. a very merry christmas to you. coming up on "early today" a state of emergency after tornado tears through servl veral states. j gun fire erupts sending shoppers running for cover and celebrations round the world as pope francis shares his christmas message that vatican. and santas take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather here at home. "early today" starts right now. and good morning to you on this christmas day. we start with the latest on the deadly weather which slammed much of the south.

tornados killed at least 14 people. parts of mississippi are now under a state of emergency as crews continue to search for those missing. here with the latest. >> reporter: a devastating scene just before christmas after twisters tore through the midpart of the country p. . a possible ef three believed to have travelled more than 100 miles. mississippi was the hardest hit. seven lives lost, including a seven-year-old boy. >> looks like there's two. >> reporter: who died not far from where these twin tornados were spotted. powerful winds flipped this semi. 22-year-old hailey dikes hid under a mattress with her mother, grandmother and dog. >> just about every house around us is gone. it's still standing but it's not going to make it.

night and day going house to house looking for victims. >> we're just trying to go through the mangled up mess and just the disaster. >> reporter: mississippi governor declared a state of emergency in seven counties. >> families have lost loved ones, funerals will be planned. this should be a joyous holiday season. >> reporter: in arkansas, high winds pushed a tree on to a house and killed 18-year-old mukayla miles and learned she was shielding her 18 month old sister, pected to be okay. and it's been battering georgia and alabama with hev heavy rain. and so many spending this holiday rebuilding homes and coping with heart breaking loss. and meanwhile in the north, strong winds knocking out power to a quarter million people in parts of michigan and canada.

five minutes. in charlotte, north carolina, fire erupted in a mall packed with shoppers on christmas eve and people ran for their lives. blake mccoy has details. >> reporter: gun fire on christmas eve causing chaos at the upscale north lake mall in inlet in charlotte charlotte, north carolina. >> it sounded like fire crackers for me and i heard people trampling each other. >> reporter: they say it start would an argument around 2:00. an officer working off duty heard gun shots and intervened. when he encountered one of the men with a gun, he opened fire. and she was at children's place with her twins and became separated from them in the chaos. >> people went running. they ran through the store and actually rushed aright through

>> reporter: her kids are okay. a terrifying ordeal, the shoppers hadn't bargained for. there were no protests on the streets of chicago over the death of a teenager shot 16 times by police officer, an incident caught on video that sparked an uproar and for the first time we're hearing the police dispatched call and that a taser was repeatedly requested and minutes later, laquan mcdonald was dead. >> reporter: they marched in the heart of chicago. calling for the resignation of mayor rahm emmanuel over the shooting death of laquan mcdonald. >> it breaks my heart to see this and i couldn't stay home wrapping gifts. >> reporter: and they targeted an apple store trying to stop shoppers from entering.

bisiest shopping day tofz year, chicago's popular avenue shut down. laquan mcdonald who was carrying a knife was shot 16 times last year by chicago cop jason van dike and his attorney setz he feared for his life. and nbc chicago station obtained audio recordings from the night he was shot revealing a taser was requested. the dispatcher repeatedly asked for a taser. four minutes after the initial request for a taser, gun shots. whether an officer with a taser arrived at the scene before

mcdonald later died. officer van dike is scheduled to be arraigned next week on first degree murder charges. nbc news chicago. it may be the holiday season but that does not mean presidential candidates are taking time off from greeting potential voters or taking last minute shots at each other. >> reporter: don't feel guilty about your last minute christmas shopping even presidential candidates are prokrastinating. >> normally i'm much better organized organized. >> reporter: jeb bush looking at board games and taking shots at donald trump who's focussed on his own feud with hillary clinton. trump's attacks, just getting started, he warns, cautioning clinton to be careful after she

>> this is not the first time sexism. >> reporter: and he's under fire now for what plit ifact calls the lie of the year and determining three quarters of the comments aren't true and that's also not hurting. >> he's the only candidate i've seen in i don't know how many cycles that has been able to get away with what he gets away with. they constantly forgive him for the things he says. >> reporter: trump making plenty of noise but on christmas, quiet on the campaign trail. candidates spending time with families, sending greeters to supporters. and in rand paul's case, airing his annual festivus grievances,

rivals, at least some of them. >> quiet for now. you know last night, christmas eve was celebrated around the world. pope francis leading mass for nearly 10,000 pilgrims at st. peters basilica. he calls for a return to the essential values of life and calling for those intoxicated by consumerism to threat birth of jesus inspire their lives. and they had security tighter than usual and thousands of people are expected to flock to st. peters scare to hear the pontiff deliver his christmas day speech. and here at home many are taking advantager of the warm weather. like here, sanlt ta and his elves went skiong the potomac river.

record with 648 jolly st. nicks taking on the waves p. s waves. owner holly are ringing in the holiday, they're slowing down the usual and bussal, reminding people of the true meaning of christmas. the true meaning is also not this stuff, generally speaking. new york city down right balmy. and record breaking warmth will go into the weekend and that's a whole different story in the west with snow. i 90 closed at -- you know i know this pass too. snoqual snoqualmie pass and meteorologist bonny schneider saying snoqual me and

>> and right now, they're looking at that risk for flooding. atlanta, for example, 3.67 inches and record amount of rainfall, it's still raining there. and look at alabama and mississippi, these are flood warnings, a very dangerous situation. and emergency officials are advising stay off the road in some parts of mississippi and the record warmth. get. high temperatures in the 60s and 70s and in the south, we're expecting these warm numbers to stay with us through saturday. by contrast, get ready, a big winter storm is brewing out west. a blizzard watch now in effect saturday through monday for parts of texas and new mexico, two feet in some areas and into the upper midwest, look for snow in minneapolis and the northern plains as well.

