y for medicare part b. now is the time to look at your options. start getting the benefits of an aarp medicarecomplete plan from securehorizons. but you need to act soon. annual enrollment is only open until december 31st. call securehorizons today about an aarp medicarecomplete pn. you can even enroll right over the phone. or visit us on the web at getsecuretoday.com. don't wait. call now. we continue with the man, where is he? >> i'm ali velshi and in a different place. we've got stuff to tell you. why don't i go to the weather first? can i do that because chad's

right here. this is a continuing saga of the whether we've seen, but right nowtarioontario, we have a military operation because 300 people at least are stuck in cars. tell us about what's going on because this is the part that's almost like in the united states. close to an area we've been covering. >> it's just east of the blue water bridge, port huron, sarnia and then the 402. this is a major interstate highway. comes toward london. it is the fetch of the snow that happened over the weekend and in fact was still happening as of this morning. we talk about buffalo. getting a big lake effect snows because the river of air goes along the lake then dumps into buffalo. >> gets it from all sides. >> well, this is even a bigger lake. lake huron.

it's warmer. you get all of that water and it dumps the snow right there and that's where these people are stranded. now, for 24 hours at least, the police shut the 402 and said, get off. these people went into the hinterlands, trying to find a way home and they are stuck as well. >> let's join on the phone, the mayor of sarnia, mike bradley. mayor, good to talk to you. how are things around sarnia right now? >> to the east, towards london, it's quite severe. quite brutal. it's been going on for at least 36 hours. >> what's the issue right now? there's a lot of snow -- where are people stuck? mostly on the 402 or the roads around the 402? >> on the 402. there are efforts underway from both ends to try to rescue

people, but it's been a very tough 24 hours for people who have been out there. their cars have run low on fuel or they've run out of gas. truckers are stepping in and helping them. people have opened up their farmhouses. there's all sorts of efforts underway to support people still out there. >> this is a major route and we're looking at live pictures or picture rs right now from earlier. a lot of trucks. this is a commercial route as well as something lee shoour travelers woul take. >> no question, sarnia and port huron, one of the busiest in the united states. a critical route to our economies. right now, the american truck traffic is being held up in port huron to keep them from coming on to the 402. passenger traffic is being let across into sarnia, but they're being asked not to go on to the 402. >> that is going to affect people on both sides of the

border affecting deliveries, parcels on those trucks maybe delayed. what do you know so far of the military operation we've been talking about? >> i'm dealing just with media reports. the city did not call for the military to come in. it was the part of the government system we are a part of here. but i understand that they are out there right now trying to spot people that are stranded. they have rescued a number of people. >> look at that. >> they are moving forward to help people as much as they can. >> we're looking at pictures of cars buried to the top. i grew up in canada. chad has spent a lot of time in cold, snowy place. why is this unusual? this does seem more than what we're used to seeing. >> it was a combination of lake huron is still warm and the streamer came off there. this is probably the most brutal storm we've had in if 25 years. >> sounds for now as if

authorities have this under control. they are engaging in these rescues and we're doing okay. >> it's not over yet though and we are urging people not to travel. the efforts are underway and it's our hope we'll have everyone rescued in the next 24 hours. >> that's always a big point because people assume on big highways, that it's under control. in most places, authorities can. good advice from mayor mike bradley, just don't. as urgent as it is to get where you need to go, just don't. thank you for joining us with that update. that's a good point. there's a border. this is the united states. >> the most beautiful bridge you've ever seen right there and the water pouring out. it's probably the bluest water i've seen in america, then so sarnia didn't get a lot of snow, but it was here, that fetch of

snow came down, that streamer completely came through. the people we were talking to last hour, they are going along, it was snowing, it was fine. five minutes later, they couldn't see for 14 hours. >> you've got to stay warm, have enough gas, but you talk about this all the time. some people end up in places. it wasn't planned for. thai got to get where they're going. but watch the weather reports and do go places you're not going to get stuck. >> you must stay in your car. >> this is canada. still, it's that crowded. >> the plows can only do so much with the winds blowing 50. a plow that went through at 5:00 is going back through at 5:05 because the road is still closed. mother nature's still in charge. >> we'll stay on top of that one. our other top story takes us

from london to berkeley, california. the common bond? wikileaks and two men at the heart of what many consider treachery, others consider heroism. julian assange was granted bail from sweden. he's wanted there for a sex crimes case. just within the past few minutes, we learned that the swedes are appealing the british bail decision, so assange won't be going anywhere for the next few days. in berkeley meanwhile, half a world away, a vote is expected tonight on a resolution declaring bradley manning a hero. he is being held in a military brig in virginia on charges that he leaked to wikileaks, video of innocent people killed in baghdad in 2007. there you see that video.

you've seen it here on cnn. you may have seen it on the web. he's also the suspected source of a huge stash of iraq and afghan war documents. possibly the state department cables being dribbled out. dan simon is watching the latest political statement in a city that loves making political statements. dan, what's going on at berkeley? ready to call bradley manning a hero. >> you know, it's interesting. this is right berkeley's wheel house. they have a history of getting involved in controversial, international issues. this was a resolution that came out of a commission called the peace and justice commission. a guy named bob yola says that pfc manning should be a hero, so they had this very lengthy debate at the commission. it passed by a 7-3 vote, so now, it goes to the city council. the conventional wisdom here is that this is going to be voted no by the city council because

for a couple of reason, but chiefly, among them, is that at this point, these are just allegations against pfc manning. he's not con vicked of doing anything, but there is a sense that if he did leak these documents, that in the eyes of many at berkeley, he should be labeled a hero. >> the no may not be they don't want to do it. it may be they have to get more information, but this is not entirely unusual to berkeley. this is a city used to making statements. >> this is a city council that doesn't just get involved with pothole, ali. a few years ago, berkeley was in the headlines because they called the marines unwanted intruders. there was a recruiting center that opened in downtown berkeley and some protests there by the code pink organization. the berkeley city council agreed

and sent an official letter, basically calling the marines unwanted intruders. that sent e-mails to the city council. 25,000 e-mails. the city council reversed itself in that situation. it realized it went too far. looks like there might be a similar situation here that they're not prepared to go into these controversial waters jugs yet. >> thank you so much. today's sound effect is proof that words can stop wars. richard holbrooke dedicated his life to stopping wars through the power of purr situation aided by the force of his own personality and intellect. he began his career in vietnam and achieved his bigest 15 years ago today. president obama named holbrooke his special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan and while his skills were put to the test, his

ten asty never waned, yesterday, richard holbrooke passed away. today, i want to play an interview with fareed zakari in april. >> you don't make agreements with your friends, you make agreements with your enemies. but in this case, there is no clear single address that you go to. there's no palestinian authority, there is a widely dispersed group of people that we roughly call the enemy. >> that was richard holbrooke. a top administration official says that while being prepped for surgery, holbrooke told his pakistani surgeon, i quote, you've got to stop this war in afghanistan. next hour, fareed zakari joins

us. on to other developing stories we're trabing, after sailing through yesterday's vote, the tax deal is expected to go through the senate tonight. if the compromise crafted by president obama and the gop leaders is passed, the house remains the final hurdle. some house democrats have vowed to block it because it extended the bush tax cuts to wealthier americans. also, the estate tax. this is expected to be the final week of the lame duck session. new york police go looking for one missing person and find four bodies in three days over a quarter mile stretch of beach. this happened on jones beach island just off long island. as you can imagine, a big investigation has been mounted. police are wondering if they have a serial killer on their hands. no positive i.d.s, so it's not clear if if original missing person is among them.

big trouble from florida all the way up to canada. some dire weather situations. we were telling you about that earlier. flooding, bitter cold, more people stranded. all of that coming up, next. hey... everyone's eating tacos outside bill's office. [ chuckles ] you think that is some information i would have liked to know? i like tacos. you invited eric? i thought eric gave you the creeps. [ phone buzzes ] oh.

