berman: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of s. 3331, the intercountry adoption universal accreditation act of 2012, and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. berman: i would like to thank senator kerry and my colleague from new jersey for their work on thegs will. this bill ensures american families adopting children will be protected from unethical and fraudulent practices by international adoption agencies. for years, conflicting country-by-country standards have plagued the international adoption process, causing harm to adoptive children and families. the bill would expand accreditation standards to cover all international adoptions. presently those standards only apply to adoptions from those countries that are parties to the convention on the protection of children and cooperation and respect of intercountry adoption known as the hague convention. accreditation standards help prevent the sale of children. it thwarts fraudulent transaction pr

next i want to pay tribute to howard berman. to congressman howard berman. this is really hard to do. congressman berman's name is synonymous with the following, with farm workers and their rights. with human rights around the world. anyone that has met and worked with him respects him. it matters not what side of the aisle they have ever come from or what country they come from or what agency they have worked in. howard berman is -- has been the indispensable member in this chamber. when he took over the leadership of the foreign relations committee we saw a new and inspired leadership there, demanding a recognition of the armenian genocide. and he served as the original co-sponsor of that legislation. his record is replete with distinction. replete with distinction. and, howard, in our delegation i don't think there's anyone -- we will all miss you in a very, very deep and special way. this house will miss you because you brought honor to it in everything that you have done. so it is bittersweet. no, it's just bitter. there isn't any sweetness to it. but i

next i want to pay tribute to howard berman. to congressman howard berman. this is really hard to do. congressman berman's name is synonymous with the following, with farm workers and their rights. with human rights around the world. anyone that has met and worked with him respects him. it matters not what side of the aisle they have ever come from or what country they come from or what agency they have worked in. howard berman is -- has been the indispensable member in this chamber. when he took over the leadership of the foreign relations committee we saw a new and inspired leadership there, demanding a recognition of the armenian genocide. and he served as the original co-sponsor of that legislation. his record is replete with distinction. replete with distinction. and, howard, in our delegation i don't think there's anyone -- we will all miss you in a very, very deep and special way. this house will miss you because you brought honor to it in everything that you have done. so it is bittersweet. no, it's just bitter. there isn't any sweetness to it. but i

. >>> john berman with other stories making news. >>> the united states officially recognizing syria's opposition coalition as the representative of the syrian people. it's just a show of support. it is does not mean america will arm rebel forces. president obama talked about why the decision was made right now. >> the syrian opposition coalition is now inclusive enough. reflective and representative enough of the syrian population, that we consider them the legitimate representative of the syrian people in the asass regime. >>> hugo chavez, recovering from six hours of surgery in cuba this morning. the fourth cancer-related operation for the venezuelan president since the summer of 2011. his vice president tells the people of venezuela the procedure on chavez was complex and completed correctly and successfully. >>> so michigan, the cradle of the organized labor movement is

berman is just staring googly eyed.he and giselle welcomed their second child together. >> a daughter, vivian elaine. congratulations to the brady family. come on and talk to us any time. we'd love to see up really, i mean it, a lot. >>> and the lady behind one of history's most famous smiles. coming up, the search for the real life mona lisa. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. >>> and florida governor charles cr christ talking about why he went blue. >> the reason is, as i said at the convention, i didn't leave the republican party. the republican party left me, and what i mean by that is that, you know, issue after issue, they seem to get more strident and difficult if you will, less tolerant. whether it was immigration or education, or

i'm john berman. >> i'm kate bolduan. we want to well koom viewers from the united states and those joining us from around the world this morning. you're watching our special coverage of the connecticut school shooting here in newtown. we're live in newtown, connecticut. >> here in newtown the president will be coming later today. he's expected to meet with some of the victims of the families and he will speak at a vigil tonight remembering the victims. president obama spoke about the hea heartbreak hours after the shooting on friday and again during his weekly address yesterday. now, of course, we have the names of all the victims in this shooting. there were 20 children, all of them were just 6 or 7 years old. there's been a fund set up to help the families of the victims. here's the address if you'd like to send a donation, the sandy hook school support fund, 39 main street in newtown, the zip code is 06470. >> meanwhile, investigators here in newtown are trying to piece it altogether. they found more information on th

