be back next week and next year because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." good morning, breaking news coming up on first look. new details in the search for the missing air asia passenger jet and hundreds of passengers awaitress cue from a heavily fire damaged ferry. all of that and more on this monday december 29th. >> night tile is falling in the search for the missing flight that officials now say seems to be at the bottom of the sea. they can't confirm that the australian crews found debris in the search area. indonesia deployed about a tozdozen

planes and ships. malaysia and singapore also have deployed craft to the area. they are ready to help the indonesian government if need be. a few hours ago the ceo of air asia tweeted this message to the family of those on board. keeping positive and staying strong. my heart bleeds for all the relatives of my crew and our passengers. nothing is more important to us. as families of the 162 passengers and crew await word of their loved ones many are comparing this disappearance with that of malaysia airlines flight mh 370 which is still missing nine months later but as the new york times points out their story is not the same especially as it relates to the weather conditions at the times of their disappearance. >> good morning, they are searching in the area halfway

between singapore and indonesia. search and rescue teams have been out there the entire day. there's about four countries assisting in this right now. indonesia with the most resources. they have 12 ships helicopters and a number of airplanes. malaysia has given a c-130 along with ships and they have launched a maritime patrol aircraft. now they searched all day yesterday during the daytime and visibility is less than ideal and they expect it to rain for the next few days. it's monsoon season here in southeast asia which means it's very wet and weather conditions are not in the at least ideal. weather could have contributed to what made the plane disappear. yesterday pilots called air

traffic control and asked for a change in altitude. they asked to go to 38,000 feet to avoid some weather. that was the last air traffic control heard from this flight. now indonesian officials are preparing people from the worse saying that from their best educated guess it looks like this plane could be at the bottom of the java sea. that's unconfirmed but again they're preparing people for the worst. back to you. >> thank you, we now go to nbc meteorologist bill karins for more on how the weather may have contributed to the disappearance of 8501. what do you think happened to the airplane? >> there was violent weather in the area. there were thunderstorms all around the flight path and this flight took off here and this is the general flight path over the java sea. there was a huge thunderstorm complex off to the east. that's probably not the cause.

there was a line of storms a thin line but east to west right across the flight path. that's what the pilot was looking at on the approach on the route. all of these planes have radar on the nose of the plane so the pilot can see how much rain or where the thunderstorms are and try to fly around them. this line of storms was east to west so the pilot knew he had to punch through them at some point. that's why he requested to go from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet and also to adjust the course to go in between the letszsser of the storms and that's where the plane was lost. that's likely one of the causes or maybe the cause of the loss of this plane. now that the plane is down and the search is going on we've had two days of descent weather in this area. there's no thunderstorms over that region now but over the next three days we're expecting

possibility. there's a lot of bad weather on the way over the next two days and the sun is about to set so by tomorrow during sun up instead of a nice clear day it will probably be cloudy and raining too. >> thank you so much bill. now we're going to turn to breaking news out of greece where hundreds of people have been trapped in a burning ferry. the frantic rescue efforts 44 miles off the coast of greece. this morning it's unfolding in the newspapers in greece. flames broke out in the parking bay. 478 were on board and at this moment more than 325 have been rescued. 49 by nearby ship. but more than 140 are still waiting. a man that tried to escape by jumping was killed. >> at area hospitals passengers are being treated for smoke

inhalation and hypothermia and a tug boat is towing the ferry to port. the disaster drawing global attention. at the vatican sunday the pope prayed for the passengers and those aboard the missing flight. >> in new jersey a freak accident, a boy is struck and killed by a police cruiser. they were on their way to a sleep over. the boy was hit by crossing the street. the police officer was driving at a high rate of speed when the accident happened. >> we would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family of that child. >> the child died at the scene. the accident is under investigation. >> a man in central california is lucky to be alive this morning after a shark attack. some surfers were out in the water when this juvenile great white shark appeared yesterday. the shark bit one man on the hip but did let him go.

the man was able to paddle to shore and was then taken to the hospital. witnesses believe the shark was 8 to 10 feet long. >> across the country outrage continues over recent police relations with local communities. hundreds of officers turned their back to new york mayor de blasio blasio. they believe it's unifying the city and honoring the lives of the officer. the new york police commissioner says it was wrong of the officers to turn their backs. richard jordan is in washington for us. richard what is being said about this growing frustration here? >> well the goal is to find some common ground. the white house and federal lawmakers want to see more dialogue to bridge the gap but it's not coming soon enough. >> this trust has grown between the police and communities and now police and government officials.

