time when the securities are one and two, thank you for sharing all of you, we appreciate it, as we say goodbye to 2011 wants to take a moment to wish you and your family a wonderful new year and my sincere hope that you and your loved ones enjoy a year filled with peace, love and prosperity. ♪ >> good afternoon, everyone. good to have you here. i'm jamie colby. >> i'm kelly wright. welcome to another news. topping the news, police in los angeles searching for answers after a string of car fires damage dozens of homes and buildings. we have the very latest on the investigation. >> and kelly, tensions are still high over iranian war games and today's move signaling they may be ready for a new round of nuclear talks. >> all right. and verizon wireless scrapping the $2 convenience fee for customers paying their bills

by phone or online. why the backtrack? . we're live with all the details. ♪ >> as you canna imagine, we have to begin in iowa, it may be a photo finish. as the g.o.p. prepare for the deciding battle there. mitt romney spending the day in new hampshire and him in the lead. and ron paul 22% taking time off altogether and with rick santorum and former front runner newt gingrich tied, it could be anybody's race. carl cameron breaking it down live for us in des moines, iowa, good to see you. sort of the sprint to the starting line. after all, there's a year and a half of campaigning, tens of millions of dollars spent around the country and probably about 13 million worth of attack ads in the last month spent in iowa and

hear what caucus going in the first of the nation's state get to say on tuesday night n fairness to mitt romney and ron paul. they're not campaigning in iowa. also after all new year's eve campaign day. and as a consequence, folks know that this iowa and across the country there's a little bit of distraction for an obviously lot of folks and less perhaps to get achieved here on the campaign trail in the final couple of days, we head into the iowa caucuses with one big event yet to happen and that's tomorrow's church services where pastors in iowa often have been known to sort of make advocating type sermons and addresses to their congregation about particular candidates and that would not particularly help ron paul and mitt romney and not popular with evangelicals in the state and hugely popular and important for rick santorum. in the last week and a half he's received a whole series of very, very influential endorsements from evangelical pastors and leaders in the

state and to give us an idea how much he has surged in terms of momentum. last night he was in johnston, iowa and he got what has been almost a routine baptism, if you will, of all of the sometime frontrunners who joined the race, he got glittered. there you see some of the pictures of it. and if nothing else, the sign that rick santorum made the attention of the radar of the even more colorful profits in this game and santorum could surprise people and not just make third, but perhaps get ahead of ron paul and some think that the pastoral message is one that's truly aggressive for santorum. he might pull off an upset win. that would be astounding turn of events and it's a question of organization and we won't see that until monday night when folks open up seven o'clock. >> where is michele bachmann? >> tuesday night. >> she's on the campaign trail and quiet, however, bachmann is essentially taking this day

off as well. and well to note that she considers herself a native iowan, born in waterloo and moved up to minnesota where she's a congress woman. and she won the aims iowa straw poll and history could be made on tuesday night with the winner of the aims straw poll potentially coming in dead last. carl cameron with the latest from iowa, thanks. >> fascinating to much with a the details right there. here is a programming note. fox news is the home base for the iowa caucuses and tomorrow night at 8 eastern, america's election headquarters specially, previewing tuesday's race, live from iowa and tell it live from new york city and perhaps we would have special coverage of the caucuses tuesday, right here on the fox news channel. >> in another election news, the republican party of virginia will now require voters to take a loyalty oath, in order to take part in their state's presidential primary.

the news after the g.o.p. announced only two republican candidates actually qualified to appear on their battle. peter doocy following this for us will i have in washington d.c. hi, peter. >> hi, jamie. it wasn't long allege that newt gingrich said he wouldn't support ron paul if he became the nominee. since gingrich lives in virginia and he said that. he would technically be disqualified from voting in his state's primary because before any republican can cost a primary vote in the old dominion state they must first sign a pledge that says, i, the undersigned, pledge that i intend to support the nominee of the republican party for president. and this is a move designed to drum up party loyalty ahead of the 2 for tuesday primary, but not everybody in virginia is thrilled about it. and some republicans even, think it's reckless. >> and if you want to have mandatory voting for someone you don't even know and might not be running for office so for the republican party to

