Transcripts For WRC Today 20101127

>> and good morning. welcome to "today" on this saturday morning. i'm amy robach. >> and i'm carl quintanilla in for lester holt. we know the president loves his baskball but things got a little bit too heated yesterday. >> 12 stitches. that's not just a little mishap. there he was icing his lip. and apparently the guy who hit him, by cident, called the president a tough competitor, but a good sport. >> he's in an undisclosed location this morning. we'll which heal more about that story. also this morning, just in tim for the holiday rush home, parts of the northst could get up to a foot of snow this weekend. we'll get more on the winter weather coming up. >> plus survival at sea. the incredible story of three teenage boys who were lost in the pacific ocean for 50 days. they were presumed dead and even memorial services for the boys had been held. but then came the amazing rescue, and a story you have to hear. we're going to bring it to you just ahead. >> and then tiger woods. his world unraveled one year ago today. he lost h marriage, he lost enrsements, but now, he says he's feeling great. we will look back on the year that changed everything. >> and if you're a fan of the '80s then you have to love duran duran, right? >> and you do. >> yes, apparently. on "today's" teen idol i chose them. i got to meet them. ey look great. they were so, just -- i was so impressed by them. they still had it. >> yes. simon, nick rhodes. will we see pictures of you? >> do i hear a fan? >> oh, yes. >> will we see pictures from you back in the '80s? >> unfortunately that was a part of the tease i w forced to thand over. you n make fun of me a little later. we begin with that alleged terror plot in portland, oregon. nbc's pete williams joins us live from washington with more on all of this. good morning, pete. >> reporter: amy, good morning. though there never was a real bomb in this, federal prosecutors sayhe man they arrested after months of investigation had a very rea intent to cause widespread death and injury. fbi agents arrested 19-yeaold mohammed osman mohamud, a naturalized u.s. citizen born in somalia on friday night after he tried to detonate what he thought was a van packed with explosives. he thought he was getting help from terrorists, the government says, but they turned out to be working undercover for the fbi. court documents say it was mohamud who came up with the idea last august of setting off a bomb at the annual christmas tree lighting ceremony in portland. investigators say he wanted to kill, que, a huge mass of people with eir families. they say during the past several months he bought bomb components and practiced setting off explosives but the fbi men he thought were terrorists actually constructed a fake bomb. they arrested him friday night after he repeatedly dialed a cell phone number that he thought would set it off parked near the crowd at the cemony. law enforcement officials say they began investigating mohamud after receiving a tip that he was intensely interested in committing violent jihad. agents monitored his e-mail communication with a former college student who went to the tribal areas in pakistan, where terrists are known to operate in. >> all right, pete, so he's been arrested. but what happens now? what's next >> well, he'll be in court on monday. and now the fbi will be looki at whether anyone else was involved. alindications a he was acting alone. >> okay, pete williams in washington with the latest, thank you. and now here's carl. >> amy,thanks. now to the start of a holiday shopping season. it officially began on friday. and it's now in full gear with millions seeking out bargain basement deals. nbc's mike taibbi is live at the manhattan mall here in new york. mike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carl. just opening up here at the manhattan mall. after a flat holiday sales last year, and a disastrous 2008, the national retail federation is planning to see some good news. they're predicting a modest 2.3% increase in holiday sales, among other signs that retail may finally be slowly leading the way out of the country's deep recession. and on black friday all those signs were on dispy. the crowds were huge. a lot ofeading retailers opening earlier than in past years. shoppers had to start sooner to try for that specific item at the door buster price. >> a refrigerator, a stove, and a tv. >> we expect so be record shopping season over the last four years. >> reporter: because it is race there were some tense moments reported. a standoff between two customers who reached for the same item at the same time. >> do not touch me! >> reporter: but mostly the tension this holiday season will be over the bottom line. several bottom lines, actually, that will have a real impact on the broader economy. >> for all the this we don't know, we do know that the road to recovery runs through retail. >> reporter: and retail is tracking every telling trend. is there more self-gifting? so far, 15% of purchases in one survey were people buying for themselves. up from 9% o black friday last year. but still well below the 26% in the last pre-recession year. and how fast will black friday internet sales continue togrow, and to what percentage of overall sales? it's up a huge 16% this year over last. >> we like to do as much as we can to offer similar deals online and in the stes. >> reporter: and the computer savvy consumer has a lot to sift through this black friday weekend. not just the deals for so-called cyber monday. but r what some are calling small business saturday. a day to support local, nonchain businesses. and then there are the new tablet and smartphone apps that will tl you exactly where in the store to shop. how to get special loyalty discounts, and where to find a better price than t one you're scanning with your own cell phone. new ways to shop. >> but we have to keep something in mind. no matter how strong the holiday season is, the questn becomes, what happens after the holiday season? >> reporter: that's for later. right now the expts are saying that some of these new ways we're opping, these new trends are going to become permanent components of the way we shop from here on in and new ways for retailers to control inventory and cost. but for right now it seems that at least anecdotally black friday weekend is off to a robust start. carl? >> all right, mike taibbi in manhattan. thanks. now here'samy. >> carl, thank you. industry analysts are cssing their fingers, counting on this being the best holiday season in years. here with more on the shopping outlook is nicole lappen, anchor of cnbc's "worldwide exchange." good morning. >> good morning. >> you're a shopping expert now in >> i try to be. >> black fridais officially behind us. although we call this black friday weekend. expectations were fairly high. how is it shaping up? >> it's expected to be the best black friday in three years and expectations we tremely high going in to black friday. 