here's why -- some chains like victoria's secret use computerized return authorization systems to detect abuse. they can also determine how many times a customer has returned items. so if you're a frequent returner, you may have scrutiny. you may be asked to show your driver's license or i.d. when you return an item in person. >> ties and men's cologne. love to take it back. >> yeah. exactly. you don't re-gift? >> no. not so much. "early start" continues starting right now. can wall street bounce back from the worst christmas eve ever? will there be fewer confusing signals from this white house? the president still railing against the fed, and he's running low on patience with his treasury secretary. >> it's a disgrace what's happening in our country. but other than that, i wish everybody a very merry christmas. >> little grinchy there. christmas lump of coal from the president. no end in sight for the government shutdown. now in day five.

for the second too imthis month, a -- second time this month, a migrant child degrees at the border. overnight, customs promises changes. strong winds, heavy rain, snow set to impact millions. a system moving across the east could slow a record number of holiday travelers. good morning, and welcome to "early start." i'm joe johns. not dave briggs. >> it says "dave briggs." it says "joe johns" there. i'm christine romans. nice to see you, joe johns. it is wednesday, boxing day. european stock markets are closed. 5:00 a.m. in the east. can wall street recover after suffering the worst christmas eve declines ever? markets fell off the trump administration sent out confusing signals about markets and the economy. u.s. futures are lower. in asia the nikkei closed up nearly 1% after being down 5% christmas day. the shanghai closed down slightly. hong kong's market closed for a public holiday. european markets are closed, as well. stocks fell christmas eve. the president renewed his attacks on the federal reserve tweeting the only problem our economy has is the fed.

and president trump is growing more frustrated with his treasury secretary, mnuchin, despite mnuchin's attempt to calm wall street. a source told cnn mnuchin could be in serious jeopardy with this president. the president vouched for him publicly, shifting blame for the market volatility to the federal reserve instead. >> do you have confidence in secretary mnuchin? >> i do. smart, talented person. >> what about the fed chair? >> we'll see. they're raising interest rates too fa of the. that's my opinion. i certainly have confidence. but i think tell straighten. they're raising interest rates too fast because they think the economy is so good. the economy is doing so well that they raised interest rates, and that's as a form of safety in a way. president obama didn't do much of that. much easier to run when you have no interest rates. he had a low interest rate. i have great confidence in our companies. we have companies, the greatest in the world, doing really well. they have record kind of numbers. i think it's a tremendous

opportunity to buy. >> the jab at obama there. you know, president obama didn't control interest rates. president trump doesn't either. and apparently president trump doesn't like it that he doesn't control interest rates. investors do not like the president's repeated attacks on this fed. the "wall street journal" reports former senior economic officials have privately warned the white house that the president's tweets and statements are making matters worse. a loss of confidence from increase who you have a president talking like this. the s&p 500 in a bear market, down from the high point october 3rd. the second day of christmas, and the fifth day of the government shutdown. the president said yesterday the government will not reopen until he gets the border wall he's been demanding. he started christmas with a phone call to u.s. troops around the world. after this, the grinch appeared. the president made it clear he was not ready to ease demands for a border barrier and offered no clues about a compromise. >> i can't tell when you the government's going to be open. i can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall, a

fence, whatever they'd like to call it. i'll call it whatever they want. every one of those democrats approved the wall or a fence or very, very substantial barriers. as soon as i said i want to build a wall, they were all against it. take comey. everybody hate comey, they thought he did a horrible job. the democrats hate him, and once i fired him, everybody said, oh, why did you fire him, why did you fire him. it's a disgrace what's happening in our country. but other than that, i wish everybody a very merry christmas. >> the president criticized democrats for planning to launch investigations when they take charge of the house next month. he called that presidential harassment. congress would call it oversight. >> oversight. >> the effects of the shutdown will really start to be felt today. staffing at the office overseeing federal food stamps will be cut by 95%. the department of health and human services estimates nearly 8,000 federal employs employees -- federal employees will not

