and i will turn it over to ali velshi. >> to all the people in the world who had faith to me while i have been away, to my lawyers who have put up a brave and ultimately successful fight. authorities and people who provided money in the face of great difficulty and diversion. and to members of the press who were not all taken in and considered to look deeper.

in their work. i get finally british justice system is -- if justice is not always an outsum, at least it is not dead yet. during my time in solitary confinement in the bottom of a victorian prison, i had time to reflect on the conditions the thof people who also are in solitaire confinement, also on remand in conditions that are more difficult than those faced by me. those people also need your attention and support. and with that, i hope to

continue my work and continue to protest my influence in this matter and to reveal, as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations. thank you. >> reporter: will you continue working for wikileaks? >> okay. that was julian assange. he was ordered free on bail by a judge in london. as you know, he was ordered free on bail, and then the swedes protested that, so he was held while that hearing was undertaken. now he's been released. he came out, made a few comments. there were meetia down. he has thanked everybody for their support, those who have supported him, and he thanked those in the media who had not been, in his words, as taken in by those who had accused him of

the things he's been accused of. he says he looks forward to p defending his innocence. he is charged with sex crimes in sweden, unrelated to his leaking of documents that some people consider dangerous or damaging to diplomats arounded world. and early releases of documents that -- julian asang's story will continue and we'll bring you more and more. for now, he's just been released from prison. we don't know where he's going or what his situation is. we'll bring them to you again. 16 days unit the new year, two or three days until the congress, this lame-duck session adjourns. we're still in suspension over tax hikes and future federal help. anytime the house is due to vote on the tax and benefit compromise that sailed through the senate this time yesterday.

basically it extends for 13 months -- this is the employment side of things, emergency federal jobless benefits. it doesn't mean if you had 79 or 99 weeks of benefits you get another 13 months. it extends the availability of those emergency federal benefits for another 13 months. if you've run out of benefits, you don't get more, but more people can get it as a result of this extension. this is something the democrats want. see that 4.2%? this is a one-year break in the payroll tax which funds social security. normally you pay 6.2% of your income on your paycheck. it's going to go down to 4.2% for the next year, that's for everybody that pays into social security. the tax on estates would be restored, but only on the big ones over there, that are worth more than $5 million. that's the major hangup in the house. some house democrats want to higher tax on smaller assets.

when you die, you can leave it to your spouse, but once it's passed on to your children, you pay a tax on that if it's over $5 million. this one directly affects almost everybody. just over $140 million americans file income tax returns. roughly 150 million pay social security tax. an stiismted 2 million of the long-term unemployed face theest of federal benefit this month. that numb her will grow if the wind for applying for them isn't extended. but the estate tax? very few heirs will face the tax. at the higher level by one estimate fewer than 4,000 families a year would be affected. any change will send it back to the senate or the whole thing

will fall apart. we'll keep you posted as this develops. a top to bottom review finds notable gains against the taliban and al qaeda. but warns that those gains are, again, quotes, triagele and reversible. the president spoke to reporters a little -- >> this continues to be a very difficult endeavor, but i can report thanks to the extraordinary service every our troops and civilians on the ground, we are on track to achieve our goals. it's important to remember why we're in afghanistan. >> let's get the view from afghanistan and pakistan. our nic robertson joins me live

from kabul, chris lawrence is in islamabad, the capital of -- two views on this thing we call it the af-pak region, thought to be critical to national security and the fight against terrorism, but i have been there for a long time, what is the situation on the ground? >> reporter: the president is saying there is some gains in the south part of the country. there is progress against the tal bans's momentum. progress building security forces here. le devil is always in the detail. the picture is patchy. the east and north of the country, the taliban are getting stronger, while building security here, there isn't strength in governance in afghanistan to support that security, to bring and enhance and capitalize on consolidate

these security gains that are happening. so what the president is describing is a situation that he says is okay and on track to draw down troops next year, to begin that drawdown, but the reality here on the ground is that those troops could very well be yewed perhaps better by commander in other parts of the country to surge against the taliban in other parts, ali. >> let me ask you this, something that's typically used in america or western democracies, when somebody says to voters, are you better off than you were two years ago? four years ago? if you asked afghan citizens that, what would they say? >> it depends on where you asked them. they said, yeah, great things are better. of if you ask the people in the nest valley over, they're a little uncertain. they have more u.s. troops, they feel better, but if you get to the area where the taliban still

are, we can't even ask them questions. a family of 14 on the way to a wedding engagement today blown up hitting a roadside bomb. so the verdict is out. people are very confused here about the future and they feel worried, the vast majority still, ali. >> over to chris in islamabad, not too far from where you are. this is the more confusing part, because we've always thought of pack stage historianly as an ally. over the last couple years there's been a reason whether to question that. and the president talked about a growing relationship of trust with pakistan. is that true? >> well, sort of -- he used the words sort of cleaned it up in a way with the words, the way it

was phrased in the record are report is that it's been an uneven relationship, and that's just another way of saying -- they are happy with some of the things that pakistan has done. pakistan moved 140,000 troops to the border. those statistics would be unacceptable. they have yet to go after the extremists in north waziristan. that's an area where u.s. officials feel that extremists are able to resupply, rest up, plan attacks, and then just come over to the border into afghanistan and fight. they would like to see some action there. on the other hand, pakistan is

saying it's already overextended between sending all those troops to other parts of the board are and dealing with the massive amount of flood relief here. >> guys, thanks very much. nic robertson in kabul, and chris in islamabad. we've got some trouble with this tax bill i was telling you about two minutes ago. brianna keilar is at the capitol with more news. >> reporter: this is in trouble. the democrats have pulled this tax issue from the floor. in order to have a vote, and we've been talking about this today, right? they were expecting this vote in the house. in order to have a vote you have to do something called voting on the rule. this is just bringing the bill to the floor. the minority republicans would

vote against doing that, and democrats would have to buster the support. it's become obvious they don't have that support. there's enough democrats who are unhappy with this bill, the estate tax, as you mentioned, that they couldn't get the support. we have learned from one house democratible leadership aide that they are whipping votes, trying to figure out exactly where everyone is coming down on this in the democratic caucus, trying to see if they can muster the votes. obviously there's enough of a concern that thif pulled it from the floor. >> brianna, this is not typical for not have some sense of who's in favorite and who is not, and who's around washington. we were looking at live pictures. the house doesn't look full. you would think the democrats would have some sense of whether or not they could have gotten this through or not. >> this is unexpected, but we've also known there's this question

mark when it comes to this bill, that there are going to be certain things when the outcome is unclear. some moderates who say, no, we want that bill that president obama worked out with senate republicans, but you've got a lot of liberal democrats who say, no, we don't, it's too much of a giveaway to the rich. >> what's the down side? if they can't get that procedural rule passed to be able to bring the whole debate to the house, what happens? can it die in the house? >> if this were to die in the house and we're trying to get to the bottom of this, because there's a lot of moving parts. if this were to die in the house, everyone's taxes would go up at the end of the year. millions of americans having unemployment benefits expire at the end of the year, that would not be fixed. >> so serious. >> completely serious. and i think there's still an expectation that congress has to deal with it. >> you'll stay on top of it and let us know. and we'll keep our viewers

informed. all right. new mexico governor and former diplomat bill richardson is in north korea. the country's senior nuclear negotiator suggested this rare visit. wolf blitzer is traveling with the governor with just one other media outlet, "new york times." governor richard told wolf he's hoping to bring down the temperature on the peninsula after weeks of threats and shells flies. although legal challenge over plans to reform the nation's health care system. next to florida and who's making their case before a judge today.