the new york police commissioners expects tensions will continue. >> i think it's probably a rift that is going to go on for awhile longer however we will be making efforts to sit down and talk with the union leaders in particular to deal with their issues. >> this weekend protests showed the divide. some people gathered to support police and many others demonstrated against recent police related deaths. thousands of police officers turned their backs to a screen showing new york mayor bill de blasio at the funeral for rafael ramos. many officers blame him for furthering the divide. >> the mayor of the city of new york should not be blamed for the murder of those police officers. that issue should not have been ejected. it's wrong. >> the nypd called the demonstration inappropriately. >> this is a mayor that cares deeply about new york city police officers and deeply about the divide in this city and is working hard to heal that

divide. >> but there is support for dialogue that will lead to change. and one solution getting widespread support the police body cameras. many people believe that will help to rebuild the trust between police officers and the communities they serve. >> richard jordon reporting from d.c. thank you so much richard. now it's time to get down to business with landon dowdy. >> good morning to you. it was an impressive opening weekend for the interview. the sony comedy took in $18 million from theaters and online sales. it has been streamed or downloaded more than 2 million times since wednesday and is now available on itunes. sony's playstation network is back online following several days of disruptions. it could still cause issues. a hacker group posted a link on twitter that contains 13,000 user names and credit cards. the dow was at record levels and

has risen in the past 7 trading sessions. the dow posting it's best 7 point gain since 2008. back to you. >> thank you so much landon. now it's time for the latest in sports from my friend francis rivera. >> good morning to you. lots going on especially with the nfl regular season that ended and the last playoff spots are filled. the steelers defeated the bengals and clench the number three seed and claim the afc north and the ravens get the final spot after rallying 20-10 and here's a look at the rest of the nfc playoff pick cowboys take the east, seahawks take the west panthers take the south. cardinals and lions and in the afc patriots take the east broncos take the west steelers in the north and colts in the south. wildcards here bengals and ravens. jim harbaugh and the 49ers

mutually agree to part ways with a year left on his five year contract and about his future. >> jim do you expect to be the next coach at michigan. >> there had been announcements made concerning those things. >> okay well the 9ers will be holding a media conference today at 1:00 p.m. pacific time. >> check out these two texans fans. they turned the tail dpatgating into a ceremony. they tied the knot. fittingly the couple promised to stick by each other through the team's ups and downs for better and worse, for wins and losses that's their happily ever after tailgate wedding. >> the sacrifice more than 2200 american lives lost.

201 has been the deadliest year since the 2001 start of the war with 5,000 afghan forces killed. now about 13,000 troops will stay in afghanistan. nsh sensitive bladder? try new always discreet up to 40% thinner, for superior comfort. absorbs 2x more than you may need. no wonder more women already prefer new always discreet pads over poise. visit alwaysdiscreet.com for coupons and to learn more.

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. welcome back on this monday morning. a quick update on your forecast as we go throughout our last week of the year. new years kicking off in the middle of the week. we're going to get cold. we'll ring in the new year with a nice fresh cold winter airmass. it's not warm this morning. the cold air moved into the northern planes. negative 23 wind chills on its way to chicago, indianapolis and all the way to denver. let's track the cold air as we head into the new year. the blue and purple show you where the cold air is. as we go throughout tuesday that's pretty much the peak of the cold outbreak we'll warm up in the west.

as we ring in the new year on thursday we'll look at the cold air up there in new england and ohio valley and by the time the upcoming weekend comes along there's not many cold spots left on the map. today is the cold day in areas of the rockies. be careful around denver and even las vegas on new years eve is expected one to three inches of snow even on the strip. >> warm in the east and snow in the west. >> the east will cool off. >> thank you so much bill. now to stories making news this morning. five people are dead after a three-alarm fire broke out in a high rose apartment building for seniors in san antonio and ten residents remain hospitalized while several others are still unaccounted for. the fire started on the third floor but the investigation is on going. in alabama newly released cell phone video captured chilling footage of neighbors urging a child to jump from a burning building. >> come on.

jump. >> jump. >> please. >> we got you, come on. jump. >> come on your momma's right here. your momma said do it. come on. >> oh thank god. >> two adults and four children were hurt in the christmas morning fire. one of the children suffered burns and had to be intibated because of breathing issues. food left on the stove is to blame for the fire. >> george h.w. bush spent the weekend in the hospital for more monitoring. the 90-year-old has been in the hospital since tuesday night after experiencing shortness of breath. >> after 19 years chris rock and his wife are filing for a divorce without saying why. a statement issued sunday asks for privacy as they go through this process. another room needed for our housing secretary. when governors go rogue and the

