the malignantcells have come back. we have decided it is absolutely necessary and absolutely essential to undergo another surgery. >> chavez also spoke publicly about a successor for the first time, saying his vice president should replace him in his health worsens. chavez has been seeking treatment for cancer throughout the year and plans to undergo surgery there. egyptians woke up skeptical about the latest move by president morsi. he says he's cancel most of the sweeping powers he krecently decreed for himself. critics call his change of heart a farce. that power grab led to rioting in the streets. morsi says he's pushing ahead with the referendum of draft constitutions but opponents say it's virtually shut them out of the process. an american doctor kidnapped in afghanistan has been released. local afghan officials say he was abducted by smug lers. an afghan doctor who was also taken but was released after his family paid a $12,000 ransom. two men were arrested. in sports native quarterback johnny manziel became the first freshman to ever win the heisman trophy. manziel scored 43 touchdown this year and 4,600 yards has smashed the southeastern conference as well. good for him. new video leased by the kansas city police shows jovan belcher before his death. one shows police talking to belcher after they found him apparently sleeping behind the wheel in his car. he was not arrested but police determined he had been drinking. now, belcher told police he was going to the apartment to see a woman. police say he shot his girlfriend later that morning. then himself. we are getting details on a second nfl tragedy in as many weeks. so what's going on with pro football? mark mckay has more. >> reporter: jerry brown jr., a dallas cowboy's practice squad linebacker was killed early saturday in a one-vehicle crash in irving, texas. the 25-year-old brown was a passenger driven by cowboys' teammate josh brent. police arrested and booked the 24-year-old brent, a defensive lineman into the irving city jail on one count of intoxicating manslaughter. >> our officers on scene felt as if alcohol was a contributing factor in the accident, so mr. price brent was asked to perform some field sobriety tests. after he performed those tests along with our officers' observations and the conversations they had with him, he was placed under arrest for driving while intoxicated. >> reporter: the dallas cowboys learned of the death of one teammate and the arrest of another before they boarded a flight to cincinnati where they'll play the bengals on sunday. team owner jerry jones issue add statement that read, we are deeply saddened by the news of this accident and the passing of jerry brown. at this time our hearts and prayers and deepest sympathies are with the members of jerry's family and all of those who knew him and loved him. one week ago, the nfl was shaken by the death of kansas city linebacker jovan belcher who shot and killed his girlfriend and then traveled to the facility and killed himself in front of the head coach. >> what he did, we didn't like, we're not crazy about. but he's still a member of our fami family. and when yo go out in society and things like this happen in society because they do happen in society, you don't see people throwing the family member ts out the door, you know. they're still loved by their family members, but the act, you don't like the act. and so you move on, you deal with it. and you don't have a choice. you have to move on. >> because of the nature of the sport, cheers are sometimes shed in the fl on the field. in back-to-back league the league has been moved to tears by two separate but no less tragic off-the-field events. coming up, the president has his. work cut out for him as he starts his new cablet. what is next as the gop is ready for a fight to oppose susan rice, the secretary of state. and a beautiful shot, good morning. that's a shot of the white house. so glad you're starting your morning with us. ♪ the weather outside is frightful ♪ ♪ but the fire is so delightful ♪ nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow i have obligations. cute tobligations, but obligations.g. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. (announcer) when subaru owners look in the mirror, they see more than themselves. so we celebrate our year-end with the "share the love" event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. by the end of this, our fifth year, our total can reach almost 25 million dollars. it's a nice reflection on us all. now through january 2nd. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios yep. the longer you stay with us, the more you save. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right? well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah? giving you more. now that's progressive. call or click today. having won the election, president obama's administration faces a new challenge now. forming the cabinet. he wants new faces so the cabinet wouldn't look like a, quote, second stringers. he's already facing opposition from republicans. here's emily schmidt. >> reporter: a white house photo op. >> this is an opportunity to meet with my wonderful cabinet. >> reporter: an imminent cabinet shuffle is expected. >> the president has got a lot of very good people to choose from, but he wants to put together a team, especially in international affairs, a team overall that going into the second term doesn't look like a group of second stringers. >> reporter: it's already politically charges. susan rice is thought to be a leading contender, but some republicans have been highly critical of rice following the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. >> when they go after the u.n. ambassador apparently because they think she's an easy target, then they even got a problem with me. >> senator mccain. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary. >> senator jokingly gave the post to senator john kerry. >> i think john kerry would be an excellent appointment and easily confirmed by his colleagues. >> he's also listed as a potential defense tair th secretary. ashton carter is on the list and former nebraska senator chuck hagel, a republican, could reach across the aisle. >> we're in a much stronger position today as a country than we were in '07. >> reporter: treasury secretary tim geithner says he'll stay. jack lew is an eventual replacement. people wondering if he would pick good cabinet members. 58% thought he would. 42% said he would not. emily schmidt, cnn, washington. >> emily, thank you. also in washington, bo is back. front and center on the white house holiday card. michelle obama picked a personal could. it shows bo running across the snowy lawn. she called the moment very surreal. she was married to peter jennings and the late ambassador peter holbrook and now she's written a memoir about her own amazing life. we hear about her after this. as a mother of a young child, i'm always looking for something fun and educational to do together. nature spot quest is our spot. opened in march 2011 with more than 7,000 square feet of interactive educational things to do and see, the exhibit has the feel of a playground and the educational tools of classroom. every nook and cranny offers children a new adventure. unlike traditional museums, at naturequest children are challenged from self-discovery to explore and be curious in a hands-on environment just like real scientists. with over 100 interactive encounters to choose from, a few of my son's favorites include the clubhouse build in the trees and human fossils and the simulating river that seems to be swimming when they step on it. >> naturequest is this amazingly fun world that's scientifically lis tick. you can explore from the oceans and top of the mountains and everywhere you look there's something to do, something to find. >> what does a 2-year-old care about science? >> not much, but my son has so much fun exploring he doesn't lielz his little brain is working too. ann clair stapleton, cnn, atlanta. 