>> news updates always on cbssf.com. we'll see you at 6:00. captioning sponsored by cbs >> quijano: chaos in washington. president trump tweets that he's removing defense secretary james mattis two months early and names his temporary replacement. >> this effectively turns secretary mattis resignation into a firing. >> quijano: also tonight. no in sight. for the government shutdown as lawmakers still can't reach an agreement to fund the border wall. t is wt wgtoliken you along. >> quijano: more than 200 are dead, many more are missing. the latest on the devastating

tsunami that swept through a popular indonesian island. reaction from around the country after a high school wrestler is forced to cut off his hair just before a match. >> he went viral with something that he didn't want to go viral for. >> quijano: are smart toys spying on children? how parents are banning high-tech gifts this holiday season. ♪ ♪ >> quijano: good evening. i'm elaine quijano. just days before the end of the year developments are unfolding at a rapid pace in washington. president trump forced out secretary of defense james mattis today, two months earlier than planned. the abrupt exit comes four days after the general resigned in protest over the president's decision to pull all u.s. troops out of syria. national security official stepped down for same reason. it's all happening against the backdrop of a partial government shutdownhiou last into the new year. we begin our coverage tonight with our major garrett in washington. >> reporter: president trump

on twitter confirmed another holiday season hair-trigger decision firing defense secretary james mattis nearly two months ahead of his announced resignation date. the president's tweet didn't even mention mattis, saying only deputy defense secretary patrick shanahan will take over as acting defense secretary on new year's day. mister trump did say shanahan will be great even though the former boeing executive possesses none of mattis' four-star military experience or bipartisan approval as a national security strategist. mattis resigned thursday, and in coordination announced a february departure date. two month transition was necessary to necessary to guarantee the department's interests are properly articulated and protected,

temperature memo at the pentagon consistent with the turmoil triggered by the partial government shutdown, now sure to last past christmas and possibly into early 2019: >> this is what washington looks like when you have a president who refuses to sort of go along to get along. >> reporter: budgets director mick mulvaney, due to become white house chief of staff january 2nd, said roughly 400,000 furloughed federal workers will receive their last paycheck of the year on friday but after that: >> it's very possible that the shutdown will be on the 28th and into the new congress. >>porter: congress queens january 3rd, a new democratic majority will rule the house, reducing white house leverage in the shutdown-centered dispute over the president's $5 billion demand for a steel slat barrier on the southern border, of the kind he recently showed on twitter. >> this is a made-up fight so the president can look like he's fighting.

>> reporter: senate foreign relations committee chairman bob corker said the president could have had billions more for border security but would not tie it to providing a path to citizenship for children who came to america with their undocumented parents, the so-called dreamers. >> this is something that is unnecessary. it's a spectacle and, candidly, it's juvenile. >> reporter: senate democrats originally offered $1.6 billion for border security but cut it to $1.3 billion as the shutdown, which the president said a week ago he would proudly own, dawned. >> he says its an issue of border security. i think we know better. it's an issues of his own political insecurity. >> reporter: that's a reference to president trump's reversal mid-week last week from accepting a short-term spending bill to keep the government open through early february, one that did not includer wall nshtrd-rightcriticm d the prid en hunkered down here, instead of his florida golf club, for a shutdown christmas with no immediate end in sight. elaine.

>> quijano: thank you, major. as we mentioned at the top of the broadcast, president trump's sudden decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria is having a ripple effect on the future of american foreign policy. defense secretary jim mattis quit in protest thursday, then issued a stunning letter referencing disagreements with the commander in chief. then on friday, the administration's top diplomat in the fight "to defeat isis" - brett mcgurk -- submitted his resignation. margaret brennan, moderator of face the nation, has been covering all of this and joins is now. so, margaret, jim mattis is now being ordered out of his post. what happens next? >> well, this is going to be hugely consequential, because one of the things that defense secretary mattis was doing was trying to figure out how to execute the president's orders to draw down troops. so pulling out of syria and afghanistan will be hugely influenced by now the deputy who is stepping into that role, someone who came from the business world named patrick