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or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial. these ally bank ira cds really do sound like a sure thing but i'm a bit skeptical of sure things. why's that? look what daddy's got... ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! growth you can count on from the bank where no branches equals great rates. >> now here's your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. president obama took time during his vacation to wish the housing secretary and his wife best wishes on the birth of their son. governor's andrew cuomo and chris christie joined forces to overhaul the port authority. legislators in new york and new jersey formed bipartisan

coalitions to unanimously prove legislation that would have required commissioners to take a pledge of responsibility to avoid any appearance of political gamemanship. >> if republicans hope to remain viable moving forward they better start attracting more than it's white male base. it was 88% white in 1980 but by 2050 the white voters will fall to 47. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. i'm joined this morning by jane. >> good morning. >> we have possible front runners for this gop election jeb bush former florida governor this and ben carson running. how are they going to fit against a hilary clinton run off. >> those candidates are either spectrum. dr. carson extremely conservative and popular with the social conservative and christmas right base. jeb bush is more down the middle

in terms of the gop. he's going to attract business interests and more established republicans where as dr. ben carson might seem a bit controversial to them and it's really going to depend who gets in the middle there as to who has the swaying power. dr. ben carson pulls the party and gop primary to the right. that makes hilary clinton a little more viable or we're going to see former governor jeb bush really coming out strong. he's already said he is interesting and coming out strong and saying we're going to see what we can do about this. so we'll see. >> tell me more about the gop and how they're pitching this bigger tent to attract minority voters? what's going on there. >> when president obama came in and had a huge showing of minority support they said we want a piece of that. they're doing a great job of attracting hip younger candidates. the gop freshman class this year coming in this january is going

to be significantly younger than the rest of the house and the senate but it really depends on whether or not they're actually going to attract minority votes. senator tim scott very popular is scoring position black republican but only got 10% of the black vote in that district so i think we see they're looking for diverse but are people voting for them is the question. >> well we do know the last month republicans claimed control of both of the chambers of congress. this is going to have an impact on the presidential election? will they get the younger demographic. >> they're going to give it their best shot. can they change it overnight? they won't have that much slack. even in the midterms. 90% of black american votes went to democrats. 70% of hispanic votes still went to democrats. can they switch that up? who knows? but can they make a difference?

they have a dechbfinite shot. >> and who they run for president is going to make a change. >> it's anyone's game at this point. >> it's an interesting game. thank you for joining me. >> great to be here. >> thanks. it's almost time to say good-bye to 2014 and as the year comes to an end some new yorkers are saying good-bye as they look forward to the new year. is gentle on sensitive skin. so you can always put your best face forward. a face in need deserves puffs indeed. and try puffs softpack today. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yeah, everybody knows that. well, did you know that playing cards with kenny rogers gets old pretty fast? ♪ you got to know when to hold'em. ♪ ♪ know when to fold 'em. ♪

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implths >> police in texas say a 9-year-old called a relative and said that a man inside the home was injured after attempting suicide.

the relative quickly called 911 to report the incident. police arrived and found four people dead inside and the 9-year-old uninjured. from the star advertiser lava resumes advance toward marketplace. they advanced another ten yards on sunday. the lava is under 700 yards away from reaching a marketplace. >> and as 2014 comes to an end let me quote the blockbuster frozen. it's time to let it go. with days until the ball drops it's time to shed the past and in times square you can physically do just that. celebrating good ridness day. people took this opportunity to purge any negativity and shed shred, and pass away bad for the past year. >> this is all in hoeps of making room for better memories for 2015. >> a quick congrats to alicia keys that's a mother again.

she posted a photo on instagram with the joyous occasion. old on because "way too early" is starting right now. >> with the support of the next of kin of passengers and also our crew to go through these very very difficult times. >> a search underway for a missing air asia jet as they announce it's likely at the bottom of the sea. what president obama calls a responsible conclusion to the war in afghanistan and the interview now available for public viewing as sony rakes in millions of dollars in online sales. this is way too early.

good morning. i'm bill karins in for thomas roberts. it's monday december 29th. welcome to way too early. let's get right to the latest on the search for air asia flight 8501. they continue to search what happened to the plane and where it might be. it is in the java sea where the plane disappeared. it includes a lot of planes and helicopters. loved ones are awaiting any word on the flight which had 162 people on board including 155 from indonesia but officials are not sounding optimistic about the outcome. the head of indonesia's search and rescue agency says it's likely the plane is at the bottom of the sea. at 5:39 a.m. sunday morning the airbus plane took off from