more like winter over the weekend. that's a look at the national weather, now a look at the weather closer to where you are. we're looking at mild conditions across the east with a couple cold numbers in michigan. rain is brewing across a good portion of the region as well. and 16 degrees, the high today in billings. so, richard, definitely cold weather is starting to work its way in and we have a big pattern change. >> so, montana getting normal weather, the others are not. and breaking news from nigeria, scores dead in a gas explosion there. and it fandual and draftkings fire back at illinois's attorney genple. . eat well, live well, and take of what makes you, you. right down to your skin with aveeno aveeno daily moisturizing lotion with the goodness of active naturals oat

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more than 100 dead in southeast nigeria. they were lining up to buy cooking gas and one witness saying the fire exploded like a bomb. 36 years after they were held hostage in iran, u.s. victims of the iran hostage crisis will receive compensation. they will get up to $4.4 million. it lasted for 444 days from 1979 to 1981 after the shau h of iran was ousted from power. and this comes a day after the state 's attorney general out lawed them as gambling. both companies have said they will continue to operate in illinois pending the outcome of their lawsuits. and the parent company, comcast are among the investors in fan dual. a mexican volcano put on quite a christmas eve show when

feet into the sky. it has erupted three times since wednesday. no evacuations have been ordered. bristol palin, the oldest daughter of former alaska governor sarah palin named her new born daughter, sailer grace and tweeted out two photos. her mom followed up with a sweet christmas eve note saying oh ever. it was a mad dash for last minute gifts during a holiday shopping season like no other. and that meant big bargains for the prokrastinaters out there. and olivia sterns. >> reporter: the race was on. retailers hoping last minute shoppers would finally come to their stores. >> i have to do it now or it won't get done. >> reporter: after a season where more and more americans are choosing to buy online.

estimated to be picking up at least one last present on christmas eve and 16% hadn't even started holiday shopping a week ago and the prokrastination has paid off. >> we're actually seeing huge retailers gap old navy and tailor putting 60% off signs in their windows and really attracting customers using black friday-escpromotions. >> reporter: and remember there's always a gift card. you can have it delivered via email before anyone knowess you forgot. a pair of tropical bowl games and you're watching "early today." y." we're only human. we rely on our courage. the kind of courage that shows up when we need it...

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this morning on "today," cardinal timothy dolen sits down with a special sneak preview of his christmas message and a look back at the pope's historic visit to the u.s. a christmas eve edition of thursday night football. in what is future hall of famer charles woodson's last home game. the raiders fans in the holiday spirit. the raiders take the lead on this michael crabtree td and converting the two point

and lambo hits a 46 yard field goal forcing over time. in the extra, setting up this 31. there you go, 31 yards. it would prove to be enough, raiders win 23-20. college football and a pair of tropical bold games. and the bahamas bowl in an offer offensive benanzau. and on this 36 yard run by richie james and this was domflate dom dominated dominated and they go on to win for their first bowl vilktry. and san diego played cincinnati in the hawaii bowl. and sean penny, who you can see is extremely fast, took the opening kick off 100 yards for the score which set the tone for

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awakens headed for $1 billion at the box office, faster than any film in history. surprising? probably not. and it's expected to reach the $1 billion mark by this week's end. robert downy jr. received an early christmas present yesterday, california governor pardoned him for his late 1990s drug conviction and prison sentence. the pardon will remove the blemish from the actor's record. and leonardo dicaprio stars as a hunter in "the revinant" samuel jackson and curt russell play in the "hateful 8". and will smith is a doctor who pioneers research linking profootball players and severe head traumas in "concussions". this is "early today." coughing...sniffling... and wishing you could stay in

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>> this is 7news now. christmas. 7news in new england starts in just a few minutes. >> sarah: here are some of the stories we're working on. the community coming out the show support for a dorchester family that had their christmas gifts stolen. the gifts, donated bay non-profit, were taken tuesday from the closet of a single mother's home. several people have stepped forward and offered to replace those gifts. >> jeff: also pope francis celebrating christmas eve mass. the pope recalled the birth of jae disus but also had a message of what he called society's intoxication with consumerism, abundance and wealth.

will be charging two people who called in a hoax that a baby had been thrown into the haverhill river. >> jeff: and some firefighters in chelsea making christmas bright for a young man they don't even know. we'll show you how they answered the call in the eleventh hour. >> sarah: well, it definitely doesn't feel like christmas out there. >> it does not. i think this morning i went outside, chris, for the first time not even wearing a jacket. >> chris: it's been unreal. yesterday felt on the muggy side. look at these numbers yesterday afternoon. 70 degrees bedford, beverly, norwood, fitchburg, the city of boston at 69 degrees. crushing the old record of 61. this morning 55 degrees starting off this christmas morning. merry christmas, everyone. we're about 15 degrees above the average high temperature for the date this early in the morning. 52 in worcester. 38 in fitchburg. some issues out there with visibility with locally dense fog. we've certainly seen that outside the city of boston from beverly to bedford over to norwood and down into the cape

we do have a dense fog advisory until 9:00 a.m. essentially that sliver between route 128 and 495 then down through southeastern mass, a dense fog advisory until 9:00 a.m. bigger picture, no rain, though, so once we shake off some of this fog, i do expect partial sunshine throughout the day and overall a dry day. not quite as warm as yesterday, but 60 degrees on christmas day with dry conditions. we'll take it. you don't have to shovel 60-degree readings. next week we may have to shovel some snow, ice and rain that arrives on tuesday. before we get to that, full punch air coming down on monday. we'll talk more about that in the seven-day forecast as "today in new england" starts right now. >> sarah: restoring some hope in this holiday. a local family getting generous offers after someone break into their home and stole their christmas presents. >> a shooting scare putting a prison on lockdown in shirley. now police are searching for