out. i walk up to the car and she was in active labor. i had just barely enough time to get my gloves. >> that's trooper first class gregory caps who pulled over to help a couple in distress and wound up delivering their baby. >> ah. >> on the side of the highway. mom and baby are doing great. continuing the christmas theme, the baby's name is, i love this, ebenezer. >> not scrooge after he had gone through the whole thing. >> where's the -- what do you want? >> i liked this little setup right here. where is the yule log. >> he wants a fireplace. guys? >> sit there and eat popcorn at the fireplace and watch suzanne malveaux in for carol costello. >> good to see you guys. imagine the kid in school, ebenezer, trying to explain his name? that's going to be a tough one, i think. >> oh. >> call him ebe. >> good to see you, guys. >> you, too, suzanne.

the news doesn't stop just because the holidays are here. "newsroom" starts right now. good morning, i'm suzanne malveaux in for carol costello. thank you for joining me. president-elect donald trump taking shots now at some of his favorite targets, blasting the media for its coverage of his charity, dismissing the united nations as a place where people only want to, quote, have a good time and even slamming the president after obama claim he could have won a third term in office. all of this as mr. trump prepares to resume transition meetings this morning at his mar-a-lago resort. jessica schneider is live in palm beach. jessica, what do we know about what trump said about president obama? >> reporter: well, suzanne, we do know that donald trump has previously praised the president but all of that seems to be out the window after president obama sat down for a podcast with his senior -- former senior advisor, david axlerod. in that podcast president obama said that he believes if he were

eligible for a third term that he would have won saying the voters, he believes, would have embraced his message of hope and inclusion. upon hearing that the president-elect took to twitter firing back. donald trump unleashing late yesterday saying this on twitter, saying president obama said he thinks he would have won against me. he should say that, but i say no way. jobs leaving, isis, o care, et cetera. of course, donald trump did base his campaign on channelling some of that anger from americans on jobs that were lost, on the economy, on trade as well as on obamacare. seems that donald trump may be channelling some of that anger or some of his own anger now on twitter. he's been quite active on twitter ever since the election and unleashing in a flurry of tweets overnight. while it does seem all quiet here at mar-a-lago, we haven't seen much from the president since christmas eve, he definitely is making his presence known quite forcefully on twitter.

suzanne? >> also he raised some eyebrows with comments about the united nations as well. what is he saying? >> reporter: well, donald trump has been very vocal ever since that u.n. security council vote condemning those israeli settlements in the west bank, east jerusalem that happened last week. hours after the vote last week donald trump did take to twitter calling it a big loss for israel. then, of course, in the past few days there has been a wave of criticism, also some push back. donald trump once again taking to twitter yesterday to essentially condemn the united nations tweeting this saying, the united nations has such great potential, but right now it's just a club for people to get together, talk, and have a good time. so sad. donald trump has been very outspoken on a range of issues over twitter and now turning his focus to foreign policy. in particular this u.n. security council vote on the israeli settlements. donald trump making it very clear that he will back and be

an advocate for israel. suzanne? >> jessica schneider, lots to talk about. thank you very much. as jessica mentioned, talking about foreign policy, israel cutting working ties with 12 nations today. this is a fallout from the u.n. security council. those 12 nations supported a resolution condemning israel's west bank and east jerusalem settlements. this will have no impact on israel's diplomatic ties with the united states but still tensions between the two governments are undeniable. >> we have ironclad information from sources in the arab world and internationally, and we're going to share that information with the incoming administration through the proper channels and if the new administration chooses to share that information, that's their prerogative. >> by definition it's not an ambush when president obama and secretary kerry have been saying in hundreds of conversations and

in public comments that israeli settlement activity was pushing into the west bank in a way that was making the two-state solution unachievable. >> cnn has now just learned that israel is moving ahead with plans to build hundreds of homes in east jerusalem. i want to bring in oren lieberman. he is in jerusalem. these are fast-moving developments. oren, i want to get to that. first of all, give us some perspective on the importance of the relationship between the united states and israel and why it is so unique. >> reporter: well, the u.s. has long protected israel at the security council that the u.s. and israel consider anti-israel. it was samantha power and ban ki-moon that said the u.n. has anti-israel bias. it's long been the policy the u.s. would protect he is rail there. this is a small part that goes to military coordination.

