brief message. send to 36288. the fun begins 11:00 p.m. eastern time right here on the fox news channel. it will be a lot of fun. >> absolutely. that will do it for us. i'm patti ann browne here with greg jait. gregg: "happening now" begins right now. have a great day. jon: we're just a couple of days away from that new year's eve celebration. good morning morning to you. i'm jon scott. >> i'm marcella neville in for jenna lee. five days and counting to the iowa caution us newt gingrich is dropping and rick santorum is surging. jon: at this point six of the top seven republican presidential candidates are

fanning out across iowa. the only exception, jon huntsman. he is putting his chips in new hampshire where first in the nation primary comes one week after iowa. iowa has all the attention and some of the negative political ads are popping up there now. steve brown live for us in des moines. political ads, negative ads a fact of life, steve but are they having an impact there? >> reporter: you have to say yes. as a matter of fact campaigns will point to them. they like to say only the positive ads are working but quite in fact the negative ads are working as well. the rule of thumb negative ads help soften your opponent's support. >> everybody decries negative campaign ads but the difficulty is that they work. what they do is raise suspicions about their target, the candidates or the issue that they are attacking. >> reporter: now while michele bachmann is very

aggressive out on the campaign trail crisscrossing the state trying to hit all 99 counties in the final days in a single bus tour if you will, she can not be accused running negative ads. she is not on the air yet. spoke with her yesterday. when she gets on the air this weekend with ads they will be positive ads. we'll see. jon? jon: "the des moines register" suggested there will be a record amount spent on tv advertising this month by candidates, isn't this time of year isn't it kind of tough to break through? >> reporter: it really is. we're to understand these ad, campaign ads positive ones were running on christmas eve and christmas. today here in iowa they're a little distracted because both iowa state and university of iowa have football bowl games will be on. that will distract them. new year's eve and people busy with those preparations. real difficult to get people's attention with television ads yet the

airwaves are blanketed with them. jon: steve brown reporting from iowa. stay here for full coverage of the 2012 presidential race. live team coverage coming from iowa. special coverage of the caucuses as well. tuesday, january 3rd, caucus day in iowa. our coverage starts 6:00 p.m. eastern time. arthel: a fox news alert on the jobs front as the number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week for the first time in a month jumping 15,000 to 381,000. but there is some good news the four-week average for jobless applications dropped to the lowest level since june 2008. fox business network cheryl casone is live with the story. cheryl, this is great news. we want to get it anywhere we can but the big question is, are we out of the woods yet? >> reporter: no we're not. certainly the fact we're below 400,000 on initial claims is nice to see. but continuing claims, i

look at those that file but staying on unemployment. that rose in this report. that is what concerns me the most. you have holiday shopping happening now. holiday jobs filled. all retailers stocked up. where are those people? why do we have these tiling coming in now in the middle of holiday season? a, that doesn't make sense to me. you still have 7.23 million americans are sitting on unemployment right now. and i just got a survey a few moments ago from challenger, gray & christmas and they say 10% of those surveyed believe if they're going to get a job, it will be a year from now. we still see pessimism with regards to job-seekers. 8.6%. that's where we stand right now. most economists believe we'll stay in that range all the way through election day. we have a lot to watch for in the next 11 months, arthel. arthel: we will be watching and hope everybody gets to work but you're saying a whole year possibly for that? >> i think we'll stay in this range.

we really are. it will be glacial. that is the word. arthel: thank you, cheryl. jon: dramatic displays of grief giving way to quiet now in north korea. that nation ending its 1-day mourning period for kim jong-il with a countrywide moment of silence. at the same time hundreds of thousands packed a memorial service. government officials paid tribute to kim jong-il and for the first time named his son, kim john unas the country's supreme leader. the state-run media is suggesting not just the north korean people mourning kim jong-il but a bird that came into a textile factory. it perched on portraits of kim jong-il and his son. greg palkot live from seoul. >> reporter: you have to love it, jon. today's events were billed as a memorial to kim jong-il but it is really about confirming that the son, kim john unwill be the -- kim

junk un. will. the scare where we first saw the guy and where hundreds of thousand of people saw him today. now top officials there standing at the podium with him publicly announce for the first time that sim jong unis the supreme leader of both the party, the military and the people. the transfer of power was declared a completely resolved succession and the people were called on to solidify behind the leadership. by the way we scanned all of the video and --. jon: it appears we lost our live connection to greg palkot in that report from south korea. we'll try and re-establish that, get back to you later. but again the headline there, the official period of mourning for kim jong-il is over. his son, kim jong-un, appears at least for now appears to be in control of things in north korea. arthel: all right. if you're in new york city as we are you know the weather is pretty frigid

right now here in the big apple but will mother nature behave for new year's eve? a lot of you coming here to celebrate. crowds will be gathering in times square when the ball drops. rick reichmuth live at the fox news weather center. rick, for all the folks on the way to the big apple and already here will it be frigid saturday night? >> it is evening so it will be a cold but not bad. could certainly be so much worse. we're in a mild pattern. temperatures are warm. not all that stormy. this is what is going on now. storms across the northern tier of the country and that pattern is going to continue. look at futurecast. it will carry through the day on saturday. a clipper across the great lakes. another one friday moves on through. another one will be shooting down on saturday but by saturday midday everything is looking pretty good. that will be kind of the case by the time we get toward the evening hours. it will be colder out in parts of the west. only cold spot maybe

celebrating in chicago a little bit of snow. the heavier snow will be farther north in parts of wisconsin and up in michigan. maybe atlanta, key west for those big celebration you're looking clear. temps are fine. across l.a. you're looking good as well. most everybody looking at a very nice new year's eve. there are changes by monday. we'll see a big cold blast across parts of the central plains. we'll be fine for saturday evening. arthel: the folks in chi town can handle snow for new year's eve. >> you bet. arthel: thanks, rick. wherever you are on new year's eve join the fox news channel for a special celebration. rick is at the web wall with all the details. >> reporter: bill hemmer and megyn kelly are paying close attention to rick reichmuth's weather forecast because they will be outside in times square for our special here, an all-american new year's eve. bill an megyn and a lot of other fox personalities beginning 11:00 p.m. eastern

time. there is a way to take part in the show. you can send your new year's messages and text them right to us and they will appear on the screen. utext, then your greeting. send it off to 36288. we'll have them along the scroll during the live broadcast. wish happy new year to your mother at the same time. back to you guys. arthel: mom likes that when you wish them happy new year. jon: got to love the mom. that's right. there's a very sad update to bring you though. compensation for a tragedy that happened three years ago. a judge now telling the u.s. government it must pay a family that lost four of its members after a marine corps fighter jet crashed into it, crashed into their home. it's a multimillion-dollar award. we'll bring you details coming up. arthel: also fresh developments in another deadly disaster. the new fallout bp could face following that catastrophic oil rig explosion in the gulf that led to the worse oil spill in u.s. history.

