through there as a reporter and to see the homes abandoned, to see the animals that have been left there to fend for themselves, to see the damaged homes, to see the tin roofs just flapping in the breeze. it was an eerie place and it's a place i don't think people are ever going to live in again. >> the people there must be looking forward to 2012. cnn newsroom continues with randi kaye. >> hi, natalie, thank you very much. lets's get straight to the news from urban dale in the early morning to boone at night the gop presidential hopefuls are carrying as much ground as they possibly can in a state that could make or break them six days from today. iowa's caucuses will generate in-flows of crash and street cred for the winner. three major contenders running bus towards, all with the

exception of jon huntsman are there. ron paul, mitt romney, michele bachmann and rick santorum have events this hour. we'll dip into the events and delve into the latest campaign intrigues in our fair game segment just about a half an hour or so from now. remember all that fuss about raising the nation's debt ceiling? well, guess what? it is time to ask for the final installment in a series of debt hikes authorized back in august. when we came within just days of a government default. this one is worth about $1.2 trillion, pushing the legal debt limit to $16.4 trillion, and this time the fuss should be less, but not non-existent. the increase can only be blocked if both houses of congress pass a resolution against it, and president obama, for reasons unknown, signs it. none of that, of course, will happen. rick perry's not giving up on virginia. one of several gop candidates who failed to qualify for that state's primary ballot in march, the texas governor is the first to file suit. he's challenging the constitutional validity of

virginia's law requiring 10,000 petition signatures from across the commonwealth. if he doesn't succeed, virginia republicans will have a choice of two when they go to the polls, mitt romney or ron paul. north korea gave its dear leader a send-off today as only north korea can. the casket bearing kim jong-il who died 11 days ago made its way for three hours through a snowy pyongyang as north koreans wailed from the sidewalks. accompanying his hearse for the first few blocks was son and heir apparent kim jong-un. later we'll get perspective on the world's most secretive state. despite the presence of arab lead monitors on the ground in syria there have been more deadly clashes. observers in the besieged city of homs came under fire as they were shown victims that witnesses say were killed by government security forces.

viewers may find some of these pictures disturbing. witnesses say arab lead monitors were taken to a mosque to see the body of a young boy. we don't know the cause of his death. elsewhere in the country a deadly ambush. witnesses say this video shows defectors firing at government security forces killing four and wounding 12. a scare for passengers on a southwest airlines plane at s k sacramento international airport. a bird struck the flight as it was taking off. the plane suffered minor damage but there were no injuries. the flight bound for ontario, california, was canceled and passengers were booked on other flights. if you're planning to donate to any charities before the end of the year, well, you need to hear this. a report by the new york attorney general says new

yorkers actually donated $36 million more last year than they gave in 2009 but charities only added $3 million more to their bottom lines because a huge chunk of what was raised went to professional fund-raisers running telemarketing campaigns. the attorney general says the fund-raisers turned over less than 37 cents for every $1 collected last year, compared to 42 cents a dollar back in 2009. by now, you've heard the sad story, so many of our brave troops returning home from the battlefield with depression, thoughts of suicide and worse. now the army wants to do something about it with a one-of-a-kind treatment program, one that treats the mind. the man and the mind behind it all, joins me next. first the world has lost a pioneer of acting, animal acting. cheetah, the real star of the old tarzan movies has died. here he is celebrating a birthday, still the consummate entertainer. those that followed him were always in his shadow. when people dressed as movie

monkeys a pale imitation. even the loveable space chimps couldn't hold a candle to his early work. cheetah was about 80 when he died at his animal sanctuary home. he loved finger painting and football. cheetah, for all the memories you've given us, you are today's rock star. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard.

i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates.

the american military has been at war for ten years, longer than any time in our history. as we told you on numerous

occasions the fighting in iraq and afghanistan has taken its toll, thousands killed and wounded, repeated deployments, suicides, drug problems and spousal and child abuse. the army is trying to do more to help soldiers and their families before the soldiers enter combat and when they come home. the $125 million project is called comprehensive soldier fitness. the new director is iraq combat veteran brigadier general jim pascarette. thank you for joining us. tell us about the program and how and where it started. >> randi, thanks for having me here. comprehensive soldier fitness as you said is a relatively new program. i would refer to what general dempsey said back in april when he became the chief of staff before he was chairman, and he said you could requisition anything when he was a commander in the field and deployed except trust, discipline and fitness, and for years, the army looked at physical fitness as what our soldiers needed to have to go to

succeed on the battlefield. we had a great program to make our soldiers physically hard to succeed. what we weren't doing, though, is work on the psychological fitness and the health of our soldiers and that's what comprehensive soldier fitness is about, training our soldiers to be psychologically fit before we put them in these tough environments so they can better deal with adversity, and also to, you know, improve physically fit and not have adverse outcomes to what they face. >> getting this brian before they enter the battlefield sounds like that's pretty key. have you seen success with it so far? >> you know, it's encouraging. i'm glad you asked. we're getting preliminary results now. it's about a two and a half, three-year program and we're just getting some initial findings of the soldiers that had the benefits of this resilience training. their psychological health and resilience actually improved over time to include those that

deployed versus those units and soldiers that did not have the benefit of training. so we're encouraged by what we've seen initially. we still have additional research to look at trying to tease this out more but again, we're encouraged, starting to see the fruits of our labor. >> a lot of people watching this might say this is a no brainer. why did the army wait so long to implement something like this so what's the answer? >> well another great question, randi. we haven't fought a war this long in the past. this is the longest time we've ever been sustained at an engagement like this. i think we found this is something we can't afford not to do anymore. we have to prepare our soldiers for the psychological impact of putting them in these tough environments. it's not just for combat. this is not a program that's affiliated with what's only in afghanistan now and what was iraq. we see doing this in the future well beyond that to prepare our soldiers for the stresses of everyday life. and it's also offered to their

families and d.a. civilians. we're encouraged what we find the direction of the program. >> quickly before i let you go there are critics of the program, many psychologists say this isn't really a great program, that this is sort of a quasi-ethical research project, if you will. how would you like to respond to them? >> well, i'm new. i've only been here a month. i am taking in everything. i've read these articles. i've seen what was stated in other places and i'm interested in what they have to say. i will say that if we waited for all of academia to get together and agree on what we should do, we would never have, we wouldn't go anywhere. we believe what university of pennsylvania has at, with their positive psychology department there and the resiliency program is yielding good results and can improve the resilience of our soldiers that will allow them to better deal with adversity and also to thrive in life. so that's where we're heading and you know, i plan on engaging those naysayers out there. i want to hear what they have to say but i'm confident in what

we're doing is the right thing for our soldiers. >> general i go on the record saying what i think you're doing is great. i've interviewed many families when it's been too late to help their loved ones returning from the battlefield. >> thanks for having me. more and more law enforcement officers are being killed on the job now more than before. what's behind this disturbing new trend? my next guest says it is the economy. more on that coming up. [ woman ] ♪ what i want this season ♪ if you'd like to try and guess ♪ ♪ it is something very special ♪ i would readily confess [ dogs barking ] ♪ 'cause all i want this season ♪ ♪ is something from your heart ♪ la da da, la da da [ male announcer ] thinking of others this holiday season, travelers. try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know.