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that winter storm we've been talking about the last couple of days is moving east now. i told you about those most riss stranded in southwestern ontario. there's also a deep freeze across the east and into the deep south where here in atlanta, it's colder today than in philadelphia. out west, very different problem all together. rain and flooding and mudslides. rivers in nine counties in washington state have crested at or above flood stage. amtrak says service between seattle and vancouver has been halted since saturday and will remain halted for two more days. chad's back and has been tracking the nasty weather. it's nuts. >> there's a big lower pressure system in the eastern united

states. we call it a trough. like what cattle would eat out of. it's a depression. the depression in the jet stream goes down like this. it allows the cold air to come down. it also allows the west to heat up. near record temperatures. >> it's lovely out here. >> 55 in l.a. might get to about 80 degrees in parts of the earn part of the valley. san francisco, 58. the problem was because this is where the jet stream is coming in, that's where all the rain was coming in. we call it the pineapp"pineappl expres express express". then the cold there, 25 to 30 degrees below where we should be this time of year and it's only fall. >> it's not winter yet. >> i can't tell you the number of people that says, what are you doing. like, it's my fault. it's not fall. >> i got up this morning and

said, what's going on here. you're on top of a number of stories. rob marciano is tracking the weather. he's made his way to chagrin falls near cleveland. rob, that looks beautiful. i mean, chad just pointed out, it's fall, but that looks like christmas eve. >> that's what -- everybody's trying to keep a holiday glow about them and look at the optimistic side. optimistically, for the first time since we've been here, been able to pack a snowball. that means that temperatures are coming up just a little bit, so that, i suppose, is encouraging, but we don't expect them to go above freezing anytime soon. maybe before christmas shows up. the problem is how cold it's been. for the second week in a row, boom, they got hit with another blast of that arctic air. got another foot of snow overnight last night and even

for the most hard midwesterners, the past couple of weeks have been harsh cht here's what the mayor had to say. >> in terms of early, this is nasty. in terms of winter, this is -- normally as bad as it gets, but so we have had storms like this in the past, but you don't have them every winter and you certainly don't have them on a repeated basis. >> still over 200 schools and organizations and businesses are closed for the second day in a row. a wind winter storm warning remains in effect until 7:00 tomorrow. for now, they're in for a white christmas. folks could stand things to warm up just a little bit more. >> we'll stay in touch with you. is there some break in sight?

>> you know, the good news is the lake can only give so much snow. >> it doesn't run out of water, but it gets frozen overand eventually, when heck freezes over -- >> until then, stick around. >> keep the shovels handy. one of america's favorite electronic stores not doing so well today. why your holiday shopping isn't help i helping best buy. smart move. ♪

time for "your $$$$$." retail sales for november went up. estimated monthly sales up .8 of a percent. that's not profit, that's how

much they took in. the three biggest drops in sales were auto cars and auto parts, the two together. electronics and alliances. i'll tell you more about that in a second, and sales at miscellaneous stores. the three biggest gains, clothing and accessories. maybe it's the cold weather. people are stocking up on warm clothes. sporting goods, book and music stores, that's in that category, too. the one in the middle. gas stations are the real kicker. sales at gas stations were up 4% for the month compared to .8% for everything else. 46% of it comes from retail from gas. doesn't mean we have 46% more gas. you know what it means. gas prices are up. so you have to watch these numbers even though retail sales were up, have of the gain came from an increase in gas prices

which means instead of being up, really it's more like .4 to 5. also watch the gas prices when going up. despite all the gains in november, best buy stocks plumeted today. look at this chart. this hunl drop in the stock -- that's a 14% drop this morning. basically, best buy said it made less money in the past few months than it expected. didn't do that well on black friday, typically a time when shoppers go to places like best buy. one of their biggest losses, tv sales, which are an important product. we like to keep track of these things to give you a sense of how the economy is going because there's no greater indicator than what you were spending your money on. if you want more on this, tune into "your $$$$$," saturdays at

1:00 p.m. earn. christine romans is my coanchor there. swedish prosecutors say they will appeal today's court decision granting bail to julian assange. he'll remain in jail for at least another 48 hours while the appeal is considered. he was arrested in london last week. he's wanted in sweden for questioning about sex allegations. the soldier suspected of turning u.s. secrets over to wikileaks is being praised in some corners. the berkeley city council set to vote tonight on the resolution calling him a hero. they have approved over controversial resolutions in the past. in 2003, it o paued the iraq war r and called u.s. marine recruiters uninvited and unwelcome. even though the start of winter is a week away, most of the east is enduring harsh

winter weather. that's a hard freeze warning in florida. winds are expected to be light. citrus growers hope that will save their crop. there was an important force missing today. we'll go to ed henry and find out what the loss of richard holbrooke means at the white house. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] some people just know how to build things well.

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am richard holbrooke being remembered as a great diplomat. he had a role inside the white house. ed henry is there. ed, people who are listening to these about richard holbrooke think this was a guy involved for decades. since last week. >> going back to vietnam war, 15 years ago this week, helped end the war in bosnia, but right up his death he was working and he first got the pains and had some trouble, had to go to the hospital while in a meeting with secretary of state clinton a few days ago. on paper, the policy is the same. the president has surnled u.s.

trooped to afghanistan. there's a year end review coming out in a couple of days. it's going to basically say there's been some progress, but still a long way to go, which we know already. on paper, it remains the same, but there's sort of this intangible factor that officials say you can't put your finger on. while they are lauding his long services and rightly so, some also should note that he was a tough guy. not everyone got along with him. in death, a lot of people are going to come forward and talk about his legacy. some thought he was abrasive. senior officials here point out that was sometimes what enabled him to get things done. to execute the policies. they've got all of this on paper now, but who's going to implement some of the tough

decisions? he was going to be a pivotal person there. >> that'he'll go down as one of better negotiators. they might get their way on this tax deal at least in the senate. >> president, he seems to be popping into the press brief in room almost every other day. statements came in late last night and wanted to hail the fact it crossed the first hurdle in the senate last night. could be passed today. they hope to get it up to the house in the next couple of days. while last week was a rough week, they finally have momentum. they're likely to get this tax cut deal done, but not a lot else, frankly. all this is grinding down and this is his key thing. he hopes to get the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. we'll see. but bottom line, after a rough week, i think he's got the momentum on the tax cut. >> ed, you got your speedos on

under that suit? >> it's cold here, but i'm looking forward to being in hawaii for a couple of weeks. i'm going to rub it into you. >> you always do. you work hard, but there are a couple of perks to it. have a fantastic trip and we'll talk to you from hawaii. it's not a vacation. he'll be working from hawaii with the president. just his luck that our current president doesn't come from ohio. tiny cameras spying on you. we'll show you where they might be and how to outsmart them. ♪ [ male announcer ] you know her. we know diamonds. together we'll make her holiday. that's why only zales is the diamond store. where you can get up to $1,000 off now through sunday.