we send it back to john berman.ew york. >> thanks, zoraida. >>> new this morning, dick's sporting goods taking action in the wake of massacre in newtown. the company release this statement, they say out of respect for the victims and their families, we've removed all guns in our store nearest to newtown and suspended the sale of modern sporting rifles in all of our stores chainwide. >>> more fallout, a company called cerberus capital mgt the announcing its selling its fnt stake in freedom group which arequired bushmaster, the company that manufactured the ar-15 model used in friday's school shooting. >>> it didn't take long for president obama to take action. "the washington post" reporting he's directed members of his cabinet to put together a list of proposals that includes reinstating a ban on assault rifles. this effort is being led by vice president joe biden. >>> and the white house appears to have some momentum here. two influential democratic senators with "a" ratings with the nra, mark warner of virginia an

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i'm john berman.his morning at 8:00 eastern time, we're anticipating a live news conference here in newtown, connecticut, where authorities are expected to release the names of the children and the adults killed at the sandy hook elementary school. i want to bring in right now declan, a parent in this community. his 8-year-old daughter survived the shooting at the elementary school yesterday. and let me start off by saying, first of all, our thoughts are with you and this entire town, what you're all going through right now. let me ask you, how are you? and how's your daughter? >> my daughter is doing surprisingly well. she's doing surprisingly well after what she saw. >> how did this go down for you yesterday? when did you first get word that something horrible was happening at the school? what did they tell you? and what did they ask you to do? >> i worked about an hour plus away and my wife called me and said there'd been a shooting. she had already rushed to the school to get my daughter who had m

we begin with john berman and the latest top stories. >>> syria upping the ante.ssiles from the region around damascus into northern syria, presumably targeting rebels trying to overthrow the regime. >>> testimony today at a coroner's inquest in london reveal jacintha saldanha was found hanged by the neck by a scarf at her hospital living quarters, three days after saldanha was fooled by australian deejays in attempt to reach the duchess of cambridge. investigators say saldanha left behind several suicide notes. >>> a bit of an embarrassing situation by senator robert they menendez of new jersey. they say a young man is an undocumented immigrant from peru who worked for him and he's a registered sex offender and faces deportation. spokesman says menendez did not know this intern. >>> audiotapes of dr. martin luther king jr. found in a box in a closet. the tapes were passed down by her father, a former newspaper reporter. listen to this part where he talks about accusations he caused the race riots in detroit in the summer of 1967. >> as much as i preach about non-

berman. i will be taking over his duties as ranking member of this committee. starting with the new congress. i want to say we are going to miss you and your steady hand at the helm was something we have all been aware of and appreciate it through the years, your common sense on the issues and your hard work and your collegiality is something that we will miss and i want to just express my very best wishes to you. i hope i can do as good a job as you have done and i look forward to getting in touch with you. mr. ackerman, we have known each other for a long long time and we served in albany in the state legislature together and i think your remarks before were right on the money and your intellect, your wit, your hard work, it's been a pleasure working with you. i know that we will continue to be in touch, certainly. let me say well, ambassador byrnes. you have a long and distinguished record of the state department. we appreciate the work you have done and mr. nides i have known you for numb

berman: mr. speaker. i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the concurrent resolution is agreed to. the gentleman from california. mr. berman: mr. speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to h.res. 134, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 134, resolution condemning the government of iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its bah

i'm john berman. you're watching our special coverage of the connecticut school shooting live from newtown, connecticut. and i want to bring in my colleague, ali velshi. hey, ali. >> reporter: john, it's a sad morning and will get sadder in a few moments. just a few moments from where we are standing, a press conference is about to begin where they are going to release the names, we think, of many of the people killed. david arioso of cnn was one of the first on the scene. david went to the firehouse you keep hearing references to where parents were thinking they were going to meet their kids. david, what happened yesterday? >> well, between the early morning hours, parents would file towards this firehouse and would basically try to get a sense of whether or not their kids, their loved ones were alive. toward the early part of the morning, you would see parents walking out teary eyed, shaken, but with their children. as the day progressed, you would see parents walking in pairs, walking with state tr