it re-signed a memorandum of understanding for military aid. 38 bh$38 billion. that's just scratching the surface here. this is a long relationship, a deep relationship and one that's very important to both the u.s. and israel. that's something both the administrations have made clear, obama and netanyahu as this relationship falls apart in the final days. >> really can't overstate that. that's why so many people are paying attention. oren lieberman, thank you so much. i want to bring in john alter man. he's at the center for strategic and international studies. thank you for being here. let's talk about this first. the u.n. security council resolution, it is nonbinding. are we going to see any immediate effects of the resolution, if any? >> the first effects are political effects. i think in many ways president obama felt that he's exempt from political effects because he's on his way out as president.

prime minister netanyahu is responding to this i think principally politically because his problem is not on the left in israel, his problem is being challenged from the right. he feels he's susceptible to a charge that he weakened u.s./israeli relations. he's trying to reach out to the incoming trump administration on the one hand and he's trying to rally the troops to show that he's the defender of the status quo in israel which is quite frankly where the center of the israeli public is. >> they have cut ties with multiple nations, not the united states, which has been the target of so much of the anger that we have heard recently. for the second day those officials claiming to have proof that the u.s. actually directed this u.n. vote. they say they're not going to reveal this publicly, at least not yet. they're going to give it to the trump administration to figure out what to do with it. there's a lot of talk about that. do you think any of this is significant when it comes to actions that need to be taken

now in the days to come? >> no. i think first of all i've spoken to people in the white house, spoken to people in the state department. i think it's very unlikely, in fact, impossible in my mind in that the obama administration orchestrated this. maybe the obama administration didn't act as vociferously as they would like. i don't think they orchestrated. the problem the israelis have is on the one hand they're vociferous israel doesn't spy on the united states, yet they claim to have evidence of what the u.s. was doing which is some intelligence on the u.s. government. the israeli government is careful. the prime minister spoke about having intelligence. what we heard in the clip before is we learned from other governments. i think the israelis have a very narrow line to walk here. what they're going to try to do, again, to use this politically in israel to say we haven't harmed israeli relations with the united states. we're going to build them better in the trump administration and

try to use closer ties to get a balance politically in israel. >> we have learned that secretary kerry is set to give a speech this week on the obama administration's vision for middle east peace. this is interesting, the timing to say the least, because i'm wondering if it's going to have any impact at all. president obama departing the white house in less than a month here. what is the point of this? is it simply symbolic? is it a sign for the next administration to at least aspire to what the obama administration wants to do? >> i think there are a couple of things going on. first, secretary kerry has given any number of speeches which represented secretary kerry's effort to move a wall forward. they haven't necessarily reflected due to what the u.s. government would do or what the u.s. government has believed. i think in many ways secretary kerry is trying to leave a marker. i think president obama is trying to leave a marker. when i spoke to people in the white house, what i kept hearing from people was this sense that

the problem of arab israeli peace has gotten worse, not better since he's gotten there. that a two-state solution seems farther away rather than closer. what president obama was confronted with was a decision in his final days as president, is he going the to put down a marker saying that settlements are closing the door to a two-state solution and he's opposed to that, as he's been telling the israelis all along, or whether he would go quietly into night. the president decided at the end of the day with no political repercussions, he would not go quietly, he would put a marker. even if this fell apart he could say, i warned about it and did what i could. >> president obama is putting down a marker here. moving forward. nearly half the country voted for donald trump. his supporters clearly put the economy, immigration, trade deals at the top of the agenda. how does this spat with israel speak to them? >> i'm not sure it does. my perception of the trump coalition is there are some

people who think that the u.s. should be supporting freedom around the world. there are some people who think the u.s. should be fighting is clam mick extremism around the world. some people say the u.s. should be standing by israel. i'm not sure it's a coalition with a view on foreign policy let alone the arab/israeli conflict. some people think the u.s. should spend less time being concerned with the world and some people who say, look, of all the countries in the world, the one that's fighting terror just like we are is israel and we should support israel. i think president-elect trump is trying to speak to that part of his constituency, but it's not all of his constituency. >> all right. thank you very much. really appreciate your perspective. happy holidays. still to come, donald trump's inauguration is not going to have the star-studded show that we've seen before so is the pressure on to nail the big speech? your insurance company