it's different. first...it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. see how fast it works for you. get a coupon in this sunday's papers.

they are supposed to be protecting us but now it seems police and other law enforcement may need to be protected themselves. new numbers just released regarding law enforcement deaths. for the first time in 13 years, more officers were killed by

guns than by traffic accidents, 68 in 2011. and for the second straight year, all law enforcement fatalities rose sharply, nationwide 173 were killed, up from 153 in 2010 and a 42% spike from 2009. craig floyd is the chairman of the national law enforcement officers memorial fund. this is a difficult topic to discuss. why are we seeing such a spike in these numbers? >> well i'm afraid you have to start with budget cuts that have been decimating law enforcement agencies across this country. we're cutting training dollars, equipment dollars and manpower, and i think when you do that, that's a recipe for disaster when it comes to the safety of law enforcement officers, and frankly, the safety of the citizens in our communities that they're protecting. >> just to give our viewers an idea, i have some of the numbers in nt from front of me. 64% cut back on buying or upgrading equipment, others cut

back on upgrading technology, clearly this is translating to the field. >> absolutely. and then you add to that the fact that according to the department of justice we're going to see about 12,000 law enforcement officers laid off by the end of this year, for the first time in at least 25 years it looks like we'll have fewer officers on the streets of america, and again that's dangerous, because when you take police officers away from the streets, they serve as a deterrent to violent crime, number one, and they back up each other in these potentially volatile situations that they often have to face. so i'm afraid, as the number of officers declines, we're going to see crime spike and we're going to see more and more officers at risk. >> and in terms of how these officers have been killed, we're seeing more officers killed by guns than traffic accidents. is that just because of more access to guns or more violent public or how can we explain that? >> i think two things are at work there.

number one, officers are having to face a more cold-blooded brazen element on the streets of america. officer after officer i speak to tells me the same thing that many of these criminals don't think twice about shooting a cop, and we saw it many times this past year, where officers were killed in ambush surprise attacks, totally unprovoked, and again, this spells trouble for our officers, who have to serve arrest warrants for example. we saw it in florida this year, where in miami-dade, january 20th, two officers shot and killed serving an arrest warrant, and then four days later, while the funeral was going on in miami, two officers shot and killed in st. petersburg under the identical circumstances, so yes, it's tough when officers have to face these more cold-blooded, brazen crimin criminals, and when you give them less equipment, less training and less manpower to deal with the problem, again, i think that explains perhaps why deaths have gone up dramatically these last two years and why

firearms related deaths have gone up dramatically for three consecutive years, outpacing traffic related fatalities for the first time in 14 years. >> just quickly, what is the answer then? >> i think we've got to get our legislators to realize that when you cut law enforcement agency budgets, people die. people are being placed at great risk, particularly our law enforcement professionals. let's restore those budgets. let's stop slashing the budgets of law enforcement agencies across this country and as citizens, one law we've got to obey that will save lives, move over and slow down when you see an emergency vehicle on the side of the roadway. it's the law of the land in 49 states. >> excellent advice, craig floyd thank you again for your time. >> thank you, randi. just hours after dressing up as santa for some children, a grandfather is faced with trying to save his family from an out of control inferno. >> i was calling about a major, major fire with people in the house. >> we have the fire department on the way, ma'am. >> please, come quickly.

>> coming up, how this horrific house fire not only destroyed a family, but shook a city's entire fire department to its core.

>> now for "crime and consequence." i warn you this next story has graphic details. a man described as a family friend will face formal charges in the killing and dismemberment of a 9-year-old indiana girl, a memorial of stuffed animals was placed outside the home of al a aliahna lemmon. the man arrested is wanted in florida for violating probation in 2000.

he admitted striking the girl repeated in the head with a brick on the front steps of his mobile room and storing her dismembered body in a freezer. the girl's gand mother says aliahna and her two sisters were staying with plumador while her mother recovered from the flu. the autopsies are complete on five family members killed in a house fire on christmas day in stamford, connecticut. three little girls and their grandparents died in the blaze. the grandfather died of blunt head and neck trauma plus smoke inhalation. he had fallen through the rafters at the home. the little girls and grandmother died of smoke inhalation. embers from the fireplace are being blamed for the fire. the hot ashes discarded in an outdoor bin near the house. deborah feyerick has the details.

>> stamford, 911, what's the address? >> there's a huge fire right next to us. >> what is the address, ma'am. >> we're at 2241 shippan avenue. it's the house next door. >> trapped inside the stamford, connecticut, home, grandparents and their three granddaughters, 10-year-old lily and 7-year-old twins, grace and sarah. >> calling about a major, major fire with people in the house. >> we have the fire department on the way, ma'am. >> please, come quickly. >> reporter: the house was under renovation. it appears fireplace embers placed in an outdoor trash enclosure near the home ignited the blaze. the mom, madonna badger, managed to climb out on the scaffolding frantically directing firefighters to the third floor where she said her children were sleeping. >> the crew pushed through two rooms unable to find the children. they were pushed back by the intense heat and flame. >> reporter: grabbing two of the frightened girls, family friend

michael borcina, seen here on his facebook page, reached the second floor. >> the heat drove them to get separated. it looks like one went back upstairs and another was found with the grandmother. >> reporter: grandfather lomer johnson, spent christmas eve playing santa at saka fifth avenue. he managed to leave one granddaughter at the back the house, climbed on to the roof and died before he could pull her to safety. >> just inside the window he came out of we found one of the young children. i guess there were a pile of books. looks like she was placed on the books. >> reporter: the mother, a successful marketing executive, is said to be in shock. she was taken from the scene sobbing "my whole life is in that house." >> when you don't make that rescue that you failed, i don't think anybody wants to fail. >> and deb feyerick joins me from new york.

this is such a sad story. not only is the mother of course struggling with this but the community and the fire department as well. what more are you learning today? >> well, it's interesting. the autopsies suggest the grandfather who was director of security for a major company down in kentucky, he was able to get out of the window. had he not falling through the r rafter there's a good chance he could have pulled the child to safety but the location showed they were so close to getting out but weren't able to do so. also the mom initially directed the firefighters up to the third floor thinking the kids were still upstairs, but her friend had been able to race up and get them, so there was a desperate attempt to try to get out of the house, but the embers caught so quickly and by the time they realized, it simply was just too late because there were no smoke detectors in the home. >> was the family, do they know if the family was aware there wasn't a smoke detector in the home or working fire alarm? >> the home was under renovation, the interest thing, and they were planning to put in a fire alarm system, but that

was not in place at the time this all happened, and also you have to remember, the father lives here in manhattan and he, too, is suffering a devastating loss as well. >> such a horrible thing for that family. deb feyerick, thank you for that reporting. the republican presidential candidates have just six days left to show iowans what they've got. ron paul may be at the front of the pack but will he still be top dog when it comes to crunch time? these are live pictures. you can see ron paul there probably getting ready to speak to voters. plus newt gingrich has this to say about the front-runner. >> ron paul's views are totally outside the mainstream of virtually every decent american. >> will his tough talk help him push his way to the front? that is fair game and it's next. but first, today's question for all you political junkies out there watching iowa's air waves have been inundated with political ads overwhelmingly negative. how much have gop campaigns and

super pacs spent on tv ads in the state this month alone? $4 million? $8 million? or $12 million? if you know, tweet m mme me @randikayecnn. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro.

