good monday! hope you had a nice, long weekend, you're ready to get back at it. i'm robin meade. morning, sunshine. here's what's going on. wow, explosions and gunshots overnight outside a house that police have surrounded. how this is linked to a coffee shop rampage that left four police officers dead. tiger woods is avoiding police. he canceled yet another interview with officers about a car crash, but he does have a message that he wants everyone to hear. and you're going to see anti-war activist cindy sheehan go toe to toe with a vet. i'm going to call that really

interesting tape. right now, police are surrounding a home in seattle after four police officers were shot and killed in a coffee shop yesterday. a hostage negotiator has been urging a man to come out and there have been gunshots, but it's unclear whether anyone is inside. the man wanted for question something maurice clemmons. he has not been named as a suspect. actually, i don't know -- do we have the wrong tape here? a sheriff's spokesperson says the shooter walked in as if he was about to order coffee and then pulled a gun out and opened fire. >> they were getting ready to start shift and they had met there and their computers were open and they were actually doing work inside when the gunman came in and specifically targeted and fired upon the four police officers. >> all officers were parents, mark rennin gechlt r, officers ronald owens, tina griswold and greg richards. a family member says the

shootings are senseless. a motorcade escorted the officers' bodies to a coroner's office. people talk about the deadly attack. >> we have lost four officers today. >> makes me angry. >> my heart is going out even to their families. i know that they probably -- some of them are married, have children. it just hurts me. >> the man wanted for questioning has a long criminal record. his 95-year prison sentence was commuted by then arkansas governor mike huckabee in 2000. maurice clemmons was 17 years old when he was convicted for bringing a gun to school, thefts. huckabee's office says the -- he was released from jail six days ago after assaulting a police officer and sexually assaulting a child. somali pirates have hijacked a tanker on its way to the united states. a european union spokesperson

says the ship was taken about 800 miles from somalia yesterday. it has 28 crew members, none of them from the united states. somali pirates have taken dozens of ships, but this may be only the second attack of an oil tanker. tiger wood sincere talking about a car accident over the weekend, but he's not talking to police about it. rafer weigel has more about that. >> tiger and his wife erks elin, turned away from cops. under florida law, he technically does not have to talk to police. his attorney says, quote, it's a private matter. the accident happened early friday when woods ran his suv over a fire hydrant and crashed into a tree. he did release this statement on his website yesterday which reads, in part, although i understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are

currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible. the only person responsible for the accident is me. that's a curious statement, robin. a tabloid alleged that woods had been seeing a new york hostess. that woman denied having an affair when contacted by the ap. >> but spaerapparently is getti lawyered up. >> she is getting a lawyer. how do you think tiger is handling the situation, the right way? go to our facebook paigs page, post a comment. because of your newsletter, that page is already blowing up. later on we'll have the 911 call made by a neighbor after the accident. >> we'll have the reactions after a few minutes from our facebookers. children with autism are seeing progress with early therapy. new study in the journal of pediatrics says kids who were diagnosed as early as 18 months and started a program showed improvement. the therapy was effective when

it was in a playful natural setting like at home. osama bin laden was cornered eight years ago, a new report from senate democrats. it says that bin laden was trapped in the tora bora mountains in december 2001, but later sneaked out because u.s. leaders didn't send more troops. the report comes ahead of president obama's announcement tomorrow about whether he's going to send more troops to afghanistan. okay. are you going to be shopping at work today? this is what they call cyber monday when a lot of people hit the web to buy holiday gifts. problem, many people do it on company time. jennifer westhoven is here. you and i can say it's part of our job. >> i have to research the deals. >> exactly. good morning. >> good morning. i mean, one thing you should really all know about cyber monday it's just a big marketing gimmick. it's not the busiest day for shopping or not even necessarily the big deals. take that marketing gimmick and

make it your game. there are deals out there if you didn't want anything to do with the black friday crowds. maybe that's too much for you. maybe this is the time you start doing your shopping. store trade group predicts more americans will buy online compared to last year. sears web page has 15% off appliances, lots of other deals, too. best buy has a 19-inch hd tv. of course, i don't know about you. i see these deals and go, these things are huge and heavy. how much is it going to cost for shipping? try to make sure you can get free ship tlg. check out some of the deals on cnn.com/robin important websites. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. nice to have you back too. >> thanks. at least two senators want authorities to press charges against the couple who crashed the white house state dinner. michaele and tareq sahali

slipped by security. >> they basically trespassed, had no right to be there. secret service has a tough enough task without people trying to dress up and pretend to be there. they want a reality show, give them one, in federal prison. >> answering questions from the secret service, their lawyer insists they did not crash the dinner. seven minutes past the hour. ed rollins just put it to them, didn't he? >> yeah. over the weekend i could swear they were in the background of my wedding album. >> where's waldo. >> yeah. >> after a big holiday week, let me show you what's happening now. from the great lakes back into the gulf of mexico. look at all the clouds, all the rain wrapped up with that too. on the back side, it's cold air,

getting snow going for lower parts of new mexico. rain around houston, stretches into north of san antonio. that line itself is right over the city. heavy rain is out there. watch for delays at the airport, houst houston, stretching in towards new orleans later this afternoon. jackson, mississippi. look at that squall line right over you. not severe. the heavy downpours are here. rain stretches back into northern alabama. you can see birmingham on the outskirts of the heaviest rain, all in the yellows and greens and reds, moving over toward the east. pull a picture out farther over the east, cold front around ontario. light, broken scattered showers around western p.a., new york state. snow into northern maine. not much in the way of accumulations, an inch or less. new york, philadelphia, washington and boston. you can see rain is headed in your direction. we'll get delays at the airports there. some of those could be lengthy. we'll get those coming up in 20

minutes. >> eating turkey leftovers? >> last night was the last night. >> it seems unsafe after a few days. >> i think you're right. >> thank you. we're expecting an announcement today that could affect the biggest check that you write every month. how president obama plans to help millions of americans behind on their mortgages. plus, susan boyle is getting revenge for second place of britain's got talent.

time to salute our troops. sergeant huffman, look at that baby. they can't wait to see him home and be near him again. if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute

them, we would be happy to help. cnn.com/robin. all right. today the obama administration is expected to announce a new campaign to pressure lenders to cut monthly mortgage payments for you, if you're a struggling homeowner. our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. there's been so much talk about let's help the homeowner. a lot of people say they're not feeling it. >> there's no signs, too, that they've really helped anybody out there. some. this is the plan where they'll name names. they're going to say who's not doing it. last spring the white housemaid billions of dollars ready for banks to try to help them to cut some of the payments on these out-of-whack mortgages to help people keep their homes. arguably, it helps everyone by slowing down the foreclosure crisis. what have the banks done? yeah, not much. about 650,000 people have cut

their payments, not much according to the estimates, and only temporarily. one treasury official says banks should be embarrassed. so, the white house is expected to start publishing the names of banks that they say are dragging their feet. all right. you see them around if you're driving near home depot. that's where i do. a lot of immigrants on certain street corners or parking lots and they're waiting for day work. usa today says if you look closely, a lot more americans are in those numbers, doubled since 2006. ucla told a paper. and you see it around the country where construction jobs have disappeared. robin? >> i'm not surprised by that. i'm not surprised that we're noticing that. i've heard of people doing that. you know, a family turned their love of grapes into a thriving northern california winery. stephanie elam has their quest in this small business success. >> reporter: moving to the u.s.

from mexico when she was 12 years old in 1967. >> delicious. >> reporter: her parents worked in the vineyards in northern california's wine country. that same year, she met pedro, her husband to be, while picking grapes. it was love at first bite. >> i think i was more interested in tasting those fabulous grapes. >> reporter: the couple married after college, determined to be in the wine industry. the two families pooled their money and bought 15 acres of land in napa valley. over time, they bought more property, selling their grapes to other wineries, but they wanted more. in 2001, they released their own wine under their label. now the company has plans to expand. >> we hope to have our own wine production facility within two years. >> reporter: the ceja family currently owns 100 acres in the napa and sonoma valleys. >> we represent, you know, the

perfect poster children of the american dream. >> all right. if you are a small business owner, we would like to see your success story as well. so, go to cnn.com/robin. upload a video i report of your biz and you might be on "morning express." cindy sheehan came face to face with an angry vet. she put a mega phone in his face and things got out of control from there.

military police had to break

up a physical confrontation during anti-war protests in california this weekend. a uniformed military veteran got right in the face of self-proclaimed peace mom, cindy shehan. >> early in the morning. >> nobody cares. >> get out of my face. >> nobody cares. >> get out of my face. >> get that [ bleep ]. >> what are you doing? >> uh-oh. shehan was protesting the possible troop surge in afghanistan and the use of unmanned drones. her son died, serving in iraq. the veteran said the protesters are hurting troop morale. >> we are for the troops. >> you're not for the -- >> we want them to be safe. >> uh-uh demonstrators are never for the troops. >> i'm never going to stop, no matter how much we're oppressed, no matter how much violence they bring to us. we're going to bring peace to them. >> no arrests were made but shehan got a ticket for blocking traffic. more on this car accident that involved tiger woods. we now have the 911 call made

from a neighbor after the crash. here is rafer with more on that. to recap, in case folks missed it over the weekend. it happened while he was leaving his drive way. he only drove a short while. from this call, you get a sense of the severity of the accident. listen. >> what happened? what's wrong? >> i have a neighbor, he hit the tree. we came out here just to see what was going on. i see him and he's laying down. >> by hitting a tree, you mean it was an auto accident? >> yes. >> is he unconscious? >> yes. >> are you able to tell if he's breathing? >> no, i can't tell right now. >> woods was hospitalized and then later released. also for the third straight day, he and his wife turned away cops who wanted to discuss it. to be fair, under florida law, he doesn't have to talk to police, but just give his license and registration. he did release a statement. we'll have more on that. we did ask you, how do you think tiger is handling this situation? here is what you're saying about it. >> almadu wrote, he should

probably come clean otherwise if some investigative reporter or blogger gets facts and uncovers the dirt, it will affect woods' image and he probably doesn't want that. meanwhile, kris wrote is if all he has to do is show his license, registration and insurance and he wants his privacy, let him have it. cnn.com/robin is where you want to go. hit the facebook icon. in other new, indianapolis colts have perfected the art of the comeback. down by 13 to the texans at half time. peyton manning rallied his team to their fifth straight come from behind win and 20th regular season win, one of two unbeaten teams in the nfl. vince young led them on a 99-yard drive over arizona. it came down to the last play of the game. as time was expiring, young hits the end zone for the go ahead score. this guy had been benched at the start of the year. >> really?