depart so far from what the founders wanted, i just think it's a mistake. >> as of right now, virginia republicans will have only two candidates on their primary ballots, mitt romney and ron paul because those are the only two who qualified and it's not the first time that the state's g.o.p. made voters pledge their allegiance. they had to sign something saying they wouldn't participate in the nominating process much any other party. this is a little bit more strict, but because it wants more from the voters doesn't mean anything will happen to you if you break the pledge, because it's not legally binding. if you sign the pledge saying you'll support the nominee and you don't, you won't get hauled off to jail, jamie. >> that's comforting. thanks, peter for the very latest. >> well, 'tis the season for new year's resolutions and for president obama, 2012 may be about taking a step back from congress. the white house spokesman said this week, the president's relationship with congress, that he is quote, no longer

tied to washington d.c. and so, is this the best way to handle the gridlock in congress? joining me now for a fair and balanced debate on this topic. angela mcglowan and chuck schumer, and chris and angela, welcome this afternoon. before we get into the festivitying. talk about what the president is doing. is this the right approach to say go to the american people, a good reelection bid for him, chris? >> you know, i think that congress is-- has been so bad this year, they are so unpopular with the american people that it's good to show a little distance and celebration from them. speaker boehner has been impossible to negotiate with, he has 80 members of his congress who won't take yes for an answer, especially if president obama thinks it's a good idea and help this economy recover in 2012.

they don't want to see the economy recover in 2012 because they want to defeat president obama. >> angela, here we go, you're jumping in there. >> yes. >> the president tried to work with congress and it hasn't always worked for him or been nice for him. is this the right approach, in your opinion for him to take to distance himself from congress and go directly to the american people? >> he should go directly to the american people, but he wants as a washington d.c. outsider and candidate obama ran on the fact that he was going to change washington d.c. and well, my friend, there's been a lot of partisan politics played and people say he's going to have new years resolutions. no, he isn't. we'll see more being played, but to go back to what my colleague said. that the republican congress didn't want it to get better. christopher that's just not true. they've put forth policies that democrats don't want to have put in place and if there's gridlock next year in congress, i think it's going to be bad for president obama and the congress.

let me ask you about this, if you're talking about the republicans are thinking and president and himself has already stated that he's thinking and that is to back off from congress and try to go it alone and put out the jobs plan and the president will make the case for passage of the 447 billion dollar jobs package. >> right. >> most of which congress has rejected the last months. >> and democrats, too, kelly and voted against the jobs bill in the senate. >> but the point is, is he right to go it an i lone? did he get any advantage in going to the american people, chris? >> well, we saw what happened with the payroll tax, by, listen, if republicans in congress two months from now, don't want to continue the payroll tax cut hike, if they want to go into an election and raising taxes on 160 million americans, that's on them. and the democrats in the senate will pass a full extension of the payroll tax. if the republicans in the house don't want to, because it might be good for president

obama, well, they have to answer to the people for that. >> if you recall, the republicans push for one year extension, rather? and it was gridlock over that, but, kelly, to answer the question, if the president goes out and if he does race baiting, class warfare, redistribution of wealth arguments, it's not going to work for him. i'm not a democratic strategist, that will work, what solutions will you put forth to create a better america. it's not democrats and republicans who decide who our next president is, it's our independents. >> a good point. because independents may decide what's going on and the recent polls out there nationally, chris, show that mitt romney, if the election were held today, would defeat president obama by some six percentage points. and we don't know if mitt romney is going to get the republican nomination. >> more importantly, kelly, we don't know which mitt romney is going to get the

nomination, the republican or conservative who is campaigning in iowa. we know which is elected and happy to engage. but right now as a democrat, as somebody who might advise other democrats, i don't know who to talk about. so, i mean, it's an interesting thing. so, we'll see. the guy has more flip-flops than a jimmy buffet concert and see what happens with mitt romney. >> good luck with him, kelly. >> kelly, i'm not a comedian, a political analyst, touche' for christopher, very funny. >> that's good. angela, your response to what's moving. look, the point is the president according to what we're hearing right now wants to actually show himself as a warrior for the middle class and in doing that, is he taking the right approach by distancing himself from congress, especially when it's a pivotal time and we've seen such a partisan divide the past three years, can the united states afford to have more of that? >> they can't afford to have more partisan politics. if the congressional approval rating at an all time low he

