digging in. the last ditch effort to rescue four missing west virginia coal miners. >> i believe that families are relieved and knowing that this process is starting which the end will be near. back in the swing. tiger woods doesn't miss a beat in his return to competitive golf. and family reunion. two neighbors in canada find out they have a lot in common. >> would have a been exceptional, but across the road is something amazing. this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, april 9th, this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, april 9th, 2010. captioning funded by cbs good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm michelle gielan. this morning, rescue crews are making a last ditch mad dash

into that west virginia coal mine to look for four trapped miners. they were buried by an explosion monday that killed 25 others. it terrell brown is in naoma, west virginia with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: michelle, good morning to you. a decision had to be made soon. time is running out to potentially save the lives of those four missing miners. and in the middle of the night, rescuers decided to go in. rescue teams are back inside the upper big branch mine heading for the safe rooms where the four missing miners could still be alive. >> the plan is for two teams to go underground and to visit both of those refuge chambers. >> reporter: to ensure the air remains safe, nitrogen is being pumped in to neutralize toxic gas. teams are also making plans to begin removing the bodies of the confirmed dead. >> i believe that families are relieved and knowing that this process is starting which the end will be near. >> reporter: early on thursday,

explosive levels of gas forced rescue teams to end their search and turn back. they were within 500 feet of a rescue room. >> we committed to the families that we wanted to get into the chambers within 96 hours and we're trying to do everything in our power to do that. >> reporter: some family members haven't left the waiting area near the mine since monday afternoon. they gather strength from each other and entire mining community. >> i don't know any of the guys that are underneath there, but i did show up here to show some support to the family members, to the rescuers and everybody else. >> reporter: in addition to the fatalities, two miners were hurt in the blast. one remains in intensive care while the other has been released from the hospital p. his family is asking for say city. don blankenship says that the company will pay for all of the miner's pune rals. >> terrell brown, thanks.

four americans were killed in a crash of an air force tilt rotor aircraft in afghanistan. it went down in southeast afghanistan late last night. three of the victims were service members. one was a severalian employee. it's designed to land and take off vertically like a helicopter, but can fly much faster. it has a history of problems. the cause of last night's crash is unknown. turning how to golf, they turned back the clock at the masters. 50-year-old fred couples holds the first round lead, but just two strokes back is tiger woods who returned to competitive golf after a five month layoff without missing a beat. joel brown is in augusta. good morning. >> reporter: michelle, good morning to you. tiger woods said it felt like business as usual out there and by the back nine, fans had seemingly forgotten about woods, the tabloid fixture, fixating again on the best golfer in the world.

>> we're having some technical difficulties unfortunately, joel, thank you, though, very much and we hope to bring it this report a little later in the newscast. and we'll have more on the masters a little later in sports. and a reminder you can watch cbs sports coverage of the third round beginning tomorrow at 3:30 eastern. turning now to another story, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has decided not to attend next week's nuclear security conference in washington. less than into days ago go, he said he would be going, but israel fears its presumed nuclear program would be sending gelled out. israel has never confirmed or denied it has nuclear weapons and has not signed a nuclear nonproliferation treaty. the white house summit comes just as the united states signed a new arms control treaty with russia. it cuts the strategic nuclear arsenals of both countries by

about a third. president obama and russian president dmitry medvedev also discussed new sanctions against iran. the president says he expects a break through soon at the u.n. >> my expectation is that we are going to be able to secure strong, tough sanctions on iran this spring. >> the senate still has to ratify the new arms reduction treaty. some republicans are concerned the president made too many concessions, but it's expected the treat itity will get enough votes to pass. the diplomat who set off a bomb scare on a united airlines flight was on his way it to visit an imprisoned al qaeda agent. authorities say mow ham mad al madadi was caught smoking on a flight to denver wednesday and joked that he was trying to set his shoe on fire. he was going to see a citizen to

support terrorism. al madadi is being sent back. just ahead on the morning news, the passing of a punk pioneer. plus, ancient ancestor, new fossils could shed light on the origin of our species. but first rns katie couric has a preview of tonight's "cbs evening news." a stranger helped hundreds of hurricane victims raising money and rebuilding homes. it turns out that stranger was neil diamond. and for these families, the good times never seemed so good. that's tonight only on the "cbs evening news."