foreclosures last month dropped. think can start 90 days after you've missed your payments. it doesn't mean houses that are given over to the bank. it means the whole process. more than 262,000 properties had

some of that action in november, 1 in every 462 housen units. that's down 14% from a year ago and 21% from the month before. here's how all the states have done in the past year. take a look at this. all the green states are doing better than they were a year ago. they had fewer foreclosures filings than a year ago. all those reddish states are worse off than they were a year ago. here's why this is good. if you look at the green in florida, look at the green in california, look at the green in michigan, the states that had it. look at the green in arizona. these were the worst states in the nation. the worst are doing better. what's happening is some of those states late to the game are now seeing that red, situations worse than the previous years, but the worst ones in the nation are doing better. foreclosures in your state can affect the value of your home, obviously. and foreclosure signs in front yards push your home values

down, but here is something that's interesting, a huge chunk, 70% of all foreclosures came from only ten states. look again. you see all those states that are problematic. you see michigan, florida, you see arizona, you see nevada, you see california. that's where they are. pennsylvania and texas are in there as well. out of all the states, look at utah, 1 in every 221 housing units had a filing. california 1 in every 233. look at nevada, 1 in 99. nevada has mosted the nation as highest foreclosure rates for 40 months straight. nevada was where all of that extra building was going on. houses were being built. boomtown in las vegas in the last ten years. the top ten metro areas, 9 out of 10 of them were in nevada and california. all of these maps give you a better picture of who is

recovering, and who is still hurting. don't get me wrong. there's still a lot of pain out there, but the map is changing. be sure to tune in at 9:30 a.m. eastern. another legal challenge to reform the nation's health care system. next live to florida, to tell you who is making their case before a judge today. necessari. this is america, man. home of the highway... last minute detours and spontaneous acts of freedom. ♪ we're wanderers. wayfarers. even nomads. so doesn't it just make sense that we build an electric car... that goes...far. really far. ♪

all right. we've got trouble with that tax cut compromise. that's our look at the top stories right now. you're looking at a live picture from capitol hill. the house has set the bill aside for now, the bill to pass that tax compromise reached between

president obama and the republicans may not even get a vote today. the senate passed it yesterday. there's a procedural hurdle that has to be passed before the house can vote on the compromise bill, but that is also in danger. am i looking at the wrong camera? what it all means is if the house fails to act, everyone's taxes will go up january 1st with the exception of the bush era tax cuts. it also means that unemployment benefits won't be extended. just a short time ago we saw julia asang walk off a prison in london. london 'high corte granted him bail earlier in the day. here is what assange had to stay upon his release. >> during my time in solitary confinement in the bottom of a victorian prison, i had time to reflect on the conditions of those people around the world

also in solitary confinement, also on remand in conditions that are more difficult than those faced by me. those people also need your attention and support. and with that, i hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter, and to reveal as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations. okay. here's what we've learn. assange will stay in the london area, will wear an electronics device and will check in with police daily. a lot of folks who have lost their jobs are coming to the conclusions that the jobs aren't coming back. enter job retraining, lots of tax declares and people going

into these programs. poppy harlow will tell us if they really work. straight ahead. the morning is over, it's time for two more pills. the day marches on, back to more pills. and when he's finally home... but hang on; just two aleve can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is steven, who chose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

try cortizone 10 intensive healing. the strongest itch relief medicine now has three vitamins and seven moisturizers. feel the heal. a lot of people who really love their careers are totally switching gears. job retraining programs are more popular and more heavily funded

than ever, but do they work? do they get the job done? poppy harlow has a look. >> david hall paren is a long way from wall street. >> it was a major transition in my life. i lost my job, went back to school, and started this new business. >> reporter: after citigroup laid him off in 2009, david reassessed and completely switched gears. >> i started talking to my sister who had done this program for jewelry design, and i realized that this was something i was always interested in. >> i think job retraining is critical. we're seeing employers want people with higher levels of skill. >> reporter: about $4 billion has been appropriated for the work force enforcement act, but is radio training the answer for america's unemployment crisis? a 2008 study released by the labor department questioned conventional wisdom.

>> the impact for the typical worker did not seem as if the benefits were particular large. >> i absolutely disagree. we see people with additional training who are able to go into jobs. >> reporter: but critics say the challenge is predicting those jobs. >> the problem is nobody really -- i've been a labor economist for -- for over 15 years, and i don't do a very good job of predicting what the next hot new job is. i don't believe we should get rid of the training program. i think we should work on improving them to get them better targeted. >> reporter: and red tape also sabotaged his quest for a new career. because he was laid off from the finance career, he qualified for a national emergency grant for job retraining. but going to school for jewelry design? well, that raised some eyebrows at the labor department. >> they said that's not really what we classify as an in-demand

occupation. >> reporter: or a job of the future. >> that was the part that kind of frustrated me. here i am trying to do something of interest and follow a passion. >> reporter: so you almost didn't get the money? >> yeah. >> reporter: in the end he did, $10,000 for tuition and expenses. less than two years later, he sells the jewelry he designs and a friend's clothing line at his brooklyn boutique. >> this is my 14 karat gold bezel ring. >> reporter: now you're running a boutique, trying to turn a profit. are you happier now? >> i am. i am. i work harder now. >> poppy joins me from new york. interesting. when we think of retraining, we think of this by semi-skilled workforce in the midwest in the rustbelt working in factories who have a training on a particular thing and retraining them to be nurses or truck drivers, we normally don't think about bankers. some people are thinking,

really? didn't bankers cause this thing? >> that's a good point. david got this money from the federal government in the middle of the crisis. he was making six figures working at citigroup, but this is the interesting twist, ali, the reason he got the emergency grant is every state in the crisis that had mass layoffs in one industry or another, say automakers in detroit or say banks here in new york, could apply for this money. new york state got $11 million just for bankers, just for financial services people, and they helped about 1,200 of them get work. that's about $7,000 take away the costs for each person to get jobs. that is something we didn't know about this crisis. the fact is most bankers, ali aren't investment bankers. they're not making millions, some of them minimum wage, some a little more like david, but that's why he got this assistance. the moral of the story is if he hadn't walked into the labor

department and asked what helped was out there, he never would have gotten this money, and he had to push very hard to approve to get that training program in jewelry design. >> good sign, though, good to do some research and persevere. it's not too late. there are still people whose jobs will not come back. look at your options. poppy, always great stories. you can see tons of poppy's work, by the way, just go to the site and there's video after video of fantastic interviews she has done. mercury fillings, any of those in your mouth? next, who's urging the fda to take a closer look into your mouth. d-steak combinations, all under $20! like succulent lobster and wood-grilled sirloin, or new chardonnay shrimp and sirloin. ends soon at red lobster.

