making news on this friday, january 28th. >> ready to rage. cairo set to explode. and aunt government protests again today. the most serious yet. how will the u.s. respond? health crisis for nelson mandela. the icon hospitalized in south africa. we'll have an update from the scene. and snow way. the east coast battered by this week's megastorm, getting word that another could be just days away. good morning, everyone. thanks for being with us today. protesters in egypt are promising, now, to unleash the biggest show of strength yet in their week-long demonstration against the government. >> the response so far, an overnight blackout on all

internet, even cell phones, aimed at silencing the threat. lama hasan is joining us now from a phone line in cairo. good morning, lama. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. people here have organized another day of anger. another day of rage. more anti-government protests will follow midday prayers. they are expected to be bigger than anything we've seen so far. as for the telecoms in the country, our cell phones are working sporadically. now, it looks like our cell phones are completely jammed. and egyptian cell phones are also blocked. people can't dial in or out. and overnight, the government shut down the internet. there's been no access to social media sites, like twitter and facebook. and the idea behind that is the attempt to stop people from disseminating information and mobilizing protesters. but word has already gotten out all week. this week, people have been talking about these anti-government demonstrations. and in some parts of the country, they're going

door-to-door, trying to get people to come out and demonstrate on the streets. and they will be out in full force, including former iaea chief, mohammed el-baradei, the leading opposition figure. he's back in the capital. he'll be protesting. so is the muslim brotherhood, which is a popular organized opposition group. and it is officially banned, but it is tolerated in the country. and up until now, they've distanced themselves from the protests. but today, they say they will be out protesting with other people. we've also learned that six members of the group were arrested overnight, as well as several other activists. >> a developing story. abc will be keeping an eye on that all morning. thank you, lama hasan, who is live in cairo today. and the white house, of course, is very concerned about the violent unrest in egypt and other spots across the middle east. >> martha raddatz explains why the current middle east chaos is sounding alarm bells here at home. >> reporter: why is egypt so important? listen to the president. >> you know, egypt's been an ally of ours on a lot of

critical issues. >> reporter: issues like the middle east peace process. and fighting terrorism. >> if the egyptian government falls, then sort of all bets are off throughout the region. >> reporter: but it is not just tunisia and egypt that have americans' attention. the protests have even spread across the water, through the deserts, to yemen. talk about alarm bells. thousands of protesters are looking to oust yemen's president. why is yemen important? the list is long and frightening. a training ground for al qaeda, the home of anwar al awlaki, a terror leader more dangerous than osama bin laden. tied to the christmas day and times square bombing pep and calling for more attacks. if the yemeni government falls, no one will be there to challenge the terrorists. so, while protests may be cause for cheering in some places, in others, these scenes should make america very nervous. martha raddatz, abc news, washington.

and we will have much more on this developing situation, later today on "good morning america." well, things are slowly getting back up and running in the northeast, after a monster storm that claimed at least seven lives. >> new york city got a lot more snow than expected. 19 inches, making it the snowiest january in city history. and with so many cars buried, y from maryland up to maine, there's still a whole lot of digging out to do this morning. jeremy hubbard has more, now, from boston. >> reporter: rob, vinita, good morning. it is proving to be daunting and dangerous, dealing with all this snow. one of the big problems in the northeast now, roof collapses. there's a garage near boston where roof collapsed under the weight of 3 1/2 feet of snow. it smashed down on a car, where two men for trapped inside for several hours. police had to set them free. reporters talked to them at the hospital about their harrowing ordeal. >> my wife was the first person i called. and i told her that i was in some trouble. and didn't know if i was going to make it.

>> reporter: that was just one of many roof collapses across the northeast. roofs were buckling and collapsing under the weight of all this snow. this 16-year-old posted some sped-up video of his efforts on youtube. this is his home in connecticut. he got out there with his dad to clear away 3 1/2 feet of snow that had stacked up on the roof. they had to clear away the snow because it was starting to leak into his bedroom. a little math shows just how staggering this winter snowfall has been. in new york city, they've had enough snow to fill the empire state building more than 1,000 times. it is very daunting. and it can be very heavy, too. and emergency officials are worried because next week there's even more snow in the forecast for this part of the country. rob and vinita, back to you. >> as jeremy said, we have to hang on to our shovels because old man winter is not done with us just yet. accuweather meteorologists, ava dinges tells us what we can look forward to. good morning, ava. >> good morning, rob and vinita. just as the east coast cleans up from their last, major snowstorm, more snow is on the way.

