>> city police are reporting ail horrifying crime involving a sexual assault on a two-year-old girl in diape inside a regisff grabbed the child and walked out of sight from her grandmother and aunt. they found here in a nearby aisle being raped by this man. the aunt and several customers chased him. somebody in front of the store

tackled the suspect. police are asking for more witnesses to please give them a call right away. >> other news, five people are in police custody this morning in connection with a shocking discovery in an upscale san francisco neighborhood. a meth lab was operating right in the middle of that residential area. terry mcsweeney is live in th city's lrel heights neighborod. terry? >> this has gotta be one of the most unusual days in the history of this neighborhood. not only a drug lab but drug testing area. it looks like some kind of a garage sale but those are state drug agents on the scene. neighbors knew something was weird. it was a house that had loud parties, people coming and goin all the time but it wasn't their complaints that led to the demise this have this drug lab. the agents have been out here for hours hauling out what they describe as ingredients they need for methamphetamine and belief me found chemicals to

make the date rape drug. the fallout began when police came out to this house for another reason. they got to talking to tw men in front of th house, talked to people in the house and go into the flat and find a treasure trove of dangerous flammable and potentially explosive drug-making chemicals. >> you haveooking beakers running through the kitchen sitting on th stove top. using heat and open sourc of flames to cook the material. so there is an extreme fire danger. >> very quiet, suburban sort of street. everyone knows each other. now all of a sudden folks showed up here carrying on late at night, people coming and going all the time. you know, reall i won't say suspicus but it was unusual. >> five people arresd with pay laundry lift of felonies including possession of stolen property. that list went on and on.

three men and two women. four of the suspects live in san francisc i asked the captain if there's some kind of trend or drug making in upscale neighborhoods, places police may not be likely to look and he said absolutely not, haven't seen anything like that. this is an unusual case. terry mcsweeney, abc 7 news. >> terry, thanks very much. investigatorare trying to figure out what called a fire this morning inside a downtown san francisco apartment building. broke out inside a room on the 6th floor of the burke at turk and eddie street in the tenderloin. >> an important step is underway in the legal battle over the deadlyan bruno pipeline explosion and fire. attorneys representing the residents that sued the utility are consolidating cases. the gathering comes in advance of a meeting this afteron with pg&e lawyers on the same issue.

35 separate lawsuits from eight firms have been filed against pg&e in connection with the disaster which killed eight people and destroye or serisly damaged 55 homes. this morning you can find a little bit of christmas spirit in the area damaged by the san bruno fire. rob put up a christmas tree complete with solar-powered lights on the vacate lot. his dad barely escaped the september 9th explosion and fi driving away just as the heat melted his car's taillights. he saythe tree is helping keep the holiday spirit alive at the site. >> dozens of bay area drivers received citations after a standoff on the bay bridge last month. thousands of cars were stuck in a traffic mess when a man threatened to blo up the bridge. drivers wereold to turn around while e bridge was closed but fas trak automatically issued a number of tickets for tolling

evasion. since then folks have been notified by mail that those tickets have been rescinded. >> the east bay took a massive hit because of a recession but could be poised for a major comeback in e next decade. the median household income in alameda counties combined boug more than $5,000 from 2008 to 2009. on the positive si the conditions are right for growth because of t diversity of industries in the region, particular the green sector. the east bay has produced more green jobshan any other bay area region. the report was compiled by the east bay economic development alliance and the east bay community foundation. >> students ve spent all week going to class in the cold while officials try to get the heating system working again. the district shut down the heating syem over the middle school to save money but when they tried to restart it after the break, it wouldn't work

properly. the district hopes to have heat restored later today. >> some residents worried about the posble health effects of pg&e's smart meters are makg a last ditch effort today to stop them from being installed. the public utilities commission is meeting in san francisco. a group is trying to persuade the panel to halt installations until public hearings are held from possible health risks from the energy. the smart meters emit less energy and microwaves. the issue is out -- outside of the agency's jurisdiction. >> a federa appeals court judge indicated he willot disquali himselfrom hearing the legal challenge to california's ban on same sex marriage next monday. in a brief steven reinhard is rejecting argument that he is biassed because his wife is the executive director of the southern california chapter of

the american civil liberties union. he wilissue a fuller explanation later today. >> bart gave away tens of thousands of free tickets this morning to encourage people to use the transit system for their holiday shopping. bart agents were at six stations in san francisco, oakland and berkeley handing out pairs of tickets to 60,000 people. each ticket is good for a one-way trip between any two bart stations. the catch? they're only good on the weekends, saturdays and sundays for the ne three weeks. >> our parking lots are empty generally during the weekend and they're free. not the case for people doing shopping ot powell street and people have fighting for parking spot >> the give away doesn't rel cost much sincehose trains would be running anyway. >> just ahead, the rising cost of getting in an auto accident. what th latest crash tests