jon: also battleground iowa. several scenarios could play out after the first in the nation caucuses are tallied. a look at what the results here could mean for the rest of the 2012 campaign. larry sabato's crystal ball ahead

arthel: a fox news alert for you. a 40-car pileup in new orleans. rick folbaum has the story from our breaking news desk. rick what is the latest. >> reporter: this is your hometown. you know this area very well, i-10 very heavily trafficked highway right through new orleans and there was a pileup involving 40 cars before dawn this morning. two people have been killed. we're sorry to say. 22 other people had to be taken to local hospitals. as we get a live look here this is a picture of the scene here in new orleans, louisiana, after this

pileup. there was a firefighter also injured while working at the scene trying to help people out. we don't know exactly how this accident first took place but again, this pileup situation, two people dead, 22 injured. that highway, by the way is still closed, arthel. not sure when i-10 will be able to reopen but serious traffic problems this morning and on through the rest of the day i'm sure. as we get more information we'll pass it along. back to you. jon: all right. so it's almost 2012. we're counting down of course the days until election day but we're also counting down to the iowa caucuses, the first contest of the campaign season is now just five days away. the latest "real clear politics" average of the iowa polls shows a virtual tossup between ron paul and mitt romney. it also shows, it also shows newt gingrich sliding as

rick santorum climbs. we will not know anything for certain until we see the final results on tuesday night but what are some of the scenarios that could play out here? let's ask the man who is gazing into his crystal ball, larry sabato, director of center of politics at the university of virginia. you lay out four possible scenarios, larry, and they're all based in part what has gone on before in iowa. let's take a look at the first one of the the first one is obvious, an iowa win launches one frontrunner on to sweep the rest of the contests and win the nomination? >> yes, that is the ideal scenario for mitt romney. no doubt in his heart of hearts and dreams of dreams this is what he considers. much like what happened to senator john kerry on the democratic side in 2004. he came up really at the last minute and won the iowa caucus. then schweppe the new hampshire primary and never looked back. jon: all right. and scenario two is kind of

an interesting one and some might say ron paul figures in here. it is the strong outlayer candidate that makes iowa irrelevant? >> well, ron paul would certainly shake things up if he won. iowa's critics would use that undoubtedly just as for example, they used pat robertson's victory over vice president george h.w. bush in 1988 to suggest that iowa did not predict the results and maybe shouldn't go first. now, would we get back on track and move in another direction quickly? probably new hampshire likes to choose differently from iowa anyway. but it would certainly stir the pot and we would have a lot to talk about. jon: yeah, that is interesting to think back and remember that reverend pat robertson beat the man who eventually went on to win the nomination and the presidency that year. >> absolutely. you know iowa can produce unusual results. there is no question about it and one reason why we

love to go. jon: iowa can also produce inconclusive results and that is your third scenario where essentially you get two or three candidates all kind of in a lump, huh? >> this has happened several times in both parties. it's difficult to project a clear victory when there is only one or two percentage points between the first place finisher and the second place fin esh and the third place finisher. you say well there are three tickets out of iowa or four tickets out of iowa. this could happen this time around with mitt romney and ron paul and maybe rick santorum all finishing close to one another. with just continue the campaign. the campaign march through the four january events and then onto the big events in march. jon: then your fourth scenario a false start for a candidate who does well in iowa and then kind of fizzles i guess? >> sometimes iowa can fool us in another way. i think back to again,

george h.w. bush but another election year, 1980 when bush came out of nowhere and beat ronald reagan. people forget that ronald reagan lost that first contest in 1980. it looked briefly like george bush was going to be the republican nominee in 1980 and probably would have been elected president against jimmy carter but ronald reagan came right back. roared back in new hampshire. very cleverly used the new hampshire propensity to vote differently from iowa, won and again never looked back. jon: we'll see what happens in iowa but i can't let you get away, larry, without asking you a little bit about the nebraska senate seat that will suddenly be open with democratic senator ben nelson announcing his retirement from the senate, his intention not to run again. does that dramatically improve republican chances to win the senate? >> well, not dramatically because i don't think ben nelson would have been reelected, jon, to be blunt about it. the republican nominee for

president is almost certain to get more than 60% of the vote in nebraska and this is a time not for split ticketing but for straight party voting. so now i think the republican candidate will be clearly favored. it may be that the democrats can't even come up with a first-class nominee. jon: they have been talking about senator bob kerrey who used to represent that state. he has been in new york for a long time but would he be a possibility, a strong contender? >> if he runs. i'll be surprised if he does. you know he hasn't been back to nebraska for a long time and he was there and got elected governor and senator in a very different environment, when nebraskans and other people in republican red states were more willing to elect democrats to these sorts of positions. we live in a highly polarized environment now and i think it would be much tougher on him this time than it was in those previous times when he won the governorship and a senate seat. jon: larry sabato, center for politics at the

university of virginia, thank you. >> thank you, jon. arthel: jon, when we come back we'll tell you about this story. a disaster avoided as all passengers miraculously survive a fiery plane crash. what may have led to the rough landing that sent this jet right here out of control. not even the law could keep them apart. a disabled veteran reunited with the dog he says he can not live wouth. - this was the gulf's best tourism season in years.

all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome gn out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year wagreat but next year's a be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi.. florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home.

arthel: new fallout from the 2008 crash of the marine fighter jet that killed four members of a san diego family. it is costing the government millions of dollars. and, rick, i remember that story so clearly. i was anchoring the news at the fox affiliate in san diego at the time. such a tragic story and i do

remember it well. >> reporter: awful story. i'm sure a lot of our viewers remember it too. a marine fighter jet performing training drills off the coast of southern california crashing into that house, basically obliterating the entire home. the pilot was able to eject and survived. four people inside the house, all family members were killed. we know how much the surviving family members are getting for their loss. don who lost his wife and two of his children is getting $9.6 million. his three surviving children are each being awarded $1.5 million. and mr. yune's father-in-law whose wife was also killed in the crash, she had come over from south korea to help take care of all the kids, he will get a settlement of $3.7 million. a federal judge announcing the totals yesterday. hear is the yune's family lawyer. >> mr. yune says our family is relieved this part of the process is over but no sum of money will ever make up

for the loss of our loved ones. i still harbor no ill will towards the united states marine corps and the pilot that did all he could to prevent this tragedy. report the u.s. government, arthel, accepted full responsibility for this tragedy. no comment from the justice department on the judge's decision. back to you. arthel: a little bit of closure on some level but, you know, nothing can take the place of those family members. rick, thank you very much. jon: another aviation incident now. incredible images of what is left of a plane that crashed and burst into flames in kyrgyzstan yesterday. take a look. the charred jet landing belly-up with its wing torn off finally came to a stop. remarkably everyone on board the plane survived. the question is what happened? aviation expert peter goelz is director of national

transportation safety board. he investigated some of the most well-known aviation accidents in this country. this jet does not enjoy a great safety reputation, peter. >> it does not. in fact the safety record of the civil aviation in the former russian republics is pretty terrible as well. jon: the russians have a long history of aviation. they did it pretty well for a long time. what has gone wrong? >> one of the problems is, the tupol ev-1 34 was originally designed back in the late 1960s. we're talking about a 50-year-old plane. we're talking about kyrgyzstan airlines which is shaky at best. they have got about 15 planes that they're flying. they're flying into an airport, osh, that does not have any kind of precision

navigation aids. you have tough weather. you may have a pilot that hasn't been trained the best and you have a prescription for disaster but this was really extraordinary. jon: these days when you can have gps navigation or you can have precision approaches which help direct a plane right into the center line of the runway, they're apparently doing it all by altitude and ground recognition, right? >> exactly. this is really unacceptable in this day and age that you have an airport that has regularly scheduled service that does not have precision navigation. i mean that is just unacceptable. jon: i remember once when i was flying into siberia i was happy to see you was flying on a boeing-built aircraft. i guess you would television sitores to the soviet or former soviet republicans they want to take care if they're flying on some of those old tupolev airplanes?