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julian assange walked out of a prison after being granted bail. here's what he had to say. i had time to reflect on the conditions of those people around the world, also on remand, in conditions that are more difficult that is those faced by me.

i hope to continue my work and continue to protest, which we have not yesterday the evidence from these allegations. >> we'll, of course, stay on that story. here's live pictures of capitol hill. there's a proposal hurdle that has to be passed. if it doesn't pass, they could even -- that hurtle may not be met. president obama meanwhile, says the war in after -- a white house report released today says

the u.s. is still on track to bring some troops home next summer. we looks at the safety of mercury dental fillings. dentists say they are durable and relatively inexpensive, but an fda advisory panel, not the whole fda, wants the agency to revisit last year's rulings. mercury dental fillings are what many people and my age had. >> i had a ton of them. >> over the years they've started toe replacing them. >> post people are get composite fillings. and if you google the dangers, you will see it being blamed for everything from cancer to kidney failure to everything. >> and it's half mercury and half other metals. >> but the mercury is known to

be toxic. then people on the other side said, are you kidding? they're not fine. >> and last year the fda said they're fine. >> now they're saying maybe we'll take a second look because there's evidence that's come in that maybe puts our previous decision in doubt. >> this is an advisory panel, they give some sort of suggests. >> and then the fast will say, okay, we agree or don't agree. the way the market is using -- they are still out there. >> lower costs? >> they are. this is where the empowered patient message comes in. if it makes you nervous, just don't get them. say i do not want mercury. >> but you know what happens, you say this stuff, and we go to

dentists, and the dentist says, why are you listening to all this stuff? i'm a dentist, i have a degree, i've been doing this for 30 years. that part is stick to your guns? >> you say, is there any reason why i shouldn't have the composite. is there anything bad about it, or makes the mercury better? in a pretty small number of cases mercury really might be what you need. but if your dentist can't give you a good reason, then you go ahead and ask for the other stuff. it's about $50 more for a medium sized cavity. >> but if you amortize it over the time -- >> yeah, amortize -- >> i can always make it into a business story. how about avastin? >> it's a drug being used for women with advanced breast cancers, and a lot of women swear by it. today the fda said no, we're going to tell doctors don't use

this for breast cancer anymore. >> they can use it for other things? >> once something is on the market a doctor can do whatever they said. the fda says is saying we don't think it works, and possibly make women more sick. but there are women who swear about avastin. because everything is averages. on average it didn't help women live longer. >> but when you have cancer, the averages don't sound good. >> you want to know about yourself. >> kind of like average gas price, the one that matters is the gas station next to my house. did i make two of your stories into business stories. always good advice, take elizabeth's have i and stick by your guns sometimes. bill richardson is in north korea. our wolf blitzer is the only tv guy traveling with them. what does richardson hope to accomplish? we'll go globe trekking after the break. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart are teaming up

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blitzer is the only television reporter from the u.s. there's something from the "new york times" as well. wolf asked richardson about the tension in the region. we want to bring you some of those comments right now. >> it's the highest i've ever seen. we've negotiated release of prisoners, with remains of

american soldiers, negotiated on the nuclear agreement. i've been an envoy officially and unofficially. i can't remember when the tension wasn't as high as it is now. you worry about hastening a potential war. we have to avoid that at all costs. you can see wolf's entire interview today on "the situation room" at acp.m. eastern time. richardson, who will be in the region for four days is not going as a representative of the u.s. government. he was invited privately by north korean officials, special kim guy guan, the country's senior negotiator. with regard to the tension there's been tough talk after north korea shelled a south korean island last month. four people were killed. it was the first direct artillery assault on south korea since 1953, when an arm cities between the two countries ended the fighting.

now south korea just announced today it will conduct naval fire drills near the attack site. this announcement is in addition to previously announced military exercises announced by the government. in march dozens of sailors were killed in the sinks of a south korean warship. in 2007 richardson spend four days in the region to bring back the remains of six u.s. troops missing since the korean war. you can see wolf blitzer's entire interview tonight on "the situation room." our big eye today is all about recycling, and new technology that could change what we are able to reuse. this is interesting. but first, how many trees bort of paper are thrown out in the united states every year? 100 million? 250 million? 600 million? or 1 billion? how many treats worth of paper? the answer is on the other side of the break. how a medicare pland out

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well, before the break, we asked you how many trees worth of paper are thrown away in the united states every year. 100 million, 250 million, 600 million or a billion. i am surprised at this? a billion trees worth of paper thrown away in the united states every year, but new technology is being used in thailand that could change that by allowing us to recycle even more paper products. some yoorcht to go in the trash behalf laminated coating. uses a modified enzyme, they can break it down to separate the paper and plaster, and both can

be recycled. joining me via skype is the ceo of flex osearch. thanks for joining us pajip. >> hi, ali. >> we didn't even know -- i wasn't even clear that some of these things couldn't be recycled. what does this change? >> had ello? >> tell me about the process. >> okay. >> we cover the paper from the laminate, for example the plastic coated lining. >> and you separate them. as a result both the paper and plastic can be recycled? >> yes. both plastic and paper can be separate from each other, and

then we use the paper to the recall material to make a new paper again, and also the plastic we separate clearly and can recycle it. >> paijit, thank you very much for telling us about this. i'm going to put more research on my blog. for more on flex oresearch. i'll liv you to the niismgs. the release of julian assange tops our look at developing stories right now. he walked off a prison in london where he was held on a sexual assault investigation. london ace high court granted him bail. here's what assange had to say upon his release. >> i hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to

reveal as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations. >> assange will stay in a home outside of london, wear an electronic monitoring device, and has to check in with police daily. also u.s. officials say captured insurgents in iraq are claiming al qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the united states and europe over the holidays. the official added claims are being taken seriously but there's no intelligence on a specific threat on the u.s. homeland. authorities say bomb-making terse and an sxloes everybody device were found in a new haven, connecticut, home. authorities discovered the explosives as the neighbor called the fired department to report smoke. and a new milestone for bill clinton that puts hope on a new map. your cnn political update is next. [ male announcer ] let's be honest.

