employment outlook. economists expect the job market to improve this year. the latest unemployment numbers are due out today. countdown to new hampshire. mitt romney's republican rivals are taking dead aim and, by the way, did romney really win the iowa caucuses? and republicans strike back. labeling the obama administration's new defense strategy a retreat from the world. captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, january 6th, 2012. good morning, everyone. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. we begin with the nation's economy. which is slowly showing signs of strengthening. today, the labor department releases the unemployment figures for december.

applications for unemployment fell by 15,000 last week, to 372,000. the four-week average is at its lowest level in three years. according to payroll processor adp, private sector companies added about 325,000 workers in december. later this morning, soon after those unemployment figures are released, president obama visits the consumer financial protection bureau. on wednesday, the president defied the senate and named richard cordray to lead the bureau. cordray, the former attorney general in ohio, says he'll ignore the political controversy and focus on consumers. a bomb in southern afghanistan has killed four nato service members this morning. another service member was killed in a separate bombing earlier in the day. nine coalition troops have been killed in afghanistan since the beginning of the new year. now to politics and tuesday's new hampshire primary. mitt romney's rivals are taking dead aim at his conservative credentials. they will have more opportunity

this weekend when the gop presidential contenders meet back-to-back debates. they will meet in the back-to-back debates saturday night and again on sunday morning. meanwhile, there are questions about the final vote count in the iowa caucus. drew levinson in washington with more on that. good morning, drew. >> good morning, betty. >> reporter: mitt romney won by a very slim margin over rick santorum in iowa, eight votes, to be exact. and an error could have caused a change in the results. one man who counted those votes says a mistake was made. rick santorum is gaining ground in new hampshire. he is hoping to get a late surge like he did in iowa. >> don't defer to pundits who will tell you, well, who can win or who is the best candidate. >> reporter: santorum finished just eight votes behind mitt romney in iowa. but a man who claims he helped count the votes is questioning the results. edward true told des moines cbs affiliate kcci his district gave romney 20 more votes than he

actually received. >> when mitt romney won iowa by eight votes and i've got a 20-vote discrepancy here, this is huge. >> reporter: but iowa don't believe the results of the contest will change and when the votes are certified, santorum believes romney will still have more votes. all of the candidates are focused on new hampshire where the primary is now just four days away. and many are going after romney who is leading in the polls. >> conservative leadership. >> reporter: newt gingrich is hitting the air waves with a new attack plan. >> romney's economic plan? timid. >> reporter: gingrich is trying to gain ground in new hampshire but he may have taken a step back thursday when he talked about african-american neighborhoods. >> and so i'm prepared, if the naacp invites me, i'll go to their convention and ask where the african-american should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps. >> reporter: gingrich has called president obama a food stamp president and soon find out if his comments have an effect on

how people in new hampshire vote. massachusetts's largest newspaper, "the boston globe," has endorsed jon huntsman. remember, betty, massachusetts is where mitt romney was governor. >> yes, it was. drew levinson in washington, thank you, drew. an army reservist who participated in a rally for ron paul may have some legal problems. corporal jesse thorson appeared with ron pawl at a rally on tuesday in iowa. he told the crowd that paul's foreign policy was better than any other candidate but thorson was wearing his uniform and that is a problem. participating in a partisan political event in uniform is a violation of rules. republicans are speaking out against the obama administration's new pentagon policy. the president unveiled the strategy yesterday, including deep cuts and a new focus on asia. the chairman of the house armed services committee buck mckeon said, quote, this is a lead from behind strategy for a left

behind america. this strategy ensures american decline in exchange for more failed domestic programs. as america steps back, someone else will step forward. david martin has details on the new leaner pentagon. >> reporter: the president came to the pentagon to make sure everybody understands this is his strategy. a strategy he will run for re-election on. if you reduce it to a bumper sticker, it would say no more wars like iraq and afghanistan. >> as we look beyond the wars in iraq and afghanistan and the end of long-term nation building with large military footprints, we will be able to ensure our security with smaller conventional ground forces. >> reporter: the president and his advisers held up libya where the u.s. committed air and naval power but no land forces as a model for future wars. and joint chiefs chairman martin dempsey cited the pacific as the future theater of competition, if not conflict. >> all of the trends,

demographic trends, geo political trends, economic trends and military trends are shifting toward the pacific. >> reporter: dempsey is talking about the rise of china. that and the hard earned lesson the u.s. could not afford to fight two wars simultaneously in iraq and afghanistan are perhaps the biggest game-changers of the past decade. you could saythe new strategy is finally catching up with the real world according to defense secretary rah net -- panetta, it adds up to a smaller army and marine corps and more air and sea power. >> it will be more agile, more flexible, ready to deploy quickly, innovative, and technological advanced. >> reporter: if that sounds familiar, donald rumsfeld said much the same thing when he was defense secretary, before 9/11 changed the world. a smaller force comes with risks since it leaves less margin for error when the unexpected hits.