>> you really do. not just the aircraft. it was just last june that the plane crashed and killed the hockey team. it is not just the aircraft but also the pilots. if you're flying overseas you need to check the carrier you're being placed on and make sure they have got a decent safety record. jon: ironic in this year when the world's airlines have compiled the best safety record i think ever the russians are atop the lists or, you know, atop the list in terms of number of accidents, number of fatalities they have had. >> it is. this has been a great year and the trends over the last three or four years, particularly for the western countries, for the asian countries, has been extraordinarily positive. we have not had major accidents. we're headed in the right direction. jon: peter goelz, thank you. >> thank you. arthel: jon, we move on now to a post-christmas wish come true for a disabled vietnam veteran.

he was separated from his long-time service dog, snickers about two weeks ago when pitbulls were banned in iowa but a judge later ruled that the dog can stay with him at least for now. >> he's part of me. that's what, this right side don't work but he does. being a cop for 31 1/2, 3/4 years. there is that gray area and these people never gave me a gray area. this is the greatest day of my life. arthel: indeed, indeed. a stroke left him partially paralyzed years ago. snickers can now stay inside the city limits until a lawsuit over the ban is settled. hope he stays forever. the battle over illegals pitting local government against the feds as one county now refuses to follow federal policy and detain criminal suspects whose immigration status may be in question. so what is being done to get

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jon: we're live in the acquisitions room here at fox news channel where we bring in satellite feeds from all over the country, all over the world. take a look at remote 259. des moines, iowa, all political eyes on des moines and iowa really as the state gets ready for the big caucuses in just, well, less than a week. we're covering it here for you on, fox news channel. look at remote 210. a little busier in times square, new york city. that is where megyn and bill will host the "all american new year"'s eve celebration in couple days. be sure to watch that on fox news channel on new year's eve starting i believe at 11:00 p.m. eastern. arthel? arthel: court action in the case of the afghanistan veteran critically wounded at his homecoming party. as the accused gunman, ruben ray jurado makes his first court appearance before a judge. there are conflicting

reports what happened the night of the shooting. jurado is expected to plead not guilty to the attempted murder charge. he claims partygoers were drinking heavily and he was attacked and kicked as he was leaving the party. christopher sullivan received a purple pell heart after surviving war zone remains paralyzed from the neck down. relatives say that he confronted jurado, after he punched sullivan's brother. the family is devastated by the shooting. >> i put it on his dog tag because he bought this for me. it's a mother holding her baby. >> i closed my eyes. i can't get to sleep. even when i get to sleepy dream about it. i don't know why he thinks he is a victim when my brother is in the hospital, when my brother can't move. >> hold him in my arms and closed-door but i didn't. i let him walk out of it.

arthel: david wall is defense attorney. frred tecce, former federal propose tore. >> thanks for having me. arthel: david, talk with you. talk about the defense for the alleged shooter. already his attorneys are out there saying it was self-defense. i wonder how tough it will be to defend this guy? before we get to any of that, what the heck was he doing with a gun at the party in the first place? >> he can't have a gun. legally in california you have to be 21 to have a gun. to carry a gun that is entirely separate issue. so he illegally possessed a gun. to the issue of self-defense his lawyer has witnesses who said he left the home, got into the driveway of the home and was attacked, punched in the temple by someone and used the gun to defend himself. if he was in reasonable fear of great bodily injury or death you can use lethal force to defend yourself. that will come down to the credibility of the witnesses. arthel: but -- a gun. >> you can defend your with

a gun if you're in reasonable fear of great bodily injury or death. that will depend what the witnesses say exactly happened. the witnesses say he was the perpetrator and guilty of murder were family members. so that goes to bias. that may hurt their credibility when it comes time for trial. these cases are always very, very difficult and ultimately it is going to become a case of they said versus they said and who was drinking and who wasn't. arthel: fred, that's where i want to go with you because that is going to be the big question. of course most of the eyewitnesses are relatives of the soldier and naturally the defense is going to say, well of course they're going to take his side. how would you plead the case for the war vet? >> first of all, they were relatives because it was a combing home party for a guy who had been seriously wounded in afghanistan and this kid shows up with an illegal gun which he is not supposed to have. so you asked the right question when you asked, what is a 19-year-old doing at a party with a gun in his

waistband a party with family members and friends because these people were friends. you can believe his story all the want, that someone punched him in the temple. too bad, i don't care if they were beating living snot out of them. he never should have had a gun in the first place and no right to stand up and just start shooting. even if i were to believe his story which quite frankly i'm not willing to at this point it is not enough to rise to a level of self-defense. then talk about turning the law upside down? the guy has a right to defend himself with a firearm he is not supposed to have in the first place? i don't see it flying. >> david, jurado turns himself in three days after the shooting. how does this help his case? he pleads not guilty. what is the strategy here? >> wells look he will plead not guilty. will be set up with felony settlement conference and then preliminary hearing. he fled initially. that flight hurts his case. that is consciousness of

guilt when you leave the crime scene. his lawyer convinced him to turn himself in, face the consequences. develop his defense. they spoke to witnesses some who made postings on facebook, if those postings say something to the effect that jurado was actually attacked before he shot the afghan war vet, that could be critical because sometimes those postings are made directly after of the incident and those could be some of the most credible evidence, most credible evidence they have in the case. arthel: fresh information right there from the scene. but i understand those postings have been taken down. i didn't get a chance to see them. have you seen them, david? >> i have not seen them. tell you what. they were probably copied before they were erased. arthel: i'm sure. >> i tell people this all the time, if they were made someone can get them. david raises two good points. one, stop posting stuff on facebook. that doesn't help your family member or friend doing stuff like that. you never help anybody. that is wrong thing to do. david raises another point that this guy fled the scene

which is evidence of consciousness of guilt and that is critical, critical factor in this case. arthel: all eyes will be on the case. the fight started out over a football game. sad story. >> unbelievable. arthel: regardless how this turns out. fred, david, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> thank you, arthel. jon: really appalling tragedy. arthel: yeah. jon: there is new information on the illegal immigrant controversy in illinois. cook count board of commissioners filing an ordinance to counter federal detainee requests and some are being released despite requests to hold them. mike tobin is live in chicago. what exactly is cook county refusing to do, mike? >> reporter: when immigration customs enforcement or i.c.e. learn something is being held in a county jail like cook county they issue a detable are request, saying hold onto the individual until the feds can get there and pick him up. cook county has elect to do is ignore those requests all

together. one county commissioner, timothy snyder, who voted against this ordnance he calls this cook count's willie horton moment. he says a matter of time before something bad happens. the facts are starting back him up. i.c.e. says since cook county started this policy they released a one mexican national who assaulted a officer. another one assaulted a police officer. one with felony arrest of cocaine. one a registered sex offender since his conviction he broke into a home where a little girl was downstairs. he was arrested. held by cook county. made his bail and then he disappeared. all of these individuals had i.c.e. detainer requests, jon. jon: how can they justify that? >> reporter: there were a lot of emotional arguments made in the county commission but the one with the most traction is a fourth amendment argument which still applies to illegals. the commissioner said if the fed as want the county to hold someone, go to a judge, get a warrant, otherwise the

county will not comply with their requests. a number of u.s. senators are pressuring the administration to withold federal money from cook county unless they start to cooperate with the federal government. jon. jon: mike tobin live in chicago. mike, thank you. arthel: when we come back we're going to greece there are riots happening as we speak. even with the bailout in place there are more hurdles ahead in the coming year. more fears about the eurozone and the effect it could have on our economy. we go in depth. deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters raging in syria even though arab league monitors are on the scene. we're getting reports that the violence is worse than we originally thought. we're live in the region next. [gunfire] are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

arthel: some developing stories we're keeping an eye on. more tensions between the u.s. and iran over the strait of hormuz. the pentagon warns any attempt to close the key oil transit channel will not be tolerated.

