t.j., how are you? let's actually take a look at what some of the newspapers around the world are saying about president obama's visit. they're really focusing on the military deal that the u.s. has made with australia and they're taking the china angle here. the australian 2,500 u.s. marines on australian soil to increase defense ties is the headline. it says the agreement is set against the background of growing chinese military spending and the dramatic expansion of the chinese navy. and then the daily telegraph here in the uk, barack obama to deploy 2,500 marines in australia. as he says, we do not fear china. it says, mr. obama insisted the deployment was not targeted at countering beijing's rise, but he pointedly called on china to play by the rules of the road. t.j., the message the u.s. is sending here to china, as well, you want to be a superpower, fine. you need to play by the rules of the game and be responsible. t.j. >> zain verjee for us, always good to see you. thanks so much. we'rer about

i'm t.j. holmes. thank you for spending part of your day here with us. >>> the president is starting ava nine-day trip through the asian-pacific reachgion. the president is in hawaii right now. his birthplace, of course. he's home, but this is not exactly a vacation. he's going to be talking trade, expanding u.s. exports. this is the asia-pacific economic cooperation summit or apec. the president hosting world leaders. dan lothian is there in honolulu this morning. dan, good morning, and you know, viewers, americans, have become numb sometimes to these summits. they see the picture, world leaders' meeting. what can they expect to get out of it? usually not much? >> reporter: that's right. i think that you have the world leaders get together. you're expecting magic to happen, but it's not that. it's usually the beginning of a long process where you have these discussions face-to-face discussions and then it blossoms into a relationship, at least that's what the u.s. is hoping. you know, especially in t

t.j.? >> paul last thing quickly for me. the day before thanksgiving, are they taking a break from the campaign trail, all of them? >> most of them except mitt romney. big endorsement in iowa from neighboring south dakota. that could be very helpful and all comes as shannon travis, our political reporter in iowa reports a secret meeting on monday night by social conservatives looking to find a consensus candidate to take on mitt romney. t.j.? >> secret meetings. i'm sure shannon is all over it. paul steinhauser, thank you, as always. next political update is in one hour. you know the spot, c cnnpolitics.com. >>> seven minutes past the hour now. are you one of those about to hit the road? one of the 42 million about to hit the road ready for this long holiday weekend. aaa is predicting 42 million will drive, fly or hop on a train this thanksgiving. george howell is at atlanta's airport. certainly a busy place all year. today, as well. most people are hitting the road, right? does the airport

i'm t.j. holmes. look at what's ahead at this hour. after weeks on the run, moammar gadhafi's second oldest son is captured in a fire fight. he's accused of crimes against humanity. also, joe paterno's son is speaking out and he says his father wants the focus to be on the victims. >>> in australia, a word of a serious security breach while president obama was visiting there. moammar gadhafi's son, saif is his name, he is in custody. libyan revolutionary commanders says he was caught near the border with niger. he's gadhafi's second oldest son and he's wanted by alleged crimes against humanity. what do we know? how does this all go down? >> well, t.j., every hour, more details are emerging about this capture. the latest we are hearing from a commander of a brigade from the western mountains, this is the area from which the fighters who retail saif gadhafi came from. we are being told that special unites from this brigade were in the southwestern area near that town where he was found in a triangle close to the border with niger. they h

>> well, not many details, t.j. but what we know right now is wilson ramos is back with his friends and with his family in venezuela. we was rescued yesterday by security forces pep talked to the venezuela national television. he said that the kidnappers and the police exchanged heavy gunfire during his rescue. this is what he had to say. >> i am very happy for the rescue mission they carried out. where they were holding me captive was a very remote place, basically a jungle. i was praying to god to bring me home to my family safely. look at these guys, they risked their lives to save mine and i am very thankful. >> wilson ramos, 24 years old, said he believed his canters are columbian. he said that because he noticed something in their accent. and he already said that he's looking forward to be back playing with his team. >> and luis, they haven't caught the kidnappers, is that right? did they ever make demands? >> well, they caught them. apparently the authorities have said that they caught five people. >> okay. >