return to work. customs and border administration making changes after an 8-year-old boy died in cust. he died late christmas eve in detention with his father. authorities are calling for an investigation. jean casarez with the latest. >> reporter: u.s. customs and border protection is saying that an 8-year-old little boy, a guatemalan national who had been apprehended in new mexico with his father, has died while in their custody. at this point they do not have an official cause of death. according to the timeline released by the cbp, it was the morning of christmas eve, and a border protection agent noticed the child appeared to be sick. the little boy and his father were transferred to the gerald champion regional medical center, initially diagnosed with a common cold. that changed, according to officials, when they discovered the boy had a fever. he was released from the hospital mid-afternoon on christmas eve with prescriptions

for antibiotics and ibuprofen. it was hours later he began vomiting, was transferred back to the hospital, and he died. now the border patrol's office of professional responsibility is going to conduct a review of this most recent death to determine the official cause. christine, joe? >> all right. thank you for that. the boy's death comes just weeks after a 7-year-old girl from guatemala died less than 48 hours after being detained by u.s. customs and border patrol agents. >> yet again these tragedies are happening because congress and the administration have not adequately provided the resources. both in personnel and infrastructure to adequately take these folks in. >> now the head of customs and border protection is ordering immediate action. the new steps include secondary medical checkups on all children in cbp custody, adding composite

for medical assistance from partners like the defense department, fema, and health and human services, and partnering with i.c.e. to transport migrants to family centers or local charities that can provide temporary housing. >> cbp is offering options to relieve capacity issues at checkpoints in el paso, texas. it comes as immigration and customs enforcement is offering to drop off 1,200 migrants there in the next few days including to veronica escobar, a democrat. 411 migrants were brought there sunday. 260 dropped off monday. at least 180 sent there christmas day. i.c.e. drops off these migrants without providing food, shelter, transportation. i.c.e. said it has limited options to remove families. the united states blaming decades of inaction by congress. signs of distress in america's national security system. a senior administration official tells cnn national security decisionmaking has, quote, basically stopped working. the source says decisions are, quote, made on a whim on phone calls. the official also said the drawdown in syria was done

without deliberation, with no consideration of risks. in the weeks before the president made the decision, two sources tell cnn national security adviser john bolton instructed senior officials to meet with coalition partners and assure them the u.s. is staying in syria until iran is out of syria. a source tells us a move to pull out has left allies and partners shocked, totally bewildered. also warning russia is reveling in the latest move since it sends a message to allies if americans are your friends, they'll abandon you. now almost a week after defense secretary jim mattis decided to resign, some officials are suggesting president trump might have stayed in syria if mattis had gone sooner. cnn's barbara starr explains from the pentagon. >> reporter: christine, joe, as the days have gone on since mattis' abrupt and startling resignation, of course everybody in washington's got an opinion. some defense officials telling us they wonder if it might have been better if the secretary had

stepped down sooner. he was known to have disagreements with president trump. he had been sidelined in several matters as secretary of state mike pompeo took a role advising the president. if mattis had stepped down sooner, officials say, could somebody have come in and convinced the president to stay the course with troops in syria and troops in afghanistan. of course we're never really going to know. some other officials say now that national security decisionmaking is very disjointed, ad hoc, and made by mr. trump depending on how he feels at a given moment. we may never know what mattis has been thinking until he writes a book or decides to speak publicly. joe, christine? >> barbara starr at the pentagon. the u.s.-led coalition against isis in syria says

coordinated air strikes have killed or wounded several hundred fighters. the air strikes dealt a significant blow to isis' ability to finance terrorist activities. the statement comes after president trump's declaration last week that isis has been defeated. next month's women's march in chicago has been canceled. the leadership facing charges of anti-semitism. what reasons did they give for the cancelation? miles on every purchase, every day... not just "airline purchases". think about all the double miles you could be earning... (loud) holy moley that's a lot of miles!!! shhhhh! ♪ what's in your wallet? shhhhh! ♪ cleaning floors with a mop and bucket is a hassle, meaning you probably don't clean as often as you'd like.

