0 good morning on this monday morning. today is a critical deadline for those needing health insurance by the first of the year. >> the last day to enroll for so-called obama coverage if you need it to begin on january 1st. the obama administration predicted seven million americans would be signed up by emergency only 1 million have done so. jonathan karl reports on the outreach. >> reporter: there's a new front in the battle over obamacare, young people. if not enough sign up, premiums could skyrocket. so far they don't seem to be paying much attention. >> it hasn't been on my mind. >> i haven't had time to think about that. >> reporter: to get their attention, the pro-obama group ofa is out with this video. >> we love you no matter what, but it is time to get coverage. >> reporter: they're earning justified ridicule in this online ad featuring a man in a zip-up plaid onesy pajamas. and one with a white house press secretary. california is out with this featuring a rapper calling himself b. rock o'breezy. telling people to sign up because it is hot. >> health care has it going on. holiday travelers and last-minute shoppers faced major challenges as a dangerous storm bears down on the eastern third of the nation. record high temperatures and flooding hit areas around columbus, ohio. several seniors had to be rescued at a retirement home. temperatures will plunge in the 30s in ohio by tonight. and in oklahoma city, sheets of ice tumbled off a roof, directly falling onto shoppers at an outdoor mall. thousands in oklahoma are without power of after ice and freezing rain coated electric lines causing them to snap. in canada, crews struggling to restore service to hundreds of thousands of customers without power. toronto's embattled mayor rob ford called the storm one of the worst in the city's history. >> reporter: the storm swept across southern ontario with an icy fury. firefighters in downtown toronto were left to deal with an ice-covered tree that fell on the hydro wires and caught on fire. while elsewhere, brilliant flashes lit up the sky as transformers began to explode. >> is truly a catastrophic ice storm we have had here. probably one of the worst we ever had. >> reporter: hundreds of trees have across towns and cities caved under the pressure of the ice. most landed on hydro lines leaving hundreds of thousands without power. toronto's emergency services 311 and 911 had been inundated with calls. the mayor says a state of emergency could be called in the days to come. extensive damage. it could be days before the lights are back on and the region recovers from this wicked ice storm. ctv news, toronto. mother nature had put parts of north america on a weather roller coaster with everything from snow, ice, spring-like temperatures and now an arctic blast. >> our coverage continues at accu-weather where meteorologist jim dickey has the latest. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning, john and diana. seeing soaking rainfall today as the air is moving out of the north and west. record warmth in place through the weekend as the air masses collide here. rain stretching from boston to new york city, d.c., philadelphia. we are going to see more in the way of freezing rain across portions of new england, and that rain stretches further southward along eastern seaboard to the gulf of mexico. john and diana, back to you. >> all right. jim dickey at accu-weather, thank you. a pedestrian was rescued after being hit by a commuter train in portland, oregon. investigators say the man walked or ran in front of the train as it approached the station. rescue crews had to lift the train off the victim in order to save his life. right now it's not known how badly he's injured. scary moment for passengers aboard a jet leaving south africa, and it hadn't even gotten off the ground yet. it happened as the british airways 747 was getting ready to take off from johannesburg. the plane's wing sliced through a building. 200 passengers were on board, along with the crew members. no one was hurt. twitter user apologizing for a offensive tweet about aids in south africa. she lost her job. many wonder how a public relations professional could have sent such a controversial message. gio benitez has more. >> reporter: she is the pr executive at the center of a digital firestorm. justine sacco apologizing after this tweet went viral. "going to africa. hope i don't get aids. just kidding. i'm white!" in a statement, she tells abc news, "words cannot express how sorry i am and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of south africa." she was fired on saturday from her top pr job at internet giant iac where she represented some of the biggest names on line like match.com, "daily beast" and about.com. >> this is one of the fastest responses in crash and burns i've ever seen from a tweet. >> reporter: she posted the tweet on friday just before a nearly 12-hour flight from london to capetown, south africa. while she was apparently off line in midair, millions were on line, anxiously waiting for her to land and see the uproar her tweet caused. the hash tag #hasjustinelandedyet became an instant trend. her former bosses at iac call the tweet outrageous and offensive. >> there are so many teachable moments here. think before you tweet and never, never put out something that could be perceived as racist. >> reporter: this photo shows sacco at the south africa airport when she landed. she deleted the tweet and her entire account. she tells us it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand. i'm ashamed. so many say she should have known better not only because of her job talking to reporters but also because she herself was born in south africa. she tells us she cherishes her south african ties and she's very sorry. gio benitez, abc news, new york. >> our facebook question of the day, have you ever regretted something you shared on social media. we cannot wait to hear about your confession. wnnfans.com. getting back to the story. >> you have to be so careful. >> oh, my gosh. do yourself a favor, stay away from race, religion. >> politics. >> you know what i mean? it's almost like the date rule. just stay away from those subjects. >> hot button issues and here's a good tip. read it one more time before you hit the send or tweet button. >> absolutely. >> a lot of these things are preventable. as far as she goes, apparently she has a history of borderline inappropriate -- this was completely inappropriate but she has some other borderline inappropriate tweets she sent out before and her comment was retweeted 2,000 times. >> colossally stupid. why would you write that? >> exactly. moving on to this now. a suspect is in custody after a terrifying ordeal in phoenix. police say an 8-year-old girl was captured as she rode her bike around an apartment complex. the victim was able to run into the arms of wait ing police officers. neighbors who saw the child taken alerted an officer who happened to be in the neighborhood at that time. utah at the center of a legal fight over same-sex marriage this morning. on friday a judge overturned the ban on those marriages. that led gay couples to line up for licenses and make marriage plans. the judge will consider whether a hold should be put on the friday ruling. a federal appeals court rejected an appeal for such a hold on the ruling. the united methodist minister defrocked for officiating at his son's gay marriage is considering a new opportunity to join a methodist that includes california, hawaii and some pacific islands. shafer said he and his family are considering the new job very, very seriously. let's lighten things up a little bit. we have a couple near new orleans who are calling their brand new babies a blessing from god. those blessings names are, dawson, maxwell, micah, joseph, and elizabeth. >> yes, they are quintuplet children of nadia and liz harris. obviously a same-sex couple. the little ones were born in early october. three of them are now home, and the hope is the other two will be home for christmas. >> the harris babies are the first quintuplets to be born in that area for 20 years and we how adorable. coming up, a new kind of candy cane delivered with a special kick. damage control at the mall. the problems millions of debit and credit card users still face after a cyberattack at target. you are watching "world news now." ♪ >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by oral b. >> announcer: nnouncer: "world weather brought to you by oral b. by oral-b for the first time. wow. it's "wow," you know? wow. wow. that feels wow! 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