>> since he took over, they've now won five straight. from a good streak to a bad streak. new jersey nets, a few hours after they fired their coach lost their 17th straight game. >> that hurts. >> to the los angeles lakers, 0-17, matching an nba record for the worst start of the season. one more loss, they'll have the record. >> that's just demoralizing, isn't it? >> it's got to be tough for them. more sports in 30, rob. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> oh, man. >> rafer is back after having a baby. he had no sleep. look at him. >> looks good, though. looks better than usual. >> oh, sorry. >> there he is. >> coffee. >> basketball would have been so much more popular in jersey, growing up as a kid if the nets weren't there. >> they may leave they may be going to brooklyn. >> trying to get back to work on a monday. flight explorer, rain showers out in the northeast, western pennsylvania, eastern p.a., broken showers around

harrisburg. drive into newark and jfk, be la guarda. that's going to change, though. an hour or more delay in new york, atlanta, too. boston, philly, dc, charlotte, houston, showers and storms, robin. more details on that in a bit. there was some confusion, speaking of babies, when a doctor told a mom her newborn son's weight.

breaking news. police now say the suspect in the killings of the shootings of four police officers is wounded and possibly dead. the video you're seeing is the house where maurice clemmons is holed up. for the third time, tiger woods canceled an interview with florida state troopers about a car accident near his home this weekend. in a statement tiger woods said i'm human, not perfect and rumors about him and his wife are false. an oil tanker on its way to the united states has been

hijacked off somalia. somali pirates took the greek-owned vessel yesterday. they've been seizing ships for years, but this may be only the second attack of an oil tanker. the twilight sequel "new moon" has sucked in more than 230 million. the blind side came in second. you were tired of your family. tell the truth. you're like, let's go see a movie together all of us. those are some of the headlines we're following this morning. good morning. welcome back. i'm robin meade. we're a day away from president obama's big announcement about afghanistan. he's expected to send 35,000 more troops there and give a timeframe of when u.s. troops would leave the country. former assistant secretary of state mark kimmet says troops

could be there for years. >> i think we need to prepare the american people for the honest truth, that this will take five to ten years at a minimum before we can hand this over to the afghans so that they can run the security portfolio and no longer be reliant on american troops in afghanistan. >> president obama, by the way, will give a speech at 8:00 pm eastern tomorrow from the u.s. military academy at west point, new york. the search continues this morning for a man accused of killing four family members after thanksgiving dinner in florida. police have issued an arrest warrant for paul merhinge, killed his twin sisters, one of whom was pregnant, an aunt and a 6-year-old cousin who was asleep. her father talked about the last thing he said to her. >> i just felt an urge, go give her a kiss. i went in there and i was just telling her how much i love her, how special she is, just what an

honor it is to be her dad. we had a tender moment and i kissed her good night. i put her to sleep and she woke up to jesus. >> two other people were injured in the shooting. there is a $10,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest. investors are keeping an eye on debt crisis in dubai. the shock wave koss continue to have an effect on the stocks here in the united states. if you were not watching tv, that's understandable maybe on friday morning. >> yeah. >> jennifer westhoven is here to explain what the deal is with dubai making a deal with us. >> this really did hit the stock marks all around the world. dubai world said it was struggling with all this debt, $60 billion and they're not sure they could pay it back. it's the arm of the dubai government. maybe you've heard of them. they built islands shaped like palm trees and shells and were trying to attract all these millionaires to have your own private island.

that's presumably the tallest building in the world they're working on, indoor ski centers in dubai because, remember, oil was like $150 a barrel back then. and they got into a lot of debt that it's not clear how they're going to pay off. guess who they owe a lot of that debt to. in some cases, u.s. banks. so, very shaky for the whole world financial system. u.s. banks are so huge. most stocks may recover this morning. a lot of asian markets were bounded overnight. dubai itself, its own stock market fell 7%. we'll watch that closely as we get closer to that opening bell. >> i see why people don't like the sounds of that. the senate begins debate on health care reform today and leading democrats have their work cut out for them as they try to bridge between the liberal and conservative democrats. >> the war is terribly

important. jobs and our economy are terribly important. this may be audit ashs, but i suggest that we put aside the health care debate until next year. >> it's essential to our future, businesses and individuals pay more and more for health care. we have to go ahead and conclude this debate. to stop now would be stopping on the edge of, i think, significant reform, so important for the country. >> the overhaul would provide medical coverage to 31 million uninsured americans. earlier this month, the house passed its version of health care reform. police say as many as 75 people died in a ferry accident, including two dozen children. look at this thing. rescuers recovered more than a dozen bodies today. more passengers are feared dead. the overcrowded triple decker boat capsized off southern bangladesh. authorities believe passengers weighed down one side of the ferry as they were getting off.

triple decker ferry, wow! 35 minutes past the hour. what kind of week are you going to have when it comes to weather? a lot of you have to travel back to work today. let's make sure it's not going to get in the way. hi, bob. >> hi, robin. i think it will, especially in texas and the lower part of the gulf coast. this cold front starts around ontario, quebec, stretches into tennessee, houston. heavy rain out there. on the back side of that, we have an upper level low, a pocket of cold air and it's circulating right over lower parts of new mexico. same storm that brought rain yesterday. the white is all snow. that's really going to come in later today. winter storm warnings, southwest corner of new mexico, parts of arizona in towards extreme western texas. el paso today, three to seven inches of snow will pile up through today and tonight. in the east, it's all heavy rain from houston to san antonio, stretching back toward northern

parts of louisiana, western mississippi, too. jackson radar, that squall line race on past you. that will move to the east through alabama, ultimately georgia and the carolinas this afternoon. rain out of western p.a. out of west virginia. that gets into new york state, broken scattered showers we'll call it right now. new york city, philadelphia, baltimore, d.c., into boston. watch for the low clouds to continue to stream in. rain showers out ahead of that later today. watch for some delays, especially around those big cities. let me show you some video we got out of southern california. you don't see it very often. this is the mountains of san diego county. that's your level low. that snow maker is out toward western texas. that was saturday. >> thank you. >> you got it. a teenager almost died from the h1n1 virus and her mother now says that doctors sent her home twice before she went into intensive care. more on her daughter's

near-death experience from the flu. how much money you spent while hitting the stores for the holiday deals. did you do well?

well, hello, hello. if you're just now waking up because you hit the snooze button, we won't tell. a texas mother says her daughter's near death experience with h1n1 should be a warning to all parents. doctors sent the 15-year-old home twice with orders to rest and drink plenty of fluids. when her hands and feet went numb, her mother took her in for a third time and the teen spent the next two weeks in the icu. >> my first fear when she woke

up was, thank you, god, for giving me a second chance with her. something that a few days before, i didn't think i was going to have. >> she asked -- it's like, mom, did i almost die? she didn't even comprehend how sick she's been. >> the cdc says these are the signs that a case of h1n1 may become an emergency. fast breathing, bluish skin color, fever with a rash and any time your symptoms improve and then worsen again. a middle school in virginia will be closed today after an explosion. eight people went to the hospital. they were on a crew working to repair damage from a recent storm. police say that the crew was using propane to heat roofing tar, but a cause of the accident has not been determined. at least three people were critically injured. the building was heavily damaged. so, how did you do on black friday for your shopping?

it turned out to be a pretty good day for the retailers. our money expert, jennifer westhoven, is here. we're all pretty reluctant to spend. it's kind of like, no, no, you'll have to earn my spending dollars. what kind of deal do you really have? >> people were willing to go out there. they were like, i want to spend. but, exactly. you better make sure it's a good deal. i'm not going to waste any money this year. that's really good for our budgets. not necessarily for the economy, but good for you personally. so, how was the whole weekend? a mixed bag. people were out in force over the black friday shopping weekend even more than last year. 195 million people in stores and online. think about it. that's two out of every three americans. there's a very good chance you bought something this weekend. that's good news in a bad economy. national retail federation says the total haul for stores, $31.2 billion. it's up barely from last year. they did say, look, we could really tell that people were

looking to spend less, that they were scouting for lower-priced gifts. and why do we talk about this so much? not only is it crucial for the stores and all the workers, i'm thinking that's the big macy's, flagship macy's on 34th street you saw there. it's also a sign of how confident we are. are we too worried about our credit card bills and jobs to spend? consumer spending is so crucial to the economy and how it's going to do over the next year. consumer spending 70% of the economy. meanwhile, we know the jobs market is not doing so great. the president is gathering big names in business at the white house this week to talk jobs. at the summit on thursday, 130 big company leaders, including disney ceo, google ceo eric schmidt and boeing says they want to hear ideas on how to help the job crisis. unemployment at 10% and the country has lost 7 million jobs since the recession began.

maybe you think shopping online not as much fun as poker online. well, you are taking a chance when you do it, but you may have another six months to get away with it. the treasury and the feds say new rules that basically ban the banks from getting anywhere near the payment process, which could bring a swift end to internet gambling. that will be delayed until june. so, remember, it's still technically against the law. it was banned in 2006 but it was never quite clear what the banks were supposed to do. so, a lot of people have still been doing it. >> why your talking about the kind of gambling online where you give them your credit card number? >> yeah. >> sometimes they have sites just for fun and you don't have to pay for anything. >> no, this is the real stuff not just for fun. some people say good, we're glad you're delaying it. because in congress we're going to try to make it legal again. we'll see. >> and they said it just like that. hey, thank you. appreciate it, jen.

tiger woods is telling his fans about his car accident this weekend but he's not telling it to police. find out the reasons that he is giving for not talking with authorities.

police just released the sketches. the train flipped off the tracks when it hit a homemade bomb this weekend, going almost 130 miles an hour. at least 26 people were killed and about 100 injured. a russian newspaper says investigators are checking a group that carried out a similar attack in 2007. some of the stories we're busy watching in the "morning express" planner for you. 9:00 am, a hearing is scheduled in washington for james von brunn, he is accused of shooting and killing steven kanz at the holocaust museum in june. at 10:00 am, the holiday tree is

scheduled to arrive from arizona, it will be presented to congress. at 12:30 pm, climate change will be the focus at the national press club luncheon. prince albert of mona krchco wi there to raise awareness on that issue. were you the smart ones who decided i'm not the going to fly back on sunday. how about monday morning? >> the volume is not there yet. it will be, robin. we'll get delays, too, mainly because of low clouds, rain and poor visibility, especially around new york city metros later today. here's what we have for you. an hour more on top of that. atlanta, clouds coming in later this morning, an hour delay there. later this afternoon, charlotte, half hour delays because of storms. houston, the rain is over you now. watch for delays the first part of the day. they could be an hour or less. we'll talk about that again, robin, in a bit. >> thank you. >> all right. so, what is the deal here? tiger woods still is not talking

to police about his accident. legally, though, did you know he does not have to? here's rafer with more on the story. to catch you up, in case you didn't watch any tv over the weekend, that'sndable. >> woods was leaving his drive way early friday morning, hits a fire hydrant and then hits a tree. he and his wife, elin, turned away police for the third straight day on sunday. here is the thing. under florida law, all woods has to do is hand over his license and registration, which he did do. we're showing you some cell phone pictures sent to us by our affiliate wftv of the accident. to be fair, woods, very private guy, did release a statement on his website on sunday, which reads, in part, this situation is my fault and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. i'm human and i'm not perfect. i will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again. now, there have also been some tabloid allegations surrounding woods and another woman. another quote he gave seems to address those allegations.

i will have more on that at the top of the show. meantime, we are asking what you guys are saying about this, our facebook page is blowing up as far as how has woods been handling the situation. david wrote, he needs to let the truth out. if the media iota of coverup, his image is tarnished forever. celebrity has little privacy. meanwhile debbie disagrees. she says why should he explain? his accident didn't involve anyone else. doesn't sound like it's any one else's opinions. >> we're getting a lot of opinions. on to the nfl, brett favre, you heard of him? okay, he's good. he continues to amaze. the 40-year-old viking is playing like guys half his age. threw three touchdowns and had a season high in yards to lead minnesota to a 36-10 drubbing over the pathetic chicago bears. the vikes are 10-1. the big question, would favre's arm hold up the entire season? now he's a strong candidate for the mvp. this is one of the biggest

hits you will ever see in football and the kid is 6 years old. i know. i feel bad. watch little 33 here as he runs across the field and makes the tackle right here. lays the poor kid out. one more time. word is that the little man was okay. >> oh, my goodness! >> i haven't seen hits that big in the nfl. lastly, it is time for the golf highlight of the week. it is from the golf world cup. italy got its first world cup win. he hits is three feet from the pin and his brother hits in the winning putt. they get the golf highlight of the week. more sports in a minute. >> thank you, appreciate it. there is a promising new study about autism. why early detection could improve the lives of autistic children. .

