this friday morning on "world news now," the explosive sexual assault allegations, this time facing a senator already serving. >> al franken is now apologizing after a radio host released a photo and accused him of forcibly sticking his tongue done her throat. hear franken's response to the allegations and how president trump weighed in overnight. and senate candidate roy moore, defiant, vowing to stay in the race. alabama republicans are actually standing by him, despite republicans in washington threatening him to step aside. you might want to hang back. the powerful storms sweeping the country are already impacng

normally still waters, making this lake look like an ocean. and nearly 30 years after jamaica shocked the world, nigeria is sending a bobsled team to the winter olympics. >> woo! >> yes, and a reminder there really is a winter in nigeria, but don't tell that to these ladies, they're psyched. feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme. it's friday, november 17 time. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> a little more. >> needs a little more work. ♪ i can see clearly now the rain is gone ♪ >> is it from the movie? is that from the sound track? >> yes! >> it's been 30 years. the lowest temperature in nigeria in the coolest month,78 degrees. perfect bobsled weather.

team in just a little bit. we will, but we're going to start in the u.s. and the bombshell allegation against al franken. a radio host says he forcibly kissed her during a uso tour in 2006. >> franken is apologizing for his behavior, which also includes posing for this photo. it appears to show him pretending to grope her while shes with asleep on a plane returning from afghanistan. mary bruce has the

she says franken came at mother. >> he stuck his tongue in my mouth so fast. and all i ask remember is that his lips were really wet, and it was slimy, and i remember i ip was over, exhausted, n the tweeden fell asleep on the plan plane, and that's when the photo was taken. my a photo of al doing this on my breast, like looking at the cameras, smirking and smiling, like hey, look at me. is it funny if he does that to your sister or your daughter or your wife? >> reporter: he apologized, isiting the most important thing is i'm sorry. the senator says there's no excuse. i look at it and i feel itsgusted with myself. it isn't funny, it's

inappropriate. as for the unwanted kiss, franken writes, although i don't remember the rehearsal for the skit as she does, it as important to listen to and believe women's experiences. no gow congress is going to take a good, hard look at him. >> this kind of conduct should not be tolerated by him or any public official. >> reporter: should he resign? >> that's something we'll have to wait and see how plays out in >>e ethics investigation. >> reporter: should he resign? >> it needs to be looked into. >> reporter: as for tweeden. >> people make mistakes. i'm not asking for him to step down. >>at's not my place to say that. as reporter: harassment and unsault are completely deacceptable, they say, and anmocrats agree. and al franken says he will gladly cooperate. mary bruce, abc news, capitol hill. and president trump weighed in last night saying it was just

recently that franken was, quote, lecturing any gun who wou -- liyone mo would -- who would listen. >> he went on to call him al whanken steen. piere do his hands go in pictures three, four, five, and six while she sleeps. he hasn't said a word publicly inout the growing scandal involving the alabama senate candidate roy moore. >> the state republican party is sticking by moore, despite the sexual misconduct allegations against him and falling poll numbers. that puts the alabama gop at odds with many in washington. alore remains defiant saying the allegations are attempt to steal the election from the people of alabama. >> i will remain standing until they lay me in that box and put >> in the ground. >> the accusations against moore se seem to be

alabama voters. a fox news poll now shows him trailing his democratic opponent doug jones by eight points. the house republican tax plan is moving on. it cuts the corporate tax rate to 20% and reduces or eliminates some individual deductions and paises the deficit. stul ryan calls it the biggest step lawmakers can take to grow the economy, but he says challenges remain. >> we've got a long road ahead mi us, this is a very, very big milestone in that long road. us've got a long road ahead of ge, and we have a timeline to get this done by the end of the year. >> in the meantime, the tax plan ba the senate faces an uphill battle. they estimate the plan will foise taxes over the next decade for households earning below $75,000. wisconsin republican senator ron

