a u.s. embassy shuts its doors over concerns about terrorist threats. where it's happening and why the u.s. is focusing more attention on that country these days. captured. the man accused of killing four members of his own family, found in a florida motel. what the father of a 6-year-old victim is saying about that arrest. and you regularly donate to your house of worship. but do you know where the money is going, and how confident are you that it's being spent wisely? we're taking your views on the topic. hln news and views. hello, i'm holly firfer. the u.s. embassy in yemen is closed today because of al qaeda

threats against american interests. now the embassy is not saying if there is any specific threat, and it's unclear when it might reopen. the british embassy in the yemeni capital is also closed today. yemen is pledge mortgage cooperation in the fight against terrorism. and experts on the region warn it will take a lot of time and resources to root out al qaeda in that country. >> the al qaeda threat is not simply to u.s. interests, but very much to yemeni interests as well. the people of yemen have suffered a great deal in terms of economic well-being because of al qaeda's activity there's. so that's number one. i think the seconds thing is that based on that action by yemenese security forces are likely to be much more effective in countering the al qaeda threat in yemen than direct action by u.s. military forces. >> there are no easy, no obvious solutions in yemen.

but i think one of the most important things for the u.s. to remember is that it's not going to defeat al qaeda in yemen today, tomorrow, next month, or even next year. it's going to be a very long, a very hard slog. there is no magic missile solution. >> why do you say that? >> well, al qaeda is someone that the u.s. has already defeated once in yemen. it defeated it really in '01 to '03, and al qaeda came back after a prison break in february of 2006. so if the u.s. continues to go down the same road, it's going to get the same results, fighting difficult incarnations of al qaeda in yemen every few years. >> general david petraeus met with yemen's president yesterday. a senior u.s. government official says they discussed the latest intelligence on al qaeda in that country. the man accused of trying to set off a bomb on a northwest airlines flight 253 got aboard the plane because of lapses in security. now that's the assessment of a top counterterrorism official.

umar farouk abdulmutallab boarded the flight for detroit, despite several indications that he might pose a threat. the white house adviser leading a review says there was no warning sign pointing to an eminent attack. republicans, however, continue to attack president obama's response to that attempted bombing. >> clearly, the system didn't work. we had a problem in terms of why abdulmutallab got on that plane there is no smoking gun evidence that says he was terrorist, he was going to carry out an attack on this aircraft. we had bits and pieces of information that didn't give us the clarity we needed to match it to abdulmutallab. what we need to do as an intelligence community, as a government is bring those disparate bits and piece of information together so we prevent mr. abdulmutallab from getting on plane, which need to take the politics out of this. but there is no question the president has downplayed the

risk of terrorists since he took office. he is investigating the cia rather than to build them up. he is not focused on building security and intelligence apparatus of our country. the last administration, president bush made a huge mistake by sending the yemenese back. the core leadership of al qaeda now is made up of those folks who were at the gitmo prison. we can't make that mistake again. >> and air travel safety will top the agenda when president obama meets with homeland security officials on tuesday. an lens manhunt for a murder suspect in florida has come to an end. u.s. marshals captured him at a motel in the florida keys. paul merhige is accused of shooting and killing four members of his family after thanksgiving dinner. in his first court appearance this morning, he was ordered held without bond while he awaits trial. the dead include merhige's twin sisters, a 79-year-old aunt and his 6-year-old cousin makayla it

is ton. with his arrest, makayla's father says he'll be able to rest easier. >> it means i'll be able to sleep a little better tonight, and i won't be patrolling the inside of my house with my shotgun thinking that the monster is right around the corner. i've been in protective mode. and now that he is captured, at least my family, we can even begin the healing process. >> merhige was captured when a viewer of the show "america's most wanted" recognized him and his car. a woman is resting at her parents' how after authorities say he is escaped from her ex-fiance say. police say dennis cox kidnapped julie anne kilgore in colorado last tuesday. three days later he is escaped while they were at a wyoming hotel. cox fled back to colorado and was killed in a shoot-out with police. >> he had a pistol, and he was holding it to his head and they were yelling drop the gun, drop the gun. >> kilgore's father says his daughter broke off her

engagement with cox last sunday. mexican police say they have captured the head of the notorious drug cartel. carlos beltran leyva was arrested wednesday. authorities say leyva was taken into custody after he showed a fake driver's license with an alias they knew he had been using. his arrest comes just a week after his brother arturo was killed in a shoot-out outside mexico city. iran has issued an ultimatum over its nuclear program. it's threatening to enrich nuclear fuel on its own if the west does not renegotiate a u.n.-backed deal by the end of january. this demand came two days after iran defied a deadline by the u.s. and other security council members. the west has been trying to get iran to swap its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. the concern is iran may use its uranium to make nuclear weapons. iran says it needs the fuel for research. there is no relief in sight for parts of brazil where heavy rains and mudslides are blamed

for dozens of deaths. officials say at least 60 people have been killed since rain started pounding southern brazil on wednesday. mudslides buried entire homes and shut down a major highway. rescuers are looking for survivors, sometimes digging with their bare hands. and it is heartbreaking work. but rescuers celebrated when they dug out a toddler whose entire family was killed at home, but the little girl later died in the hospital. one of our ireporters had his camera rolling when an ignited fire tracker went off course with dramatic results. what happened to the crowd at this new year's eve celebration.

police in arizona say a teenaged girl killed her 17-year-old brother when he is accidentally ran over him with a car. now authorities say the two were playing a dangerous game at a mall in mesa.

the boy kept jumping in front of his sister's moving car, and shen she would slam on the breaks. but police say the last time he did it, she couldn't stop in time and she ran over him. he later died at a hospital. friends and family of a missing utah woman are turning to social media networks in an attempt to find her. starting tomorrow people looking for susan powell will begin a three-day blitz on twitter and youtube. organizers are asking facebook users to turn their profile pictures to a purple ribbon. powell went missing on december 7, and police have focused on her husband, although he is not officially a suspect in her disappearance. he says he was camping with the couple's young sons at the time his wife went missing. a u.s. snowboarding champion is in critical condition today after a training accident left him with a traumatic brain injury. kevin pierce was hurt thursday as he trained in park city, utah for next week's qualifying events. pearce was in the middle of a

maneuver when he landed on his head. he was wearing a helmet. doctors say their main concern now is monitoring his brain for signs of swelling. they say pearce has a long recovery ahead of him. a delta flight from boston to new york returned to logan international airport when a pilot smelled smoke in the cockpit. a delta spokesman says the pilot turned back eight minutes into the flight. the odor was gone by the time the plane landed back in boston, and all of the passengers were rebooked on a later flight. delta is investigating the cause of the smoke smell. the fire is finally out at an oil well near austin, texas, but it wasn't easy to do. that fire started yesterday afternoon with two 500 barrel tanks. crews moved in, but had to pull back because it was just too dangerous. the flames spread to a few other tanks, but they were finally extinguished by early evening. about 2,000 barrels of oil burned. now it's not clear how the fire started, but no one was hurt.

ireporter reinhartman got more than he expected while taping a new year's eve fireworks show in thailand. one of the shells misfire and fell back on to other fireworks. >> wow. hartman says some people were screaming in panic, while worst cheering. he saw some people with minor burns, but luckily no serious injuries. so what is another inch or four? yeah, that's how much snow people in rhode island could get today on top of the 7 to 10 inches that has already fallen over parts of the northeast. most main roads were cleared for drivers, but the side streets in many neighborhoods were covered with snow. some people, though, took that as an opportunity to make some money.

>> we're cleaning snow for money, shoveling, helping people and everything. if they need help, we shovel for $5 or 10. >> it's been fortunate it's been weekends. therefore, you know, it doesn't happen we have to go to work. >> we're doing whatever we can. even today we've been really judicious about how we're doing, calling in a few people so that we can keep the main roads and the hilly roads salted and sand. >> and that snow in rhode island is expected to end by tomorrow, and temperatures should get a little warmer. a woman was browsing through photos in a thrift store when he is came upon a very rare find. and now why she is calling the picture herself best christmas present of the year.