back to work. i'm robin meade. hope you're awake and ready to go on this monday. here's what's going on. explosions and gunshots overnight outside a house that police have surrounded. how this is linked to a coffee shop rampage that left four police officers dead. tiger woods is avoiding police. he cancelled yet another interview with officers about his car crash. but he does have a message that he wants everyone to hear. and you have to see anti-war activist cindy sheehan go toe to

toe with a military vet and this is just the beginning. breaking news, a suspect who may have gunned down four police officers has been holed up for about seven hours in a house in seattle and police are telling people to lock their doors and to stay inside. the associated press reports that suspect, maurice clemmons, is wounded and possibly dead. gunshots have been heard. now, this video shows clemmons, who has a long criminal record. a sheriff's spokesperson says that the shooter walked into a coffee shop yesterday and opened fire. two officers were killed in their seats and one died trying to stand. one struggled with the shooter until he too was killed. >> they were getting ready to start shift, and they had met there and their computers were open and they were actually doing work inside when the gunman came in and specifically targeted and fired upon the four lakewood police officers. >> all four officers were parents. they include sergeant mark renninger, officers ronald owens, tina griswold and greg

richards. last night a police motorcade escorted their bodies to the medical examiner's office. people talked about the deadly attack. >> we have lost four officers today. >> it makes me angry. >> our hearts are going out to their families. i know that they probably -- some of them are married children, and it just hurts me. >> the seattle times reports the suspect reportedly believed that he was jesus and could fly. clemmons 95-year prison sentence was commuted by then arkansas governor mike huckabeea be in 2000. huckabee's office says the clemency decision was based on a parole board's recommendation. new this morning somali pirates have hijacked a huge oil tanker on its way to the united states. a european union spokesperson says the greek-owned ship was taken yesterday. pirates have taken dozens of ships in the area in recent years. this is believed to be the

second attack, though, on an oil tanker which could become a major environmental or security risk. tiger woods is talking about his car accident that happened over the weekend. maybe you weren't watching the news. he's not, however, talking to police about it. that brings up some questions. hi, rafer. >> good morning to you, robin. just to recap in case folks did not hear, woods got into what's being called a serious car accident early friday morning around 2:00 a.m. police say woods ran his suv over a fire hydrant and then crashed into a tree. they say they were told his wife, elin, used a golf club to smash out the windows of his car to get him out. woods was hospitalized and then released. legally he doesn't have to talk to police. he did release a statement on his website which reads in part, although i understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible. the only person responsible for the accident is me. and it raises some eyebrows. why would he say this? last week a tabloid alleged

woods has been seeing a new york nightclub hostess. well, that woman arrived in l.a. on sunday to meet with attorney gloria allred. she did deny having an affair when contacted by the ap the either way, we want to know what do you think about this. how do you think tiger is handling the situation? go to our facebook page and post a comment. a little later we'll have the 911 call made by a neighbor after the accident. >> and we'll share some of those postings on our facebook page. children with autism are seeing progress with early therapy. a new study in the journal of pediatrics says kids diagnosed as young as 18 months and started a program showed improved i.q. and lack skills. the therapy was effective when in a playful, natural setting like home. iran is pushing ahead with its nuclear program despite warnings from world leaders. iran's state news agency says that the parliament authorized another ten uranium enrichment

plants. president ahmadinejad says they are for nuclear power. that comes days after the u.n. nuclear watchdog passed a resolution demanding iran stop its uranium enrichment program. >> don't make the iranian government and nation take other measures and seriously reduce cooperation with the agency. we are seriously monitoring your next motions and if you don't stop this ridiculous policy then we will take new measures. >> well, the u.s. has wander that it will push for stronger economic sanctions. so tell the truth, are you going to shop at work today? this is what they call cyber monday, when a lot of people hit the web to buy holiday gifts. the problem is a lot of people do it on company time. jennifer westhoven is here. how big a deal is cyber monday? >> well, it's really not a big deal. it's really a big marketing gimmick that the stores made up. it's not even the busiest day for shopping online. it's not necessarily the best deals. but hey, look, make their gimmick work to your benefit.

a store trade group is forecasting that more americans are going to buy something online today than they did last year. if you look at a lot of the major retailers, they have got their whole web pages decked out in cyber monday deals. barnes & noble says 15% off one thing, the most expensive thing in your cart. home depot has a $700 patio set marked down to $400. yes, it says free shipping, i looked. if you're going to buy something big and heavy like that. >> better be, right? >> keep your eyes peeled for the free shipping. you don't want to buy something big and have to pay $100 in shipping. we have some of the deals under important websites. >> i'm glad that you're putting the links up there so people don't have to hunt for it. thank you, jen. at least two senators want authorities to press charges against a couple who apparently grashd t crashed the white house state dinner. they slipped by security even though they weren't on the guest list. one political analyst is among those who think the administration should make an

example out of the two aspiring reality stars. >> they basically trespassed. they had no right to be there. the secret services a tough enough task without people dressing up and pretend they're important. give them a reality tv show called dealing with the federal prosecution system in the district of columbia. >> so there. according to "the new york times" they spent friday and saturday answering questions from the secret service. their lawyer insists that they did not crash the dinner. >> they just couldn't find their invite, that's all. >> let me see here, i don't know where i put it. >> pretend they're important. that's harsh to the bone right there. >> seven minutes past the hour. some people decided to travel back today, you know, trying to miss the traffic yesterday. what's getting in their way? >> it's heavy rain right now, especially southern parts of texas. now getting in towards louisiana. it's a cold front, it's down towards the gulf of mexico. it's going to draw a lot of moisture out for the next couple of hours. if you look at houston, most of the rain is right around the

city and up towards the north. zero in towards the radar and you see a nice slug of rain right around that region. everything stretching northeastward today so louisiana, there's a nice line going by,

western. well, good morning to çyou. the alarm clock goes off and let's salute our troops. sierra wants to saluteç her husband, army sergeant dane huffman. he has a 15-month-old daughtdb who he has not seen in nearly a year. look at that sweet face. they cannot wait toç see him he and be near him again. maybe you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them. go to cnn.com/robin.çç hey, get this, the obama administration is expected to announce today a new campaign to pressure theç lenders to cut yr monthly mortgage payment if you're struggling to pay it. our moneydexpert, jennifer westhoven, is looking out for you. you talk about pressure to them. >> yeah, because we've heazd some of the tales of woe.

people say they have spent hours on the phone. they sayç they looked at the rules and they know that they qualify and yet the banks haven't done anything to help ç them. the white house has tried. it made $75 billion available to theç banks to do it and yet a t of critics say they're really not doing very much. so we'reç talking about millio of people who are basically at risk of losing their homes. now the banks may be shamed into doing something. oneç treasury official says be embarrassed so they may name some names. they're also going to goç to t banks and say we want you to submit in writing your plan to make sure that more people get help.ç we'll see. so far we know not enough has happened for many people. andç the argument is here, rob, that it's not just the person struggling to keep their home that it's everyone. theç foreclosure crisis is spiraling and that hurts

everyone's home price. >> you can see how it would. so youç see people around, usually immigrants together on certain street corners in parking lots waiting for dayç jobs. here i see it a lot at the home depot. well, usa today reports if you look closely it's not just a stereotype about immigrants. there are a lot more americans joining the ranks there trying to make aç buck. they say the number of americans in those groups have doubled since 2006. andç mostly you see it in regis in the country where there was a huge construction boom that collapsed. so you've@=q a lot of people who just can't find work. robin. >> all right, thank you. we canç certainly see that happening. okay. so our business travelers are travel again. let's find out what's going for you. hi, bob. >> so far so good. haven't seen delays pop upç ye but it's only quarter after seven eastern time. let me show you flight explore ç e. i do anticipate some problems in the big cities in the northeast.

pittsburgh right nowç seeing se rain headed to the east. philadelphia, d.c. metro, also new york city and boston will get someç delays today. atlanta, one hour or more because of the rain. showers in boston, philly and d.c. too. l and houston some thunderstorms and you could see heavy downpours later this morning around charlotte, so 30 minutes to one-hourç delays a good possibility there. full details on that weather in just about a half hour. >> all right, thank you. come here andç look at this. anti-war activist cindyç sheeh came face-to-face with an angry vet. she put a megaphone in his face and thingsç escalated from the. plus, police keep asking questions but tiger woods isn't talking to them. you'll hear(a neighbor's 911 call about that accident.

man, oh man, military police had to break up a physical confrontation during an anti-war protest.

this happened in california over the weekend. come here and look at this. a uniformed military veteran got right in the face of self-proclaimed peace mom cindy sheehan. >> get out of my face. [ bleep ] what are you doing? sheehan was protesting the possible surge in afghanistan in the use of unmanned drones. her son died serving ing in ira. the veteran said the protesters are hurting troop morale. >> we are for the troops. we want them to be safe. >> you demonstrators are never for the troops. >> i'm never going to stop, no matter how much we're owe pressed, no matter how much violence they bring to us, we're going to bring peace to them. >> no arrests were made but sheehan got a ticket for blocking traffic. doctors had wander a minnesota woman to prepare for a big baby. he was a 15-pounder. the big bundle of joy arrived three weeks early. before you even ask, yes, by c-section. the mom is used to having big

babies. her first daughter was a nine-pounder. another daughter 11 pounds. but the baby boy shocked even her. >> they said 15, 6 and i was on pain killers. i didn't know if that was the time. he said wait. i said wait for what? for, the weight. and i said, you know, i'm like get that curtain down, are you kidding me? >> wow, the baby was so big he didn't even fit in a normal preemie bet. preemie bed? that's tiny. of course he wouldn't fit in a preemie bed. >> a regular bed. jump three sizes of diapers. more on the car accident involving tiger woods. we now have the 911 call made by a neighbor after the crash. here's rafer with more on that. >> good morning to you, robin. just to recap about the crash, this happened early friday morning as woods was leaving his driveway. drove over a fire hydrant and then hit a tree.

he only drove a short while but from this call you get a sense of the severity of the accident. >> what happened, what's wrong? >> i have a neighbor, he hit the tree. we came out here just to see what was going on. i see and he's laying down. >> he hit a tree. an auto accident? >> yes. >> is he unconscious? >> yes. >> are you able to tell if he's breathing? >> no, i can't tell right now. >> woods was hospitalized and then later released. now, for the third straight day, he and his wife turned away police who want to discuss it but under florida law he doesn't have to talk to cops. he did release a statement, however. more on that. we're taking your comments on our facebook page. how do you think tiger is handling the situation? here is what you're saying. barbara wrote tiger doesn't need to talk to police. it seems they are the ones that are staying in touch with the media. police seem to like the publicity so why would he talk to them? . meanwhile gregory posted if he would just talk with the cops and let them tell the media what he said and what really happened, he would get his

privacy back. >> we have lots of people on both sides of the fence here. >> both sides. go to cnn.com/robin and click on the facebook icon. there's a lots of comments. the indianapolis colts have perfected the art of the comeback. these guys have been an amazing story. they were down by 13 to the texans at the half, but peyton manning rallied his team again for their fifth straight come-from-behind win, their 20th straight regular season win. they are one of two unbeaten teams in the nfl. the ants are the other. last minute heroics. vince young led the titans to a come-from-behind win. as time expired, young hits kenny britt for the go ahead score. as time runs out. young had been benched to start the year but since taking over the titans have won five straight with them. there's that other guy, brett favre, he's doing all right. we'll have that. >> he's doing okay. all right, police have a house surrounded and a suspect in a police ambush may be

wounded, hey be even dead. we're following the story that's happening right now including reports that gunshots have been fired at a house where this guy is holed up right now.