at least right now, we're expecting some light snowshowers into the afternoon. then, here comes another storm, as we head into the weekend. and already, by saturday, that could bring another coating to an inch along the 95 corridor. the thing to keep in mind, we're watching a potential for an even heavier storm as we get into next week. cold air from canada. that's going to bring up the moisture from the gulf. this could be a doozy. more for the mid-atlantic. back to you, rob and vinita. >> ava, thanks. as part of a staff makeover, president obama has chosen the next public face of his white house. he is jay carney, communications director for vice president biden and a former journalist with "time" magazine. carney is replacing robert gibbs, who is stepping down as press secretary. gibbs will stay on as an adviser and serve on the president's re-election campaign. former white house chief of staff, rahm emanuel, is back in the race for mayor of chicago. the illinois supreme court overruled a lower court which threw emanuel off the ballot because he didn't live in the city for a full year. lawmakers in hawaii have come up with an idea to end questions about whether

president obama was born. under the proposal, anyone can get a copy of mr. obama's birth certificate for about 100 bucks. right now, there's limits on who can request the documents. so-called birthers claim there's no proof that the president was actually born here in the u.s. the piano that ended up in the middle of miami's biscayne bay is now gone. a towing company hauled it away. the teenager behind the stunt faces felony charges if the baby grand wasn't removed. nicholas harrington said he had hoped the piano placement would get him into art school. he could have done an essay, complete with pictures. >> no kidding. creative guy, i guess. well, when we come back this morning, the world waits for word on the condition of nelson mandela. we'll have a live update from south africa. and money news. how the economic could mean fewer of these favorite treats, girl scout cookies.

overseas, stocks are lower this morning, following some disappointing earnings from u.s. companies. tokyo's nikkei average fell more than 1%. hong kong's hang seng dropped 0.7%. and in london, the ftse opened lower. on wall street, the dow inches up four points yesterday. the nasdaq, meanwhile, gained nearly 16 points. investors will certainly have a close you on this morning's report on economic growth. government numbers are expected to show the economic expanded at a raid of 3.5% last quarter. it's still not enough to make a dent in the high unemployment

rate. microsoft's profit was down last quarter. but the software giant still managed to beat wall street expectations. sales of its new kinect motion controller for the x-box helps make up for a dip in sales of windows. ford is expected to report its best annual profit in more than a decade this morning. the automaker's bottom line was boosted by rising truck sales and more aggressive pricing. ford is so bullish about its future, it expects to hire 7,000 workers in the u.s. over the next 2 years. more signs of progress at general motors. the automaker is withdrawing its application for more than $14 billion in federal loans to help build fuel-efficient cars. gm says its cash position has improved. well, girl scout cookies are going on a diet. but not in a good way. the economicdownturn idownturn g the girl scouts to cut the types of cookies they sell to just the six most popular types. what is staying? thin mints, dosecy does, lemon

chelly creams. and the tagalongs. the otherive five make up 70% of sales. and girl scouts sell about $70 million worth of cookies a year. big business. >> as long as the samoas are still there, i'm fine. coming up on this friday, nelson mandela in the hospital right now. plus, charlie sheen's own health crisis. why he is also in the hospital. and in sports, lebron james. a tough night at madison square garden. ♪ hey! wait up! ♪ [ female announcer ] you see a mud stain. but new wisk sees a particulate stain. with our breakthrough stain spectrum technology, wisk is engineered to fight all the major stain groups like particulates and oils. [ girl ] that lip gloss is soooo cute on you. [ female announcer ] you'll never look at stains the same way again. for a powerful clean against a full range of stains,

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seattle to portland. >> if you are flying today, expect some airport delays in seattle, minneapolis, chicago, detroit, new york, philadelphia and d.c. a very sad anniversary in the space program is being remembered today. >> 25 years ago today, the space shuttle "challenger" blew up less than two minutes after its launch. here's karen travers. >> reporter: just before noon on january 28th, 1986, the u.s. watched in anticipation, as the space shuttle "challenger" lifted off from cape canaveral. excitement and hope soon turned into horror. just 73 seconds after liftoff, the "challenger" exploded, killing all seven astronauts onboard. >> obviously, a major malfunction. >> reporter: one of its crew members was kristen mcauliffe, a schoolteacher in new hampshire, who won a national competition to be the first teacher in space. the goal was to boost interest in space exploration interest in schoolchildren.

>> the teacher took us outside. we were all standing around. and we watched as the smoke plume went up in the sky. and it did that "v," you know? and the teachers immediately swarmed everybody back into the classrooms. >> reporter: the horrifying image of that massive fireball in the sky was replayed endlessly on television. >> it is the worst disaster in the history of the american space program. >> reporter: and burned into americans' memories. president ronald reagan was scheduled to deliver his state of the union address that night. instead, reagan tried to comfort a grieving nation. >> they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye. and slipped the surlily bonds of earth, to touch the face of god. >> reporter: in 2004, president george w. bush announced the retirement of the aging shuttle fleet. just three more launches remain. astronaut, mark kelly, the husband of representative gabrielle giffords, is scheduled to command the second of those three missions. today, the there are nearly 50