i'm t.j. holmes. >>> we have to start right now with the sad news we got just a short time ago about the death of andy rooney, the legendary cbs "60 minutes" commentators. cbs confirmed that a short time ago. he was best known for haas essays at the end of "60 minutes." it was just a month ago that he announced his retirement and signed off with that last essay. earlier, i spoke with bob arnott about his friend, andy rooney. >> he pretended to be this curmudgoen. i was kitty cornered to him on the seventh floor at cbs. he had this plush, but he was the nicest, sweetest guy you could ever begin to possibly imagine. of course, i was a neophyte in television at the time. and, of course, we're all nervous and frazzled, trying to pull stuff together and, you know, for this little morning show. the he was never flustered about anything. it was like it was no big deal. we go, how does this guy do it? and, of course, it was so incredibly ingenious. it was so interesting, so fun and, you know, how did

t.j. >> nick, thank you once again. w50e8 stay on top of that story. >>> just past the top of the hour, we turn to egypt where a protester was killed in cairo today after being struck by a police truck. the government issued an apology. police tried to move protesters who were blocking the entrance of the parliament building. susan kacandiotti joins me now with another update on this story. three american students were arrested. it appears they have been released from custody, but they're also on the way home. >> a lot of sighs of relief, t.j. three american college students on their way home from an experience they won't forget. they are derek sweeney goes to georgetown university. gregory porter from drexel university, both 19. and luke gates, 21, from indiana university. they were all studying at american university in cairo and were accused of throwing gasoline bombs from a rooftop at security forces in tahrir square. forces who were clashing with protesters. a prosecutor said the young men denied the charge and sai

as t.j. was saying, the show of the blue-out, the support for child abuse victims, this is clearly an unprecedented time for the university, for state college, for this entire campus, for anyone that's ever involved in penn state, alumni, past and present. i'm at a loss for words sometimes with this story because it is hard to talk about but at the same time, i'm excited to see where this university is going to -- where they're going to go next, where they're going to come out of this and i hope that they come out shining, because they deserve that at this point. it's like learning santa claus is not real. i'm sorry for those that are just learning. but you learn by joe paterno. it hurt me as a college football fan and as somebody that gets to do this as a living. it is just a sad story. >> i think one of the most poignant things i heard was from a nebraska fan saying we are all penn state today. that kind of wraps it up. we have to leave it right there. joe, we appreciate you, as always, com

t.j., this time of year couldn't be worse. spring or summer might be easier to deal w they have had two big disasters with irene and the winter storm they have really laid much of the state to waste in terms of power. >> talking about susan candiotti, she spoke to the governor up there. of course everybody wants the lights on. you have back and forth between some government officials and connecticut light and power, the company up there, the power company. they at this point have come under scrutiny for response. they are wondering why at this point a week after this storm so many people still without power. so take a listen now at our susan candiotti, spoke to the governor there about what's happened. >> we were hit a lot harder. you know, at one point the utility had 77% of its customers out in the middle of the storm. so for whatever reason connecticut got the brunt of this. there's another question, were they prepared sufficiently. i think that's a very serious question, one which we've cot to get to the bottom of once we

i know what t.j. is getting. they're a triplets but only one speaks. >> just one of them has a potty mouth. a bad triplet. >> additional diapers. a mouth diaper so to speak for that one. something we can learn every day. let's talk about weather today. northern plains, you'll have problems into the upper midwest. you can see that on your delays. take a look at temperatures. boston, chicago, miami all expecting delays. one of the places that's starting to stand out is minneapolis-st. paul. we'll show you again. this storm system. this is a day ago, it was moving to the rocky mountains. this was producing snowfall. several feet of snow in the highest elevations. it was also producing strong winds that helped to fan the flames. the big fires that we had of course in reno that they're still battling. although the winds will die down towards the west in the great basin, they're going to get more moisture up there. thankfully the wind are -- that's great news. meanwhile for the eastern seaboard. high pressure is the do