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tune into larry's final live show tonight. time now for a cnn political update and more potential presidential candidates now weighing in on this tax cut compromise which, by is way, might be in some trouble in the house right now. jessica yellin joins me from washington. hello, jessica. >> hey, ali. there's more division among the republican ranks over this tax cut package. i'm talking about the 2012 presidential hopefuls. coming out today with an opinion, the latest news is that

former pennsylvania senator rick santorum, one of the folks who might run for president in 2012, says he is against the tax cut deal. he knowles it could if they don't pass it, taxes will go up next year temporarily, but he wants the next congress a pass a permanent extension. that means he joins sarah palin and some others opposing the tax cut deal. also mitt romney in that camp. mitch daniels also might run for president and says he supports it. why? because it's better than nothing right now. and they can amend the problems later, he says. among those other republicans who stand for the tax cut package, john thune, a senator currently in congress, and many others. so a lot of division on that still. and also talking 2012, ali, some new news on when is it all going to begin? those of us planning our schedules for next year care, and so do the presidential contenders. mitch daniels, the governor of indiana and a potential hopeful,

says he's not going to run for president until april of next year. and another one, haley harbor, says he's not going to decide until around spring. we have a little while to wait. but what's interesting here is this presidential season is starting a lot later this time around. sfwlnchlt sfwlnchlt and turning the page. remember a place called hope? that was the place -- >> bill clinton's place where he was from. >> it was the theme of hills convention and that's where he was born, hope, arkansas. his home town, his childhood home, is becoming a national park. the place he lived, the two-story house, he lived there for his first four years. and he's now going to be a national park. there are only a few other presidents whose home places -- place of birth -- >> early homes, whatever. >> yeah. who are they? they're george washington,

abraham lincoln and theodore roosevelt. >> that's it? >> yes. pretty good company. >> that's pretty good. that's pretty impressive. all right, jessica. good to see you. we'll stay in touch on this business going on in the house right now to see if this tax cut actually passes or not. jessica yellin in washington. your next political update is an hour away. singing security guards where you'd probably least expect them. we'll check it out next.

a very merry odds and ends for you today. now, as we all know, the tsa has gotten some flack lately for its particularly thorough airport searches. well, in the spirit of the season, the agency is trying to touch travelers in a totally different way. meet the lax tsa choir. made up of 17 security officers, all of them volunteers who practice and perform on their own time. the goal is to lighten the load for harried holiday travelers and maybe, just maybe, put a new

nicer face on the tsa. let's jet from l.a. to the united arab emirates now and look at this monster christmas tree. it's big, but what really makes it stand out and also worth big bucks. over $11 million thanks to all of the ornaments. we're talking jewelry, loaded with precious gems, hung out all over this thing. the hotel is billing it as the most expensive christmas tree ever. and notable, fragile, reversel reversib reversib reversible. you'll find those words in a top-to-bottom review coming one year into a surge of 30,000 u.s. troops. it comes just months ahead of the beginning of a u.s. withdrawal of troops from afghanistan. let's get the fall-out as only cnn can. jill dougherty joins me from the white house. chris lawrence is in islamabad, pakistan. let's start with geljill at the white house. the president said we're largely

on track with this. but there are -- there are major challenges. >> yes. the words -- if there were two words, fragile and reversible. what he's saying is, okay, we've got the strategy. we know where we're going. it is bearing some fruit. all of this is fragile and reversib reversible. and we just have to see ultimately how this will pan out. they do believe that they have taken the fight to the al qaeda leadership and that there's some progress there. but they had their two things that they're saying. afghanistan still has a government that is not really that functional and they need that government to stand up a lot better than it's doing. and then also they need the pakistanis, which is really key, to understand that the challenge, at least according to the united states, is not the challenge from india. it's really the internal challenge to the government of pakistan from the taliban. >> that is a key point. let's take you to islamabad now

where chris lawrence is standing by. chris, this is an important thing for people to realize. to the pakistanis, in many cases, if you ask somebody on the street, their bigger concern, their bigger issue is india and the continuing threat of unrest with india. they don't see islamic militants in that border with afghanistan, some of them don't, as the major problem that the u.s. and the west does. >> that's right, ali. you know, by all intents and purposes, pakistan is not a very united country. that one thing that will get people united here is opposition to india, is fear of the -- of the threat, the perceived threat here from india. you've also got a faction of the leadership here in pakistan who feels that there are militants and extremists in other parts of the country, other parts of pakistan, that pose a much more immediate threat to the government and to the state of pakistan than the militant s in say, north waziristan.

>> nic robertson joins us now from kabul. n nic, you've got the white house view on one side, you've got the view from inside pakistan, which is very, very complex and textured. and then you've got the situation on the ground in afghanistan. i mean, earlier, almost a year ago and last summer, we were talking about the surges, the increased efforts on the behalf of -- on the part of international troops to really take the lead in this battle. it doesn't seem like we've really achieved all that much here. >> general petraeus and general mcchrystal really put a lot on the line by convincing president obama to put in additional troops and give this strategy support and bring on board the local population in density populated areas like kandahar and helmand, give that a chance to work. we've been able to see it work.

but it only works to a degree, and this is part of the review. if the government here doesn't have the capacity to consolidate those security gains, then there are going to be problems. that's what we're seeing now. you cannot free up the troops to go take on the taliban in other areas. plus, the surge is a limited number. nobody is talking about bringing more troops in. there are taliban getting stronger in other parts of the country. those are -- those are some of the sort of inconsistencies if you will. >> all right. we will momentarily get a -- another report from the pentagon. this is their response to this whole matter. we'll keep an eye on that. jill, nic and chris, thank you for your input on this. we all knew there would be drama over the tax cut vote that was coming out today in the house of representatives. well, we got drama to spare. we might actually not get any vote at all. at issue, of course, is the $858 billion tax benefit compromise that sailed through the senate this time yesterday. it centers on a two-year

extension of the bush-era income tax rates for everyone. it extends for 13 months the emergency federal job benefits. let me be clear. it doesn't extend them to you if you're already getting them. it means for 13 more months, people can apply for emergency benefits. if you've exhausted your benefits, this doesn't give you any more. it grants a one-year break in the payroll tax, which funds social security. normally you pay 6.2% of your income for social security. for the next year, you'll pay 4.2%. it also restores the tax on estates. until -- for this year, 2010, there was no tax on estates. now it's going to be on big estates worth $5 million or more. this is when you pass from parent to child. democrats want a higher tax on smaller estates. this affects just a fraction, a minuscule fraction of the people that pay income taxes or payroll taxes, it may collapse the entire bill. democrat leaders pulled the bill last hour fearing they didn't have the votes even to set the

