making news on this thursday morning. >> overnight developments from cairo. a city descending deeper into chaos. new violence turning deadly, as crowds now begin to target journalists. winter's icy grip. the post-blizzard cleanup. digging out cars in chicago. and checking buildings in the northeast, some crushed by so much snow. and disaster zone. a cyclone slams australia overnight. now, assessing the damage. good morning. there are new developments from cairo this morning. the army is taking up positions between anti and pro-government porss. >> demonstrators opposed to and

in support of egyptian president hosni mubarak, remain in standoff on cairo's debris-riddled streets. >> this morning, the u.s. state department is urging americans to get to the airport to head out. we will get details from this day ten, from our reporter, emily schmidt. >> reporter: the beginning of a new day brought no end to the tension in egypt's liberation square. two hours of machine gunfire erupted before dawn with several people killed. this morning, protesters remain in the square, even after wednesday took a new, violent turn. after days of relatively peaceful protests, calling for president mubarak to step down, pro-mubarak protesters moved in, charging the square on horses and camels. >> we are egyptians. we choose our leader. mubarak is our leader. >> reporter: for hours, both sides attacked the other. hurling rocks, ripping up pavement to turn it into

weapons, injuring hundreds. mubarak supporters threatened foreign journalists on the scene, including abc's christiane amanpour. >> we want you out of here. >> why? >> because i hate you. i hate americans. >> you hate us? >> i hate you. and i hate you. >> reporter: anti-government protesters said it isn't enough for mubarak to not seek re-election in september, as he's promised. >> just go. out of egypt. >> reporter: the wave of mubarak supporters appeared well-orchestrated. many protesters believe the egyptian government may have organized it. >> it's like to play with us. trying to do a game. a game. >> if any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately. >> reporter: anti-government protesters still vow they're going to force president mubarak to step down by tomorrow, setting up great potential for still more violence today. vinita and rob? >> emily, there e e e e e e e e making news on this thursday

morning. >> overnight developments from cairo. a city now descending deeper into chaos. new violence turning deadly, as crowds begin to target journalists. winter's icy grip. the post-winter cleanup. digging out cars in chicago. and checking buildings in the northeast, some crushed by so much snow. and disaster zone. a cyclone slams australia overnight. now, assessing the damage. good morning. we begin this morning with the political tinderbox that is egypt. we have watched the situation there change overnight and into this morning. >> demonstrators opposed to and in support of hosni mubarak remain in standoff on cairo's streets. neither side seems to want to step back from the brink.

the u.s. state department is urging americans to head out. we get details on this crisis from our own emily schmidt. good morning, emily. >> reporter: the beginning of a new day brought no end to the tension in egypt's liberation square. machine gunfire erupted before dawn. this morning, protesters remain in the square, even after wednesday took a new, violent turn. after days of relatively peaceful protests, calling for president mubarak to step down, pro-mubarak protesters moved in, charging the square on horses and camels. >> mubarak is our leader. >> reporter: for hours, both sides attacked the other. hurling rocks, ripping up pavement to turn it into weapons, injuring hundreds. they threatened foreign journalists on the scene, including abc's christiane amanpour. >> we want you out of here.

>> why? >> because i hate you. >> you hate us? >> i hate you. >> reporter: anti-government protesters said it isn't enough for mubarak to not seek re-election in september, as he's promised. the wave of mubarak supporters appeared well-orchestrated. many protesters believe the egyptian government may have organized it. >> it's like to play with us. trying to do it again. again. >> reporter: if any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should st immediately. >> reporter: anti-government protesters still vow they're going to force president mubarak to step down by tomorrow, setting up great potential for still more violence today. vinita and rob? >> emily, there were reports of hundreds of injuries yesterday. what has the egyptian army done in taking sides in all of this? >> reporter: 600 injuries reported yesterday. the egyptian army vowed it was not going to intervene. so far, it appears to be keeping its word. certainly, we've seen egyptian army tanks lining liberation

square. we've seen some soldiers firing shots into the air. at this point, publicly, the army does not appear to be choosing one side over the other. vinita and rob? >> emily schmidt, live in washington this morning. thank you. one ominous development from egypt, is the systematic tar 2k3we9ing of reporters. as mubarak's supporters confronted christiane amanpour, they forced her and her team to flee to their car. then, a rock broke the team's windshield. and christiane wasn't the only one. cnn's anderson cooper was attacked by demonstrators. >> we had a block to go, when another guy came up and punched me in the head. >> i've been hit now two times. the egyptian soldiers -- the egyptian soldiers are doing nothing. >> cooper was okay. and he was able to broadcast his

show from cairo last night. several otherlists, including those from cbs, fox, the associated press and the bbc, reported being roughed up or threatened. we will get a live update from cairo in a few minutes. and we'll have extended coverage today on "good morning america." switching gears now, the monster storm that virtually paralyzed a swath from oklahoma up to new england, is now being blamed for at least a dozen deaths. and everything remains frozen solid this morning, buried under heavy snow, ice or even both. >> chicago schools are closed for a second-straight day. and crews struggled through the night to clear the city's famous freeway. t.j. winick has the latest. >> reporter: chicago's lake shore drive was transformed into a frozen tundra. mile after mile, nearly a thousand cars, stuck in snow so deep, they could not possibly escape. >> i was inside with my neighbor next door here, for almost seven hours. >> i was out here all day, obviously. there's snow, a layer of snow.