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♪ maybe you'd mellow out a bit if you got geico to help you with your renters insurance. oh, geico helps with renters insurance? good to know. yeah, and they could save you a lot of money. wow, suddenly i feel so relieved. you guys are fired. get to know geico and see how much you could save on renters insurance. it was a white christmas but a travel nightmare in parts of the west. snow on the 15 freeway in the cajon pass between l.a. and las vegas triggering at least four crashes. the california highway patrol had to temporarily close the highway. >> that may be a sign of what's to come as record numbers of americans hit the roads for the holidays. huge sections of the country are expected to see strong winds, heavy rain, mountain snow. that storm system pushing into the central part of the country where millions are under winter weather alerts. the latest now from cnn

meteorologist pedram javaheri. good morning, guys. yes, we are watching the western u.s. here. that's where all the activity has been the past 24 hours. eventually this system puts itself in place across portions of the central u.s. not only do we have the ingredients here for some severe weather, as we have warm, moist air off the gulf, but a concern for heavy snowfall across portions of the northern plains. that's where the winter weather advisories are in place. the storm warnings, as well, for places across northern minnesota, portions of the dakotas, working back toward eastern colorado on into nebraska and kansas, as well. but the system as it pushes off toward the east taps into quite a bit of warm air here. widespread rain showers expected across the deep south. even as far as northern new england, that's where you've got to end up to get some snow out of this through at least friday. notice back toward the west where we have the significant snows still in the forecast. how about 42 degrees in new york city, almost 60 out of atlanta. some of that mild air eventually does want to push up toward the northeast here as we go in toward the weekend. in fact, look at these

temperatures here in new york city. up to almost 60 degrees. then the bottom drops out, wrapping up 2018 with temperatures that are more seasonal for this time of year. guys? >> thank you very much. the women's march slated for chicago next month has been canceled. the past two marches drew hundreds of thousands to grant park in conjunction with other marches worldwide. organizers say the upcoming event was scratched because of high costs and a volunteer shortage. the national founders face scrutiny over allegations of anti-semitism and their connection to islam leader louis farrakhan. efforts are being made to take action in local communities. marches and will rallies are still planned in washington and dozens of cities around the world. the interstate is january 19th -- the date is january 19th. the parents of avars tee wrestler -- of avars tee wrestler forced to cut his hair speaking out.

you see his hair being cut in the middle of the gym. he was told by the referee his hair had to be cut or he couldn't appear. now his parents say this is more egregious as information surfaces. >> the referee was late to the meet and didn't question his son's hair during the initial evaluation. when their son said he could push back his hair, the referee refused because andrew's hair, quote, fwhaewasn't in its natur state. the referee did not respond for comment. the ref won't be assigned to moderate matches until the incident has been thoroughly reviewed. a health alert for thousands of surgical patients in northern new jersey. anyone who had outpatient surgery at health plus surgery center in saddlebrook from september 7th to september 28th is being urged to get their blood tested. the health department says unsanitary conditions were found at the facility. patients have been exposed to hepatitis b, hepatitis c, and hiv. no illnesses were reported.

the actual risk of infection is said to be low. the surgery center says it has improved infection control and sterile processing. and it's cleaned and repaired all of its instruments. >> hope so. more than $400,000 in donations have been returned to donors who contributed to a bogus gofundme campaign that was apparently a big scam. kate mcclure and mark d'amico said a homeless man, johnny bobbitt, gave his last $20 to mcclure when she was stranded on interstate 95. he gave his last $20 so she could put gas in her car. they started the gofundme account to thank him, and it went viral. 14,000 people donated. prosecutors say the story that drove the campaign was a lie. prosecutors say mcclure and d'amico squandered the money on a car, high-end handbags, trips to casinos. all three face charges. now you can always try mega

millions if you didn't get enough gifts. there was no winner in the largest ever christmas day jackpot. friday's jackpot jumps to an estimated $348 million. the winning numbers, 2-8-42-43-50, and the mega ball, 6. first a word of warning. if you are watching with your kids and they know that santa claus is real, now would be a good time to mute the tv for about 50 seconds or so. ready? okay. now, the question is -- did the president give away the grown-up truth about santa when he spoke to a south carolina girl on christmas eve? 7-year-old coleman lloyd called norad to track santa's progress. she was put through to the president who asked if she is still a believer in santa. he asked a 7-year-old. now we can hear coleman's side of the conversation. >> what are you going to do for christmas? >> probably put out some cookies, and then we're hanging out with our friends.

so that's pretty much all. >> oh, that's very good. you have a good time. >> yes, sir. >> are you still a believer in santa? >> yes. >> that's wonderful. >> yes. >> because as 7 it's marginal. you enjoy yourself. >> all the stock market, the president may have marginal on the mind. coleman later confirmed to the "post and courier" that santa is real. her folks said they did not mind the president asking her that and did not find it controversial. after the call, coleman still set out milk and cookies. you're little grandkids -- don't inject the doubt. >> parents everywhere holding their breath. >> like the treasury secretary injecting doubt into the financial system. trump injects doubt into santa. christmas scare for lakers fans now. okay. lebron james goes down. would the lakers' fortunes fade with him? coy wire, talk to me. i didn't stay up to see the whole game. i'm worried. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla.