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman.s just raining here, but in a lot of parts around the country, it's just awful. the fury of the first holiday storm is making travel dangerous if not completely impossible in the upper midwest. today new england is expected to get slammed by the same storm. at least seven traffic-related deaths in four states are blamed on this storm. more than a foot of wet, heavy snow fell in parts of iowa and wisconsin. hundreds of flights canceled at the height of the travel season. this is some amazing picture. power lines sparking and snapping. you can hear it. wow. at the storm's worst, 400,000 power customers in the region had no electricity. that number is down to 133,000 by yesterday afternoon. still bad. meteorologist rob marciano is tracking it all for us from atlanta. >> good morning. bad times as far as the holiday travel. this is a big, big storm. you mentioned the heavy, wet snow piling up. over a foot and a half in some spots. middleton, wisconsin, seeing 16 inches. over a foot in dubu

. >> i'm john berman in the town square here in newtown. flags flying at half staff here all around the country to honor those lost at the elementary school shooting here in newtown, the sandy hook elementary school. president obama offered his own thoughts this morning in his weekly address. thoughts on the tragedy, and thoughts on guns. >> on friday, we learned that more than two dozen people were killed when a gunman opened fire in an elementary school in newtown, connecticut. most of those who died were just young children with their whole lives ahead of them. and every parent in america has a heart heavy with hurt. among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams. so our hearts are broken today. we grieve for the families of those we lost. and we keep in our prayers the parents of those who survived. because as blessed as they are to have their children home, they know that their child's innocence has been torn away far too early. as a nation, we have endured far to

john berman in newtown, connecticut, with me. at the town square. john, this is going to be devastating in a few minutes. because there are many in this town who know they have their children many in town that know 20 children and six adults were killed. and some time after the next 10 or 15 minutes, they're going to hear those names and that will open up a whole new set of wounds for this town, wounds that have hardly even had a chance to start healing since last night. it's going to be a tough time in the next few minutes, john. >> i think you're absolutely right, ali. i think those names are going to make this reality all the more painful for the people here. i'm standing in front of, by the way, the st. rose of lima catholic church where there was a vigil. more than 1,000 people in this community gathered here to be together to grieve together. so many of the people here knew people who were at the school, so many people here directly affected by what went on. earlier i spoke to the father of one child who survived the shooting. and it was a tou

i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin." starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. >> good morning. welcome, everybody. the starting point this morning, behind closed doors, president owe became gentleman and house speaker boehner meet in a surprise closed door session trying to hammer out a fiscal cliff deal. >>> what makes a person black? my new documentary sparks conversation about the color of your skin and how it defines who you are. who is black in america? >>> you may start feeling less pain at the pump. gas prices are crashing and how long will it last? just ahead. >>> a mexican american singer, a superstar, dies in a plane crash. now her fans in mourning. we'll have details, straight ahead. >>> a packed two hours for you. new york mayor cory booker will join us. and poet journalist, angela davis will join us as well. gold medal olympic gymnast gabby douglas has written a new book. and judy chu is with us, and the macks join us, and singer adam lambert. monday, december 10th. and "starting point" begins

i'm john berman. nd

i'm christine romans in for john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin.th soledad o'brien starts right now. >>> good morning. welcome. our "starting point" this morning no plan in sight. republicans lashing out at speaker boehner over his deficit reduction plan. are lawmakers really going to let us go over the cliff? and a gruesome photo sparking outrage. should "the new york post" have put up this picture of a man moments before he was crushed to death by a subway train. it with you on the cover. we're hearing from t

and john berman with a look at other stories making news. >> a deafening silence. >>> overnight, three crew members killed in the crash of a medica chopper in north central illinois. on the way to a hospital when their chopper went down. pilot andy olson and flight nurses jim dillow and karen hollis were on board. >>> and petty officer first klasnic lass checque was the navy s.e.a.l. killed. he entered the s.e.a.l.s program after graduating high school. he received a bronze star and several other awards during his ten-year career. clearly a hero. >>> a government official reports nine people were wounded when bird shot pellets were shot into tahrir square. and rallies being held today leading to saturday's vote on a new constitution. >>> and hawaii democrat daniel inouye is in the hospital, he has recently been seen using oxygen on the floor of the senate. he served in world war ii and won the medal of honor and witnessed the japanese bombing of pearl harbor and will mark 50 years in the senate on january 3rd. we hope he is recovering nicely. >>> parts of the country could see more rou