happening now, about 300 people are stranding in their vehicles. look at that snow in a snowstorm

in southwest ontario. helicopters are in the area of sarnia, the border crossing with the united states. if conditions permit, rescue personnel could be lowered from the choppers and people being taken out. julian assange will remain in jail even though he was granted bail today by a british magistrate. sweden is appealing that decision and assange will remain in custody. he is facing accusations of rape, sexual molestation. it looks like the senate is going to pass a tax cut deal as early as tonight. the deal which president obama cut with republican, still faces hurdles when it gets to the house where some democrats have

said, not zbresed. this week, we're focusing on the end of privacy. both yoin line and in real life. millions of cameras are sold every year. everything from security cameras to traffic cameras. some are hidden in places you probably never imagined. now, there's a way to detect cameras that are spspying on yo. >> they look like every day objects. a lamp, a clock radio, an ipod docking station. but when you look closer, they have tiny cameras inside. >> the lens is right here and it's usually pointing up. >> i have no idea there's a camera there. >> reporter: they can provide an extra layer of security. >> the ones that tell me what they're doing with the cameras are going to be the people that are wanting to either keep an eye on their sitter, their nanny. >> reporter: we've seen how they

help the good guys. >> a camera built into the bridge. whatever you see, it sees, then transit mitts it here. >> reporter: some end up where they shouldn't be. >> i recently heard one, a guy had a pen camera he got. it was moex activated. set it up in a gym bag. >> reporter: these cost a few hundred bucks and toblg is making smaller ones all the tile. some even broadcast their video wirelessly over the internet. so, how can you tell if there's a hidden camera where you are? technology can help with that, too. >> this is a low cost camera finder. >> reporter: this private investigator runs a spy shop near atlanta. he sells the cameras, but also helps people watch out for them. >> it's telling me there's a camera on me. >> reporter: more sophisticated detectors can seek out wireless camera singals. >> it's scanning the frequencies. >> reporter: it's picking up

lots of different cameras in here? >> that's the flower pot camera we had on. >> reporter: it's technology versus technology, potentially giving people the tools to invade your privacy, but giving you a chance to catch them. >> i have to tell you, i'm not that uneasy. look where we are. we're surrounded by cameras, but we're used to this. >> mission control. >> spy cam one, two, three. this is our life. >> is this legal? here's the thing. >> actually, a lot of these, this can be illegal. there are different laws in different states. if you have a reasonable expectation of privacy like a changing room, obviously, there shouldn't be a camera there. check your state laws and there are things you can do abt. >> we've got jamming devices we can use? >> there are. these detectors that will beep,

vibrate, that will show you the images and other kinds as well if you want to get more sophisticated, that can get in theimages. you have to be suspicious in the first place. that's a key. it's not just going to automatically show up. you just got to get one of these and check it out. >> what about naturally suspicious? >> most people aren't. i'm not making you paranoid -- >> i should have been the voice for that. you're awfully tall. >> he wants me took like this. so uncomfortable. that's better. >> all right. other news to tell you about cht there's been intense fighting in one of the most dangerous valleys in afghanistan. we sent a crew of folks in there to find out what nato forces are up against. stay with us. play longer, laugh longer,

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it is time to go "globe trekking." today, we are taking you to argendob valley in the afghanistan. this lush area was once known for its pomegranate orchards. now, it's become one of the most dangerous spots for u.s. troops battling ab elusive enemy. nick roberts takes us there. >> just after 7:00 in the morning. there's been a lot of intense fighting there. troops trying to take control of the area around kandahar. we're getting a briefing of what to do.

>> reporter: it's the short ride. it is a key gateway to kandahar. unless it's secure, kandahar is vulnerable. >> the low ground down there, she would shoot rockets up here at us. >> reporter: his job, expel the taliban from one of its strongholds. >> we've gained the initiative from the enemy, our job is to sustain that. improve the development here. >> reporter: as he takes us on a tour, we stop to see some of that development. designed to win support for government. road building, 150 men employed, good for the community, good for the government. a boom for farmers, too. even if it's not always corn they're growing. >> yes, yes. >> and how many people are working?

>> there's a truckload of marijuana. >> yes, it is. >> what can you do about that? >> i don't know what you can do about that, sir. >> reporter: it weaves through the convoy. troops are told to leave farmers alone, but the drugs often fund the taliban. the road engineer tells me this area is safe, but in nearby areas, he says, taliban would kill them for working on such development projects. we're about to get an unexpected taste of that hidden threat. it was supposed to be a quiet patrol. a model village rewarded with a new mosque courtesy of local government. >> we're starting to see more an more of these communities which are interested in their own security so that they gain development. they gain the ties to the district governorer ens and stabilize the area. >> reporter: suddenly, there are

shots. >> 7226. roger, we just had six audibles. >> reporter: producer tommy evans points to where bullets hit the hillside. >> about 250 meters into the orchard, there's four guys running around. staying low. >> reporter: it's not the picture of security lemens wanted to show. impossible to confirm if taliban are responsible. >> hey, i want you guys to go ahead and push. >> reporter: after a few minutes, we move on. >> we're not everywhere, you're right. it would be nice to have more soldiers to be everywhere. we're not going to be able to do that, so we focus br the people are. >> reporter: and so, too, do the taliban. that is the valley. that is colonel lemon's area of

operation. the sun is going down, i've got a full service on my cell phone, but in the a couple of minutes, the taliban will come out and shut down the cell phone service, the transmitters will be turned off. this phone will be useless. that's the influence the taliban still have here. they may not be showing themselves, but the fight is far from over. >> very interesting story. you can wave good-bye to that keyboard and mouse. we're going to show you a new, hands off way to browse the internet. that's coming up next. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] print from any mobile device

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hacking microsoft connect. it's the new camera equipment on the market for the x-box 360 that enables dwrou manipulate games. it sees you. it reads you and your actions. fantastic. of course, with new technology comes new ways to make it do things it wasn't built for. some say that's hacking. sort of. microsoft doesn't call this particular instance tacking. microsoft told npr last month that quote, what has happened is that someone wrote an open source driver, which opens up the usb connection, which we didn't protect by design, and reads the input frs the senators. researchers at the media lab have converted the equipment into a hands-free browser. you've got to see it to believe it. it looks similar to the technology that tom cruise's

character used in the movie "minority report," which is the gold standard for how we can manipulate things without the use of a mouse or something like that. let me bring in the research assistants at the mit media lab. guys, basically, the starting point is this microsoft connect, a remarkable device. you made it do something else. first of all, did you hack it? >> no, we're building off of existing work of with open source's committees has put together the project. we aren't the ones that hacked it. we took the work others have done and built on top of it to make it so that web browsers could connect. >> let's see this. >> what's compelling about this is that these are normal websites. we can have interactions with

every day websites that allow us to move around, zoom out and do things like this. what's great and as you can imagine, presentations where i talk to the audience. i'm in a courtroom. i'm in a presentation now. i can point out and zoom in and it all feels very natural. additionally, we start to think about what websites like facebook and cnn and flickr can do with this. just doing a pointer, which allows us to point out things on a page. again, these are sort of demo applications that are showing what we made possible, but at the same time, and now, i can sort of even interact with the page if i'd like to. >> this is like sign language. you seem to be doing specific things for it to read your instruction. >> yes, we've developed a set of gestures we believe are somewhat natural. we're creating a bridge more than anything.