breaking news. police say that a suspect in the killings of four police officers is holed up in a house in seattle right now. a sheriff's spokesperson says that suspect maurice clemmons has been shot. take a listen. >> no longer using the word person of interest, he is a suspect. and we do believe that he has been shot and that he has a gunshot wound and that occurred during the incident and one of the police officers managed to shoot him. >> four cops were shot and killed in a suburban coffee shop yesterday near tacoma, washington. for the third time tiger woods has cancelled an interview

with florida state troopers about his car accident near his home this weekend. in a statement on his website, woods said i'm human and i'm not perfect and that rumors about him and his wife are false. new this morning, a huge oil tanker on its way to the united states has been hijacked off somalia. an official says somali pirates took the greek-owned vessel about 800 miles off the coast and they have been seizing ships for years, but this is about the second attack on an oil tanker. those are some of the headlines that we're following this morning. well, hello, good morning. i know you're not ready to go back to work, are you? i'm robin meade. good morning, sunshine. we are a day away from president obama's big announcement about afghanistan. now, he's expected to send up to 35,000 more troops there and give a time frame of when u.s. troops would leave the country. former assistant secretary of state mark kimit says troops could be there for years. >> i think we need to prepare the american people for the honest truth, that this will take five to ten years as a

minimum before we can hand this over to the afghans so that they can run the security portfolio and no longer be reliant on american troops in afghanistan. >> now, president obama will give a speech the a8 p.m. eastern tomorrow by the way the from the u.s. military academy at west point. the search continues this morning for a man accused of killing four family members after thanksgiving dinner in florida. police have issued an arrest warrant for paul merhige. he killed one of his twin sisters who was pregnant, an aunt and 6-year-old who was asleep. >> i just felt an urge, go give her a kiss. so i went in there and i was just telling her how much i love her, how special she is, just what an honor it is to be her dad. we had a tender moment and i kissed her good night. she went -- i put her to sleep and she woke up with jesus.

>> two other people were injured in the shooting. there is a $10,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest. the senate begins debate on health care reform today and leading democrats have their work cut out for them as they try to bridge the divide between liberal and conservative dems. republicans have pretty much been unanimous in their opposition to the plan. >> the war is terribly important. jobs and our economy are terribly important. so this may be an audacious suggestion, but i would suggest we put aside the health care debate until next year. >> the health care debate is essential to our economic future. there are businesses and individuals each year pay more and more for health care. we have to go ahead and conclude this debate. to stop now would be stopping on the edge of i think significant reform, which is so important for the country. >> well, the overhaul would provide medical coverage to 31 million uninsured americans. el er this month the house

passed its version of health care reform. the trial starts today for an alleged nazi guard accused of helping to kill nearly 28,000 jews. john demjanjuk was deported from the united states to germany in may. the 89-year-old denies any role in the holocaust, but prosecutors say that he was known as ivan the terrible during his time at a nazi death camp in poland. a texas mother says that her daughter's near-death experience with h1n1 should be a warning to all parents. doctors sent the 15-year-old home twice with orders to rest and drink fluids. but when her hands and her feet went numb, her mom took her in for a third time and the girl spent the next two weeks in the icu. >> when she woke up was thank you, god, for giving me a second chance with her, something that a few days before i didn't think

i was going to have. she asked, mom, did i almost die? she didn't even comprehend how sick she's been. >> the cdc says that these are the signs of h1n1 becoming an emergency. your breathing is fast, skin is turning blue, fever with a rash and if your symptoms improve and then get worse again. good morning. 35 minutes past the hour. you might be getting ready maybe to go outside for an early morning jog/walk to get the turkey and pumpkin and stuffing and everything else off of you. hi, bob. >> i think i had to start that about two days ago since i've been sweating turkey for the last three days. >> get the stretch pants on for today. >> what's up, robin. hey, this weather brought to you by tylenol. oh, feel better. so what's going on across the region. if you're traveling out there today, we do have the rain clouds, the rain showers are out there too. you can see them right around houston all the way towards

memphis, getting towards new england. on the back side of that it's an upper level low. you can see right around new mexico light rain, light scattered snow showers are around. it's not that heavy right now. give it some time, though. we're going to tap into a little more moisture as we head to the east. winter storm warnings, all the areas shaded in t red, southwestern new mexico, western parts of texas, how about 3 to 7 inches of snow near el paso. the lower part of new mexico, maybe half a foot of snow for you today through tonight. look terrain houston stretching towards new orleans later today. skip up toward the northeast. your cold front is right around ontario and quebec right by that line and goes all the way down through the ohio valley. ahead of that it's going to be a little warmer for you today, but the clouds will be around, the rain showers too. you can see light scattered showers across parts of new york state now edging in towards new jersey out of pennsylvania. it's heavier across western pa but notice the track, so places like d.c., baltimore, philadelphia, new york, boston,

all the low clouds are headed in. we'll get delay tess airports because of that. we have one at atlanta. it's a ground stop for the next half hour to 45 minutes. i'll tell you why coming up in just about a half hour. >> i don't know about vacation here. no working bathrooms on a cruise ship? thousands of people, they could not use the restroom. what is the deal there? plus we find out how much money you spent while hitting the stores for holiday deals. did you get some?

a third competency hearing starts today for the man charged with kidnapping elizabeth smart back in 2002. a federal judge will decide if brian david mitchell is competent enough to stand trial. he was found incompetent twice in utah state court. mitchell has been diagnosed with a rare delusional disorder. police have released the sketches of a possible suspect in an attack on a high-speed train in russia. they say the train flipped off the tracks when it hit a homemade bomb this weekend. it was going about 130 miles an hour. at least 26 people were killed, about 100 injured. a russian newspaper says that investigators are checking a group that carried out a similar attack in 2007. a 2006 reese ling has caused a buzz at a winery in oregon. that's because it was used at president obama's state dinner. it has already sold out of what is being called the white house wine and the company cannot

believe its sudden boom. >> knew it would have an effect but had no idea with it being the first state dinner how dramatic the effect would be. it's been a pretty busy couple of days. >> you may still be able to get the wine at wine stores and restaurants. it's known by the nickname crash. just kidding. all right, did you get what you were looking for on black friday? it turned out to be a pretty good day for the retailers. let's see, our money expert, jennifer westhoven, is here. obviously people were out there. >> they were out there. i think you really saw it in the big box stores. you've not going to see it in the little stores, but people were out in force over the black friday weekend. that's good news in a bad economy. more people than last yee. two out of every three americans either in a store or online, so good chance that that was you. 195 million in all. the national retail federation says we were looking for cheaper stuff and we were spending less. and this is really important

because consumer spending is one way to get a gauge of how the economy is going to do over the next few months. so for now about the same as last year. but people out there and looking. the president bringing in big names to the white house this week to talk jobs. on thursday the job summit will include 130 leaders, ceos, but also union leaders. that's disney's ceo, an economist and google's ceo. the president wants to hear their ideas on the job crisis with unemployment at more than 10%. if you like to bet online, you're still taking a chance. it is illegal, but you do have another six months to kind of get away with it where it's still in the kind of dodgy land. treasury and the fed say that the new rules say they have to stop banks from getting involved in paying for the transactions, they're going to be delayed until june. now, technically congress banned internet gambling in 2006 but because it was really unclear what the banks' responsibilities

were, people were still doing it, they were just having banks clear their transactions. a lot of supporters say good, we're going to use these six months to try and overturn that ban. we shall see. robin. >> all right, jen, thank you. and we are busy watching some of the stories that we're going to be already working on today. we already are working on them. at 9 a.m. a hearing is scheduled in washington for james von brunn, the guy accused of shooting and killing a security guard at the holocaust museum in june. at 10:00 a.m., the christmas tree is scheduled to arrive at the nation's capital and be presented to congress. at 12:30 p.m., prince albert ii of monaco will talk about climate change at the national press club. five, four, three, two, one. >> this rocket launch happened in new zealand this morning. the company that did it says it is the first private missile launch in the southern hemisphere. the rocket reached a speed of 3100 miles an hour.

that sounds crazy. before it splashed down in the pacific ocean. the sheep did not like it. a massachusetts family had a special thanksgiving gift. a baby girl. a woman went into labor while she and her mom were still cooking. the mom called 911 but the baby was born before the paramedics arrived. >> they were like take her little foot. i was scared and i grabbed her little foot. and she's now take it and spank it. so i spanked it a little bit and she moved. i was like yeah, she's moving, she's moving. >> can you imagine? the newborn is doing well. she came two weeks early and weighs six pounds. tiger woods is telling his fans about his car accident over the weekend, but he's not talking to police, so rafer is back. what's going on here? >> yeah, robin. one of the boats -- one of yachts that tiger woods owns is called privacy. that is apparently just what tiger wants but find out the reasons he's giving for not talking to authorities and also what our facebook friends have to say about it.

i do not even want to think about this. more than 2,000 people stuck on

a cruise ship with no lights, no bathrooms. norwegian cruise line says that it's not sure why the ship lost power friday morning, but they had to dock in puerto rico saturday. some of the passengers slept outside it was so hot without their ac. >> we slept on our chairs on our balcony because you couldn't sleep inside. >> the condition was horrible. >> you're angry? >> very angry. very, very, very. >> she looked like she was mad. the cruise line flew people back to miami. some people are outraged about a controversial ban linked to mosques. voters in switzerland approved a ban on the towers on mosques or next to them. they help identify a mosque and there are only four in switzerland as it is. some muslim groups say that the vote is anti-islamic. switzerland's government says people can still build mosques and that muslims can practice their religion. a flight headed for paris had to return to jfk airport

when a problem cropped up on friday. air france described it as a minor technical problem, but listen, it was a super jumbo plane and made a u-turn back to new york after being in the air 90 minutes. after a ground check the problem was fexed and the plane and it's more than 400 passengers took off again for paris. what's the deal here, tiger woods is still not talking to police about his car accident. actually, though, he does not have to. here's rafer to get you caught up if you're like, huh, what's going on here. >> good morning, robin. yeah, he's always been a very, very private guy. tiger, one of the biggest stars in the world, has always managed to keep his private life that, private. he and his wife, elin, turned away cops for the third straight day on sunday who want to talk to him about it. under florida law all woods has to do is hand over his license and registration, which he did do. these are some cell phone pictures sent to us by our affiliate wftv of the accident when woods ran over a fire hydrant and police say he hit a

tree early friday morning. now, he did release a statement which says in part this situation is my fault and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. i'm human and i'm not perfect. i will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again. now, there's also been some tabloid allegations surrounding woods and another woman. he gave another quote which seems to sort of address those allegations, more on that at the top of the show. in the meantime we're taking your thoughts. here's what you're saying about how woods has been handling the situation. christina from georgia posted not that it's really any of our business, but why not just talk unless you are hiding something? meanwhile amy from minneapolis wrote why is tiger the golden boy? it looks a bit suspicious. i know it must be hard for a celebrity to live in the public eye all the time, but it looks more suspicious not to tell. keep those comments coming. they're all over the place. cnn.com/robin. click on the facebook icon. in other news, brett favre, you heard about him? he's pretty good. the 40-year-old viking keeps playing like a guy half his age.

