or visit woundedwarriorproject.org. captioning funded by cbs opening statements. president obama delivers his state of the union address saying he's prepared to battle congress to pass his economic policy. >> i intend to fight obstruction with action and i will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. >> hostages freed in an early morning raid. they free an american and danish citizen held in somalia. recovering and returning. congresswoman gabrielle giffords officially resigns today but hasn't closed the door on a political comeback. this is the "cbs morning news" for wednesday, january 25, 2012.

good morning everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. we begin overseas and a successful rescue mission in somalia. american jessica beuchanan and paul hagan were freed. u.s. forces orchestrated a nighttime rescue using two helicopters to reach their location. the workers were kidnapped back in october in northern somalia. they worked for a danish group and somali pirate sies nine pirates were killed during a gun battle with the u.s. forces. no u.s. casualties are reported and hostages are said to be in good condition. back home, the underlying theme of president obama's third state of the union address last night was economic fairness. the president offered a proposal to help homeowners and called for higher taxes on the wealthy. the president is looking to

divie americans. susan mcginnis is in washington with details. >> good morning, betty. the speech was optimistic. the president spoke to his base. he says anyone who thinks america is on the decline doesn't know what they're talking about. republicans said the president did not pause the economic crisis that we're in but was elected on a promise to fix them and things have gotten worse. president obama is taking his message of economic equality straight to voters. >> it's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom. no bailouts, no handouts and no copouts. >> fresh off his state of the union address, he's kicking off a three-day trip this morning that will take him to five key battleground states. he'll visit iowa and arizona today to talk about boosting american manufacturing. the key ingredient, he says, for building an economy that will last. >> it is time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in america.

>> last night the president proposed tax breaks for businesses and helping more struggling homeowners refinance their loans. he also called for higher tacks on the rich. >> you can call this class warfare all you want. but asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in tacks, most americans would call that monday sense. >> republicans lashed out at his plan last night calling it another a tomato divide americans. >> no feature of the obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some and cast gaiting others. >> mitch daniels delivered the gop official response and others added to the criticism. >> he didn't want to talk about the keystone pipeline, thousands of jobs to put americans back to work. >> the president insists he's willing to work with the gop but will also fight back against any

delaying tactics. and the president later this week heads to nevada, colorado and michigan and betty, we'll find out more about some of the proposals he talked about last night in business, energy and education. >> susan mcginnis, thank you. the president also addressed iran's nuclear program and he warned the iranians that the u.s. would do whatever it takes to prevent them from obtaining nuclear weapons. >> let there be no doubt, america is determined to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon and i will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. >> the president also said a peaceful resolution remains a possibility if the iranians change course. chief washington correspondent bob schieffer has more on the president's address. >> well, this was an election year state of the union speech. the president used it to lay out the themes that he will make the main points of his campaign. basically, it is going to be about fairness. he is going to say, we have to

redo the tax code, we have to raise the taxes on millionaires and make them subject to the same kind of taxes that other people pay. this is part of an overall theme of fair thes. he stated that over and over again. that's what the democrats and what the president want this election to be about. the republicans want it to be about something entirely different. they want it to be a referendum on barack obama and his presidency. so, when governor mitch daniels of indiana gave the rebuttal speech, he said, look, the president didn't cause the economic crisis and the bad economic situation and the joblessness and all of that, but he made the situation worse. we didn't hire him to make it worse. we hired him to fix it and he didn't do that. there you have it. in those two speeches, what this campaign is going to be all

about. and make no mistake about it, the campaign can under way. >> indeed it is. that was bob schieffer reporting. we invite you to stay tuned for "cbs this morning." vice president joe biden will discuss the state of the union and the state of the 2012 campaign. congresswoman gabrielle giffords officially resigns today. a little over one year after she was severely wounded. but she left the door open for a possible return to politics. one much her last official acts, giffords attended the state of the union address and got a hug from president obama. she says she'll concentrate on her recovery. she ends her resignation letter by write, "every day i am working hard will recover and we'll work together again for arizona and for all americans. the race to the republican presidential nomination. a new national poll shows mitt romney is slipping fast. the latest poll shows newt gingrich now leading the race.

gingrich raised a 23 point advantage romney held. the gains are mostly from conservative voters. we're learning more about gingrich's work relationship with mortgage giant freddie mac. a contract released last night shows gingrich's consulting frirm was paid $25,000 a month beginning in 1999 to work with freddie mac's chief lobbyist. gingrich denies he ever worked as a lobbyist and the contract specifically excludes lobbying services. mitt romney says that's splitting hairs. campaigning in florida yesterday, romney hit gingrich hard over his ties to the government backed mortgage industry. standing outside a foreclosed home, he says gingrich -- the housing market is a mess because the government got in the middle of. a marine says he gave orders that led to the death of unarmed civilians in iraq will serve no jail time.