at this point. >> we're building on top of long tradition of research that have been done in places like the media lab and thinking about more natural ways to interact with computers. this is just one exam now consumer device available at best buy, where we can make any web page interact with it. so, by default, the web browser only knows about the to connect microsoft kinect but we also recognized these gestures we created so it's easy for any web developer to come in and take these gestures and do something interesting with it. we did this web browsing interface but we're imagining a suite of scenarios from games to interacting with 3d. maybe cnn would have a new way to interact with news. >> what would happen is if this technology why out there -- use

cnn as an example -- we would develop sites that are welcoming or inviting or useful to people who wish to interact with it in that fashion. so things would be different in the way we design sites? >> exactly. what's great is the existing web developers writing code right now write the same code they always write. they don't need to learn anything new. we've given them a set of tools and they instantly have access to the kinect. >> we will follow this with great interest. thanks so much. greg elliott and aaron xinman researchers at the m.i.t. media lab live from cambridge, massachusetts. to read more, head to my blog cnn.com/ali and we'll get you pointed in the right direction. unfortunately in the old-fashioned way where you have to use a mouse. updating the latest developments. canadian authorities using helicopters and air lift baskets to rescue stranded motorists.

more than 360 vehicles were stuck in a snowstorm. look at that! on a highway in southwestern ontario, a major artery that begins i-69 on the other side, on the u.s. side near a border crossing. many drivers have been stranded more than a day. authorities say about 150 have been rescued so far. traffic is not allowed on that highway from the united states until they have this cleaned up. swedish prosecutors say they'll appeal the court decision granting bail to julian assange. he'll remain in jail another 48 hours while it's considered. he's wanted in sweden for questions about sex allegations unrelated to his controversial website. violent street protests broke out in italy today after prime minister silvio berlusconi narrowly survived a no confidence vote. berlusconi is under heavy fire from opponents who say he hasn't done enough about italy's economic crisis. he survived votes in both houses of parliament but the margin of

victory in the lower house just three votes. by many measures the republican party had a successful year. why are some surprised when the head of the national committee said he'd run for the post again? we'll explain this to you so you can explain to other people in our political ticker. ♪ [ male announcer ] let's be honest. no one ever wished for a smaller holiday gift. it's the lexus december to remember sales event, and for a limited time, we're celebrating some of our greatest offers of the year. see your lexus dealer.

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michael steele says he's going to run again for the chairman of the republican national committee. that might be a surprise to quite a few people. mark preston is cnn senior political editor. he is at the political desk in washington. i have to ask you, mark, before you start, if you could reach

over to your right and grab that pink scarf and do your report with that pink scarf, i think that will look quite fetching. >> do you think i'll get in trouble? it is nice. >> i think it adds to the look. >> all right. i'll do it. >> tell us about steele. >> let's roll with it with the scarf. michael steele decides that he is going to run for chairman of the republican national committee. he hadn't been telling us what he was going to do. he's been very quiet for about a month. he received a lot of criticism for his lack of fund-raising at the rnc and also for really mismanaging the republican message many critics said but last night in a private conference call with republican national committee members, ali, he said he is going to run. he acknowledged he had problems at the committee but always been forthright about some of his mistakes and said the fact of the matter is the rnc deserves a lot of credit for the electoral gains last month. he will run and he'll have a lot

of competition for that post. election will happen in january. up in alaska, joe miller is appealing a superior court judge ruling over the counting of ballots in that contested alaska senate election. miller is still upset. he doesn't think that these votes that are being contested should be counted. now, lisa murkowski, who is a republican, lost the primary to joe miller. won in november because she was running as a write-in candidate. they are now going to the state supreme court and they are going to be dealing with this on friday. so the alaska senate race still up for grabs. >> as we suspected that wouldn't end just because we thought it would end. make that the official political ticker. you look like a million bucks. mark preston, thanks very much. the next political update coming your way in about an hour. some international "odds & ends" straight ahead. we're going to look at two very different adventures that you

probably won't want to try but you will want to see. rica where the best potatoes come from. the best potatoes? idaho. idaho! idaho. and how do you know you're getting idaho potatoes? well...uh... uhm... heh.. (sighs) not all potatoes come from idaho. so if you want the best, you have to do one important thing. always look for the grown in idaho seal. i knew that. i knew that. look for the grown in idaho seal.

time now for "odds & ends" global edition. we'll start in ukraine. the government is about to lift restrictions on the sealed exclusion zone around cher noen noble, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. five years since it exploded sending a radioactive cloud over much of europe. 4,000 others have died -- other died or will from cancers caused by the catastrophe. a background radiation in the accident zone is still above normal but the government says it's got experts plotting travel routes that are informative and help. hopefully safer than this australian adventure. you're looking at actor hugh jackman's not so grand entrance on to the oprah winfrey show shooting in sydney. there he goes in for a landing. he was meant to zip line down

from the famous opera house. only problem is that he was late hitting the brakes and hit the lighting rig instead. wolverine is tough. he escaped with a black eye and little cut on his face. more than 300 are stranded in vehicles by a snowstorm in southwestern ontario being rescued right now. military helicopters are now carrying out rescues in the area just east of sarneya. officials at canadian forces based trenton saying they're lowered from choppers to rescue people. you are not easily impressed by pictures of snow and stranding. it happens. >> of course. >> these are something else. >> it happens on i-90 to the southwest of buffalo. it happens to the northeast of cleveland. when people think it's okay and all of a sudden this one streamer as we call it -- and it literally looks like a rain event that doesn't move on a raid parp but it's snow and coming off the great lakes. it is so much snow that it looks like rain.

now, there's not much moisture in snow, right. so it takes an unprecedented amount of snow to impress a radar image to make it look like it's really raining there. when you see those things -- it happens when rain or cold air comes down the lakes, down the lakes, down the lakes or over the lakes depending on -- we call it fetch. how long the lake is. the more snow you get here compared if the wind is going that way right there. i'll take it to google. that's where the snow event happened. toledo, detroit, windsor on up i-94, i-69. major cross country -- >> all this traffic -- so much of the traffic between canada and the u.s. -- that's the border. >> autos, auto parts made in ontario, made in america. all of this shipped back and forth and goes over that bridge called the bluewater bridge. east of sarnia and all of a sudden you're in a different snowbelt.