rules for the debate. and time is running out. this lame duck session is due to end in two or three days. if the house doesn't pass the senate bill verbatim, it has to go back to the senate again for voting. we're hearing rumbling that the house may find a way to get this done, but nothing is guaranteed except this. we'll stay on the story and keep you posted. philadelphia eagles quarterback michael vick says he wants another dog. the convicted dogfighter told a reporter that he misses owning a dog and that his daughters would like one. it's today's "sound effect". >> i would love to have another dog in the future. i think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. i think just the -- you know, to have a pet in my household and show people that i -- i genuinely care. and my love and my passion for animals, i think it will be -- i think it would be outstanding. >> okay. vick spends time on the field talking to children about why

dogfighting is wrong. he served two years in federal prison for it. as part of his probation, he's not lallowed to own a dog. but one of his critics is the president of the humane society of the united states. he says he feels confident that vick would do a good job as a pet owner. other developments today. new mexico governor bill richardson is in north korea. t wolf blitzer is traveling with the governor with just one other media outlet, the "new york times," along for the ride. he's hoping to bring down the temperature on the korean peninsula. we'll get more details and developments from wolf later today and on "the situation room." wikileaks founder jewelguli assange, a free man. sort of. he's been granted bail, but he can't go far. he's got to stay at a friend's home outside london, obey a curfew and check in with police daily. all that as he fights ect s

extradition to sweden. assange referenced those claims as he was being released. >> i hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations. and new york police have arrested a local tv police me meteorologist. she was formally questioned and she recanted. police offered no possible motivation for thest story. jones faces a misdemeanor charge. her station says she's been suspending pending an internal investigation. and if you're looking for a very unique christmas present, get to it. time is running out to bid on the first coffin of lee harvey

oswal oswald. bids topped $25,000. oswald was buried three days after the assassination of president john f. kennedy and one day after jack ruby shot him. he was exhumed in 1981 to settle a conspiracy theory. dental records proved it was oswald, though he was reburied in a new coffin. listen to this. he is a genius with hit after hit. next, i'll talk with the legendary quincy jones about a new honor that's just been bestowed upon him. [ female announcer ] imagine the possibilities with stelara®. for adults, stelara® helps control moderate or severe plaque psoriasis with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. in a medical study, 7 out of 10 stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin at 12 weeks. and 6 out of 10 patients had their plaque psoriasis rated

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these days you can take your laptop anywhere with you in public. it's very conconvenient, but it can be riskly. ted roland sat down with a former hacker to show you how easy it is for someone to steal your information. >> reporter: inside terminal 5 at the los angeles international airport, dozens of people are on their computers. gregory evans is a former hacker whose resume includes two years in federal prison. >> we were doing almost $1

million, if not more, a week against some of the biggest corporations in the world. >> reporter: we set up in a corner of the terminal so that evans could show us just how vulnerable people are to hackers. >> i will go and set up a fake wifi and watch everybody connect to it and once they connect to it, they start surfing the internet, now what i'll do is just grab all of their traffic. >> reporter: we launched a fake network lamed lax free wifi. people started connecting to it. evans showed us how a hacker can record everything off a computer that joined our network by tracking what i was doing on my laptop. >> so if they go to their bank, it will grab their banking information. if they go to facebook, it will gee a grab all of that. >> reporter: if a hacker has enough time, spyware can be installed, which stays with the victim. >> you get on the plane and go to one country, i go to another. but everything that you do as

long as you have that computer is going to be e-mailed back to me. >> reporter: we stumbled across what appeared to be a real hacker at work. along with our fake network, there was another one. airport administrators told us t-mobile is the only authorized wifi provider. so you think there's a hacker here right now? >> that's correct. >> reporter: catching and prosecuting a hacker, especially at an airport, is extremely difficult. e.j. hilbert is a retired fbi agent who specialized in cybercrime. >> it's impossible to catch them. law enforcement is aware of this. there's always the next piece. you steal the cards, you steal the information. you've got to use them somewhere. that's when you get the real investigations going. >> reporter: there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. if you're at a public spot, find out who the wifi provider is and use that. they also say change your password every now and then and use different passwords for different accounts. turn your computer off when

you're not using it. if you do go online, keep in mind that someone may be watching you. >> you don't know if you're getting on a true wifi or if you're connecting to some hacker's network. you don't know if you're ke connecting it me or to the airport. >> ted joins me now from los angeles. i got to say, with all the traveling i do, i love those wifi things. and like your hacker, i have a device that sends out my own signal. i suppose people could be jumping on that for free, but i could be a hacker. it's rackable that it's that easy. >> if you're in an airport and you want to go online, pay the money. find out who the real provider is, pay the ten bucks and go online. it's not worth the risk. another thing, ali, the home networks. don't let any other people on to your network and don't try to go off your neighbor's to save money. you don't know what your neighbor could do with your information. >> i'm one of these guys who says, what could they possibly want from me? how could somebody be so sophisticated as to think they

know what i might be doing? you know, we're so free with information in what we e-mail people that you've got to be careful. >> absolutely. they could find out your password, get into your e-mail. once they do that, you're done. >> all right, ted. thanks for that. we appreciate it. he is a music genius with hit after hit. i'm going to tuqalk to quincy jones. i'm hugh jidette and i'm running for president. i'll say a lot of things but do i really care about this baby's future? when he's 30 years old our $13 trillion debt will be $70

trillion eventually his taxes will double just to pay the interest. i'm hugh jidette and i say let's keep borrowing and stick our kids with the tab.

top stories now. just an hour ago, we saw wikileaks founder julian assange walk out of a prison in london. london's high court granted him bail earlier in the day.

assange talked about his future plans now that he's out of prison. >> i hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal as we get it which we have not yet the evidence from these allegations. >> assange will stay at a home outside of london while await waiting his next hearing in january. he'll wear an electronic monitoring device and has to check in with police daily. the united states is on track to start withdrawing troops from afghanistan next year. that's according to the new annual government report on operations in afghanistan and pakistan. president obama talked about it a short time ago, saying the u.s. is moving toward achieving its goal, but much more needs to be done diplomatically and economically in afghanistan. and a not-guilty plea was entered today for the man known as the underwear bomber. abdulmutallab was indicted for trying to detonate a bomb on a

plane in detroit last christmas day. he didn't speak during the court appearance. he faces life in prison. well, there's trouble in the house with a tax bill compromise that would extend the bush-era tax cuts. without an agreement, those cuts will expire at the end of the year. there was an agreement between the president and republicans, but there are democrats who don't like that. they're hopeful that they'll get the vote passed. the senate passed the tax plan yesterday. treacherous road conditions from ice all over the roads. our meteorologist is tracking the weather across the nation, next. ♪ [ female announcer ] need a guilt free treat? try yoplait light. and i've lost weight. [ female announcer ] with 30 delicious flavors all around 100 calories each.

try cortizone 10 intensive healing. the strongest itch relief medicine now has three vitamins and seven moisturizers. feel the heal. all right. what news have you for us now? you've just been a bearer of bad news for days. >> i've taken and i've destroyed traffic in tennessee, kentucky, west virginia overnight, getting better now, and then washington, d.c. >> look at that. they've got to work there today. snow always slows things down there. they actually have a bill to pass. >> they're walking faster than they are driving. >> yeah.

