making news on this friday, december 3rd. >> today's new jobs report is likely to fuel the heated debate over tax cuts. can both sides agree before your taxes go up? deadly firestorm in the holy land. new images from overnight, as new help arrives from the u.s. and cleveland's unwelcome mat for lebron james. the superstar, answering 20,000 boos with his actions on the court. good morning, everyone. i'm mike marusarz, nelson. >> scene i'm vinita nair. today's highly-anticipated jobs

report, is a glass half-full/half-empty scenario. it's supposed to show that 145,000 jobs were aided. but it would be the 19th-straight month that unemployment has topped 9%. >> still, many janalysts believ that job-seekers have hope. we talk to emily schmidt. >> reporter: we have talked to people that will soon be losing unemployment checks. today, there's high hopes for better economic news. there's ind kagtss that more businesses are hanging out the help wanted signs, than actually filling the jobs. an all-too familiar unemployment refrain. >> i'm just here, looking for somewhere to work. >> reporter: now, has a different sound, of hope. >> it's a hard time. but i feel very optimistic that things are turning around. >> reporter: a new employment report due out this morning from the labor department, may have her feeling correct. 120,000 to 150,000 jobs were

added last month. >> real jobs. like restaurants and warehouse jobs and jobs that weren't ordinarily out there a year ago. >> reporter: still, 1,000 people showed up at a california job fair this week for 32 jobs. even positive job growth is unlikely to change the 9.6% unemployment rate anytime soon. >> people start to see there's a lot of help wanted signs out there. they start looking for work.endd and that tends to add to the number of people that are actually counted as unemployed in the nation. >> reporter: this employment report comes during a week when washington is fighting about jobs. >> we have a dual task of continuing to grow jobs while we balance our budget. >> why are we playing these political games? we have 50 million people out of work. >> reporter: 2 million people will lose checks by christmas. bush-era tax cut extensions are set to expire one week after that. president obama plans to talk about the new jobs report later this morning. and the numbers are likely to

fuel the vote on that bush-era tax cut, scheduled for tomorrow. vinita and mike? >> emily schmidt, in washington this morning. thank you. as emily mentioned, tomorrow's senate vote on whether to extend the bush-era tax cuts is billed as a compromise. the problem, is deal has so many critic, it's not likely to pass. john hendren has more. >> reporter: the president sees an end to the tax breaks. >> i believe it will be resolved. that doesn't mean there may be posturing over the next several days. >> reporter: republicans say posturing is just what democrats in the house did with their latest vote. >> the motion is adopted. >> house democrats are getting ready to send us a bill on taxes they know won't pass in the senate. >> reporter: that bill would extend the bush tax cuts, but only to families earning under $250,000. >> i'm trying to catch my breath so i don't refer to this maneuver going on today as

chicken, all right? but this is nonsense. >> reporter: republicans want the tax breaks extended for everyone, including the wealthy. and all 42 gop senators say they will block other major legislation until that happens. they know that small business owners, like drew greenblatt, would be hit, too. >> this will pull cash out of our company. we'll have less money to invest. >> reporter: democrats say the gop is helping fat cats, at the expense of unemployed, whom republicans have blocked from getting extended benefits. >> they are standing by their millionaires' tax break. and i don't think the american people are going to like that very much. >> reporter: the president hopes to resolve the cut treble before the cuts expire december 31st. john hendren, abc news, washington. a final vote is scheduled today on the debt reduction plan from president obama's special commission. the five members of the committee say they will not vote in favor of the plan, so it

won't get enough votes to advance to congress. it called for expanding cuts and new taxes to slash the deficit by the year 2015. new york congressman, charles rangel, admitted he made mistakes after he was officially censured by the house thursday. >> by its adoption of house resolution 1737, the house has resolved that representative charles rangel of new york, be censured. >> rangel stood as house speaker, nancy pelosi, read the censure measure that had been passed overwhelmingly. rangel failed to pay all of his taxes, filed misleading statements. afterwards, he appealed -- he appeared relieved. >> wow. well, at long last, this two-year nightmare is over. >> congressman rangel admits he