he threw three touchdowns and had a season high in yardage to lead minnesota in a huge win over the pathetic chicago bears. the vikes are now 10-1 and favre has become a strong candidate for mvp. strong candidate for mvp. antwan walker is in the news again after reports he kwanderred away over $100 million in earnings. he's now the target of several lawsuits by tenants of chicago apartments his company owns. they allege one building has had bricks fall off, hazards were not repaired for months, and at one point a sewer pipe burst, filling ining the basement. walker has apologized for the unacceptable living conditions. lastly, this is one of the biggest hits you'll ever see. these are 6-year-old kids. check this out. takes a while to develop. sweep to the right. keep your eye on 33 . here it comes. there it is. one more time. now, oh, goodness. word is that the young boy is okay. but, bob, i don't know.

does that make you want to keep jack out of football? >> he is turning 6. i don't know. i think jack might be the -- i think i'm going to put him in there. >> put him in, coach. >> let me show you what's going on now. one delay because of low clouds. 700 feet. that's the cloud ceilings now in atlanta. ground stop for the next -- till 8:15. about a half hour to 45 minutes you're going to see these things go on. new york city metro an hour or more delay because of low clouds. already that delay in atlanta. that will probably build to over 45 minutes. half hour to hour long delay around charlotte also. houston, it's going to be showers all morning. thunderstorms later this afternoon. one-half hour to hour delays. that's about as far west as the delays will get. delays across the mid-atlantic, too. miami, beautiful. temperatures in the low 80s. four cops were shot and killed in a suburban coffee

shop. now a suspect is holed up in a case. which former presidential candidate commuted the suspect's 95 year prison sentence.

spending les tells you to to decipher the menu. >> when is the word "special" not so special? quite often on a restaurant menu. in an era that we're all trying to save every penny we can, restaura restaura restauranteurs are getting more and more clever about trying to get us to open up the wallet wider when we're trying to snap it shut. when you're told at a restaurant tonight's specials are, they're not truly specials if, as they're being recited to you, no price is being stated. the real specials at a restaurant are the ones where it's a recession special or whatever. a set price. you've seen the tv ads where they'll say feed two people for

this much or a complete meal for that much. that's a special. be very aware and wary with any wine that is being promoted as a special or any food item that's being promoted as a special. ask the price. you'll be shocked. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to shrink your bills, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> so clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundaying here on hln. new this morning, al qaeda is suspected of kidnapping three spanish aide workers who were delivering supplies to poor villages in west africa. that's according to spain's interior minister. the aid group says the volunteers' vehicle turned up empty after somehow getting separated fr ed from its convoy. this is where attacks by al qaeda linked groups on on the rise. 13 children were thrown from a crowded mini van when it

crashed in louisiana this weekend. police say the driver and four kids died. they were between the ages of 2 and 14. police believe the van blew a tire because it was overloaded. they are still investigating. they say the kids were not wearing seat belts. if today is your birthday, did you know you share it with billy idol? sweat, sweat, sweat. he turns 54 today. did you know that idol got the idea to change his name after a schoolteacher wrote the note billy was idol, i-d-l-e, to his parents. the couple who crashed president obama's first state dinner might get an invitation after all. to court. the aspiring reality tv stars could face federal charges for what some call a serious security breach. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

good morning. yeah, i know. it probably feels weird to be up early. you had a nice, long weekend. most people, anyway. i'm robin meade. morning, sunshine. here's what's going on today. explosions and gunshots overnight outside a house that police have surrounded right now. and they're calling the man inside a suspect in the deaths of four police officers. tiger woods is avoiding police. he canceled yet another interview with officers about his car accident. but he does have a message that he wants everyone to hear. and you want to drink what the president served at last week's state dinner?

well, where you can find the wine. first, breaking news today. police are after a suspect -- all right. police after a suspect who may have gunned down four police officers in a coffee shop have surrounded a house in seattle. they say the suspect inside is wounded. but they don't know how badly he is hurt or even, in fact, if he's alive, still. witnesses say maurice clemmons was struck by a bullet as he struggled with a police officer in yesterday's attack. listen. all right. looks like we're having tape problems. but the video shows clemmons here, who has a long criminal record. police also detained several other people who they say helped clemmons after yesterday's attack. so that's a developing story, and we're continue to watch it. all four officers were parents. they include sergeant mark

renninger and officers mark owens, tina griswold and greg richards. people are talking about the deadly attack. >> we have lost four officers today. >> makes me angry. >> my heart's going out to even their families. i know that they probably -- some of them are married, have children. it just hurts me. >> the seattle times reports that the suspect reportedly believed that he was jesus and could fly. clemmons' 95 year prison sentence was commuted by then arkansas governor mike huckabee in 2000. he was 17 when he was sentenced for robberies, thefts and bringing a gun to school. now huckabee's office says the clemency decision was based on a parole board's recommendation. new this morning, somali pirates have hijacked a huge oil tanker on its way to the united states. a european union spokesperson says the greek owned ship was taken yesterday. pirates have taken dozens of

ships in the area actually in recent years. this is believed to be about the second on an oil tanker, which could become a major environmental or security risk if you think about it. tiger woods is talking about his car accident that happened over the weekends. problem is, he's not talking to police about it. what's the deal? hi, rafer. >> good morning, robin. if details as far as what we know of this accident raised a lot of speculation. police want answers. woods got into what's being called a serious accident early friday morning around 2:00 in the morning. he ran his suv over a fire hydrant and crashed into a tree. they were told his wife used a golf club to smash out the windows of his car to get him out. he was hospitalized and later released. legally woods does not have to talk to police. it was because it was a traffic accident. he did, however, release a statement on his website which reads in part, although i understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating around my family and me are irresponsible.

the only person responsible for the accident is me. that kind of raises a few eyebrows. this is what we may have been referring to. last week a tabloid alleged that woods has been seeing a new york nightclub hostess. that woman arrived in l.a. sunday to meet with attorney gloria allred. however, she did deny having an affair when contacted by the ap. we want to know, how do you like -- what do you think about tiger and the way he's handling the situation? go to our facebook page a post a comment. >> we are getting a lot of comments on that. >> a little bit later we're going to have the 911 call made by a neighbor after the accident. children with autism are seeing progress with early therapy. a new study in the journal paid yatices says kids diagnosed as early as 18 months and started a program showed improved iq and language skills. they found the therapy was most effective when it was in a playful, natural setting like the home. iran is pushing ahead wits nuclear program despite warnings from world leaders.

iran's state news agency says the parliament authorized another ten uranium enrichment plants. president ahmadinejad says they're for nuclear power. the move comes days after the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog passed a resolution demanding iran stop its iranian enrichment program. >> translator: don't make the iranian government take other measures and seriously reduce cooperation with the agency. we are seriously monitoring your next motions. if you don't stop this ridiculous carrot and stick policy we'll take new measures. >> the u.s. has warned it will push for stronger economic sanctions. are you going to be shopping at work today? shop at work? this is cyber monday when a lot of people supposedly hit the web to buy holiday gifts. problem is many of us do it on the company time. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. how big a deal is cyber monday? >> it's really not. you know, it's not the busiest day for online shopping.

that usually happens right around like the 16th, 17th when all the free shipping deals run out. then everybody hits the web. but you could still profit from their marketing gimmick. it's predicted more americans will buy something today than on this day last year. at old navy and its sister store the gap there's 20% off everything plus free shipping. amazon has wireless headphones on sale. we've got a link to that deal. >> hello, hello, hello. >> i couldn't hear you. >> i said thank you for helping us. at least two senators want authorities to press charges against the couple who apparently crashed the white house state dinner. the secret service admits tareq and michaele salahi slipped past.

>> i think you have to have a strong deterrent against this kind of thing. therefore, if it's a federal crime, to lie to a federal agent and these people didn't tell the truth about their invitation, then they should be in some way brought to justice here. again, as an example to others not to do it. >> according to "the new york times," the salahis spent friday and saturday answering questions from the secret service. their lawyers still insist they did not crash the dinner. now, still to come, you have to stay tuned for a story where you can get a taste of the white house without breaking federal laws. >> without crashing the dinner? nice. nice. you can do it legally. >> seven minutes past the hour. what's to come weather wise today? >> heavy rain once again lower parts of texas. houston, see the showers coming on in. the tail end of the cold front. a lot of moisture coming up from

the south. houston itself, one shot of rain breezed on p through the city. below it more thunderstorm action coming in. houston, trying to get in or out of the city today, low clouds, rain showers off and on, thunderstorms. that's what it looks like right now. that's the way it's going to be for the entire afternoon. watch for rainy conditions out there. back to the maps, the rain is stretching up to the north through jackson, mississippi, into northern and central alabama right now. here's birmingham. heavy rain directly over the city, all moving to the east. if you're trying to get in or out of atlanta the rain will be here shortly. low clouds in place. heavy downpours across the north georgia mountains. everything moving eastward. spartanville to charlotte later this afternoon. rain stretching in towards northern sections of west virginia in towards maryland and pennsylvania. check out the heaviest rain right around that hudson valley of new york state going all the way down 87, into new york city here shortly. watch for delays to pop up there. if you're heading down south farther, should be nice.

miami, a nice picture. blue skies. just a few clouds coming in. >> i want to go on vacation. >> i'm thinking the same thing. oh, yeah. that's the stuff. good morning to you, miami. maybe we'll show it every day just so people can be happy. >> how high are they supposed to get today? >> low 80s. should be nice. perfect. this could be a pretty big day if you are behind on your mortgage, which millions of americans are. how president obama plans to get your lender to help you avoid foreclosure. plus, susan boyle is getting revenge for a second place finish on "britain's got talent." and she's making history, too.

time right now for a salute to the trips. sierra huffman wants to salute her husband, army sergeant dane huffman. she says he has a 15-month-old daughter who he hasn't seen for nearly a year. look how sweet! they cannot wait to see him home and be near him again.

maybe you have somebody in the service. we'd love to help you salute them. go to cnn.com/robin. today the obama administration's expected to announce a new campaign to pressure lenders to cut your monthly mortgage payment if you're struggling to get through that every month. our money expert jennifer westhoven looking out for you. >> good morning. we've heard the tales. i'm sure you've heard them, too. people are saying, look, we know we qualify for this new federal program. yet the bank not helping us. the white house tried the carrot. it made $75 billion available to banks to try and help people to cut some of their monthly mortgage payments. but, again, a lot of people running into problems here. there's been a lot of criticism. well, now the white house is taking another step. first, they may start naming names. they may start saying what banks are dragging their feet, thinking that maybe the shame factor will help. they're also saying they're

going to appoint officers to say to the banks, what did you do today to help people with their mortgages? and what's your plan? one treasury official has said banks should be embarrassed by the fact that they haven't been helping. all right. you've probably seen people around, the day laborers. maybe sometimes on a street corner where you are. in a parking lot waiting for day jobs. here, i see it at the home depot. you may see it somewhere different. "usa today" reports if you look closely, it's not just immigrants anymore. there are a lot more americans joining their numbers. in fact, the number of americans joining the ranks doubled since 2006 according to to a ucla professor. you will see it most in places around the country where construction jobs have really disappeared. it makes sense, robin. a lot of people thinking, i've got to find a way to feed my family, pay my bills. i'm going to try this. >> i need money today. exactly. thank you. anti-war activist cindy sheen came face to face with an angry military vet. here's the tape.

she put a megaphone in his face during the protest. things got out of control from there.

breaking news this morning. a suspect who may have killed four police officers is wounded and holed up in a home in seattle right now. police say that the suspect, maur maurice clemmons, was shot. they don't know how badly he's hurt or even if he's still alive. police also detained several people who they say helped clemmons after yesterday's attack. two police robots are at the scene for a possible search of the home. a military veteran decided to take on self-proclaimed peace mom cindy sheehan during an anti-war protest over the

weekened. you' you've got to see the tape of the confrontation. >> nobody cares. >> get out of my face! >> nobody cares. >> get out of my face! >> what are you doing? >> military police had to break up the pushing and the shoving that followed. sheehan was at travis air force base in california protesting the possible troop surge in afghanistan and the use of unmanned drones. her son died serving in iraq. the veteran says, gosh, the protesters are hurting troop morale. >> we are for the troops! >> you are never for the troops! >> i'm never going to stop. no matter how much we're pressed. no matter how much violence they bring to us, we're going to bring peace to them. >> no arrests were made. but sheehan did get a ticket for blocking traffic. you could be passing cotton around the dinner table some day. right now, it is poisonous for people to eat. but texas researchers found a

way to reduce the toxin levels and make cotton seeds edible. they could be used in protein bars, breads and cookies in about ten year. there's already enough cotton grown worldwide to feed 500 million people a year. >> how many meals have you just said, you know what this needs? a little cotton. more on the car accident involving tiger woods. we now have the 9/11 call made by a neighbor after that crash. here's rafer with more on that. >> good morning to you, robin. woods got into what they're calling a serious accident. he only drove a short way as he was leaving his driveway. he ran over a fire hydrant and hit a tree. in that short period of time you get a real sense of just how severe the accident was from this call. listen.