i'm john berman. >> i'm kate bolduan. we're live in newtown, connecticut. >>> president obama will be coming here later today. he will meet with some of the victims' families and speak at a vigil being held here tonight. meanwhile, we're learning more about this tragedy and the victims, 20 children, 6 adults died in friday's shooting at the sandy hook elementary school. >> everybody's death was caused by, everyone that we completed so far was caused by gunshot wounds. and, obviously, the manner of death on all these cases has been classified as homicide. >> that was the medical examiner. he also offered this disturbing detail. all of the victims he's seen, they were shot more than once. >> just amazing to even hear him recount what he's seen in really chilling, chilly detail, tom. >> we will have much more on the victims. of course, their names and their stories coming up in just a few minutes. people in this community are still coming to grips with this tragedy. understandably, we saw more vigils here last night and they

first, john berman with developing information on fiscal cliff negotiations. >>> fiscal cliff talks haven't received much attention in recent days for good reason. but today is the two-week warning, with some good news to report. overnight, we learned president obama made an eye opening offer in talks with house speaker john boehner. under the new proposals, tax rates would go up on those making above $400,000. a big shift. the president has long campaigned on that number, starting at $250,000. the president also offering spending cuts worth $200 billion. for his part, speaker boehner who has all along refused to consider any raising in the tax rates has proposed tax rates for households making $1 million. so movement from both sides. cnn's dan lothian in washington with the latest on this. good morning, dan. >> good morning, john. the big question, can speaker boehner sell this proposal to house republicans? this is very dramatic, president obama had always dug in, saying there was no deal unless taxes went up on households making more than $250,000. now the president raising that to $400,

>> sorry berman. >>> ahead on "starting point" this morning, "black in america" will reair on saturday. and an espn host is questioning the blackness of a star football player robert griffin iii, rg3 on air, what was said and the fallout from that, straight ahead. plus, business news. one more way the fiscal cliff could cost you. what happens to your paycheck immediately if there is no deal in washington? that's next. bring it down, please? better. that's what happens to background noise, when you're making a call on this. this microphone here, picks up the sounds around you and helps turn them down. so when the world gets noisy calls sound better. ...so as you can see, geico's customer satisfaction is at 97%. mmmm tasty. and cut! very good. people are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. so we're taking you behind the scenes. this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though. this computer-animated coffee tastes dreadful. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 % or more on car insurance. someone get me a lat

berman. >> it is great to be here. i was on vacation for a week. now i'm back. i'm john berman. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. i am feeling that. but this, they are talking for the first time in over three weeks. president obama and house speaker john boehner looked each other in the eye and actually had a conversation. now that's a really big deal when it comes to the fiscal cliff crisis. because in just 22 days americans face severe tax hikes and spending cuts unless these two leaders can find a way to compromise. now neither side would discuss specifics about their conversation. but after yesterday's white house meeting, a spokesman for the president said "the lines of communication remain open." now that may be music to the ears of former white house chief of staff erskine bowles, one half of the bowles-simpson reduction duo. >> they started a tango now. you know, any time you got two guys in there tangoing, you have a chance to get it done. >> brianna keilar is live now from washington. we don't have a lot of details about what went on in that meeting. maybe if they're both n