shanahan. but i would argue more broadly, this puts a lot more power in terms of policy in the hands of the secretary of state. and so, how this is managed and how this is managed through with our allies really matters, and that was sort of the basis of what secretary mattis laid out as his grounds for resignation in the first place. though, he said he was going to be leaving in february, the president now saying you're out now. you can't quit. i'm firing you. >> quijano: well, envoy brett mcgurk was supposed to leave his job in february. president trump tweeted last night: "mcgurk, who i do not know." how should we understand this statement by a president who is more than 700 days into his term? >> brett mcgurk is washington's leader of the anti-isis coalition. he has been the person knitting together the more than 70 countries who have been united with the united states to fight isis. so, he's a presidential envoy. while the president may not actually know who he is, he claims, that actually underscores that perhaps the president wasn't involved in the details.

if this isn't someone he knew and didn't care about, well, he seemed to care enough to tweet that it didn't matter to him, which only drew more attention to the story that this diplomat who was hired by the bush administration, i should point out, was resigning in principle because of his syria policy, the second high level u.s. official to do so in the past week. >> quijano: alright, margaret brennan, margaret thank you. overseas, a desperate search for survivors is underway in indonesia after a massive tsunami that killed at least 220 people. officials say more than 800 were injured, with dozens more missing. the powerful waves destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings. it struck two of indonesia's more populous islands. barry petersen has the latest. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the music from the rock band seventeen was full blast. it was 9:27 at night when death came from the ocean without warning.

lead singer ifan was sucked out to sea but clawed his way back and made this emotional video. four band members were killed, he said, and his wife was missing. please, he begged, come home. rescuers dug by hand in frantic searches to find survivors. the resort areas with their beaches and clubs are popular for tourists especially over the christmas holiday. we were all set up for the holiday, said rani, a beach vendor. now it's all destroyed. what i am going to do, she asked, how will we rebuild? indonesian authorities blamed this volcano in the same area as the infamous krakatoa that erupted more than century ago. experts say there may have been a massive landslide. but it takes an earthquake to

trigger tsunami alerts, so there was no warning this one was coming. dr simon boxall is a british oceanographer. >> there was very little that could have been done in this case. and it is just a tragic fact of nature. >> reporter: rescuers continue their hunt, but amid such widespread devastation, it is hard to have much hope for finding anymore survivors. barry petersen, cbs news, london. >> quijano: a high school wrestler in new jersey was forced to make a quick decision: cut off his dreadlocks or forfeit the match. meg oliver takes a look at what happened next. >>reporter: high school wrestler andrew johnson stood silently as his dreadlocks were cut seconds before his match in new jersey last week. referee alan maloney apparently ordered him to chop his hair or forfeit. johnson chose the cut. the rules state if an athlete's hair is longer than their ears it must be contained. the cell phone video viewed more than 14 million times sparked a

firestorm of criticism on social media. >> i know as a young black man how much my hair meant to me. >> this is incredible! >> reporter: jordan burroughs is an olympic gold medalist in wrestling. he grew up in new jersey and had competed in matches where maloney was a referee. he believes the ref abused his power. >> just be a human being. understand, bro, listen, you can't do this to a young dude. it's a struggle for him. alan, you gotta be stopped, man, you gotta face consequences and rightfully so. >> reporter: in 2016 maloney was investigated for hurling a racial epithet at a black official. the case was later dropped. the new jersey state interscholatic atheltic assocation released a statement saying that they are "working to determine the exact nature of the incident and whether an infraction occurred," and is recommending "that the referee in question not be assigned to any event until this matter has been reviewed." after making such a personal sacrifice johnson's unwavering focus was on display, winning in overtime and showing true

sportsmanship to the very end. well before a wrestling match begins a skin and nail check is required of every athlete to prevent violations. johnson apparently passed that stage but wasn't told there was a problem until he was about to step onto the mat. elaine, he was given 90 seconds to make that decision. >> quijano: wow a lot of people saw this decision. meg oliver, thank you. this holiday season why some parents are banning tech-toys as gifts.