mega church pastor rick warren got more than double than what he asked for in plea donations. now his church in southern california took in $2.4 million in just three days. on wednesday, he had made an urgent plea for $900,000 to fill a deficit. warren said the recession and a huge drop in offers over the holiday caused that shortfall. warren is the author of the best-seller "the purpose driven life" and he also gave the invocation at president obama's inauguration. okay. we're taking a broader look at church donations as part of our "your views" topic for the day. here is the question. are you confident that your house of faith spends your donations responsibly, and are you satisfied overall with the

way religious organization support your community? all right. let's hear what you have to say. charles says this. i think is there could be some funny math going on here. they like to live high on the hog in good times, and now they want him to support his lifestyle? i say let it fail like any other organization that lives beyond their means. felix says this. i'm confident that my house of faith spends our donations wisely. the people who work there, from the receptionists to the father, are like family to the community, and my church does support our community by accepting food donations and clothing to help out those who have been hit hard by the recent economic down fall. and here is another viewer. ardas says this. i am not confident that my house of faith spends my donations responsibly, and i am not satisfied the way religious organizations support my community. i found other ways to make me feel better spiritually, such as sponsoring needy children. all right. we want to hear more from you on

this one. so weigh in on my facebook page, or you can send us an e-mail at cnn.com/hln, and you can dive right into the discussion. a florida woman was looking through a stack of old pictures at a thrift store when she saw a familiar face. and a few dollars later, she had a piece of history to call her own. chris martinez of hln affiliate wfts tells us why these photos are so special. >> these are really special. >> reporter: safely stored in a black cardboard box, this handful of old photos has become amber osborne's most guarded treasure. >> here is another one of jfk. >> reporter: they appear to be candid shots of history. three in the moment black and white photos of president john f. kennedy. amber found them in a stack of old pictures on sale at a thrift store, and instantly knew she had stumbled on to something special. >> this is jfk. this is a historical moment that

is going on. i need to know more about these. >> reporter: so $30 and a matter of minutes later, amber was home online, trying to track down this moment in time. the name of a network tv exec on the back of one photo was her only clue. and using that, she was able to find this. >> how does a president go about making a decision? >> reporter: the pictures, it seems, were taken during this 1962 interview where kennedy gave reporters his assessment of his first two years in office. this was just about a year before he was killed. >> i just matched it up immediately. it was the same people and the same clothing, and the chair that he was sitting in. >> reporter: the question remains, though, who took the pictures in the first place. nothing on the prints show where they came from, or how they ever wound up in a thrift store. >> they're very special to me. >> reporter: those are questions amber hopes to find answers to,

determined to uncover the full story of this piece of history lost and now found again. >> it was probably the best thing that i got for christmas was these photos. >> reporter: chris martinez, newport richie, florida. singer elton john and eminem are working together, but not on a new album, but to help the rapper fight his drug problem. john told the bbc he has been helping eminem battle his addiction for more than a year. he says the rapper is making progress. john is a recovered drug abuser himself. eminem has written publicly about his past substance abuse problems. one of the last survivors of the 1906 san francisco earthquake has died. jenette died of pneumonia last week at the age of 107. her funeral will be held tomorrow. trapani was not even four years old when that cataclysmic shake struck the city more than a century ago. her daughter says her mother never forgot the horrific events

of that day. >> he is always told the story that he is remembered very clearly, my grandfather picking her up and rushing her off to an empty lot across the street so that the building wouldn't fall on her. what he is remembered was the smoke, that there was a tremendous amount of smoke in the area. she says he is remembers the smell of smoke. >> now the april 18th quake was followed by uncontrolled fires that burned for days. they destroyed much of san francisco. about six million americans who receive food stamps say they have no other income, no welfare, no unemployment insurance, no child support. in other words, they live off food stamps alone. and this report is out in today's "new york times." and it comes from a review of state data collected by the paper. with food stamp use at a record high, the subgroup of recipients with no cash income has risen by nearly 50% in the past two years. about one in 50 americans now live in such a household. and some get by living in shelters or subsidized

apartments, or even with relatives. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the best way to prevent financial bubbles is through tighter regulation. but he says it's not the only way. and that may be necessary to raise interest rates again to prevent what he calls dangerous buildups of risk. now some critics blame the federal reserve for causing the recent housing bubble. they say the central bank held interest rates too low for too long. but in a speech before the american economic association's annual meeting, bernanke defended the fed's actions, calling the links between low interest rates and rising home prices, quote, weak. ♪ ♪ i don't need dime to be on to you ♪ . >> imagine losing your job just a week before christmas. well, it happened to this woman, and now she is singing about it, and why her song is so catchy. 

a u.s. embassy shuts its doors over concerns about terrorist threats. where it's happening, and why the u.s. is focusing more attention on that particular country these days. she has been missing for weeks. now friends and family of a missing mom are turning to the internet to help find the woman they love. plus, a shocking new report. one in 50 americans lives in a household that survives on nothing but food stamps. and the number of people stuck in the situation is on the rise. hln news and views. hello, i'm holly firfer. the u.s. embassy in yemen is closed today bse now the embassy is not saying if

there is any specific threat, and it's unclear when it might reopen. the british embassy in the yemeni capital is also closed today. yemen is pledging more cooperation in the fight against terrorism, and experts on the region warn it will take a lot of time and resources to root out al qaeda in that country. >> the al qaeda threat is not simply to u.s. interests, but very much to yemeni interests as well. the people of yemen have suffered a great deal in terms of economic well-being because of al qaeda's activities there. so that's number one. i think the second thing is that based on that action by yemenese security forces are likely to be much more effective in countering the al qaeda threat in yemen than direct action by u.s. military forces. >> there are no easy, no obvious solutions in yemen. but i think one of the most important things for the u.s. to remember is that it's not going

to defeat al qaeda in yemen today, tomorrow, next month, or even next year. it's going to be a very long, a very hard slog. there is no magic missile solution. >> why do you say that? >> well, al qaeda is someone that the u.s. has already defeated once in yemen. it defeated it really in '01 to '03, and al qaeda came back after a prison break in february of 2006. so if the u.s. continues to go down the same road, it's going to get the same results. the u.s. is going to be fighting different incarnations of al qaeda in yemen every few years. >> the head of u.s. central command general david petraeus met with yemen's president yesterday. a senior u.s. government official says they discussed the latest intelligence on al qaeda in that country. the man accused of trying to set off a bomb on a northwest airlines flight 253 got aboard the plane because of lapses in security. now that's the assessment of a top counterterrorism official. umar farouk abdulmutallab

boarded the flight for detroit despite several indications that he might pose a threat. the white house adviser leading a review of air travel security says there was no warning sign pointing to an eminent attack. republicans, however, continue to attack president obama's response to that attempted bombing. >> clearly the system didn't work. we had a problem in terms of why abdulmutallab got on that plane there is no smoking gun piece of intelligence out there that said he was terrorist, he was going to carry out this attack against that aircraft. we had, though, other data within the intelligence system, bits and pieces of information that didn't give us the clarity we needed to be able to map it and attach it to abdulmutallab. what we need to do as an intelligence community, as a government is be able to bring those disparate bits and pieces of information together so we can prevent mr. abdulmutallab from getting on the plane. >> we need to take the politics out of this. but there is no question the president has downplayed the risk of terrorists since the president took office. he is investigating the cia

rather than to build them up. he is not focussed on building security and intelligence apparatus of our country. the last administration, president bush made a huge mistake by sending the yemenese back. the core leadership of al qaeda now is made up of those folks who were at the gitmo prison. we can't make that mistake again. >> and air travel safety will top the agenda when president obama meets with homeland security officials on tuesday. an intense manhunt for a murder suspect in florida has come to an end. u.s. marshals captured him at a motel in the florida keys. paul merhige is accused of shooting and killing four members of his family after thanksgiving dinner. in his first court appearance this morning, he was ordered held without bond while he awaits trial. the dead include merhige's twin sisters, a 79-year-old aunt and his 6-year-old cousin makayla it is ton. with the arrest, makayla's

father says he'll be able to rest easier. >> i'll be able to sleep better tonight and i won't be patrolling the inside of my house with my shotgun thinking that the monster is right around the corner. i've been in protective mode. and now that he is captured at least my family, we can even begin the healing process. >> merhige was captured when a viewer of the show "america's most wanted" recognized him and his car. a woman is resting at her parents' house after authorities say she escaped from her ex-fiance say. police say dennis cox kidnapped julie ann kilgore in colorado last tuesday. three days later he is escaped while they were at a wyoming hotel. cox fled back to colorado and was killed in a shoot-out with police. >> he had a pistol and he was holding it to his head, and they were yelling drop the gun, drop the gun. >> kilgore's father says his daughter broke off her engagement with cox last sunday. mexican police say they have

captured the head of a notorious drug cartel. carlos beltran leyva was arrested wednesday. authorities say leyva was taken into custody after he showed a fake driver's license with an alias they knew he had been using. his arrest comes just a week after his brother arturo was killed in a shoot-out outside mexico city. iran has issued an ultimatum over its nuclear program. it's threatening to enrich nuclear fuel on its own if the west does not renegotiate a u.n.-backed deal by the end of january. this demand came two days after iran defied a deadline by the u.s. and other security council members. the west has been trying to get iran to swap its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. the concern is iran may use its uranium to make nuclear weapons. iran says it needs the fuel for research. there is no relief in sight for parts of brazil where heavy rains and mudslides are blamed for dozens of deaths. officials say at least 60 people

have been killed since rain started pounding southern brazil on wednesday. mudslides buried entire homes and shut down a major highway. rescuers are looking for survivors, sometimes digging with their bare hands, and it is heartbreaking work. but rescuers celebrated when they dug out a toddler whose entire family was killed at home, but the little girl later died in the hospital. when the basket is passed at your house of worship, where does that money end up, and how confident are you that it's being spent wisely? we're taking your views on the topic next.

about six million americans who receive food stamps say they have no other income, no welfare, no unemployment insurance, no child support. in other words, they live off food stamps alone. and that report is out in today's "new york times," and it comes from a review of state data collected by the paper. with food stamp use at a record high, the subgroup of recipients with no cash income has risen by

nearly 50% in the past two years. about 1 in 50 americans now live in such a household, and some get by living in shelters or subsidized apartments or even with relatives. mega church pastor rick warren got more than double what he asked for in plea donations. now his church in southern california took in $2.4 million in just three days. on wednesday, he had made an urgent plea for $900,000 to fill a deficit. warren said the recession and a huge drop in offers over the holiday caused that shortfall. warren is the author of the best-seller "the purpose driven life" and he also gave the invocation at president obama's inauguration. so we're taking a broader look at church donations as part of our "your views" topics." are you confident that your house of faith spends your donations responsibly, and are you satisfied overall with the way religious organizations

support your community? let's hear what you have to say.