iran fires back saying that the u.s. is quote, in no position to give orders. a slight rise in fixed mortgage rates this week. freddie mac says the average on the 30-year home loan increased to 3.95%. still many americans are unable to take advantage of the best rates in history. and polar bears cubs, there they are, adorable ready to meet the public on new year's day in china. the male cubs were born october 14th. they are libras. i know you don't care. these are the second set of twins for the bears. jon: a fox news alert for you now. disturbing reports that the presence of international monitors in syria is doing nothing to stop government forces from killing people in the streets there. [shouting] this is amateur video showing bashar assad's regime continuing its deadly crackdown on anti-government

protesters. even observers from the arab league had to run for cover. fox can not independently verify this video. the syrian government has banned foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting from inside the country. amateur video also purportedly shows the body of a young child, maybe five years old, dead, placed on a convoy of cars carrying those monitors. the picture is simply too graphic to show you but it reinforces outside suspicions that the violence is much, much worse than syria would have the world believe. leland vittert is live following these developments from nearby jerusalem. leland? >> reporter: jon, you're right. the pictures that are coming out of syria are really disturbing to say the least and also scary in the sense that the arab league monitors are just like the protesters, often coming under fire from syrian troops over the past couple days. we heard today that there was a march of about 20,000 demonstrators near a mosque in damascus and the syrian

government opened fire once again despite many promises not to do this until four or five protestsers, that number could certainly go up. also something to note about this protest today as it was near damascus which is something we haven't seen before and that certainly means that these protests and uprising is getting closer to president bashar assad's power seat which could certainly make him more nervous. for the part of the protesters and free syrian army they largely say these observers are nothing more than a window-dressing and delaying tactic by the syrian government to avoid more international condemnation and more international sanctions against them for their tactics which have now killed at least 5,000 people in just about the past nine months. the observers themselves are unarmed and really unable to do anything. all that effectively to stop any of the violence. we have two pretty disturbing things to hear about those observers. number one, they are tailed around by syrian intelligence officers. so the thought of a syrian

resident going up and saying hey, here's what is going on is unlikely because obviously they are going to be threatened by the intelligence officer who is monitoring the observers. second of all about these observers, their leader is a sudanese general who was picked to do this. he is one of bashar assad's friends, a long-time friend nonetheless. not only that but he has a very questionable record on human rights himself, jon. so it is a big question whether these observers will actually do any good. back to you. jon: a little bit like the fox watching the henhouse sounds like. leland vittert. thank you. arthel: jon, new developments on the economy. weekly jobless numbers rising for the first time in a month jumping 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 381,000. meantime the european debt cris raging on and newly bailed out greece, scenes of chaotic riots right here, you're looking at them this past year. with big hurdles to overcome

in the new year. it is not alone. amid fears the eurozone economy may shrink back into recession. what impact will that have on our economy? mike santoli is here now the associate editor of "barron's" magazine. mike, good to see you this morning. >> good to see you. arthel: let's start with the jobless numbers. there is a glimmer of hope. read the tea leaves. is there more to come in 2012. >> small increase this week but less important at that the trend in the past month or two is basically positive. shows slow and steady improvement in the job markets. anytime the weekly unemployment claims are below 400,000. that means we're creating jobs. not at a rate to bring the unemployment rate down very much but a positive sign. arthel: people going into the new year are looking at something positive but you feel like the trend will continue? >> it should continue along with several other data and economic trend last couple months. we have a little bit of momentum in the new year. houses even though prices

are still weak, manufacturing looks strong and retail sales numbers in the holiday season look pretty good. arthel: which is a little surprising? >> slightly surprising. >> people are tired of being in a fog over the economy and not having enough money. >> they call it recession fatigue. also personal financial conditions have actually improved slightly the last year so that is probably driving it as well. arthel: mike, go over to europe. the eurozone. there is fear it might collapse next year. we keep hearing that. i want you to connect the dots for us. >> sure. arthel: how does it affect us here in america, a regular person watching and why should we care. >> there are two separate elements what could be at risk with what the eurozone is going through. the potential for a banking crisis. not just european-based banks but global banks all over the place incruding ours have rerun of 2008 financial crisis where you had a run on the banks and they basically did not have enough cap at that to -- capital to sustain losses. arthel: you can't keep doing

that. >> unlike 2008, the governments don't have the money bail out the banks. that is the outlayer. chaotic dissolution eurozone. i think that is taken off the table by lot of measures the central banks have taken since then. other issue the europe will likely go into recession. they're engineering a recession with austerity programs. government cutting back on spending and such. european economy is going to be weak which obviously means exports to europe will be weak. that is a secondary risk that will weigh on global growth. arthel: this may be unfair but i need a yes or no answer. will this mean topsy turvey market next year. >> likely at beginning year. we're still likely to be on edge. the u.s. market is the best performing of globe. clearly we're a weird oasis in a sense with a lost turmoil i have to go but i like to talk to about abolish the eurozone and go back to the way it was 10 years ago. >> it would be ugly in the

process. arthel: long run may be good. mike santoli, thank you for the info. jon: fox news alert and another emergency involving a russian nuclear powered submarine. this time it is a sub called the katerinberg. we're told it was pulled into dry-dock into the submarine service area shipyard and its nuclear missiles, its nuclear reactor pulled off and shut down but a fire broke out on wooden scaffolding that had been built around that submarine. we're told that the fire did not actually get inside the sub. no danger of a nuclear release or a nuclear spill. remember what happened a few years back, when the kursk, a soviet russian nuclear submarine sank and lost its entire crew. anyway this one appears to be not that serious. in the meantime the bp oil spill was one of america's worst environmental

disasters ever but was it also a criminal act? word today that the justice department is considering filing charges against bp employees. we have the latest. pregame festivities almost turn to tragedy but one linesman for the oregon ducks uses his eagle scout skills to save the day. dry mouth may start off as an irritant. it'll cause cavities, bad breath. patients will try and deal with it by drinking water. water will work for a few seconds but if you're not drinking it, it's going to get dry again. i recommend biotene.

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jon: there are new reports that justice department could slap bp with criminal charges over the 2010 oil spill in the gulf. the worst spill in our country's history was the result of an oil rig explosion. that blast killed 11 workers and unleashed economic and emotional hardship for people living along wide swaths of the gulf coast. liz macdonald of the fox business network has more on that. specifically, liz, what is the justice department reportedly looking at? >> reporter: they're looking at reportedly misleading and false information given to

government regulators about the safety of that macondo well and also the riskiness of the continuing to drill into the well and here's the issue. bp is not responding and it is declining to comment. we reached out to bp for comment on this report that possible criminal charges could be filed against a number of supervisors and engineers at the company as early as next year, jon. bp though did say in regulatory filings that there are other companies to blame here. it is pointing the fingers at halliburton for example. halliburton was responsible for cementing the macondo well. it is also citing inadequate communication between bp, halliburton and transocean. transocean and halliburton were the contractors on the macondo well, jon. this possible criminal charges coming early next year would come in advance of lawsuits that are going to go to trial in february by the state of new york and ohio pension fund there. and also the state of louisiana is moving against

bp in court. so criminal charges could come against these individuals as early as january 2012. the other issue, jon, we saw criminal charges brought against exxonmobil and the captain of the valdez as well. jon: most of oily mess is cleaned up but the legal mess will go on for years sounds like? >> reporter: that's right, jon. arthel: and some of effect on families continues as well. he already made it to the rose bowl and now one college football player is getting kudos for his off the field heroics. risk as has the story. >> reporter: mark is one of the big offensive lineman but when he was little he was a boy scout. lucky for one guy he remembered his scout lessons well. the guy began choking on food at a restaurant. he was not sitting too far away from asper. somebody was trying to help the guy out but he successfully performed the heimlich maneuver at the

prime rib place and got the food to dislodge. >> you never want to have to use something like that. but the guy was struggling and guy helping him didn't seem like he was getting the job done. >> reporter: asper says if he hadn't remembered how to do the heimlich he would have been in trouble with his old scout leaders. >> yeah, you know, that's what, they take away my merit badges and my eagle scout card. >> reporter: the guy who was choking, arthel, by the way, paul diamond, told a reporter was breathing the whole time and that it was not a big deal. how about a thank you, sir, right? arthel: he will be macho. anyways, i'm glad he is okay. the steak looked good. jon: be prepared. it is a test that might save someone's life maybe even your own. our medical a-teamer on a simple way to rule out heart attacks faster than ever before. ♪

