If you think your plans are held up look at that guy. Hes in a worse situation. Good friday morning, im kendis gibson. And im Mara Schiavocampo in for diane macedo. We begin this morning with president elect donald trump triggering fears of a Nuclear Arms Race with a tweet about expanding Americas Nuclear capability. It does appear to be a major break from longstanding u. S. Policy. His team scrambling overnight to clarify that hes not advocating the use of nukes but it follows a similar statement from Vladimir Putin about his countrys own nuclear arsenal. Abcs maggie rulli has the latest live for us from washington. Maggie, good morning. Reporter good morning. The president elect might be staying out of sight in his south florida estate at maralago but has twitter to keep him busy and in the headlines. The president elect might not be in the white house just yet but hes already taking a jab at tweeting out, the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its Nuclear Capability until such a time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes. That hasnt been u. S. Policy for nearly 40 years. It came hours after a strikingly similar comment from Vladimir Putin. Russias president saying we need to strengthen the potential of Strategic Nuclear forces. While trump is tweeting he hasnt held a real News Conference since the election and beefed up his Communications Team including sean spicer as press secretary. Former Campaign ManagerKellyanne Conway now serving as counselor to the president. She found herself in the hot seat on gma trying to reassure the press. This will be a traditional white house in the sense that you will have a great deal of press availability on a daily basis and a president who continues to be engaged with the press. Reporter ivanka making news. Some guy started giving her a hard time and told father is ruining the country. Reporter a passenger allegedly screaming at i. D. And her family on a jetblue flight while on their way to hawaii. The secret service did not intervene but flight attendants removed the man from the flight. Donald trump plans to stay in florida for the weekend and has had a president ial Daily Briefing for the past two days. Our thanks to maggie rulli in washington, thank you. Well, trump is also turning to twitter to pit two military contractors against one another. In a tweet last night, trump said hes asked boeing to price out its f18 fighter jet to compete with the f35 which is made by lockheed martin. Trump met with the ceos of both companies about lowering the cost. To president obama whos planning to deliver a Farewell Speech in chicago. Sources say it is set for january 10th. That, of course, ten days before he leaves office. The president is expected to state of illinois for launching his political career electing him first as a state senator. Breaking overnight australian officials are urging people in melbourne to celebrate christmas as usual after the arrest of five men for plotting an attack on the holiday. The authorities believe the suspects were selfradicalized but inspired by isis. They also believe that this threat is now over. As a result of this investigation we believe we have neutralized that threat and in relation to that threat we believe that there was an intention to conduct what we call a multimode attack possibly on christmas day. The intended targets would have included a cathedral, a Commuter Rail station and other public places, all five suspects are in their 20s. Four of them born in raus always. The other one in egypt. German police arresting two men for planning a terror attack on one of the biggest shopping malls. The country i intense manhunt for the fugitive suspect in the deadly truck attack on an open air market this week. There have been Numerous Police raids including one at a mosque where the suspect was seen on video after the attack. A german newspaper reports he suffered cuts to his face in the attack and may still be in berlin. At least two americans were learning both from texas were injured in that. Richard ramirez who has been living there for 18 years is in serious condition. His partner was killed. And two of russell schulzs friends died but he only suffered minor injuries. A watershed moment in syria. For the first time in four years Government Forces have full control of aleppo. The announcement came after state television reported that the last remaining rebel fighters were evacuated from the war ravaged city. President assad said retaking it was a victory shared with his russian and major problems could be ahead for the millions of people who are traveling today, especially at the nations airports. Chicagos Ohare Airport could be one of the bottlenecks with rain forecast early in the day followed by snow. Flood watches and blizzard warnings prompting weather alerts in 18 states. Well have more on that in a moment. L. A. X. Is another trouble spot. Hundreds of flights have already been canceled or delayed and hundreds more are expected to be impacted today. Officials say its a combination of Rainy Weather and thousands more people flying this year than last. Heres why thats bad. Those delays are expected to ripple across the country on one of the busiest travel