>> here is navtechtraffic.com. here's the middle. there's washington, d.c. the beltway here. everywhere that's red is about 10 miles per hour or less. the gw parkway closed because of icy conditions. the bw parkway, jammed. you're not going anywhere. >> that's up to the airport. >> yeah. literally just at a stand-still. not doing anything at this point. snow it is coming down. not ice yet for d.c., although this will turn into an ice event as this purple area -- the thickness of the cold air at the surface isn't thick enough to support snow all the way down. it melts partway on the way down. when it melts, it hits washington, d.c. at 25 degrees. there's d.c., 27. richmond, 25. roanoke, 28. raleigh, 33. >> it's downright balmy down in atlanta. i must say.

i was almost on the wrong side of the equation. i was at new york and i was looking at your e-mails saying, bad conditions here. i couldn't get on my flight for several hours. it's nice now. >> what happened in atlanta was one wave after another of rain came in. it was 30. 30 and rain doesn't work. it was the same story here through louisville, lexington and west virginia. it was an ice event last night that we haven't seen. i have one reporter here, one i-reporter, this is from virginia beach. william bernstein is driving in this mess. this is from 1:00 today. just about an hour ago, or an hour or so ago. he said it's pretty ugly. i looked at traffic.com for hampton roads. it is pretty ugly. >> he's got some kind of thing holding whatever he's using to shoot that, i hope, and he's not doing that while he's driving. >> and now we go off the radar. >> love that music. >> i just wanted to play it longer. i like it.

>> twitter trends. do you tweet? >> i do tweet. i tweet a lot, yeah. @alivelshi. you can tweet me. >> what are the top trending topics on twitter? do we know? do you know? you can go to twitter.com and -- >> i love it. >> if you're in review, we'll double click on that. hopefully it opens up. we have seen the most powerful tweets, we've seen what's next in the tweets and we've seen what's trending. >> for -- this is for 2010. >> what was the overall top topic? >> gulf oil spill. >> of course. >> what is that? >> i would have guessed that. for the rest of the world -- >> the rest of the world. not so much u.s., but the rest of the world, they're tweeting -- >> number three confuses me. the movie "inception," which i loved. but that surprises me. >> i didn't get that movie at all. >> i didn't get it, but i thought it was very creative. i wouldn't have thought it -- >> i sat there with my girlfriend and looked at her and

said, we should have left early. >> love the fact that vuvuzela was in own category. >> and justin bieber and all of those things. and then it breaks out by people and news events. >> come on! justin bieber? number one? >> you have to understand the -- the demographic. >> beating out lady goaga and jewulian assange? >> right, but justin made news all year long. 2011 will look nothing like this. maybe justin will get in trouble or mel gibson will be back up here. >> i love this stuff. it's just great to see what people are -- >> karate kid. >> very interesting. >> i want to get the old one to show my son the original one. >> very good. okay. when we come back, quincy jones

on the other side.

everybody in the world knows that song. that's "thriller" performed by michael jackson, produced by quincy jones, who is behind so many songs that you know. you may not even know quincy jones was behind them. quincy jones has won more grammy awards than any other living musician and he now has another honor bestowed upon them. the quincy jones elementary school was dedicated yesterday in his honor in los angeles. this school is the focus of today's "chalk talk ." quincy jones joins me now on the telephone. i can't even get my words out, quincy. i'm all, you know, crazed because you're on the show. good to have you on the show.

>> good to be here. i'm so excited about my daughter and social network, rasheeda jones. >> there you go. there you go. quincy -- >> that's a -- but the school is one of the biggest honors i've ever had. >> it's -- the interesting thing about the school is that it is interdisciplinary, but it is focused on jazz. tell me about this. there isn't another school in the u.s. that does this. >> well, see, the -- the ironic part is america is the only country in the world without a musical culture, which i do not understand. i just got the -- [ inaudible ] they said the same thing. a country where everywhere in the world -- i'll take them on. our music everywhere from cairo

to abu dhabi to monte carlo to shanghai. our music is everything where in the world. we're the only ones that don't have culture. and most american kids are not aware of their roots. they're really not. it hurts me a lot. >> so you'veteric taken jazz, w is truly an american invention, and you've -- >> it's america's classical music. >> right. and you've come up with a -- you had another organization by the way that talks about american popular music and how central it should be to our kids and our learning and how helped develop cri curriculum. now are you going to do this with math and science interdisciplinary with jazz? >> here's the ironic part. math and music are both absolutes. it took me a long time to put my arms around that. it sounds like it was mechanical. but i studied in paris and she

made it very clear that they were absolutes. and trying to -- [ inaudible ] you really get heavy with it. and also is that music is the only thing that engages the left and the right brain simultaneously. emotion and intellect all the time. most kids get through the music, they can understand any other subject. >> your idea is that this jazz not only ties kids to this country's history and particular elements of american culture, but also makes them better learners because -- >> absolutely. >> they'll do it in this environment of music. >> absolutely. and it develops their brain, you know. it's astounding. >> how is this going to get started? who goes to the school? how do they -- >> well, the kids are from kindergarten to 5th grade. i've never met such beautiful kids. we also have a quincy jones

music consortium. this is our fourth meeting coming up. we've got everybody. herby hancock, everybody. all of these people. we have all of the universities. they understand the best advice i ever had in my life, i was 19 years old. ben webster says, let me tell you something. everywhere you go in the world, eat the food that people eat, listen to the music they listen to and learn 30 or 40 words in every language. that's been the best thing that's ever happened to me. >> that's good advice. >> and what i'm trying to say really is to the young people especially. >> yep. >> you've got to go to know. you can't just watch tv and movies.

you have to feel the food and the atmosphere and the culture and everything. i went to iraq in 2003 during all the stuff, you know. it's amazing what's going on in the world. and china and jordan and abu dhabi, all over the place. it's just astounding. >> quincy jones, congratulations. great honor. thanks very much for bringing music to our troubled education system. it, too, will make it a little bit better. quincy jones, joining me now honored with a school in his name in los angeles that includes jazz in all parts of the curriculum. new mexico governor bill riperri richardson is in north korea. wolf blitzer is traveling with him. what does richardson hope to accomplish in the region?