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jee are just 24 days away from the inauguration and what will likely be one of the most important moments of donald trump's presidency, his inaugural address. while we haven't seen a draft, we know some of the expected themes including education, infrastructure, border security, the state of the military, economy and outsourcing of labor. will the first address bring a divided nation together? to discuss that we are joined by the author of "confessions of a presidential speech writer" craig smith and director of the university of virginia's center for politics, larry sabato. craig, let's start with you. one of trump's top policy aides has been directed to write this address. steven miller. you have been in his shoes writing for presidents ford and

president h.w. bush leading up to the critical moment when the torch is passed. take us through that. what are you going through? what's going through your head in terms of the message that trump needs to deliver to the country? is this one of unity or is it perhaps something else? >> i think the first thing that a speech writer looks at is the audience and what is the audience's expectation. the inaugural is a special kind of speech and it's the only speech of its type. you become president right before you give the inaugural address, so normally the inaugural address is high minded, but at the same time you want to adjust to what the audience expects. and we know that donald trump likes to break the mold so i think we're all going to be holding our breath to see if he can stay on script and what kind of inaugural address he's going to give. whether it's one that's going to be highly eloquent and philosophical or whether it's going to deal with specific issues that his audience expects him to talk about.

make america great again. talk about the state in terms of the main message that he needs to cut through and deliver on that day. >> suzanne, the early word is that they're going to be more nationalistic than ideological. i think that would be wise if, in fact, that's what they do. the themes that he selected are what you would expect. they're what he campaigned on. most of them depending on how he phrases them could be unifying. i think that's one of his great challenges, how to unify the nation after such a divisive campaign. and let's face it, he's a very divisive personality. it would be to his great advantage to add five or ten points of popularity, however temporary that addition turns out to be, because it would help with his early agenda in

congress and around the country. >> craig, you gave us a list of your picks that you believe from previous inaugural addresses. let's listen to some of them. >> let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. >> my fellow americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. >> in this present crisis government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem. >> starting today we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking america. >> so, craig, explain why those cut through the noise. >> well, starting with the last one, barack obama where he's actually borrowing a phrase from

george gershwin. it was unifying. ironically, it was something he borrowed. in reagan's case it was an entirely different approach. you get from the line exactly the transformation that he's looking at. he's going to put government back in its place. there's going to be a new federalism that we examine. the state is going to have more responsibilities. the line had a lot of weight to it when reagan delivered it. if you go back to fdr, you have to realize the situation at the time was one of terrible crisis. we were in depression. 1/3 of the workers had been thrown out of work. the nation was in a panic and he needed to calm the nation down. that wonderful line with its repetition and its rhythm, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, calm the nation down and gave it some confidence. so i think those are some of the things you can do in an inaugural address.

>> larry, we know steven miller wrote trump's convention speech. that speech, as you know, very fiery, audacious, and it gives us some clues, perhaps, what we can take in terms of substance and tone for the inauguration day. do you think that will strike that same kind of tone or will it be more unifying? >> i think it would be a mistake to do the convention speech again. that was seen as a gloomy, dark, divisive speech which helped elect donald trump. you have to convince people that the current conditions are not sufficient and you need a change. that's what trump was able to do for the electoral college. for an inaugural address, again, with this particular individual, donald trump, the more notes that he can strike that are unifying, the better off he is going to be and the agenda will be in congress and across the nation. whether he can do it, i don't

know. he might get more impact from tweeting it out, which i suspect will be done as well. >> that's a great point. craig, pick up on that because, you know, i remember the last couple of inaugurations, it was pretty darn cold outside. everybody was trying to stay warm and stay focused. it was an important moment. how important is it, really, the significance of that. do people take it away. do they remember what they heard or do they get that feeling like, okay, the leadership has changed. we're moving in a different direction? >> well, i think, you know, i remember the 1984 inaugural, it was so cold that we had to move into the capitol. it wasn't outside. and so hopefully the weather will be better for donald trump. one of the things that i think steven miller did in the acceptance speech that would transfer into the inaugural was the closing lines of that speech. what steven miller wrote were lines that concluded the