days of this entire year. Accuweathers Justin Povick here with a look ahead. Good morning, justin. Kendis and mara, thanks. Good morning. Two storms, busy times in the weather world and here is the leading storm working its way over the plains states for today. Wet roadways from des moines southbound towards st. Louis and kansas city but a slippery travel over the northern states. Speaking of slippery travel, were going to be talking about snow in feet toward i80. Similar amounts over the wasatch east of salt lake city, bigtime travel impacts. Kendis and mara, back to you. Absolutely. No doubt, thank you. Coming up some advice about keeping yourself healthy for the holidays. And some reallife grinches. Serial package thieves caught on camera. The hunt is on to bring them to justice. Going the wrong way, why was this driver doing this creating a real danger for everyone on the road . Stay with us. This unusual sight for drivers in albuquerque, a pickup truck captured driving in reverse on the highway no less in heavy traffic. It created a big headache for other commuters and its unclear why the driver was going backwards but police say whatever the reason was, its not a good idea. Its safe to say thats a bad idea. Yes, exactly. He did stay in the lane. New this morning an arrest in the road rage shooting in that really stunned little rock, arkansas. 3yearold acen king was killed while riding in the backseat of his grandmothers car. An intense manhunt has been under way ever since. Now police say 33yearold gary holmes has been charged with capital murder. He is expected to appear in court later today. A lyft driver says he was held hostage during a wild crime spree. The driver says he was forced to chauffeur his captors to drug deals and took pictures of themselves. After 11 hours they got tired and decided to stop and let the driver out. They threatened to kill him if now, two suspects have been arrested and police are still searching for two others. There is a new development after this weeks fireworks explosion in mexico. The mexican president is vowing to rebuild. He says hell reopen it next year. Meanwhile, families are packing the local churches as funeral masses continue for the victims. This has the potential to be a medical breakthrough. A vaccine 100 effective against the owe bowl la virus responsible for thousands of deaths mostly in africa. The vaccine has not gotten Regulatory Approval but 300,000 doses have been stockpiled in case there is another outbreak. There is a new study out about your health and the holidays. It finds an increased risk of heartlinked deaths between christmas and january 7th. Some advice, take time to decompress, moderate how much of course, seek help if any symptoms come up. Very interesting study. Im curious what the reasoning is. It happens during that time, yeah. When we come back that race to rescue a boy stuck on a ski lift. What it took to get him down. But first controversy in texas after arrests go viral. What the officer said and the reaction to it straight ahead. Hey there, hi. Why do people have eyebrows . Why do people put milk on cereal . Oh, are you reading why people put milk on cereal . Why does your tummy go grumbily, grumbily, grumbily . Why is it all mimics a stomach grumble no more questions for you ooph, that milk in your cereal was messing with you, wasnt it . Yeah, happens to more people than you think. Try lactaid, its real milk, without that annoying lactose. Good, right . Mmm, yeah. I got your back. Lactaid. Its the milk that doesnt mess with you. And there are some people you shouldnt. People you should. Shouldnt. Janice should. Shouldnt. Yes. No. Should. No way. Should. No. Definitely not. Ha ha, nay. You shouldnt give underwear to everybody. But for those you do, give them fruit of the loom. And let roomba from irobot help with your everyday messes. Roomba navigates your entire home. Cleaning up pet hair and debris for up to 2 hours. Which means your floors are always clean. You and roomba, from irobot. Better. Together. Kohlso shop anytime forours the best gifts ever and earn kohls cash. Pick up a bb8 and get 20 kohls cash the fitbit blaze and get 30 kohls cash or a ps4 and get 50 kohls cash. Give and get a little more this holiday. Kohls. Fight heartburn fast. With tums chewy delights. The mouthwatering soft chew that goes to work in seconds to conquer heartburn fast. Tum tum tum tum. Chewy delights. Only from tums. Some very cool timelapsed photography from minnesota. A wall of sea smoke creating created after temperatures well below zero collided with the much warmer waters of lake superior. Our producer calling it icy haboob. Very cool. That they have in phoenix. I got it. Yeah, it is very cool. Looks like a special effect. Now for a look at morning road conditions. Heavy rain, flash flooding and heavy mountain snow are a threat in the pacific northwest. Snow in the midwest and around the great lakes. Heavy rain from memphis to dallas. If youre flying weatherrelated airport delays are possible in san francisco, los angeles, minneapolis, chicago and kansas city. In texas, a white Police Officer involved in the controversial arrest of three black women is on restricted duty. The incident which is