the staff sergeant was initially charged with nine counts of manslaughter in the attack in 2005. on monday, he pled guilty to one count of dereliction of duty in a deal that would let him escape prison time. coming up on the morning news, thousands turn out to mark a milestone in egypt. plus, the grounded cruise ship off italy. you're watching the "cbs morning news." starting at just 6 bucks. are full of delicious ch, choose from savory favorites or our new philly cheesesteak sandwich. layers of shaved steak and grilled peppers served with fries and a tasty soup or salad. chili's lunch break combos. softens the enamel so it can potentially erode. once that enamel is gone, it's gone. my dentist recommended pronamel. pronamel protects your teeth from the effects of acid erosion. i don't have to cut out the things that i love in my diet.

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emergency order. in italy, a two-pronged recovery effort is under way at the site of the costa concordia cruise ship disaster. a salvage barge is now in place alongside the wreck and workers are preparing to begin removing a half million gallons of fuel from the ship before it starts leaking. the pumping operation will probably start on saturday. meanwhile, divers continue to search the submerged portion of the capsized ship for more victim. the u.s. ambassador to italy visited the site yesterday and praised their efforts. >> i know everyone cares a lot. i speak for the united states. we're very grateful for the effort that's being made to try to recover or find the lost ones. >> 16 bodies have been recovered so far. seven of them still unidentified. 17 people are still unaccounted for, including a missing american couple. thousands of mourners are expected again this morning on

the penn state university campus to pay their respect to coach joe paterno. yesterday and laid into the night they waited for hours to pass by his closed casket. a private funeral service is set for later today. paterno remains a beloved figure at penn state despite being fired in nova mid a child sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach. on the cbs money watch, apple surges while yahoo slumps. a high note for garth brooks and his legal battle. ashley morrison has that and more. >> good morning, betty. in overseas trading markets in japan rally. the nikkei index climbed 1% on positive news from toyota while the hang seng remains closed for a holiday. worries to keep greece from defaulting sent the dow down. the nasdaq gained just two. don't blame apple for the dow's dip. the tech company reported

monster earnings thanks in large part to sales of the iphone 4s. profit rose 118%. apple says it sold 37 million iphones in the last quarter of 2011. that account for more than half of the company's sales. yahoo is giving it investors more bad news. the internet company's earnings report shows just how much it's trying to keep up with google. earnings were down 5% from a year ago. yahoo recently hired a new ceo and saw one of the founders step aside. today, an earnings report from net flick. the home video provider is expected to report a smaller profit after a tumultuous year. they lost a million subscribers he when it announced it's splitting into two companies. it's gone down by nearly $200. garth brooks has prevailed in his lawsuit against an oklahoma hospital. a jury ruled that the hospital must return the country music

singer's half million dollar donation and pay him another half million in punitive damages. brooks donated the monday oi to build a cancer center in honor of his late mother. the facility was never built. that's too bad. ashley, thank you for that. straight ahead, your wednesday morning weather and in sports a big night for miami's chris bosh. cranking up the heat against the cavaliers. the crowd went bananas. as a va pharmacist, working directly with our veterans is really gratifying. plus, i have advanced pharmacy systems that keep accuracy high, along with training and other benefits, like being able to work anywhere in the u.s. with my current license. it's good to know you're working with the best. and that's good for our veterans. (announcer) learn more about careers with today's va at vacareers.va.gov.

here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. new york, mostly sunny, 44 degrees. miami, partly cloudy, or sunny, 79 degrees. chicago, mostly cloudy, 37. dallas cloudy, 56. l.a. sunny, 79. time now for a check of the national forecast. a storm moving across texas and oklahoma will bring rain and thunderstorms to the lower mississippi and tennessee valleys, including a tornado threat. rain will also move eastward along the ohio valley. washington, oregon and northern california will see continued rain and mountain snow. it will be dry and sunny in most of the northeast and new england. in sports, plenty of off season baseball news, including a new team for prince feemder and a king's ransom of a contract. a source tells cbs sports the slugging first baseman has agreed to get this, a nine-year, $214 million deal with the detroit tigers. fielder will fill a hole in the

tigers lineup left by the loss of victor martinez to a knee injury. it is official. jorge posada hung up his yankee stripes much the five-time allstar catcher formally retired yesterday after 17 major league seasons, all with new york. posada who is 40. finished with a .273 batting average, 275 home runs and more than a thousand rbi's. in the nba, miami hosting cleveland but the heat didn't give the cavs a warm welcome. chris bosh came on strong scoring 17 of the 35 points in the fourth period leading miami to a 92-85 victory. when we return, a chilling rescue video of a snowmobiler pulled from an avalanche.