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they turned back the clock at the masters as we mentioned earlier, and tiger woods seems to be all anyone in the golf world and beyond is talking about. joel brown is in augusta, georgia with the latest. joel, good morning. looks like we're having some technical difficulties, so let's turn now to cbs "moneywatch." stocks in asia ended this week with more gains and ashley morrison is here in new york with that and a whole lot more. ashley, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, michelle. well, the hang seng added more than 1% this morning and the nikkei finished up nearly half a percent. on wall street, a positive retail sales report helped keep stocks on the upside thursday despite worse than expected jobless claim numbers. the dow added 29 points, while the nasdaq gained 5. according to data from the

new york fed, several major banks have been hiding the risks by underreporting their debt. the "wall street journal" says 18 banks, including goldman sachs, jpmorgan chase and bank of america, temporarily lowered their debt just before reporting it to the public presumably in an effort to help keep their stock price. apple's upgrade for the iphone and ipad will be available this summer. the new program will allow users to run more than one program at a time. the company did not confirm any plans to make the iphone available through verizon or other mobile carriers. and competition is gearing up following e pad's launch. hewlett-packard is showing off its yet to be released tablet computer called the slate. the company says it has what the ipad doesn't, a camera, the ability to play flash video, and a usb port. and we finally made it. today is tax freedom day, the day when most americans have worked long enough to pay their taxeses for the year. it comes a day later than last

year, but two weeks earlier than in 2007. so, michelle, congratulations to us both. it's a friday and it's tax freedom day. from and i think weky k. say con frat lagss to a wholt lot of fronts especially for you being ready and so calm. so thank you. ashley, thanks. and you'll also be happy to learn this morning that the earth has survived a close encounter of the big rock kind. that rock is a 71-foot long astroid called 2010 g86 which missed you us by around quarter of a million mile, but by astronomical standards, that's actually a near miss. scientists in south africa have identified another so-called missing link in the evolutionary chain between ancient apre and modern humans. the find includes two well preserved skel tonsz of creatures that stood about fewer feet tall and walkedup right.

they lived about 2 million years ago and they died at the same time. >> they would have known each other in life. they would have looked into each other's eyes and they may very well have been related. what is more remarkable is that they represent a completely new and unexpected species of human ancestor to science. >> it's not yet clear if they were on the same branch of evolution that led to humans or one that died out. straight ahead, your friday morning weather. and in sports, tiger may be getting all the attention, but 50-year-old fred couples is the leader after round one of the masters. ya know, i'm really glad we finally decided to see where raisin bran crunch is made. yeah, this trip is way overdue. i just can't wait to see all those crunchy flakes in action. i hope i get a chance to put two scoops!™ of raisins in some boxes. you know what will really get us in the spirit? ♪ 99 boxes of raisin bran crunch ♪ ♪ if you're nice to me i'll share some with you ♪ ♪ you take one down ( and pass it around ) ♪

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chocolate... bliss. hershey's bliss chocolate. crafted for bliss. here's a look at the weather in in cities around the country. new york, clearing skies. miami, 08. chicago, sunny at 53. denver, sunny at 59. los angeles, warm as always at 78. time now for a check on the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows it's gray and stormy along the shores of the eastern seaboard. showers are beginning to cool the region. and he 00 nice and clear around the midsection of the nas and west coast. later today skies will clear across much of the east. temperatures settle to more seasonable levels. it will still be a beautiful day throughout the south after yesterday's storms. a gorgeous weekend is in store at augusta for the final rounds of the masters. the midwest and plains will be

sunny and the southwest stays dry and warm. turning now to sports and the masters, the opening round turned out to be oldtimers day. we mean that in a nice way. as fred couples finished with the lead at six under par wearing sneakers without sock, the 50-year-old couples is the oldest first round solo leader in the masters' history. and right behind him, one shot back, is 60-year-old tom watson in a five way tie for second that also includes phil mickelson and last year's pga champion yan gchlt. and another reminder, cbs sports coverage of the two final rounds begins saturday afternoon at 3:30 eastern. and how to baseball and the cubs at atlanta. randy wells had only one strikeout. mccann in the first. but held the braves scoreless through six. chicago got two solo homers and

cabrera struck out to end it. cubs beat the braves 2-0. in the american league, oakland's davis made a great leaping catch to take a home run away from bradley and pennington hit a double to right to help the as to a 6-2 victory. finally, a big win for the chicago bulls. with lebron james sitting out at cleveland, noah spun down the lane for a big jam to help lead the bulls to a 109-108 victory keeping their playoff hopes alive. when we return, we'll take another look at this morning's top stories. and meltdown mea culpas. citigroup executives apologize for failing to overt the financial crisis. luci romberg. i'm a free runner... ...national champion gymnast... ...martial artist... and a stuntwoman. if you want to be incredible, eat incredible. announcer: eggs. incredible energy for body and mind.

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across the northeast as skies begin to chelear. a beautiful day is in store for the south and it will be dry up and down the pacific coastline. here's another look at this morning's top stories. rescue crews are making their way into a west virginia mine in search of four trapped miners. the miners have been missing since monday's explosion that killed 25 others. and president obama returns home today from prague where he signed a nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia. next week, the president host as nuclear security conference. on capitol hill today, the commission appointed by congress to investigatie the financial crisis will hold another round of hearings. yesterday commission members questioned and scolded former top officials of citigroup which took $45 billion in federal bailout money. anthony mason reports.