being investigated was captured on cell phone video. It does show the officer independent pointing a taser and wrestling Jacqueline Craig and one of her daughters to the ground. Craig called police to report the alleged assault of her 7yearold son. I was very distraught because what i felt i was doing was actually protecting my child and it didnt happen. It made me feel as a parent that i couldnt protect him when he needed it. The inference of racism is all over it. If this was from the beginning if this was a white child choked about man no way they would be walking free and the mother of that child would be arrested with the childs siblings. It doesnt happen. The officer has not been identified. Ft. Worth police said in a statement that the initial appearance of the video may raise serious questions. That video has now been viewed more than a million times. Really troubling video. It doesnt matter how you wrap it, its still illegal. A security checkpoint at l. A. X. Caught more than two pounds of heroin in christmas wrapping paper. Nice try. A Hazmat Team Called first to the airport at which point the man who allegedly had been trying to smuggle the packages aboard decided to go home where investigators found the Airport Services employee. Well, for many tis the season for holiday joy and celebrations. For some others, what makes the season bright is stealing packages. Yeah, abcs gio benitez has more on this troubling trend. Reporter some reallife grinches are on the loose from peoples front doors. In chicago, the hunt is on for a serial package thief, could it be this man caught on surveillance camera casually walking up to someone elses front porch appearing to talk on the phone, he bends down to grab a package while he quickly opens it and takes off with whats inside. He didnt care about anything. Just Walking Around pretending like hes talking on the cell phone, hope they catch you. Reporter this case 1 of 13 other instances reported to Chicago Police so far this month. We think its severely unreported. Reporter happening everywhere. A creative more by this thief disguised as a pizza delivery man. Gio will have more on gma. New video, a reminder to anyone hitting the slopes this weekend, you might want to be careful. A young skier at sundance resort got caught on the ski lift as he was trying to exit. He ended up dangling for several minutes terrified by the ordeal. On the lift. Rescuers on snowmobiles rushed to the scene and were able to bring him down other than having some sore arms hes doing okay. Well, duke basketball star Grayson Allen wont be playing for awhile. The guard likely headed for the nba was suspended indefinitely by duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after tripping an opposing player for the third time. At first coach k stopped short of suspending named as the top player in college basketball. Duke has tough matchups ahead Florida State and louisville. Ugly foul there. A reminder most of the nfls week 16 games will take place tomorrow. Some rare saturday games. But there was one last night and we have highlights from espn. Good morning, america. Happy holiday, hey there, im nicole briscoe. My gift to you, a little sports highlights to go with your Morning Coffee and start with the thursday night football game. Odell beckham jr. Hit 4,000 yards receiving. Eli manning did not have a solid game. That is onewr of two interceptis by malcolm jenkins, that returned for the pick six. Decent offense from the eagles. Carson wentz, aguiar 2419, eagles, they get the win over the giants. To the nba, spurs and clippers. The first time these two teams played this season. 24point blowout for the spurs. The bad news in this one, clippers playing solid but they eventually lose chris paul in the third. Hamstring injury. Tight game, back and forth. Kawhi leonard with play from the spurs. Speigh speights, closer. 106101 in favor of the clippers. Happy holidays, well see you next time. Nicole there with the bedtime story. Festive. So cozy. Up next in the pulse, tiger woods, we know what he looks like on the course. His holiday look, well, thats a whole different thing. And an adorable child who just received the greatest gift he could have imagined. Well tell you what it is. The pulse is coming up next. Youre just subbing for mrs. Tindalls fifthgrade class. Good morning, everybody. Start with world history. laughter talk about some science stuff. laughter the day basically runs itself. Yeah, thats not gonna work. Bring out your best you. And awaken your senses with the refreshing taste of tropicana. Hey reens presents, a holiday mini miracle. Hey this is for you. Did you really . Didnt have too getting the gift you almost kept for yourself . Now thats a holiday mini miracle. And its easy to create your own at walgreens. With most stores open till midnight, and till 10 p. M. On christmas day. Walgreens. At the corner of happy and healthy. Sometino big deal. Shing my gums bleed. But my hygienist said, it is a big deal. Go pro with Crest Pro Health gum protection. It helps prevent gum bleeding by targeting harmful bacteria on your gums. Left untreated, these symptoms could lead to more Serious Problems including tooth loss. Gum crisis averted. Pain from