i couldn't even see my engine. >> reporter: the monster storm roared in at rush hour. the thunder snow, the exclamation point. there were multiple accidents. all night long, firefighters fanned out in snowmobiles to rescue the stranded. for 18 hours, gail-force winds smacked the windy city. from oklahoma city, all the way to new england, ice and snow toppled power lines, knocking out heat and electricity in freezing temperatures. at the height of the storm, more than 250,000 people lost storm in ohio, filling sheltders. >> the house was about 45 degrees. we expect it to get a whole lot colder. that's why we're here. >> reporter: nearly a foot of blinding snow broke records in oklahoma. and toppled rooftops in connecticut and massachusetts. >> we heard creeking and shaking. looked up and saw ceiling tiles falling.

basically, just yelled for everybody to get out of the building. >> reporter: take a look at chicago o'hare, which went from a busy air space, to a virtual standstill. closed all commercial flights, canceled until thursday. before this week, chicago schools hadn't been closed down because of weather since 1999. late today they will be shut down for a second-straight day. rob and vinita? the issue behind the storm is the bitter cold. looking at the nation's weather, highs only in the teens from minneapolis to kansas city. and just 21 in dallas. 27 here in new york. 44 in atlanta. and 38 in new orleans. miami, the place to be today, they'll see a high of 80 degrees. lucky them. >> a new storm brings sleet and up to an inch of snow in southern texas. three inches in houston, to shreveport and jackson, mississippi. thunderstorms in orlando, tallahassee and showers in the pacific northwest. people in northeastern australia is now assessing the

damage this morning left by the most powerful storm in nearly a century. thousands have been left homeless. and some communities are still cut off by floodwaters and closed roads. winds gusted to nearly 190 miles per hour. that same area has already been hard-hit by months of flooding that left at least 35 people dead. an awful double-whammy for folks there. >> their sugar cane crop, a lot of income lost on that. a live update on the quickly-changing situation in cairo. plus, your business news. what are critics saying about the ipad only newspaper? and super bowl tickets going for double the price of last year. we'll tell you exactly how much it might cost you. ñ ñ ñ ñ ñ ñ .

>> "the daily" costs 99 cents a week or. but the next two weeks are free. a seat at sunday's game between the steelers and packers is being resold online for an average of more than $4,600. and that's almost twice as much as last year's game. the face value ranges from $600 to $1,200. >> i'll say the best seat in the house is your couch. >> 43 years ago, a seat was 12 bucks. that gives you an idea. >> the good old days. >> inflation, yeah. coming up on this thursday morning, machine gunfire overnight in cairo. we'll get a live update on the growing tension there. and donald rumsfeld on his role, spreading democracy in the middle east. - oh, we miss you, honey. - i'll be home soon. until then, i have my wingman helping me out. tommy? - i helped dad pick it out.

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the arctic blast behind that snowstorm is stretching all the way down to the border towns of mexico. temperatures dipped there into the single digits, forcing schools, offices and even ai shut down. >> and this may still be the way to get to work in parts of chicago this morning. when lake shore drive came to a standstill, one creative mandiched his car for a pair of skis. probably getting around a lot better than most. >> smart guy. roads remain slippery across the northwest and the northeast. icy on i-77, from brownsville to corpus christi. snow and ice on i-10, from houston to new orleans. wet a to the east from atlanta and tallahassee. >> if you are flying today, you can expect some airport delays in seattle, houston, new orleans and atlanta. and recapping our top story this morning. a significant overnight increase in violence in egypt. >> gunfire rang out on the streets of cairo early this morning. demonstrators opposed to president hosni mubarak and his

supporters were throwing mall of the kak cocktails and stones at each other. mubarak's opponents say they will force him to resign tomorrow. let's get more details on the fast-moving story this morning. >> for that, we're joined on the phone from cairo from our alex marquardt. alex, what have you seen today? >> reporter: it's a fast-moving story. and we're watching a live feed from several angles. i can tell you it is a very tense standoff between the two sides. i hesitate to call it a lull because things could turn very violent very quickly. right now, we're seeing a tense standoff. and interestingly, we have seen tanks, army tanks, move into positions among the protesters, between the two sides, in what could be a very significant development. so far, the military has decided to stay on the side. we have seen a tank move in. and we'll see where it goes from there. this day, of course, comes after a very violent day. so, we're essentially waiting to

see what happens today. >> alex, we've seen some of the violence targeted toward the journalists who are covering the big story, including our christiane amanpour at abc. has that prompted you to take precautions yourself? >> reporter: we've seen both sides, pro-government, anti-government, turn against the media, accusing us of painting egypt in a bad light. today, following a very violent day, we're hunkered down in the hotel. we will likely not be going out because -- as a result of the attacks against journalists yesterday, including our very own christianian amanpour. >> a turn of events on that. what about the americans still in the country trying to get out? >> reporter: this will be another day of americans being evacuated by the state department. the embassy here has organized charters to go to various places in europe and to the states. well over 1,000 people have already left. the state department has been tweeting to stay in touch with americans here. there's 50,000 of them registered.