♪ welcome back, everyone. before the break i asked how much have gop campaigns and super pacs spent on tv ads in the state this month alone? the answer $8 million. yes, spent in iowa. a lot of money. congratulations to anthony bruno, you rock. you were the first one to tweet me the right answer. nicely done. do or die time for gop candidates in iowa, just six days before the state's caucuses and the field is still unsettled. in the most recent iowa poll from american research group, three candidates are virtually tied for the lead. ron paul at 21%, mitt romney at 20%, newt gingrich you see it there at 19%. a lot at stake here and it is all fair game. let me bring in cnn contributors maria cardona and will cain. thank you for come on. newt pledged not to go negative but criticized mitt romney on "the situation room" with wolf blitzer. take a listen.

>> all i'd say mitt is if you want to run a negative campaign and you want to attack people at least be man enough to own it. that's your staff and that's your organization. those are your millionaire friends paying for it and let's be clear. i'm willing to fight for real job creation with a real reagan camp style job creation program. you are a moderate massachusetts republican who in fact is very timid about job creation. let's get it on together and let's compare our two plans. >> will to you first on this. smart move to take the gloves off now? >> it's a xl i indicated answco a complicated question. newt is not exactly standing on strong ground to criticize mitt as a moderate. many substantive issues newt has been on both sides of the fence from the health care mandate to global warming to be calling someone a moderate. i think he does need to do something. he has been bleeding support over the last several weeks but he also said in that interview

with wolf, i'd like to challenge you -- he'd done his regular thing, timekeeper, 90 minutes, no moderator, on and on. i think newt overestimates his power as a debater. he's good but he does the intellectual shell game. when you ask him a question he dives deep into historical detail and you forget the question you asked. wow, i don't know what i asked but he sounded smart. there was a lot of facts in there. >> maria, what do you say? >> i think it's a simple question with a simple answer. newt should never have promised something he was not going to be able to keep because what happens now? he sounds like a whiner and a hypocrite. he knows that when you become some sort of front-runner, and he is right now, that you are going to have a huge target on your back, and with that huge target on your back, you better have a strategy to fight back. do we not remember what happened to john kerry in 2004 with the swt boat incident?

he should know better than most politicians that is not a promise that you should be talking about going into a presidential primary, where you're hoping to be one of the front-runners. so he should have been a little bit more knowledgeable but i think that's old newt coming back, where he just has this propensity for self-destruction and we're seeing it now. >> let's talk about mitt romney. he's been sitting in a steady second or third really in iowa but now making this final push, sort of his closing argument, if you will, in iowa. he's now spent more than, what, $1 million in the last month there, trying to get the word out, people get the vote out for him. he's appearing looser and even a little more confident. do you see that as well, will? >> absolutely. he does look confident and i think he should be confident. mitt romney doesn't have to win iowa. a ron paul win in iowa is pretty good for mitt romney. the only thing he doesn't want to happen is have newt gingrich win iowa and to a lesser degree perhaps rick perry. he'll be fine and if he does win iowa that will be a huge victory

for mitt romney, put him well on the path for the victory of the nomination. newt's rise among conservatives has been kind of confusing to many of us in several times, what we're seeing in iowa is the positive effect of money in politics. all of the ads have served to inform the iowa voters. it's not negative. we're not slinging mud here. it's informing voters about newt gingrich's stances on many policies. we're overusing the term negative a little bit when describing what's going on in iowa. >> maria, what do you think, if mitt romney does well in iowa could he walk away with it? >> i this i if mitt romney does well in iowa, if he wins in iowa, i think it will give him the momentum to move forward in the process, as the unequivalent front-runner, but i think mitt romney clearly still has issues and we're seeing it with what newt gingrich is trying to do now which he frankly should have done a long time ago which is point out to voters that mitt romney and i agree with will,

newt gingrich doesn't have a whole lot of room to stand on here but at least newt gingrich has never talked about himself as being a moderate. he has never talked about himself as being a non-partisan republican. there are words that newt gingrich frankly all of the other rivals can use against mitt romney himself, and that's what they should all be doing because even if mitt romney wins iowa, he has a lot of issues and a lot of baggage in terms of a lack of conservative credentials that he has to deal with down this process. >> all right, will, i know you wanted to say something, ten seconds real quick. >> i just said newt's called -- he may not have called himself a moderate but called himself a rockefeller republican which means moderate in deep, deep historical detail like newt likes to do it. >> i agree. >> will cain, maria cardona, you got a laugh out of it, that's good. maria, will, nice to see you both. >> thank you so much. stay with cnn for extensive coverage from the campaign trail. tune in to "the situation room" today as mitt romney sits down with our wolf blitzer.

you can see that interview starting at 4:00 eastern time, only in "the situation room." straight ahead, public displays of emotion in a closed society. north korea stages a funeral fit for a dictator, but if you think these tears are phony, well, you may be surprised. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates.

if you had to name three things north korea does well, repression and isolation would probably be the first two, but it can also put on a funeral,

tears flowed and snow fell for hours today in pyongyang as north koreans paid their lavish and tightly organized respects to the late dear leader, kim jong-il. kim jong-un, the leader's youngest son and heir apparent was mourner in chief and the center of attention, that's him at the upper left corner of the hearse. my next guest is one of few americans who have close and regular contact with the world's most secretive state, han park, a professor of international affairs at the university of georgia. dr. park, thank you so much for coming on to talk about this. did you learn anything from how things played out today as you watched that funeral procession? >> yes, first of all, there was his uncle, and behind him was

another person, it was an elderly person, and these three represent, in fact, three generations of the leadership. jam sun was his father's consearch tear and the older one worked for kim il-song, his grandfather. this is the other side you have the military, but the scene gave me the distinct impression they're trying to show the world and their people all three generations are together here, they are consolidated, solidified to honor kim jong-un's ascendance. >> they're calling kim jong-un the great successor, following the great leader. is the great successor title significant? >> it is significant, significant in the sense that it has a particular meaning.