already. cove other gop senators have not committed to the bill. >> presidential adviser and son-in-law jared kushner now has ten days to turn over e-mails involving the russia investigation. the senate judiciary committee set that deadline amid allegations that he is holding back documents. pierre thomas has the latest. do reporter: we're learning that donald trump's son-in-law, jared kushner has not turned over all in his e-mails to senate investigators looking into russian middling. that revelation less than a week prter we learned that the president's son, donald trump jr. exchanged private messages with wick ey likes at the heigh of the campaign, at the time inkileaks was releasing damaging information on hillary clinton. >> wikileaks, i love wikileaks. > reporter: contacting his attorney saying they want missing e-mails, a russian back door

wikileaks. a kushner's attorney says he's been cooperating with congressional investigators and will continue to do so. dembers of congress are >>manding that he do so. millions of americans are thtting a head start on their ruanksgiving holiday and will be >>nning into nasty weather. >> the storm turned the normally virtne lake tahoe looking into a wirtual ocean there with high winds churning up waves between thur and six feet high. the storm has also dropped about three feet of snow at higher elevations. >> the system is moving east now bringing high waves and heavy muow to the rockies and rain to much of the midwest. by sunday that rain will hit the east coast. baseball's most valuable players have now been named

in in the american league, it is >>t the judge. >> boo! >> jose altuve was named mvp. he posted the best batting average in the big league during hee regular season. he beat out aaron judge of course of the new york yankees, there's a little size difference thtween the two fellas. this was obvious. jean carlos was named national stanue mvp. toanton is the sixth mvp winner th play for a losing team. that's a sad fact. >> thursday night football. are't look now, but the steelers are looking good. ben roethlisberger hitting antonio brown who had a banner night. they hooked up for two more touchdowns, including one, watch this -- >> whoa! >> off his helmet. >> a one-handed helmet catch.

he he's done it before, but that >>s impressive. >> all rise! >> the touchdown, 40-17. >> pretty cool. yeah, so a cool runnings wequel. we'll see how they are in the playoffs, jack. running sequel is now in the works for next year's olympics. be careful. >> oh, boy, we hope you're as pumped for bobsledding as you >>e for football. >> i love bobsledding. >> the role of the jamaican bobsledding team will be played ni three women representing nigeria. they qualified for the south korean games yesterday and will make up the first african bobsled team to reach the winter >>mes. >> they look like cast members of the black panthers. weey have moves off the track as well. get it, ladies. their qualifying race was in calgary, canada, which is

the jamaican bobsledders >>mpeted in 1988. vi i hope we get more dance >>deos. >> yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> we should just let that. coming up, the country that just replaced the u.s. with the best global image. can you guess which one? nigeria perhaps? oh. well, it has a river. >>d it has statues. >> now we know. there you go. >> all nd beer. all right, we'll get to it in the mix. but first, one of the largest rewards ever for a missing pet. we'll tell you what one couple is offering for the safe return of a rather unusual cat. yo you're watching "world news now." he. i'm not eating pizza from the trash. then i discovered mucinex. huge difference.

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vera several workers have been fired from a psychiatric hospital in hawaii after an admitted killer managed to escape. >> not only did randall saito manage to leave the facility, he wound up in california. >> reporter: inside the san joaquin county jail, a piece of safety glass separated me from a

man the prosecutor says fills all the criteria of a classic serial killer, randall saito. the bay area quickly became familiar of saito after details of his escape became public on tuesday many he was committed to a psychiatric hospital in 1991 after being acquitted for reason of insanity. in 1993, a court denied saito's request for conditional release saying he continued to suffer from necrofeel yeah, something he says he made up to attempt to avoid prison. >> since i have been in the hospital, i have told them that i fabricated that story. >> reporter: saito says he had about $6,000 in fake drivers license when he escaped sunday morning. how did you get the

through the hospital? hospital staff or someone from the outside? >> i can't tell you that. >> reporter: once outside the hospital, saito took a cab to the airport in honolulu and chartered a plane to maui. he made it through tsa with a fake i.d. i landed sund he landed sunday night and took a cab to the hotel. after spending three nights in stockton with at least one trip to walmart to buy a phone, he decided it was time to move on. a cabdriver agreed to drive him to reno on wednesday, but when they stopped for gas on the way out, police swooped in and arrested saito. the final question, why did he escape. >> after 37 years in the psychiatric hospital, saito says he had an exemplary record with no violence or drugs. he says this escape was his chance to prove that he was not ada

