this morning on wormt news now, the country is getting its first big winter blast with temperaturing dipping for millions as blizzard conditions across some states make travel dangerous. accuweather has the forecast ahead. breaking news overnight, an earthquake rocking indonesia, buildings flattened as the death more waiting to be rescued. new in half hour, vice president biden is never saying never. >> taking to late night explaining why a run in 2020 is not farfetched comparing his physical shape to president-elect trump. saluting this year's class of grammy award nominees. who racked up the most nods, who was snubbed, and hear why this year could turn into the battle of the super divas. that's coming up in "the skinny"

"world news now." >> is that what beyonce will do if she doesn't win. >> hold up. you know, beyonce doesn't need the grammys. the grammys need beyonce. >> oh. >> and we're going to delve straight into that later on in this half hour, but also there's going to be some really, really rough competition, and i'm just saying you have to vote for me. >> okay. just get my baseball on. >> exactly. of course we want to start the half hour with severe weather that are passing through nearly 20 states. >> the storm system that soaked major eastern city and left a coating of snow in other areas is moving east looking to be a dry day today. >> but a blizzard hammered north dakota and northern plains with more than a foot of snow. the standing rock sioux tribal chairman told pipeline protesters who have been there for quite some time to go home

dangerous conditions. >> they might not have been able to go home because most north dakota roads were closed. alex perez has more. >> reporter: across the northern plains, treacherous travel. wind gusts up to 64 miles per hour. in morton county, north dakota where protesters gathered to weeks to protest the dakota pipeline, to leave, but leaves more dangerous. >> the hill got us, slid sideways down the hill, didn't know what to do. >> reporter: a stretch of the interstate closed. >> people getting stuck, just miserable. >> reporter: in bismarck, the problem is blowing snow creating drifts like this one, and now they are bracing for wind chills well below zero. alex perez, bismarck, north dakota.

fast now, the effects of the blizzard with us. >> cam tran has the complete forecast for us. good morning. >> good morning. blizzard-like conditions in the northern plains as well as northern minnesota out for today, so traveling anywhere across the dakotas, looking at blowing snow that's going to make travel treacherous on top of that, this coldest air of the season will be moving across two-thirds of the country this week. by wednesday, it's going to be well in place across the central plains. by thursday into the by friday, it's going to be a big chill into the northeast. we're talking about temperatures 15 to 25 degrees below normal. in fact, much of the country seeing highs this week barely above freezing. we got to bundle up this week. diane, kendis, back to you. >> all right. thanks to cam. moving on now to donald trump, the second stop of the thank you tour brought him to north carolina last night. the president-elect hit on several of his campaign themes

must be looked at almost like fighting a war. he made it official nominating marine corp. general james mattes to be his defense secretary. >> he led an assault battalion in operation desert storm, and you saw what happened. that was the way you were supposed to lead it. there were no games. mad dog plays no games, right? >> earlier in new york, appeared with the japanese ceo saying his company committed to invest $50 billion in the u.s. trump said that would create 50,000 jobs and also a spokeswoman said trump sold all his stocks in june, although no proof of that was provided. trump travels to ohio state university tomorrow to visit with some of the victims of last week's attack there. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said repealing obamacare will be the first item on the agenda when the new

the health care law is the senate's top priority. since being elected, donald trump said he favors keeping some elements of the law including preventing denial of coverage for preexisting conditions. syria government forszs control about three-fourths of the city of aleppo. they are using devices on towns north of aleppo coming as russian alies rejected a cease fire. ground offensive to take control of the rebels began more than two weeks ago. breaking news from indonesia where officials say an earthquake killed 45 people. frantic efforts underway in the hardest hit areas. the 6.2 quake struck under the ocean at a depth of 11 miles, but currently, there's no risk of a tsunami. investigators hope they are close to finding the cause of friday's tragic warehouse fire in oakland as 36 people were killed in the deadliest fire in

authorities do not believe the fire was intentionally set. the focus turned to the appliances on the first floor of the building. >> they narrowed down the area of origin and looking for potential sources of ignition in the area. a potential source of ignition could be a refrigerator, so they are gathering those electrical potential sources of ignition, and they are closely examining them. >> a local state of emergen allowing the city and local residents as well as businesses to be eligible for possible state or federal refunds as they recover from the fire. an american tourist has died after being struck by lightning while camping in australia. new yorker sam beatty with his partner here, michelle, officials believe the lightning hit the tent and touched his feet killing him instantly. michelle was hit suffering head