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john berman reporting from hoboken. to add to that, the lanza's father was questioned by police. they are not suspects but have been questioned for any kind of information they can lend to this. i mentioned before it is not often you see a president in tears but it wasn't but a few hours this news hit the president's desk pretty quickly and the took though airways to offer his comfort and support to the victims here in newtown, connecticut. >> this afternoon i spoke with governor malloy and fbi director mueller. i offered governor malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation. and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime care for the victims, counsel their family. we've endured too many of these tragedies in the last few years and each time i learn the news i react not as a president but as anyone else would as a parent. that is especially true today. i know there's not a parent in america who doesn't feel the same weather welling grief that i do. the majority of those who died today were children. beautiful little kids betw

ashleigh. >> john berman reporting from hoboke hoboken, connecticut. lanza's father also question. they aren't suspects, but they have been extensively questioned. it's not often you see a president in tears, but it wasn't but a few hours this news hit the president's desk pretty quickly. he took to the air waives to offer comfort and support to the families of the victims in newtown, connecticut. here is the address he made today. >> this afternoon, i spoke with dane dan malloy and fbi director robert mueller. i made it clear he will have every resource he needs to investigate the heinous crime, care for the victims, council their families. we have endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. each time i hear the news, i react not as a president, but as anybody else would, as a parent and that was especially true today. i know there is not a parent in america who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that i do. the majority of those who died today were children. beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. they had th

we have had david brenner, shelly berman, this year judy gold. >> hasn't she been here before? >> she has been on the show before. >> it is coming back? >> some people have performed more than once. >> you perform every year? >> i do. >> you juggle everything. >> i do everything but cook! i do the pr, i oversee the design of the program and the postcards and the website and most of the comics. jews aren't supposed to eat pork but there is a clause in the torah that said if it is wrapped up in a wonton it is okay for everybody. i came out of the closet and said mom and dad, i joined jews for jesus! they said we raced you to be jewish. how could you do this to us when we raise you in the jewish faith. i said i am kidding. i am gay! they said oh, thank god! [ laughing ] she said i have a friend with a lesbian daughter, the friend disowned her daughter, don't worry, i would never do that to you. i say i know, i have tried everything. >> you are still here! >> my dad finally came around and said we have a friend who has a gay son you may like. i was like, oh, so close. >> unclear! >

john berman live in hoe boke 10 for us. obviously as this started to transpire alarm bells went off throughout the district here. the entire school district went into lockdown. the reaction was swift and the actions of teachers throughout this district were serious. renee burn is one of these teachers, she's a kindergarten teachers' aide, holly elementary school, and she knew some of the teachers at sandy hook elementary as well. her school was in lockdown a couple of hours following the shooting. renee, thank you for talking to us. take me inside your school and tell me how this day unfolded for you and when you ultimately found out why you were in lockdown. >> it started out as a normal day. we had our hol lay party scheduled for our kindergarten class which was scheduled to start about 10:15. and about 9:45, we heard the announcement that we were in lo lockdown. >> did you think this would be a drill? >> i knew it wasn't a drill because we had about 60 parents scheduled to come into the school for our celebration. and i

i'm kate bolduan and john berman will be back to join me in a couple of minutes.et's catch you up on what we know this sunday. president obama will head to newtown, connecticut, where he will meet with the families of the victims. the president will also speak at a vigil, an interfaith vigil tonight. many people looking forward to hearing his words. we also know 12 of the victims were boys and 8 were girls. the medical examiner released the names of all of the victims yesterday. all of the children were either 6 or 7 years old. while 6 of them have the victi adults, all were women working at the school. united way set up a fund to collect donations for victims' families and the community as a whole. it's called the sandy hook school support fund. all donations will go directly to those affected. many ways to impact your world today. >>> we still don't know much, though, about the shooter, adam lanza. so many questions and very few answers. what type of person he was. i want to bring in cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. hearing a lot of the same thi

i'm john berman. we're in newtown, connecticut, this morning. >> i'm kate bolduan. you're watching our continuing coverage. it feels like we've been here a long time just trying to figure out what's going on with the story. president obama will be coming here later today and meet with some of the victims' families and we're told he will speak at a vigil being held tonight. meanwhile, the community is grieving. we saw more vigils here last night really moving vigils. 20 children and 6 adults died in friday's shooting inside sandy hook elementary. we should begin hearing the first funeral plans for some of the victims very soon. we also want to pass this along. the united way has set up a sandy hook school fund. donations, as you can see right there on your screen, donations sent to the newtown savings bank 39 main street right here in newtown, connecticut. this fund will be used to help pay for the funerals of the victims, john. >>> police say they have found important evidence during their searches at the school and at the shooter's home. we also know now more about