>> friends and family of a missing utah woman are turning to social media networks in an attempt to find her. starting tomorrow, people looking for susan powell will begin a three-day blitz on twitter and youtube. organizers are asking facebook users to turn their profile pictures to a purple ribbon. powell went missing on december 7th, and police have focused on her husband, although he is not officially a suspect in her disappearance. he says he was camping with the couple's young sons at the time his wife went missing. one of the two nba players who reportedly drew a gun in a team locker room is talking to the media. gilbert arenas spoke to reporters yesterday, but really didn't get into too many details about the alleged incident with teammate javaris crittenton. arenas was very careful with his words saying he used bad judgment in bringing guns into the wizards locker room. arenas also said that he does not gamble, and there are

misconceptions in the various reports about the dispute between himself and teammate javaris crittenton. he did tell reporters he has a meeting with law enforcement authorities tomorrow. >> the perception that things went wrong here, that someone pulled a gun inside someone in here. that's not true? >> i can't speak on that. but, you know, if you -- if you have known me, you've been here, i've never did anything violence. anything i do that's funny, well, it's funny to me. >> the wizards are certainly not laughing. they signed arenas to a six-year, $111 million contract in 2008. and depending on the severity of the findings in this investigation, they could attempt to void the remainder of that contract. a u.s. snowboarding champion is in critical condition today after training accident left him with a traumatic brain injury.

kevin pearce was hurt thursday as he trained in park city, utah for next week's olympic qualifying events. his spokeswoman says pearce was in the middle of a maneuver when he landed on his head. he was wearing a helmet. the doctors say their main concern now is monitoring his brain for signs of swelling. and they say pearce has a long recovery ahead of him. elton john's musical style has little in common with eminem's, but there is one thing they do share, a personal struggle with addiction. how the british superstar is helping the rapper.

ireporter ryan hartman got more than he expected while taping a new year's eve fireworks show in thailand. one of the ignited shells misfired and fell back on to other fireworks. >> wow, hartman says some people were screaming in panic, while others were cheering. he saw some people with minor burns, but luckily no serious injuries.

china could end up dealing with its coldest winter in 40 years. snow has been causing major trouble in china since friday. there has been so much of it, that traffic in beijing is barely moving. a lot of people are trying to get back into the city after the long holiday weekend. beijing's airport is a mess, and many highways have been shut down. and the forecast doesn't call for any breaks. temperatures are forecast to stay below zero for the next week. so what is another inch or four? yeah, that's how much snow people in rhode island could get today on top of the seven to ten inches that has already fallen over parts of the northeast. most main roads were cleared for drivers, but the side streets in many neighborhoods were covered with snow. some people, though, took that as an opportunity to make some money. >> we're cleaning snow for move money, shoveling, helping people and everything. if they need help, we shovel for $5 or $10.

>> we've been fortunate it's been weekendses, and therefore it doesn't happen that we have to go to work. >> we're doing whatever we can. like even today we've been really judicious about how we're calling in a few people so that we can keep the main roads and the hilly roads salted and sanded. >> and that snow in rhode island is expected to end by tomorrow, and temperatures should get a little warmer. a delta flight from boston to new york returned to logan international airport when a pilot smelled smoke in the cockpit. a delta spokesman says the pilot turned back eight minutes into the flight. the odor was gone by the time the plane landed back in boston, and all of the passengers were rebooked on a later flight. delta is investigating the cause of the smoke smell. the fires finally out at an oil well near austin, texas, but it wasn't easy to do. that fire started yesterday afternoon with two 500 barrel tanks. crews moved in, but had to pull back because it was just too dangerous. the flames spread to a few other

tanks, but they were finally extinguished by early evening. about 2,000 barrels of oil burned. now it's not clear how the fire started, but no one was hurt. this is neat. a small piece of history from the south pole was found. researchers have recovered what they believe is the first airplane to ever visit antarctica. now it arrived there in 1912. explorer douglas mawson initially hoped to stage the first airplane flight over the continent, but the wings were damaged in a crash before the expedition got underway. so he removed them and used the aircraft as a tractor to haul gear. when that broke down, it was abandoned near commonwealth bay. singer elton john and eminem are working together, but not on a new album, but to help the rapper fight his drug problem. john told the bbc he has been helping the rapper fight his drug addiction for more than a year. he says he is making progress. john is a former drug abuser

himself. eminem has written about his drug problems. federal chairman ben bernanke says the best way to prevent financial bubbles is through tighter regulation. but he says it's not the only way, and this may be may be nec raise interest rates again to prevent what he calls dangerous buildups of risk. now, some critics blame the federal reserve for causing the recent housing bubble. they say the central bank held interest rates too low for too long. in a speech before the american economic association's annual meeting, bernanke defended the fed's actions calling the links between low interest rates and rising home prices, quote, weak. so believe it or not, hunting for a bargain house could put your credit in jeopardy. hln money expert clark howard has more on a hidden danger. >> reporter: okay, let's say you're a bargain hunter and you're outlooking for real estate and you're looking at foreclosures, you're looking at what are short sales, where the bank is agreeing to let the

seller sell the house for less than the remaining balance on the mortgage. you win, the seller wins, the bank wins because that house doesn't end up in foreclosure. but there's a way as a prospective buyer you can get hurt big-time. i was shocked when i read this in the "san francisco chronicle" but cellseveral of the big bank when you approach them are running a credit check on you. and apparently if you're out there shopping over and over again looking for foreclosures and short sales until you find one that works, your credit by the time you would go to get your mortgage is ruined because of excessive inquiries on your credit report. make sure that you instruct your realtor not to allow any bank to pull credit on you when you're just looking for a home. i'm clark howard. for more ways to protect yourself, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> very interesting. and if you want a lot more ways to save more, spend less and

avoid getting ripped off, stay with us for the clark howard show at 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. blind mice are helping researchers see a bright future for humans with incurable eye diseases. what's working in the lab and how quickly it could come to market.

a u.s. embassy shuts its doors over concerns about terrorist threats. where it's happen and why the u.s. is focusing more attention on that country these days. captured. the man accused of killing four members of his own family found in a florida motel. what the father of the 6-year-old victim is saying about that arrest. and you regularly donate to your house of worship, but do you know where the money is going? and how confident are you that it's being spent wisely? we're taking your views on the topic. hln "news and views," hello, i'm holly firfer.

the u.s. embassy in yemen is closed because of threats. the u.s. is not saying if there's any specific threat and it's unclear when it might reopen. the british embassy in the yemeni capital is also closed today. yemen is pledging more cooperation in the fight against terrorism and experts on the region warn it will take a lot of time and resources to rout out al qaeda in that country. >> the al qaeda threat is not simply to u.s. interests but very much to yemeni interests as well. the people of yemen have suffered a great deal in terms of economic well-being because of al qaeda's activities there, so that's number one. i think the second thing is that based on that action by yemeni security forces are likely to be much more effective in countering the al qaeda threat in yemen than direct action by u.s. military forces. >> there are no easy, no obvious solutions in yemen, but i think

one of the most important things for the u.s. to remember is that it's not going to defeat al qaeda in yemen today, tomorrow, next month or even next year. it's going to be a very long, a very hard slog. there's no magic missile solution. >> why do you say that? >> well, al qaeda is someone that the u.s. has already defeated once in yemen. it defeated it really in '01 to '03 and al qaeda came back after a prison break in february of 2006. if al qaeda continues to go down the same road the u.s. will get the same results. they'll fight different ones every few years. >> general david petraeus met with yemen's president yesterday. a senior u.s. government official said they discussed the latest intelligence on al qaeda in that country. the man accused of trying to set off a bomb on a northwest airlines flight 253 got aboard the plane because of lapses in security. now that's the assessment of a top counterterrorism official.

umar farouk abdulmutallab boarded the flight for detroit despite several indications that he might pose a threat. the white house adviser leading a review of air travel security says there was no warning sign pointing to an imminent attack. republicans, however, continue to attack president obama's response to that attempted bombing. >> clearly the system didn't work. we had a problem in terms of why abdulmutallab got on that plane. there is no smoking gun piece of intelligence out there that said he was a terrorist, he was going to carry out this attack against that aircraft. we had other data in the intelligence system that didn't give us the clarity we needed to be able to map it and attach it to abdulmutallab. what we need to do as a intelligence community, as a government is be able to bring those bits and pieces of information together so we prevent mr. abdulmutallab from getting on the plane. >> we need to take the politics out of this, but there's no question that the president has downplayed the risk of terror since he took office.

he is investigating the cia rather than to build them up. he is not focused on building the security and intelligence apparatus of our country. the last administration, president bush, made a huge mistake by sending the yemenis back. the core leadership of al qaeda now is made up of those folks who were at the gitmo prison. we can't make that mistake again. >> air travel safety will top the agenda when president obama meets with homeland security officials on tuesday. an intense manhunt for a murder suspect in florida has come to an end. u.s. marshals captured him at a motel in the florida keys. paul merhige is accused of shooting and killing four members of his family after thanksgiving dinner. in his first court appearance this morning, he was ordered held without bond while he awaits trial. the dead include merhige's twin sisters, a 79-year-old aunt and his 6-year-old cousin.