we talk about those. here on lake huron this is an impressive lake with a lot of moisture and heat in it. even though it's 38 degrees, it's warmer than the minus 10 air over the top of it and you get big-time snow that looks like that. >> they have the military trying to get those people out. more than 360 cars stranded. the mayor said it's not over. >> we talked to people live at noon that were diverted off 402 off the big highway and said take some of the other highways. all of a sudden they go where do i go now? they're looking for those. >> commercial traffic at port huron has been stopped from going into canada. for people expecting deliveries, mail both ways, if it's coming through there it's not getting anywhere for the top being. another top story to a city council chamber in berkeley, california. the common bond is wikileaks. the two men at the very heart of what many consider treachery,

others consider heroism. the websites founder julian assange granted bail while he fights extradition to sweden. he's wanted there in a sex crimes case entirely unrelated to the leaking of government secrets but then came word sweden is appealing that decision so assange won't go anywhere for at least another 48 hours. to berkeley. who is the other guy? him. not as big a name but he's been around. a vote is expected tonight on a resolution declaring him u.s. army private bradley manning a hero. he's being held in a military bringing in virginia on charges that he leaked to wikileaks this video. you've seen it before. of innocent people killed in a u.s. helicopter attack in baghdad in 2007. to many people this is where wikileaks made its name. he's also the suspected source of a huge stack of iraq and afghan war documents and possibly even the state department cables still dribble

out. what's this got to do with berkeley? it's not just a place on the map but a state of mind, very liberal state of mind. dan simon can tell us what some there think about pfc manning and then talk to barbara starr at the pentagon. let's find out first from dan. >> hi, ali. we keep it interesting in the bay area. we ban happy meals and now the berkeley city council looking at maybe calling this guy a hero. basically what happened is the peace and justice commission -- this is a commission in berkeley. they like to look at international issues. they don't just deal with local issues. they have a history of looking at world affairs. so they looked closely at this case with pfc manning and said let's go ahead and call him a hero if in fact he did what he's accused of doing. there was a vigorous debate and the commission passed the measure by a 7-3 vote. that sends it to the city council which will look at this measure tonight. the conventional wisdom is that

the city council will say no, not because they don't think manning is a hero. they haven't really looked at that issue as of yet. what they're concerned about, what we're hearing, is at this point these are just allegations. he's not convicted of doing this. it hasn't been proven in a court of law that he actually provided these documents, these videos. so that really is the question. that's the hang-up in front of the city council tonight. >> all right. we'll keep an eye on what goes on there. let's go over to barbara. what's the feeling at the pentagon about this? >> reporter: well, ali, it's not going to surprise you the pentagon is not berkeley. they do not believe this man is a hero. there are many who believe he should be convicted of the crimes which he is currently alleged to have committed. bradley manning remains jailed by the army on the accusations that he leaked a video of a helicopter attack in iraq. he's also charged with removing hundreds if not thousands of confidential documents detailing u.s. military action in

afghanistan. not officially charged related to wikileaks or to those state department cables. the pentagon officials have long said they believe he was very involved in the release to wikileaks. federal investigators now trying to determine could he have really does this all on his own? it must be said these are only allegations. but inside the pentagon they are investigating this very adamantly. they believe that he is suspect number one according to senior pentagon officials, ali. >> okay. interesting story. we'll continue to cover it with both of you. we're following breaking news out of washington, d.c. right now. the fbi has arrested an afghan native in an alleged conspiracy to blow up the washington, d.c., metro subway system. yo he was arrested last week. federal officials say the weapons include pipe bombs and other explosives.

jeanne meserve reading the complaint cover to cover right now. she will join us as soon as she can with the details, as soon as she has read in so we've got something of detail to tell you about. okay. today's sound effect is proof that words can help stop wars. richard holbrooke dedicated his life to stopping wars through power of persuasion aided by the force of his own personality and intellect. he began in vietnam and achieved his biggest victory 15 years ago today with the signing of the dayton peace accords that ended the war in bosnia. some of you may not remember that because that war is over and done in large part due to him. president obama named him his special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan, an area that he considers crucial to american security and world peace. while holbrooke's skills were put to the test, his tenacity never waned. yesterday at the age of 69 richard holbrooke passed away after suffering from a torn aorta. today i want to play you a bit

of an interview he gave my colleague fareed zakaria in april of 2009 talking about lessons learned. >> what we did in the balkans was a thrilling thing to be part of. and it is relevant in one key sense to what we're doing today. this was a muslim country in the heart of europe, an american intervention under president clinton ended that war and saved that community and four years later did the same thing in kosovo, a predominantly muslim society. i say this with great passion to you and your international audience because i am tired of people saying that the united states is anti- islislam or has- is fighting a religion. that is certainly not true. quite the contrary. >> okay. stay with us. in just a few minutes fareed zakaria joins me live with reflections on richard holbrooke. he's spoken to him several times

and reflections on the war that unfortunately outlive him. other developing stories we're tracking for you right now. after sailing through yesterday's procedural vote in the senate, that $858 billion tax deal is expected to go to the full senate as early as tonight. if the compromise crafted by president obama and gop leaders is passed, the house still remains the final hurdle. some house democrats have vowed to block it because it extends that so-called bush tax cut to wealthier americans. also at issue the terms of a revived estate tax. this of course expected to be the final week of congress's lame duck session. this is a remarkable story. new york police go looking for one missing person and find four bodies in three days over a quarter mile stretch of beach. this happened on jones beach island just off of long island. as you can imagine a big investigation has been mounted. police are wondering if they have a serial killer on their hands. no positive i.d.'s yet on the bodies so it's not clear if the original missing person is among

them. police say it looked like all four were killed somewhere else and dumped near the beach from a car. a new stamp honoring former president ronald reagan goes on sale. it will go on sale february for what would have been his 100th birthday. a texas artist painted it based on a photo of the president at his california ranch. this is the third reagan stamp since his death 6 1/2 years ago. pictures of you, your license plate and home all on google maps. the controversy over street level mapping coming up. ♪ [ male announcer ] you know her. we know diamonds. together we'll make her holiday. that's why only zales is the diamond store. where you can get up to $1,000 off now through sunday. (voice 2) how bad is it?