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jon: lunchtime in iowa now as voters make up their minds and the republican rivals are all crunching the numbers. hello, i'm jon scott with an all new hour of "happening now." >> they are definitely doing a lot of crunching. welcome to america's election headquarters. a mad dash for the republican candidates, and with just five days to go before the iowa caucuses, it all comes down to one word, momentum. carl cameron is live in sioux city, iowa. and, carl, of course, newt gingrich just opened his office there in sioux city, but are his chances for a win there fading? >> reporter: well, certainly the polls indicate that, and mr. gingrich has an knowledged for weeks now that the anywhere between $5 and $10 million worth of attack ads that his rivals

have sort of drops on his head here in iowa has taken a toll. today he suggested repeatedly that he doesn't have to win iowa, perhaps not even come in second or even third because, he says, he still has a 20-point lead in south carolina, and it would be pointless to drop out. having said that, historically the cliche in iowa is that there are only three tickets out of iowa and that anybody that comes in fourth or lower is unlikely to survive the rest of the campaign. newt gingrich who's a self-described historian takes big issue with that. listen. >> there are more than three tickets out of iowa? >> oh sure. it depends on what happens. it depends what the hard gins are -- margins are. considering i'm 20 points ahead in some states it would be foolish not to stay in the race. >> reporter: gingrich said that he doesn't even have to win south carolina, although he said it would be very, important, and

he believes that if he just keeps on having the opportunity to answer some of this criticism from his rivals that things will turn around, but that's not what's been happening in the polls. arthel: of course, we know anything could happen at this point, you never know. gingrich was on top of the world, but now he seems to be plummeting. in the meantime, he seems to be holding up. how is he dealing with all of this, carl? >> reporter: well, he cracked an interesting joke this morning, sort of at my expense. he recognizes there's a problem here, he says he's not getting tired of the repeat questions about his baggage, and he knows he's got to soldier forward. there are three candidates now that are beating him in many of the polls, ron paul, mitt romney and rick santorum in a couple of polls now has inched ahead of newt gingrich, and he has, essentially, abandoned his quote to be relentlessly positive in the sense that he will contrast himself to ron paul and mitt romney. this morning he said that ron paul makes a good protest candidate but would make a

disastrous republican nominee. and of mitt romney he said the race will ultimately come down to a massachusetts moderate versus a georgia conservative, referring to himself, and he pointed out there hasn't been a moderate nominated in the republican party since tom dewey, and that's a joke, obviously. it's very difficult for mr. gingrich because he has dealing with this issue of his sort of bad newt personality, he's got to overcome it. and ron paul last night had an incredible moment wherein he picked up a big, big endorsement from the former chairman of michele bachmann's campaign. kent sorenson came out at the des moines state fairgrounds and threw his support behind the texas congressman kicking off a huge sort of last minute iowa moment in which michele bachmann had called mr. sorenson out and said he had, essentially, been bribed or sold out for money in order to switch his allegiance. sorenson adamantly denies that, notwithstanding bachmann's continuing assertion that he

said as much yesterday. pretty amazing with five days left. arthel: indeed. and i'm going to be talking to a poll surrogate momentarily and just the momentum moving beyond iowa. but all eyes are on iowa, five days left. carl cameron, good to see you, thank you. jon: well, carl just mentioned some new poll numbers in iowa putting mitt romney at the head of the pack. the time magazine/cnn poll shows romney on top with 25%, ron paul hot on his heels, 22%. rick santorum, the former pennsylvania senator, surging into third with 16 president. a look at the latest polling average from real clear politics shows ron paul and mitt romney in a virtual tie with newt gingrich losing ground and rick santorum closing -- climbing closer to rick perry. charlie hurt is a columnist for the washington times and has been examining these numbers as well. what do you make of all this, the surge by rick santorum is

kind of interesting, especially timing wise. >> oh, if there has ever been a well timed surge, this is the one to be on. all the other surges we've seen, the rick perry surge, the michele bachmann surge, all those other surges have receded quite a bit, so maybe rick santorum finally has just perfect timing. but, you know, all along rick santorum has been a very diligent candidate, he has basically moved to iowa. he put everything in iowa, and he is a candidate who is uniquely suited for the very, the somewhat unusual electorate that you get in iowa republicans. and we should also stop for a moment and mention that polling in iowa right before the caucuses is always very dangerous because of the very strange nature of the way the caucuses work. it's not just walking in and pulling a lever for your preferred candidate, it's a very involved process.

but if, but certainly the polls do suggest that a lot of that momentum is shifting santorum's way. he's got the christian conservative base there which is very, you know, that bodes very well. not only does that mean that you get a lot of republican voters out of that, but you get very ardent voters which is crucial for the caucuses. jon: rasmussen report is just out with some new polling in iowa, and we wanted to take a look at the results. this is hot off the presses. 23% for mitt romney, 22% for ron paul, essentially a tie. and, again, 16% for rick santorum. that's the first, that's the highest position he has received in the iowa poll as far as i'm aware. you say that a lot of it is because people are still divided into the sort of mitt camp and the anti-mitt camp. >> i think absolutely. it's all about mitt versus anti-mitt. and, obviously, the real bad

news in that rasmussen poll, i think, is for newt gingrich. the numbers that he has kind of sloughed in the last two weeks i know is very alarming to him and his people. and what it means is that people are either turning to ron paul or rick santorum as that anti-mitt. and the interesting thing is, you know, if rick santorum does well in iowa and then -- he probably will not do very well in new hampshire which is to be expected. mitt romney should do very well in new hampshire. but then going forward if other candidates start falling away and their supporters only have one anti-mitt candidate left to turn to and it's rick santorum, who knows? i mean, rick santorum plays very well in the south. he's going to do very well and, you know, he hails from a place like pennsylvania which is a very strange place for republicans to do well. and, honestly, if you put rick santorum against barack obama in pennsylvania, barack obama did not do well in pennsylvania.

rick santorum has won statewide races there twice, and it's a pretty -- i think he could be a very formidable foe. jon: he's been kind of a stocking horse candidate for a long time, always there, making a big deal about his 99-county visit, i think the only or maybe one of the candidates on the republican side to visit every county in iowa. he's always been there plugging along but never really showing up in great numbers until, basically, right now. >> yeah. and he's kind of dorky, and he's not the sort of, he's not a rock star candidate, he's not the kind of guy that you think of that you see the sunshining on his face that, you know, normally to win a presidential race or even to win a nomination that you normally need. but like you say, he's kind of the tortoise in this race, he has never stopped, he's never wavered, and he's the same sort of dorky, you know, consistent guy that he has been all along which is, i guess, more than -- which is, honestly, the real problem with mitt romney is that

he's not the same guy that he's always been all these years. jon: how about wonky? i don't know, a guy who was u.s. senator and could be president, i'm not sure dorky is the right term. >> wonky's probably better and will get me in less trouble. jon: thanks very much, charlie hurt. interesting. >> thanks, jon. jon: thank you. arthel: wonky, i got it. jon: i like it. arthel: right now an international standoff that could have huge implications in the race for the white house, iran's threat to close the strait of hormuz, a vital passageway for nearly 20% or of the world's oil. just the latest provocation to land on president obama's desk. wendell goler, senior white house foreign affairs correspondent standing by lye with more. >> reporter: arthel, there was more tough talk from iran today and some action from the u.s. following yesterday's threat. the deputy commander of iran's revolutionary guard says the u.s. is in no position to tell

his country what to do in the strait of hormuz which is a choke point in the sea lanes through which about 15 million barrels of oil flows every day. the white house just a short while ago announced the sale of $30 billion worth of fighter jets and parts to saudi arabia. a former national security council staffer says iran is the likely reason. >> this would be aimed mainly at iran or sort of iranian interference in the wider region. obviously, the saudis are concerned not only about what iran is doing in iran's immediate environs, but what they're doing in iraq and yemen, for example. >> reporter: iran's navy conducted war games in the area yesterday. michael seng says the threat is probably an empty one, the u.s. navy could prevent that, but the iranians could harass shipping with terrorist attacks, and that could send the price of oil up. a u.s. navy spokesperson said, quote:

>> reporter: japan and south korea may follow suit. congress has passed new sanctions on iran's central bank which president obama objected to because that could also send the price of oil up. but the president has indicated he will sign the legislation. arthel? arthel: wendall goarl, thank you very much. jon: a fox news alert now and just a few days after the holidays we are looking at a major recall alert for one popular children's toy. rick folbaum has it. rick? >> reporter: well, jon, almost 300,000 of these stuffed bears are out there. i think there's one in my house. the company that makes them says that they're not safe. this is the colorful hearts teddy bear. it's available at build-a-bear stores around the country. the company says some of these bears were made with a substandard fabric that can tear

around the eye, possibly allowing the eye of the bear to fall out, and if that happens, it could become a choking hazard for young kids. you might think this seems a little farfetched, but the possibility is real enough that the u.s. consumer product safety commission and build-a-bear have recalled the stuffed animals which were sold between april and december of this year. if you have one of these bears, return it to any build-a-bear store and swap it out for a different one. back to you. jon: yeah. a lot of those around the country, i'm sure. thanks, rick. arthel: well, fox news alert now, an update on the story we reported to you earlier. ruben haratto, he is the suspect accused of shooting an afghanistan war veteran at his homecoming party. he pleads not guilty to all charges. the incident happened in california right before christmas. the victim, christopher sullivan, remains in critical condition at an area hospital.

bail was set at $1 million, no request for reduction on that. there is a deposition hearing set for january 9th. the entire arraignment, by the way, took two minutes. jon: a hopeless romantic proposes to his girlfriend. here he is. she says, yes. but police, hmm, they have some other ideas. we'll explain why. a arkansas okay. jon: plus, been talking a lot about iowa. up next, we'll dig even deeper with a man who has firsthand knowledge of that state. he is senator charles grassley here with his insight into the caucuses. let's go to rick at the web wall right now. >> reporter: it'll be interesting to hear what the senate has to say about that. of course, the caucuses are on tuesday, but you can let us know who you think is going to win right now. go to the "happening now" home page at foxnews.com. which candidate do you think will win the iowa caucus? here are your choices. the results so far show ron paul out in front. by the way, our coverage of the

iowa caucuses begins on fox news channel beginning at 6 p.m. on tuesday, the 3rd. the voting finally begins. we'll have more of "happening now" after a quick break. don't go away. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy.

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arthel: right now some new info on crime stories we're keeping an eye on. the texas gunman who dressed up as santa before killing seven people on christmas morning, including his wife and three children, may have called 911. a review of the tape using special software reveals someone saying, help, help, and i am shooting people. police think it was the gunman who later killed himself. a police standoff in atlanta turns out to be a big misunderstanding. heavily-armed officers showing up at a home where a 19-year-old woman says she thought she was being held hostage by some men she met last night. she texted a friend who called police, they eventually found

the woman had not been held hostage and was uninjured. and he sealed the deal with a diamond ring, proposing to his girlfriend who said, yes. jon: aww. arthel: so sweet. turns out, jon, the ring? it was stolen from a jewelry store. bad move. police tracked him down, and now he's in big trouble. jon: and she's probably not too impressed either. arthel: i think that yes is going to turn into a no now. jon: well, counting down to the iowa caucuses, just five days before the first votes are cast in the 2012 race, some big changes in the polls. one lower tier candidate is moving up in a big way while another sets his sights elsewhere. so what can we expect from iowa voters come tuesday? a veteran of iowa politics joins us now, republican senator charles grassley. senator, you have not made any endorsements in this race. first of all, why not? >> well, it's pretty unusual that i didn't endorse somebody, but there were so many candidates that i felt so

comfortable with that i felt that it would, first of all, it was difficult to choose one of them. as opposed to another groupment and secondly, i think that this process ought to work out, and i believe as a leader of the republican party i ought to listen to the grassroots. now, in the past i've endorsed a lot of different candidates, but this time i decided not to. jon: all right. so as you look among this field of candidates, you say there's something to like just about each of them. what do you like about, about each of these candidates? >> well, first of all, they're very well articulate the national issues, particularly the economy, the deficit, creating jobs and things of that nature. and i think all of 'em can stand up well with the record that obama has brought about which is, obviously, admittedly, he inherited a very bad economic

situation when he was sworn in. but after three years every measure of the economy is worse, a lot worse than when he took office. jon: charles krauthammer, the noted newspaper columnist and fox news contributor, says that he sees out there a fairly weak republican field and weak leadership in congress that has made the economic situation sort of a gift to president obama. he seems to be predicting that the president gets reelected because of what's been going on in washington right now. what to you say to that? >> well, statistics of past presidential elections show when unemployment's very high as it is now, and they expect it to be above 8% come election, have never been elected under those circumstances. now, of course, things can change, but i believe we have

articulate candidates. i believe that they're well founded and -- their well founded and conservative principles, both economic and social, and that they can do very well against a person that really has had a very bad position of leadership. as smart as obama is, what this country needs is not necessarily somebody that's smart, they need somebody that's going to lead, and he has shown terrible position of leadership, not working with the republicans in congress while he had control of both houses of congress and the presidency and by overwhelming majorities he did not get us out of this problem he's in. so he's had his chance, and i think the people know that. jon: newt gingrich in particular has complained about the negative advertising that's been going on the air in iowa. he had been atop the polls, now he's down in maybe fourth place. does it concern you that republicans, your fellow

republicans, are sort of cannibalizing each other, or is this just a test of fire that one has to go through if one wants to win the presidency? >> i think that, you know, everybody says they don't like negative ads. they do work. i think the result is very similar to other caucuses in iowa when this process started in previous presidential election year that, basically, i've heard the same complaint, but we've gone on to be pretty united in the november election. and i think we will unite behind our candidate this year. jon: no overcoat, senator. is it warm in des moines this morning? >> well, 34 degrees is about six degrees above normal, so it's like spring, in a sense, from what you normally have. jon: i think i see crocuses popping up behind you. >> well, they won't last very long. jon: senator grassley, it's good to have you on.

thank you. >> you bet. thank you. arthel: thanks, senator. did we do a story about a guy who propose with the a stolen diamond ring? jon: yes, we did. arthel: okay, i was just making sure that actually happened. wow. can you say, wow, mr. scott? jon: that is kooky. arthel: it continues, because there's a massive search for two robbers who ripped off a jewelry store. a dramatic video and why police are rereleasing it, coming up.

jon: here's that video arthel was just mentioning. police in nebraska rereleasing to the public video of a jewelry store robbery in hopes thing catch these crooks. rick has more for us. >> reporter: police in philly really need your help. so they're putting this surveillance video back out there hoping that somebody can identify these thieves who ripped off a jewelry store last month. the suspects were armed, they walked into this store, they

forced three employees into a back office, and then they proceeded to remove trays of jewelry from the counter and also from a safe. and you can see them backing the employees into that back office. they shut the door then, and they went to work. an off-duty police officer happened to spot the thieves as they were walking away after the robbery. he followed them to their car, a green ford contour, but then he eventually lost sight of them, and they were able to get away. so if you have any information, if you know who these guys are, and you can get a pretty good look at them on this surveillance video, you are asked to, please, call the police in philadelphia or call 911. and there's the tipline for the philadelphia police department, 215-686-tips. and you can give your information anonymously. back to you. jon: let's hope they catch those guys. rick, thank you. arthel: and now that the latest polls show ron paul has a good chance of winning iowa, his

republican rivals are spending more time pointing out paul's record, especially when it comes to national security and foreign policy. jack hunter is an adviser to the paul campaign and a conservative commentator. he writes a column for the charleston city paper in south carolina. jack, good to see you. >> good to to be with you. arthel: of course, you know when you're on top, all people are gunning for you. and one of the things congressman paul's critics are claiming, that he has really weak foreign policy issues and a very almost dangerous take on how to handle those situations. wendell goler just reported, as you know, there is a tenuous situation happening right now with iran where ahmadinejad is, basically, threatening to strangle the strait of hormuz, basically blocking the passageway to 20% of the world's oil supplies. he's saying, look, washington, you put more sanctions on our oil production or our oil exports, i should say, and this is what's going to happen.