brought it all on himself. but he also says he intends to stay in congress. julian assange, the founder of wikileaks, is still a wanted man and hiding from rape charges in sweden. a lawyer says assange will fight extradition to sweden. he denies the charges against him. meanwhile, the u.s. justice department is intensifying its efforts to prosecute assange for the latest wikileaks revelations. firefighters from the u.s. and other countries are arriving in israel to battle the worst forest fire that country has ever seen. at least 40 people were killed, most of them guards, racing to rescue inmates at a prison when their bus was trapped in the flames. the fire forced 15,000 people to evacuate. in asia today, we'll see even more, even a bigger military exercise, than those taking place at the naval drills with south korea. the u.s. and japan begin their biggest ever joint military drills in the waters off japan's southern islands, with 60 ships. code named "keen sword," the

exercises mark the 50th anniversary of the u.s./japanese alliance. well, it was a very long ride for a passengers on a ferry that carries cars across the potomac river between maryland and virginia. white's ferry got stuck on debris in the river. eventually the cable snapped and the ferry drifted downstream. some passengers were stranded for about five hours. a monster snowstorm has buried the buffalo area under nearly four feet of snow. and it is still coming down. the unusually late first snowstorm of the season knocked out power and stranded hundreds of cars and trucks on the new york throughway. emergency crews handed out water and protein bars to hungry drivers who were standed up to 14 hours. >> wow. they are not done yet. expect another half-foot of snow today in western new york. two to six inches from the twin cities to fargo and bismarck. a wintry mix across utah and wyoming. and snowshowers from idaho and western montana. rain in northern california, northern maine. morning frost from tallahassee

to jacksonville. >> mostly 40s in the northeast. 55 in atlanta. and 68 in new orleans. 32 degrees in detroit. 20 in minneapolis. and just 16 in fargo. phoenix will climb to 74 degrees. and seattle 64. when we come back, turning down the volume on loud commercials. plus, new technology, letting you breeze through the checkout, even if your wallet is at home. and one fast ride. china's new train system sets a speed record overnight. ñ

the november jobs report will be the main event on wall street today. investors will be digging into the numbers, which are expected to show companies added 145,000 jobs last month. overseas, markets are fairly quiet, ahead of that report. tokyo's nikkei average gained 0.1% today. hong kong's hang seng is lower. and in london, the ftse opened lower. on wall street, the dow climbed 106 points yesterday. and the nasdaq added 30 points. a splurge by shoppers to start the holiday season is raising hopes the economy may finally be gaining some momentum. retail sales jumped 6% compared to a year ago. it was the second-biggest monthly jump in four years. one encouraging sign, many people are buying gifts for themselves, as well as others, a big change from the past two years. the trustee trying to recover money for the victims of bernard madoff's massive ponzi scheme is now going after madoff's main bank. he is suing jpmorgan chase for

$6.4 million, saying it bears some responsibility, because it continued to serve madoff, despite growing evidence that he was a fraud. jpmorgan denies having any suspicions about madoff. no more diving for the remote control when commercials come on. congress has approved a bill in a bans advertisers from raising the volume to grab your attention. the bill now heads to the president's desk. but it still could take up to two years before the rules kick in, once he signs it. the american express slogan, don't leave home without it, may not apply to your credit card anymore, but rather your phone. technology is changing the way we shop, turning our phones into digital wallets. paypal now lets you put a sticker on the back of your phone. and visa has rolled out pay wave, which works like a contactless credit card. >> the best thing about this is it's a mobile wallet.

you don't have to have a wallet with you. you can have your phone and go shopping and transact like you would if you had a credit card with you. >> as if that's not enough, you can even give digital gift cards this year. wild card is an app that lets you send gift cards directly to someone else's phone. the store can scan the bar code off the phone. next on this friday morning, a police officer's heroic rescue after an suv burst into flames. as one sign said, from hero to zero. lebron james' return to the court in cleveland makes a big statement. depression is a serious medical condition.