t.j.? >> all right. thanks as always to our paul steinhauser. >>> still on the political front, newt gingrich, defending what he said at tuesday's republican debate. his rivals came out blasting him for being what they say was soft on illegal workers. at a town hall event in nepals, florida, this was yesterday, gingrich says he does not support amnesty. >> i think the vast majority of them, they should go home, we should be very clear. if you're here without any great ties to the united states and you came here illegally, you need to work and the guest worker program from back home, period. i do think if somebody in your neighborhood who has been here for 25 years and belong to your church and they have three kids and two grand kids and they're paying taxes and working hard, it's going to be very, very hard to get the american people to tear up those families. >> so will speaker gingrich continue to have to stay on defense on this issue? coming up at the bottom of the hour, conversation wit

t.j.? >> let me bring in nick paton walsh keeping an eye on things in kabul and what we're getting from nato. nick, are they acknowledging yet not just an incident, but it happened the way that pakistan is saying it happened? >> reporter: well, let's start what they're sayinging on the record. the general, american head here expressing condolences to the families of any pakistani security forces who may have been killed in this instance, but also saying he will personally oversee a lengthy investigation. we're getting a bit more detail from a senior nato official here. he acknowledges in was a strike of some description in that area, but does not specify at this point, they can't confirm, whether nato personnel crossed the border at all, pointing out it cannot confirm also there were helicopters involved, the use of something called close air support. that could be in my opinion, an air strike, or maybe a drone used in that area. also he points out going after insurgence on the afghan side

. >> t.j., we'll talk to you again. i want to bring in mark reigan with the nevada police department. how are you? have you got this under control yet? >> we made great progress on this overnight. the winds have died down for us. we were able to get a handle on the fire. there's no more forward progress on the fire right now. we're doing a lot of mop up in and around the structures. putting out all the hot spots and we even got a little bit of snow last night, but not enough to -- more causing problems of our pumps freezing and stuff than putting out the fire. but we got a good handle of the fire. we're going to be able to allow residents back into the area around noon today. >> how destructive has this fire been? we did a report at least 20 homes were destroyed. >> well, we have 21 structures confirmed damaged or destroyed. and when we see structures, it is including outhouses, storage sheds and stuff like that. we had survey teams out last night to get exact numbers, exactly how many structures and hopefully later on

we fight those same charges, t.j. more and more, very expensive wars and poverty on the expansion. >> are they getting results yet, the occupy movement? >> first, the attention, we were discussing politics for a change. secondly, last week we saw the banks back down off of it. banks have been making money off of origination of loans. they made money off of property mortgage joosh. they made money off of the excessive fais phase, off of foreclosures. they have made money over money over mope. i might add, credit card debt because of the oppressive schemes of, in fact, obstructing education. >> to talk about it and get the attention, but at some point, is the occupy movement going to have to get more organized to get results? frankly, we're seeing some ugly cities, including in oakland. >> but the common thing is economic prosperity. the income got the best of things. that incident in open did not really describe the movement with economic justice. that movement stood between them. dr. king was leading the march on coll

t.j. >> help me on that a little bit there. you say we still have a danger window here of another 30 minutes -- >> absolutely. >> where, of course, anything can always go wrong. why is this such a sensitive time over this next 30 minutes? >> well, because you're shutting down main engines. then you're re-igniting a second stage centar rocket. then you're shutting that off, coasting again, re i-igniting tt again for another boost. there are several shutdowns and starts of the boosters in order to get the rocket, to get the spacecraft, the mars science lab in position to that then it's heading in the trajectory towards the red planet. so there's still a lot of things that have to go right as far as rocketry goes before they're in that 22,000 miles an hour cruise stage for the next eight months. >> and once it starts on that cruise stage, and you said that trajectory, is it essentially just cruising on its own? is there much navigating that know that's done back here on earth? how does that work? >> yeah. they'll adjust the course

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t.j.? >> tuesday night, right here on cnn, the republicans running for president will gather just steps away from the white house for a presidential debate on national security and the economy. this is a cnn debate, that's tuesday 8:00 eastern right here on cnn. >>> herman cain is now being protected by the u.s. secret service. a source inside the government tells cnn that the cain campaign asked for protection after the candidate got some unspecified threats. here's how cain responded yesterday to questions about adding the secret service. >>> the thing about secret service is that things are secret, so we don't discuss any details about it because that would not be appropriate. >>> later in the day, cain admitted there were things he encountered in new hampshire that made it a little uncomfortable. >>> it looks like a possible failure on the debt reduction deal is looming, but members of the super committee say they are planning on working through the weekend to come up with a deal by mon