unlike his father, was dear leader, grandfather, great leader, now the world, a lot of people are skeptical about this young leader. some very critical, because of his youth and lack of experience and so forth, so they have enough legacies coming from the grandfather and father and therefore you don't have to chart a new course when it comes to policy, so international and domestic context has changed. it needs to be, and people helping him needs to be more creative, adaptive to international environment, but that doesn't mean he will just change the course and i don't expect any drastic policy shift because of that. >> we watched this play out and we saw the tears. we saw all of the mourning in the streets there. what do you make of the tears? are they real or are they

fabricated? >> i think, whenever i heard that in 1994 when kim il-song died i heard exactly the same commentary. if you understand confucianism, and north korea is more confucian than any other country i know, the family system, the head, the father, the head of the family passing away, that is a source of great grief and mourning and also you have to realize that in north korea, the political education, if you will, socialization is such that their leader, the great leader, have been deeply entrenched in their flesh and bones, so if you understand that these two feature features, you'll never say it's phony. >> dr. park, thank you so much. i know this is your area of expertise, and it was very nice to have you on to be able to discuss it with us. thank you. >> thank you. 2011 was the year of the tablet but that wasn't the only

new gadget that changed our lives. your 2011 technology rewind straight after the break. but first, chances are you've received a few gift cards over the years but do you remember if you ever used any of them? well it turns out not everyone does, so here answer a question for you. how much money in gift cards has gone unspent since 2005? the answer, after the break. ♪ money, money, money must be funny in a rich's man's world ♪ ok! who gets occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it!

one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme.

what is it about taking a first step that we find so compelling? is it because taking a step represents hope? or triumph? at genworth, we believe in taking small steps every day to keep your promises, protect what matters, and prepare for a secure financial future. no matter where you want to go, one step at a time is the only way to get there. go to genworth.com/promises.

welcome back. before the break we asked you how much money in gift cards has gone unspent since 2005? the answer, $41 billion. that's according to the research firm towergroup. so if you have a gift card stashed away at home, think of that number and get out there and start spending it. all right, put down that ipad and pay attention. with the new year approaching it is time to take a look back on the top tech headlines of 2011. cnn's dan simon reports. ♪ >> reporter: 2011 was the year of the tablet, as devicemakers scrambled to catch up with apple's ipad but nearly all of them were flops, including the

playbook from blackberry. speaking of blackberry the one-time king of smartphones saw its reputation damaged amid a highly embarrassing worldwide outage. millions couldn't use the phones for days. >> you expect better from us and i expect better from us. >> reporter: netflix took a hit as well after users complained bitterly over a 60% price hike. >> shame on you net flix. >> reporter: and the pr only got worse. >> we think the dvd service needs its own brand so we can advertise it. we've named our dvd service qwikster. >> reporter: ceo reed hastings reversed himself. netflix stocks plummeted. some brands saw their fortunes soar. angry birds went from a popular

iphone game to a merchandising bonanza. investors got excited this year with new tech ipos like linkedin and groupon. silicon valley had flashbacks to the dot-com bubble era but the interest in stock prices faded. social networking became front and center on the global stage as pro-democracy demonstrators in the middle east used it to organize and spread their messages. at one point egyptian leaders even shut down internet access during the height of the revolution. 2011 was also a big year for hackers. the term hacktivism became part of the vocabulary. it also became clear smartphones would represent the next frontier for criminals. >> what is your friend? >> the old at&t network. >> reporter: the cellular phone industry also made headlines with a proposed merger between at&t and t-mobile. but the justice department said

no go, amid concerns it would harm competition in the u.s. wireless market. >> with icloud -- >> reporter: this year cloud computing became envogue. >> we're going to move the digital life, the center of your digital life into the cloud. >> reporter: of course, the biggest tech story of the year was the loss of steve jobs. >> people around the world are mourning the death of apple founder steve jobs. >> reporter: the apple ceo lost his long time battle with pancreatic cancer. never before had a company chief executive have such a loving fan base. >> as we announce innovations -- >> reporter: the company had a smooth transition with tim cook taking over ceo duties and apple once again had another major hit on its hands with its new iphone, the 4s, which took voice recognition to a whole new level with siri. >> find me an italian restaurant in north beach. >> okay. >> reporter: dan simon, cnn, san francisco. less than a week to iowa, and the race is still wide open.

who is going to take the prize and could we all be in for a big surprise? we're on the ground in the busy hawkeye state coming your way next. then more men are doing the household grocery shopping are accommodate their needs. where the man aisle could be popping up. next a recipe for cruelty gets a rewrite. oregon and california will ban the sale, trade, possession and distribution of shark fins. those are often served in southern plains that can be the most expensive items on the restaurant's menu. the fins are cut off living sharks. tens of millions of sharks are butchered that way each year depleting some populations by 99%. shark fib harvesters, traders, it may still be december but your 15 minutes are up. ♪

>> it does not get any cuter than this. this has gone viral. this web star is an orphaned danish polar bear. he was born in scandinavia's

wildlife park. his mother couldn't produce enough milk to feed him. he now has his own facebook page with 12,000 fans. i got to friend that guy. >> let's check some stories making headlines at street level. first tlogs where a tweet from political satirist bill moyer about until tebow is stirring controversy. he wrote quote wow jesus just [ bleep ] tim tebow bad. and on christmas eve somewhere in hell satan is tebowing, saying to hitler, hey buffalo's killing them. some are calling for a boycott of moyer's show. a lot of men don't like to shop. proctor and gamble is one company trying to change that. back in 2009 they tested the

idea of make stores like walmart and target more man friendly. they created areas with just men's products. this idea of man aisles apparently has caught on and paying off. p and g says you'll see more of them next year. in boxboro, massachusetts, a group of motorists became heroes after they lift advance off a child. the boy had been ejected from the van and ended up trapped underneath it. 10 people were hurt in the crash. the crash shut down the interstate for a short time. to florida. remember when dad told you it was dangerous to pick up hitchhikers. look who was on the side of the road on interstate 95. that guy. 911 calls flooded in. a sheriff's deputy followed the seven-foot gator until a trapper could arrive. authorities believe the bottle and hook in its mouth means

somebody was trying to poach that gator. the countdown clock stands at six days, tempers shorter. cnn political gurus are i in des moines. you guys look a little bit cold but certainly things have to be heating up there. paul, what is the mood? >> you know, funny thing, we've been out here a lot in december. should be a lot colder. there's no snow. there's the state capitol. no snow. politics is heating up. a lot of back and forth between the candidates with six days to go. let's start with ron paul. he's been rising in the polls. with that comes more scrutiny. we know when it comes to iran his stances is pretty divergent. listen to what mitt romney said this morning about that. >> the greatest threat that israel and the world surface a nuclear iran. and we have differing views on

this, some of the people actually one of the people running for president thinks it's okay for iran to have a nuclear weapon. i don't. i don't trust the ayatollah or mahmoud ahmadinejad. >> yeah. he didn't mention ron paul by name but it's pretty obvious who he is talking about. romney will be sitting down with wolf blitzer. what about paul? paul is out with a new commercial. take a listen. >> the washington machine is strangling our economy. politicians who supported bailouts and mandates, serial hypocrites and flipflopers can't clean up the mess. >> yeah. well i think it's pretty obvious paul going after gingrich. and romney. all three of them battling for the top spot, randy. >> let's not leave rick perry out of all this.