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[ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help. welcome back. time now for some arts and leisure. nadia bilchik joins me again. nadia, for this week's segment you had an opportunity to speak with a woman with kati marton about her book. she was married to peter jennings and the late ambassador peter holbrooke. i asked her why now is the time to write her memoir. >> i wanted to make something permanent out of what turned out to be impermanent, that is my 17 years with richard, my husband who died entirely unexpectedly in the middle of life. and in the days after his death, i couldn't sleep, so i started keeping a journal. and that really was the genesis of this book. and then it kind of took own a life of its own. but i don't think it's worth writing a memoir without being honest. >> you were married to peter jennings and news correspondent and now an author. >> this is by no mean as tell-all book. it's very honest, as honest as i could make it. there tees nothing in there that isn't honest but i chose themes that i thought would be universal. human themes. okay, it's my life, my story, but, in fact, it's really about the human condition. and although it was triggered by the great trauma that followed my beloved husband's sudden death, it's really not at all about grief. it's really about how to get from grief to a different place because sadly grief is as much a part of the human condition as love and professional fulfillment. sooner or later, loss finds all of us, and so how do we get from loss to life, and that's what this book is about. >> here at cn we all remember the day that your husband, ambassador to the united nations richard holbrooke died unexpect unexpectedly. you write about that day and the memorial. why don't you share with us. >> that was a day that started as all of my days for 17 years. started with a phone call from richard who, as you know, was always in a troubled spot. islamabad, kabul. on this day he was actually en route to the white house. we were making our christmas plans and laughing and joking on the phone and all was well, and an hour later i had a call if there the ambulance that was taking him to the emergency room and that was our last conversation. and then being the wife of such a public man, my morning cou ii mourning could not stay private and i understand that. and i had to plan a memorial that was worthy of such a public man, and that imposed its own stresses. but at the same time, it was a balm, reassuring to me to have discovered that richard had touched so many lives around the world and letters kept pouring in and i red each one. but in reading those letters, decided that i really couldn't stay in our home and in our city of new york if i wanted to get on with my life and that's when it took me to paris. paris is at the heart of this love story because for whatever reason every happy moment in high life seems to have taken place in paris. >> you say in the book what was i if not part of a couple. you are no longer part of mrs. richard holbrooke. >> i don't think i would have discovered really who i am and my strength if i can say that if i had just sailed through life as mrs. holbrooke. >> kati, what do you hope readers will get from this book? >> that there is life after loss. here's the lesson. live every day and please be sure to tell the people that you love that you love them because you really can't count on anything and that shouldn't make us uneasy. it should make us embrace life fully as i now try to do. >> in the book, marton also writes quite a bit about her first husband and the father of her two children peter jennings and their tempestuous relationship they had. she talks about her struggles including her infidelities. >> i saw a piece of kati and nelson mandela in there as well. >> we know nelson has gone to hospital apparently for routine testing but she tells a glorious story. she was with mandela who she calls the greatest statesman in the world when clinton was going through the crisis with monica lewinsky. kati writes, what is it with these americans? we like our men to be very ill. >> it's amazing she's being so frank and honest. i think a lot of people will connect. >> "paris: a love story." we're talking about lady ga gaga. a tweet from her is causing a social media frenzy. but first what's coming up at the bottom of the hour on "sanjay gupta md." >> susan, i'm going to be talking with frankie mun easy, he's only 27 years old. hoarding, those people who find themselves overwhelmed by clutter. all of this coming up at 7:30 a.m. eastern. me -- we're gonna save you money. with straight talk at walmart, you get unlimited talk, text and data for only $45 a month per phone. would we get the same coverage? 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with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu with odor free aspercreme. powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. marriage took effect on thursday. under washington state laul couples must present marlt certificates within three days in advance. as a result hundreds of washington state weddings are expected today. you know lady gaga is in russia and her tweet caused quite a stir. she said this. thank you, prime minister, medvedev for not standing by your party's anti-gay problem began da law and instead supporting my show and fans all over russia. news of fiscal cliff talks have been making headlines. here is their twist on budget talks for today's late-night laughs. >> we'd like to announce that we have reach and agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. in order to get the support of the speaker, i agree there would be no tax increases. i repeat, zero tax increases. now, why would i do that? i mean i won the election. i had the leverage. why give in? well, simply put, i felt sorry for this man. earlier this week i found my way into the congressional cafeteria, and what i do see? john boehner sitting by himself. all alone. not a single member of his party wanted to share his company. he didn't even have any milk to drink because, well, tell them why, john. >> they had taken my milk and thrown it in the garbage. >> these are supposed to be his friends. his colleagues. but even at the hint that the taxes might be raised on his leadership watch, they turn on him. tell them what you found in your office desk. >> oh, i don't -- >> no, no. go ahead. hey, tell them what your so-called friends put in your office desk. >> it was a rubber snake. >> a rubber snake. and did it scare you? >> it did. >> i was so heartbroken to hear this, i said, look. how about this, john, if you agree to a 1% raise on the top two americans, just two people, i will resolve social security. resolve it. so we took it to the republicans and congress and what do they do? >> invited me to a pizza party. >> and when they got there -- when you got there, sorry. >> it was a burned t warehouse. >> didou