making news on this tuesday, november 30th. >> a classroom full of students held captive for hours by an armed sophomore. a standoff that ends in gunfire. face-to-face. the president and the future speaker. today's coming together at the white house. and leading role. two, young oscar nominees, picked to host the next academy awards. good morning. classes are canceled today at a small wisconsin high school after a five-hour hostage drama. >> an armed 15-year-old held his western civilization class captive. >> it happened in the town of

marinette, about an hour north of green bay. hugs of relief all around. parents reunite with their children, after a classmate held 22 students and a teacher hostage for hours. >> i didn't actually think it was happening until i had actually figured out some of my friends were missing. >> reporter: the standoff began during the school day's final period. >> moments later, he returned with a backpack. it had at least two handguns in it. he pulled out a gunt, students say. shot the movie projector. ordering the classmates to hand over their cell phones. >> reporter: terrified students kept the gunman calm by talking about hunting and fishing. it ended well after dark, when police busted down the classroom door. >> the officers approached him. the suspect then fired one shot. injured himself in a self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> reporter: the hostages were

immediately evacuated from the room. the boy's motive is still in question. >> it's sad that anybody gets to this point that he has to do that. >> reporter: he left you outside? and came back? >> he looked like he was sick, teacher said. i don't know. >> reporter: what did he come back with? >> a backpack and all his guns and stuff. >> glad to have him back, all in one piece. >> reporter: the suspect was taken to an area medical center. none of the hostages were hurt. school officials now dealing with the emotional scars. >> i don't want to go back to school. i'm scared. >> the school district recently spent money on new security measures, but those did not include metal detectors. we'll have much more later on "good morning america." the president and republican leaders meet face-to-face for the first time since the midterm election. emily schmidt is joining us now from washington, with a preview of this so-called slurpee

summit. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. president obama mocked republicans for inaction. they were just sipping slurpees, he said. now, he has a different take. at today's so-called slurpee summit, we'll see if the two parties can get things done in washington. after a midterm election that showed many democrats the door, president obama is opening a new door today, inviting republican leaders to the white house, to map out what's next. >> this is a meeting i want to talk substantively about how we can move the american people's agenda forward. it's not just going to be a photo op. >> reporter: it's the first meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders since what president obama called a shellacking. >> this is the beginning of a new relationship with leaders in the house and the senate. >> reporter: republicans come to the table with a new majority in the house. and a belief voters gave them a mandate for change.

>> we're going to focus on creating jobs, cutting spending. we hope the president will work with us on all these priorities. >> reporter: there isn't much time for that relationship to develop, before major issues must be tackled in a lame duck congressional session. long-term unemployment benefits are set to expire today. lawmakers need to pass funding to keep the government running. two more issues are likely to take top billing today. a new nuclear deal with russia. and extending bush-era tax cuts, set to expire by january. >> if they don't do anything, every, single american then will see some sort of increase in the amount of taxes that they pay. >> reporter: now, these are some issues that haven't been resolved over two years. today's meeting is scheduled to take one hour to match up with everyone's schedule. but the white house says this is only the beginning of a much longer conversation. rob? >> all right. a big day in washington. thanks, emily. and ahead of that meeting

with republicans, the president took steps to cut the federal deficit by freezing pay raises for government workers. the white house estimates it would save about $2 billion in the current fiscal andr and $28 billion over five years. the chairman for the debt commission liked the idea. >> i think it's a step in the right direction. it's obviously in line with what we're recommending. >> little things like this, you know, a pebble in the ocean, maybe. but this is a start. >> not affected by the freeze, the members of congress or their staffs. defense contractors, postal workers or federal court judges and workers. one more item on government spending. the so-called t.a.r.p. bailout fund is shrinking. it originally cost $700 billion. but a new congressional budget estimate puts the praise tag at $25 billion. still outstanding is the bailou automotive firms. turning to afghanistan,

where u.s. forces suffered a deadly day. six americans were killed, when an afghan policeman opened fire during a training mission. in oregon, a teenage suspect says he is not guilty of attempting to bomb a holiday celebration. in court yesterday, mohamed mohamud denies that he was the mastermind behind the plot to attack the portland christmas tree lighting last friday. he is not tentatively set to go on trial in february. buildings swayed in downtown tokyo this morning, after a moderately-strong earthquake rocked japan. the 6.9 quake was centered 300 miles off the country's southern coast. there were no reports of damage or casual phipps and no tsunami warning was issued. now, for this morning's weather from around the nation. stormy in the south. 80-mile-per-hour winds. and isolated tornadoes in the gulf coast, in georgia and the carolinas. afternoon rain in the northeast

and the ohio valley. and snow in the upper midwest. rain from seattle to northern california. and heavy snow in the cascades and the rockies. >> 30s from boise to albuquerque. and 51 sacramento in sacramento. just 17 in fargo. 25 in minneapolis. and 35 in kansas city. boston climbs to 46. it is not too bad here in new york at 54. 64 in atlanta. when we come back on this tuesday, tallying up the cyber monday send spending. plus, a new problem for toyotas. why isn't the company issuing a recall? and new reports of injuries overnight, as severe storms tear across the south.