they have said they will continue to organize the charter flights until the demand is no longer there. it's just after 11:00 a.m. here. there's no longer a curfew. so, they have urged americans to get to the airport and get one of the charters if they want to leave. >> alex marquardt, with a live update from cairo this morning. alex, stay safe. former defense secondary, donald rumsfeld, remains largely unapologetic about how he handled the war in iraq. he says in his book, the middle east would have been a more dangerous place had saddam hussein stayed in power. he said his biggest regret was not stepping down after the abu ghraib prison scandal. could your drinking water be toxic? the epa is setting some new standards after an ingredient found in rocket fuel was found in 26 states. the ingredient's been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women and young children, too. republican lawmakers are expected to oppose the epa standards that could take two

years to implement. lighting up will soon be offlimits in places like times square, under one of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the entire country. new york city's ban will cover 1,700 parks and 14 miles of public beaches, plus boardwalks, marinas and pedestrian plazas here in the big apple. and now, for some ports. the steelers and packers are likely to hold super bowl practices indoors again today. told temperatures in the dallas area yesterday forced both teams inside. as for last night's hoops action, here's max bretos at espn news. >> good morning. now, it's time for your espn news update. another night, another big game in the big east. syracuse visiting uconn. walker facing an orange team that comes in losing four-straight. walker to jeremy lamb. down three. two minutes to go. kris joseph, gets the lay-in and the foul. three-point play.

syracuse up seven. under a minute remains. syracuse loses it. jeremy lamb, almost misses the lay-in. but it falls. panic from jim. rick jackson tips it in. syracuse wins on the road by eight. we move to the nba. chris paul and the hornets playing b-ball lately, taking on the thunder. paul, live shot. paul's in a lot of pain. grabbing that left leg. he would leave the game. with a rolled left ankle. he would be back. second quarter, game tied at 47-47. chris paul, in the paint. russell westbrook. hornets off three. kevin durant, though, on fire. am i saying something you didn't expect? thunder up four. durant, showing some range.

for the three. thunder up seven. fourth quarter, durant, finishes with 43 points, 10 rebounds. thunder win by 11. this has the been our espn news update. tune in to espn news to tune in to "highlight express." for now, back to you in the studio. coming up next, the stories we'll be following today. >> tallying the extensive damage from yesterday's monster winter storm. plus, why gabrielle giffords' husband will be at the white house this morning. stay with us. because when you start your day with the power of oatmeal it's good for your heart. it gives you energy. and it can turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary day. ♪ quaker oatmeal is more than breakfast. it's a superfood. quaker oatmeal is more than breakfast.

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now, a look ahead to the stories we'll be watching on this thursday. supporters and opponents of egypt's president are locked in a tense standoff on the streets of cry row. hosni mubarak's critics say they plan to oust him from power tomorrow. but his backers say. people across new se eyee k ice-covered rooftops that are now in danger of caving in. it was the third-worst storm ever for chicago, where schools remain closed today. and crews are still working to clear lake shore drive. thousands are left homeless in northeastern australia after those powerful storm to hit in a century. crews are trying to reach areas cut off by foulen trees and flood waters. mark kelly, the husband of wounded arizona congresswoman, gabby giffords, will speak on her behalf today, at a national prayer breakfast in washington. 2 countdown preorders begier. preorders begin for the verizon

iphone. only existing verizon subscribers can claim one today. it goes on sale for everyone else next thursday. and millions ofations around the world are welcoming the year of the rabbit. celebrations today mark the beginning of the new lunar year. for everyone, your local news is next. >> aeroeneveryone else, "america this morning" continues after this. decisions, decisions.

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finally from us this morning, big ben and the big game. could another ooup bowl victory help the steelers star win back lost fans? >> all eyes will be on ben roethlisberger, as he tries to clinch his third super bowl ring this sunday. but will it be enough to overshadow his moves off the gridiron? here's karen travers. >> reporter: at the beginning of the season, ben roethlisberger was a spectator, not a starter. the nfl has slapped him with a four-game suspension, for violating the league's personal conduct policy. now, he's just one win away from leading the steelers to their third super bowl title in six years. and he's enjoying the ride. but some are focusing on his actions off the field. in the last year and a half, two

women have accused roethlisberger of sexual assault. one was a college student that said he forced himself on her in a georgia nightclub. >> he followed me in. shut the door. that's when he proceeded to try to have sex with me. and i said we don't need to do this. this is not okay. >> reporter: she refused to cooperate with authorities. no charges were filed. steelers fans are among the most passionate and loyal. but their feelings for big ben quickly soured, despite his direct appeals for forgiveness. >> i have made mistakes. >> reporter: but the success on the football field absolves bad behavior off the field. roethlisberger said repeatedly this week, now is not the time for self-reflection. he wants to focus on the game. but he's also squeezing in a bit of image rehab. >> you know, it's how can you bounce back from mistakes. >> reporter: a win on sunday would elevate roth lis burger to an elite class.