convention that had been themes of the convention every day, make america strong again, make america secure again, put america to work again. i think those things could be taken into an inaugural without taking the baggage of some of the negative stuff that was in that acceptance speech. so we're going to see whether there's going to be a change and a shift, whether donald trump becomes more presidential in the speech as he's sworn in and then gives the inaugural address. >> i think people are waiting to see if that transformation occurs. craig smith, larry sabato, thank you very much. appreciate it. we'll be watching. still to come, 'tis the season to trade punches? >> oh, my god! >> yeah. mall brawl. breaking out in nearly a dozen cities from colorado to connecticut.

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or not in vests. sign up at etrade.com and get up to six hundred dollars. the opening bell is moments away. since election day we have seen a trump bump. donald trump tweeting last night, the world was gloomy before i won. there was no hope. now the market is up nearly 10% and christmas spending is over $1 trillion but can trump really take credit? cnn's cristina alesci, she is joining us now to talk about this. is this right? >> reporter: well, suzanne, the

market does love him right now, but the market also loved the fact that the republicans controlled congress, which should clear up some gridlock. while there are signs as trump suggested in that tweet that consumers are more confident, the picture is a little less certain for overall economic growth. let's take the two parts of his tweet, one at a time. first, the market is up about 9% since the election, which is an incredible run, but the question now is how long will it last? investors have already factored in what trump has talked about, reduced tax, and regulations, especially for large corporations. in other words, all the optimism about his policies may already be baked in before going any higher or even preserving gains we've had, the market needs to see trump follow through on his promises. it needs to see how corporations and consumers react to all of the policy changes if they have them. for example, are consumers and

companies going to spend their tax savings or save them. obviously more spending will drive growth but keep in mind most economists have kept forecasts for overall economic growth at 2%, which is, by the way, pretty anemic. despite what trump says about consumers, they're not necessarily feeling a whole lot better. look, he cites that projection of holiday spending of $1 trillion. there is an estimate that that estimate is more like 655 billion, which is not a trillion. investors are waiting for some more solid data before buying into this market, and some of them worry about stock prices have gone too far too fast. >> so the conclusion is not yet, just not quite yet? >> exactly. >> all right. thanks a lot. >> absolutely. >> appreciate it. a meltdown at malls across the country. we're talking about brawls breaking out in several states. nearly a dozen incidents were reported at malls from texas to

connecticut to illinois. several forced to evacuate or lock down after false reports of shots fired send shoppers running. sara sidner has the story. what's going on? >> reporter: that's a good question. police in many cities are trying to figure that out. there was mayhem in shopping malls from colorado all the way over to connecticut, brawls breaking out among teenagers in malls packed with families doing the traditional post-holiday shopping run to find deals or return the unwanted gifts as we all do. this is what they encountered in manchester, connecticut. people screaming as punches are thrown inside the shops at buckland hills mall. this one ended with a chase and an officer reportedly assaulted as the officer tried to break it up. then we move on to fort worth, texas, where a mall was put on lockdown after a massive fight ensues near the food court. there were reportedly more than 100 middle and high school students involved in that

madness. it ended up with officers going store to store to let the people who were shopping out once that lockdown was lifted. then in aurora, illinois, another fight involving multiple people at fox valley mall. that mall was forced to close for the entire day. you see the fights are happening both on the top and the bottom. then in ohio, another mall, another fight in another food court. then go ahead and move on. the aurora town mall closed and evacuated after not one but several fights broke out inside that mall. here's what police say prompted what happened there. >> our investigation revealed how this all started was actually from social media. there was something that was going around on social media about a fight that was going to take place here at the town center of aurora, which is what drew all of these people who were up to no good to our mall. >> reporter: and then let's move on to chattanooga, tennessee,