>> hey, t.j. well, he's explaining it, he's taken responsibility for it, and he's trying to detail why they made such a big loan to a company that ultimately went bankrupt. here is a bit of an exchange, as you imagine, it's become very, very testy, and the republicans, for their part, are trying to push the energy secretary to, bottom line, apologize for the loan, which the energy secretary has stopped short of doing. listen? >> based on what you know and what's and what's happened, who is to apologize for the half a billion dollars that has been out the door? >> well, it is extremely unfortunate what has happened to solyndra. if you go back and look at the time, decisions being made, was there incompetence? was there any influence of a political nature? and i would have to say no. >> so no apology? >> well, it is extremely unfortunate that what has happened -- >> so you see the nature of this. the bottom line is this. the investigation started because critics wanted to find out if solyndra got th

from the cnn center in atlanta, georgia, i'm t.j. holmes. want to get you caught up on what you may have missed overnight. at first, president obama came home after that nine-day trip that took him to hawaii, australia, as well as indonesia. it was meant to promote american business and manufacturing in the region. >>> also, capitol hill today, supposed to be a busy place. should be a busy place. what's the point? some are even telling you, the deficit supercommittee that is facing down this deadline now, they have to work this weekend for any hopes of getting a deal done. according to reporters, not a lot of meetings going on. maybe phone calls here or there. and also some members of the supercommittee coming out and saying a compromise is unlikely. we will go live to capitol hill here in just a couple of minutes. [ crowd noise ] >>> you're seeing this scene here, this is police firing teargas into crowds of protesters in cairo's tahrir square. this was happening today. they're trying to break up democratonstrations. this is the -- demonstr

t.j., this is the tip of the iceberg here. how does mcqueary, a 20-year-old grad student look in the showers of a facility and see a grown man raping a 10-year-old child and not instinctively grab a baseball bat and not protect this child? how does he live with himself? >> or report it to law enforcement, richard. >> or call the police. something. give me a break. >> they went on to say paterno faces possibly perjury charges. it turns out he lied to a grand jury. we do have our reporters there who are on campus getting ready for this game two hours away now. we're going to check in with our athena jones. mike galanos has been reporting there, as well. >>> a major league baseball player kid snapped in venezuela has apparently been rescued. washington nationals catcher wilson ramos, these are the first pictures we've seen of him after being rescued from a mountainous area in northern venezuela. he says he's thankful for the rescuers who found him in a remote jungle. he was rescued two days after being taken from his home by arme

. >>> "cnn newsroom" continues right now with t.j. holmes. >> you going to tell me something about curvy ballerinas? >> you got to caught that one. how do you turn that? >> always appreciate that, suzanne. you have a good weekend. >>> hello to you all. i am the aforementioned t.j. holmes in today for randi kaye. let's start with allegations at a university but we are talking about a different university this time. we are talking about syracuse. listen to this now. associate men's basketball coach bernie fine is on administrative leave while police investigate claims of child molestation that now date back to the 1980s. two step brothers say fine touched them inappropriately when they were ball boys for syracuse. but a 2005 investigation by the school found no corroboration, no evidence. the brothers are speaking out now, spoke to espn last night. >> probably when i was in sixth grade, 11, 10 years old, and he started trying to touch me and things like that. you know, and honestly, i don't even remember if i thought that was what was s

i'm t.j. holmes. >>> the deadline is approaching in the super committee and they need to come up with a plan to cut the nation's deficit. but right now that doesn't appear to be progress or a compromise in sight. we're live on capitol hill on this all-important day. >>> also, on this sunday morning, three words for you -- hot christian sex. religious leaders have come out and said it is your duty to satisfy the desires of your spouse. that is the topic in this morning's "faces of faith" segment. >>> also, you remember actress mila kunis was asked by that young man to the marine ball. she delivered on her promise. we'll tell you how the night went. >>> let's start. in washington, d.c., the deficit super committee doesn't seem so super right now. they were supposed to be working through the weekend to get a deal done before this week's deadline. but all's quiet on capitol hill all weekend, it seems. lisa, we were told this is the weekend, got to have something done by monday morning but are we g