so i ask you, if congressman paul were president today, how would he handle that? >> well, if congressman paul were president paul, we'd have the strongest national defense in the world. a nation like iran would be no threat to the united states because we would remain the world's most powerful military superpower in the world. now, a lot of people -- arthel: so, okay, how would you -- excuse me, how would you remain the most powerful military force in the world when i know that congressman paul, one of the things he says you need to rein in military spending? >> well, that's exactly right. what congressman paul points out is that we need to cut spending in this country to turn around the economy. the difference between paul and the other republican presidential candidates, he does -- as you just noted -- addresses pentagon spending. his budget, his plan -- arthel: okay, okay, sir, mr. hunter, you know what? >> costs $1 trillion. arthel: we've heard that a lot, and that's not what i asked you. specifically, i wanted to ask you about this story that's in the news today, and you're here as a surrogate for the congressman, and i wanted to

know specifically seeing that his critics claim he's weak and perhaps dangerous on foreign policy, i want to know how you would handle in the tenuous situation that's taking place right now? >> well, any potential threat that iran would actually pose to the united states or our interests in that region would be met. the question we're not asking, you're not framing the question correctly, are our interests at risk? that's the question we don't ask often enough. arthel: well, it's not so much in this case, sir. excuse me. the question right now is not are our interests at risk. if question is, as you know, ahmadinejad is right now showing and flexing his muscle as he always does, and congressman paul is on record as saying so what if iran has nukes? this guy is dangerous, and that is part of what his critics are saying, that he needs to be more, have a better, more realistic attitude and approach to handling iran. >> well, and that's what i'm saying is the way you're framing the question and some of the other republican candidates and even this president, to what

degree is iran dangerous? to what degree is ahmadinejad a danger to the united states? these are the questions we do not ask often enough. arthel: well, is he a danger to u.s. allies? >> iran a military superpower in the soviet union with thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at us in our backyard in cuba, does iran equal that sort of threat? that's what president -- president paul, how he would handle it, that's what congressman paul is saying. we need to measure these things and have a sober, realistic, more prudent foreign policy than we've had in the past not only because it's better for america's national security, but we can't afford to keep doing what we're doing. with paul's budget, we would still have the largest military in the world -- arthel: but, apparently, mr. hunter, all the points that you're making -- excuse me, all the points that you're making, apparently, they're resonating there in iowa, but they're resonating with the young voters, the independent voters and the democratic voters. so i ask you, how do you maintain the momentum that you have there going in iowa and

perhaps because congressman paul is a different candidate who doesn't think like the typical republican, he doesn't maintain the specific or traditional republican position, how does he maintain the momentum beyond iowa and perhaps because he is different maybe this works into his favor? i don't know, you tell me. >> that's how, that's where you really hit upon something. ron paul's been saying the same thing for decades. why are we doing so well in iowa, why are we doing so well in new hampshire? because we've been doing the same thing. the same candidate, ron paul, that so many said couldn't get above 10% is now well above that and a front runner. what's going to be our game plan? to keep doing what we've always been doing. honesty sells. the republican grassroots, the voters out there recognize integrity, somebody who has a record to back it up. watching guys like newt gingrich and mitt romney argue over who's the bigger or better or conservative is sort of like watching the two guys in milli vanilli argue who's a better singer which does not hold

water. [laughter] arthel: i tell you what, i do have to leave it there, on the milli vanilli note. jack hunter, thank you very much for sticking in with the discussion. thank you very much. >> good to be with you, thank you. jon: at least for those who know, they were a lip-syncing -- arthel: that's right. i assumed everybody knows milli vanilli didn't really sing. jon: arab league monitors are trying to end -- [ male announcer ] you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity. turning your life upside down in a matter of seconds. hi. hi. you know i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. you just read my mind. [ male announcer ] just one little piece of information

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with our $1 million service guarantee. that's right. a $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. call now to try lifelock risk free for 2 full months. that's right, 60 days risk free. use promo code: norisk. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this document shredder to keep your personal documents out of the wrong hands. a $29 value, free! get the protection you need right now. call or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: norisk. plus get this document shredder, free! but only if you act right now. call now! lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. arthel: some new information for you now on the man accused shooting and paralyzing an afghanistan war veteran at his homecoming party.

ruben jurado facing a judge for the first time after shooting a soldier who already survived a roadside bomb. anita vogel live in l.a. with more. what happened when this guy showed up in court today? >> reporter: right. arthel, this was supposed to take place yesterday but it got pushed to this morning. it was pretty perfunctory. the whole thing lasted about two minutes. reuben, jurado, 19-year-old reuben jurado pleaded not guilty on all charges including attempted murder. if found guilty on that charge he faces 25 years to live in prison the fact he used a gun would add a mandatory 10 years to the sentence. no one can lawfully carry a gun under 21 in the state of california. he was illegally caring are firearm which down help his case. he fired the gun in self-defense because he says guests drinking and using drugs attacked him. he is being held on one

million dollars bail. arthel: meantime the soldier is paralyzed from the neck down. so i can only imagine and wonder what the reaction from the soldier's family might be? >> reporter: yeah, his mother said openly this has been very difficult for the family and his mother and other family members have been by christopher sullivan's side since this all happened last friday. sullivan remains on 100% life-support and is in critical condition. police say jurado fired three shots, hitting the army specialist twice. one of the bullets shattered sullivan's spine leaving him perilized. sullivan's family says he was always there for them and he certainly doesn't deserve this. >> we were planning on doing so many things. now we're not ever going to do them. >> i close my eyes i can't get to sleep. even when i get to sleepy dream about it. >> reporter: christopher sullivan joined the army in 2009. he had been recovering from injuries he received from a

roadside bomb explosion in afghanistan that actually killed six others. so just a christmas-time tragedy for this entire tragedy. arthel: you heard the brother say he can't sleep because he keeps dreaming about it. more like a nightmare. anita vogel, thank you very much. jon: there is new information from syria where activists say pour people were killed by security forces when they opened fire on a huge crowd protesting outside a mosque near the capital. this as monitors for the arab league gather witness accounts of the ongoing government crackdown. the government there has released more than 700 prisoners and removed some tanks from the city of homs but the violent campaign against political protests continues. walid phares, a fox news middle east and terrorism analyst. walid, the united states has not shown any indication that it is going to get involved in this government on citizen violence in syria the way it did in libya. why? >> you know, jon, unlike in

libya the regime in syria, the assad regime is not isolated. qaddafi was isolated. it was easier for the united states, nato allies to bring him down. in syria you have the assad regime which has an alliance as we all know, big troublemaker in the region in the news, iranian regime. since our withdrawal from iraq, that is crucial, when we abruptly withdrew iraq the iranians are able to connect with the assad regime through iraq. the man remains very strong. jon: by not taking on the syrian regime we avoid taking on the iranians? >> that is the equation. it is very simple. on the map we can see iran, iraq, syria and hezbollah from afghanistan all the way to the mediterranean sea. we have one big bloc. if you touch one of those everybody will react against us across the region. it has become a regional issue. it is not just about syria at this point in time. jon: well, obviously when we

supported nato and the european allies who went into libya, we accomplished the overthrow of that government, it was somewhat bloody and some would say maybe late in coming but it happened. >> it did happen because in libya we had arab allies ready to come. we had to the east and the west of libya regimes and governments who were not with qaddafi. we had a window. we had a nine months window with assad. we were late. once we with drew from iraq it will be a very difficult thing. it is not just about us, we need countries to allow us to do the activities including turkey. turkey is concerned about assad but the allies of assad and that would be iran. jon: these protests against bashar al-assad are essentially an extension of the arab spring, are they not? what does it say to the people trying to take on their own government and apparently being buchered in the process? >> they are buchered in the process. most clearly like in egypt

or tunisia i think it would be more dramatic than libya. they are not armed. there is not another army breakaway as in libya. unfortunately we have been late. therefore what we see in syria is a regime unleashed against its own population unstopable. they have allies at the security council, russia and china. it is pretty dramatic what is happening now in syria. jon: the u.s. is talking about issuing invoking sanctions against the syrian government, right? will that work? will that help? >> we are always late. sanctions of the nature we would issue would work six months ago. we're at a level with a no-fly zone or refugee zone or assad unleashes against his own population. he will try to weather those sanctions. but at the end of the day nobody can stop him except an action by nato at this point in time. jon: it is a very sad situation to watch and a bloody one just trying to watch the people take on

their own government and they're getting slaughtered in the streets. it is very, very sad. walid phares, thank you. >> thank you. arthel: indeed. here's something you don't see often. want to see, jon? jon: okay. arthel: whale on shark violence, whale on shark. jon: whale on shark. arthel: caught on tape. details are next. there are the pictures. plus the largest collection of titanic artifacts will soon go on the auction block. what is for sale and how much could the auction raise? we'll have the answers coming up next. ♪ [ woman ] ♪ what i want this season ♪ if you'd like to try and guess ♪