he had some tough comments don't you think, peter today for the president? >> that's right, randy. we can't leave rick perry out of the discussion. he's a candidate with a lot of money and organization. organization is needed to do well in iowa. he's scraping for that third place finish and make an aggressive play for conservative voters here. take a listen to this southern bite from him this morning talk about president obama and the war in iraq. this is sort of typical of the rhetoric you're hearing from rick perry these days. >> this president wouldn't welcome home with our many heroes with a simple parade in their honor. maybe it's because this war is unpopular with the democrats, i don't know. but mr. president, our soldiers come first. and it comes before party politics. we need to welcome our soldiers home, give them that parade. give them that pat on the back. >> so that sort of talk is

almost is incendiary saying the president cares more about politics than the troops. candidates are competing for that third, fourth place finish. >> what about rick santorum? >> rick santorum is a person to watch. he has a super p.a.c. supporting him. his campaign just dropped a lot of mail out here in iowa. if you talk to conservative, party chairmen her, activists. we'll see if it's paying off. >> those social conservative, so influential out here on the republican side. >> listen, i hope you guys get a white caucus, i hope you get some snow. no? okay maybe not.

nice to see you both. thank you paul and peter. thank you for watching today as always. i love to hear what you think. can you continue the conversation with me online, on facebook or on twitte twitter @randikaye@cnn. the u.s. is warning iran not to block the flow of oil from the persian gulf. today iran is staging naval maneuvers and threatening to bubble up a third of the world's oil exports. oil prices are dipping today, one day after iran's threat pushed them beyond $100 a barrel. meanwhile gas prices in the u.s. set a december record on average nationwide regular gas costs $3.25 a gallon last week. that's 20 cents more than last year. epic pageantry, dramatic

displays of grief. the people of north korea lined the streets of pyongyang to say good-bye to kim jong-il the man they called their dear leader. his son walked alongside a black car that carried his father's casket. a new warning from u.s. officials about travel to mexico. if you go, be alert to signs of trouble. this comes after three americans were killed with gunmen stormed a bus in vera cruz. the three, a texas mother and her two daughters were shot and killed while on the way to visit relatives. the woman's son and another daughter survived. attention holiday shoppers, you set a record for buying guns. the fbi recorded more than a million and a halfback ground checks for buyers of firearms in december and that's actually a new one month high. the actual number of guns sold could be even higher since people often buy more than one gun at a time.

someone is shining a laser beam at jet liners at houston's bush intercontinental airport. a cockpit was lit up by a green laser as it approached the runway last night. the 737 thankfully landed safely and at about the same time the pilot over atlantic southeast regional jet report ad similar incident. detectors ambushing security forces in the city of dara. four members of syrian forces were killed and 12 wounded when their convoy were hit by gunfire. observe frers the arab league are in the country for a second day to determine if the government has kept its promise to stop the bloody crackdown on its citizens. all right. go ahead. count them. six days until the iowa cause use and the state republicans aren't taking any chance when the results start to come in. iowa gop has decided to move the

counting to a secret location due to security concerns. one big concern, threats from the occupy protesters who are bound to disrupt campaign events leading up to the january 3rd caucuses. the latest mission to the moon is expected to reach lunar orbit just in time for the new year. new year's eve in fact. two orbiters will study how the moon was formed. nasa says the orbiters will explore the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core using a visual imaging satellite. now the defendant was hauled into court on a gurney as the trial of former egyptian president hosni mubarak resumed today after several months of delay. the former dictator is 83 years old and is said to be ill. mubarak is charged with corruption and murder. he's accused of ordering the killing of protesters who demanded an end to his 30 year

regime. court adjourned after only a few hours and set to resume on monday. a former survivor producer will go mexico to stand trial for murder. he's accused of killing his wife while the couple was on vacation in cancun, mexico. a judge ruled that there's enough evidence to scene him south of the border for trial. the tv producer says he's innocent but his lawyers say he decided to drop his fight against extradition. the world has lost a movie pioneer. remember tarzan's sidekick cheetah? cheetah who was said to be around 80 years old died christmas eve at a primate sanctuary in florida. he standard in the movies in the 1930s. in the wild the average chimps survives only about 30 years. we got a lot more to deutsche next two hours. watch.

>> a powerful pain killer in the making. experts say it's ten times stronger than vicadine. celebrity rehab warns us of the dangers as this new prescription drug makes its way to the market. then this woman says she felt bullied by store clerks when she chose to breastfeed in their stall. now a big protest against the national retailer and i'll talk with the new mother leading today's charge. this mom says her autistic son was punished by a teacher and placed in a balling. she will tell me what she want from the school now. and look who has got jokes?

the news starts now. . and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above and still pay the mid-size price. here we are... [ male announcer ] and there you go, business pro. there you go. go national. go like a pro. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol's stayed down. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. it's backed by over 19 years of research.

[ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications, or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. [ man ] still love that wind in my face! talk to your doctor. don't kid yourself about the risk of heart attack and stroke. if lipitor's been working for you, stay with it. lipitor may be available for as little as $4 a month with the lipitor co-pay card. terms and conditions apply. learn more at lipitorforyou.com.

aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. we have a developing situation with iran. the price of oil topped $100 a barrel on iran's threat to block tankers trying to leave the persian gulf. iran is seething over sanctions and backing up its threat by staging naval maneuvers outside of the gulf. now we have this. the pentagon today putting tehran on notice to tread carefully on the gulf. quote, anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is

clearly outside the community. any disruption will not be tolerated. barbara starr has been work this story for us. we also have the general with us. barbara, given the comments we're getting from pentagon officials what does it tell us how seriously the u.s. is taking iran's threat? >> let's talk about what started all of this. britain, france and germany all talking about a new embargo on iranian oil imports because of iran's nuclear program. at the same time iran is staging massive naval exercises in the north arabian sea in that vital oil shipping lane. iran is now saying that if there's an oil embargo against it it will shut down the strait for everyone. that has got the pentagon very unhappy. the u.s. navy issuing the statement about it not being tolerated. make no mistake the navy doesn't just go around issuing these

statements. this is because the obama administration wants to put a military message out there to iran, put a military face on it and make it very clear to iran the u.s. military is in the region with its war ships and, in fact, any shut down would not be tolerated. >> could iran actually pull this off? do they have the means to seal off the strait? >> the deal is iran has a very capable, very competent navy. the short answer is no. they cannot blockade the strait. it wouldn't happen. it would be complete lunacy for them to take it on. the u.p.s. has a tremendous presence. the fifth fleet has been in hat region for a long time. frankly all the scenarios of how that strait of hormuz might be disrupted have been played out thousands of times and the united states and it's allies have exercised against this.