>> let me start by saying i'm sorry. >> reporter: charles prince, citigroup's former ceo and robert ruben, the bank's former board chairman, apologized for not foreseeing the financial crisis. >> and i deeply regret that. >> reporter: but rubin, a former treasury secretary, who earned $15 million a year as a citigroup executive, insisted he played only an advisory role. >> i was not involved as you correctly say in the management of the people or the person nell. >> reporter: the panel wasn't buying it. >> you either were pulling the levers or asleep at the switch. >> reporter: citigroup suffered $30 billion in mortgage related losses. but another former executive revealed he started raising red flags back in 2006. >> i specifically warned mr. rubin of the extreme risks and unrecognized financial losses that existed within my business unit. >> reporter: dick bowen said he sent this e-mail to rubin and these other executives in

november 2007 of the $50 billion in mortgage loans the bank bought and sold that year bowen warned between 60% and 08% were defective. meaning they did not meet the bank's own lending standards. >> i witnessed business risk practices which made a mockery of citi credit policy. >> reporter: despite the bank's losses, prince and rubin each left citigroup with tens of millions of dollars in compensation. >> it isn't fit the scale test. no matter how often you feel really, really sad. >> reporter: citigroup has paid back $20 billion to the government, but taxpayers still own more than a quarter of the bank. anthony mason, cbs news, new york. this is a great story temperature two long lost brothers in canada found they didn't have to look far to find each other. tommy larkin and steven were

adopted as children by separate families. after years of searching for each other, a post-adoption agency told them they had been living on the same street for the last two years. >> new finland would have been really exceptional, but across the road is just -- is something amazing. >> i couldn't believe that. that was crazy. and took me about three hours to get the nerve -- three hours and probably four pots of coffee to get the nerve up to call. >> isn't that incredible? the two brothers now spend a lot of time together. they found they share some similarities, for instance, they both do not like celery. they plan to spend the summer catching up over backyard barbeques. this morning on the early show oirk we'll have an update from west virginia on the mine rescue. i'm michelle gielan and this is the "cbs morning news." [ sneezing ]

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captions by: caption colorado, llc (800) 775-7838 comments@captioncolorado.com good morning, i'm andrea roane. here's some stories we're following for enthusiasm friday morning. search teams are back inside a west virginia coal mine searching for four miners. nitrogen is being pumped into the mines to neutralize toxic gas. the chances of finding the men alive are slim, but the hope is they may have been able to reach an air tight chamber with a four-day supply of food,

water and oxygen. a diplomat from qatar who sparked a terrorism plight on a flight will be leaving. he was smoking a cigarette in the plane's bathroom then joked about lighting his shoe on fire. u.s. officials scrambled fighter jets as a precaution. today, the full maryland statehouse is voting on a measure to require drivers to use a hands-free device to talk on the phone while driving. we say good morning to howard bernstein. the treats might appear wet, but no rain falling in most parts of the area? >> north and west. south and east still has showers. if you are watching from southern maryland and eastern shore, still moderate showers down there. you can see this line of showers and storms. some of these had severe warnings on them yesterday after dark there and even yesterday afternoon to our west and southwest. this morning, lining up and down 95, event of 95 for the most part, live doppler you can

see it's especially across prince george's, anne arundel counties, and even into staff ford county with the heavy stuff now across the bay. back on the weather computer, the other thing that the front is doing is bringing in the much cooler air. it's 47 and 34 in oakland. so a definite change to the hot weather to start the week and a good looking weekend ahead. >> i like that. >> i was about to say that. you sore great about that. okay. a couple early problems. this isn't just construction. we have this accident in upper marlboro that has eastbound 214 closed and also on the outer loop, you check out the speeds there. it looks like we're moving okay. on the inner loop of virginia, another accident is reported. finally, here is another crash scene that we're told about on virginia's 95 at quantico. this is the scene right after. as you can see, drivers are

moving at a good pace. andrea? >> day one of the masters is over and tiger woods did not disappoint. after leaving the game because of the sex scandal, woods shows why he is still the best golfer in the world. randall pinkston is in the golf bag. >> reporter: tiger wootds looks like he never left the game. >> spectacular shot. >> reporter: woods finished in a tie for third place and played better than he ever has in the first round of the masters. there were some missed opportunities and flashes of that famous anger, but for most of the day, tiger played like, well, tiger. >> oh, my goodness. unbelievable. >> reporter: some of golf's best are beating woods, but all eyes are on tiger. >> what does today mean? >> it meant i'm two shots off the lead. that's what it means. >> nothing beyond that? >> i'm here to play a golf tournament. >> reporter: during this comeback, he has to do more than just hit great putts and

drives. one editor says "woods is working to shift attention away from the sex scandal." >> his biggest challenge is to change the conversation from his personal life to his professional life. >> reporter: woods' squeaky clean image has been badly tarnished, so this week he's been taking time to show that he's changed. he's been spending more time with fans, something he avoided in the past. benjamin was able to get his autograph, a gesture that impressed his mother. >> it matters what you deliver in a heart. >> reporter: now the world will see if woods can continue his impressive play and win his fifth masters. randall pinkston, cbs news, augusta, georgia. good morning and welcome to 9 news now. it's friday, april 9th. it's buddy check 9