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lebron james and the lakers actually put on a show against the warriors on christmas. but it looks like it came at a little bit of a cost. >> yeah. coy wire has more in the "bleacher report." what happened? >> good morning. well, you'd think lakers fans would have, you know, been having more sugar plum dreams and maybe nba titles. they blew the warriors out in oakland by 26 points. at the end of the night they were thinking, what happened? here you see lebron slipping, going after a loose ball. you can see him mouth "i heard something pop." not good. lakers say it's a strained left groin. the warriors, they fought all the way back cutting l.a.'s lead to two with lebron out.

rondo had 15 points. the croatian sensation was nine of ten shooting. the lakers win 127-101. they're all going to be hoping lebron james' injuries are, indeed, a strained groin when he gets the mri later today. elsewhere, kyrie couldn't be stopped on christmas. he forced overtime with the sixers with the fade away in the lane. they scored the first five in the lane. a big three to give boston the lead back. then pulls up on the break for another deep three. 40 points on the night for kyrie. he's pumped. fans love it. celtics win 121-114. all right. get your tissues ready. it's a heartwarming tearjerker for you. brady singer's dreams came true when the royals drafted him in june. years of hard work paying off to the tune of a $4 million signing bonus. on christmas, he let mom and dad know he couldn't have done any

of it without them. >> traveling to hotels, food, and all thegated raids i drank -- gatorades is much more than i could ever give you, but there is something i want to give you. i am paying off the loan from the bank. also i paid off all your debt, as well. what? now instead of trying to save money every weekend to replace the savings account you drained so i could play baseball, you can spend it on yourselves. >> really rips your -- >> ended by saying your giving hearts helped shape my tiny dream into a reality. as a first-time father of a 7-month-old baby girl at home, you know all you want someday is for your kids to realize -- >> you know like those parents, what they invest and what they

sacrifice to get their kid to that kind of a level, right? >> the club teams, the private lessons -- >> absolutely. >> exactly. >> yeah. >> so much, moe emotion there. and the emotion there is the emotion they felt year after year watching him come up through athletics. >>. that's awesome. >> absolutely. >> all right. nice to see you. >> you, too. >> happy boxing day. not exactly a festive mood, holiday mood at the white house. >> it's a disgrace what's happening in our country. but other than that, i wish everybody a very merry christmas. >> the president's christmas day tear on the democrats, the shutdown, wall street, the fed. and wall street in need of a big rebound to close out 2018. will wye get it?

can wall street bounce back from the worst christmas eve ever? the president still railing against the fed. he's running low on patience with his treasury secretary.

it's a disgrace what's happening in our country. but other than that, i wish everybody a very merry christmas. >> a christmas lump of coal from the president. no end in sight for the government shutdown. now in day five. for the second time this month, a migrant child dies in u.s. custody after crossing the border. overnight customs promises changes. strong winds, heavy rain, and snow set to impact millions of people. a system moving east could slow a record number of holiday travelers. welcome back to "early start." 30 minutes past the hour. i'm joe johns. >> nice to see you this holiday week. i'm christine romans. it is wednesday morning k. wall street recover after suffering the worst week of declines ever? the trump administration sent out confusing signals about markets and the economy. the u.s. futures are higher now. in asia the nikkei closed up nearly 1% after a 5% route on christmas day. the shanghai closed down

slightly. the hong kong stock market was closed for a public holiday. european markets are closed this morning, as well. as stocks fell christmas eve, the president renewed attacks on the federal reserve tweeting this, "the only problem our economy has is the fed." president trump is growing more frustrated with his treasury secretary, steven mnuchin, despite mnuchin's attempt to calm wall street. a source told cnn secretary mnuchin could be in serious jeopardy with the president. however, the president vouched for him publicly, shifting blame for market volatility to the federal reserve instead. >> do you have confidence in secretary mnuchin? >> yes, i do. very talented, very smart person. >> what about the fed chairman? >> we'll see. they're raising interest rates too fast. that's my opinion. but i certainly have confidence. but i think it will straighten. they're raising interest rates too fast because they think the economy is so good. the economy is doing so well that they raised interest rates,