>> quijano: this holiday season it turns out its not just santa who knows "who's been naughty or nice". that's because a lot of the high-tech gadgets parents give as holiday presents can actually track, monitor and record their children. mireya villarreal has the story. >> reporter: the eute family is starting a new tech-free christmas tradition. >> i do know a lot of parents

who give their kids those things, and that's their choice. but for us, we don't care to put our kids out there like that. >> reporter: emily eute and her husband worry about the private data that is being collected on apps made for kids. >> i think people need to sit down and think about where this data is going. who's keeping track of me. >> reporter: federal law requires a parent's permission to track and collect data from anyone 13 and younger. but a complaint recently filed with the federal trade commission alleges that some apps in the google play store don't give "direct notice to parents or obtain parental permission. >> in dealing with google - do you or do you not collect identifiers like name, age, and address? >> reporter: pressure is mounting against tech and social-media giants like google, facebook and twitter to reveal how information is being sold to third parties. google's ceo sundar pichai defended the company's practices to congress. >> we definitely are very careful and minimize the data we

need to provide the service back to our user. >> we were really surprised that it appears that a majority of the apps that we tested seemed to be in violation of for one reason or another. >> reporter: serge egelman is the director for the international computer science institute he found that nearly 20,000 apps were in violation of ftc laws. some of his research is now being used as evidence. but he admits there's no simple fix. >> i honestly don't think there is anything that parents or consumers in general can really do about this br cause they have no way of knowing when this is do about this because they have no way of knowing when this is even happening. >> reporter: that's why emily and her family are opting for simple and classic gifts under the tree this year. >> they have crossed the line that we just can searchsog witha being taken. we don't need other people meddling in our business all the time. >> reporter: the ftc has not opened an investigation, but in the past they have penalized

google for exploiting children through purchases made without parental consent. ee lane, google did acknowledge this latest complaint and says they'll continue to work hard to remove any content that is inappropriately aimed at children. >> quijano: is thanks, mireya. up next: an underground explosion and the search for a plumber lost in a maze of tunnels.

>> quijano: first responders went on a frantic search after an explosion in a tunnel near the san francisco international airport. officials say two plumbers were working when a carbon dioxide canister blew up. one passed out and the other managed to escape. at first a rescue crew couldn't find the missing plumber. then found him a couple hours later looking for a way out. both were taken to the hospital. the cause is under

investigation. in england, officials are offering a more than $75,000 reward, be on suspects who used drones, first appeared wednesday, forcing the airport to close, and stranding thousands of pafntion, there have been no sightings since friday, the airport is operating normally. a space-x rocket lit up the sky off cape canaveral, florida. the 'falcon 9' is carrying the most powerful gps satellite ever built for the air force. it's being dubbed as "vespucci" - named after the 15th century italian explorer. the air force says this next generation system is 3 times more accurate than previous versions. still ahead: how the first mission to the moon gave us a new perspective of earth.

>> quijano: last week marked a milestone in the space program. 50 years ago, apollo 8 roared into space. it took humans as far away from earth as they'd ever been-- to the moon and back. chip reid talked to one of the astronauts on board. >> reporter: in 1968 spaceflight was in its infancy. and was a thing of wonder. >> oh, there's the rumble in our building. >> reporter: walter cronkite anchored cbs news coverage from the kennedy space center. >> what a beautiful flight! man, perhaps on the way to the moon. >> reporter: in some ways does apollo 8 feel to you like it happened yesterday? >> in some respects yes. it's never gone away from me. >> reporter: we met one of the astronauts, jim lovell, at the national air and space museum in washington. >> sometimes i look back and say, you know, how did we ever do ter