should not put himself with the congress, i think it's very smart, but again, kelly, he needs to get out there and talk about what he's going to do and not the shovel ready programs, know the bailouts, none of that. i agree. >> we've got to leave it there. >> i agree with angela on that completely. he could be out there pushing for infrastructure improvements in the country right now and forget about congress, a bunch of unpopular fools and let's-- >> oh, my. cre chris, you've got the zingers here, closing out 2011 in a big way. >> happy new year to you. >> and as well. >> bye. >> bye. >> keeping an eye on new developments concerning iran. the rogue nation now delaying long range missiles past the war games exercises going on and signaling they're ready for fresh talks with the west over the disputed nuclear program. and concerns to close off a vital oil shipping route in

the gulf. and weighing in on that, doug, this has been a big concern all week for the oil shutoff and also for what their capability may be and our navy ships in the fifth fleet. they lie in wait there. what about the diplomacy in the stance. >> and it appears to be that case and some experts say it's not unexpected, that iran often issues kind of a carrot and stick approach to exert pressure. and the shift occurred this morning when iran signaled it's ready for fresh talks with the rest for the program. and the media said today, an a part of the military exercises in the straight of hormuz, that it fired long range missiles and then, a high ranking iranian naval commander denied that the missiles had been fired. and analysts speaking to rioters today said the conflicting reports are intend today make the west think twice about rationing up pressure over the nuclear program and all of this occurring, while the west is

threatening new sanctions on the experts. on thursday, state department spokesman victoria newland said the force of the sanctions may be finally having an impact. >> one can only guess that the international sanctions are beginning to feel the pinch. and that the ratcheting up of pressure, particularly on the oil sector is pinching, in a way that it's causing them to lash out. >> and then she added that the u.s. has been seeing quite a bit of irrational behavior from the iranians, and the sanctions may be damaging their fragile economy, jamie. >> one can only hope because the sanctions haven't gotten attention from iran in the past. and easy to cut off the oil, as easy as drinking a glass of water. do we expect the war games to continue? >> they're going to be continuing for the next couple of days, anyway. it's been conducting for a period of ten days, scheduled to end on monday, and these

are exercises that encompass, 1,250 miles stretch of sea from the strait of hormuz into the indian ocean and gulf of aiden near the red sea and the strait of hormuz carries 1/6 of the oil supply and iran with the well-timed exercise, threatening to block it if they carry out sanctions on iranian oil exports. high wire act going on in the straits and hopefully pressures and tensions will calm down the next 24 hours or so. >> yeah, a tense time and you've summarized well. thank you, doug, happy new year. >> you, too. >> and focus on iran's neighbor iraq. a holiday to end the military presence there. the prime minister al-maliki making the declaration saying the u.s. troop withdrawal begins a new chapter for the company. and al-maliki praising the

iraqis for ousting saddam hussein and ending sectarian violence and urges people to move forward in unity as the nation focuses on rebuilding. >> and back here at home, los angeles police, they're still 0en alert after a string of attacks over new years, and after nearly two dozen fires were reported early friday morning. police say nearly every case, the fires began in a parked car and given the unusually high number of cases, they say they're not taking any chances. >> our department operations command has been activated at the level one for the city because this is a significant event that's taking place here in the san fernando valley as well as other parts of the city, exclusive of hollywood and the rest of the city. >> they're asking people in the area to be on the lookout to see if they see anyone suspicious, because the investigators are unsure if the incidents are connected and they don't have any suspects in the case, kelly.