and that's a form of safety in a way. president obama didn't do much of that, much easier to run when you have low interest rates. we have companies, the greatest in the world, and they're doing really well. they have record kinds of numbers. it's a tremendous opportunity to buy. >> a buy recommendation from the president of the united states. never heard that before. look, investors do not like the president's repeated attacks on the fed. the "wall street journal" reports former economic, senior economic officials privately warned this president, the white house, that the president's tweets and statements are making matters worse. the nasdaq is in a bear market. the s&p 500 is near a bear market, down 19.8% from its high point october 3rd. you are watching the death of the longest bull market in history. and it's the second day of christmas. the fifth day of this government shutdown we're in the middle of. president trump said yesterday the government will not reopen until he gets his border wall funding. he's demanded he started

christmas with a phone call to u.s. troops around the world. after that, grinch comes in. the president made clear he's not ready to ease his demands for a border barrier. he offered no clues about a compromise. >> i can't tell you when the government's going to be open. i can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they'd like to call it. i'll call it whatever they want. every one of those democrats approved the wall or a fence or very, very substantial barriers. as soon as i said i want to build a wall, they were against it. take comey. everybody hated comey, they thought he did a horrible job. the democrats hated him. once i fired him, everybody said, oh, why but fire him, why did you fire him. it's a disgrace what's happening. but other than that, i wish everybody a very merry christmas. >> the effects of the shutdown will really start to be felt today. staffing at the office overseeing federal food stamps will be cut by 95%.

the department of health and human services estimates nearly 8,000 federal employees will not return to work. let's bring in "washington examiner" senior correspondent david drucker, a cnn political analyst. good morning. you'll start to see the effects of the shutdown start to compound as we go forward here. you know, when people start to file for new -- new -- >> unemployment -- >> or social security claims and the like, new claims. the president says that federal workers, they're fine with the shutdown because they want the wall. listen -- >> well, i think they understand what's happening. they want border security. the people of this country want border security. it's not a question of me. i'd rather not be doing shutdowns. many of those workers have said to me and communicated stay out until you get the funding for the wall. these federal workers want the wall. >> is that, david drucker, inside the beltway, the view among federal workers who are

not being paid, is that -- is that the conventional view? >> well, i don't think it's really any view. i mean, there are federal workers that are members of congress that support the president's position on the shutdown and border security. so perhaps the well wishes on his shutdown are coming from those corners. look, i think that -- i think what's happening with the shutdown, and it's understandable if the president wants to use this mechanism as a means to extract concessions from democrats. republicans have tried to do this from democratic presidents in the past. that's fine. and voters i think over the next few weeks or possibly months will make a decision on this. but i do think, you know, the president said something interesting in there. he said it's not really about me, it's about border security. in fact, is border security now is wrapped into trump. it's all about trump. i think if you were to separate out the issue of border security and a border fence or a border wall, wherever it's applicable along the southern border, i think you will find generally speaking among the electorate

nationally, you will find a lot of support for it. because it's wrapped up in trump and branded as trump's warm, it's going to have a lot of trouble receiving the support it needs from democrats to get done. it reminds me a lot about obamacare and the polling during the obama years. when people would ask about health care policy, a lot of things that were in obamacare would get high marks. you asked about obamacare, people would say we don't like it. i think that is happening with a lot of the president's border security policies. and that's hurting his ability to get what he wants. >> the president has said something just the other day that he said before. he's talked about congressional oversight as harassment. presidential harassment. and on the one hand you think it's just the president talking and sort of venting his frustrations as he's wanting to do. we know this is the same president who tried to discredit again and again the mueller investigation at every stage. the question is, do you think it's more calculated, the president calling what the