where teenagers actually set off fireworks. there wasn't a fight there. but they thought, the people in the mall, the fireworks were gunshots. soft targets. people worried about terrorism. it really frightened families inside the mall. it turned out that several shoppers ended up being injured as they tried to escape worried that it was gun shots. it was not gunshots. police say it was fireworks set off in a mall. this was a lot of chaos for the day after christmas when there are a lot of families that go into the mall for entertainment. the kids go there because there is not a lot of places for them to go after the holidays. a lot of times they are in there for fun. was this something that was planned out? that's what police were talk you go about. you heard him talk about this, in a lot of cities teens got together on snap chat and decided, hey, let's go to the mall. >> sara, in light of the fact that it was announced ahead of time on social media, do police

feel, authorities feel they can next time around and the who will think day get on top of this and start checking social ool media so they can really jump this, get ahead of it? >> reporter: i'm sure there's a lot of discussions and a lot of departments have tech teams that look into things like that. the problem is, suzanne na, teenagers are way ahead of all of us when it comes to knowing new social media and new things to communicate on. snap chat's one of those where they can send a message and then those messages disappear so very hard to track and trace. but this is one of the things that law enforcement will certainly be looking at. we want to find out if it went out across america somehow as opposed to being isolated incidents. we're talking about a number of malls. we showed you a few. >> it looks absolutely crazy when that happened. i guess folks have to go back to school. sara, thank you very much. really appreciate it.

good morning, i'm suzanne na malveaux in for carol costello. thanks for joining me. a former north korean diplomat said kim young jong-un is racin get nuclear weapons. we have more from seoul. >> reporter: suzanne, this information is coming from one of the highest ranking diplomatic defectors from north to south korea in history. he was pyongyang's deputy ambassador to london. that means he is a man in the know. he has information that many analysts suspected but few could actually confirm. now he was speaking to south korean media here in seoul for the first time he made his escape saying what you just said about north korea's nuclear development. i want to read you this quote.

he said as long as kim jong-un is in power, north korea will never, ever give up its nuclear weapons. he goes on. the north will not give them up, even if the country's offered 1 trillion or $10 trillion in return. it's not a matter of economic incentives which a lot of analysts have said before. offer them money and maybe they'll change their mind. now 2017, why 2017? according to this defector kim jong-un has carefully calculated that that's when president-elect trump should be in the white house and there should be a new president here in seoul and he believes the new administrations' hands will be tried to take any kind of military actions to stop north korea's development of its nuclear weapons. he's really calculating this now. and apparently he wants to be a nuclear state before pyongyang

approaches washington. they say they will carry on with its nuclear tests, its military drills that we've been seeing recently and that is an intention to reverse the sanctions. that will continue until he is a nuclear state. this defector is under south korean government protection with his family. he defected in the summer and he says he's determined to dismantle kim jong-un's regime and save people from approaching nuclear disaster. suzanne? >> thank you so much. another challenge that the president will face. japan's prime minister shinzo abe is making a visit to pearl harbor. abe will meet with president obama and lay a wreath at the "u.s.s. arizona" memorial where

nearly 2,000 americans died on december 7th in 1941. abe is the fourth japanese prime minister to go to pearl harbor but the first to actually visit "the u.s.s. arizona" memorial. our cnn's athena jones is traveling with the president and she is joining us from honolulu. >> reporter: this visit is coming seven months after president obama made a visit to hiroshima to pay his respects to the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives there. now prime minister abe will do the same. these are two historic visits that highlight the power of reconciliation. two former adversaries have become the closest of alibis. there's a wreath laying ceremony aboard "the u.s.s. arizona." before making the trip abe said this visit would be a visit to soothe the souls of the victims. we should never repeat the

ravages of the war. those are two things we expect he'll touch on today. the prime minister will offer prayers for those who lost their lives in the attack, but don't expect an apology. his will be a forward looking speech. suzanne. >> athena jones reporting from hawaii. thank you very much. still to come, filling the bench. donald trump might get to pick more than 100 federal judges, and his picks could help shape everything, from gun control to abortion. strong muscles, all in one. highly digestible, and a taste he loves, all in one. purina one smartblend is expertly blended... with 100% nutrition, 0% fillers, always real meat #1. lifelong smart nutrition. it's all in one. purina one.