a conditional release. >> i wanted more time, but it would seem i would have had all this time to do something bad. but i did not. this's not who i am. >> reporter: the next step for saito is a court appearance in san joaquin county, he faces a felony for escape. >> so calm describing this entire process. >> still so many questions. >> he says he escaped in order to show that he's not a danger. >> well, he also escaped and showed that he's very good at travel planning. >> how did he charter a plane? a >> and then get a cab, get another cab, get on a plane. where's the money from? >> like you said, still so many questions here, and some people believe he had help in all of this. >> it would seem so. coming up in the next half hour, the countdown clock is

with sales already under way, see how this year is already different than previous years. but first, the unusual missing cats and the unusually large reward. that's next on "world news now." h gives skin the moisture it needs and keeps it there longer with lock-in moisture technology skin is petal smooth after all, a cleanser's just a cleanser unless it's olay.

♪ ♪ stray cats indeed. the hunt is heating up this morning for two cats that ran away after their home burned down this week. >> these are no ordinary house cats, within just happens to be the world's tallest domestic cat. and the other one has the longest tail. here's abc's linzie janis. >> it is time for world record cats. >> reporter: felines are social media stars. arturous is the world record holder for the tallest cat at 19 inches. >> being a ten-foot-tall human is the equivalent. >> reporter: and his

signus has the longest tail. but devastating news for them and their human parents will and laura powers. after a terrifying fire destroyed their home in farmington hills, michigan, the cats are missing. they are pleading for help on facebook saying i tried to save the cats but couldn't find them before i was overcome with smoke. i did manage to open a few doors in hopes they would run out of the so if anyone finds a cat matching their description please notify us. the powers are hopeful someone in the area may have caught a glimpse. so far at least one neighbor has reported seeing what they describe as a beast of a cat. >> beast of a cat. >> beast of a cat. that's probably it. we're talking to our senior pet correspondent, frank here, what do you think? exactly. >> i agree. >> precisely. >> live traps have been

the cats. >> they're offering $25,000 for the return of their cats. they also lost two other cats in the fire, but frank is on the case, promising big results, right frank? right after he finishes eating.

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i'll text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. one pill lasts 12 hours, so... looks like i'm good all night! why take 4-hour cough medicine? just one mucinex lasts 12 hours. let's end this. ♪ on this friday, we have some sad news, the usa is no longer number one when it comes to soccer or global image. >> what? >> yes. you know, for years, there's this company that's done this public opinion polling and for years, we have been the reigning champ. and yes, america. >> usa, usa! >> is the brand. we've dropped in the latest survey. >> sorry, frank is shedding. >> has dropped to sixth place. the number one country according to -- >> sixth! we went from number one to sixth? >> yeah. number one, germany.

as the number one brand image in public opinion around the world. it calculates how people view a country in different ways, investments, immigration, culture and heritage. >> blah, blah, blah, blah. way to go, germany. now to the most distracted driver ever. police in vancouver snapped this photo when they pulled the man over, this is a tablet and phone taped to the steering wheel. >> is that wrong? >> yeah, you're not supposed to do that. polka. ♪ ♪ politics and foreign war ♪ all the weather all the scores ♪ ♪ that's world news polka ♪ it's late at night, you're wide awake, you're not wearing

♪ so grab your "world news now" mug and everybody dance ♪ ♪ have some fun and be a pal, every anchor, every gal ♪ ♪ do the world news polka ♪ ♪ that's the world news polka ♪ ♪ ♪ that's the world news polka ♪ that's why we go for broke ♪ why don't you tune in to abc and play our little joke ♪ ♪ five whole days every week ♪ we are having tongue-in-cheek ♪ ♪ do the world news polka ♪ i said now do ♪ the world ♪ news

>>thank you, thank you very much.

this morning on "world news now," breaking news. fire rips through a nursing home near philadelphia. emergency crews race to evacuate residents. we have the latest from the scene. in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against him, roy moore faces a new challenge, this as the alabama republican party vows to stick by his side, and the white house breaks with republican leaders in the senate. and black friday deals you can get right now. >> we're still a week away from one of the biggest shopping days of the year, but deals are already on the table. where you'll find this year's deepest discounts. and cristiano ronaldo works hard on and offe