democrats are going to do in the house, presidential harassment? is it calculated to say discredit congressional oversight? >> well, either way, this is how trump operates. it's hard to climb inside his head and figure out what is motivating what he says at any given time. but it wouldn't be surprising if the president was trying to undercut the incoming democratic majority in the house. he knows they're going to come after him at this point. he knows that they're going to investigate him aggressively. they're going to issue subpoenas. there are going to be democratic chairmen who are going to do a heck of a lot more than the republican chairmen of the relevant committees ever did. oversight and government reform, energy and commerce, judicial. the president and his white house is going to be dealing with a firestorm of inquiries. and he's going to try and win this in the court of public opinion, especially as his re-election draws nearer. the way you do that is to try and reframe government oversight by the legislative branch of the

executive branch, what they're supposed to be doing as harassment. i don't know at this point that the president is going to be able to win this argument. we have -- you know, after 2016 we were absorbing all of that political information and fallout and what it mens for where voters are. we've had another election. and we know that the president's brand of behavior, his brand of language does not play well in the middle. it doesn't play well with soft republicans or independents. so i'm not sure he's going to be able to win this battle. it also depends on how far democrats want to push this and whether or not voters find that unreasonable, as well. >> i got to tell you, there's -- you know, he's not inspiring confidence among investors at the moment either. and the response from the administration, you know, this odd statement on sunday saying there's ample liquidity in the system. newsflash, no one thought there wasn't ample liquidity in the system. one wonders if they can get a coherent message going forward with the president who is prone to just lash out at the fed chief on twitter. >> yeah, i don't think coherent

message in this president and this white house exists. and it's precisely as you said because the president says whatever he thinks at any given time. heap doesn't even give the -- he doesn't even give the people surrounding him a chance to catch up and eget on the same page. i think for the government shutdown and questions of policy we can debate these things, the country is good at absorbing these things. so is the economy and so are the markets. >> yeah. >> when you're intervening directly in the markets, when you're batting with the -- battling with the fed chairman and the administration is trying to cast blame on what the markets are doing here and there, you combine that all with what's going on with u.s. foreign policy, the -- what appears to be an abrupt syria pull-out, potential afghanistan pull-out, all of the activity directed solely out of the oval office, at the whim of the oval office is the kind of things marvet market hate. it is contra what has made u.s. markets so resilient even during the great recession. there was no safer, more stable

place to put money around the globe than in u.s. markets. and all of a sudden, we don't look as stable, we don't look as -- as sort of politically secure as we once did. and i think that's where the president in his -- is in the biggest political danger. but it's also where the economy then which has been running pretty smoothly is in trouble because people -- when people don't know what to expect from markets or what the president might do, it makes things volatile. market don't like volatility, neither do investors. that will tricken down to main street -- trickle down to main street eventually. >> an ugly year for stock investors. the worst year in a decade. so -- oh, we'll see how it opens in about four hours. thank you very much, david drucker. >> thank you. customs and border protection is making changes after a second child from guatemala died in u.s. custody. an 8-year-old boy died christmas eve in detention with his father. now authorities in guatemala are calling for an investigation. cnn's jean casarez has the

latest. >> reporter: u.s. customs and border protection is saying that an 8-year-old little boy, a guatemalan national who had been apprehended in new mexico with his father, has died while in their custody. at this point they do not have an official cause of death. according to the timeline released by the cbp, it was the morning of christmas eve, and a border protection agent noticed the child appeared to be sick. the little boy and his father were transferred to the gerald champion regional medical center, initially diagnosed with a common cold. that changed, according to officials, when they discovered the boy had a fever. he was released from the hospital mid-afternoon on christmas eve with prescriptions for antibiotics and ibuprofen. it was hours later he began vomiting, was transferred back to the hospital, and he died. now the border patrol's office of professional responsibility is going to conduct a review of this most recent death to

determine the official cause. christine, joe? >> all right. thank you for that. the boy's death comes just weeks after a 7-year-old girl also from guatemala died less than 48 hours after being detained by u.s. customs and border patrol agents. the head of customs is ordering immediate action including secondary medical checkups on all children in cbp custody, adding composite for medical assistance from partners like the defense department, fema, and health and human services, and partnering with i.c.e. to transport migrants to family centers or local charities that can provide temporary housing. >> cbp is offering options to relieve capacity issues at border checkpoints in el paso. i.c.e. has offered to drop off 1,200 migrants there in the next few days including to veronica escobar, a democrat. 411 migrants were brought there sunday. 260 dropped off monday. at least 180 sent there christmas day. i.c.e. drops off these migrants

