given the fact you're trusting them to fly an airliplane. does it make us safer to take a butter knife out of the checked luggage? >> talking about the scanners themselves, this gets into issues of privacy, potential gropi groping, and also, first it was shoes and then underwear bombs. what's next? we keep going with this? if you said to people a decade ago or whatever, ten years from

now you will have to be basically looked at naked before you get on a plane, nobody would have believed you. >> right. what do you do as people who would seek to do us harm finding more and more ways around traditional security? we seem to be sort of keeping up with the last best threat but the underwear bomber was a perfect example of sneaking on undetectable explosives. what are we supposed to do then? >> it is an important and big question but we shouldn't be doing is wasteful and pointless. ultimately we are never going to be completely safe and we need to acknowledge that and acknowledge that real airport security doesn't necessarily happen at the airport at all. it's going on behind the scenes with fbi, cia, intelligence agencies around the world getting people before they get to the airport. that's the real key to airport security. not the silliness that we tend to see on the concourse. >> you know, there is a lot of

controversy surrounding this new back scatter machine, the x-ray machine. i want to read something from the guidelines. it was pretty astounding saying pilots opt out of the body scan and submit to the pat down. and they ask you to bring a witness to the pat down and after getting the pat down, that you should evaluate the quote fitness for duty because the experience can be devastating. that's quite strong language. is it devastating to get this pat down? >> i know that it apparently has been for some pilots and passengers, too. who claimed they were groped from tsa. it is cause for concern. >> and so, what's it been like for you? you have opted out, right? you have not gone through the back scatter machine, right? the body scanner. you have had enhanced pat downs. >> yeah. i have been patted down and then the other day i was made to take the belt off. this, again, while i was on duty in the uniform and all of that

and again brings me back to the plight of looking at the bigger issue which is why are we going through the security in the first place? the tsa says our enemy is creative and willing to go to great lengths to evade detection. tsa utilizes the latest intelligence and uniform the deployment of new technology for the threats. do you think the enhanced pat downs are helping with this, staying ahead of evolving threats as the tsa puts it? >> in some cases they could be but not in the context of patting down an airline pilot on duty and then, you know, and taking a butter knife from them. that's not what tsa is saying in that statement. tsa does a lot of good things but it's stuff we don't see. >> so should the people that are on the front lines in the tsa, the people determining whether they're going to pat down somebody, determining, you know, whether somebody's pulled out for extra security, do they need

better and more training or just following the rules? >> if it were up to me i would take a high percentage of what we see at the airport check point concourse and reallocate those people, that effort, those resources towards better explosives screening. the real danger is bombs and explosives which it always has been. that hasn't changed in 50 years. >> right. well, you bring up a lot of good points. you're not a pirate. don't worry. i hope that doesn't get you subjected to more enhanced screening. thank you for joining us this morning. >> any time. thank you. >> an interesting issue in all of this, too, once the pilot passes through security and goes down the concourse, they go down the concourse, they get out the door, they go down on to the tarm tarmac, they check the plane out and access to things down there to perpetrate a terrorist attack, to get a weapon like that, they could get it down there out of a piece of checked

luggage, whatever. >> right. which is why we're eager to talk to a tsa official about this. is this the best use of resources as many questioned, especially with pilots? >> is it's an issue of, okay, maybe you have to subdue the co-pilot and with control of the aircraft, that's your biggest weapon that you have. >> right. >> does it all make sense? well, she bad-mouthed the boss on facebook and fired for it but was it an illegal dismissal? the ground-breaking case coming up next. ling ] ling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote.

welcome back. are you protected if you complain about your boss on a social networking site? there's a woman working far connecticut ambulance company and she was fired for doing just that. >> some say it might be illegal. earlier i asked attorney paul callen when workers are protected in these situations. >> the workers have to be engaged in concerted activity and that means they have a number of have to be discussing work conditions. with this ambulance service, the woman made a posting critical of a supervisor and then other workers chimed in, also, attacking the supervisor. she was then fired for disloyal conduct and violating the facebook policy and the nlrb said this is protected activity. >> callan says protection applies to unionized workers and supervisors if they want to say something nasty about the company, they're not protected.

before you get out there on the facebook and say it's wide-open world -- >> right. >> make sure you're protected. >> legally speaking, it may be one thing and whether or not it's a wise move for your career is a very different story. >> true. is it spring or what? warm temperatures making a comeback and hurricane season's not over. rob marciano checks in with the wild weather going on around the country. male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply, unlock the doors, and turn on the hazards. or get a car that does it for you. ♪ we helped keep your skin clear. now we have a solution for wrinkles. neutrogena anti wrinkle with retinol sa smoothes even deep wrinkles. it works...beautifully. neutrogena. when we all become doers. when our mittens double as work gloves. and we turn every room into a project.