t.j.? >> clearly you're having a good time out there. enjoy. we'll check in with you, again. >>> we also need to check in with our bonnie schneider. a lot of people still traveling today. most of them did it yesterday, most of their traveling, but, still, some on the road today and maybe some catching some flights. they going to have any issues? >> just a few. i'm with the parade goers. i'm so relieved the winds aren't bad and not raining. nothing worse than standing out in the rain and the wind. great weather for those of you in new york. let's take a look. the temperature right now holding steady in the 40s. eventually, if you're spending the day out there, climb up to 54 degrees. nice weather in the forecast, which is really good news. not so nice, at least a start for parts of the south. we're looking for dense fog building into oklahoma and texas and a lot of that sliding further off to the east into kentucky and tennessee. but this is just for the morning hours. the sun will come out

come on, t.j. look at that. >> reporter: for marvin cruz, his final exposure is climbing inside a cage with two fully grown pit bulls. >> wow. oh, my god. i can't believe this. >> reporter: he's now able to see their behavior for what it is. playful. not a threat. would you have been able to come toll a park like this before you went through the exposure therapy? >> never in a million years. >> reporter: we wanted to see for ourselves just how effective the exposure therapy really was. >> hi, i'm marvin. >> reporter: proving there may be no extreme animal phobia that can't be tamed. for "nightline," this is t.j. winick in new york. >> no snake kisses. "my extreme animal phobia" airs on animal planet on friday. finally tonight, as scandal skwarms around jerry sandusky, another school puts another coach on leave.

come on, t.j. look at that. >> reporter: for marvin cruz, his final exposure is climbing inside a cage with two fully grown pit bulls. >> wow. oh, my god. i can't believe this. >> reporter: he's now able to see their behavior for what it is. playful. not a threat. would you have been able to come toll a park like this before you went through the exposure therapy? >> never in a million years. >> reporter: we wanted to see for ourselves just how effective the exposure therapy really was. >> hi, i'm marvin. >> reporter: proving there may be no extreme animal phobia that can't be tamed. for "nightline," this is t.j. winick in new york. >> no snake kisses. "my extreme animal phobia" airs on animal planet on friday. finally tonight, as scandal skwarms around jerry sandusky, another school puts another coach on leave. syracuse university tonight suspended assistant basketball coach bernie fine after police announced they are investigating an allegation that fine molested a team ball boy. "good morning ame

t.j.? >> all right. george howell, we'll continue to check in throughout the morning as things get busier. at seven minutes past the hour, a lot of people -- maybe not flying, you might be traveling by car. you had to do it with these prices, $3.30 for regular, mid grade, $3.45. and premium, $3.58. last year this time, regular gas was $2.85 a gallon. >>> it was a pretty emotional homecoming, and why wouldn't it be for these three american students? >> so happy to have them home. i'm just really happy to have them home. >> we're just thrilled. >> i'm sorry i'm such a crybaby. >> it's already to be a crybaby on this one. their family's happy to have them out of an egyptian jail and back home. you'll hear from the students themselves. stay with us. mine was earned over the south pacific in 1943. vietnam, 1967. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment t

t.j.? >> thanks to our paul steinheiser, as always. at nine minutes past the hour, we turn to a shocking and disturbing story out of pennsylvania that focuses attention on penn state university's football program. it involves former assistant coach jerry sandusky. you might not know that name, but he was an assistant for legendary head coach joe paterno for 30 years. sandusky also ran an organization for less fortunate kids called second mile. sandusky has now been arrested and charged with sexually abusing eight kids, all of them young boys. prosecutors say it went on for 15 years, between 1994 and 2009. here's what the attorney general is now saying about the case, "this is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys." now the details in the indictment are extremely disturbing. sandusky is saying he's innocent. listen to his attorney. >> he's been aware of these allegations now for over three years. he came pack back to state coll voluntarily. on the other