without providing food, shelter, transportation. i.c.e. said it has limited options to remove families. the united states blaming decades of inaction by congress. if you don't want another sweater with jingle bells or cologne or ties? that's your pet peeve, right? consumers ready to head back to stores to return unwanted gifts. we have tips to make returning easier. cnn "business" next. or two actually, i've got to tell you something. with the capital one venture card you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day. my credit card only earns double miles on airline purchases! well, you earn double miles on this and on everything with the venture card. thanks! hey, by the way, how'd you get in here? same way you did. cross-checking. nice. what's in your wallet... oh, c'mon! at t-mobile get the unlimited plan with the latest phones included for $40 dollars! we're included?

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the desperate search for survivors of a tsunami that hit western indonesia is entering its fourth day. at least 430 people now confirmed killed. almost 1,500 injured. at least 21,000 displaced by the giant wave. 159 missing. now indonesia is adjusting the sensors used to detect tsunamis after this one struck without warning. cnn's ivan watson joins us from hong kong. >> reporter: we're learning more about the origins of the tsunami and they officials are trying to prevent a repeat. this is satellite photography that shows the volcanic island called anak krakatau, child of krakatoa, before and after the eruption when according to indonesian authorities, 150 acres of the mountainside tumbled into the ocean and sent

that deadly wave hurtling toward the coasts on both sides of the strait. now the authorities say that their seismometers, their detectors were not rigged basically to detect something of this magnitude. that they're set up to detect earthquakes of 5.0 magnitude or more, and this was actually much lower if you can believe it. so they're adjusting those sensors. they're also starting to test their siren early warning system. take a listen. [ siren ] now some of this is a little bit too little too late because indonesia is vulnerable to tsunamis. there was a horrific tsunami in 2004 that killed hundreds of thousands of people in indonesia and across southeast asia. actually this is the 14-year anniversary of that. a number of countries donated to

indonesia to help it set up buoys to help detect these types of waves approaching. but the authorities say a lot of those had fallen into disrepair by as early as 2012, and they were not operating last september when another deadly tsunami struck. so they have to get this back up into gear. meanwhile, some of the recovery efforts hampered by flooding in some of the areas already devastated by the tsunami, very challenging work on the ground for survivors and rescue workers. >> it sure looks like it was foreseeable at least for the last 14 years. thank you very much. will global stocks stabilize here? will they be able to rebound from a christmas day route? the nikkei closed up about 1%. it had been down 5% on christmas day. so i'd call that stabilizing. shanghai closed down, and the hong kong market was closed for a public holiday. european markets are also closed for boxing day. on wall street, futures are

higher. markets reopen today after closing christmas. stocks on pace for their worst december since the great depression. the dow is now down 15.6% this month. the s&p 500 down a little bit more than that. the nasdaq down 16.7%. everything negative on the year. and the s&p 500 is now near a bear market. it's the thought that counts, of course, but what if you really don't want another reindeer sweater with jingle bells? according to the national retail federation, 17% of consumers will go to return or exchange unwanted gifts. 17%. some retailers have a no-questions-asked policy. others have strict rules that make returning purchases frustrating or impossible. what can you do to make those returns easier? don't open the box, especially for electronics. don't remove the packaging on a gift you don't want. you risk a restocking fee if packaging isn't exactly intact and if products are missing any tags. you may be stuck with them. keep the gift receipts. don't throw them out with the wrapping paper. some retailers won't let you return a gift without a receipt.

others will give you store credit if you beg. check return policies, note time limits. there are probably time limits, and you can check those on line before you go and wait in line at the store. during the holidays some retailers will extend their deadlines, often until a late january. you may have to bring an i.d., too. some chains like victoria's secret, they use this computerized return authorization system to detect fraud and abuse. they look at how many times a consumer has returned items. so you may be asked to show your driver's license or another i.d. when you return in person. >> just give me a gift card. just -- gift card, okay? >> you know, there's a significant percentage of gift cards that are never redeemed. people forget about them. i get worried giving the gift cards. the national retail federation will be mad at me but i don't care. so many people never use them. >> i'll tell you what, i'll use mine. >> give them to you. >> absolutely. we'll be right back. ♪