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continuing our special reports on the end of privacy, google maps is on nearly every smartphone. millions of people use their technology. there's also a big controversy over the street level mapping used by google. people complain about their faces, homes, license plates appearing on their maps. senior international correspondent jim bittermann spoke with google about the controversy. >> reporter: google has a new tri-sickle and wants everyone to know about it. the u big tus internet search

engine organized a tour to show off the way it's collecting images for its street view maps, in this case with a high tech tricycle that can be used around ancient monuments and pedestrian passageways to shoot the ground level photos incorporated into google maps. a demonstration organized in part to help dispel lingering hostility about the street view project. in some countries they accuse it of invading privacy capturing pictures of people, buildings and trademarks and displaying them in ways that no one but google can control. there have been complaints. and according to lawyers for a number of french critics, there could be a lawsuit over not just the images but personal data, e-mails, passwords and the like which google said earlier was accidentally collected in more than 30 countries. >> we don't know what it's going to do with all this personal data. at the moment we have an

investigation. the french agency is investigating on that point. >> reporter: google france says the wi-fi data collection was stopped and will not be used again. as to the privacy issues, the company insists faces, license plates and any other identifying images will be blurred to keep everything anonymous and that houses and buildings can be removed from sight if the owners ask. >> the new technology we need to explain and that the role of google to explain why we want to do that. but at the end of the day, i think our goal is to give access information to everyone and to be trance parent and explain why we want to do that. >> reporter: if google street view still has skeptics, the company has won over one major critic. google signed a landmark deal with a major french publisher permitting the digitization of out of print books. just a year ago french publishers won a copyright infringement case against google over a similar project which did not have prior agreement. it's all part of google's charm

offensive here which includes a promise to president sarkozy that the company will create a still vaguely defined french cultural institute. >> we're investing in france because we're very popular in france and growing fast in france and french customers love google products. but they also want to be sure that we're willing to give france. >> reporter: and if modern technology does have something to give to this age chenille land, there's little question the nation will be happy to take it. jim bittermann, cnn, paris. and we are expecting an announcement from the federal reserve momentarily. let's check in with stephanie elam at the new york stock exchange right now. this is the end of their meeting about interest rates. not expecting an increase but looking to hear what the feds have to say about the economy. >> reporter: we definitely have no change. no change. not much change in the language either. they're pretty much sticking to what they've been saying all

along but say the economic recovery is continuing but not fast enough to actually see any increase in interest rates for now. there's also no change about their language about the idea of quantitative easing. of the government buying back bonds and liquidity to the market and give it oil to move more quickly. they're not changing that either. so they're taking pretty much the same sort of stance that we expected them to take when you look at this report. overall, the market reaction to this, it's gone up just slightly. so that indicates that overall people were expecting this to be just as it is coming in here pretty much in line with what we expected. >> i want to be clear because it says we're awaiting the fed announcement. we've got the fed announcement. >> reporter: we've got the announcement. no change. >> federal reserve has these meetings regularly. unlike during the height of the crisis where they had extra ones. this is talking about the economy and saying is there

something more or less we should be doing to either slow the economy down or get it going. basically what they're saying is we're staying the course. >> reporter: we're staying the course. things are looking better but not enough to make any changes. they do this every six weeks. this is the last one of the year. obviously we're still looking to see if there's changes but we did hear bernanke saying unemployment is going to be at levels that we don't want to see for four to five years. we did hear him say that not too long ago. based on what we're seeing here things are improving but not as fast as perhaps all of us would like to see. >> one concern keeping interest rates as low as they are virtually nothing at the government level and about 3% or 3.5% as a prime rate. people say they're worried about inflation showing up when the interest rate is so low it stokes demand. the fed says that's not a concern. >> reporter: right. they keep going back and forth. they've gotten a lot of hits about that, what they're doing could lead to inflation. they say if we didn't do what we

did we would have had a worse inflation than we did. they say inflation is in check and keeping their eyes on it. some point to mortgage rates and the fact they've gone up a bit since the quant tatdive easing, the second stimulus was put in place in november. they say it's not an issue and not the biggest concern. >> stephanie elam at the new york stock exchange. richard holbrooke's diplomatic career spanldz from vietnam to afghanistan. his last interview was on that topic with cnn's fareed zakaria. ♪

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we're following breaking news out of washington, d.c. the fbi has arrested and accused younis, an afghan native in an

alleged conspiracy to blow up the washington, d.c., metro subway system. national security correspondent jeanne meserve has been looking through the complaint just unsealed today even though he was arrested last week. what do you have? >> reporter: well, the allegation here is that this individual was talking with another person on facebook and in those conversations was making threats about the metro system. this would be the second allegation of threats against met metro. this fall you'll recall there was an alleged threat uncovered about metro stops around the pentagon. in this particular instance, this individual was younis described as a 25-year-old born in afghanistan -- was allegedly communicating with another individual on the internet and talking how he could build a pipe bomb. and he allegedly said that putting the pipe bomb in the

third and fifth car on metro could have the highest number of commuters and he could place a pipe bomb in these locations and would not be noticed. i am told by a law enforcement source that they found a handgun at this individual's home when they arrested him but there were no other weapons, there were no explosives. the threat assessment according to this government official was that this was minimal threat involved here. but he apparently according to this affidavit that has been unsealed became wise to the individual who may have tipped off law enforcement and was making threats against that individual. that's one reason all of this has been under seal since this individual was under arrest. these are only allegations, no charges yet. >> we'll continue to follow that. jeanne meserve in washington. this just in from the associated press in las vegas. an armed casino bandit made off with around $2 million worth of gambling chips from the bellagio

hotel casino according to the associated press. detectives are reviewing video and camera images of the robbery which happened at 3:50 a.m. local time. he went to the casino pit area, displayed the gun, demanded chips and fled away on a black sports motorcycle. richard holbrooke's diplomatic career spanned from vietnam to the war in afghanistan. his last interview was on that very topic with cnn's fareed zakaria. 16 minutes could save you 16%. come on. isn't it time an auto insurer gave it to you straight? that's why you should talk to state farm. but not yet. first, talk to any one of the 40 million drivers who already have state farm. 40 million. yeah, that's more than geico and progressive combined. by a lot. 40 million drivers, more savings, and discounts up to 40%. where else are you gonna get discounts like that? but first, talk to your neighbors. chances are, they're one of the 40 million.

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still requires agreements and you don't make agreements with your friends. you make agreements with your enemies. but in this particular case, unlike the two issues i mentioned a moment ago, there is no clear single address that you go to. there's no ho chi minh, no slobodan milosevic. there's no palestinian authority. there is a widely dispersed group of people that we roughly call the enemy. >> that was the last interview ambassador richard holbrooke gave to cnn's fareed zakaria about peace talks in afghanistan. he passed away yesterday at the age of 69, a high profile diplomat who president obama

called a true giant of u.s. foreign policy. take a look at this map just showing all of the countries that holbrooke's diplomatic work shaped. his career spanned the vietnam war to the most recent assignment as the u.s. special representative to afghanistan and pakistan. 15 years ago he spearheaded the agreement to end the war in the former yugoslavia. i'm joined by fareed zakaria of cnn. we just aired a little of that last interview just weeks ago with ambassador holbrooke. his view of that area of the world, the afghanistan/pakistan area something you know a great deal about. was it realistic? >> oh, sure. he had a brutally realistic understanding of what was going on. he understood just how complicated the problem was, because you have a civil war in afghanistan that is being fueled by groups in pakistan with the tacit support -- sometime tacit support of the pakistani

military, a civilian government in pakistan that's weak. he got all that. but richard holbrooke was also a diplomat and a patriot. and he understood that the united states couldn't just say, well, this is all too complicated and we're going to walk away from it. instead he felt that you had to apply as much diplomatic power, skill you could to the situation and cut the best deal you could for the united states out of all this. and that was what he was trying to do when he died. >> fareed, ed henry was saying earlier on when someone passes away you find all these great things to say about them. but the hard edge of richard holbrooke, there were some who said maybe that didn't help him in terms of diplomacy itself. he could be a little undiplomatic at times. >> i disagree. he had a hard edge. i experienced it myself several times. he could be an unpleasant person to deal with. but i think that what that cost him was the secretary of