>> now, he was hospitalized and then later released. also, for the third straight day, woods turned away police who want to discuss the accident. but under florida law he doesn't have to talk to the cops because it was a traffic accident. he did release a statement. we're going to have more on that a little bit later on. in the meantime we've been taking your thoughts. what do you think about the way tiger's been handling the situation. jerry posted, tiger has a right to his privacy. the only people he's required to answer to are his loved one. i hope the media respects that. meanwhile, crystal wrote, i think tiger woods is just scared to tell the real story. scared that he won't be an idol in people's eyes anymore. set it up and be a man. wow. >> we have some really good facebook comments today. hope you take part. >> cnn.com/robin. click on the facebook icon. leave a comment. the indianapolis colts have perfected the art of the comeback. they were down by 13 to the texans at the half. but peyton manning rallied his

team again for their fifth straight come from behind win. it is their 20th straight regular season win. they're one of two unbeaten teams in the league. the saints are the other. they play tonight. speaking of comebacks, some amazing last minute heroics from the tennessee titans' vince young. he was benched to start the year. will led the titans on a drive. fourth down, time expires. since coming off the bench and taking over they have now won five straight behind vince young. from a good streak to a bad one, the new jersey nets just a few hours after firing their coach lost their 17th straight to start the season. that matches the nba record to the worst start for the season. one more and they have the record. this just in, serena williams gets two years' probation for her tirade at the u.s. open with an undisclosed monetary fine. we'll give more details as we

get that. >> i wonder how big that fine's going to be? >> the reports are it's a lot of money. >> thank you. you could get a taste of the white house state dinner without breaking some federal laws. a 2006 reislin used at president obama's first state dinner has caused a buzz at a winery in oregon. the winery says it's already sold out. >> knew it would have an effect. had no idea with it being the first state dinner how dramatic the effect would be. it's been a pretty busy couple of days. >> you may still be able to get the wine at some wine stores and restaurants. i thaulought he served beer the backyard. that was awesome. let me show you real quickly, chicago right now. you want to see a nice sunrise,

here's what it looks like. cold, though. 31 degrees. high only in the mid-40s. atlanta, you're looking at a 15 to 30 minute delay because of the low clouds. it's going to be there for most of the day. those will build to over an hour. same in new york, boston, philadelphia, d.c., charlotte and houston. all delayed. )$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$

breaking news right now. police have used loud speakers, explosions, gunshots and even a robot in an eight-hour standoff in seattle. they say that maurice clemmons, somebody named maurice clemmons is inside. he is a suspect in the killing of four police officers in a coffee shop yesterday. police say that clemmons has been shot and they don't know how badly he's hurt or even if he's still alive. police say they arrested several other people were helping clemmons after yesterday's attack. for the third time, tiger woods canceled an interview with florida state troopers about his accident near his home this weekend. in a statement on his website, woods said, i'm human and i'm

not perfect. and that rumors about him and his wife are false. new this morning, a huge oil tanker on its way to the united states has been hijacked by pirates off of somalia. an official says pirates took the greek owned vessel about 800 mimes off the coast. they've been seizing ships for years, true. but this may be just the second time they've attacked an oil tanker. 31 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. i know. you're probably just a little tired after getting to sleep in for a couple of days. i'm robin meade. welcome. we are a day away from president obama's big announcement about afghanistan. now, he is expected to send up to 35,000 more troops there and give a timetable of when u.s. troops would leave the country. former assistant secretary of state says that troops could be there for years. >> i think we need to prepare the american people for the honest truth. this will take five to ten years at a minimum before we can hand this over to the afghans so that they can run the security

portfolio and no longer be reliant on american troops in afghanistan. >> president obama will give a speech at 8:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow from the u.s. military academy at west point. some people are outraged about a controversial ban linked to mosques. voters in switzerland approved a ban on new minarets. you know, the tower on mosques or next to them. now, they help identify a mosque. there are only four right now in switzerland. some muslim groups say the vote is anti-islamic. switzerland's government says that people can still build mosques and muslims there can practice their religion. the search kopts this morning for a man accused of killing four members of a family after thanksgiving dinner in florida. police have issued an arrest warn for paul merhige. they say he killed his twin sisters, one of whom was pregnant, an aunt and a 6-year-old cousin who was asleep. her father talked about the last thing that he said to her.

>> i just felt an urge, go give her a kiss. so i went in there and i was just telling her that -- how much i love her, how special she is. just what an honor it is to be her dad. we had a tender moment. and i kissed her good night. she went -- i put her to sleep. she woke up with jesus. >> two other people were injured in the shooting. there is a $10,000 reward being offered for information leading to an arrest. investors are still keeping an eye on debt crisis in dubai. the shock waves could continue to have an effect on the stocks here. our money expert jennifer westhoven is going to explain to you how dubai is connected with us. good morning. >> things are very calm this morning. the futures are barely changed. but, boy, after what a weekend. there was a financial storm in dubai that hit the stock markets all around the world. today dubai's exchange tumbled more than 6%. that's the first trading day

since basically dubai's financial arm said, we're having trouble paying $60 billion in debt that we owe. you may be thinking why are their skiiers in the background? isn't she talking about dubai? yeah. that's the kind of thing they've been building there. they built that. they built a bhoel island shaped like a palm tree. the world's tallest building. all of this they were counting on those very high oil prices. remember when gas prices were 4 bucks a gallon? gas prices have collapsed and so has the economy in dubai. that took a toll on american markets friday. the dow was off 153. but, again, today just about flat. we're starting around this 10,300 level. >> this has nothing to do with the story. how does the skiing thing work when it's really, really hot there? is it inside? >> it's inside a mall. >> can you believe that? it's huge. >> huge. that's the kind of money that they briefly had, and they were counting on. i think it's a good lesson why when it comes to money, when money suddenly rolls in, you got to count on that it's not going to be like that forever.

you can't plan for that. >> hey, thank you. good advice. the senate begins debate on health care reform today. and leading democrats have their work cut out for them as they try to bridge a divide between liberal and conservative democrats. now, republicans have been pretty much unanimous in their opposition to the plan. >> the war is terribly important. jobs and our economy are terribly important. so this may be an audacious suggestion. but i would suggest we put aside the health care debate until next year. >> the health care debate is essential to our economic future. businesses and individuals each year pay more and more for health care. it's become unaffordable. we have to go ahead and conclude this debate. to stop now would be stopping on the edge of i think significant reform which is so important for the country. >> well, the overhaul would provide medical coverage to 31 million uninsured americans. earlier this month the house passed its version of the health care reform. 35 minutes past the hour.

all right. so rain might be getting in the way if some of you are going, i'm going to exercise off everything i ate on thanksgiving. hi, bob. >> that would take me about 18 months. after all we ate the last couple days. let me show you what's happening now. we're going to find wet roads around texas in towards the lower part of the gulf coast. that goes all the way in towards the northeast along that cold frontal boundary. the satellite, that's all the gray, those clouds are filters through just about every single state across the eastern seaboard. back in across the lower part of the mid-south. live to atlanta, world's busiest airport. that's what they call it. you can see the low clouds are in. 500 foot ceilings. 15 to 30 minute delays right now. the rain hasn't even reached it yet. rain heavy at times later this morning into the early afternoon. temperature holds rains in the upper 50s to near 60s. decent snow in san diego county yesterday afternoon across the highest elevations. now that upper level low responsible for that has shifted

eastward to lower parts of new mexico. see a little light snow, light rain mixed in there. winter storm warnings, areas shaded in red. lower southwest corner of new mexico, kes tewestern texas. watch for 3 inches of snow. not a heck of a lot. it's going to make that road a little tricky. rain showers in towards houston. heavy at times. one shield of rain went overhead. another batch of thunderstorms to the southwest moves in. rain gets in towards mississippi, alabama, georgia, ultimatically te icallly the co a teenager almost died from the h1n1 virus. her mom says a doctor sent her home twice before she went to intensive care. plus, we're going to find out how much money you spent hitting the stores for the holiday deals.

a texas mom says that her daughter's near death experience with h1n1 should be a warning for all parents. doctors sent the 15-year-old fw twice with orders to rest and drink plenty of fluids. when her hands and feet went numb, her mom took her in for the third time. the teen spent the next two weeks in the icu. >> my first prayer when she woke up was, thank you, god, for giving me a second chance with her. something that a few days before, i didn't think i was going to have. she asked, "mom, did i almost

die?" she didn't even comprehend how sick she's been. >> the cdc says that these are the signs that a case of h1n1 may become an emergency. fast breathing, your skin is turning blue, fever with a rash and any time your symptoms improve and then get worse again. susan boyle is making history. her debut album entered the british album charts in the top spot yesterday. "i dreamed a dream" sold more than 4,000 copies since it came out a week ago. boyle became a worldwide sensation when she appeared on "britain's got talent." >> she was all over the itunes. if you logged into itunes for any reason over the weekend. >> exactly. can you imagine? >> she's come a long way. did you get what you were looking for on black friday? turned out to be a pretty good day for the retailer. our money expert, jennifer

westhoven. i didn't try it this year. how about you? >> i didn't try it on black friday. on sunday i kind of went out because i wanted to see what's going on. it was pretty quiet. >> maybe because that was a sunday and people were traveling back. >> yeah. people apparently were really out in force over the black friday weekend. i wasn't in any of the stores where they had the big door busters and stuff, too. that's good news in a bad economy. consumer spending so crucial to the economy. there's a good chance that you were out there. two out of every three americans were shopping in a store or online this weekend. 195 million of us in all. that's a little more than last year is the good news. but the national retail federation says we were all looking for cheap gifts. that's the bad news. we're spending a little bit less. look, hey, it may not be so great for the economy but it could be good for your personal economy. so be responsible. but it is one way that we can kind of see how the economy might do over the next few months. it tells us that people are sticking to their new habits. be careful with their their.

