making news in america this morning, baby, it's cold outside. an arctic blast of frigid air invading the country, 100 million from coast to coast feeling the bitter chill, low temperatures and the forecast coming up. we have breaking news of a water emergency as well. officials tell residents don't touch the tap water until further notice. yahoo! hacked. the company revealing the largest cyberattack in history. a staggering number of users affected. what do you need to do to stay safe. conjoined twins separated during a marathon surgery. see each other face-to-face for the very first time. we have the adorable video and good news on how they're doing. cute video alert there as we

say good morning to you on a thursday morning. we'll start with that arctic air and snow gripping much of the country. >> take a look at these white house conditions in buffalo -- whiteout conditions in buffalo, new york. the snow was coming down at roughly two inches per hour. >> there's extreme weather in the west as well with one major city at a complete standstill after a rare storm with more here's abc's lana zak. thunder snow lightning up the skies in western new york. >> whoo. got that, baby. >> reporter: an intense snow band is bringing whiteout conditions. watch as the lake-effect snow builds and moves inland. from the northeast to the great lakes, a bone-chilling blanket of arctic air is engulfing the northern half of the country and with the windchill factored in parts of the midwest through new england could feel like 15 to 30 degrees below zero. experts say in those extreme subzero temperatures frostbite can take place in a matter of

minutes. >> we're thinking mostly in this area about frostbite and hypothermia, both of which can be dangerous to life and limb. >> reporter: in the west drivers in portland, oregon tuck for hours. it was a harrowing ordeal for north clackamas school district. >> my feet were frozen by the second hour and we were alter tied we were going to go down the hill if our brakes failed or a car would run into it. >> reporter: for those waiting for their children. >> i was pretty freaked out. i just wanted to make sure my kid was safe. >> reporter: lana zak, abc news, washington. >> that will continue through the day with flooding and mudslides possible. >> justin povick has the latest from accuweather. good morning. >> diane, kendis, thanks and good morning to you, as well. we're tracking a big system along the west coast. heavy soaking rains potentialalfully flooding here along the i-5 and feet of snow over 8,000 feet so the passes

are going to be nearly impassable. snow will spread out over the plains states. substantial amounts approaching a foot into the upper midwest and eventually slick travel takes aim at the northeast. diane and kendis, back to you. >> all right, our thanks to justin and breaking news now this morning, president obama in a stunning reversal declining to sign legislation to renew sanctions against iran. but the bill does become law even without the president's signature. the obama administration was concerned the renewal would undermine the iran nuclear deal and they pointed out that iran would not be affected by the sanctions as long as it continues to honor the agreement. donald trump has been critical of the nuclear deal but it's not clear if he'll actually back out of it. the president-elect heads to hershey, pennsylvania, tonight to personally thank thousands of supporters who helped him win the presidency. >> and yesterday trump sat down with executives from the tech giants like facebook, amazon and apple all to talk about everything from innovation to immigration. many of them had supported

hillary clinton but trump offered to do anything he could to help. trump's transition team says he is now receiving presidential briefings three times a week. that is up from roughly once a week. this after the president-elect said he didn't need to hear the same information every day. a spokesman says trump is also getting briefed on intelligence matters daily by incoming national security adviser michael flynn. as trump continues to fend off criticism that he's too friendly toward russia, vladimir putin is apparently eager to meet trump face-to-face. putin said, quote, we're ready at any moment here from our side there are no problems. and trump has tapped michigan republican chair ron that romney mcdaniel to lead the republican national committee. mitt romney's niece and a loyal trump supporter and would be the first to chair the rnc in 40 years. president obama's time in the white house, the white house is looking to protect planned parentho parenthood's funding blocking

states from restricting funds to family planning providers like planned parenthood that provide abortions. opponents say they will seek to reverse that rule under president-elect trump. the regulation takes effect january 18th. just two days before trump's inauguration. >> developing overnight overseas evacuations under way in aleppo, syria. as a fragile cease-fire appears to be holding at least for now. scores of injured people are among the first to be removed from the city. there are reports of pro-government forces shooting at ambulances that are trying to leave the city. tens of thousands of civilians are trapped without food or water. there have been frantic messages calling for hip on social media. a plan is also under way to remove rebel fighters from that city. the evacuation process is expected to take at least three days. now to a possible military buildup by the chinese on a string of islands in the south china sea. new satellite images appear to show anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons on all seven of those islands

presumably installed by the chinese. an analyst says it would be a last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the u.s. the united states and china have been at odds over the south china sea one of the world's busiest sea lanes for commerce. breaking news from corpus christi, residents are facing a possible water crisis. city officials are warning that the tap water could be contaminated by a chemical residents being warned to use only bottled water till further notice. it apparently entered the system during a backflow from an industrial area. to south carolina now where closing arguments are expected today in the charleston church shooting trial. dylann roof is is accused of killing nine black churchgoers in what prosecutors say was a hate crime. his attorneys rested their case yesterday without calling any witnesses. the prosecution's final witness was polyshepherd, one of three surviv survivors. jurors hearing her emotional call. >> did you see him at all? >> yes, he's a young 21-year-old white dude.