it won't happen. iran clearly doesn't have the capability, primarily because it has to be three-dimensional. subsurface, surface and some type of air capability to path blockade in place. that won't happen because we would see all the indicators of that about to occur. >> i want to pick up on what you said about the war gaming that's being done to basically prepare for this kind of eventuality. if it was to happen, what do you know of the plan in place? >> it has to get beyond the stage of stating what their intentions are. what you have to realize is there will have to be actions put in place, precursor actions. they have to have manning of different types of naval craft, moving different type of surface to surface missiles, activating their radars and capabilities. all of that, every one of those

motions would be picked up by the united states and our allies. each one of those, by itself might be simply a training exercise but aggregately in order to accomplish this task that's a hose until act and the united states wouldn't stand for it. we would have very good, very clear intelligence of what they are trying to do and we have plans in place to go about preventing that from happening starting with diplomatic efforts and working it right down to the tactical level of potentially engaging. >> barbara, to come back to you, you both mentioned the fifth fleet. has there been any change in posture by the fifth fleet in response to iran's threat? >> well the fifth fleet has always had been a high state of alert because of iran and the uncertainty in the region. i don't think there's been any immediate change that anyone has detected yet with the fifth fleet. but, you know, there's something else at play here, which is short of open warfare against

iran and everyone hopes it doesn't come to that, there's economic warfare going on here. all iran has to do is make some sort of move and the disruption to world oil markets, the disruption to international maritime shipping, to commerce in the gulf would be massive and significant. that is one of the major worries. you know, the world economies already on the edge most days of the week. and nobody wants to tip it over. so the notion here is to stop iran before they do anything that would unsettle oil markets and unsettle the world economy even further. >> are you surprised there hasn't been any statement coming out of the white house in response to these threats, or is that how you expect home to play this and leave to it the pentagon >> to barbara's point the fifth fleet is always, always, 24/7 at an incredible state of readiness and has the capabilities in the gulf and outside of the gulf

prepared to handle these kinds of threats as they might appear. so in this case i think it is business as usual. we shouldn't give iran too much credit here for having the capability of doing this when frankly they would have to go through some significant steps in order to achieve this end. the united states would not allow that to happen. to barbara's very point, 40% of the global demand on oil passes through the straits of hormuz. we won't allow that to be disrupted. >> some great analysis. appreciate it. thank you. now as if we haven't had enough federal budget issues, president obama plans to ask congress to raise the debt level again. find out by how much coming up right after this very quick break. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families.

from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa.

is there another big battle ahead in washington. this week president obama plans to ask congress to raise the federal debt sealiceiling level $15. the president wants to raise the limit by another 1.2 trillion putting the u.s. debt limit at 16.4 trillion. let's bring in cnn congressional correspondent dana bash. these issues always have the potential to become political footballs. we all remember the last fight over the summer. is there any danger to the economy this time? >> the short answer is no, there's almost no doubt that the debt ceiling will be raised without the nail biting political drama that we saw over the summer with the u.s. losing its aaa rating.

not that raising the debt ceiling isn't controversial, it s-but this time the congress and president have a built in mechanism to deal with it. the law says if the treasury department says if the u.s. are within $100 billion of the debt limit and the president requests an increase congress has 15 days to disapprove. if not the increase goes through. given the makeup of the senate, the fact that it's democratic led doesn't look like the votes are there even ultimately to vote down this debt limit increase. by the way it's important to note congress isn't even in town right now or within the next 15 days to vote anyway. >> dana, given the fact we're is going into an election year 2012 does this issue become political fodder? >> no question about it. the republicans who i'm talking to are already suggesting this is a power play by the white house because the president could have easily waited to make this request but is doing it now precisely because the obama

administration knows full well that congress is gone, they are not here. you may actually hear republicans demand that the democratic senate leader harry reid call the senate back but i was told today by. >> are democratic source that's highly unlikely. republicans are also ripping in to the white house for, in the words of one top gop aide i talked to blowing through the debt ceiling increase congress passed in august already. they said there you go, obama is a free spending liberal. >> the next question is how this would play into the 2012 presidential election. what are folks saying? >> you can imagine this is going to be campaign candy for republicans on the campaign trail fighting one another to be the most fiscally conservative and fighting one another to say that they are the best to run against the president. the idea of raises the debt ceiling is an anathma to most republican primary or caucus voters. this is good campaign fodder. >> oh, dear, things are heating up again.

dana bash joining us. thanks. >> thank you. >> and now this. >> i was banging on his door as hard as i could. i kicked it to get it open. i couldn't get a hold of him. banging on every door just in case. >> books, box, magazines, cans, clothing, coming up the story of a hoarder who died in his condo. coffins of remains of louisiana residents are washing away. officials are trying to get in touch with the families. this isn't something you see every day. is that an alligator on an interstate highway in florida. with some sort of bottle hanging from its mouth. find out what happened next. that's coming up right after this quick break. the evening guests arrive.

back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. [ female announcer ] get an aleve coupon in this sunday's paper.

hoarding is being blamed for the death of a north carolina man in an apartment fire. police and neighbors say the man may have become trapped by the tremendous amount of combustible materials all over his apartment. neighbors describe the scene. >> i was banging on his door as hard as i could. i kicked it to get it open. i was banging on every door just in case because i don't know where each person lives. >> he's lived there as long as i have. he used to live there with his mother. he's a single man. >> investigators believe an electrical problem started the fire. rising floodwater carries away a coffin from a louisiana cemetery. heavy rain on sunday and monday flooded part of the baptist church cemetery. water damaged several grave

sites and pulled one coffin from its resting place. the casket was found in a small pond and carried back to the cemetery. some graves date back to the middle of the last century. some drivers in central florida sped past a surprise. a reptile in the road. this happened on i-95 yesterday right by a concrete median. our affiliate reports a sheriff's deputy tracked the alligator until trappers glot. if you look closely, you can see it had a bottle hanging from a hook in its mouth which officials say is a sign that someone tried to poach it. the fwator was captured and put down. we're now getting devastating details about that house fire in connecticut that claimed the lives of three children, their grant father and grandmother. >> just inside the window that he came out of we found one of the young children. i guess there were a pile of books, looks like she was placed

on the books so he could get out the window and then reach in and grab her but when he went out the window that's when he succumbed. >> so sad. coming up the details on the fire itself, how it was fought and how the mother of those little girls reacted when firefighters arrived. stay with us. alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma ♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

those three young girls who

died christmas morning in that tragic connecticut home fire all died from smoke inhalation as did their grandmother and all four are seen in this picture as is the girls' grandfather. he's the one dressed up as santa. authorities now say the grandfather be, lomer johnson died of blunt force trauma. the mother survived the blaze and authorities say she and her boyfriend tried in vein to save those children as did the grandfather before he died. and as did firefighters. let's listen now to stamford fire chief. >> the first engine, engine 4 was ladered the building and directed by miss badger to a third floor room where she said children were sleeping. theladdered the building

as i said, pushed through two rooms unable to find the children. they made a very aggressive attack on rescue. they were pushed back by the intense heat and flames. when they came out of the building the male occupant of the building said the girls had moved from the third floor down to the second floor. a second rescue attempt was made by the same crew. they pushed in again. and again they were pushed back by the intense heat and flames. while this was going on there were two more crews that were doing suppression techniques to try to keep the fire off of the rescue crew while they attempted to reach the girls. we found the grandfather in the back rear room of the house. he had actually made it outside the structure. he had gone through a window that was in the rear. just inside the window that he

came out of we found one of the young children, i guess there were a pile of books, looks like she was placed on the books so he could get out the window and then reach in and grab her, but when he went out the window, that's when he succumbed and she died just inside the window. after 37 1/2 years, 38 years on the job, you never are prepared for something like this. it's heartbreak. i had to recall 70 firefighters today for debriefing and most of them broke down. we're going to continue with counselling. so, can you be prepared for this? no. is it our job to do something? yes. >> well authorities say the fire began after madonna's baders removed burning embers from a

fireplace and left them in a container in the rear of the home. we're less than a week away from the vote counting for the run to the white house. plus 2011 brought huge jumps and failures in technology this year. well take a look at the biggest advances and biggest flops.