there's some people pouring in. ben bernanke does want another term as head of the federal reserve. he's kind of the guardian of the economy, so to speak. he does not want congress messing with his powers. his confirmation hearing starts on thursday. before it all starts, he laid out in a "washington post" op-ed piece his opposition to some of the proposals that would take away the fed's oversight power of banks. some people have argued, hey, you guys didn't exactly do well. and he says he doesn't want congress to audit the fed. he does not think it should be subject to political whims. if you like to play poker online, look, you're still taking a chance if you do it. it is illegal. it is dodgey. you may have another six months where you may be able to get away with it. remember, some people have had their bank accounts frozen. treasury and the fed say they have some new rules that would have stopped the banks from the payment process. they were supposed to take effect i think tomorrow. they're going to be delayed until june. this online gambling was tech

nickically banned back in 2006. they were never really clear in the law what the banks were supposed to do. banks get held responsible for the payments. a lot of people have still been doing it. again, be careful. it's dodgey. some supporters say they're going to use the six months to try and overturn the ban. barney frank says he thinks it should be legal because then you could tax it. >> right. then the money comes back. two sides to every story. that's for sure. two points to it. tiger woods is telling his fans about a car accident he had over the weekend. problem is, he's not talking to police. find out the reasons that he's giving for not talking with authorities.

breaking news. we have brand-new comments this morning from police who are searching for a suspect who may have gunned down four police officers in a coffee shop over the weekend. the suspect, maurice clemmons,

has been holed up for about eight hours inside this home in seattle. clemmons was released on bond just last week on charges of assaulting an officer and raping a child. this is new comments here. >> i'm going to guess when we get to the end of this, there is not going to be a big motive other than he was upset about being incarcerated and was going to go gunning after cops in general, not specifically targeting labor cops. they just had the unfortunate action to run into him at the wrong place at the wrong time. >> this video shows clemmons, who has a long criminal record. police also arrested several other people who they say helped clemmons after yesterday's attack. five, four, three, two, one. >> there it goes. this rocket launch happened in new zealand this morning. the company that did it says it's the first private missile launch in the southern

hemisphere. the rocket reached a speed of 3,100 miles per hour. that seems crazy to me. before it splashed down in the pacific ocean. the sheep did not like it. felix. >> there was no taking down the undead at the box office this weekend. the twilight sequel "new moon" has sucked in more than $230 million. "the blind side" came in second followed by "2012." overall it was the best thanksgiving weekend at the box office ever. what's the deal? tiger woods still not talking to police about his car accident. actually, legally he doesn't have to. here's rafer to get you up to date. >> good morning, robin. friday morning, folks may or may not know, tiger woods leaving

his driveway. police say his car hit a fire hydrant and then his car then hit a tree. well, he and his wife turned away police for the third straight day on sunday. cops wanting to talk to him about it. but under florida law because it's a traffic accident, all woods has to do is hand over his license and registration. these are some cell phone pictures sent to us by our affiliate wftv of the accident. when woods ran over that fire hydrant and hit the tree, police say his wife used a golf club to smash the windows and get him out. he did release this statement. saying, this situation is my fault, and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. i am human, and i'm not perfect. i will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again. there's also been tabloid allegations surrounding woods and another woman. another quote he gave seems to somewhat address those allegations. more on that at the top of the show. on our facebook page, you guys are always so good about weighing in. jason wrote, this just goes to show you the rules don't apply to everyone. i wonder what would happen if i hit a hydrant or tree.

could i put law enforcement on hold? in florida technically, i guess you could. debra from natchville posted, i don't think he's hiding anything by not talking. he just wants to keep his personal matters personal. talking to police will publish his business keep your thoughts coming. go to cnn.com/robin. serena has been hit hard for her profanity. they fined her the highest fine ever. $82,500 and two years probation. the record was 48,000 bucks and if she has another incident while on probation, they'll fine her 175 grand and bar her from the u.s. open that year. brett favre, he's pretty good. i keep waiting for him to break down, but he keeps playing like a guy half his age. they are 10-1 and he's become a

strong candidate for mvp. moving on. watch this little guy here. these are 6 year olds. 33 going across, going across. here it is. poor little guy. making me think i am not putting my son in football. he has to stop druling first though. >> at least they're wearing pads. >> he was okay from what we hear. >> okay. thank you. >> helmet on helmet. >> hi, bob. let me show you what's happening. all the delays have been wiped off the board, but they'll be back. traveling up to new york city metros, newark, watch for an hour delays. atlanta, charlotte. houston, more storms. >> thank you. more than 2,000 cruise ship passengers could not wait for their vacation to be over.

could you imagine being stuck on a ship with no working bathrooms? and while this couple may get an invitation after all, to court.

good morning on a day when most people have to get up early again and get back to work. i'm robin meade and here's what's going on. wow, police are in a standoff with a suspect in the deaths of four police officers. we have all of the breaking details. tiger woods is not talking with police. he canceled yet another interview with officers about his crash, but has a message he wants everyone to hear. and people hoping for a taste of the glitz and glamour are

snapping up one menu item available to the public. first though, police have surrounded a house in seattle and a suspect who may have gunned down four police officer ins a coffee shop is apparently inside. police say maurice clemmons was wounded. they don't know if he is still alive. he has a long criminal record. police also arrested several others who helped him after yesterday's attack. a spokesperson described the atta attack. >> they were getting ready to start shift and they had met there and their computers were open and they were doing work inside when the gunman came in and specifically targeted and fired upon the four police officers. >> two officers were killed in their seats. one died while trying to stand and one struggled with the shooter. all four were parents.

last night, a police motorcade escorted their bodies to the medical examiner's office and people talked about the attack. >> we have lost four officers today. >> makes me angry. >> my heart's going out to even their families. i know some had children and it just hurts me. >> the seattle times reports that the suspect reportedly believed he was jesus and could fly. his 95-year prison sentence was commuted by mike huckabee in 2000. huckabee's office says the clemency decision was based on a recommendation by the parole board. somali pirates have hijacked a huge oil tanker on its way to the united states. the green-owned ship was taken yesterday. pirates have taken dozens of

ships in the area, but this is believed to be just the second attack on an oil tanker. if you think about it, could become a major environmental or security risk. tiger woods is talking about his car accident, however, he is not talking with police about it. rafer has more on that. so >> tiger woods has had a busy weekend. he got into what's being called a serious accident early friday morning, around 2:00 a.m., and people want more answers. police say he ran over a fire hydrant, then crashed into a tree. they were told his wife used a golf club to smash out the windows to get him out. legally, he doesn't have to talk to cops because it's a traffic accident, but he did release a statement which reads in part --

it raised a few eyebrows. last week, a tabloid alleged woods had been seeing a new york nightclub hostess. she does deny having an affair. we want to know. what do you guys think about this? how do you think tiger's been handling the situation? go to our facebook page and we'll read you the comments on the snow. >> and we have plenty of comments. really good stuff from you, the viewer today. thank you. the u.s. and afghan troops has osama bin laden cornered eight years ago. that's from the new report that says bin laden was trapped in the mountains of december of

2001, but sneaked out. the report comes ahead of president obama's announcement tomorrow on whether he'll send more troops to afghanistan. children are autism are seeing progress with early therapy. now, a new study in the journal of pediatrics says that kids doeg noesed as young as 18 months and started a program, showed showed improved skills. so, are you going to shop at work today? this is cyber monday, when people hit the web to buy holiday gifts. problem is, many people are doing it on company time. jennifer westhoven is here. >> oh, they're on company time anyway with the facebook, the this and that. does that mean i should go online an get some deals? well, you should know that this isn't the busiest day or the

best deals. it's a marketing gimmick. a group is forecasting more americans will buy something today than they did last year today. sears has 15% off alliances. best buy has a tv for 160 bucks. and it's 20% off. and we've got a link to more deals, cnn.com/robin. click important websites. if it's heavy, make sure you get free shipping. >> and you can share with each other if you want to tell me, i got the best deal, go get this. at least two senators want authorities to press charges against the couple who crashed the white house state dinner. the secret service admits the couple sneaked past security and senators evan bayh and jon kyl

say they should make an example out of the two aspiring tv stars. >> i think you have to have a strong deterrent against this kind of thing. if you lie, these people didn't tell the truth, then they should be, in some way, brought to justice here. again, as an example not to do it. >> according to "the new york times," the salahis spent time answers questions from the secret service. their attorneys insist they did not crash the dinner. >> they didn't have an invitation and they showed up. >> i can't find it. where did i put that thing? seven minutes past the hour. how's weather going to be for you? >> on a monday morning getting back to work, eastern half of the nation, looks like it's going to be pretty activactive.

all the way up to maine, great shield of moisture come ng. and the heavier rain is come ng towards houston. it's really a cold pocket of air circulating around the upper levels of the atmosphere. you can see el paso, light, scattered showers with rain and snow. go to the north towards lower parts of new mexico, more light snow coming down. winter storm warnings in effect for the counties you see in red. a good chunk of southwestern new mexico. that's for the snow. look for about a half of foot of snow to fall between today and tonight. and here, it's warmer. heaviest rain has been around houston moving up towards the north. another shot of thunderstorms coming in off the gulf coast. here's birmingham. that's moving in towards

northern georgia. so atlanta, dry right now, but the airport is south of town. live to new york, the rain's going to be moving to the northeast, too. watch for te delays as low clouds and rain hangs in later today. if you're behind on your mortgage, help may be coming your pay. president obama plans to help millions of people struggling to keep up with their home payments. cindy sheehan came face to face with a military vet and things got heated quick.

good morning. 11 minutes past the hour. let's salute our troops together. sierra wants to salute her husband. she says he has a 15 month old daughter who he has not seen for

a year. they cannot wait to see him and be near him again. maybe you have somebody in the service and you want to sa leet them? be our guest. roman polanski could be out of jail today, but he will not be a free man, exactly. he will be under house arrest in switzerland. he fled from the united states in 1978 before he could be sentenced for pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. new for you, why the airports are asking congress to charge you more money to take off. i know. everybody hiss together. today, the obama administration is expected to announce this new campaign to pressure the lenders to cut your monthly mortgage payment if you're struggling to stay in your house.

jennifer westhoven, we've heard it and heard it. is something going to be different? >> they had this whole making home affordable plan, $75 million available for banks, what have they done? the $75 billion in a way was the carrot, but people say hey, we know we qualify for the program. they've spent hours on the phone, they fax in documents, but say they got nowhere. about 600,000 people did got a change. but omp temporary. they're saying, look, here's a spank, this is what they said they would do. this is how much they've done and you would see the discrepancy. they say they have have someone who monitors the banks to say, hey, what's your plan, what are you going to do about this. some of these are some of the banks that needed billions in taxpayer bailout money.

one treasury official said banks should be embarrassed and there have been a lot of articles about this, that basically, the banks don't want to change the mortgages even if they can because if they don't, they can continue to collect fees from you. maybe if you drive around, you've seen these kinds of people on street corners. they're waiting for day jobs. you may think they're mostly immigrants. "usa today" says there are a lot more americans joining the ranks. the numbers of americans doubled since 2006. a ucla professor said you're going see that where there's a huge construction boom. you just got back from your thanksgiving and now, you've got to hit the roads again. >> so far, a major one in atlanta. we had a 15-30 minute delay because of the clouds. new orleans, just partly cloudy

skies, but to the west, clouds are beginning to thicken. watch for heavy rain today with heavy downpours around the city. here's what we have for the major delays. an hour or more, that's what we're counting on in new york city metros. atlanta, already a 15-30 minute delay. that will build shortly. boston, philly, d.c. tiger woods is not talking about his car crash, but somebody already did. you'll hear a dramatic 911 call from someone who was right there when it happened.

breaking news. a suspect who may have killed four police officers is wounded and holed up in seattle. police are saying that maurice clemmons was shot, but they don't now how badly he is hurt. police also arrested several others who they say helped him with the attack. clemmons has a long criminal record. he was released on bond last week after being charged with assaulting a police officer and raping a child. let's get you more on a car accident involving tiger woods. we have a 911 call made by a neighbor. >> i found this very, very surprising giving the specifics of the accident. woods drove his suv over a fire hydrant, then hit a tree. not a long distance, but police called the accident serious and you really get a sense of that

from this 911 call. now of course, the caller is referring to woods, who was hospitalized then released. for the third straight day, he and his wife turned police away who want to talk to him about it, but under florida law, he doesn't have to talk to them. he did release a statement, more on that later on. in the meantime, we're taking your thoughts. jennifer posted -- meanwhile, gretchen says -- go to our

facebook, click on that i con and you can leave a post. and the indianapolis colts have perfected the art of the comeback. manning rallied his team for their fifth straight come-from-behind win. speaking of comebacks, one of the most amazing i've ever seen. last minute from tennessee. vince young led the titans on a last minute, 99-yard drive over arizona. came down to the last play of the game. four, three, two -- this guy had been benched to start the year. since he's taken over, they've won five straight. that is redemption. and the new jersey nets just hour after they fired their coach, lost their 17th of the

season. that matches the record for the worst to start the season. they play dallas on tuesday. tough to be a nets fan. that's sports. >> i hope they win something. it's a long season. >> i know. they've got to win some time, right? a military veteran and self-proclaimed peace mom -- check out their confrontation. >> nobody cares. >> get out of my face. >> nobody cares. [ bleep ]. >> what are you doing? >> military police had to break up the pushing and shoving. sheehan was at travis air force base in colorado pkr california. her son died serving in iraq. >> for the truth. >> you demonstrators are never for the truth.