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or get answers right over the pne. ca 1-877-276-1149. that's 1-87776-1149. with anthem blue cross, you're free to enjoy value like never befe. some new crash tests show when cars and s.u.v.'s bump int each others the drivers should get ready for a financial hit.

they conducted the tests at just 10 mph. the damage ranged from 0 to $6,000. experts say it's because the bumpers of s.u.v.'s aren't regulate and aren't forced to be low enough to meet car bumpers. the institute is trying to treat s.u.v.'s more like cars and less like light trucks. >> president obama is optimistic the decrats and republicans will work their way to agreements on several ises in the next few weeks. despite all the nasty rhetoric out of congss, the biggest debate now were over extending unemployment benefits for those who lost their jobs and extending tax cuts for rich. john hendron reports. >> it's a kind of congressional shutdown. all 42 republican senators say they will ock most other bills until the bush year tax cuts are extended for everyone, including the wealthy. >> we're going to extend the current stock rates. we're not going to raise taxes

on anybody. the only thing we'r discussing now is just howong that extension will be. >> democrats want them extended only for those earnings under a quarter million dollars. they say republicans are holding struggling americans hostage by blocking an extension of unemployment benefits to save tax breaks for the rich. >> where is the moral outrage? >> presidt obama awaiting arising republican tide on capitol hill on january is struggling to broker a compromise before the tax cuts expire. >> nobody wants to see taxes on middle class families go up starting janry 1st. >> he's appointed secretary tim geithner to find common ground. 65,000 will lose benefit by christmas 1.6 million without and 2 million by new year. the ended of january the and tae quarter million will be cut off. >> i'm raising my son, single

mom. i'm thinking to myself what will i do? where will i go? >> the question being asked by millions. >> economists to support extending unemployment say that flood of lost income drags down a fragile economy because the unemployed tend to spend their money immediately. >> mikeicco is head with the forecast. >> if you look outside, the air a little cleaner. a shot from mount tamaais from yesterday. we can barely see anything because of the fog. thicker clouds on the horizon. i'll show you where the rain is with live doppler 7 hd and when it will get here. >> plus travel troubles in europe. the major airports shut down because of a continentalwide snowstorm. nasa makes a big announcement for the search

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♪ europe is digging out from deep snow and bundlg up against frig temperatures. a awinter-like cold snap is covering the country like a blanket making it extremely difficul to get around. >> color the continental white. winter has come early to europe bringing deep sn and bone-chilling temperatures from brussels to berlin.

the audubon slowed to a call. the bitter cold killed at least 18 in poland and everywhere a travel paralyzed. here in great britain the transportation network has been hobbled by the ice and snow. fiveirports closed leaving thousands of passgers stranded. >> got as far as the gates even though it had been rainin -- i mean snowing all night. >> it's not just airports. roads, too, are impassable. >> comin up the road and there's an htv sliding down the hill towards me so i had to dive to avoid it. >> now you're stuck here? >> yeah. unfortunately. >> abandong passengers on freezing platforms, forcing others to sleep in rail cars. >> a little snow going through so the change really. >> that is because winter doesn't usually hit hard here in britain so they don't invest heavily in snowplows and trucks. >> we can't operate in the same

ways that countries do that have snow contuously wherever december unt through lake april. that would be clearly be ridiculous. >> is a very different story however in southern europe. greece is experiencing unseasably warm temperatures. it's 75 degrees today in athen warm enou for some to venture to the beach. london. >> that water looks so good. >> doesn't it! i'm sure those northern europe think it looks great as well. >> they couldn't get there i they wanted to. speaking of snow, some in tahoe if not today maybe tomorrow. that syem is going to bring us rain. heavly this morning, just hurts to watch those empty chair lifts knowing i'm at work right now. (laughter) >> take a look at wh's going on here around the bay area and you can see the mostly cloudy conditions as we look westbound from emeryville this morning. let's take a look at live