>> jamie, this is something that people want to know about. there's power in the verizon wireless reversing plans for a so-called customer convenience charge, there's been a backlash. the company wanted to charge subscribers, you heard about this, $2 online or by phone with credit or debit cards and customers just aren't having this. >> the julie banderas joining us from the news room, hey, julie. >> hi, kelly, took just one day for verizon wireless to reverse the decision to tack on the $2 bill paying fee for online or single payments and they announced it had a change of heart. and the president releasing the following statement and i equity, at verizon we take great care to listen to customers based on input and the best path forward to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the knee for the feed at this time. the fee would have only

applied to some customers, but in this economy that didn't fly well for a company with revenue of 15 billion dollars in the most recent quarter and the consumer backlash blew up on twitter blogs and petitions all over the web. unlike bank customers, they have a choice to walk away if they don't like the fees. verizon customers have limited options because they're locked into multi-year contracts and they were none too happy being told it would cost money to pay money to the company. what surprised many, however, how quickly verizon rolled back the fee, considering it took bank of america about a month to rescind the fee for customers who use the debit card for performance. and moved when the communication commissions put out word that the company's actions merited closer scrutiny. >> that's a good point. julie banderas, thank you for

the report. >> sure. >> texas governor rick perry shelling out big bucks ahead of the iowa caucuses, hoping the exposure can push his campaign over the top on the big day which is fast approaching and we'll tell you how the strategy is panning out. >> we will, indeed. a major technical malfunction, look at that. at last night's insight bowl how a tv camera flew on to the field straight ahead. ♪ ♪ catch me i'm falling ♪ catch me now i'm falling ♪ catch me i'm falling 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'. ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories --

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>> seems like everybody around here is in the spirit of new year's eve.

and me, too. the big new year's eve party is just hours away. take a live look at the crossroads of america, time square, new york city. revellers starting to arrive. more than a million people could be crowding the streets to watch the ball drop and ring in 2012. i won't be there, but i'll be here early tomorrow morning, i will be home watching our special, all american new year, fox news channel, definitely the place to be. pop open the bubbly, stay home nice and warm and begins 11 p.m. eastern with megyn kelly and bill hemmer and hosts it like nobody's business and among the guest, too, trace adkins and my good buddy, john rich will be there, big and rich. you don't want to miss that and rock of ages and ahead of the show, here is something you could do really special, you can send the new years greeting and send it to our troops and loved one and all you do is text the-- let's see, you next, you text. you text space, plus your

greeting to 36288, and that means type you text, leave a space and leave a brief message and leave it to 36288 and kelly is sending mine right now. thank you, kelly. >> in america, two million young people are arrested every year, due to juvenile crime according to the head of the boys and girls club in america who says that the reason for that is because many children do not feel any connection to their community. and one of the best ways to change all of that is to make sure that kids have support from members of their community who are willing to step up and be a mentor to the children. from one of those mentors, is nba great lebron james. he's our focus of today's beyond the dream. >> and i think the best thing that happened to me in my childhood is that i had mentors, i had coaches,

teachers, and i had sports figures and celebrities that i looked up to. you know, those-- all of those figures kind of helped me get away from my everyday life. >> kelly: and everyday life for lebron james as a child growing up in the inner city of akron, ohio was far aaway from the nba phenom he is today. the expectation onlookers had, he would become nothing more than a statistic of failure, but lebron had other plans. >> i never met no one-- i never let anyone shut the door on my dream and living as i am today. lebron uses his celebrity to do charity events to raise money for programs like the boys and girls club of america, and plus raise awareness that children in the inner city need our help. a the a boys and girls club youth of the year event in washington d.c., lebron joined denzel washington, ron howard,

and the singer, ashanti, to give support to an organization that's provided him with mentors who helped mold him into becoming the successful person he is today. lebron recalls how he is one of the many children who grew up in a single parent home, living in a rough neighborhood of akron ohio, instead of becoming a member of a gang or life of crime, james found hope through his mother, mentors and others who helped him focus on his skills on and off the basketball court. >> just me and my mother and like i said, i had you know, coaches, little league coaches and my mom was very strong and i had teachers and you know, i had friends around me that we all kind of shared the same goals and kind of shared the same bonds and the adults helped us get to those points, helped us get to some of those dreams that we were having as kids. and you know, i never take that for granted. >> kelly: not wanting to forget his past, lebron uses his present-day success to

help other children throughout america. today he's given more than 3 million dollars to help children build their great futures, beyond a dream. >> and i think the main thing i can give a kid that grows up into, you know, some of the same 76ers that i grew up in is just to never let anyone shut the door on your dream. never let anyone close or shut down the light on your dream. you know, and when you have that dream you should always work towards it. >> and he's still working towards his dream of course and becoming a nba championship title holder and lebron says the reason he continues to do so much work with the boys and girls club of america as well as other youth groups throughout the country, he believes it will benefit the kids, america's future and asks the rewards seeing a child's smile because of something you've done for them is priceless. >> jamie: where do we vote for him to get that title? because he's an all-star. it's awesome what he's doing.

