making news in america this morning, fighting isis, a new strategy from the u.s. military sending special forces, plus syrian president bashar al assad stronger. the war of words between donald trump and chris christie getting more heated and ted cruz facing backlash saying most violent criminals are democrats. a police officer tumbling off a roof while trying to make an arrest. and seasonal slowdown. how christmas lights may be making your wi-fi signal

and do say good wednesday morning, everyone. we start with the new steps to combat isis. simply put more americans are heading into harm's way. >> they're going back to iraq where so many thousands of americans have already served the country and died. and this time their mission could take them into syria as well. megan hughes tracking from washington. megan, good morning. >> reporter: reena, kendis, good morning. a u.s. official tells abc news a new task force being created could require roughly 200 personnel in iraq. the u.s. is stepping up the fight against the islamic state, defense secretary ash carter laying out the plan to congress. >> we're defending the homeland, acting to defeat isil at its core in syria and iraq. >> reporter: carter announced the u.s. is establishing a special operations targeting force. it will be based in iraq and conduct raids, gather intelligence, free hostages and aim to capture isis leaders.

paris, carter had planned for a broader role for u.s. special ops forces after a raid in iraq in late october. u.s. forces held 70 hostages and one american was killed. joshua wheeler, at a discussion at harvard's kennedy center he disputed boots on the ground. >> a lot don't think we're putting boots on the ground and doing a lot from the air but there are boots on the ground. >> reporter: with nearly 200 countries coming together to talk climate change in paris, president obama used the opportunity to drum up international support. >> i am confident that we can continue building momentum and adding resources to our effort to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. >> reporter: the british parliament is expected to vote today on whether that country will join in launching air strikes against isis. reena, kendis. >> megan hughes live in washington, thank you so much. of course, you heard megan

in a new and rare interview in english syria's president bashar al assad is criticizing the u.s. for its effectiveness against the terror group. >> he clays isis has grown since a coalition started attacking it but said isis has suffered losses since russia's bombing campaign began. assad also mocked the countries working with the u.s. >> nobody is taking the western officials anymore. first of all they don't have credibility credibility. they don't have vision and they're not independent going for the americans. so they're not syria. they don't exist under that. most of them europeans. we look at the master. the master is the americans. >> he criticized france's response to this year's terrorist attacks saying it didn't learn from the massacre at the satirical magazine "charlie hebdo" and expressed sadness at seeing of hundreds of thousands of refugees leaving his country. this morning caught's top police official is out of a job

death of a black teen at the hands of a white police officer. garry mccarthy was fired a week after the release of the dash cam video seen here showing the officer shooting laquan mcdonald 16 times. mayor rahm emanuel called the firing the first step in restoring public trust. he said it was time for fresh eyes and new leadership. >> he has become an issue rather than dealing with the issue. and a distraction. >> now the entire police force may soon be under scrutiny by the justice department. the illinois attorney general has called for a federal investigation into police department practices there. for the first time we're hearing from the cleveland police officer who shot 12-year-old tamir rice. in a statement released by the sheriff's department, officer timothy loehmann insists he was aiming for rice's weapon, loehmann and his partner say they repeatedly warned rice to show his hands but instead he reached down into his waistband.

at the time. he was shot seconds after the officers exited their vehicles. they're deciding whether they should be charged. in the race for 2016 "your voice, your vote" and reaction to this new claim by republican ted cruz about criminals and their party affiliation. >> now, listen, here's the simple and undeniable fact, the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are democrats. >> the cruz campaign telling abc news the senator based his statement on a study conducted in three states that showed a majority of ex-cons in those states registered as democrats. he made the comments in connection with the deadly shooting at a colorado planned parenthood clinic which he politicizing. >> front-runner donald trump tells a new hampshire crowd that he sometimes feels guilty about not serving in the vietnam war. trump says he got several deferments and came close to being drafted before the war ended.

hours new jersey governor chris christie has made a jab at trump. >> if donald starts yelling and screaming in the middle of the speech you can be sure i'll say sit down and shut up. >> he criticized reporters for repeated questions about trump and not, quote here, serious issues. the soaking rains crawling across the country. spreading across the radar you can see a large system bringing downpours from alabama to maine. a few inches expected in some areas. behind it all a cold front that will bring. cooler temperatures to the east coast. still ahead, forget the big screen tvs. it appears something else was the big seller on black friday. vanishing without a trace, the mystery surround the disappearance of a hollywood producer. the emotional plea from his parents. a police officer falling off a roof during a struggle with a