makayla's father says he'll be able to rest easier. >> it means i'll be able to sleep a little better tonight and i won't be patrolling the inside of my house with my shut gone thinking that the monster is right around the corner. i've been in protective mode. now that he's appear toured, at least -- capture, at least my family can begin the healing process. >> merhige was captured when a viewer of the show "america's most wanted" recognized him and his car. a woman is resting at her parents' house after authorities say she escaped from her ex-fiance. police say dennis cox kidnapped julie ann kilgore in colorado last tuesday. three days later she escaped while they were at a wyoming hotel. cox fled back to colorado and was killed in a shootout with police. >> he had a pistol and he was holding it to his head and they were yelling "drop the gun, drop the gun." >> kilgore's father says his

daughter broke off her engagement with cox last sunday. mexican police say they have captured the head of a notorious drug cartel. carlos beltran lava was arrested wednesday. authorities say he was taken into custody after he showed a fake drive's license with an alias. his arrest comes just a week after his brother was killed in a shootout outside mexico city. iran has issued an ultimatum over its nuclear program. it's threatening to enrich nuclear fuel on its own if the west does not renegotiate a u.n.-backed deal by the end of january. this demand came two days after iran defied a deadline by the u.s. and other security council members. the west has been trying to get iran to swap its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. the concern is iran may use its uranium to make nuclear weapons. iran says it needs the fuel for research. there's no relief in sight for parts of brazil where heavy rains and mudslides are blamed

for dozens of deaths. at least 60 people have been killed since rain started pounding southern brazil on wednesday. mudslides buried entire homes and shut down a major highway. rescuers are looking for survivors, sometimes digging with their bare hands. and it is heart-breaking work. but rescuers celebrated when they dug out a toddler whose entire family was killed at home but the little girl later died in the hospital. i'm meteorologist reynolds wolf and we've got a two-part weather story. part one will deal with an area of low pressure up in new england bringing heavy snowstorm and can provide up to a foot of snow. the second part of the story, the bitter cold that's going to be moving into at least half the nation. let's start with the snowfall first. it all stems from this area of low pressure which is not only drawing moisture from the great lakes and the sane lawrence seaway but also the atlantic ocean. the low will pick up that moisture. as it falls through the lower levels of the atmosphere, we'll see some snow pile up. that coupled with very windy conditions could give you nearly

whiteout conditions, so look for very treacherous issues in terms of driving. the same deal could be in store along the finger lakes, back in parts of new york state, maybe even parts of pennsylvania, back near erie. cleveland could see heavy snowfall today. when you look at this area of high pressure over the western great lakes, that high working with that low will bring a lot of cold air into parts of the southeast. in fact take a look at this. high in memphis 32, 17 in chicago, 17 in kansas city, 7 for minneapolis. atlanta and tampa 30s and 50s. 20s mostly for boston, new york, washington, d.c. with 31. then as we zip at toward the west, las vegas 60, 72 in phoenix, 63 in san francisco, l.a. 74 for a high and 51 in seattle. that is a wrap on your forecast. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. one of our ireporters had his camera rolling when an ignited firecracker went off course with dramatic results.

what happened to the crowd at this new year's eve celebration.

police in arizona say a teenaged girl killed her 17-year-old brother when she accidentally ran over him with the car. now, authorities say the two were playing a dangerous game at a mall in mesa. the boy kept jumping in front of the sister's moving car and then she would slam on the brakes. but police say the last time he did it, she couldn't stop in time and ran over him and he later died at a hospital. friends and family of a missing utah woman are turning to social media networks in an attempt to find her. starting tomorrow, people looking for susan powell will begin a three-day blitz on twitter and youtube. organizers are asking facebook users to turn their profile pictures to a purple ribbon. powell went missing on december 7th and police have focused on her husband. although he's not officially a suspect in her disappearance.

he says he was camping with the couple's young sons at the time his wife went missing. one of the two nba players who reportedly drew a gun in a team locker room is talking to the media. gilbert arenas spoke to reporters yesterday but really didn't get into too many details about the alleged incident with teammate javaris crittenton. arenas was very careful with his words saying that he used bad judgment in bringing guns into the washington wizards locker room. arenas also said that he does not gamble and that there are misconceptions in the various reports about the dispute between himself and teammate javaris crittenton. arena would say not go into detail about other parts of the investigation, but he did tell reporters he has a meeting with law enforcement authorities tomorrow. >> do you feel there's a perception that things went wrong here and someone pulled a gun on someone. that's not true? >> i can't speak on that. but, you know, if you know me,

i've been here, i've never done anything of violence. anything i do is funny, well, it's funny to me. >> the wizards are certainly not laughing. they signed arenas to a six-year, $111 million contract in 2008. depending on the severity of the findings in this investigation, they could attempt to void the remainder of that contract. a delta flight from boston to new york returned to logan international airport when a pilot smelled smoke in the cockpit. a delta spokesman says the pilot turned back eight minutes into the flight. the odor was gone by the time the plane landed back in boston and all. passengers were rebooked on a later flight. delta is investigating the cause of the smoke smell. the fire is finally out at an oil well near austin, texas, but it wasn't easy to do. that fire started yesterday afternoon when two 500-barrel tanks. crews moved in but had to pull back because it was just too dangerous. the flames spread to a few other

tanks but they were finally extinguished by early evening. about 2,000 barrels of oil burned. now, it's not clear how the fire started, but no one was hurt. ireporter ryan hartman got more than he expected while taping a new year's eve fireworks show in thailand. one of the ignited shells misfired and fell back onto other fireworks. hartman says some people were screaming in panic while others were cheering. he saw some people with minor burns, but luckily to serious injuries. so what's another inch or four? yeah, that's how much snow people in rhode island could get today on top of the 7 to 10 inches that's already fallen

over parts of the northeast. most main roads were cleared for drivers, but the side streets in many neighborhoods were covered with snow. some people, though, took that as an opportunity to make some money. >> we're cleaning snow for money, shoveling, helping people and everything. if they need help, we shovel for $5 or $10. >> we've been fortunate it's been weekends. therefore, you know, it hasn't happened where you have to go to work. >> we're doing whatever we can. like even today we've been really judicious, calling in a few people so that we can keep the main roads and the hilly roads salted and sanded. >> and that snow in rhode island is expected to end by tomorrow. temperatures should get a little warmer. china could end up dealing with its coldest winter in 40 years. snow has been causing major trouble in china since friday. there's been so much of it that traffic in beijing is barely moving. a lot of people are trying to get back into the city after the long holiday weekend. beijing's airport is a mess and

many highways have been shut down. the forecast doesn't call for any breaks. temperatures are forecast to stay below zero for the next week. a woman was browsing through photos in a thrift store when she came upon a very rare find. now why she's calling the pictures her best christmas present of the year.

mega church pastor rick warren got more than double what he candidate for in plea -- asked for in plea donations.

his church took in $2.4 million in just three days. on wednesday he had made an urgent plea for $900,000 to fill a deficit. warren said the recession and a huge drop in offerings over the holiday caused that shortfall. warren is the author of the best seller "the purpose-driven life" and he also gave the invocation at president obama's inauguration. okay, we're taking a broader look at church donations as part of our your views topic of the day. are you confident that your house of faith spends your donations responsibly and are you satisfied overall with the way religious organizations support your community? let's hear what you have to say. charles says this, i think there could be some funny math going on here. they like to live high on the hog in good times and now they want them to support his lifestyle? i say let it fail like any other organization that plilives beyo their means. felix says this, i'm confident

that my house of faith spends our donations wisely. the people who work there from the receptionists to the father are like family to the community and my church does support our kbhient accepting food donations and clothing to help out those who have been hit hard by the recent economic downfall. and here's another viewer, ardas. i am not confident that my house of faith spends my donations responsibly and i am not satisfied the way religious organizations support my community. i found other ways to make me feel better spiritually, such as sponsoring needy children. we want to hear more from you on this one, so weigh in on my facebook page or you can send us an e-mail at cnn.com/hln and you can dive right into the discussion. a florida woman was looking through a stack of old pictures at a thrift store when she saw a familiar face. a few dollars later, she had a piece of history to call her own. chris martinez of hln affiliate

wfts tells us why these photos are so special. singer elton john and eminem are working together but not on a new album but to help the rapper fight his drug problem. john told the bbc he's been helping eminem battle his addiction for more than a year. he says the rapper is making progress. john is a recovered drug abuser himself. eminem has written publicly about his past substance abuse problems. about six million americans who receive food stamps say they have no other income, no welfare, no unemployment insurance, no child support. in other words, they live off food stamps alone. and that report is out in today's "new york times" and comes from a review of state data collected by the paper. with food stamp use at a record high, the subgroup of recipients with no cash income has risen by nearly 50% in the past two years. about one in 50 americans now live in such a household. some get by living in shelters

or subsidized apartments or even with relatives. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the best way to prevent financial bubbles is through tighter regulation. but he says it's not the only way and that may be necessary to raise interest rates to prevent what he calls dangerous buildups of risk. some critics blame the federal reserve for causing the recent housing bubble. they say the central bank held interest rates too low for too long. but in a speech before the american economic association's annual meeting, bernanke defended the fed's actions calling the links between low interest rates and rising home prices, quote, weak. ♪ >> imagine losing your job just a week before christmas. well, it happened to this woman and now she's singing about it and why her song is so catching.