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number of judge vacancies president obama had in 2009. george w. bush, rather, had 80 open and here's why this is important federal judges commonly hear cases concerning state gun control laws, abortion restrictions, voter laws, anti be-discrimination and immigration issues. joining me is jeffrey toobin. happy holiday. let's talk about this here. let's unpack it. this is a monumental opportunity for trump to reshape the judiciary with these lifetime appointments. and what we often think of the supreme court impacting our lives, they hear about 75 cases a year, but the circuit courts decide tens of thousands of the cases from all those people who live in the states within the circuits. so, tell us, what kind of impact could these appointments have on all of us? >> well, it's really an enormous opportunity because it's not just the individual litigants, the people whose cases who are heard, but these cases establish precedents that we all have to

live by. you gave a good list of the type of cases that are heard. another point that's worth making is the political polarization, the big differences between the democratic and republican party are reflected in the kind of judges who are appointed to the bench. barack obama appointed 326 judges over the course of eight years. many of them are liberal. many of them reflect the diversity of his coalition. you know, many more african-americans than president george w. bush. many more women. the first significant group of gay and lesbian judges. donald trump may have some diversity in his appointments, but certainly they will all be quite conservative. and as you point out, they will all serve for life so however long donald trump is president, four years or eight years, his

judges will serve long after he's gone. >> we've already learned through trump, he says he's going to pick judges in the mold of the late supreme court justice antonin scalia. what does that tell us about the type of appointees he is going to select? >> one point he has made repeatedly and his supporters expect, he will appoint judges, especially justices on the supreme court, he only has one opportunity at the moment, who are against the rights guaranteed to women under roe versus wade. he will appoint, as he said, pro life judges. now at the moment there are five justices on the supreme court who support abortion rights so his first appointment, the one that will replace justice scalia, will not necessarily change the balance on abortion. but the real question looking forward is will he get more appointments? ruth bader ginsburg, 83 years old. stephen breyer, 78 years old.

all three are supporters of abortion rights and they may not serve for the full four years of donald trump's tenure. if he has the chance to replace them, then abortion rights -- the calculus will very likely change in the united states. >> we did see the successful blocking of president obama's pick, garland, is there a possibility here that democrats could use the same type of measures despite the fact that they're not in power to try to block some of these possible appointments? >> it's much, much harder without a majority. it's easy with a majority. one of the things that comes with controlling the majority of the senate is control of the agenda. so when mitch mcconnell said i will not bring merit garland up for a vote, that was the end of the story. now the problem for the democrats is they don't have a majority. now they have 48 seats, which is a lot of seats. certainly they can use a lot of

delaying tactics. the filibuster still exists for supreme court appointments, but ultimately it will be very hard to stop a donald trump supreme court appointment with only 48 votes. now it is possible that they could bring three votes over to their side. >> right. >> as you see on the screen there, the two independents, bernie sanders and angus king, are basically democrats when it comes to these sorts of issues. but to stop a donald trump supreme court appointment, it's going to take some republican votes. and if you look at the republicans in the senate, it's very hard to think of where those votes would come from. the conservatives elected donald trump to get that. jeffrey toobin, good to see you as always. thank you. >> sure. still to come, there was a call to bring back our girls, and now some of the young women snatched from a school by a terror group are returning home.

this is a cnn exclusive. up next.

21 girls kidnapped finally returned to their home. this was more than two years ago. this was the proof of life video that was released at the time. and their captivity started a movement on social media with #bring back our girls. when nearly 200 schoolgirls remain with the militants. cnn was there as the girls released were reunited with their families. isha sesay has this exclusive. >> reporter: after almost 2 1/2 years in boko haram activity, at last, time to go home. having covered the girl's abduction from the very

beginning, i'm going to make the long journey with them. you're going home. how are you feeling? somebody tell me. what is the feeling in your heart? happy? for all the talk, some of these girls are also nervous. don't be nervous, don't be afraid. hold on to your faith, okay. okay? the same faith that kept you all those months. >> reporter: with the girls on the move, there are more smiles as they chant and giggle freely amongst themselves. once we land, the girls are welcomed by some of the community leader as well as the governor of the state. the road too dangerous to travel after dark. the girls spend the night at a local hotel. outside, a large security cordon is put in place.