>> kelly: and on off the court. >> jamie: thank you, kelly, i enjoy those stories so much. and iran and the missile test, are they rethinking the strategy toward diplomacy, we'll tell you and a major shipping route. >> kelly: candidates shelling out big bucks in a last minute push for iowa and so why are some of the biggest spenders coming up short? >> i'll be real honest with you, if working together is to continue to do what they've been doing the last ten years, i'm not for that. it's the perfect time to find great deals on the 4g lte devices you love. like the droid bionic by motorola for $199.99. or the pantech breakout for $49.99. our lowest price ever. get the technology you love, on the network you deserve. and for a limited time, get twice the data for the same low price. verizon.

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>> welcome back, happy new year, bottom of the hour and time for the top of the news. los angeles arsonist investigators are investigating more fires in the north hollywood area and working to establish a link in the string of two dozen recent car fires. isn't 2012, a rough 2011 filled with natural disasters and leaving many of us anxious to start fresh. mild temperatures in new york expected to inties many to time square looking for the ball to drop. hundreds flooding the streets in syria, and the show of defiance in spite of the presence of arab league monit monitors.

monitors. >> all right. let's talk politics, texas governor rick perry raising millions in his race for the white house, but with the first major contest in iowa just days away now, he's still trailing in the polls. and steve brown live from fort dodge, iowa. steve, how much has governor perry spent on tv this month? >> it's a staggering number. the des moines register took a look at it and keep in mind, television isn't expensive out here in iowa, not a lot of major markets to drive up the price, but that he spent the most, 3 million dollars and it's difficult not to see his ads out on the air. his campaign says the ads where he talks about his faith and talks about what he describes as the president's quote, war on religion, end quote or when he talks about congress and the need to cut them down to a part-time job, those get a good response, at least that's what the perry camp said. >> he's obviously trying to reach out to the evangelicals

and electorate out there in iowa i should say. what's he doing differently in the final days? >> what we've noticed in the last several days, when he's out on the stump and he's wrapping up a bus tour of the state of iowa, he's been going after rick santorum. and he's been on the rise in many polls and third and climbing and the perry camp would like to change places with him and they've been going after him in this way when it comes to ear marks and spending. have a listen. >> i think it's appropriate that we talk about our differences ap those differences couldn't be clearer on one of the most important issues, this election, and that's spending. and i think the economy and the spending that's going on and in washington d.c., is probably at the top of most people's list of important issues. and if you want to truly overhaul washington d.c., we can't do that with a senator

who's voted to raise the debt ceiling eight different times. >> on top of that, there's a radio ad running in des moines and we're told other portions of the state and talking about santorum's vote for ear marks, a billion dollars worth of ear marks, according to the commercial and clearly the perry camp is going after it. on top of that, the perry camp has flown in a couple of hundred, folks into the state of iowa to assist getting out the ground game. so if it isn't all in for the perry campaign, it's pretty close. >> i see that and i've got to let you go. it seems like such a desperation move by perry and the ground game is intact for santorum for almost a year. >> he has put in the time. and that's what iowa's reward, face time and the governor hasn't put inasmuch as santorum. nobody has. >> kelly: steve, we've got to go, thank you so much, sir.