three hours for help to arrive. police investigating a scare in a chicago high school. several students sick after eating gummy bears laced with an unknown substance. they have been hospitalized. police officials say it's believe the the candy contained a liquid base marijuana substance. it's not clear if the students knew the candy was contaminated before they ate it. good news for new parents who work for ikea. they still have to asemile their own cribs like th parental leave. the swedish furniture maker extends benefit to all u.s. employees, full- and part-time ones. the policy takes effect january 1st giving four paid months leave to mothers and fathers. driving with your child without a car seat usually gets a ticket, but this police officer gave the mother something more. two new car sets. the officer installed the seats in the car and brought her kids

>> that's cool. he says he's a father as well, and he talked it over with his wife and said another ticket wasn't going to do what that woman -- any good, says helping people is why he became a police officer so he did that. >> i think the hardest part is getting some of those seats inside the car. >> well, he helped her get them in the car, the hardest part of the operation. nice thing he did, and good way to lead by example. >> yeah. paid for the seats money. good job. biden's comments about 2020 and what he said about running for the white house, and about who was in better shape, him or donald trump. and who is scooping up the most of this year's grammy nominations? who got snubbed? plus, our own grammy-esque competition. >> it's not a competition. >> tune in to see who is going to win. you dropped a pen? >> it's a mic drop.

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an explosion shatters a peaceful protest in greece. demonstrators clashing with police in athens throwing rocks and fire bombs. officers responded with tear gas. the confrontation, by the way, took place at the same scene of the police shooting that sparked greek riots back in 2008. brazil, dozens injured after protesters set fires in the streets outside a meeting of state lawmakers in rio. the demonstrators, many public workers, are upset with proposed budget cuts. some police were caught on video

bullets from a church window. they called the act an invasion and promising to investigate. outrage building over the revelation of a pentagon study detailing $125 billion in potential wasteful spending. >> critics are now accusing the defense department or officials there trying to bury the report, but the pentagon is pushing back. here's abc's mary bruce. >> reporter: it's the most expensive federal department, but a 2015 federal report taxpayer money they say could be saved. more than $125 billion over five years, enough to fund 50 army brigades, or 83 f-35s, money the study says is being misspent on overhead and operations. the study's author tells us the pentagon turned its back on the finding. >> it's 100% approved, and the secretary stopped the process. >> reporter: the washington post reports the defense department

could fuel calls to cut the defense budget. the pentagon is pushing back hard, telling abc news the suggestion it tried to bury the report is false. defense officials say that savings goal is unrealistic, but that they have already saved billions. while some on capitol hill were briefed, lawmakers we spoke with today want answers. >> i was very disappointed, and, frankly, angry that i had not seen this report. >> reporter: now there are calls here on capitol hill for an bottom of this. mary bruce, abc news, capitol hill. okay. so now to a political question for you, how soon is too soon to look forward to the next presidential race? >> oh, already? >> yeah. well, one guy who is playing coy with the whole subject right now is the current vice president, joe biden. >> oh. he was on colbert show last night not ruling out a presidential bid in 2020. >> i can't see the circumstance

learned a long, long time ago is to never say never. you don't know what's going to happen. i mean, hell, donald trump's going to be 74. i'll be 77 in better shape. i mean, i like that. >> biden said, by the way, he has no regrets about not running this year. >> okay. and he said that he thinks that he would have been the best prepared person to lead the country today. all right. sounds like he's running in >> that's a positive. >> right. >> yes. all right. the pac already just popped up, the biden pac. just kidding. when we come back, who topped this year's class of gramny nominees. >> what drake did to help apple reach a new mile stone. the skinny's next.

time for the skinny starting with this year's grammy award nominations. >> it may end upturning into the battle of super divas. >> you have beyonce with a big stick, leading with nine nominations for her album "lemonade," incoming record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, just saying.