a u.s. embassy shuts its doors over concerns about terrorist threats. where it's happening and why the u.s. is focusing more attention on that particular country these days. she's been missing for weeks. now friends and family of a missing mom are turning to the internet to help find the woman they love. plus a schahocking new repo. one in 50 americans lives in a household that survives on nothing but food stamps, and the number of people stuck in this situation is on the rise. hln "news and views," hello, i'm holly firfer. the u.s. embassy in yemen is closed today because of al qaeda threats against american interests. the embassy is not saying if

there's any specific threat and it's unclear when it might reopen. the british embassy in the yemeni capital is also closed today. yemen is pledging more cooperation in the fight against terrorism. experts on the region warn it will take a lot of time and resources to rout out al qaeda in that country. >> the al qaeda threat is not simply to u.s. interests but very much to yemeni interests as well. the people of yemen have suffered a great deal in terms of economic well-being because of al qaeda's activities there, so that's number one. i think the second thing is that based on that, action by yemeni security forces are likely to be much more effective in countering the al qaeda threat in yemen than direct action by u.s. military forces. >> there are no easy, no obvious solutions in yemen. but i think one of the most importt things for the u.s. to remember is that it's not going

to defeat al qaeda in yemen today, tomorrow, next month or even next year. it's going to be a very long, a very hard slog. there's no magic missile solution. >> why do you say that? >> well, al qaeda is someone that the u.s. has already defeated once in yemen. it defeated it really in '01 to '03 and al qaeda came back after a prison break in february of 2006. so if the u.s. continues to go down the same road, it's going to get the same results. the u.s. is going to be fighting differentin carnations of al qaeda in yemen every few years. >> the head of u.s. central command, general david petraeus, met with yemen's president yesterday. a senior u.s. government official says they discussed the latest intelligence on al qaeda in that country. the man accused of trying to set off a bomb on a northwest airlines flight 253 got aboard the plane because of lapses in security. now, that's the assessment of a top counterterrorism official. umar farouk abdulmutallab boarded the flight for detroit

despite several indications that he might pose a threat. the white house adviser leading a review of air travel security says there was no warning sign pointing to an imminent attack. republicans, however, continue to attack president obama's response to that attempted bombing. >> clearly the system didn't work. we had a problem in terms of why abdulmutallab got on that plane. there is no smoking gun piece of intelligence out there that said he was a terrorist, he was going to carry out this attack against that aircraft. we had, though, other data within the intelligence system, bits and pieces of information that didn't give us the clarity we needed to be able to map it and attach it to abdulmutallab. what we need to do as a intelligence community, as a government is be able to bring those bits and pieces of information together so we prevent mr. abdulmutallab from getting on the plane. >> we need to take the politics out of this. but there's no question that the president has downplayed the risk of terror since he took office. he is investigating the cia rather than to build them up.

he is not focused on building security and intelligence apparatus of our country. the last administration, president bush, made a huge mistake by sending the yemenis back. the core leadership of al qaeda now is made up of those folks who were at the gitmo prison. we can't make that mistake again. >> air travel safety will top the agenda when president obama meets with homeland security officials on tuesday. an intense manhunt for a murder suspect in florida has come to an end. u.s. marshals captured him at a motel in the florida keys. paul merhige is accused of shooting and killing four members of his family after thanksgiving dinner. in his first court appearance this morning, he was ordered held without bond while he awaits trial. the dead include merhige's twin sisters, a 79-year-old aunt and his 6-year-old cousin, makayla sitton. now, with the arrest makayla's father says he'll be able to

rest easier. >> it means i'll be able to sleep a little better tonight and i won't be patrolling the inside of my house with my shotgun, thinking that the monitor is right around the corner. i've been in protective mode. now that he's capture, at least my family, we can begin the healing process. >> merhige was captured when a viewer of the show "america's most wanted" recognized him and his car. a woman is resting at her parents' house after authorities the say she escaped from her ex-fiance. police say dennis cox kidnapped julie ann kilgore in colorado last tuesday. three days later she escaped while they were at a wyoming hotel. cox fled back to colorado and was killed in a shootout with police. >> he had a pistol and he was holding it to his head and they were yelling "drop the gun, drop the gun." >> kilgore's father says his daughter broke off her engagement with cox last sunday. mexican police say they have

captured the head of a notorious drug cartel, carlos beltran leyva was arrested wednesday. authorities say he was taken into custody after he showed a fake driver's license with an alias they knew he had been using. his arrest comes just a week after his brother was killed in a shootout outside mexico city. iran has issued an ultimatum over its nuclear program. it's threatening to enrich nuclear fuel on its own if the west does not renegotiate a u.n.-backed deal by the end of january. this demand came two days after iran defied a deadline by the u.s. and other security council members. the west has been trying to get iran to swap its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. the concern is iran may use its uranium to make nuclear weapons. iran says it needs the fuel for research. there's no relief in sight for parts of brazil where heavy rains and mudslides are blamed for dozens of deaths. officials say at least 60 people have been killed since rain

started pounding southern brazil on wednesday. mudslides buried entire homes and shut down a major highway. rescuers are looking for survivors, sometimes digging with their bare hands. and it is heart-breaking work. but rescuers celebrated when they dug out a toddler whose entire family was killed at home but the little girl later died in the hospital. when the basket is passed at your house of worship, where does that money end up and how confident are you that it's being spent wisely? we're taking your views on the topic next.

about six million americans who receive food stamps say they have no other income, no welfare, no unemployment insurance, no child support. in other words, they live off food stamps alone. that report is out in today's "new york times" and it comes from a review of state data collected by the paper. with food stamp use at a record high, the subgroup of recipients with no cash income has risen by

nearly 50% in the past two years. about one in 50 americans now live in such a household. some get by living in shelters or subsidized apartments or even with relatives. mega church pastor rick warren got more than double what he asked for in plea donations. now, his church in southern california took in $2.4 million in just three days. on wednesday he had made an urgent plea for $900,000 to fill a deficit. warren said the recession and a huge drop in offerings over the holiday caused that shortfall. warren is the author of the best seller "the purpose-driven life" and he also gave the invocation at president obama's inauguration. so we're taking a broader look at church donations as part of our your views topic of the day so here's the question. are you confident that your house of faith spends your donations responsibly? and are you satisfied overall with the way religious organizations support your

community? let's hear what you have to say. starting with dave. dave says has the world become so jaded and selfish that we question the intentions of the houses of worship? this money is donated. they do with it what they wish after that. if a person donates money to a church and then has the gall to say he's not happy with the way they send it, i guess it wasn't a donation from the heart to begin with. and then we hear from daniel d. who has this to say. the bible is quite clear that we are to be responsible with our money and to be sure our spiritual leaders are being responsible. i don't believe any pastor would be offended if you asked him to see the books. if he was, i would have to wonder why. and lila weighed in on facebook and she says i am confident that my church spends our donations responsibly and i am satisfied with the way christians support our community, our country and other countries. i believe that pastor warren took spoonl action. he did not want his church to ron 8 with a deficit. i only with congress would cut

spending so our country could get out of debt. one of the two nba players who reportedly drew a gun in a team locker room is talking to the media. gilbert arenas spoke to reporters yesterday but really didn't get into too many details about the alleged incident with teammate javaris crittenton. arenas was very careful with his words, saying that he used bad judgment in bringing guns into the washington wizards locker room. arenas also said that he does not gamble and that there are misconceptions in the various reports about the dispute between himself and teammate, javaris crittenton. arenas would not go into detail about other parts of the investigation, but he did tell reporters he has a meeting with law enforcement authorities tomorrow. >> i feel there's a perception that things went wrong and someone pulled a gun inside. that's not true? >> i can't, i can't speak on that, but, you know, if you, if you know me, you've been here, i never did anything vie leapt.

anything i do is funny. well, it's funny to me. >> well, the wizards are certainly not laughing. they signed arenas to a six-year, $111 million contract in 2008. depending on the severity of the findings in this investigation, they could attempt to void the remainder of that contract. a u.s. snowboarding champion is in critical condition today after training accident left him with a traumatic brain injury. kevin pearce was hurt thursday as he trained in park city, utah, for next week's olympic qualifying events. his spokeswoman said pearce was in the middle of a maneuver when he landed on his head. he was wearing a helmet. the doctors say their main concern now is monitoring his brain for signs of swelling, and they say pearce has a long recovery ahead of him. so is too much new year's cheer caught up with you? well, let's go beyond the surface to find out if there really is a way to get rid of a hangover.