>> sure. >> jamie: back to iran now and the saber rattling that may be backing down. today, tehran calling off missile tests during war games they've been conducting during the eye of the fleet. and they've threatened to close the strait of hormuz, a major oil shipping lane. with the tension on the rise, what's the best way to deal with this growing power. and joining me retired lt. colonel bill cowan and a fox news analyst and you know, colonel, you're the guy i go to for stuff like this and ask you about the war games going on and in particular, i don't want to get political with you, but where do you think our president stands on this, have we taken a firm enough stand on what they're up to? >> jamie, at this point i think we're doing pretty good. we've deployed another carrier strike group there. this will put three in the region. we're showing the iranians we

have the military might over there in case there were going to be a conflict. against that back drop. the iranians are mindful that they killed a lot of american men and women inside iraq and this president nor the one before him. so, we can have those forces over there. the question is, are we going to use them if the situation arises, where it's prudent to use them and that all remains to be seen. >> if things turn, colonel, is there a way to prevent a ground altercation or a ground war? what are our capeabilities off to the ships? jamie, we have to have a series of escalations, i think. if the iranians fired a missile or something at one of our navy vessels, the first thing we could do is take out whatever the platform is that fired it and do nothing more and that's the first round and another thing, we always have the option of doing is a blockade along the coast there and another option we have of doing is striking very heavily at iranian missiles and

coastal defenses by air and sea and without putting u.s. troops on the ground. so there's a number of things to do, but i think for the most part we'll abide by international law and stay out of their waters and if they end up mining the strait we might do what we did in 1988. we went in there and cleared the pathway for tankers and we escorted tankers and never got to the stage of conflict of hostilities of shooting at each other and those are the options. none of us want to go to war with iran and none of us certainly want a ground war of any sort. >> jamie: that's why i asked the question, but the mining capability is tricky business and iran has upped its submarine capability. is that a game changer and make it more challenging? >> it could be. that means we have to apply nor resources to be able to track and monitor those submarines. just because a submarine below the surface that we're

watching is close to our fleet. that doesn't mean we have to do or can do anything about it. we run a little bit of a risk hereof first off, not ever knowing what the iranians are going to do. remembering that they've gotten away with a lot and never been called to task for. may think they can fire something at us from a submarine and get away scott free. we'll have to stand by and see what happens and find out. if the president is called to task because of the conflict with iran, we'll find out once and for all if he's really a national security president, we cannot afford, we, the united states nor the global economy can afford to have the straits shut down. >> one, you bring up the snowmobile economy and the fact that this is a vital passageway. why is the fifth fleet the only one assigned the task, where are the rest of the nations on this? >> that's a great question. and i don't see that anybody has stepped up. it doesn't mean they haven't.

we haven't seen anything on the news. great question. we may find we have a lot of allies who will want to help and participate if something happens. at this point. they're probably pretty content. >> i'm calling them to action. couldn't always be us. and the other thing i want to ask you, take me on to one of the ships and tell me what goes through the minds of men and women brave enough to be in the region, we see sanction after sanction and see iran and ahmadnejad thumbing their nose at us, you can't hurt us, closing the strait of hormuz is as easy as drinking a glass of water. >> we can't minimize the stress they're under at all times and very close to an unstable situation, an unstable state, country that may or may not have nuclear weapons already and a country that's been, you know, very active in trying to kill americans and going to the bombing of the beirut barracks, all of those men and women are under alert and i'm sure the navy is under that

highest state of alert as many, many years. >> jamie: allow me to tip my hat to them and thank you for being there. and thank you and happy and healthy new year to you. lt. colonel bill cowan, thank you very much. >> my pleasure, jamie. >> jamie: take care. >> kelly: in nearly ten hours, 2011 will be a thing of the past and may be welcome news for wall street investors, but there are big concerns that 2012 will not be much better. what can we expect in the new year? joining us now, financial advisor, and also the president of diversified financial consultants. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. >> before we begin, happy new year to you. how happy of a new year for investors in 2012 or for that matter the american people who are relying on something to get done to create a better economy? >> well, i think they'll be happy that 2011 is over. clearly, it wasn't a great year and a very stressful year because of the volatility. and i think we'll all be a happy to have that done with