i feel like i have to wind myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the lack of energy. [ ctor about pristiqk your doctor about pristiq®, a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. tell your doctor about all your medications, including those for migraine, to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. tell your doctor if you have heart disease or before you reduce or stop taking pristiq. side effects may include nausea, dizziness and sweating. for me, pristiq is a key in helping to treat my depression.

ask your doctor about pristiq. - good for 23 yards. - hey. he went to jared. - that's a peerless diamond, the ideal ideal-cut diamond. female announcer: jared has thousands of loose diamonds and hundreds of settings to create your own one-of-a-kind ring. - you crying? - no. it's fast and furious ride in china this morning. the country's newest passenger train set a new speed record, hitting 302 miles per hour during a test run. that's the fastest time ever ed conv an unmodified, conventional commercial train. when the bullet train debuts in

2012, it will cut the travel time between beijing and shanghai in half, to just five hours. and now, for a look at your morning road conditions. snow-covered on i-90, from cleveland to erie, pennsylvania, and western new york. icy with snow on i-94 from bismarck to fargo and the twin cities. and on i-90, from south dakota to wisconsin. wet on i-5, in northern california. icy on i-15, and 70 in the rockies. >> and if you're flying today, expect airport delays in san francisco, salt lake city and minneapoli now, to a dramatic rescue by a quick-thinking highway patrol officer in florida. with the dash cam rolling, the officer first tried to use a fire extinguisher to smash through the window of a burning suv, after it crashed in boca raton. now, when that didn't work, he made everyone stand back, fired two shots in the window and pulled a passenger to safety. police in california are still trying to figure out some solid answers about the mysterious murder of hollywood publicist ronni chasen. investigators are now doing ballistics tests on the gun used in yesterday's suicide of a

person of interest in the case. they want to see if it's a match with the gun that killed chasen. meanwhile, chasen's will has revealed that she was worth more than $6 million. dive teams have joined the search for three, missing brothers, last seen at their father's house on thanksgiving. but without any sign of andrew, alexander and tanner skelton, authorities say they don't anticipate a positive outcome and plan to suspend the search this weekend. the boy's father is facing charges of parental kidnapping. christine o'donnell lost the delaware senate race. but she has now won a book deal. the tea party favorite is writing a book about her campaign and some of her frustrations with politics. she was endorsed by sarah palin. but had to deny that she was a witch in a campaign ad. the book is scheduled for publication come next august. once upon a time, lebron james was crowned king of the cleveland cavaliers' castle. and his subjects thought he would reign happily ever after.

>> but temptation reared its ugly head. james turned traitor and high-tailed it to the heat. as alex stone explains, the king returns to the realm with nothing but rancorous. >> number 6, lebron james. >> reporter: who gets a reception like this, in a town you once ruled? >> it's almost like you're afraid to come and see you win. >> reporter: in this case, it's your exteammate, the one that bolted. >> leaving fans wondering if that's the last time he'll take off a cavalier jersey. >> reporter: when lebron james did announce he was turning his back on his home state's team -- >> i'm going to take my talents to south beach. >> reporter: cavalier fans reacted like someone had stabbed him in the back. so, his homecoming of sorts wasn't even bittersweet. it was just bitter. and important. >> probably the biggest 18th game in nba history. >> reporter: big for the heat. the so-called powerhouse team is just hovering over .500. big for the cavaliers. this may be the most exciting

game this year. >> a 48-point win for miami. >> reporter: alex stone, abc news. >> a lot of people in the basketball world are just happy to get that game over with. they can move on for the rest of the season. but no doubt, there will be a lot of reaction on the sports talk radio this morning. and espn. who gives us some game highlights and thursday night football. >> good morning. i'm steve weissman with your espn news update. lots of boos. lots of jeers for lebron james. first quarter, going baseline. he'd have 14 points in the first half. second quarter, dwyane wade, big game, as well. 22 points. miami up 38-31. lebron loves it, despite all the fans giving him a hard time. later on, third quarter, james went off. 24 points in the third. then, the fadeaway. 38 points in the game. that's a season high for lebron in his return.