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good morning, chicago. where right now partly cloudy and 49 degrees. later on today, nice temperaturewise at least. back up to 70 degrees. back up into early fall there in the windy city and isn't that a great thing? >> yeah. crazy weather there. you can go lay out by the lake if you wanted to. rob marciano is checking things out for us. we're getting that nice weather soon? >> maybe this afternoon. maybe not as warm as it is in chicago right now but the warmth making the way slowly off to the east. heat pump bringing the heat from the south and brg pushed to the east slowly with the front. one thing that's going on down in the tropics. can't see it too well. a disturbance by puerto rico. moving off towards the north and east. no big worry but with the

hurricane last week, we'll watch anything that develops in the caribbean and still hurricane season through the end of the month. a what's going on around the east coast? this stubborn low refuses to go away. temperatures in the 40s right now. inland areas chillier and sun pretty strong and under a relatively warm air mass and temperatures should rebound quickly and the winds keeping planes with relatively small problems from new york to boston. maybe salt lake city, as well, where we are seeing rain and snow mixing in there and seen several inches of snow in the wasatch of utah and more moisture coming into the west coast. video out of mt. hood, oregon, just east of portland by an hour and change. up the mountain to about 4,500, government camp there, that's the mountain pass. snowing heavily and go up more, up a thousand feet and timberline lodge where they filmed "the shining" and skiing nearly year around. other spots opening now or this weekend, copper mountain,

loveland's open. wolf creek. keysto keystone is open and breckenridge about to open. brighton is about to open. remember yesterday, we highlighted sugar mountain in north carolina, already open for this season. some will melt. man-made, of course. it's 80 degrees in dallas. 58 in new york with a warming trend. 61 degrees in washington. as we mentioned, going to be toasty in chicago. 71. may break records today. john and kiran, back up to you. >> thanks so much. >> the students getting the boards waxed up. sex, drugs and brawling, texting and facebooking. if you're one of the people that texts a lot or uses facebook a lot, are you potentially at risk for other high-risk behaviors? well, we'll discuss that issue coming up next. because toyota developed this software that can simulate head injuries and helps make people safer.

then they shared this technology with researchers at wake forest to help reduce head injuries on the football field. so, you know, i can feel a bit bett about my son playing football. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood.

bad boys in the control room this morning if you're doing all that texting. >> come on. >> you may be doing other bad

things. >> i hope doug's not doing anything bad. he's a new father for pete's sake. >> buy more diapers and formula, sweetie. your fun's over. >> 52 minutes past the hour. >> just kidding! it's wonderful. parenthood. time for your "a.m. house call." is your child is texting too much, keep a closer eye on what else they're doing. a new study says teens that send at least 120 texts on a school day are much more likely to do binge drink, take drugs and perhaps multisex partners. >> other risks for young people with social networking three or more hours a day, more at risk for mental health issues. twice as likely to atervet suicide and they have more of a problem with bullying. we talked to the lead author of this study a short time ago. so these are young people who really are almost obsessed with using sms messages and social networking? >> they're spending a really

excessive amount of time online and unconnected with friends through social media and in doing so they have perhaps taken peer pressure to a cyber peer pressure level, a high-tech peer pressure. >> the author recommend that parents set limits and rules for texting and social networking but you have to be aware of what your child is doing because there's no cause and effect that they have determined at this point. it is just they found this association. people who engage in the behaviors engage in other behaviors. >> socially isolating. to be constantly on the computer, not interacting with the real world and texting, ir mean, it's silent. you can hear the kid talking on the phone. with texting -- >> you can often hear them in the back going -- tick, tick, tick. >> ipad or the ipod is harder. kanye west grabs the mike again on board a delta flight to

new york. an impromptu rap performance on tape, next. or get a car that does it for you. ♪

old legs. p.a.d., the doctor said. p-a-d... p.a.d. isn't just poor circulation in your legs causing you pain. it more than doubles your risk of a heart attack or stroke. i was going to tell you. if you have p.a.d., plavix can help protect you from a heart attack or stroke. plavix helps keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots, the cause of most heart attacks and strokes. call the doctor about plavix -- please? i will. [ male announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines such as prilosec reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase.

people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take including aspirin especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than two weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. [ female announcer ] talk to your doctor about plavix. ♪ it ain't saying she's a gold digger ♪ in flight entertainment hit new heights on one recent domestic flight. >> rapper kanye west took over the mike. not giving instructions on your seat belt and wasn't saying i'm going to let you finish miss

flight attendant. i'm kidding. jeanne moos has the story. >> reporter: normally kanye west is a down to earth rapper. ♪ i ain't saying she's a gold digger ♪ >> reporter: but the other day it was the in flight entertainment as first class passenger kanye west unexpectantly got on the p.a. syst system. ♪ she said her best friend used to mess with usher ♪ >> reporter: the website hollywood life first reported the story. the passenger captured the last few seconds of the rap with a cell phone. ♪ but she ain't messing with no broke broke ♪ that's it. thank you. god bless you. >> reporter: he's known for common deering microphones. remembering interrupting taylor swift ice's award? i'm going to fly us out of here.

>> reporter: on the show entourage. >> i'm just [ bleep ] with you. i'm just [ bleep ] with you. >> reporter: it was a real delta flight. we wanted to ask delta airlines how can way west got on a plane ian intercom but delta had no comment. i repeat, no comment. we have heard of candidates taking over the p.a. on campaign planes. >> once we have reached cruising altitude -- >> store your expectations securely. >> reporter: a southwest flight attendant famous rapping the flight instructions. ♪ this is southwest airlines welcome aboard ♪ >> reporter: from rapping midair to rapping on the air, allow us to introduce you to a rapper of small stau which you are whose reputation is growing. up until now kenan is a web sensation for lip syncing from lady gaga to michael jackson. ♪