he's got it in his hand. he's reloading. >> how many shots has he fired? >> i don't know. there's so many. oh, god please help me. >> do you remember telling that lady i'm going to let you live so you can tell my story? >> yeah, i remember saying that. >> that, of course, was roof during his confession to the fbi. jurors were shown home videos of roof shooting targets in his backyard with the same gun he allegedly used in the rampage. if convicted jurors must decide whether he should die or spend the rest of his life in prison. yahoo is warning users to change their user names and passwords after revealing defays of the largest cyberattack in history. the company says 1 billion accounts may have been compromised back in 2013. it's much larger, also different style of attack than the one in 2014 where 500 million accounts were compromised. the security breach may hurt verizon's huge deal to bae hao. earlier the communications giant agreed to purchase the company for $4.8 billion. verizon now says it's

re-evaluating that deal which has not been finalized. coming up, one community's decision to allow guns in the classroom. plus, the murder for hire case in south florida and why the jury can't reach a verdict. prosecutors, though, are now gearing up for another trial. those conjoined sisters seeing each other for the very first time since being separated. stay with us.

this is a 13-minute drone flight in the uk making one giant step for amazon. it marks the retailers' first ever delivery. the unidentified shopper received a streaming device and some popcorn. the whole thing was a test run but the company says it plans at

least two more test deliveries as well. as expected the federal reserve has raised a key interest rate. the increase could mean slightly higher costs for mortgages and credit cards and projected three more increases in the next year. stocks had their worst day in two months following that announcement. some teachers and other staff members in the small colorado school district will now be armed. the hanover school board approved a plan to allow trained faculty and staff to car concealed handguns at school. supporters say the plan could save lives. opponents worry it will put students in danger. a florida woman accused in a high-profile murder for hire not will face a third trial. >> a jury in palm beach county could not reach a verdict in the case of dalia dippolito. and her attorneys are now calling it a moral victory. >> to the judge, we the jury after further deliberation still cannot reach a unanimous verdict. >> reporter: a bombshell announcement in the murder for hire case against dalia dippolito, the jury hopelessly

deadlocked. >> i must declare a mistrial. >> reporter: now the man at the center of the alleged plot is speaking out. >> i have to be honest i'm real surprised. i feel they left so much on the table. >> reporter: that's michael dippolito, the now ex-husband of the woman caught on video allegedly trying to hire a hit man to kill him in 2009 only that alleged hit man was actually an undercover police officer. >> you definitely want to do this? >> i'm positive like 5,000% sure. >> reporter: she always maintained her innocence. one juror who voted for guilty said it was real. and she thought he was dead and this is what she wanted. dippolito remains under house arrest. later on "good morning america" our chief legal analyst dan abrams weighs in. california has stopped uber self-driving car program. the same day it all got started. the company needs a special permit to have it on public roads. in the meantime, uber says video showing what appears to be a self-driving suv running a red

light in san francisco was actually caused by human error. the company says there was a driver at that wheel. >> ah. all right, when we come back caught on camera, the dramatic moment a police officer was shot during a traffic stop. and secretly coming to save the day. a first responder on the scene in the nick of time. the video coming up. ♪ happy holidays from crayola. so when do i start? um, shouldn't it be "spokes-crayon?" can somebody turn on the a/c? i'm melting here. ♪air marker spraayer!!! chemistry, baby! so i just hold this part and spraaaaaay... i'm okay. the holidays just got more surprising. you can find these great gifts and more in the crayola aisle. aaaaaah! each sold separately. ...one of many pieces in my i havlife.hma... so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine.

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police department where a black motorist was fatally shot by a police officer in july during a traffic stop. the brutal aftermath was streamed live on facebook by the victim's girlfriend. >> attorneys for the officer who killed that man if i lann want the charges dropped. in georgia, authorities have released dash cam video showing the moment a police officer was shot. >> the latest police shooting in georgia where six officers were shot in just as many days. abc's pierre thomas has the details. >> reporter: it started as a police stop about a stolen car. the officer asking the suspect to show his hands then shots fired. >> oh. i'm shot. >> reporter: in a split second an apparently calm suspect firing away. >> oh. >> reporter: captain michael showman is shot under the arm. within seconds his partner jeffrey martin is shot in the hand. but still trying to help his

colleague out of harm's way. >> even after jeffrey got shot he's getting michael and pulling him to the car to get him to the hospital. >> reporter: shulman worried he might die. >> i can't -- i can't move. >> reporter: monday's shooting capping a violent week in which half a dozen georgia police officers have been shot. two killed. that suspect in georgia has been caught and charged with attempted murder. pierre thomas, abc news, washington. and check out this dra the make video out of china where firefighters saved a man who was about to jump from the rooftop of a 30-story building. the man had threatened to commit suicide due to relationship problems while hitting himself with an iron bar. a firefighter then crept up behind him while several others tried to distract the man. the man's friends also tried to distract him. meanwhile, the firefighters jump in and grabbed him and pulled him to safety. >> just in the nick of time. a touching moment in a california hospital room two little girls born conjoined saw