a headache whecan make this. D, feel like this. Allinone cold symptom relief from tylenol®, the 1 doctor recommended pain relief brand. Tylenol® when you have a cold, pain from chest congestion can make this. Allinone cold symptom relief from tylenol®, the 1 doctor recommended pain relief brand. Tylenol® to being extremely yellow leading would probably gross me out my dentist recommended pronamel. It can help protect enamel from acid erosion. Pronamel is all about your enamel. So since its the last pulse before christmas and hanukkah we begin with a heartwarming story about an adorable boy. 3yearold Michael Browns reaction on the day he was adopted. This was his third foster family. He spent most of his life in foster care and plans to reunite through. Something clicked with Tara Montgomery and her two daughters. She wasnt planning to adopt and did and something clicked with the internet. The story has been moving people to tears. Lots of happy tears. Happy tears as you can understand. Wed like to join the other celebrities this morning in wishing a happy birthday to a columbus, ohio, resident, colo the gorilla is 60 years old. The oldest gorilla in captivity by far. The average life span for these apes is 35 years old. He was the first born in captivity anywhere in the world. Columbus zoo celebrated with presents and a cake made from tomatoes and apples. Finally, tiger woods getting in the holiday spirit and giving us all a gift as weve reported. Hes trying to make a comeback and woods says hes looking forward to a full competitive schedule next year. It seems he has some confidence these days, how else the gun show. Posting a shirtless photo wearing sunglasses and a black hat. He says mac daddy santa is back. A tradition his kids love but reaction, its not christmas until tiger woods nipples show up. We hope this replaces crying jordan. And as if thats on cue tiger woods for the rain for part of Christmas Eve sunny seasonable christmas unseasonably mild early next week cooler dry for new years weekend today sunny early, then becoming mostly cloudy. Cooler. Highs 4651 winds s 5 mph tonight cloudy. Showers developing after midnight. Lows 3640 winds s 5 mph Christmas Eve morning rain. Cloudy after noon with clearing skies after 6pm. Highs 4951 winds sw 5 mph an update now on the ongoing crisis in syria. Now celebrating a victory after regaining control of the wartorn city of aleppo. Its a major turning point in a civil war that has lasted almost 6 years and has become a humanitarian crisis. The un estimates that 400thousand syrians have been killed since 2011. The red cross is leading a mass exodus out of aleppo busing thousands of civilians to safety. Some experts say rebuilding the city would likely take years and cost tens of billions of dollars. The mayor of louisville, kentucky is speaking out denouncing a viral video of a racistrant inside a jc penny store. In the video a woman goes off after accusing another customer of cutting the line. The woman goes on to accuse the women, who are welfare, and demanding they speak english. A spokesperson for the mall, says it is working to identify the woman on the video, so it can permanently ban her from the building. Jc penny says it will try to identify the shoppers, to apologize. An update this morning on a story we told you about earlier this week. A happy outcome for a group of neglected and abused animals. A woman in leesburg is facing 100 counts of cruelty and neglect for having a variety of animals on her property and not providing proper care. Well, this morning were told the pigs, ducks, and hens have all been adopted only a few more animals are still in search of forever homes. Police say a man in New Hampshire drove off with a new car and didnt pay a dime. It wasnt a new Sales Promotion police say the smooth talking customer told the salesman that he was a state trooper, and just wanted to take it on a test drive. The salesman asked for the mans license but he didnt have it on him. He did have a badge, apparently good enough. Police are still trying to find that 2011 chevy silverado. The salesman is being retrained. Some good news for people planning to stay out late on new years eve. Metro is again getting a boost, to keep people who have been drinking off the roads. On new years eve, metro will offer free service on buses and trains from midnight until 3 am. Miller lite is picking up the tab. You will still need to show your smartrip card to ride so keep that in mind. Its xx and were just getting started. Holiday rush. Millions hit the road for the Holiday Weekend and we are already seeing big delays at some of the nations busiest airports. Plus, depending on where youre going Mother Nature may be throwing a wrench in your travel plans. We have complete coverage coming up. Good morning washington. Rain for part of Christmas Eve sunny seasonable christmas unseasonably mild early next week cooler dry for new years weekend today sunny early, then becoming mostly cloudy. Cooler. Highs 4651 winds s 5 mph tonight cloudy. Showers developing after midnight. Lows 3640 winds s 5 mph Christmas Eve morning rain. Cloudy after noon with clearing skies after 6pm. Highs 4951 winds sw 5 mph triplea says more than 103 million