heat over the cavs, 118-90. take that, cleveland. nfl thursday night football. michael vick, trying to get the eagles to 8-4. hosting the texans. first quarter, vick to lesean mccoy. big game for shady. eagles up 7-0. third quarter, texans down ten. matt schaub, the former backup to vick in atlanta. hits arian foster. he fights his way for a touchdown. foster would have a touchdown rushing and receiving in this game. later in the third, schaub to andre johnson. 6 catches, 149 yards. that sets up a foster touchdown. texans take the lead. but then, vick comes back with a rushing touchdown. sixth on the year for him. eagles back on top. he can do it with the arm, as well. philly gets to 8-4. they win 34-24, over houston. that's your espn news update, for all the highlights tune in to "the highlight express" on espn news, until 3:00 p.m. eastern today.

i'm steve weissman. co new york. coming up next, the king of spam has his day in court. our daily look ahead segment is next. stay with us. the tissue beneath the enamel. the dentin contains these channels that lead directly to the nerve center. cold and heat travel through these channels and stimulate the nerve. that's when you get this ouch. dentists recommend sensodyne because the product works. the active ingredient within sensodyne travels into the nerve center. when it reaches the nerve, it forms a barrier blocking the sensation of pain and providing a soothing relief. sensodyne is a product most dentists rely on for sensitivity. whoa! that achy cold needs alka-seltzer plus! it rushes multiple cold fighters, plus a powerful pain reliever, wherever you need it! [ both ] ♪ oh what a relief it is!

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now, a look ahead to the stories we'll be watching on this friday. this morning's highly-anticipated jobs report is expected to show that employers added at least 145,000 jobs last month.

most of those coming from the private sector. a vote is planned today on the debt-reduction plan from president obama's special commission. but it is not expected to get enough votes to be advanced to congress. hillary> secretary of clinton arrives in bahrain today for a convention billed as the most important regional security meetings in the middle east. the wikileaks website is fighting to get back online after its service was withdrawn because of hacker attacks. and a russian man accused of running a giant spam network appears in a wisconsin courtroom today. prosecutors say he was spamming up to 2,500 times a day. but his network was capable of sending up to 10 billion messages a day. coming up later on "good morning america," abc's matt gutman boards a special submarine traveling to the gulf oil disaster. he'll show us what he found in the depths of the gulf later on "gma." for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everyone else, an early news is next. >> for everyone else, an early christmas for nasa scientists. p

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cell phone use is exploding, literally, for one texas man. aaron embry says he was talking

on his cell phone, when it suddenly blew up in his ear. he got stitched up. and so far, he has no hearing loss. as for the phone, it was a motorola droid ii. the company insists it's never heard of anything happening like this before. and it's promising to investigate. finally this morning, a cosmic discovery shedding new light on the final frontier. >> tass is a scientists say they have discovered a new organism here on earth. but it is challenging our long-held theories on what it takes to sustain life throughout the universe. john berman explains. >> reporter: life out there. we've imagined aliens. visitors. >> we mean no harm. >> reporter: but the world's newest science celebrity doesn't look like that. but rather this. >> i'd like to introduce to you the bacterium gfaj-1. >> reporter: it redefines life as we know it. until now, we believed all life on earth needed six things to grow and survive. carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus.

but this newly discovered bacteria can live without phosphorus and thrive, instead, on arsenic, poison. this means life here can survive with different combinations of elements than ever imagined. which means -- >> we've cracked open the door to what's possible for life elsewhere in the universe. >> reporter: more places out there can support life. and there might be more out there in general than we thought. scientists now say there might be three-times as many stars as previously believed. 300 sextillion. that's a 3 with 23 zeros. we've been undercounting red dwarves. small, dim stars one-third o of the mass of our sun. more stars likely means more planets and more possibilities for life. our universe just got a whole lot bigger. john berman, abc news, new york. and that is what is making news in america this morning. >> get more abc news, later on "good morning america." >> have a great weekend.