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you're looking at nearly 9,000 gallons of gasoline up in flames. this tanker caught fire south of los angeles forcing the i-15 freeway to shut down in both directions, but the driver managed to escape without injury and no one else was hurt. it took about two hours, however, to bring the fire under control. on the other coast, a deadly crash in new jersey last night between a car and a school bus. the car collided head-on with the bus carrying a high school swim team. two men in the car were killed. eight students were treated for minor injuries. police say the car was speeding and may have been trying to pass other cars. november used to be a slow anymore. black friday promotions helped push sales to near record levels last month.

jumping 12% and no surprise volkswagen saw the biggest decline. sales off almost 25% hurt by the company's admission that its diesel vehicles cheated on emissions tests. well, black friday was busy for one federal agency, the fbi processed a record number of firearms background checks on that day, the same day three people were shot and killed at a planned parenthood office in colle could. previous spikes came after mass shootings like the one at sandy hook elementary. mcdonald's is trying something a little different at southern california. customers will continue ordering at the counter but then they can sit down and when their food is ready an employee will serve it to them at their table. the new table service option will be tested at more than 600 restaurant, no word right now on if or when it could go national. >> fancy. >> yeah. fancy for mcdonald's. when we come back dramatic rescue. a mother and her three children trapped in their car. surrounded by water.

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here's a viewpoint most of us will never see in person. a massive danish rescue ship battling high waves this weekend during a storm. the the storm packed

damaged roof, even knocked out power on land, the ship is part of denmark's coast guard. your morning road conditions won't be that rough for sure. it'll be wet once again from the gulf coast all the way north through new england, slippery around the great lakes, wet also in the northwest. if you're flying airport delays possible along the northeast corridor from washington up to boston as well as in chicago and detroit. well, some new details about a harrowing rescue of a family caught in their vehicle over thanksgiving weekend. >> a woman's suv had been swept away by floodwaters into a frigid creek in oklahoma. she was inside with her three children. between 1 and 6 years old. they crawled out of a window on to the suv's roof and made this desperate 911 call. >> the car's under the water. we need help. i've got my kids and my grandma. >> the water was so high and i just kept telling him, just keep your head up. >> wow, rescue teams found them after 45 minutes in the freezing

rope treated at a hospital and they are okay this morning. well, the search is on for a missing hollywood producer. police say eric kohler walked out of work in gardena without his wallet. his laptop or his bag. he never came back. his range rover last spotted at a nearby grocery store but no signs of him. his heartbroken parents have come down from northern california to join the search. >> it's not my son. he would never do that on his own accord. he would never just throw it away. >> i want my son back. i want him to come home. i can't find him. >> as you can imagine they're hoping someone will come forward with information about their son. it was a hard landing for a cop on the job in utah. >> oh. all right, hold on. >> what you're watching and

the roof of a strip mall after his charge, the officer wearing a body camera lost his balance and fell ten feet to the concrete below. he suffered some minor injuries but is doing fine right now. the suspect was arrested and understandably facing several charges. well, a senate investigation found the company that came up with the cure for hepatitis c has priced its drugs beyond the reach of average americans. the two senators who presented the report on the hepc drug sovaldi says it costs a thousand dollar i a pill. it puts the burden on medicare, medicaid and the patient, this he say. well, now sports starting with kobe bryant and exclusive interview with abc's robin roberts. he says it was his dream to be an l.a. laker and that being on the team for 20 years has actually -- that made that dream come true. bryant, of course, is retiring at the end of this season and

he was meditating. >> normally what happens with me is my mind would always drift to the game, always. then i found myself sitting there. my mind wouldn't drift toward the game anymore and i started realizing, you know what, it's getting close, it's getting close because now i'm not obsessively thinking about the game anymore. >> kobe bryant speaking with "good morning america's" robin roberts in philadelphia. you can see the entire interview this morning on "good morning america." >> who knew, meditation. >> it's the key to a lot, i guess. also happens that bryant and his laker teammates were on the court last night. >> yep, we get the details on how that went from our guys at espn. >> hey, it's the "sportscenter" set here in los angeles. stan verrett along with neil everett. we got college basketball to talk about and also a breakthrough win as the nba says good-bye to kobe bryant. >> you were fired up at the beginning there. >> fired up in philly. kobe was back this town. going to be his last trip as a laker, of course, he grew up there. there he was, they gave him a

listen, he was touched, man. he said he was genuinely touched and we have to believe he was being genuine. he came out, had 13 in the first and all of a sudden, hey, man, maybe this retirement thing came not so much. the 76ers hadn't won a game administration. they win the first game of the season, 103-91. everybody wanted to hug kobe bryant. it wasn't hawk ward. and the lakers fall to 2-15. >> ouch. college basketball, number two maryland, number nine north carolina. marcus paige returning for his first game of the season. had that broken bone in his right hand, he came out ready to go, though, 20 points for page in this game. tumble answered rye back. 12 assists for him. got fouled there. made the free throw. maerld up by one. justin jackson misses.