state-ship. i think that within washington he left a lot of people's egos bruised and he didn't handle himself as diplomatically as he could. but out in the field, he was extraordinarily charming when he needed to be, very tough when he needed to be. he bruised people but the great problem of american diplomacy and people in the state department, anywhere in government, perhaps in any large institution, is that most people are just sitting there to do their jobs and hope nobody notices that they're sitting there. richard holbrooke took on jobs because he wanted to change the world. and when you do that, you know there is programs an excess of energy. but that is not the worst problem in the world. the worst problem in the world is doing nothing which the vast majority of diplomats around the world do. >> he could not be accused of that. a couple of years ago i took a nice long drive through bosnia and croatia. it's at peace but you can still see the scars of a remarkable war in that area. 15 years ago the dayton accords

were signed. this was something that was spearheaded by richard holbrooke. for people who don't remember that time and don't remember the details of that war, how big a deal was this in richard holbrooke's career and in american diplomacy? >> well, it was big on several levels. it was big because you had really the worst case of organized violence in europe since the second world war. you had concentration camps. you had things that people in europe believed they would never see in europe again. and it was destabilizing all of europe because the nato countries were disagreeing about what to do, were paralyzed in the face of this extraordinary onslaught of evil. and holbrooke was able to end it by a very energetic use of force and diplomacy. so that was the one thing. it literally saved hundreds of thousands of lives. the other thing i think it did was it gave america a sense of what america and american glow mallsy can do. you know, this is -- after the end of the cold war, america is

searching for a purpose, '93, '92, '94 and holbrooke comes to the balkans and says the united states can be a force of good and stability evenly in a post cold war world. i think it's important. people forget in the early years of the clinton administration, america was going into an isolationist shell. what holbrooke made us understood is the res lutd use of american power is good for america, good for the world. >> how much of these things we talk about with respected to richard holbrooke, successes or failures, have to do with a diplomat -- have to do with a guy like richard holbrooke? how much is that's what american policy was or what the president wants or in the case of afghanistan and pakistan this is what this administration is trying to do? how much rests on the shoulders of a good diplomat? >> do you know i think what a diplomat can do is work within the broadest parameters and try to make things happen, cut the best deals but then also try to

change the parameters. when holbrooke was dealing with the balkans, u.s. government policy was basically to stay out of it. that this was europe's affair, that we weren't going to do anything about it. holbrooke systematically went about changing u.s. policy. a lot of what you're doing is internal. you're trying to change government policy. that again gets to that issue of did he -- was he too hard-edged. if you're trying to turn around an ocean liner like the united states, sometimes you have to use a certain amount of force. sometimes you have to be undiplomatic. but i think that what holbrooke really represents is a kind of tradition of american diplomacy that unfortunately is sometimes lost. there are a lot of people running american foreign policy these days who are very well versed in washington. they understand washington. they've lived there. they're policy wonks and played the blame game. holbrooke was one of those

people that didn't know washington so well as he knew the world. he started in vietnam, spent years in vietnam. went to morocco as peace cord director there. that is a tradition of american leadership in the world deeply engaged in the world that we have don't want to lose. >> let me ask you have about being engaged in the world, something you've written and talked about. is there some misunderstandings and misinterpretations of america and the west of islam? in that october interview we ran a portion of he's speaking about islam and america's relations with islam and he is you islamic countries. do you think he understood the nuances of those relationships? >> i think that the world of islam was not particularly one of richard holbrooke's great strengths. i don't mean that disparaging at all. he had spent a lot of time on other things. i think what he understood best was that the united states could be -- could play a very positive role in helping islamic countries, muslim countries

modernize. he understood that it was very important that the united states partner with countries like pakistan. he had a very clear-eyed view of all the problems in pakistan. but he also understood that a modern, successful pakistan meant a reduction of islamic terrorism, a reduction of the harboring of al qaeda. so in that sense, he really understood how the united states needed to partner with the muslim world. and if you'll notice from the eulogies coming out of islamabad, he was able to forge a pretty good relationship with a government that he spent most of his time bashing on the head. >> right. i think they respected his strength and his tenacity. fareed, great to talk to you. thanks so much for joining us, the host of fareed zakaria right here on cnn. clearing up snow without falling, risking or hurting your back. sign me up. this little thing is helping. what is it? look at that. it's moving on its own. combinat, all under $20!

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hang now, an afghan native has been arrested in connection with an alleged threat to bomb the washington, d.c. subway system. an indictment unsealed against awais younis. he was arrested last week. 300 motorists got stranded in a snowstorm on a highway in southwestern ontario that connects to two major interstates. many people spent the night in vehicles. they're carried to safety in baskets lowered from hptds. julian assange will remain in jail even though he was granted bail. sweden is appealing that decision. he will remain in custody while the appeal is considered. he's facing allegations of rape,

sexual molestation and illegal use of force back in stockholm. here we at the severe weather center. the map looks lovely. >> great colors. >> but there's some cold going on up there. >> that's 5 in detroit. five below in minneapolis as they try to repair the metrodome. 24 this in memphis and 62 in dallas. >> it's not winter. why does it feel like 23 in atlanta? something is broke with the weather. >> that. that's the jet stream. it's a little bit -- it's bent. it's not broken. it's just bent. it's bent significantly up here allowing it to be hot, 20 degrees above normal in the west, five degrees below normal in the east. when you get that, you get snow coming across the lakes. that event you're talking about, that roadway from sarnia which would be port huron to buffalo, straight line. rather than going all the way around -- >> a nice shortcut if you're getting things in or out of the united states.

>> unless you're stuck for 24 hours and no longer a shortcut. do you know what we're doing for "off the radar"? >> when there's a lot of snow, you need a robot? >> no. >> you need a snow bot. >> i saw this. it looks fun. >> it's fantastic. it takes the snow. it moves it away. and you know how it stays on course? >> how? >> that wireless dog fence they put underneath there. they bury the little wires around. you bury the little wires around the outside of your driveway and it goes back and forth. >> oh, wow, that's brilliant. >> right now it's $6,000. >> less brilliant. >> but it may be as little as $1500 before it's all done. >> because they'll make more and prices come down? >> and engineering students need to do something on the weekend. >> that is brilliant! i'm sure there are a lot of people who it would happily pay $6,000 for something -- but then again that's what neighboring kids are for. >> we used to get two bucks

each. >> i did that. put a lot of kids out of work. >> on top of the 747, a drone on top. the first time ever that nasa put something on top of the 747 that was not the space shuttle. >> it looks like a b-2. >> it does. but it's not. it's an unmanned, unarmed drone. they're flying it around to st. louis. look how cute that thing is. >> it does look cute. >> like one of those little new things, the sugar berries. you want to put it in your pocket. a test flight before they go off to california -- >> what's it going to do? anything a drone can do? like look at things? >> shoot things. >> and shoot things. is that a military drone? >> of course. it's big time. >> you can't just make your own drones? >> i don't think nasa will give you that plane for nothing. >> that qualifies as off the radar. the snow thing is "on the radar." thanks. a drug lord killed in mexico. we'll tell you why he was