and look forward to 2012. and i think at the very least, we're going to begin 2012 on a caution side. and we need to look at our portfolio and we need to look at our allocations and maybe a little moderation and caution is not a bad way to start the year. >> kelly: that's a good way to put it and heard jamie, my colleague, discussing the global concerns as relates to iran, with the lt. colonel bill cowan. how might things like that affect us going into 2012 with our economy. look, certainly anything that ever happened in the straits that would have been catastrophic, because they shoot through the roof. all things being equal. we have a lot going on the table particular will in europe that will have a dramatic effect, short-term and potentially long-term on the u.s. economy and even though we can look at the u.s. economy on its own, things aren't so bad and things are improving on a day-to-day basis. primarily what's going on in europe is a dramatic effect on our own economy. >> can we expect our economy to expand if europe's economy

contracts? >> great question. if we look at the european economy, their own ecb. european central bank say they will be in a recession in 2012. the bad news, there's an 86% correlation between european gdp and u.s. gdp. and there's seemingly our largest trading partner representing 20% of our exports. >> if they're the experts there's a high probability that we will be in a recession, next year. i think there's enough strength in the economy they don't pulls completely down and certainly washington is talking about a modest 2% growth in the u.s. economy next year. >> wow, so we better, as you said. practice the modifications and caution going into 2012 and thank you so much. i said it earlier and once again, happy new year to you. >> and to you and your family. >> thank you. >> there's an interesting ethics debate. regarding medical research. check this out. scientists at two institutions

create a deadly airborne flu virus and the question is, whether or not it should be used in research, how dangerous is it? our medical a-team weighs in. >> and i want to hear that for sure and a live look on time square, here on new york city, there it is. the people are gathering, millions gearing up to toes the new year tonight. boosting a major industry that's already celebrating a great 2011, and we've got a live report for you next. >> happy new year. since i've lost weight i have so much more energy than i used to, when i'm out with my kids, my daughter's like, "mom, wait up!" and i'm thinking, "shouldn't you have more energy than me? you're, like, eight!" [ male announcer ] for every 2 pounds you lose through diet and exercise alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. simple. effective.

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>> that occupy wall street protest turned ugly, and burning an american flag is not only wrong, it's not illegal though. it's considered a form of expression under the first amendment. and i'm sorry, i just don't

like it. since the men that set the fires outside of a fire pit within ten feet of flammable tents, they're charged with being careless with fire. >> i do formally apologize to anyone offended by my actions, however, i do not apologize for the burning of the flag as it's my constitutional right to do so. >> jamie: okay. the occupy charlotte group as a whole has made it clear they do not support flag burning, kel kelly. >> kelly: well, here is something to think about. you can crack over another bottle of bubbly. the champagne and the wine industry is thriving, while others continue to struggle in a very sluggish economy and now, these companies have rebounded nicely from the recession and will end 2011 deep in the green. thanks to the holiday season. and casey stegall live from the bureau and a whole lot of

people are enjoying their drink and getting their drink on, why increase now? >> and i think i might be contributing to the success of champagne tonight. you know, the increased demand for this is on bar with what we're seeing in the luxury goods market where sales are up double digits for high end brands. the boost not necessarily because of the holiday sales, this is something that's been going on all year, because bottles produced in the champagne region of france are the only ones allowed to call themselves champagne and early predicts, than before the recession, somewhere around 330 million bottles. >> through august, we were up over 30% and we believe that this is a combination of both of a greater interest in wine for americans, but also a greater understanding of champagne and seeking to make little moments, celebrate little moments with a wine

that's uniquely associated with celebration. >> and those wine experts also tell us that they're seeing a trend of people spending more per bottle, than they did a year ago, so, glasses up, kelly. >> kelly: wow, there's some money out there somewhere for people again. are earns m spending big bucks on expensive french champagnes and wines? >> not necessarily. a lot of them are headed to asia which lately has a particular taste for luxury and foreign goods and especially brand games and one wine seller we spoke with said that americans are opting for american bubbles. >> i think as the economy forced people to reconsider how they spend their money over the course of the year they've been looking at sparkling wines and finding again, a tremendous satisfaction with the quality and not as concerned with what's the label on the bottle. >> now, while champagne sales are improving, they are not necessarily back up to pre recession figures, but again, a lot of people ringing in