categories, by the way, but she has to battle with adele nominated for five grammys including her "hello" for both record of the year and song of the year. >> to the other leading nominees including rihanna, who got eight nods, but whose ante was missing from the list of nominees for album and song of the year. >> chance the rapper racked up seven nominations in five categories including best new artist and he's the first nominee to releasing a physical album, a historic move for the grammys acknowledging digital albums. >> about time. now explain what a record is and an album, know what to support in the category. they are held february 12 in los angeles. >> looking forward to it. >> we are. talk that drake was snubbed for the hit "one dance," but here's somebody you can't take from him. >> the rapper all over apple music this year, not

music lists. >> his album was the best seller in iteens this year while his hit "one dance" that song we just told you, got an apparent snob from the grammys, not bitter about it, is thee most popular single followed by justin timberlake's "can't stop the feeling," and rihanna's "work." . >> she collaborated with drake, holds no. 2 spot on the list with another snub. that was followed by adele and frank ocean. >> what's it mean for apple? can they stop the music? no? they can't? well, now it's push apple music to over 20 million subscribers. >> impacting music. >> they are. >> next from the music to the movies, apparently jennifer lawrence and kris pratt want you

>> it's got good reviews, and they are doing everything they can short of stripping down atop the empire state building. >> oh, man. >> we'd approve. but they did land in new york and headed uptown, way uptown for a special surprise. >> oh, okay. >> so they both surprised a group of students at the film school in the bronx taking photos and answers questions. >> the school is a nonprofit founded 16 locations in new york and l.a., and when we say uptown, it's north of harlem. harlem, right? >> surprise guest teaching day. >> yes. finally, the oscar-winning actor who took a massive real estate loss. >> that's right. not in the way you think. leonardo dicaprio sold his apartment in east village for $8 million, $2 million less than what he paid for three years ago. >> unfortunately because the

market deal to an anonymous corporate corporation, there's no interior photos. >> we can tell you, however, that it is decked out with futuristic amenities like rhythm lighting, a build-in juicing station, and vitamin infused showers. over the past three years, he's rarely even visited that apartment. he's been representing the three bed 500 square foot condo for $25,000 a month to a former clinton administration offici. patterns adjust to overnight hours. >> oh -- >> i was not sure, which is why i didn't buy the place, otherwise -- >> i hope so. back to the grammys for a moment because song of the year brings together some of, like, the biggest of the last year. >> yeah. >> we're putting on twitter, who do you think will win the grammy of the year? of course there's beyonce nominated, adele, and a guy i never heard of in that category. george l. simpson.

relation to homer? >> one of the characters? >> or bart? >> he's the one that will win. which means, you're controlling your cough on your morning commute. and later when you're joking with beth... even when most cough medicines stop, delsym is still working. ? and when your days' over, your cough is still under control.

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so with nine grammy nominations for beyonce, eight for rihanna, five for adele, not hard to see why the awards if year will be a battle of super divas. >> what you're going to witness is a our own "world news now" battle of the anchor divas with our own gram my care owe key. >> we don't have the words in front of us or know the songs. and unlike usual karoke, we are sober. we hope you are not for the sake of listening for what's about to happen. >> we don't know the songs we're picking out. here we go. >> what's the first one?

bieber. this you or me? >> this is you, lady. >> oh, it is? ? at times you rain on my parade ? not yet? >> look -- >> no. it's -- >> wait. the chorus? ? mama don't like -- >> this is beautiful. >> it's the verse. no, it was the verse. see. all right. here. ? my mama don't like you ? ? and she likes everyone ? and i never liked you admit that i was wrong ? okay, all right. let's -- ? i've been so caught up in -- >> cats are dying. all right, next up. "work," lyrical genius here. ? ? you have to dance to it. ? work work work ? ? you say we got to work work work ? ? you tell me to work work work ?

words here. >> i did. i got the easy one. >> all right. one more. oh. >> oh! >> ambitious." hello." >> oh, it must be a moment. that's a build up. ? hello ? >> oh, this is beautiful. ? can you hear me ? ? i've been california dre dreaming ? >> this got me oh, my gosh. ? i've been california dreaming about what we used to be ? ? we're so different between us ? ? we're running out of time ? >> who won the battle of the

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making news in america this morning, victory lap. overnight president-elect donald trump making his second stop in his thank you tour after creating another firestorm with just one tweet. and vice president joe biden on late night tv talking about the possibility of a run for the president in 2020. the first arctic blast of the season is expanding u.s. below zero in several states and it covers more states in the next few days. campus protests after a white nationalist holds a speech. what they're saying about his invite and this dramatic moment. a microphone snatched away from someone in the crowd. when someone opens fire in