this hour our own john berman sits down with manny. looking forward to that.ack to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm christine romans. it's 30 minutes past the hour. >>> updating you on breaking news, a massive earthquake rocking japan, it hit off the coast about 300 miles northeast of tokyo. rattling buidlin rattling buildings and raising the risk of a tsunami. there is no -- there is no widespread threat of a tsunami in the pacific. >>> it is 31 minutes past the hour. we are anticipating a new swell of rage after friday pairs in egypt. opponents of president mohammed morsi are expected back on the streets. last night in cairo they called on morsi to resign saying his government lost legitimacy. opponents are angry at his degree two weeks ago where he granted himself sweeping new powers, and they don't trust a new draft constitution backed by him. in a televised speech last night, morsi defended his actions. ian lee is live in cairo this morning. what is happening now? >> right now we're watching protesters slowly filing in to tahrir square. we expe

. >>> john berman has a look at some of the other news this morning. >>> the ripple effect of the attack on benghazi consulate hits capitol hill this morning. two state department officials are expected to testify in about an hour. this has caused a staff shake-up at the state department. there's been one resignation and three people on administrative leave. the review blamed systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies. u.s. ambassador to libya, christopher stevens and three other americans were killed in that attack. i'm joined by elise labott. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, the latest is this morning secretary clinton's deputies will be testifying, john. deputy secretary tom nides and william burns. secretary clinton is still suffering from a concussion. what i think is really interesting this morning is who's going to be chairing the morning session with the senate foreign relations committee. that's the chairman, john kerry, who is tapped to be the next secretary of state. now, of course there's a lot of questions in this panel report about the leadership at t

next time. >> i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin.od

i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin.ame for the september 11th terrorist attack at the u.s. consulate in benghazi. a blistering report that includes systemic failures that led to the attack that killed chris stevens and three other americans, the panel also finding security in benghazi was grossly inadequate and that repeated requests to beef up personnel at the consulate were ignored by leaders in washington as well and there was a lack of transparency, responsiveness and leadership at the senior levels. this in the aftermath of the tragedy. foreign affairs reporter elise lab b labott live from washington. what did we learn from the report be didn't already know? a lot of this we were talking about as they were investigating. >> that's right. the main thing i took from the report, the state department really missed the warning signs of what was right in front of them, deter yoreating security situation, what was going on in benghazi. five attacks leading up to the 9/11 attack, including one on the u.s. consulate itself.

john berman with an update on other stories. >>> overseas, the assad regime in syria, firing more scudles in the past few days. that's what nato secretary-general says this morning. he believes it's a sign the regime is desperate and about to collapse and more proof turkey needs protection. turkey started receiving patriot defense missiles to shoot down everything syria might send over the border. >>> and they are working to beef up security at embassies around the world, this after the attack in benghazi, libya. >> we learned some very hard and painful lessons in benghazi, already acting on them. we have to do better. we owe it to our colleague who's lost their lives in benghazi and the security professionals who acted with such extraordinary heroism, that awful night to try and protect them, and we owe it to thousands of colleagues serving america with great dedication every day and diplomatic posts around the world. >> and they blame the state department for poor security at the u.s. consulate which left mour americans dead. >>> peter madoff sentenced to ten years for his role in he

. >>> i'm john berman live in new york. back to new towtown in a moment. >>> syria's vice president is reportedly calling for a national unity government with wide powers to bring about an end to that country's civil war. the comments come as a fresh round of violence shakes syria. said to be taken after syrian government planes bombed a palestinian refugee camp near damascus on sunday. a uk-based human rights group says at least eight people were killed there. meanwhile, vice president farouk al sharia told the lebanese newspaper that neither the rebels nor the current government has the ability to reach an end point. an opposition group says at least 150 people were killed across syria on sunday. >>> south carolina governor nikki haley announced that congressman tim scott will replace outgoing senator jim demint. haley said she was looking for a conservative fighter. he thanked his mother for not quitting on him. >> when you start out in a single parent household with a mom who works 16 hours a day, and you're looking at