inside, with the journey delayed, they gather in one room to do what they were unable to do while in bok da har rom activity. i learned from rebecca and lori they were singing local christian hymns. while in captivity, their christianity was not tolerated by the boko haram terrorists. what have you been doing? >> we're very grateful. we are grateful for them because they have done good for us and when we are in abuja, we are playing football, we have english class. that we are learning how to speak english and writing very well. >> but you guys look so different since i saw you in october. how are you feeling now from

that time to now? >> we are feeling beautiful since we came. we -- >> you can tell me. because you are beautiful. >> the next morning, a military convoy escort s the girls to chibok, a place that holds the promise of family reunions and memories a fateful night. so the convoy has stopped in a town which is about an hour away from chibok. the movement through these parts with a well-armed convoy is drawing attention from passersby. locals wave excitedly, welcoming their girls home. the moment of reunion eventually arrives. the room almost vibrating with

the sound of unbridleled joy. but for some waiting parents, heart break. these women have come looking for their daughters who are still being held by boko haram. they thought their children were among the group who were coming home for christmas. there has been such an outpouring of grief amid the joy. the piercing screams of mothers realizing indeed they're not to be reunited with their daughters on this day which has turned what should have been an overwhelmingly happy moment into a bittersweet one. for rebecca and her father, the nightmare is over and her family is overcome with feelings of gratitude. given all they have endured, the mental and physical abuse at the hands of their can't captors, t

years of painful separation from their loved ones, this reunion moves the fractured families and the community a step closer to wholeness. e isha sesay, cnn. inmates escape from a hole they found behind a jail toilet and one is still on the loose. the latest on the manhunt. that up next. your insurance company

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the numbers are tragic. chicago police say there have about 753 homicides in chicago this year. 12 of those deaths just this past christmas weekend. police calling them deliberate and planned. our cnn's ryan young is in chicago with more. and just explain to us what is

going on. >> yeah, really a tough story it the city's gripped in a gang war, mostly in the south and west sides. the chicago police department said there was 27 shootings just over the holiday period. to give you an idea of the differences in number, the chicago tribune which is the paper here are saying 61 people were shot in total over the holiday weekend. when you think about the fact that overnight a 13-year-old and 14-year-old girl were shot. there are people here in the city who are calling for help. this has been an ongoing problem. if you look at the numbers overall from this year to last year you can see the jump in homicides. a lot of people think the numbers will reach 800 homicides for the year. so far we're sitting at 753. with over 3,400 shootings this year. you look at last year's numbers where there was over 450 shootings. you can see the real big issue here. the superintendant came out strong yesterday, talking about what he feels needs to change to be able to make the streets safer here in chicago.

>> i just don't believe that we hold repeat gun offenders accountable for their actions. i just don't. you know, they think that the justice system in cook county is a joke. until we change the mental narrative of individuals to make them not want to pick up a gun we're going to continue to see this cycle. >> he talked to people in it the communities. they say they need economic help from the other side of town to get kids out of the way of these gangs. of course reporters have been doing stories about this for quite some time. i can tell you, people in the neighborhood, they're asking for help. they want things to change for the new year. right now, the solutions can't be just from the police department, suzanne. >> yes, we have so much to work on there. ryan, thank you so much, i appreciate it. the manhunt continues in tennessee for one last remaining prisoner after a christmas day jailbreak. according to cnn affiliate wate, david fraser and five other

inmates escaped from the cocke county jail. fraser is still on the loose and considered dangerous. the other five are back in custody. they got out through a men they found behind a toilet. they were able to move the toilet back to cover the hole and conceal their escape. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" begins right now. good morning, i'm suzanne malview in for carol costello. israel announcing it is advancing plans to build hundreds of homes in east jerusalem, despite a u.n. resolution condemning settlements in that area and the west bank just days ago. that news comes as israel also says it will curb ties with the 12 nations who backed that resolution. the move, which does not affect trade or other aspects of these relationships, is meant to highlight the fury of