wikileaks founder julian assange walked out of a prison in london after being granted bail. here's what assange had to say upon his release. >> i hope to continue my work and continue to protest my incense in this matter and to reveal as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations. and in washington, the house has set the tax compromise aside for now. if it doesn't pass, our taxes will go up on january 1st. the war in afghanistan continues to be very difficult, but the u.s. is on track to achieve its goals. a white house report released today says the u.s. is still on track to bring some troops home next summer. and today's "globe trekking"

takes us to pyongyang, north korea. blitzer is the only reporter with bill richardson on the trip. before they left beijing, wolf asked richardson about the tension in the region. >> it's the highest i've ever seen. i've been involved with north korea for the last 10, 15 years. we've negotiated release of prisoners, of remains of american soldiers, negotiated on the nuclear agreement. i've been an envoy officially and unofficially. i can't remember when the tension wasn't as high as it is now. and you worried about some kind of action hastening a potential war. and we have to avoid that at all costs. >> you can see wolf's entire interview on "the situation room" today. richardson, who will be in the region for four days, not going as a representative of the u.s. government.

he was invited privately by north korean officials, specifically kim gi-gong, the senior nuclear negotiator. with regard to the tensions, there have been tough talk from both koreas after north korea shelled a south korean island last month. south korea just announced today they will conduct naval fire drills near the attack site. this announcement is in addition to previously announced military exercises by the government. in march, dozens of south korean sailors were killed in the sinking of a south korean warship by north korea. this is richardson's eighth visit to north korea. in 2007, he spent eight days there trying to bring back remains of u.s. troops missing since the korean war. we'll continue to follow the story. you can see wolf's interview tonight on "the situation room." all right. the head of the epa is on the hunt for future scientists.

so she's touring schools of america to find them. we'll talk to her on the other side. the annual enrollment period ends december 31st. now is the time to find the plan that best meets your needs. here's a plan that could give you the benefits and stability you're looking for, an aarp medicarecomplete plan from securehorizons. what makes it complete? this plan combines medicare parts a and b, which is your hospital and doctor coverage, with part d prescription drug coverage, and more... all in one simple plan starting at a zero dollar monthly premium beyond what you pay for medicare part b. this plan offers you benefits like annual preventive screenings and immunizations for just a $0 copay. you'll also have the flexibility to change doctors from a network of providers dedicated to helping you stay healthy. there's more. when you enroll in an aarp medicarecomplete plan from securehorizons,

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this is the 40th anniversary of the creation of the environmental protection agency. the epa. to mark that anniversary, the head of the agency has been touring schools across the country trying to get kids, especially girls, more interested in math and science. lisa jackson joins me now from washington for today's "chalk talk." she is the administrator of the epa. lisa, good to see you. pleasure to have you on the show. you are a chemical engineer, if i understand correctly. >> that's right. i have a bachelors and a masters

in chemical engineering. >> okay. so we were just looking at the trends of 2010. right at the top was the gulf boil spill. you grew up in louisiana, in new orleans? >> that's right. i'm from new orleans. >> so the good -- i'm sorry. i didn't mean to interrupt. >> no, i was just pointing out, you're right. i did my undergraduate work there at tulane university. one of the places i went for advice was my professors back there when we were dealing with the issues on the spill. >> maybe the positive outcome of this is that the epa was central in what was the biggest news event of the year and lots of people got to meet you and maybe think of you as a role model, as a woman who has been successful in science and engineering. that's got to help you in your argument when you go around to schools that you're maybe more familiar to some people. >> you know, i think that's absolutely right. the news of the day certainly helps. i'll tell you the other thing that helps.

young people get the issue of the environment. so to have ahead of the environmental protection agency who is a scientist gives me an opportunity to speak to them about something they're really interested in and something they think is really relevant and cool for them. >> what is the main effect. when you're talking to people, young people in general, we have two issues that we're facing. i want to show you numbers about women in science and engineering. you know the issue. you know the fact that there aren't enough women represented. generally speaking, we're not getting enough people into those streams. we need to make jobs in engineering and science seem sexier to people. the number of women in computer programming, 22%. chemical engineering, 13%. mechanical engineers, 6%. environmental scientists, 29%. computer software engineers, 20%. aerospace engineers, 10%. but women are more than 50% of the workforce. >> that's right. at epa they're 50% of the

workforce. i want to key in for a second on that 29% in environmental sciences. it is not high enough. but i think one of the reasons young women and girls don't necessarily see themselves in science, especially engineering, is they think of it as a peopleless profession. very technical, maybe kind of cold and hard. and one of my messages is, listen, the mission of the environmental protection agency is protecting human health and the environment. we do that with pretty sophisticated tools. pretty sophisticated modeling. at the end of our day, people go home feeling as though they are people people, the people persons. so that really resonates with young women who don't necessarily get attracted to professions that are too high-tech because they're worried it means they have to give up the other side of their brain, the emotional side, that calls them to their life's passions. >> and yet when you look at the problems that world faces right

now, most of them are science-based. we have to deal with clean water, with cleaner air, and new forms of energy. a lot of the people in your department are scientists and engineers. >> that's right. epa has a very high percentenag of scientists and engineers. nasa has a higher percentage than us, but we're right up there with some of the larger agencies. that's because whether you're talking about air pollution or water pollution, whether you're talking about clean energy or toxic chemicals, our science has advanced to the point that we're dealing with very low concentrations and we have to come up with solutions that are very, very technical. we do that with the private sector. it's a wonderful opportunity for scientists who really want to make a difference in the world. but we first need to get those young women and young men trained and interested in staying in the math and science fields. >> let's say you did that. you get people interested, maybe thinking, hey, i want to be like lisa jackson or other people.

i get what scientists and engineers look like and that could be fun. how much of it is the education system? we've heard that we're just not doing well enough in terms of the level in which we graduate people and how they compete the students in other countries. >> we need to improve our educational system. the president said that. he said w, listen, we can't affd to fall behind. for young women, we also need to focus on middle school. as you mentioned earlier, ali, we have to make sure they stay interested long enough so they can get to those really good schools. it's absolutely critical to their employment future as well. the jobs of the future will be in clean energy. we want those jobs to be here and we want to see a diverse workforce prepared for those jobs. >> love the message. we're big fans of that message here on the show. thanks for coming on here and going to schools and giving kids someone to look at to say, i can do that. lisa jackson, thank you.