the first humans to leave earth's orbit, circumnavigating the moon 10 times. the mission was planned in just four months.as the u.s. raced to beat the russians to the moon. nasa's flight director believed they only had a 50% chance of coming home safely. >> some of the odds of trying to be successful in that mission are overwhelming, and perhaps at that time we didn't even understand what the odds were. >> reporter: the mission may be best remembered for this photo--earthrise --our planet as seen from the moon. and for a live christmas eve broadcast, the most watched tv program ever at the time. >> god bless all of you on the good earth. >> reporter: the museum houses several items from the flight. what is this piece of equipment here? >> this is the gyro system. this keeps the spacecraft aligned with the stars. we havmore information inoted e our phones today than this.

>> but for its time, this was really state of the art. >> reporter: lovell also flew on ill-fated apollo 13, which had to abort plans to land on the moon after an explosion in an oxygen tank. but he says apollo 8 may be more momentous. >> 1968 was a very bad year. the vietnam war was going on, there was assassinations of prominent people, and student uprisings, and finally we brought back something that the americans could be proud of. >> reporter: fifty years later that pride still remains. chip reid, cbs news, washington. >> quijano: when we return: a basketball coach who inspires in a universal language -- passion.

>> quijano: we end tonight with a mississippi basketball coach who gives new meaning to hands-on leadership. here's jamie yuccas.

>> reporter: the bulldogs are like any other high school basketball team. except for one thing: this is the mississippi school for the deaf. we talked to the team through sign language and interpreters. >> how do you dribble and sign? if you're dribbling you might have to use one hand or use the other hand i guess. no wung communicates quite like the school's coach.ù sekoe white. at a recent game against nearby jackson prep a fan tweeted this video of the coach imploring the team to play better defense, and signing.ù. "who's house?" the players sign back emphatically: "our house"!. what was your reaction to the video? >> you know first my reaction, i thought, what's the big deal? because i do it every day. but then you know, when i stepped back i started to realize that maybe it is a big deal for the whole community. >> you think you're an inspiring coach?

>> yes, i try as much as possible to inspire my players, because i used to be like them. >> reporter: coach white grew up being bullied as the only deaf player on his high school basketball team in lexington kentucky, but persevered playing overseas and in the deaf olympics. >> basketball really saved my life. basketball is the story of my life. >> why? >> because i lived in a tough area in kentucky. if not for basketball? i might have been dead, in jail. i would never have gotten this job. i'd never be a coach. >> reporter: it's something he's passed on to his players. never give up? a universale pickup up. lesson worth celebrating. jamie yuccas, cbs nefothis sund. later on cbs, "60 minutes." for more news anytime go to cbsn at cbsnews.com - or download the cbs news app. i'm elaine quijano in new york.

thank you for joining now at 6:00, santa better pack an umbrella. another storm winding up and heading for the bay area tonight. good evening, i'm brian hackney. >> i'm juliette goodrich. the showers that rolled through late this afternoon, were just a preview of what's on tap for tomorrow. now here is a time lapse from our richmond bridge camera, where the late afternoon showers made for a slick ride. on the streets of san francisco, the hats were on and the umbrellas were out as people strolled the soggy sidewalks. let's take you live to sfo where you can see the airport is socked in with clouds and fog, but at this point no major delays being reported. >> we starting rolling on our live camera at 2:00 this afternoon. a time lapse of the following two hours. you can see how quickly the

clouds and the rain rolled in and blocked the view. the latest on the high-def doppler is showing parts of the peninsula with light showers tonight, but all by way of setting the stage for what will be happening tomorrow. and that low out there will mark the next storm on the bay for the bay area. christmas eve rain, two-thirds of an inch this time tomorrow night. tide is up at noon tomorrow, which means combination of pretty good rain and a pretty high tide. there are changes ahead for christmas day. we'll have them when we cover the forecast in a few minutes. >> tonight the president's chief of staff says if the government shutdown drags on, it is nancy pelosi's fault. but melissa caen says mending fences between the two sides may be just a matter of wording.