well the clock is ticking in iowa. only six days until the presidential caucuses and the gop candidates aren't mincing any words with potential voters. paul, let me start with you and let's start off talking about rick santorum who is making his pitch with social conservatives. >> he sure is. listen we don't talk a lot about the former senator from pennsylvania because he's been so tloin polls as you know for most of this year. he's visited all 99 counties out here one iowa, six days away from those caucuses. maybe his pitch to social conservative voters is starting to work. we'll have to see. we have a new poll coming out later this afternoon that may give us some insight. he's up with a radio spot now. iowa air waves starting today where he talks about the big endorsements he's gotten from some major social conservative leaders and it talks about the

kind words he's received from sarah palin and rush limbaugh. you're also seeing a similar language from rick perry the texas governor. he was the front-runner at one time here in iowa and nationally but those poll numbers did drop and he's trying to kick start his campaign making a similar push to social conservatives. take listen to what he said last night about changing his stance when it comes to abortion when it comes to rape and incest. >> that transformation came after watching the dvd "gift of life." the woman who was in the dvd looked at me in the eye and she said you need to think this through. i am the product of a rape. and she said my life is worth it. it was a powerful moment. >> there you go. rick perry last night. and, again, why this pitch to social conservative voters? well they are very influential out here when it comes to the

gop, the republican side in the caucuses. they could make the difference in a close contest. >> mark, let me bring you in here to talk about the difference in strategies between rick santorum and rick perry wlan see them necessarily attacking maybe further to the right to try to really get a hold of the social conservatives. >> interesting thing about newt gingrich is that he made a vow not to run a negative campaign. he said that he was going to talk about his plan to turn the country around. however that all changed yesterday in an interview with wolf blitzer. he criticized mitt romney and criticized ron paul at a campaign stop just hours ago here in iowa he sought to explain why he's doing that. let's listen to what he had to say. >> i know this is hard for some of you to cover. you can fight in a positive way. you can be very strong in a positive way. you can talk about positive ideas. it's okay. you don't have to have a nasty, negative, mud slinging consultant driven campaign and i

refuse to wren gage in that kind of politics and i think it's good for america to see somebody fight in a positive fight and not degenerate into the kind of junk that you see on tv recently. >> now, to be fair, newt gingrich is coming under fire from all sides. he's taking it from ron paul, from groups aligned with mitt romney. mitt romney himself has been attacking him. clearly what we're seeing from newt gingrich is he's trying to define his own message and his campaign and not allowing his rivals to do so. the big question is and paul do you think that is going hurt him with iowa voters? >> people always say that here in iowa they don't like negative campaigning. this year we've seen it here in iowa and across the country. republicans want an aggressive candidate, somebody who will step it up and take to it president obama. this tougher stance from gingrich may help. >> the question will be on the mind of iowa voters is newt gingrich defending himself or is he going negative. we have to wait and see on

january 3rd. gentlemen, let me ask you this question. is it really a case that he's taking a stand on principle or that he can't compete when it comes to running those negative ads because he doesn't have the money or infrastructure on the ground? >> well he clearly doesn't have infrastructure. there's no question about that. he was not able to get on the virginia ballot, didn't have the infrastructure in place, the campaign organization to get the 10,000 signatures he needed in virginia. he doesn't have it here in iowa either. does he have the money to put ads on tv he says he does but i don't think he does. >> the campaign says they are doing well with their fundraising, they may be competitive. they will be behind mitt romney when it comes to that. if they had the money would they do negative ad? he seems pretty firm, he nice. but we may never know. >> looking forward to that mitt romney interview with wolf blitzer. thank you for joining us and sharing your insight. mitt romney will be speaking to

wolf blitzer on "the situation room" today. from angry fwoirds angry customers, 2011 was a very big year for technology. cnn dan simons takes a look back at some of the gadgets that changed our lives and others that fell flat. >> reporter: 2011 was the year of the tablet as device makers scrambled to catch up with apple's ipad. nearly all of them were flops including the playbook from blackberry. and speaking of blackberry the one time king of smart phones saw its reputation damaged amid a highly embarrassing worldwide outage. millions of its users couldn't send and receive emails for more than three days. forcing the company's ceo to deliver an online mea culpa. >> you expect better from us and i expect better from us. >> reporter: the netflix brand took a hit as well. after users complained bitterly over a 60% price hike in their

movie rental service. >> shame on you, netflix. >> reporter: and the pr only got worse. >> we think that the dvd service needs its own brand so that we can advertise it. so we've named our dvd service quickster. >> reporter: customers hated the idea and ceo reed hastings reversed himself. netflix stock meanwhile plummeted. but some brands saw their fortunes sore. angry birds went from being just a popular iphone game to a merchandising bonanza. investors got excited this year with new tech ipos like lingedin and groupon. silicon valley had flashbacks to the dot-com bubble era but the interest and stock prices have faded. we saw social networking this year become front and center on the global stage as pro democracy demonstrators in the middle east used it to organize and spread their messages. at one point egyptian leaders even shut down internet access

during the height of the revolution. 2011 was also a big year for hackers. the term hackivism became part of the vocabulary. it became clear smart phones would represent the next frontier for criminals. the so lieu lar phone industry also made headlines with a proposed merger between at&t and t-mobile. but the justice department said no go, amid concerns it would harm compete shine the u.s. wireless market. this year cloud executing became in vogue. >> we're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life into the cloud. >> reporter: of course the biggest tech story the year was the loss of steve jobs. >> people around the world are mourning the death of apple founder steve jobs. >> reporter: the apple ceo lost his long time battle with pancreatic cancer. never before had a company chief executive have such a loving fan

base. >> as we announce innovations -- >> reporter: the company had a smooth transition with tim cook take over ceo duties and apple had another major hit on its hands with its new iphone the 4s which took voice recog noigs a whole new level with siri. >> find me an italian restaurant in north beach. >> reporter: dan simon, cnn, san francisco. it was a busy year. prescription pain killer is being tested right now that's pure hydrocodone. some experts are very concerned. standing by with us is bob forest who is an addiction counselor and part of the treatment team on the reality show "celebrity rehab." that's coming up next. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go.

you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. [ woman ] ♪ what i want this season ♪ if you'd like to try and guess ♪ ♪ it is something very special ♪ i would readily confess [ dogs barking ] ♪ 'cause all i want this season ♪ ♪ is something from your heart ♪ la da da, la da da [ male announcer ] thinking of others this holiday season, travelers.