>> no one likes having a hangovers make you feel miserable in all sorts of ways. and because of that, there are all kinds of cures suggested for hangovers. i've heard of people mixing raw eggs, using vegimite, artichokes, bananas, aspirin, the hair ofs dog or drinking more or all kinds of combinations but none of these have been proven to work. alcohol is broken down into toxins and those particular toxins are the things that it's broken down into are a big part of what make us feel bad. if you do have a hangover, there are things you can take to help with some of the symptoms. if you have a headache, something like aspirin may help you with the headache. unfortunately, though, none of these things have been shown to cure the whole thing, so avoiding alcohol is your best bet.

ireporter ryan hartman got more than he expected while taping a new year's eve fireworks show in thailand. one of the ignited shells misfired and fell back onto other fireworks. hartman says some people were screaming in panic while others were cheering. he saw some people with minor burns, but luckily no serious injuries. china could end up dealing with its coldest winter in 40 years. snow has been causing major trouble in china since friday. there's been so much of it that traffic in beijing is barely moving. a lot of people are trying to get back into the city after the long holiday weekend.

beijing's airport is a mess and many highways have been shut down. and the forecast doesn't call for any breaks. temperatures are forecast to stay below zero for the next week. so what's another inch or four? yeah, that's how much snow people in rhode island could get today on top of the 7 to 10 inches that's already fallen over parts of the northeast. most main roads were cleared for drivers but the side streets in many neighborhoods were covered with snow. some people, though, took that as an opportunity to make some money. >> we're cleaning snow for money, shoveling, helping people and everything if they need help. we shovel for $5 or 10. >> we've been fortunate it's been weekends. therefore, it hasn't happened where you have to go to work. >> we're doing whatever we can. like even today we've been really judicious about how we're doing it, calling in a few people so that we can keep the main roads and the hilly roads salted and sanded. >> and that snow in rhode island is expected to end by tomorrow and temperatures should get a little warmer.

a delta flight from boston to new york returned to logan international airport when a pilot smelled smoke in the cockpit. a delta spokesman said the pilot turned back eight minutes into the flight. the odor was gone by the time the plane landed back in boston and all. passengers were rebooked on a later flight. delta is investigating the cause of the smoke smell. the fire is finally out at an oil well near austin, texas, but it wasn't easy to do. that fire started yesterday afternoon with two 500-barrel tanks. crews moved in but had to pull back because it was just too dangerous. the flames spread to other tanks but they were extinguished by early evening. about 2,000 barrels of oil burned. it's not clear how the fire started, but no one was hurt. one of the last survivors of the 1906 san francisco earthquake has died. jeanette trapani died last week

at the age of 107. her funeral will be held tomorrow. she was not even 4 years old when that quake struck the city more than a centurying a. her daughter says her motherfors of that day. >> she always told the story that she remembered very clearly, my grandfather, picking her up and rushing her across to an empty lot across the street so that the billing wouldn't fall on her. what she remembered was the smoke. that there was a tremendous amount of smoke in the air. she said she remembers the smell of smoke. >> now, the april 18th quake was followed by uncontrolled fires that burned for days. they destroyed much of san francisco. this is neat. a small piece of history from the south pole was found. researchers have recovered what they believe is the first airplane to ever visit antarctica. it arrived there in 1912. explorer dog las mawson initially hoped to stage the

first airplane flight over the continent but the wings were crashed before the expedition got under way. when the aircraft broke down, it was abandoned near commonwealth bay. singer elton john and eminem are working together, but not on a new album, but to help the rapper fight a drug problem. the rapper is making progress. john is a recovered drug abuser himself. eminem has written publicly about his past substance abuse problems. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the best way to prevent financial bubbles is through tighter regulation. but he says it's not the only way. and that may be necessary to raise interest rates again to prevent what he calls dangerous build-ups of risk. now, some critics blame the federal reserve for causing the recent housing bubble. they say the central bank held interest rates too low for too long. but in a speech before the american economic association's annual meeting, bernanke

defended the fed's actions, calling the links between low interest rates and rising home prices, quote, weak. blind mice are helping researchers see a bright future for humans with incurable eye diseases. what's working in the lab and how quickly it could come to market. 

a u.s. embassy shuts its doors over concerns about terrorist threats. where it's happening and why the u.s. is focusing more attention on that country these days. appture captured. the man accused of killing four members of his own family found in a florida motel. what the father of a 6-year-old victim is saying about that arrest. you regularly donate to your house of worship. do you know where the money is going? and how confident are you that it's being spent wisely? we're taking your views on the topic. hln news and views. hello. i'm holly firfir. the u.s. embassy in yemen is closed today because of al qaeda

threats against american interests. the embassy is not saying if there's any specific threat, and it's unclear when it might reopen. the british embassy in the yemeni capital is also closed today. yemen is pledging more cooperation in the fight against terrorism. experts on the region warn it will take a lot of time and resources to root out al qaeda in that country. >> the al qaeda threat is not simply to u.s. interests, but very much to yemeni interests as well. the people of yemen have suffered a great deal in terms of economic well-being because of al qaeda's activities there. so that's number one. and i think the second thing is that, based on that, actions by yemeni security forces are likely to be much more effective in countering the al qaeda threat in yemen than direct action by u.s. military forces. >> there are no easy, no obvious solutions in yemen. but i think one of the most

important things for the u.s. to remember is that it's not going to defeat al qaeda in yemen today, tomorrow, next month or even next year. it's going to be a very long, a very hard slog. there's no magic missile solution. >> why do you say that? >> al qaeda is someone the u.s. has already defeated once in yemen. it defeated it really in '01 to '03 and al qaeda came back after a prison break in february of '06. if u.s. continues to go down the same road, it's going to get the same results. they'll be fighting different incarnations of al qaeda in gemmen every few years. david petraeus met with yemen's president yesterday. a senior u.s. government official says they discussed the latest intelligence on al qaeda in that country. the man accused of trying to set off a bomb on a northwest airlines flight 253 got aboard the plane because of lapses in security. now, that's the assessment of a top counterterrorism official.

umar farouk abdull mutallab boarded the plane despite the fact he might pose a threat. there was no warning sign pointing to an imminent attack. republicans continue to attack president obama's response to that attempted bombing. >> clearly the system didn't work. we had a problem in terms of why abdulmutallab got on that plane. there's no smoking gun piece of intelligence out there that said he was a terrorist, he was going to carry out an attack against the aircraft. we had bits of pieces of information that didn't give us the clarity we needed to be able to map it and atash it to abdul ma tag lab. what we need to do as an intelligence community, as a government is be able to bring those pieces of information together so we prevent mr. abdulmutallab from getting on the plane. >> we need to take the politics out of this. but there's no question the president has down played the risk of terrorists since he took

office. he is investigating the cia rather than to build them up. he is not focused on building the security and intelligence apparatus in our country. the last administration, president bush, made a huge mistake by sending the yemenis back. the core leadership of al qaeda now is made up of those folks who were at the gitmo prison. we can't make that mistake again. >> air travel safety will top the agenda when president obama meets with homeland security officials on tuesday. an intense man hunt for a murder suspect in florida has come to an end. u.s. marshals captured him at a motel in the florida keys. we've just gotten this new photo of murder suspect paul merhage. he's accused of shooting and killing four members of his family after thanksgiving dinner. in his first court appearance this morning he was ordered held without bond while he awaits trial. the dead included his twin

sisters, a 79-year-old aunt and 6-year-old cousin. with this arrest, the 6-year-old's father now says he will be able to rest easier. >> that means i'll be able to sleep a little better tonight. and i won't be patrolling the inside of my house with my shotgun, thinking that the monster is right around the corner. i've been in protective mode. and now that he's captured, at least, you know, my family, we can even begin the healing process. >> he was captured when a viewer of the show "america's most wanted" recognized him and his car. a woman is resting at her parent's house after authorities say she escaped from her exfiance. police say dennis cox kidnapped her in colorado last tuesday. three days later she escaped while they were at a wyoming hotel. cox fled back to colorado and was killed in a shootout with police. >> he had a pistol. he was holding it to his head. they were yelling drop the gun,

drop the gun. >> she broke off the endgagemen with cox. carlos ben tral leyva was arrested wednesday. he was taken into custody after he showed a fake driver's license with an alias they knew he he'd been using. his arrest coming a week after his brother was killed in a shootout outside mexico city. there's no relief in sight for parts of brazil where heavy rains and mud slides are blamed for dozens of deaths. officials say at least 60 people have been killed since rain started pounding southern brazil on wednesday. mudslides buried entire homes and shut down a major highway. rescuers are looking for survivors, sometimes digging with their bare hands. it is heartbreaking work. rescuers celebrated when they dug out a toddler whose entire family was killed at home. but the little girl later died

in the hospital. i'm meteorologist reynolds wolf for hln. we've really got a two-part weather story today. part one is going to deal with an area of low pressure up in new england that's going to bring heavy snowfall and could provide up to a foot of snow in some places. second part of the story bitter cold moving into at least half the nation. it all stems from this area of low pressure which is not only drawing moisture from the great lakes and st. lawrence sea wae but also the atlantic ocean. the low is picking up that moisture. at that moisture falls through the lower levels of the atmosphere we'll see snow pile up. that coupled with very windy conditions could give you whiteout conditions on parts of 95 not to mention the back roads. same deal can be in store for you along the finger lakes back in parts of new york state. maybe even parts of pennsylvania, back near erie. cleveland would see heavy snowfall today. when you look at area of high pressure forming over the western great lakes, that high working with the low is going to bring in a lot of cold air into

parts of the southeast. high in memphis today, 32. atlanta and tampa, 30s and 50s. 20s for boston, new york, washington, d.c. as we zip our way out to the west, las vegas, 60. 51 in seattle. that is a wrap on your forecast. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. one of our i-reporters had his camera rolling when an ignited fire cracker went off course with dramatic results. what happened to the crowd at this new year's eve celebration.

police in arizona say a teenage girl killed her 17-year-old brother when she accidentally ran over him with a car. authorities say the two were playing a dangerous game at a mall in mesa.