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late breaking words of a bomb threat against the washington, d.c. subway system. the fbi filed a criminal complaint against an afghan native named awais younis. in southwestern ontario near the u.s. border police and military helicopters are scrambling to rescue scores of people trapped in the snow. 300 or more drivers and vehicles have been stranltded on highway 402 unable to move or in some

cases even open their doors. some have been there more than a day. it might take another day to get them out. julian assange still in jail despite a judge he is intention to let him post bail. fighting extradition to sweden in a sex crimes case and the swedes are appealing that bail ruling. to mexico in "globetrekking" where we learn new details about a mexican drug lord killed last week. for some he was their spiritual leader. rafael romo has the details. >> reporter: the mexican government says nazario gonzalez was one of the founders and leaders of the drug cartel known as la familia. the 40-year-old self-proclaimed savior of the people was killed in clashes with mexican elite forces in a southwestern mexican state. the mexican government says the cartel he led terrorized the population. >> translator: not only trafficking and producing drugs but also extorting, kidnapping

and murdering people. >> reporter: but over the weekend people in his state came out in support of the drug lord and his cartel. even children were holding signs. one of them said nazario will always live in our hearts. mexican authorities say moreno also saw himself as a spiritual leader who used religion to recruit criminals, banned cartel members from using drugs and alcohol and passed out bibles and money to the poor. in 2006 he made national headlines in mexico after members of his cartel hurled five decapitated heads on to a dance floor with a message saying la familia does not kill for money, does not kill women, does not kill innocents. the only ones who die are those who must die. everybody should know this is divine justice. la familia had extensive operations in the southeastern united states. in a crackdown targeting the cartel in early november federal agent sls confiscated millions of dollars worth of drugs in suburban atlanta as part of a

nationwide sweep called "operation chokehold." >> 45 individuals have been arrested. there's been a seizure of 46 pounds of methamphetamine, 43 kilos of cocaine and more than 2 tons -- that's 4120 pounds of marijuana. >> reporter: u.s. attorney general eric holder called the offensive against la familia the largest ever undertaken against the mexican drug cartel. >> we have to work with our mexican counterparts to really cut off the heads of these snakes and get at the heads of the cartels. >> reporter: 303 people with ties to la familia were arrested in two days in 19 states. rafael romo, cnn, atlanta. venezuela now where president hugo chavez's allies are trying to cram last-minute had stuff through the national assembly. they'll lose their majority next month when a new legislature is seed he seated. one bill the social responsibility law which would impose tighter restrictions on

radio, tv and the internet. for instance, it would banl messages that disrespect public authorities or seek to, quote, create anxiety among the people. the opposition saying if this passes the state will basically control internet access. a new study identifies the most segregated cities in america and the least segregated cities. [ male announcer ] breathe, socket. just breathe. we know it's intimidating. instant torque. top speed of 100 miles an hour. that's one serious machine. but you can do this. any socket can. the volt only needs about a buck fifty worth of charge a day, and for longer trips, it can use gas. so get psyched. this is a big step up from the leafblower. the 2011 chevrolet volt. it's more car than electric.

america's cities are getting less segregated. there is an indication housing segregation declined in three quarters of america's 100 big cities. the report says more middle class blacks are moving into white neighborhoods in the south

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they won't have much time to catch their breath. the arms treaty with russia is awaiting approval. john king with the political update. hello, john. >> dead right, they'll need republican help. you remember the s.t.a.r.t. treaty controversy. big treaty with russia. the president says it's a big deal and the senate has to pass it before christmas. democratic leader harry reid his spokesman telling dana bash they'll bring it up after the tax cut vote tonight or tomorrow. the tax cut vote likely to be tonight, then the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. jon kyl, conservative from arizona says he has a lot of reservations and told the democratic leadership it would be a mistake to bring it up as soon as tomorrow. that seems to imply he has enough votes to block it. they need two-thirds to approve it. mitt romney ran for republican nomination last time. most expect him to run for the republican nomination in 2012.

that tax cut deal, most republicans in the senate expected to vote for it but governor romney says it's a bad deal. he wrote an op-ed saying it's a big short term economic stimulus and might help president obama for re-election but a bad deal. looks to governor romney reaching out to tea party conservatives saying i got your back in this debate. rahm emanuel at a day-long hearing. could go on for three days in chicago. more than 30 people in chicago have challenged his right to run for mayor of chicago saying he doesn't meet the residency requirement. you have to live in chicago for a year before the election. rahm emanuel of course had residence here in washington. he says that was temporary and serving his country and the president. this is a serious challenge. hills legal team expects to surpass it and make the ballot. you should watch some of this hearing if you haven't had a chance because it's funny. >> a lot of the people bringing charges, some of them are running against him. there's a very heavy field of people who want to run for mayor

of chicago. at some point it's legitimate there are rules people follow but generally the spirit of this thing is rahm emanuel was in chicago until he came to the white house to do a job for his nation. you would think that would carry some sway. >> that's what he hopes in the end. the critics are saying it wasn't just him but his family as well. his kids moved to go to school and leased a house. they said he went further. i think you're dead right and that's certainly rahm emanuel's position. you're exactly right saying some are opponents. some are people trying to get in the headlines. it's important political theater but some of the challenges are funny. >> let's go back to mitt romney for a second. it's important to point out there are democratic opponents to this tax deal. a lot of democrats who think the president gave away too much. but there are conservative opponents to this tax deal, particularly some of the tea partiers who you have said mitt romney might be appealing to who says this does nothing to cut the deficit.

>> absolutely right. the unemployment benefit extension, they don't pay for that. an estate tax thing that most conservatives like. extending the bush tax cuts most conservatives like. they say where are the spending cuts? if you're going to extend and give unemployment another 13 months where are the spending cuts. governor romney tapping into that. he has a bit of a problem in the republican primaries because of the massachusetts health care bill. he's saying maybe you don't like me on that but i'm with you on this. >> another political update in just another hour. as john and i were talking about the big tax deal between the president and the republicans could have a really big downside on the money front. [ male announcer ] at&t introduces a new windows phone... [ exclaims ] ...with...stage presence.

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time now for the "xyz" of it. today i'm talking credit scores. not yours or mine but the united states of america's. one of the biggies in the credit world moody's is jumping in on

the tax cut debate saying the government cannot afford to take on another $858 million in debt. that's the estimated cost for this tax cut and the unemployment insurance extensions. think of it like this. you buy a car, the credit agency checks out your debt-to-income ratio. the closer the gap the less likely to lay out money for a low rate and get that hot sports car. no difference when it comes to money loaned by other countries to the united states. countries like china and others have been happy to park their money here because the u.s. has looked like a relatively safe place. but moody's is warning about this tax cut, that it may compromise -- it may have america without a new car sitting in park, going nowhere. in essence, the country's debt-to-growth ratio would look more like a cold meatloaf than sizzling steak. if countries think otherwise, america has to pay more for its capital. scary implications for economic well-being. this tax deal is seen by some as irresponsible because it does