john berman here.the top cnn trends on the web this morning. >> i'm impressed you can think that fast. >> just like that i figured that out. >> it's one of the videos that looks too strange to be true. guess what? it is. take a look. it looks like an eagle swoopes out of the air, picks up a baby and then drops him. so turns out that's really a well done fake. it is orchestrated by students studying 3-d animation in montreal. they made the baby and the eagle. can you believe it? >> that is impressive stuff. >> brilliant, kids. brilliant. >> i wonder if that whole lord of the rings things was made up. >> coming up on "starting point," we'll talk to the three students behind the hoax that are now soaking up the viral fame. love. that. >> they deserve some. friendly neighborhood spiderman dropping by the oval office. this is a picture of president obama playing with a kid in a spiderman costume that is spreading all over the web. it is just phenomenal. we're seeing more and more of these things. the white

leadership that was quite a lot and on the subject many of them jewish american democrats howard berman gary ackerman others going and being replaced by people of whether republicans or democrats who frankly are less less informed less enlightened and have a simpler view of things and i do think that on all sides in the run up to the israeli election on the public's the political scene whether hamas or even to some extent the way the p.l.o. handled the un bid and in congress you see people. appealing to the base of the baser instincts of their constituency in a way that is at the expense of getting killed and how do you see this working with regard to the american political dimension of our relationship both with the palestinian authority and with israel i think dr bush has it right there is broad bipartisan support for israel and that's a very good thing and the united states the problem comes when members of congress and to some extent administrations don't understand exactly how to express their pro israel attitudes through good policies there's a definite misunderstanding of what is

john berman with a look at stories making news today. good morning. >> weather to worry about right now. holiday travelers, be ware. a massive winter storm from colorado to upper great lakes, expected to cause dangerous blizzard or near-blizzard conditions. cold and stormy in the northwest. alexandra steele at the weather center, give us the lowdown. >> john we have severe weather and also all of the snow. and here is a look. we'll watch this winter storm kind of dole out snow as it rolls out. it will move today. this morning, we'll see snow start in denver, colorado. winding down, 1 to 3 inches, but then denver, colorado, omaha, kansas and then as we head from tonight into tomorrow, we'll move it in through iowa and into nebraska, and then to the upper midwest. 6 to 12 inches in omaha, in des moines, 6 to 12 inches of snow. 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts, blizzard warnings there. the models pretty consistent. guidance, we head through tonight, watching the snow push eastward. compact, narrow line of snow with an incredible amount of wind.

i'm christine romans in for john berman today. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin..m. in the east. we're keeping a close eye on the developing situation in egypt. protesters have turned to deadly violence now. the presidential palace in cairo is being guarded this morning by tanks and armored personnel carriers. the streets around the palace turned violent last night as supporters and opponents of president morsi hurled rocks and molotov cocktails at each other. hundreds were injured and several were killed. they feel betrayed the by what they believe is president morsi's power grab. many now label him a dictator. ian lee joins us by phone from cairo. what's happening right now? do they have these clashes under control? >> right now there's kind of an uneasy calm in cairo. we have the republican guard, and this is the elite's unit that protects, they have tanks and armored personnel set up along with barbed wire and barricades around the presidential palace. president morsi does have thousands of supporters also around the presidential palace. we have seen some prot

well i'm john berman here in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture sheldon adelson as you know tycoon who helped bankroll the romney campaign is i know i should even though as a man isn't in the white house why is adelson meeting with republican lawmakers does he have ulterior motives and. today hundreds of low wage workers took to the streets in new york city protesting for better working conditions and better salaries we'll talk to someone who took part in today's events asking where he sees the fight for a living wage going from here and later in the show we'll have a your take my take live segment your chance to call in and ask a question or make a comment drive on the air. fred first you don't succeed bing bing again you have the republicans top oligarchy foreign casino magnate sheldon adelson is already offering to fund the next election for republicans apparently to protect himself from criminal prosecution adelson spent one hundred fifty million dollars on republicans in the two thousand