the boy kept jumping in front of his sister's moving car. then she would slam on the brakes. police say the last time he did it, she couldn't stop in time and ran over him, and he later died at a hospital. friends and family of a missing utah woman are turning to social media networks in an attempt to find her. starting tomorrow, people looking for susan powell will begin a three-day blitz on twitter and youtube. organizers are asking facebook users to turn their profile pictures to a purple ribbon. powell went missing on december 7th. police have focused on her husband, although he's not officially a suspect in her disappearance. he says he was camping with the couple's young sons at the time his wife went missing. a delta flight from boston to new york returned to logan international airport when a pilot smelled smoke in the cockpit. a delta spokesman says the pilot turned back eight minutes into the flight. the odor was gone by the time the plane landed back in boston, and all of the passengers were rebooked on a later flight.

delta is investigating the cause of the smoke smell. the fire is finally out at an oil well near austin, texas, but it wasn't easy to do. the fire started yesterday afternoon with two 500-barrel tanks. crews moved in but had to pull back because it was just too dangerous. the flames spread to a few other tanks, but they were finally extinguished by early evening. about 2,000 barrels of oil burned. now, it's not clear how the fire started, but no one was hurt. a woman was browsing through photos in a shoplift store when she came upon a very rare find. and now why she's calling the pictures her best christmas present of the year.

megachurch pastor rick warren got more than double what he asked for in plea donations. now, his church in southern california took in $2.4 million in just three days. on wednesday he had made an urgent plea for $900,000 to fill a deficit. warren said the recession and a huge drop in offerings over the holiday caused that shortfall. warren is the author of the best seller "the purpose driven life." he also gave the invocation at president obama's inauguration. we're taking a broader look at church donations as part of

our "your views" topic for the day. here's the question. are you confident that your house of faith spends your donations responsibility? are you satisfied with the way religious organizations support your community? let's hear what you have to say starting with this facebook message from wonk guy. the only person who can confidently say how a house of faith spends its money is the person who conducts the audit and performs a detailed anl of revenues, expenses and date obligations. even an irs form can obscure or conceal certain transactions because often there isn't enough detail. ginger added this. as an agnostic atheist, i don't have a house of faith. as far as religious organizations they have managed to be tax exempt and for profit at the same time. i don't understand why churches have to be so opulent when that is more money that could be used to help the community. isn't that what they're supposed to be doing?

why do you need enormous buildings with ornate decor and stained glass to spread a message that's been out there for 2,000 years? i don't get it. >> we want to hear from you about this. just weigh in on my facebook page. search for holly firfir or send us an e-mail at cnn.com/hln and dive into the discussion. a florida woman was looking through a stack of old pictures at a thrift store when she saw a familiar face. and a few dollars later she had a piece of history to call her own. chris martinez of hln affiliate wfts tells us why these photos are so special. >> these are really special. >> reporter: safely stored in a black card board box, this handful of old photos has become amber osborn's most guarded treasure. >> here's another one of jfk. >> reporter: they appear to be candid shots of history. three in the moment black and white photos of president john f. kennedy. amber found them in a stack of

old pictures on sale at a thrift store. and instantly knew she'd stumbled on to something special. >> this is jfk. this is a historical moment that's going on. i need to know more about these. >> reporter: so $30 and a matter of minutes later, amber was home online, trying to track down this moment in time. the name of a network tv exec on the back of one photo was her only clue. and using that, she was able to find this. >> how does a president go about making a decision? >> reporter: the pictures, it seems, were taken during this 1962 interview when kennedy gave reporters his assessment of his first two years in office. this was just about a year before he was killed. >> i just matched it up immediately. it was the same people and the same clothing and the chair that he was sitting in. >> reporter: the question remains, though, who took the pictures in the first place? nothing on the prints show where

they came from or how they ever wound up in a thrift store. >> they're very special to me. >> reporter: those are questions amber hopes to find answers to, determined to uncover the full story of this piece of history lost and now found again. >> it's probably the best thing that i got for christmas, was these photos. >> reporter: chris martinez, newport, florida. singer elton john and eminem are working together, but not on a new album. but to help the rapper fight his drug problem. john told the bbc he has been helping eminem battle his addiction for more than a year. he says the rapper is making progress. john is a recovered drug abuser himself. eminem has written publicly about his past substance abuse problems. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the best way to prevent financial bubbles is through tighter regulation. but he says it's not the only way. and that may be necessary to raise interest rates again to prevent what he calls dangerous

build-ups of risk. some critics blame the federal reserve for causing the recent housing bubble. they say the central bank held interest rates too low for too long. but in a speech before the american economic association's annual meeting, bernanke defended the fed's actions, calling the links between low interest rates and rising home prices, quote, weak. getting small businesses up and running after hurricane katrina hit in 2005 was vital to new orleans' recovery. shawn aleean callebs looks at h business that opened in 1941 got some help and made the turnaround. >> reporter: it's a bowling alley. restaurant. and a place known for its live music. it's also a beacon of light in new orleans. and proof that businesses can

return. >> my name is john blancher. this is my turnaround story. >> reporter: when hurricane katrina destroyed his business, blancher did what he does best. he went back to work. >> what really helped me turn the thing around, i think it was a combination of both my faith, my family, friends, and goodwill from a lot of people that wanted to help me and wanted rock and bowl to not die. >> reporter: blancher's family pitched in. so did the idea village. a nonprofit that supports local entrepreneurs. >> right after katrina we were tasked with going through the community, in the streets, through every single neighborhood to find the true change makers. those entrepreneurs that if we can get their business up and help them start, not only with great jobs and revenue, but the social impact of what that could mean to our community. >> reporter: blancher and rock and bowl fit the bill. >> i got money that helped me buy a refrigerator and freezer. every little bit helped.

>> reporter: the rest of the money came from insurance. $50,000 later and six weeks after katrina, rock and bowl was back in business. six weeks after the storm. >> that first night 700 people showed up. >> reporter: that first night john knew his business would make a turnaround. since reopening rock and bowl, revenue is up 50%, according to blancher. enough to move to this new, more modern location. while blancher's business has turned around, his hard work has taken a toll. let me see how you fair here. >> this is only the second ball i've thrown here in six months. but we'll see how i go. if i can even stay on my feet. you see? >> reporter: well, you got barack obama tied. sean callebs, cnn, new orleans. ñ

a u.s. embassy shuts its doors over concerns about terrorist threats. where it's happening and why the u.s. is focusing more attention on that particular country these days. she's been missing for weeks. now friends and family of a missing mom returning to the internet to help find the woman they love. plus a shocking new report. 1 in 50 americans lives in a household that survives on nothing but food stamps. and the number of people stuck in this situation is on the rise. hln news and views. hello. i'm holly firfer. the u.s. embassy in yemen is closed today because of al qaeda

threats against american interests. the embassy is not saying if there's any specific threat and it's unclear when it might reopen. the british embassy in the yemeni capital is also closed today. yemen is pledging more cooperation in the fight against terrorism. experts on the region warn it will take a lot of time and resources to root out al qaeda in that country. >> the al qaeda threat is not simply to u.s. interests, but very much to yemeni interests as well. the people of yemen have suffered a great deal due to economic well-being because of al qaeda's activities. that's number one. and i think the second thing is that based on the actiat, actio yemeni security forces are likely to be much effective than direct action by u.s. military forces. >> there are no easy, no obvious solutions in yemen. but i think one of the most important things for the u.s. to remember is that it's not going

to defeat al qaeda in yemen today, tomorrow, next month, or even next year. it's going to be a very long, a very hard slog. there's no magic missile solution. >> why do you say? >> well, al qaeda is someone that the u.s. has already defeated once in yemen. it defeated it really in '01 to '03 and al qaeda came back after a prison break in february of 2006. so if the u.s. continues to go down the same road, it's going to get the same results. the u.s. is going to be fighting different incarnations of al qaeda in yemen every few years. >> the head of u.s. central command general david petraeus met with yemen's president yesterday. a senior u.s. government official says they discussed the latest intelligence on al qaeda in that country. the man accused of trying to set off a bomb on a northwest airlines flight 253 got aboard the plane because of lapses in security. now, that's the assessment of a top counterterrorism official. umar farouk abdulmutallab

boarded the flight for detroit despite several indications that he might pose a threat. the white house adviser leading a review of air travel security says there was no warning sign pointing to an imminent attack. republicans, however, continue to attack president obama's response to that attempted bombing. >> clearly the system didn't work. we had a problem in terms of why abdulmutallab got on that plane. there is no smoking gun piece of intelligence out there that said he was a terrorist, he was going to carry out this attack against that aircraft. we had, though, other data within the intelligence system, bits and pieces of information that didn't give us the clarity we needed to be able to map it and attach it to abdulmutallab. what we need to do as an intelligence community, as a government, is be able to bring these bits and pieces of information together so we prevent mr. abdulmutallab from getting on the plane. >> we need to take the politics out of this. but there's no question that the president has down played the risk of terrorists since he took office. he was investigating the cia

rather than to build them up. he is not focused on building security and intelligence apparatus of our country. the last administration, president bush, made a huge mistake by sending the yemenis back. the core leadership of al qaeda now is made up of those folks who were at the gitmo prison. we can't make that mistake again. >> air travel safety will top the agenda when president obama meets with homeland security officials on tuesday. an intense man hunt for a murder suspect in florida has come to an end. u.s. marshals captured him at a motel in the florida keys. now, we've just gotten this new photo of murder suspect paul merhige. he's accused of shooting and killing four members of his family after thanksgiving dinner. in his first court appearance this morning he was held without bond until he awaits trial. he killed his twin sisters, a