2012 will do this business a world of good tonight. kelly, happy new year to you. >> same to you, my friend. good to see you and hope to see you again soon and by the way, drink responsibly if you're going to do that, that's everybody. remember, fox news channel is the place to celebrate as you ring in the new year. the fun starts at 11 p.m. eastern, as megyn kelly and bill hemmer host the all american new years, show us the new years greeting. you can text, plus your greeting to 36288, that means type utext, send a brief message to 36288. jamie, i've got yours on the way. >> jamie: i'm so happy and the world health organization is concerned about this. a new fears of the deadly new strain of the bird flu. it's not in labs. science is creating the virus to see what happens if it's transmitted and we want to make sure it doesn't fall in the wrong hands, right? we'll take a look at

consequences with our medical a-team next. no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance.

>> from the world health organization. >> kelly: jamie. >> jamie: thank you, kelly. >> kelly: you're welcome. >> jamie: i was telling you about the warning we have with the world health organization and scientists have per miss-- i'll check that out for you, to take the deadly bird flu virus and more contagious and airborne from one animal to the other and the studies they're asked to do. possibly from one human to another and we're all for study, but the worry is what happens if this research falls into the wrong hands? should scientists be allowed to create deadly viruses like this in the labs for medical research? dr. david somati.

here to talk about it and the esteemed member of our medical a-team. doctor, good to see you. i know that small pox and other viruses used for impacts and other medical breakthroughs, but bird flu, a big concern, what do you think about it? >> i think it's a huge concern because the bird flu is something that we don't deal with on a regular basis and we've talked about it, all different type of flus and h1n1. this is a different type of flu, h 5 and one and it's usually not -- it's very difficult to transfer from human to human and this is the bird flu and unless you're really in touch with poultry and chicken and so forth, it's very difficult to get it, but what they have done in the lab is, through research, they have changed the component or the ingredient of this and changed some of the genes and now you can find it in the air and it can go from human to human and it can become a very dangerous biohazard and

bioterrorism and in today's world. where this '67 finds itself in the hands of wrong people, it can be extremely dangerous and deadly. >> i'm sure they can use the precaution to make sure the people working with it are not contaminated and i see what you're saying, someone with bad intentions could come and get it. i find it disturbing that they instructed. the national institute of health not to public all of the information from the research. do we have a right to know whether it's taxpayer funded? >> it's a debate. i happen to agree it should not be published. and this is part of academia and funding goes into it. certain information, where it's going to be really hazardous to a lot of people. you know, the secret to creating a nuclear bomb, small pox, if you talked about, something that can jeopardize the community and society, i think it should be completely off record and it should be there for the research and not really in the hands of, you

know, the internet or other people that take advantage of this. >> what could come to the research potentially or could it benefit us? >> i think what we see, for example, the flu, every year, it mutates by itself. if you get it this year it's not good for next year, so this virus by itself is genius, it completely changes on its own. i think this research will tell us the nature of this virus and trying to understand it better, but now we're totally interfering with the nature and now messing around the genes and coming up with a new virus and that can really change the whole game and i'm a little bit concerned. with today's world, you know, you have to put safety ahead of academia. >> they're infecting animals and animal rights-- >> millions and millions of birds have died as a result of it. when you look at human record, 500 died. while i was preparing for this, i realized five hours ago someone in china,

39-year-old male died from 24 bird flu and it's a big concern. what's this really gets out then we have a huge problem and it could really spread from one person to another and that's a big, big concern and we don't have a real antidote against this and that's really a big concern. at the same time, the research may be necessary? >> i think that research is a big component of this, the researchers are from wisconsin and netherlands and done a good job by understanding the virus and we want to make sure especially the world organization to make sure that this information doesn't get out in the hands of the wrong people and that's a big concern. >> jamie: thank you, i'm concerned i won't make it up until midnight and it's new year's eve, and i'll see you tomorrow morning for a sunday house call and ask, the guys, kelly if you'll join in-- do you mind. >> kelly: sure. >> happy new year, everybody, especially to our troops overseas. >> there you go, happy and healthy new year. >> was that healthy, doc.

i think we'll be all right. have a great night. see you in the morning. ♪