the ball, comes back in and kennedy meeks able to get it to him. carolina wins, 89-81. maryland missed eight of its final ten shots as they pulled away down the stretch. anything else. >> i got chapped lips. >> and on that note, we'll send it back to you. >> get that fixed, neil. thanks, guys. great news to report about a young girl whose story we've been following for quite some time. you're probably familiar with lea still, the daughter of lineman devon still. >> diagnosed with advanced stage cancer in june of last year. the bengals kept her dad on the treatment. >> the great news, she's still cancer-free. tests over the summer showed her cancer was in remission and now her father says follow-up exams show no evidence of the disease. >> she's a real ray of light. >> always throughout the entire ordeal. her face. up next in "the pulse," big

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time to check "the pulse" starting with that unique baby announcement from the founder of facebook. maxima zuckerberg was born early last week. max for short. >> i like it. in the letter to their little girl proud papa mark zuckerberg and his wife priscilla chan announced they're donating 99% of their wealth to charity. about $45 billion. the initial focus is on education, disease prevention and building strong communities. >> very cool.

plans to remain facebook's ceo for a long, long time to come and says part of the reason for the donation, they want a better world for their daughter. >> they're starting at home. he'll take two months paternity leave and help out. >> i'm sure they need the help. well, instagram is inspiring baby names. >> baby center is out with the most popular names. topping the list, jackson for boys and sofia for girls. >> but a new trend is naming babies after instagram filters like lux. that name is up 75%. >> interesting. the same goes for ludwig. that name is up 42%. >> do you know that ludwig is the german form of louis. juno, the name jumping 30% on the boys' name list. >> i didn't know you spoke german. >> i didn't either. so 'tis the season to deck the halls.

>> they're being plamed for slowing down wi-fi. a british watchdog says complaints soared during the holidays and they say it's linked directly to electrical interference. >> okay, so experts recommend keeping your lights as far away as possible from your router. >> that's good to know. i've never had a slowdown but i might call up to see if i can get advanced speed. >> good deal. bargain hunter. finally an old rod stewart song is called "every picture tells a story" and that be used to wrap up the pulse. >> take a look. this photo. what's wrong with it. an australian politician, his wife and two kids there posing for their christmas card. their youngest son there on the left, well, let's just say he wasn't having any of it. >> that little guy pouting as he sits there, oh, poor thing. needless to say if it wasn't for him we wouldn't even be mentioning the whole thing so quite frankly i think this was a christmas card success.

>> those are the best christmas cards, not the perfect posed ones. >> more news after this. fe. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you.

checking our top story, defense secretary ash carter says more u.s. special operations troops are heading to iraq to battle isis. they will work with iraqi forces as well as unilaterally inside syria. opening statements will begin as early as today in the first trial of a baltimore police officer in connection with the death of freddie gray. officer william porter is charged with failing to get medical help for gray. >> chicago's police superintendent has been fired amid outrage over the shooting death of a black teenager. now the justice department is being asked to conduct a federal investigation into the entire police department. and taking a look at today's weather rain and snow from northern california into the northwest. sunny across the southwest and texas, rain along the east coast. well, president obama's back in washington this morning after attending the climate change

but china's dealing with an immediate pollution crisis. five days in a row of hazardous air quality. >> children in beijing were kept indoors and many people bore face masks. bob woodruff is there. >> reporter: this is today in china. most people staying off the normally crowded streets in tiananmen square the background barely visible. this is what it normally looks like as the sun goes down and the cars turn on their headlights. but the sad news is, because of all this pollution, this is noon. that heavy smog stopping traffic on the highways. that sign right there is a warning to drivers reading visibility low. slow down the speed. the government issuing an alert advising residents to avoid being outdoors ordering temporarily. schools keeping the kids inside. this playground empty. as we walked around the city

even on china's youngest as this country desperately grappling with how to keep its people safe. bob woodruff, abc news, beijing. >> pretty incredible. the fact we take air quality for granted here all the time. >> some amazing images coming out there. hey, we're partying. >> we are. we're celebrating a new morning. >> we want to thank you, bring on the confetti. we have passed 1 million likes. thank you so much on facebook, everybody. >> and, remember, if you haven't liked us yet, you can always like us at atmfans.com. we like to be liked. >> least send us comments. we read the bad ones and good ones. michael says, love this morning's show. >> that's good enough. >> or watch every morn when can't sleep. liked very much. >> we hope you suffer insomnia lots, meryl. >> that's what's making news in america this morning.