but joint chiefs chairman dempsey said sticking with the current strategy and the budget would be even riskier. the president pointed out with the cuts the u.s. will spend more on defense than the next ten countries combined. david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. defense secretary leon panetta will be bob schieffer's guest this sunday on "face the nation" here on cbs. the white house is planning a rule change that will allow some illegal immigrants to stay longer in the country. the rule change aims to limit the amount of time illegal immigrants would be separated from their relatives while they try took to obtain legal status. under the current law, a personal illegally has to return to their home country to obtain a visa. the trial of former egyptian leader hosni mubarak resumes monday. yesterday, in an action that would have been unthinkable a year ago, prosecutors asked for the death penalty. they say mubarak bears full responsibility to the killing of protests during last year's

uprising that eventually forced him out of office. coming up on "the morning news" immigration officials are investigating the case of a texas teenager who was deported to colombia after claiming to be a legal immigrant. but first, scott pelley with a preview of tonight's "cbs evening news." >> somewhere in the middle of kansas at a secret location, we came across an expensive new condo development but what are the owners hiding from? steve hartman goes on the road and underground tonight on the "cbs evening news." tonight on the "cbs evening news." you know the good folks over at prilosec otc

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a softer place. let's snuggle. does that answer your question? absolutely. thank you so much. no problem. man: do your simple return with the turbotax federal free edition, and now get our free, one-on-one, expert tax advice, live by phone or chat. get the federal free edition, at turbotax.com. police in ogden, utah, are still trying to determine how a raid on a house left one officer shot dead and five others injured. investigators are looking into the possibility that police may have fired at each other during the chaotic moments of the raid on wednesday night. officer jared frankum died while serving a warrant.

>> from early childhood, jared was determined to serve in law enforcement and ultimately gave his life doing what he loved to do. he was dedicated to his fellow officers and to the public that he served. >> matthew stewart, the suspect, suffered only minor injuries. authorities say it is still unclear what charges stewart may face. u.s. immigration officials are investigating why a 15-year-old dallas girl was deported to colombia. she gave a false name to police and claimed to be a legal immigrant when she was arrested last april in houston for theft. she is now in the process of being sent back to the united states. her grandmother said immigration officials should have done more to correctly identify her granddaughter. on the cbs "moneywatch" a tough choice for voters.

and the most luxury cars in the united states. ashley morrison here in new york with more on that. >> japan's nikkei down 1.56%. hong kong's hang seng off more than 1%. jobs data helped to erase earlier losses. the dow recovered from 134-point loss and ended mostly flat. the two-point loss was the first down day of 2012, while the nasdaq added 21 points. california is facing a $9 billion budget gap and voters will have choose between cuts to education or higher taxes. governor jerry brown unveiled his budget on thursday. he wants to raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 and boost the state sales tax. if voters reject that plan, the governor will call for an automatic cut of nearly $5 billion from public education. shares of barnes & noble who lost a quarter of their value on thursday, the book seller lowered its profit forecast and says it might separate its nook electronic book business from its store. barnes & noble is facing tough competition in the digital

market from amazon's kindle and the ipad. general motors is advising owners of chevy sholt volt to b their cars to the dealer for battery repairs. the company wants to install an extra layer of protection to the battery in order to lower the risk of fires. three-volt batteries caught fire in government tests this year. the repairs will be free. and when it comes to luxury cars, americans prefer german. bmw was the top selling brand in the u.s. last year. the company sold nearly a quarter of a million cars and suvs in 2011. mercedes was a close second and those are two pretty nice cars. >> oh, yeah, definitely. i haven't driven since i moved to new york. why, right? taxi? ashley, thank you, joining us live. straight ahead, your friday morning weather. and in sports, no lebron james and no dwyane wade, no problem! chris bosh takes over for the miami heat.