each other for the first time since separation surgery last week. eva and erika sandoval shared a liver, heart and a third leg and they're recovering well breathing without ventilators and even sharing their toys. and the nba and its players reached a tentative labor deal. it comes five years after a lockout. reports say the agreement is for seven years within aopt out after six. main highlies include ago shorter preseason and week earlier to start the regular season. average player salaries will rise to $10 million. that deal still has to be ratified. speaking of the nba, time for some highlights. >> let's go over to our guys at espn. >> good morning, america. i'm neil everett in the "sportscenter" studio. two highlights for you. this one is first. it's the celtics and spurs, the celtics have not beaten the spurs since the millard fillmore administration. kawhi leonard, not spelled like kauai the island but still what

a great first 2345i78. like to go to the circus as a child. that was a circus shot. the spurs win 108-101. take another look, let it breathe. when in oahu say hello to don on merchant street. russell westbrook, after this he said, you know what, y'all are making too much of the triple-double. if i get it, i get it. if i don't, i don't. i'm all about winning. he did not have the winning formula in this one. no triple-double and no win for the thunder. westbrook goes 7 of 25. rudy gobert, fell in his lap, put it down, jazz beat the thunder. those were the two highlights i promised you. have a great day. up next in "the pulse," new sexiest city in america just let

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♪ time now for "the pulse" and we know the end of the year is great for lists. well, this morning we have a list of the sexiest cities in america. >> which is what every city wants to be a part of. drum roll coming in at number five on this list, new york city. >> hey. >> yeah, number four, you see minneapolis, st. paul, washington, d.c., number thr three -- second place detroit and philadelphia topping the list at number one. >> apparently plenty of love going on in the city of brotherly love. >> and sisterly affection.

philly was second last year. the list was compiled by a company called pure romance which is a seller of relationship enhancement products and apparently the folks in philadelphia buy a lot of those products. >> is that really the best way to zhu rare the sexiest city? >> if you're trying to get your name out there. >> all right. so rock, paper, scissors tournament in japan is a thing. take a look at this video. >> big time all part of a japanese idol show and what they do is they macon testants compete in this massive tournament and the winner gets to star in the group's next single. >> oh. >> so it's sort of like "japanese idol" but first you have to do rock, paper, scissors. >> you just have to win the rock, paper, scissors. >> look at the excitement and just some people are just crushed by it. you can't go with the rock. >> what's wrong with rock. >> it's just -- it's -- the

potential to lose all the time with the rock there. >> all right. well, apparently green, by the way, no longer the in color for christmas trees. >> online christmas retailer popular with shades, baby blue, hot pink, orange. other sales than green are up. brisk business with half christmas trees. they're cut in half from the top to the bottom, make it easier to put up against a wall. >> very efficient. more news after this.

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>> good morning, i'm tamala edwards, thursday, december 15, it definitely feels like winter outside, the snow fell overnight, leaving a coating on cars, grass and roads out there, we'll show you conditions across the region. now, taking a live look on sky6 live hd out across philadelphia. get ready for a bitter blast. meteorologist david murphy will tell you about the bone-chilling feeling that will endure for days. something that hasn't happened in more than 30 years has the flyers celebrating in colorado. karen rogers has a look at traffic all ahead on "action news." "star wars" movie is hitting the big screen this weekend.

>> "rogue one" looks at the time just before the original film in the series coming out nearly 40 years ago. here's abc's lauren lyster. >> a major weapons test is imminent. >> reporter: "rogue one" is landing in movie these frers a galaxy far, far away. >> may the force be with us. >> reporter: for the first time heroes are not skywalkers, jedi knights or royalty but a scrappy team of rebel recruits led by oscar nominated actress felicity jones. >> there are a lot of surprises in the film that we -- >> reporter: for filmmakers a special effects challenge. making digital versions of models built 40 years ago and it took place before the original 1977 film. ♪ remember this classic opening explaining rebel spies steal secret plans to the death star. >> i want to know what happened to the plans. >> reporter: helping luke skywalker and pals blow it to smithereens.

turns out, luke and his friends owe it to "rogue one's" ragtag crew of rebels. >> we just want more people to get to know the world of "star wars," the universe of "star wars." >> reporter: those rebels expected to draw the second biggest december movie premiere haul of all time after last year's "the force awakens" which went on to bring in $2.1 billion worldwide. box office expectations are a little lower for this, partly because a different cast of characters, no han solo, no skywalker, but there is an appearance from arguably the galaxy's most notorious villain. darth vader. lauren lyster, abc news, los angeles. >> it's been getting good reviews. so can't wait. that's what's making news in america this morning. have a great thursday.

>> good morning everyone, it is 4:30 a.m., on this thursday, december 15. here's what we're following for you. >> many of us are waking up to a coating of snow on the ground. it's freezing cold for everyone. >> president-elect trump meets with executives from the top tech firms in the county. >> more than 30 years in the making, why flyers fans are celebrating this morning. >> from the ice to the icy conditions, let's turn to david murphy and karen rogers. >> reporter: the icy air is surge into the delaware and the lehigh valley. we