asian markets are lower this morning because of fears that china will hike interest rates, slowing growth for the world's second-biggest economy. meanwhile, tokyo's nikkei average fell nearly 2% today. hong kong's hang seng is lower. and in london, the ftse opened higher. on wall street, the dow fell nearly 40 points yesterday. and the nasdaq dropped nine points. it looks like cyber monday may not have been a particularly productive day in offices around the country. an estimated 107 million people wednesday online to shop yesterday. and early estimates show overall spending was up 20%. the five-day spending spree that startedted on thanksgiving day, raising hopes this will be the best holiday season in four years. one item high on many wish lists this year, are tablet

computers. gartner has cut its forecast for pc shipments for this year and next, because of demand for the ipad and similar twices. tablets are expected to replace 10% of pc sales come 2015. microsoft is setting out to rival tv service. it has had talks with tv networks about creating a new subscription tv service for x-box video game console. toyota has announced another major fix but insists this is not a recall. the automaker will repair about 650,000 priuses because of a problem with the cooling pump. the problem is found in cars model years 2004 through '07. toyota has recalled more than 11 million vehicles around the world since late last year. nordstrom is hitching its hopes to the bridal business for the first time in its history. the upscale retailer is opening

up 14 bridal salons nationwide in hopes of bringing in new customers. if you're wondering why now? apparently the holidays are one of the most popular times of the year to get engaged. nordstrom says they're targeting the cost-conscious brides. coming up next on this tuesday, with the state department still doing damage control, wikileaks promises its next major expose. and an oscar surprise. two amateur hosts picked to lead next year's show. i can't believe i used to swing over those rocks... took some foolish risks as a teenager. but i was still taking a foolish risk with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more... and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol...stop. along with diet, lipitor has been shown to lower bad cholesterol 39% to 60%.

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of people. and as those storms move east today, look for flooding on i-85, from raleigh to atlanta. i-95, from d.c. to jacksonville. and i-40, across tennessee. wet on i-70, from pittsburgh to indianapolis. icy on i-94 from fargo to the windy city. snow-covered on i-84 in the northern rockies. and slick on the northern end of i-5. >> if you're flying today, a few airport delays to tell you about. seattle, minneapolis, chicago, detroit and much of the east coast and new orleans. we're learning more in what's in that massive dump of sensitive u.s. documents from the whistleblower website, wikileaks. >> "the new york times" reports the leaked cables include conversations with north korea. in one, an official says the north will fall, after the death of kim jong-il. >> but it's the embarrassing leaks that has the administration reeling. here, now, is karen travers.

>> reporter: the obama administration blasted wikileaks for the release of more than 250,000 documents. >> it puts people's lives in danger. threatens our national security. and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems. >> reporter: the justice department said it was working with the pentagon to get to the bottom of the leaks. one focus, bradley manning, a 22-year-old army private, who served as an intelligence analyst in iraq. also under fire, wikileaks editor, julian assange. he told abc news, he wants to take on the powerful u.s. government. >> i am a combative person. >> reporter: the latest documents reveal communication between the u.s. and south korean officials on what would happen if the north korean regime collapsed. they also express some rather candid comments about u.s. friends and foes. russian prime minister vladimir putin is mocked as the alpha dog. afghan president

hamid karzai is described as driven by paranoia. secretary clinton downplayed the damage of such statements. >> i can tell you, in my conversations, at least one of my counterparts said to me, well, don't worry about it. you should see what we say about you. >> reporter: a sign that says more documents will be released over the next several months. it they show the united states turning a blind eye to corruption and spying on its allies. karen travers, abc news, washington. also, reportedly in the ngk a massive release of documents about banks. in a new interview with "forbes," julian assange, says his corporate campaign will begin early next year. and he says it involves what he calls a major american bank and its, quote, ecosystem of corruption. michigan police looking for three, missing brothers, say they do not believe their father's story. he says he gave the boys to a woman he met online before trying to kill himself. volunteers searched yesterday along a busy ohio highway, where

john skelton's van was spotted last week. the three boys were last seen thursday in their father's backyard. in health news, now, a study out today conflicts with recent findings that we need more vitamin d. researchers at the institute of medicine says most americans are actually getting the vitamin d and calcium they need for strong bones. and the study also found the big doses of vitamin d do not prevent cancer or heart disease. it's time, now, for your monday night sports highlights. we get those from espn news. >> good morning. i'm adnan virk. certainly has been a tough time for the miami heat. however, they have faced an opposition under .500. and that was the case on monday, as they were facing the washington wizards, minus their stellar rookie, john wall. lebron, he was bringing it. first quarter, tied at 11-11.