>> i'm never going to stop. no matter how much we're oppressed. no matter how much violence they bring to us. >> sheehan got a ticket for blocking traffic. ñ they said it would never last.

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the new york stock exchange is open. the markets are expected to open higher despite reports that you spent less over the holiday weekend. a live report from the floor in about five minutes. breaking news. right now, we've got live video from lakewood, washington. looks like they're focussing on a reporter. this is where there's been a makeshift memorial to the police officers shot at the coffee shop in that area. new video shows a dramatic police standoff with a suspect who may have killed four police officers in the coffee shop yesterday. they say maurice clemmons is

inside. now, police have used loud speakers, explosions, gun shots and even a robot, trying to get him out. police say he's been shot. they don't know how badly he's been hurt or even if he's alive. for the third time, tiger woods has canceled an interview. on his website, he said, i'm human and i'm not perfect and that rumors are false. a huge oil tanker on its way to the united states has been hijacked off somalia. pirates took the greek-owned vessel about 800 miles off the coast. they have been seizing ships for years, but this may be the second time they've attacked an oil tanker. there was no taking down the undead at the box office this weekend. the "twilight" movie has sucked

in over $230 million. the best thanksgiving weekend at the box office ever. good morning. if you hit the snooze button, good morning. we're a day away from president obama's big announcement about afghanistan. he he's expected to send up to 35,000 more troops there and give a time frame on when troops leave the country. >> i think we need to prepare the american people for the honest truth, that this will take five to ten years at a minimum before we can hand this over to the afghans so they can run the security portfolio and no longer be reliant on american troops in afghanistan. >> president obama will give his speech at 8:00 eastern tomorrow from the u.s. military academy at west point. the search continues this

morning for a man accused of killing four family members after thanksgiving dinner in florida. police have issued an arrest warning for paul merhige. he killed his twin sisters, an aunt and a 6-year-old cousin who was asleep. her father talked about the last thing he said to her. >> i felt the urge, go give her a kiss. i was telling her how much i love her, how special she is. just what an honor it is to be her dad and we had tender moment and i kissed her good night. i put her to sleep and she woke up with jesus. >> two other people were injured in the shooting. there was a $10,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest. the senate begins debate on health care reform today and they have their work cut out for

them. now, republicans have been pretty much unanimous in their opposition to the plan. >> the war is terribly important. jobs and our economy are terribly important. this may be an -- suggestion, but we should put it aside until next year. >> there will businesses and individuals each year, pay more and more. we have to conclude this debate. to stop now would be stopping on the edge of significant reform, which is so important for the country. >> the overhaul would provide medical coverage up to 31 million uninsured americans. earlier this month, the house passed its version of health care reform. you have to see this video of an all you can eat buffet for monkeys. the annual buffet started 20

years ago as a way to thank them for drawing tourists. the monkeys also have a reputation for making off the sunglasses, hats, wallets. they're just so cute while you're not looking. >> tourists go there? you know they get their belongings? how about that. interesting. 35 minutes past the hour. >> let me show you what's happening now. some snow headed across lower parts of california over the weekend. more snow now across western tex texas, lower arizona and new mexico, too. look at the light snow near el paso. ahead of that, it's all warm, so once it reaches in towards central texas, it looks like it's going to be rain. those are the areas that are shaded in red, so western texas, watch for snow. three to seven inches when you

get in towards el paso, new mexico and arizona. three to five when you get toward northern sections of new mexico, but yes, snowmaker out there for you. what about the rest of the region? houston, clearly on the warm side. here's your heavy rain. that moves toward lower louisiana, but then picks up in intensity for northern parts of alabama. now stretching in towards georgia. if you're trying to catch a flight towards atlanta, the rain is all sliding to the east, so we're going to see lot of low clouds. big delays are a possibility in atlanta and more delays up north. look at the scattered showers in pennsylvania and around d.c., too. here's the white house. low clouds are in. light showers to follow. notice the red ribbon on the door, that is to commemorate world aids day tomorrow. also, the snow in southern california. the higher elevations in san

diego county. we had the upper level low supporting enough cold air in there. more on that in just a little bit. >> i cannot believe how many people are on our face book page right now talking about the tiger woods story. wow. thank you. so, financial fears in dubai sparked a furious selloff on wall street friday. there was a shortened trading session. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. >> it's a really quiet open. maybe people are busy with cyber monday shopping online instead of make k trades here at the new york stock exchange, but u.s. banks seem to have limited ex exposure to dubai debt and that spells relief for investors here. united arab emirates said it will make extra funds available. retail in focus as investors take in the results from black

friday. sales rose slightly. spending per person was down about $40 from last year. today, retailers are hoping to lure online shoppers with big deals and discounts. general motors is making a last ditch effort to find a buyer for its saab brand. officials from the swedish government and saab will be in detroit today, meeting with potential new buyers. saab's previous buyer pulled out of the deal last week. all right. this is what you've been waiting for. pnc's annual christmas price index says the price of the gifts from the 12 days of christmas song rose 1.8% from last year and that's largely due to record-high gold prices, which offset the falling prices of geese and swans. also, significantly higher, french hens and dancing ladies who make more than any of the them in the song. i'm talking about the lords a

leaping and the pipers and the drummers. >> i think that depends on what kind of dancing ladies we're talking about. >> let your imagination go wild. a teenager almost died from the h1n1 virus and her mom says the doctors sent her home twice before she went to intensive care finally. and no working bathrooms on a cruise ship. why thousands of passengers couldn't use the restroom.

a texas mother says her daughter's near death experience with h1n1 should be a warning for all parents. doctors sent the 15-year-old home twice, but when her hands and feet went numb, her mom took her in for the third time and the teen spent the next two weeks in the icu. >> my first prayer when she woke up was thank you, god, for giving me a second chance with her. something that few days before, i didn't think i was going to have. she asked, mom, did i almost die? she didn't even comprehend how sick she's been. >> the cdc says these are the signs of a case of h1n1. may have been become an emergency. fast breathing, bluish skin

color, fever with a rash and anytime your symptoms improve and then worsen again. police are trying to track down a possible suspect in the bombing of a russian high-speed train. investigators released a sketch of the man this morning. they didn't say a name or motive. the train flipped off of the tracks when it hit a homemade bomb this weekend. it was going almost 130 miles an hour when it happened. at least 26 people were killed and about 100 injured. a cd featuring the pope comes out today. ♪ the pontiff sings on one song and recites verses. >> it's one of the main albums that we're putting out and we have really high expectations for it. >> the record company says it

wants to reach beyond the church faithful and grab the attention of classical music lovers as well. a middle school in virginia will be closed today after an explosion. eight people went to the hospital. they were on the crew, working to repair the damage from recent storms. they were using propane to heat roofing tar, but the cause of the accident is not determined. the building was heavily damaged. you might have to shell out a few more bucks when you fly next year. "usa today" reports that airports are lobbying congress to pass an increase because of inflation. so far, a senate committee voted to keep the tax at 450. it goes for improving and exp d expanding different airports. a group representing most airlines opposes the increase. tiger woods is telling his fans about his car accident.

problem is, he's not talking to police. find out the reasons he's giving for not talking with the authorities.

breaking news. a suspect who may have gunned down four police officers has been holed up for more than eight hours now at a house in seattle. police told people to lock their doors and stay inside in the area. maurice clemmons is wanted in connection with the shooting deaths of four police officers at the coffee shop yesterday. now, this video shows clemmons, who has a long criminal record. he was released last week on charges of assaulting an officer and raping a child. can you imagine more than 2,000 people stuck ton a cruise ship with no lights or bathrooms? they're not sure why the ship lost power on friday morning. some passengers slept outside because their room was too hot

with the ac out. >> we slept on our chairs on our balcony because you couldn't sleep inside. >> the condition was horrible. >> you're angry. >> very angry. very, very, very. >> the cruise line ended up flying people back to miami. >> that's when you go see isaac at the bar. tiger woods is still not talking about his accident, but legally, he actually doesn't have to. >> good morning. i was surprised when i heard that as well. he and his wife have turned away cops for the third straight day on sunday. they want to talk about the descend. under florida law, all he has to do is hand over his license and registration, which he did do. we're showing you cell phone pictures of the accident. that is when woods ran over a fire hydrant and a tree leaving

his driveway. here's part of the statement -- there's also been a few tabloid allegations surrounded woods and another woman. another quote he gave seems to address those. in the meantime, here's what you're seeing about it on facebook. martha from alabama writes -- that's very true. keith posted -- keep those thoughts coming. go to cnn.com/robin. serena williams has been hit hard for her profanity-laced tirade at the u.s. open. they fined her the highest fine

ever. $82,500 and put her that probationary period. in other news, brett favre, have you heard of him? the guy's good. he continues to amaze. the 40-year-old viking keeps playing like guys half his age. he led the vikes over the win to the chicago bears. they're 10-1. he's now become a strong candidate for mvp. an amazing comeback story. and here's one of the best -- not the best but the biggest football hits. i can't talk. i just had a kid. cut me some slack. look at noumber 33. oh. the poor thing. >> we're told the young man is oklahoma. should hope so.

thank goodness they were wearing pads. >> i haven't seen a hit like that in the nfl. >> thank you. >> any fines levied? >> no. >> hi, bob. >> let me take you live to atlanta, the world's busiest airport. that's their claim to fame. lots of low-hanging clouds. the rain is on the way. so those delays will grow. new york city metros, watch for an hour or more delay because of the clouds and rain headed in. that's going to be there mainly in the afternoon hours. in atlanta you saw the clouds out there. watch out for an hour or more delay out there. charlotte, look for storms coming in there. half hour to hour delays. houston, george bush has a 30 to 50-minute delay because of the low clouds. watch for that. >> thank you. remember when susan boyle left simon cowell speechless. she's taking revenge on

"britain's got talent." why the cup whole crashed president obama's dinner might get an invitation after all -- to court.