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as record numbers hit the roads for the house, huge sections of the country will see strong winds, heavy rain, and mountain snow. the storm system pushing east with millions under winter weather alerts. the latest now from pedram javaheri. good morning, guys. yes, we are watching the western u.s. here because that's where all the activity has been the past 24 hours. and eventually this system puts itself in place across portions of the central u.s. where not only do we have the ingredients for severe weather as we have warm, moist air coming off the gulf, but also seeing a concern for heavy snowfall across portions of the northern plains. in fact, that's where the winter weather advisories are in place, the winter storm warnings, as well, for places across northern minnesota, portions of the dakotas. working back toward eastern colorado on into nebraska and kansas, as well. the system as it pushes east taps into quite a bit of warm air here. web site spread rain showers expected across the deep south while even as far as northern new england, that's where you've got to end up to get some snow out of this through at least

friday. notice back toward the west, we have the significant snow still in the forecast. how about 42 degrees in new york city. almost 60 out of atlanta. some of that mild air eventually does want to push up toward the northeast here as we go in toward the weekend. in fact, look at these temperatures here in new york city. up to almost 60 degrees. then the bottom drops out, wrapping up 2018 with temperatures more seasonal for this time of year. guys? >> all right. thank you for that. the women's march slated for chicago next month has been canceled. the past two marches drew hundreds of thousands of people to grant park in conjunction with other marches worldwide. organizers say the upcoming event was scrapped because of high costs and a volunteer shortage. it comes as the movement's national founders face scrutiny over allegations of anti-semitism and their connection to louis farrakhan. they say efforts are being made to take action in local communities. marches and rallies are still planned in washington and dozens of cities around the world on january 19th. the parents of a 16-year-old

varsity wrestler who was forced to cut his dreadlocks before a match are breaking their silence. in this video you see a trainer cutting andrew johnson's hair with scissors in the middle of the gym. he was told by a referee his hair needed to cut or he couldn't compete. now charles and rosa johnson say the referee's conduct appears more egregious. >> look at coaches and trainers trying to buck him up. his parents said they didn't question the hair during the initial evaluation. when the son said he could push it back, he refused saying the hair wasn't in its natural state. the referee, alan maloney, didn't respond for comment. new jersey athletic officials say the ref won't be assigned to moderate matches until the incident has been thoroughly reviewed. try to top this christmas gift -- pitcher brady singer was drafted this year by the kansas city royals. he got a $4 million signing bonus. for christmas he thanked his

parents for all they sacrificed for helping him play baseball. it ends with an impressive gesture. >> you money you spent on traveling, gear, hotel, food, and all the gatorades i drank is much more than i could ever give you. but there's something i want to give to you -- i am paying off the loan from the bank. also i paid off all your debt, as well. what? now instead of trying to save money every weekend to replace the savings account you drained on traveling to see me play baseball, you can spend it on yourselves. >> my god. >> what a moment. >> singer paid off all his parents' debts. his letter concludes, your giving hearts helped to shape my tiny dream into a reality. awesome. >> that's just amazing. >> awesome. if you didn't love your christmas gifts, you could always try mega millions. there was no winner last night.

it was the largest ever christmas day jackpot. that means friday's jackpot jumps to an estimated $348 million. the winning numbers, 2-8-42-43-50, mega ball, 6. wow. >> only if you don't have your kids to pay off your debts. >> that's just amazing. all right. thanks for joining us. i'm christine romans. >> i'm joe johns. "new day" starts right now. customs and border protection is saying an 8-year-old boy died while in their custody. >> these things are happening because congress and the administration has not adequately provided resources. >> to have it happen in custody twice is beyond words. >> the american people are caught up in the political brinkmanship. >> for him it's about pleasing his base. where does that end? i don't know. >> financial markets are

struggling as a dismal december. >> they are raising interest rates too fast, but i think it will straighten out. >> i would plead for the president to reconsider what is a very dangerous course. >> this is "new day" with alisyn camerota and john berman. >> good morning. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. this is "new day," wednesday december 26th. it's 6:00 here in new york. alisyn and john are off, and erica hill here with john avlon. and announcing border medical checks on every child in its custody after the second death of an immigrant child in just a month. the president is