>> thank you, ali. >> good to see you. the release of julian assange tops our look at developing stories right now. assange walked out of a high court in london after a judge rejected a swedish appeal of his si six-figure bail in a sex crime case. here's what assange said. >> i hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations. >> assange does have to stay put in a supporter's home outside of london. he also has to check in with police every day. a tax cut bill affecting every american household is in limbo in the house. a vote was expected anytime now on the measure that cleared the senate yesterday. but many house members don't like it and may not agree on how to debate it. if congress doesn't pass it, income taxes go up january 1st

and federal unemployment benefits remain out of reach for millions. and u.s. officials say captured insurgents in iraq are claiming al qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the u.s. and in europe over the holidays. we're told claims are being taken seriously, but there's no intelligence on specific threats. larry king is hanging up his suspenders tonight after 25 years on cnn. we're looking back at his most memorable moments after this break. our own price and if you can find a lower published price anywhere else we'll match it and pay you $25. book now and save up to 60% on hotels. only at priceline.

53 years in broadcasting. 50,000 interviews. more than 6,000 shows in cnn's own archives. ten cable ace awards. an emmy, a peabody and an entry

in the guinness book of world records. those are just some of larry king' accomplishments. today king's 25 years at cnn come to an end. we look back at some of his more memorable guests and moments throughout the years. >> good evening. i'm larry king, and this is the premier edition of "larry king live." avenue night at this time, we'll be here for one hour. we'll meet fascinating people from all walks of life. you're a legend. you do know that. >> if everybody wasn't legendary,ed the there would be people in the world. ♪ >> larry, kiss me. just do it now. don't be afraid. hold me. i love you. your nipples are hard. >> i'm struggling. dance, dance. >> whoa! >> see, i told you it was low to

the floor. >> i'm low and to the floor. >> you want more children? >> oh, yeah, yeah. >> right back there. he's not going to hurt you. >> get him away from me! >> he's going to get upset, you touching my leg. >> you must have something in your head for you to call me a murderer of my child. >> we went downhill carrying that coffin feeling like slaves and we're going uphill feeling like free people. >> when the chapel bells ring out. >> i'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. >> good-bye. >> good-bye. >> i can actually be of help. >> i'm thrilled to death with life. >> is peace possible? why are we even trying? >> jesus, jesus, the bible says his name is all-powerful, that his name is above every name. >> don't spend your time

worrying about when it is you're going to die. spend your time worrying about how to live today. >> that's why i was put on this earth, to help conserve our trees, our wilderness, our oceans and our wildlife. >> police radioed us in that simpson is the passenger in the car. he has a gun at his head. >> i will not run as a democrat or a republican. >> that's a lie you're trying to come across with, but -- it's weak. >> do you ever do anything but propaganda? >> was there a holocaust? >> you want to impose your viewpoint on me. >> no, it's a question. >> i've never been in the watergate. other people were in there. >> you want to see it? >> i have a statement, please. >> go. >> i want to say hello to my son, bill clinton. >> hi, mother.

>> what happened with the submarine? >> it sunk. >> is it a curse of at any time? >> no, it comes with so much love. >> what is it like to kiss him? >> if tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, i'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again. >> it's his creation. this is his ideas. to come here and to feel him here, i'm happy. >> we'll also go live to haiti, show you specifically what your donations mean. for now, for here, it. >> reporter: time to hang up the nightly suspenders. who knows what the future is going to bring. >> again, larry king's farewell show, tonight. a host of celebrities will pay tribute to larry. we've got a few surprises for larry and for you. don't miss it tonight at 9:00 eastern. obama versus palin in 2012. is it certainly not decided yet,

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anger over a proposed spending bill in congress tops our political update right now. jessica yellin joins me now from washington. hey, jess. >> hey, ali. soon members of congress and members of the senate are going to take up the omnibus spending bill, which is important because it funds government. after early next week, the government just doesn't have operating money to keep going. congress has to approve it. the problem is there are about $8 billion worth of earmarks in that measure and, remember, the gop after the recent election, republican members of congress

vowed not to vote for earmarks. so they can't pass this bill unless they vote for earmarks. what are they going to do? the tea party express and tea party patriots have said if members of congress vote for this bill with the earmarks, they will pay for it. they say they will post primary challenges to republicans who support it. that is a serious note of caution for members who are considering a vote and one of the reasons republicans are threatening to vote no and hold up that major funding. moving on, new numbers for president obama looking ahead to 2012. a "wall street journal" poll shows that in a matchup with sarah palin, right now voters would support president obama by 22 points. the numbers show president obama would have 55% support, sarah palin 33%. but, of course, it's still early days and a long way off. and mixed news for the president himself on other measures. according to the same poll, 45% of americans approve of the job

he's doing as president. below the 50% mark is nothing any president ever wants. but here's a positive for president obama. 72% of americans still like him personally. so they might not like the job he's doing, but they like him as a guy. we want to move on to a lighter story. let's look over here. >> elmo! >> it's elmo. yeah. you probably heard important ceos were at the white house this week, but you didn't hear that elmo made a drop-by. he was in the kitchen with white house chef csam cass wh. elmo was there to support the president's new healthy initiative that he signed into law to make sure that kids get healthier food at school. and, you know, elmo makes everything better. if you ever see a screaming kid, you give them elmo and they start to smile. i don't know what it is about elmo. they should send him to capitol hill. couldn't hurt. >> if i were screaming, you could just give me unhealthy food and i'd smile.

different strokes for different folks. good to see you as always. your next political update is just an hour away. dressing the part at work. one financial giant wants to go as far as telling women what color nail polish they can wear. more of that coming up. all under $20! like succulent lobster and wood-grilled sirloin, or new chardonnay shrimp and sirloin. ends soon at red lobster. i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort is not for people whose asthma is well controlled

with a long-term asthma control medicine like inhaled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort without loss of control, and prescribe a long-term asthma control medicine. be sure to see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. symbicort is a good choice to help control my asthma all day and night. [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask your doctor if symbicort is a good choice for you. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

time now for the "xyz." ubs is piloting a project, what some think is a pretty strict dress code for employees who come in contact with clients in swit swit switzerland. if you're watching cnn this morning, you may have seen my friend t.j. holmes dressing like me. and after all the shenanigans that banks have pulled off in the last few years, i respect that ubs wants to institutalize this.

they want dark gray, black, or navy blue, colors that symbolize competence. no trendy spectacles. black nail polish and nail art are off limits, as are strong fragrances. women can wear up to seven pieces of jewelry. men up to three. here's one i particularly liked. wear perfume only in the morning and don't reapply it at lunch. brush your teeth after having a cigarette. a little intrusive but i get it. sort of. here's where ubs and its 44-page document is taking it a little far. for men, they suggest good quality easily washable underwear that is, get this, undetectable. for women, underwear should be flesh colors. my entire career i don't think my colleagues have ever been able to determine the quality or color of my underwear. that's because it's underwear. it goes under what you wear. look, i've had my share of bosses who don't dig my dressing.