drives on the nasty dunk. the heat up by a couple. second quarter, heat up. dwyane wade on the break. the heat are up comfortably. late in the third, they're up by 12. mario chalmers, to anthony. he gets pushed hard by hilton armstrong. howard comes in and pushes armstrong back. the refs breaking up the scuffle. but take another look. armstrong, clearly shoving anthony to the ground. to his credit, armstrong appears to be going to help anthony up. howard says, we don't want that nasty stuff. shoving him down. armstrong and howard, ejected. heat win, 105-94. "monday night football." troy smith and the niners taking on the cardinals and arizona. first quarter, smith play-action. looking deep, finding michael crabtree. 38-yard touchdown. 7-0, niners. later in first, anthony dixon, on third and goal, dives in. niners are up 14-3. second quarter, same score. first and goal at the 8. brian westbrook, the former eagle.

he can still bring it. niners are up 21-3. third quarter, cardinals down 24-6, derek anderson, just a miserable game. picked off by takeo spikes. the veteran linebacker, to nate clements for a big return. but spikes was ruled down after contact. san francisco goes on to win this one, 27-6. that does it for your sports update. back to you in new york. the producers of the academy awards are hoping to spice up next year's ceremony with the youngest hosts in half a century. >> 28-year-old anne hathaway, and 22-year-old james franco, have been selected to host the 27th oscar telecast. organizers say the rising stars will help turn the night into a celebration of film. hathaway says she is terrified, exhilarated, but excited. >> she's only one of a handful of women who have ever hosted. little extra press on her for that. >> should be interesting, the younger generation of hollywood having a chance.

pretty cool. coming up next, the stories we'll be following today, including success stories from the nation's schools. and our top story, a community in shock, after a school standoff, ends in gunfire. ritis going? they're discovering simponi®, the first self-injectable r.a. medicine you take just once a month. taken with methotrexate, simponi® helps relieve the pain, stiffness and swelling of r.a. with one dose once a month. visit 4simponi.com to see if you qualify for a full year of cost support. simponi® can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious and sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, cancer in children and adults, heart failure, nervous system disorders, liver or blood problems, and allergic reactions. before starting simponi®, your doctor should test you for t.b. and assess your risk of infections, including fungal infections and hepatitis b. ask your doctor if you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections,

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teenage gunman shot himself. president obama sits down with republican leaders today, for an hour-long meeting at the white house. it's the first bipartisan meeting since the gop took control of the house in november. the pentagon released its long-awaited study of military attitudes for the controversial don't ask, don't tell policy. that law bans gays from serving openly. the obama administration wants to see its repeal. a new report out today says at least 100,000 more students are getting a high school diploma. america's promise alliance says the number of low-performing schools known as dropout factories has declined significantly. and on top of that, the nation's graduation rate has jumped 3%. today is the fin the atlantic the atlantic hurricane season. the busy year included 19 named storms. 12 of them turned into hurricanes. but no major storm hit the u.s. >> a sigh of relief. for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everyone else, doctors may have found a way to reverse the aging process. ♪

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finally from us this morning, harvard scientists may have unlocked the fountain of youth. they have successfully turned back the aging process in mice. >> it is a major medical breakthrough that could

eventually help humans live longer and healthier. here, now, is sharyn alfonsi. >> tremendous. >> reporter: in the movie, "cocoon," it's a swimming pool that turns back the clock for a group of senior citizens. now, researchers have found a way not just to stop, but to reverse the aging process. the key is called a telomeres. we all have them. they're the tips of our chromosomes, seen here in yellow. this is what they look like as an adult. as you age, the telomeres start aging. scientists took mice that were prematurely aged, added an enzyme, and essentially turned their telomeres back on. you can see it aftebefore the enzyme. after. >> their brain function improved. their fertility restored. it was a remarkable reversal of the aging process. >> reporter: look at this picture. the mouse on the right has bad

skin, gray hair and is balding. but the one on the left had its telomere >> and you can see that essentially now, you have a dark coat color. that the hair is restored. that the coat has a nice, healthy sheen to it. >> reporter: even more dramatic, the change in brain size. this is before. the mice had 75% of a normal brain, like a patient with severe alzheimer's. after the telomeres were reactivated, the brain returns to normal size. as for humans, while it is just one factor, scientists say by looking at our blood cells and measuring the telomeres, you can tell how well you will age. the longer the telomeres, the better the chances for a more graceful aging. but as for tinkering with them and turning back our aging process, researchers say we still have a long way to go. sharyn alfonsi, abc news, new york. >> hope it works with humans one day. it would be nice. that's what's making news in america this morning. >> get more later on "good