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here's a look at the weather. washington, d.c., 47. mostly sunny. atlanta partly sunny, 68. detroit, mostly cloudy, 36. denver, mostly sunny, 52. and some showers in seattle, but 46 degrees there. here's another look at the top stories. u.s. special forces freed american jessica buchanan and a danish citizen who had been held hoss tanl for three month by pirate. the raid in somalia was carried out early this morning. president obama's state of the union address focused on economic fairness. he says it's the defining issue of our time. republicans are trying to divide the country. the huge winter storm that swept over the northwest last week left many feet of snow in the mountains delighting winter sport lovers but that much snow can be a deadly threat as one

snowmobiler learned. amy clancy of our seattle affiliate reports. >> shovels, friends and fellow snowmobilers work frantically to make an air passage. >> i was suffocating face first into the snow. i couldn't move anything. my legs, my toes, my arms, anything. >> the trouble started when swanson lost control of his snowmobile. that's him in the distance walking toward it. but then another snow mole bealer raced along the top of set off the avalanche. watch carefully, you'll see him disappear. a snowmobiler races off to help. >> it was scary. >> one of swanson's best friends was among those helping dig him out of the snow. most of the others were complete strangers. swanson could hear his rescuers

but he thought he might suffocate before they could find him. >> i guess by the time that thought crossed my mind, i could hear them yelling. where are you at? i knew they were close. >> can you breathe? we got you, buddy. >> the video runs out before they pull him up out of the snow unharmed. >> the transition out and tow it to the shop. >> by this afternoon, john and rick had time to think about the close call, their love of snowmobiling and those who ride them. >> everybody really looks out for each other on the hillside. that's the great thing about it. it's a great sport. >> rick agrees. but he's gained new respect for the power of a snowy hillside. >> i've seen the avalanche now and never want to see it again. >> both plan to go snowmobiling again this weekend. that was amy clancy of cairo tv in seattle reporting. another close call caught on video. watch this. former national hockey league player richard bed nick was

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good morning and welcome to 9news now. today is wednesday. it is january 25th. good morning, i'm andrea roane. >> i'm jessica doyle. monika samtani has your timesaver traffic in a moment. >> we start with howard bernstein. a pretty nice forecast for today. >> a little cooler than

yesterday. clouds coming in this afternoon. yesterday we managed to get to 56. today, maybe about 46. this morning, it is chilly but clear out there. that's where we start with our day planner. mid-40s by lunchtime. pretty much going to stay there for the afternoon with the highs holding steady in the mid- 40s as the clouds thicken up later this afternoon. winds west to northwest. clear and 39 in washington with a sunrise at 7:20. you can see the clear skies overhead as we look at the satellite and radar combined. clouds moving in from kentucky through southwestern virginia. these will be overspreading the region. there will be some rain showers around late tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night into friday. 37 up toward martinsburg, leesburg is 36 this morning. warm spot right on the bay, annapolis at 43 degrees.

as far as the highs expected later today, 50ish down toward tappahannock. low 40s for hagerstown. 45 for easton. 46 here in d.c. it is 4:26. we're in -- wearing the lovely purple sweater, here's monika samtani. >> we're having arguments about what color purple really is. probably for the last two weeks ago. if you're planning to head around town, see the triangles behind me, that's basically all construction on the west side of town. let's start with the north side of town first. no problems to romp as you travel between 95, 270 and the american legion bridge. once we get through tysons, that's where some of the troubles begin. we go back over to the map, show you a closer look at where all of the construction is. basically on the inner loop of the beltway up at 66, we'll show you a live picture of 66 in centreville. volumes are light. hopefully that construction shouldn't cause too many

problems. they should be picking it up shortly as well. a quick live look into springfield. nice and light on to 395 as well. back to you guys. thank you, monika. president obama has delivered the state of the union address to congress. >> danielle nottingham has the latest on the speech and what republicans had to say. >> president obama laid out his plan to bolster america's middle class before bitterly divided congress. >> i intend to fight obstruction with action and i will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. >> reporter: the president focus ond creating jobs in what he calls economic fairness. >> we can either set fool country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of americans barely get by. or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules. >> reporter: the key to long-

term success he said is manufacturing here at home. >> it is time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in america. >> reporter: the president's speech comes at the height of a bitter republican battle to replace it but the night was not without some moments of unity. bipartisan cheers greeted arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. she's reexpwhriening wednesday, a year after an assassination attempt. but in their response, republicans hammered away at the president citing high unemployment. >> you cannot claim the last three years have made things anything but worse. the percentage of americans with a job is at the lowest in decades. >> president obama will take his message on the road to swing states beginning wednesday morning. danielle nottingham, capitol hill. we have new information on the payments presidential candidate newt gingrich