you can bet this has some alarm bells going off. a new pain killer that's pure hydrocodone which is highly addictive and one of the most abused prescription medicines in america. four companies are testing verges of the drug. one very close asking the federal government for approval to sell it in a country where addiction crosses all lines. addiction experts fear these pills will thread more addiction and kill more people. joining me is addiction

counselor bob forest. he's the founder of bob forest counselling services. bob, thanks so much for joining us. first off, what are your thoughts as you hear about these plans for this new pain killer that's pure hydrocodone? >> i did do some research this morning and repeatedly in all the stuff i was reading on the internet is ten times stronger and all that means to an addict is ten times better. so, you're going to have this drug immediately when it's on the market, it's going to be on the black market, it's going to be abused by our young people. there's no doubt the drug company knows that. there's nobody that knows anything about drugs in america thinks this drug is not going to be abused. particularly by young people. >> let me make the point that the drug company disputes that, that it's ten times stronger than vicadine. what they say it's going to be pure hydrocodone, it won't be

cut with anything in terms ever lessening its addictive qualities. >> yeah. and ideal with a lot of prescription drug addicts and what they talk about the only damaging thing of the vicadine is the acetominophine. >> what about those who say the need to treat chronic pain outweighs the risk of those who abuse these drugs. what's your response to that? >> you know, we have young people all across america dying from these drugs. i don't know what -- the drug companies would investigate a nonpleasure giving pain relief drug i would be all for it. but every drug they come up with is abused by our young people, leads to death of our young people and, you know, nobody really seems to be too concerned

about it. >> you work with people who become addicted to various substances. talk to us. give us some insight into how difficult it is to treat pain killer addiction. >> well, one of the really difficult things is for years traditionally in america illicit drug use the addict who was abusing it knew it was wrong to do. and nowadays the prescription drug addicts don't know that it's wrong to do. a doctor is telling them to take it. it's a different kind of animal to young people who are addicted to these drugs. they get into it very early on. usually prescribed ritalin in elementary school and the drug addiction just evolves and thrives and by the time they are 21 or 22 they are thoroughly addicted and can't get off and can't understand how they got there. . it read some statistics for our view towers get a sense of perspective on this situation. according to the centers for disease control, many people die from drug poisoning as from car

accidents. and 40% of those poisonings were from drugs like oxycontin and vicadine. when you hear that you know those statistics, you work in this field. drugs like this, what your sense is what they will do to, new drugs like this what they will do to such statistic? >> i just wish somebody would step in and highly monitor these things. tobacco is highly monitored. 16-year-olds, 17-year-olds, 18-year-olds can't get their hands on tobacco as easily as they can with objectixycontin. i want pain relief in america and so does everybody. but that's not what's happening with these drugs. doctors need to prescribe only in the setting that it's designed for in pain relief. when you use these high dose opiates, these oxycontins,

that's for when you're dying of cancer, not when you have back pain, you know. that's what's being used off label and doctors prescribe it any way they want particularly in certain parts of the u.s., in los angeles, in florida. i'm hoping the conrad murray trial has woken some doctors up to the fact that they may be held accountable. >> forest, we appreciate you joining us today and sharing entrepreneur sight. thank you. we contacted all four companies that are working on the new pure hydrocodone pills. two have gotten back to us. purr due said, as a privately held company we do not disclose information about our drug development programs. we appreciate the opportunity to provide a comment. zogenix denies that their drug is ten times more powerful than

vicadine. and said they recognize that all opioids are addictive. so, just to make very clear that they are aware and looking for more regulation. that's what the company says. news coming into us that we want to bring to you. there are three miners trapped in a mine in new market, tennessee. 51 were able to get out when a fire broke out hundreds of feet underground at this zinc mine. the men left behind are in a safe area. the young mine as its named is located northeast of knoxville, tennessee. it's a story we'll continue to northern and bring the latest when we get more developments. a woman in texas says she was harassed by target employees when she tried to breastfeed in the store. today she stage ad sit in at the store with a bunch of breastfeeding mothers. target, though, has a very different story about how the woman was treated. we'll talk to the mother live

right after this very quick break. but first there are a few phrases that are sure to raise a red flag if homeland security is monitoring your social media accounts. the electronic privacy information center is filing a federal complaint about it. so, are you wondering what are these trigger words? apparently human to animal. and collapse are a few. we'll tell you a couple of others after this quick break so stay with us. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know.

it's different. first...it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. see how fast it works for you. get a coupon in this sunday's papers.

. all right. back to the words that may it please get you spied on by broirg if you use them online. electronic privacy information is suing over this. human to animal and collapse were on the list. turns out outbreak and illegal immigrants are also words that raise a red flag with government monitors according to the online privacy group. all right. a bit of an unusual story trending today that i want to tell you about. a nursing mom turned to facebook after support after she claims employees at a houston area target store embarrassed her when she was breastfeeding in public. so she invited other nursing moms to join her today as a shove support for breastfeeding in public. these are pictures from that texas target where a handful of supporters turned out and as you can see clearly with their babies in tow.

the mom joins us on the phone from houston. thanks for joining us. first off, tell us what happened to you. >> basically i was just nursing my 5-month-old in the target store when i was, you know, shopping for christmas stuff on november 29th, and i sat on the target floor and had a couple target employees that i actually spoke with and had conversations with, you know, regarding my role and request for me to move to the sitting room after i told them what my legal rights were to not have to move, they kept insisting and i kept asking them what target's policy was and what they were trained to do and they said it was, to you know, direct us to the nursing area or i guess official nursing area would be their fitting room in the store. and then, you know, there was another handful of women that

they were all women employees were, you know, kind of hovering around the area shaking their head no, making rude faces and, you know, remarks and scowls at me. the next morning i called corporate office at target and i talked to a guest relation specialist there and was told that even though target is aware of our legal rights to nursing public wherever the right to be both public or private places in the state of texas, that women shouldn't be doing it and walking around the store flaunting it. however, mind you i was sitting down in the store, not a single person came by that was a customer. i was completely covered with a large blanket. so i don't see how they find it that offensive and to that extent to get those types of comments you would think a better trained corporate level guest relations specialist. >> let me ask you this.

target offered you a changing room to go into to breastfeed your baby but you say you preforedo it where you were, sitting on the floor there? is it that you felt that you were being hidden away, they were trying to hide you away is that use didn't want to sit in the dressing room? >> this is my fourth child. i have gone at the request of people before with other children before to a dressing room. this isn't the first instant i've had. the problem with that is that you have a cartful of things and when i came out my cart was gone. who wants to reshop for another hour. that's not exactly a fun thing to do. after that happened to me a few times i just have decided i don't care if they request for me to go a fitting room i'm not going to go to a fitting room and nurse my baby and have to reshop everything all over zboin just choose not to do it. >> let me read the statement that we got from target. i'll read part it and get your

response. they say as a family oriented retailer target has a long standing corporate policy that supports breastfeeding in our stores. we want everyone to feel comfortable shopping at target. guests who choose to breastfeed in public areas of the store are welcome to do so without being made to feel uncomfortable. additionally we support the use of fitting rooms for women who wish to breastfeed their babies, even if others are waiting to use the fitting room. we continually educate our team members in stores across the country on store policies to ensure all guests have a positive feeling. >> that was my official response from them, which, you know, everybody is telling me that's so not an apology, that's basically their stance.