"challenger" learning centers worldwide, where hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren are taught to reach for the stars. karen tlavrs, abc news, washington. there's concerns over the health of former south african president, nelson mandela. >> he's been in the hospital since wednesday with a collapsed lung. jeffrey kofman is in johannesburg with an update. jeffrey? >> reporter: the anti-apartheid icon, nelson mandela is in his third day at the hospital here in johannesburg. the government says there's no need to panic over the health of the former south african president. but a source close to nelson mandela tells abc news, things are not looking good. his family has been coming and going for the last two days. we're expecting an update from the president, about 5:30 eastern time. and we're expecting to hear more. clearly, mandela's health is declining. he's 92. he's been very frail. he's been seen very little in

public for the last year. it's not clear where there is going. but clearly, enormous amount of concern. the entire world, not just south africa, is watching anxiously. >> abc's jeffrey kofman, live in south africa this morning. thanks, jeffrey. studio executives have already expressed concerned about charlie sheen's offscreen antics. this morning, sheen is in a los angeles hospital, suffering from what they say is abdominal pains. it's his third stint in a hospital since november. it's not clear if his cbs sitcom will be impacted. in sports this morning, another big loss at the australian open. match point, roger federer on the top of the screen, going down. meaning he and rafael nadal have failed to reach the final. there it is. there they are. now, for a big night in the nba, here's kevin connors over at espn news. >> good morning. big one at madison square garden last night between the knicks and miami heat. dwyane wade had planned on

wearing heavily-tinted goggles to combat migraines. but the nba said no dice. opponents couldn't see his eyes. he went with a lighter shade of goggles. seemed to have a positive e fejt. hooking up with lebron. third quarter, wade. goggles on the top of his head this time. he tries to put them back on mid play. the ball gets knocked out of bounds by the knicks' landry fields. the ensuing position, clean those off, will you. under a minute to go, same score. it's the rookie, landry fields, out of stanford. bull's eye. knicks up by five. under 20 seconds to go. heat down by three. heat down one. lebron, the layup. he had 24. closing seconds. miami, down three. one, last chance. and a good one. mario chalmers. no dice. and spike, the knicks, 93-88

victory. for all of your highlights, join us on espn news. i'm kevin connors. now, back to you in new york. if you think a three-pointer is aggressive. check out this play from wednesday's phoenix suns game. >> performers were wowing the crowd with tricks, when one guy bounced a little too high off the trampoline. he ended up going head-first through the basket. luckily, there was plenty of padding. he was not seriously hurt. never seen that before. >> how would one get out of that situation, as well? >> carefully. >> yes. coming up next, we'll update the morning's top stories. protesters promising a huge show of strength today in cairo. and the government has already responded. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's morning... and quaker loves morning. ♪ because when you start your day with the power of oatmeal it's good for your heart.

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now, a look ahead to the stories we'll be watching on this friday. protesters are gearing u the biggest demonstrations so far this week in egypt. ahead of the protests, the government pulled the plug on the internet and cell phones, in an effort to silence dissent. president obama is among world leaders carefully watching as those events in egypt unfold. mr. obama has said that reform is critical to that country's future. a lighter round of snow is in store for the northeast today, as plows struggle to clean up from this latest storm. many drivers are going nowhere fast, with their cars buried under more than a foot of heavy

snow. the illinois supreme court has now given the okay for rahm emanuel to run for mayor of chicago. a lower court had ruled that the former white house chief of staff was not eligible because he had not lived in the windy city for a full year. doctors in johannesburg are keeping a close eye on former south african president nelson mandela. the 92-year-old mandela has been in the hospital since wednesday, with a collapsed lung. and students at dozens of "challenger" centers for space science education, are remembering the space disaster today, 25 years ago. that's the tragedy that rattled the nation. coming up later on "good morning america," our own robin roberts sits down with the self-described mom in chief, michelle obama. the first lady shares her plans to improve the diet of our nation's military recruits. first, she targeted the nation. walmart made some changes. and now, the military, will hopefully follow suit. >> important changes, too. looking at the obesity rates around the country. certainly big calls for her. for some of you, now, your local news is coming up next.

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well, it has been a big week in the news, with the state of the union and major snowstorms, plus, protests in the middle east. >> and not to mention the

lighter news from oprah, and the always-entertaining cast of "the jersey shore." here, now, is your week in comedy. >> this year, there's a fun drinking game being played across the country during the state of the union. you listen to the speech. and every time you think about the actual state of the union, you take a drink. it helps. >> that got a really big laugh, when he said -- when it's smoked, salmon gets even more complicated. i noticed that boehner did not laugh at that moment. is that possibly because he was offended as a smoked american? >> egypt is in the news. egypt is now in its second day of angry street protests. and secretary of state hillary clinton is calling for calm. yeah. because nothing calms an enraged arab country, than a powerful woman ordering it around. >> and vice president joe biden had to report for jury duty today. now, he can get out of jury, if he can convince the judge that he can't miss work because his presence at his job is too essential.

we know what that means. he's going to jury duty. >> for the fourth season of "jersey shore," the cast members will be headed to italy. yeah. this will mark the first time in history an italian man will see a young, america woman walking by and go, you know what? i'm good. >> to give you an idea of just how bad the weather has been, we've put together a collection of weather reports from some of the most heavily-impacted cities. >> this is what it looks like at the garden state. >> cross country skis aided several commuters in central park, which got hit be 19 inches of snow. >> this is on top of all of the snow that they've had from the five previous snowstorms. >> we're looking at more 80s for tomorrow. and temperatures will start to cool down a little bit. we have been dealing with the winds. >> yeah, you know, the winds. you know what the winds can do to your hair. mess it up. so, we're suffering, too. >> i'm jealous of those folks in l.a. right about now, huh? >> they're not jealous of us.