doppler 7 hd. we have a few radar returns but right nonothing reaching the ground at our reporting station. still a little too dry. but that is a little bit of an appetir of the bigger storm you can see to the north and the stationery front of. running parallel to that stationary front and until it pushes it to the south and east we end up with this which is a mostly cloy sky to even partly sunny as you head to los gatos. 60 there with clos a little thicker. 49 antioch. the rest of us low to mid-50s. cloud cover and sunshine around the monterey bay and inland. temperatures low 50s. highlights today, late rain in the north bay not only today but also tomorrow. the rest of us mostly cloudy today, tonight and tomorrow. we'll get our chance of heavier showers saturday ansunday. start in the east bay with your temperatures. mostly cloy, upper 50s. livermore 59. 59 fremont, the warm spot on the

east bay shore. down i the south bay seei a little more sunshine. think we'll make a run at 60 in most areas. 61 san jose. upper 50s on the peninsula today with mid to upr 50s along the coast into downtown and south san francisco. as you look into the north bay, some of that rain-cooled air should keep us low to mid-50s. clear lake 51. monterey bay, temperatures low to mid-60s. warmth will continue to spread through the southern sections of our state. soutrn california, l.a. and palm springs, 73. should sink as far south as interstate 80 during the afternoon and evening hours which means snow's going to be falling in tahoe. tonight while the rest of us are mostly cloudy, fairfield, morgan hill the upper 30s with livermore. should have 40s for the rest of us. san francisco little warmer at 50. let's put this into motion. rain, you can see it to our north. then it starts to slide into the bay during the afternoon and evening hours.

it will taper tonight for the most pt and then you can see the warm front comes through. that leaves us mainly cloudy tomorrow and another cold front's going to sweep and this time to the west starting at 7:00 saturday morning hanging around throughhe afternoon hours. dissipating during the even evening only for a secondary system to bring us another chance of showers. should be dry monday and tuesday before more rain rolls in on wednesday and temperatures throughout the accu-weather 7-day forecast will be in say the mid to upper 50s most days. >> it's gonna rain? >> i think so. >> okay. >> on the weekend again. >> got that clear, mike. thank you very much. >> mike, thanks a lot. a bay area nasa researcher may have made a break-through in the search to have extraterrestrial life. a live news conference that nasa is holding to talk about the big finding that impact pacts the evidence for he is extraterrestrial life. the discovery a microbe on

the other part of the national park. it's in arsenic thought to be too poisonous but somehow the microbe survives and grows entirely off this deadly chemical raising the prospect that similar life could exist on other planets. the story tonight at 6:00. >> yeah. coming up where you can commemorate the 30th anniversy of pink floyd's the wall. >> don sanchez has that and more in what's hot. sfoet save $523! 16 minutes could save you 16%! co on... isn't it time an auto insure gave it to you straight? that's why you should ta to state farm. but not yet. first, talk to anyne of the 40 million drivers who already ve state farm. 40 million. yeah, that's more than geico and progressivcombined. 40 million drivers. more savings. and discnts up to 40%.

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>> today on oprah at 4:00, aging beautifully. then on abc 7 news at 5:00, google settles a lawit admittg it violated a couple's privacy. the reason aretha fans are holding a prayer vigil for the huge legend. >> from the 30th anniversary of pink floyd's t wall. >> don sanchez with what's hot. >> the 30th anniversary of the wall with the whole band friday oracle arena. shakes -- shakespeare the

tempest. bay area legend pablo cruz in downtown, nasa ♪ >> connet tick reality of temporary dance on the u.s. lone mountain campus. ♪ >> voices of light, the passion of joan of ark is a cinema master piece. the silent film scree tonight at the paraunt theater ♪ >> the national tour of e broadway shrek, the musical in the orpheum theater. the winter studios in sausalito. across the bay catch berkeley artisans in their studios. ♪ >> michelle schmidt sings for meals wheels tonight. the green room party in the veterans building on saturday.

victorians glow wi light. the fancy of light holiday celebratn. ♪ >> the beijin guitar duo are a new generation of guitarists direct from carnegie hall. don sanchez, abc news. >> amazing. >> yeah, they are. for all of us here at abc 7 news, thanks for joining us. >> "who nts to be a millionaire" is coming up next. >> have a great day. i think i need to go home and practicey guitar. a lot! a lot! 2

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