79-year-old aunt and a 6-year-old. >> it means i'll be able to sleep a little better tonight. and i won't be patrolling the inside of my house with my shotgun, thinking that the monster is right around the corner. i've been in protective mode, and now that he's captured, at least my family, we can even begin the healing process. >> merhige was captured when a viewer of the show "america's most wanted" recognized him and his car. a woman is resting at her parents' house after authorities say she escaped from her exfiance. police say dennis cox kidnapped the woman in colorado last tuesday. three days later she escaped while they were at a wyoming hotel. cox fled back to colorado and was killed in a shootout with police. >> he had a pistol, and he was holding it to his head. they were going drop the gun, drop the gun. >> kilgore's father said her

daughter broke off their engagement last sunday. iran has made an ultimatum to their nuclear program. this demand came two days after iran defied a deadline by the u.s. and other security council members. the west has been trying to get iran to swap its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. the concern is iran may use its uranium to make nuclear weapons. iran says it needs to fuhe fuel research. there's no relief in sight for parts of brazil where heavy rains and mudslides are blamed for dozens of deaths. officials say at least 60 people have been killed since rain started pounding southern brazil on wednesday. mudslides buried entire homes and shut down a major highway. rescuers are looking for survivors. sometimes digging with their bare hands. it is hard breaking work. rescuers celebrated when they dug out a toddler whose entire

family was killed at home, but the little girl later died in the hospital. when the basket is passed at your house of worship, where does that money end up? and how confident are you that it's being spent wisely? we're taking your views on the topic next.

megachurch pastor rick warren got more than double what he asked for in plea donations. now, his church in southern california took in $2.4 million in just three days. on wednesday he had made an urgent plea for $900,000 to fill a deficit. warren said the recession and a huge drop in offerings over the holiday caused that shortfall. warren is the author of the best seller "the purpose driven life." he also gave the invocation at president obama's inauguration. we thought we would take a broader look at church donations

as part of our "your views" topic for the day. here's the question. are you confident that your house of faith spends your donations responsibility? and are you satisfied overall with the way religious organizations support your community? all right. let's hear what you have to say starting with this facebook message from eduardo. if you donate, you fully agree to what the donation is for, be it for clergy or community or church building use or education. mac had this to say. our job is to give back part of what god entrusts us with, to be obedient since it's all his anyway. it's it's in the storehouse's hands. it's accountable to god, not us. allen added, i think being concerned with your donation after you give it is a contra digs of your faith. there are two types of accountability. one being the spirit and the other being the flesh. the church is accountable to god, not man. want to hear more from you on this. to weigh in, do a search on facebook for holly firfer and

post me a message there. or go on e-mail and send us an e-mail, cnn.com/hln and dive right into our discussion. friends and family of a missing utah woman are turning to social media networks in an attempt to find her. starting tomorrow, people looking for susan powell will begin a three-day blitz on twitter and youtube. organizers are asking facebook users to turn their profile pictures to a purple ribbon. powell went missing on december 7th and police have focused on her husband, although he's not officially a suspect in her disappearance. he says he was camping with the couple's young sons at the time his wife went missing. one of the two nba players who reportedly drew a gun in a team locker room is talking to the media. gilbert arenas spoke to reporters yesterday but really didn't get into too many details about the alleged incident. arenas was very careful with his words, saying that he used bad judgment in bringing guns into the washington wizards locker

room. arenas also said he does not gamble and that there are misconceptions in the various reports about the dispute between himself and teammate javaris kritenden. he told reporters he has a meeting with law enforcement authorities tomorrow. >> there's a perception that things went wrong here and someone pulled a gun on someone. it's not true? everyone gets along? >> i can't speak on that. you know, if you've known me, you've been here, i've never did anything violent. anything i do, it's funny. well, it's tunny to me. >> the wizards are certainly not laughing. they signed arenas to a six year, $111 million contract in 2008. depending on the severity of the findings in this investigation, they could attempt to void the remainder of the contract. a u.s. snow boarding champion is in critical

condition today after a training accident left him with a traumatic brain injury. kevin pearce was hurt as he trained in park city, utah, for next week's olympic qualifying events. his spokeswoman said pearce was in the middle of a maneuver when he landed on his head. he was wearing a helmet. doctors are monitoring his brain for signs of swelling and say he has a long recovery ahead of him. blind mice are helping researchers for incurable eye diseases. what's working in the lab and how quickly it could come to market.

i-reporter ryan hartman got more than he expected while taping a new year's eve fireworks show in thailand. one of the ignited shells misfired and fell back on to other fireworks. wow. hartman says some people were screaming in panic while others were cheering. he saw some people with minor burns, but luckily no serious injuries. china could end up dealing with its coldest winter in 40 years. snow has been causing major trouble in china since friday. there's been so much of it that

traffic in beijing is barely moving. a lot of people are trying to get back into the city after the long holiday weekend. beijing's airport is a mess, and many highways have been shut down. and the forecast doesn't call for any breaks. temperatures are forecast to stay below zero for the next week. so what's another inch or four? yeah. that's how much snow people in rhode island could get today on top of the 7 to 10 inches that's already fallen over parts of the northeast. most main roads were cleared for drivers, but the side streets in many neighborhoods were covered with snow. some people, though, took that as an opportunity to make some money. >> we're cleaning snow for money, shoveling it, helping people and everything. if they need help, we shovel for $5 or $10. >> we've been fortunate it's been weekends. therefore, you know, it doesn't happen that we have to go to work. >> we're doing whatever we can. even today we've been really judicious about how we're doing it, calling in a few people so

that we can keep the main roads and hilly roads salted and sanded. >> that snow in rhode island is expected to end by tomorrow and temperatures should get a little warmer. a delta flight from boston to new york returned to logan international airport when a pilot smelled smoke in the cockpit. a delta spokesman says the pilot turned back eight minutes into the flight. the odor was gone by the time the plane landed back in boston, and all of the passengers were rebooked on a later flight. delta is investigating the cause of the smoke smell. the fire is finally out at an oil well near austin, texas, but it wasn't easy to do. that fire started yesterday afternoon with two 500-barrel tanks. crews moved in but had to pull back because it was just too dangerous. the flames spread to a few other tanks, but they were finally extinguished by early evening. about 2,000 barrels of oil burned. it's not clear how the fire started, but no one was hurt. one of the last survivors of

the 1906 san francisco earthquake has died. trapani died of pneumonia last week at the age of 107. her funeral will be held tomorrow. trapani was not even 4 years old when the cataclysmic quake struck the city. her daughter says her mother never forgot the horrific events of that day. >> she always told the story that she remembered very clearly my grandfather picking her up and rushing her across to an empty lot across the street so that the building wouldn't fall on her. what she remembered was the smoke. that there was a tremendous amount of smoke in the air. she said she remembers the smell of smoke. >> now, the april 18th quake was followed by uncontrolled fires that burned for days. they destroyed much of san francisco. this is neat. a small piece of history from the south pole was found. researchers have recovered what they believe is the first airplane to ever visit antarctica. it arrived there in 1912.

explorer douglas mawson initially hoped to stage the first airplane flight over the frozen continent but the wings were damaged in a crash before the expedition got under way. so he removed them and used the aircraft as a tractor to haul gear. when that broke down, it was abandoned near commonwealth bay. singer elton john and eminem are working together, but not on a new album. but to help the rapper fight his drug problem. john told the bbc he's been helping eminem battle his addiction for more than a year. he says the rapper is making progress. john is a recovered drug abuser himself. eminem has written publicly about his past substance abuse problems. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the best way to prevent financial bubbles is through tighter regulation. but he says it's not the only way. and that may be necessary to raise interest rates again to prevent what he calls dangerous build-ups of risk. now, some critics blame the federal reserve for causing the recent housing bubble. they say the central bank held

interest rates too low for too long. but in a speech before the american economic association's annual meeting, bernanke defended the fed's actions, calling the links between low interest rates and rising home prices, quote, weak. so believe it or not, hunting for a bargain house could put your credit in jeopardy. hln money expert clark howard has more on a hidden danger. >> reporter: okay, let's say you're a bargain hunter and you're out looking for real estate and you're looking at foreclosures, you're looking at what are short sales, where the bank is agreeing to let the seller sell the house for less than the remaining balance on the mortgage. you win, the seller wins, the bank wins because that house doesn't end up in foreclosure. but there's a way as a prospective buyer you can get hurt big-time. i was shocked when i read this in the "san francisco chronicle" but several of the big banks when you approach them are

running a credit check on you. and apparently if you're out there shopping over and over again looking for foreclosures and short sales until you find one that works, your credit by the time you would go to get your mortgage is ruined because of excessive inquiries on your credit report. make sure that you instruct your realtor not to allow any bank to pull credit on you when you're just looking for a home. i'm clark howard. for more ways to protect yourself, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> very interesting. and if you want a lot more ways to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off, stay with us for the clark howard show at 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. blind mice are helping researchers see a bright future for humans with incurable eye diseases. what's working in the lab and how quickly it could come to market.