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share an appetizer, then choose two chili's entrees, like our classic bacon burger or our famous slow-smoked baby back ribs. chili's $20 dinner for two. here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. time now for a check on the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows a developing storm system in the southern plains. in the northeast, scattered clouds and few lingering showers. foggy, though, in the northwest.

later today, snow showers for new england with highs in the teens and 30s. that's going to be cold. while temperatures, though, in the southeast will be in the 50s and 70s. warm in the southwest with readings in the 80s in southern california. just south of san francisco, some surfers cannot wait for the start of the annual maverick big wave surf contest. look at those waves! the challenge not only is waves as high as 50 feet, but strong currents, dangerous rocks, and very cold water. organizers are waiting for what they describe as perfect conditions. spectators will be kept far away from shore to avoid any rogue waves sweeping up on them, as happened last year. now to sports. there is a new head football coach at penn state. the offensive coordinator of the new england patriots bill o'brien has agreed to replace joe paterno. o'brien will continue with the patriots until the nfl season is over. paterno was fired in november,

as you recall, in the wake of an alleged child sex abuse scandal involving assistant coach jerry sandusky. in the nba, an injured kobe bryant led the lakers against the trail blazers, scoring 30 points despite a torn wrist ligament. gerald wallace who ended up with 31 points sparked a third quarter run for portland and the blazers beat the lakers 107-96. and in atlanta, a triple o.t. thriller. miami's chris bosh hit a tying three-pointer to send the game into overtime. bosh ended up with 33 points. the heat shut out the hawks in the third period and miami beat atlanta 116-109. in hockey, the red hot rangers got by the florida panthers. former president bill clinton was on hand at madison square garden last night and scored a souvenir, but it was marian gaborik who scored the winning goal in overtime for the blue shirts, much to the delight of the president. the rangers to beat florida 3-2.

when we return, another look at this morning's top stories. auctioning off the artifacts recovered from the titanic in the bottom of the atlantic. artifacts recovered in the bottom of the tie taken nick. diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback ie taken nick. tie taken nick. aie taken nick. n. cie taken nick. ie taken nick. ni. . the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

on the "cbs morning news," here's a look at today's weather. very mild air can be found across the nation from the southwest up to the northern plains. temperatures in the 50s to 70s in the midwest and the northeast is starting to warm up. here is another look at this morning's top stories. the labor department releases december's unemployment numbers this morning. economists expect employers added 150,000 job last month. that would make six straight months the economy generated 100,000 jobs or more. and republicans are criticizing the obama administration's new defense policy. it's cutting troop strength and weapons programs.

one gop lawmaker called it a retreat from the world. and an emotional final good-bye at the funeral for three young girls who died on christmas morning. more han 500 people attended the service here in new york for the girls killed in a connecticut fire. their mother spoke at the funeral saying, quote, my girls are now in my heart and that is where they now live. this april 11th marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the titanic and, for the first time, items from the legendary ocean liner will be sold at an auction on the anniversary. manuel gallegus got a sneak peek at some of those items. >> reporter: they are artifacts from the legendary ocean liner titanic. a diamond studded bracelet bearing the name amy and a cup from the ship's pa pa parisian

cafe and a vest from a third class passenger. >> it was in a suitcase that was fully packed with william henry allen's clothes for his new life in america. >> reporter: since the wreckage was discovered in 1985, 5,500 items have been recovered. all of them from the debris field. a silver mesh purse, the white star line china, a luggage tag. the actual ship, considered sacred, has not been touched. a ph recovered many of the delicate items himself his favorite a little ceramic souvenir. >> i don't know what it was, but each time i saw on the expedition, i say, i like this object. >> reporter: on april 11th, exactly 100 years to the day of titanic's maiden voyage, all of the items will be auctioned off but there is a catch. everything must be sold to one buyer. a judge ordered the collection, estimated to be worth nearly $200 million, be kept together to preserve its historic value for the public. >> it's a remarkable collection and it's an honor to work with it and you really actually sort of in your research start thinking of everyone on the ship

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good morning. it is a beautifully nice morning. about 58 today, how about that? we have a legal request today, lawyers for a utah abortion doctor charged in connection with a murder in a botched abortion here in maryland. plus mike miller has a preview of what to expect in the upcoming session. and better service, a new transmission line to the

eastern shore. already in the news this morning, the terrified ordeal for a city man abducted at gunpoint from his house. and the search for a puppy killer who shot a young dog in frederick county. nice being able to say that i have some belongings that are mine that i will be able to take with me after i leave here next year. >> more news, first warning weather and traffic reports coming up. ,,,,

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