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jon: right now new info on some stories we're keeping an eye on across the u.s. and around the world all inside our control room. in new zealand am tour video what is believed to be a killer whale attacking a group of sharks. the whale appears to be herding the sharks towards the beach where he goes in for the kill. wow? brand new island rising up from the red sea. local fishermen saw fountains of lava shooting up into the air. scientists say it is the result of an under water volcano. the largest collection of artifacts from the sunken vessel titanic now headed to the auction block. the owner is putting more

than 5,000 items up for sale next april on the 100th anniversary of the world's most famous shipwreck. the auction will feature everything from china to furniture to personal items. the estimated value, nearly 200 million bucks and they all have to be sold together. arthel: really? jon: really. that is one of the rules. all goes together in one lot. arthel: so one person or group of people? jon: probably one museum, one organization. if you have 200 million bucks you could buy it. arthel: you do, i don't. jon: yeah. arthel: can you hear me now? jon: you haven't seen my wallet. arthel: can you hear me now? i'm sorry for the words. if you find yourself uttering those words you can blame it on unlikely culprit but probably point weept do any good. rick folbaum you're telling me why i'm asking the question. explain, please. >> reporter: if you have any problems with your cell phone today or next couple days don't blame the phone company. it could be the sun's fault.

on monday the sun released a coronal mass inject shun or a cme. which is a massive eruption of solar plasma according to people that know about this kind of stuff. the stuff can mess with radio frequency, power grids, gps signals and cell phone reception. the problem could last a couple days. if you're on a call you would rather not be on you could hang up and blame it on the coronal mass injections. for all you star fwazers out there, these blasts can lead to pretty aurora displays up in the night sky. these are also called northern lights. if you live somewhere up on high altitude, you look up what could be an awesome show. back to you. arthel: do you have any phone calls you would like to blame it on the cme as rick is talking about? jon: get those important phone calls in now. maybe if it is a bill collector, maybe you don't call him now. arthel: exactly. that is when the sun gets in

the way when the bill collectors call, jon scott, definitely. jon: hey, the earlier doctors can detect a heart attack the better chances of your survival. now a simple blood test might make it much easier. we'll tell you about it. arthel: very good from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

>> hey everybody, i'm megyn kelly. michele bachmann's iowa campaign chair appears at an event with her yesterday afternoon. three hours later the guy defects to ron paul's camp. it is officially war, folks but is all fair? the man at the center of the controversy, that campaign chair, joins me live. plus newt gingrich puts out a mailing suggesting that michael reagan is in his corner but is that true? michael reagan joins us live, top of the hour. rasmussen just put out some polls that may shock one

campaign. we'll tell you which one. rick santorum is surging in iowa. he is here live as well. it is a political day, folks. we are less than a week away from the iowa caucuses and we've got all you need to know right here 10 minutes away. arthel: and, megyn, we will definitely be watching. by the way the doc is in. we want to ask him about a simple blood test that could rule out heart attacks earlier than ever before. fox news medical a-teamer and chief of mt. sinai robotics division. doc, how are you? >> how are you? arthel: i'm interested in hearing about this blood test. what is it? how does it work? >> this is a sim test doctors are ordering. a recent study that came out in germany. it is published in jama. this is exciting news. this one of the last innovations in 2011. it is a simple blood test where they detect any sight

of heart attack early on. currently when some win comes in with chest pain or sign of heart attack in the emergency room, we have a contemporary or current test. that may take a little time. ittae make up 16 to 24 hours to find out if someone really has a heart attack. this one is much more sensitive. i had a conversation with a colleague of mine from sinai who is excited because it looks for a spike. by looking at the blood level within the first three hours you have 98% sensitivity to know if someone is having a heart attack or not. that is important because with heart attack the sooner we find out the better it is of the. arthel: it is really important because as you said, really will at the emergency room level because so many people show up at the emergency room, has chest pains, don't realize they are having or just had a heart attack? into that is very important point. other things because ulcer or digestion have similar toms to heart attack.

symptoms of heart attack chest pain radiating to the arm the sometimes sweating and loss of consciousness, et cetera. by getting a simple test like this. this is called high sensitive trapinian-i. we are able to find out someone at risk three hours after we repeat the test and that is 98%. sensitive. the sooner doctors find out if someone is having a heart attack the sooner we can get to them and be able to treat them. obviously i also had conversation with another colleague of mine from new jersey who always recommends looking at the entire picture, entire patient, not just the blood test. we need the ekg and cardiac wall motions and other tests of the look at the entire patient but this is very interesting and exciting test for people that have heart attack. arthel: when will this be able? is it available now? >> high sensitive traponian is good test. it is coming to the clinical world. more and more people are using it.

this particular study looked at 1800 patients in germany. they had excellent, results. this is bio markers they will use more heart and many other medical issues that will help us as prevention and get to the patient immediately and take care of them. arthel: save more lives. >> less hospitalization which is always a great thing for patients. arthel: dr. samadi, have a good new year. >> enjoy the holidays. thank you so much. jon: a bit of good news there. how about this? iran is rattling its sabre once again. holding war games while keeping a close eye on america's military. now the iranians seem to be conducting surveillance of the u.s. navy's biggest weapon in the persian gulf. eve? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. is all the wrapping a gift needs.

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jon: well, for foodies on the fly, they are great, but business owners in san francisco say a recent onslaught of food trucks is spoiling their business. permit laws were changed making it easier for trucks to qualify, but with so many options for meals on wheels, many astronauts say they are get -- restaurants say they are getting a raw deal. adam houseley with that controversy. >> reporter: who doesn't like a luxurious lunch wagon especially nowadays with so many options out there? from curry to cupcakes, tacos to chowder, lunch wagons are having a fantastic resurgence thanks to that streamlined process from one year ago that allows them to park in seven different locations. now, brick and mortar

restaurants say, wait a second, that's not so fair. >> i personally don't have anything against them, they are business people. i'm a businessman. we all have to make money. but there is also a time and a place for any such project to be executed or initiated. >> reporter: and some food trucks do find the right time and place because they are connect today a brick and mortar restaurant. take a listen. >> because we have the brick and mortar restaurant, you know, we know what it would feel like to have a truck or somebody parked in front of our restaurant and try to steal our thunder a little bit, so we try to be cautious about it. >> reporter: not all trucks are like sam's, others park right out in front of sandwich shops, and they only pay $9300 a year while so many of these restaurants pay $7,000 a month in rent and also city taxes. either way, patrons say they like the competition. >> it's just more competition.

it now comes down to who's got the best burrito, who's got the best sand sandwich. is so if your old school restaurant can't keep up with the truck across the street, i don't think it's the truck's fall. >> reporter: now, city leaders are also starting to look at this closer. the difference in taxes and rents, they now say they may revisit the whole idea and the process which, again, is allowing food trucks pretty easily to get permits near san francisco. in fact, there are at least 08 more awaiting approval. jon? jon: you can see why, you know, good arguments on both sides. adam houseley, thank you. arthel: are you counting down? jon: yes, i am. arthel: three days until new year's eve. do you know what you're doing? come celebrate with us. check out megyn kelly, bill hemmer, they're going to be hosting fox news' all american new year. the nominated show rock of ages and finish your new year's greetings, text to 36288. that means you type u text,