138 million people were expected to hit the stores. hit the malls. and that's compared to last year that saw about 134 million people shopping. and we're expecting to see more and more people hit the stores this year, retailers are more hopeful that consumers are back in full force. but compare that to the last two years that we saw flat or negative growth. we're not coming from anywhere spectacur. >> and what does black friday itself say about the overall holiday shopping season. is it an accurate predictor if you have a good weekend this weekend, does that mean the rest of the season is going to be great, too? >> not necessarily. i looked back at some historical data, and if there was a stellar black friday it didn't necessarily mean that there was going to be a houm holiday season or vice versa. >> i think most of us would think this would be a good predictor or a good way of seeing whether or not consumer confidence has returned in this economy. >> absolutely. but think about it. there's two types of consumers. there are the consumers that have a job and a consumer that doesn't have a job. the consumers that have a job we're expecting them to have more discretionary income to spend on discretionary items like jewelry and makeup and shoes, amy, throughout the holiday shopping season. >> i don't know why you mention my name. >> as i'm looking at your lovely shoes. and the ones who don't look for the sales like black friday and they do all their shopping on this day. >> what about cyber monday? this is going to be a big day or it has been. that phrase has been coined over the past five years. >> we're expected to see uptick of about 2.5%. and remember we said an online commerce record last year, $887 million was spent online. nine out of ten retailers expect toet some sort of deal this year. let me just get something off my chest. cyber monday, more and more people are saying this is a manufacturer term. this was all about marketing. this was back in the day when online shopping wasn't what it is today. and there's not necessarily a time that people go online to shop. they're shopping potentially right now while they' watching us. they were shopping yesterday. they're shopping tomorrow. not necessarily going on monday at 11:00 in the morning, which is wt the term suggests. >> okay. stock market, though, is doing well. so what's the overall predictor for this holiday shopping season? >> welle've seen better than expected data, consumer sentiment is up, we're also seeing us close to our highs in the stock market. so economists are pointing to a lot of good economic indicators. to lead us through a stellar holiy shopping season. and even early indicators from the likes of tiefny, the likes of coach, looking at you again, have been better tha expected. >> i like t.j. maxx. nicole lappen, thanks so much. once again, here's carl. >> amy, thanks. moll day shoppers in parts of the northeast will have to dig out of the snow before they head to the stores. the weather channel's mike seidel is in dayton, new york. mike, good morning. >> good morning, carl. here it is. it's a winr wonderland in the snow belt of western new york. it hadn't snowed in buffalo for 271 days until yesterday. that's the second lonst stretch on record. they picked up an inchnd a half here. in dayton that same band moved through here early this morning with four inches of that lake effect. what causes lake effect? let's go to the map. it's cold air over the relatively warm lakes, especially in late november. lake temperatures mid to upper 40s. the air above it, teens and 20s. that temperature difference leads to the banding and the snow. sometimes two to three inches an hour. and we're expecting another five to eight inches in some of those areas like in jamestown. buffalo, youe pretty much done. you'll have some sunshine today, a few flakes. how about the forecast? well, the same northwest wind that causes the lake effec is causing pretty good weather away from the lakes like boston and philadelphia. d.c. you drop from the 60s yeerday behind the front today, 50. that's four degrees below average. in pittsburgh, a dozen down. barely getting above freezing. new york city, boston, great shopping weather. with temperatures in the mid 40s. and carl, these areas average 150 to 200 inches of snow a year so we're just getting started. back to you. >> thanks for that, make. mike seidel indayton, new york. winter is on its way. >> apparently so. at least for mik that did not look fun. let's get a check of other headlines makingews this morning. lynn berry at the news desk. lynn, good morning. >> good morning, amy and carl. good morning to all of you at home. we're going to begin in south korea where tensions are running high over the north's attack earlier this week, and the government's response. this as north korea is warning good morning. it's great to see you. i'mle meteorologt kim martucci with a chilly start in our beautiful backyard. collectively in the 30s all around the area. southwest breeze at 7 miles per hour. sterling, 29. at by manassas 25. bundle up. we'll have great sunshine as you battle it out for parking spot at the mall. be safe. enjoy that high of 47. it get as little better as he inch towards the work week. now we'll send yo that's your weekend forecast. amy? >> bill, tha you. we may just be hours away from another massive release of classified military records, once again they are coming from the wikileaks website. and the information is being described as highly sensitive and embarrassing. more now from chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: u.s. officials tell nbc news that the upcoming document release from the website wikileaks contains top-secret information so damaging it could threaten senate ratification of the s.t.a.r.t. nuclear arms control treaty with the russians. according to the officia the information contained in classifi state department cables reveals secrets behind, and embarrassing claims against russian leadership. informion that cou provide ammunition to republican opponents of the treaty on capitol hill. >> the russians are not going to be surprised that american officials say derogatory things about them. what they're going to be upset about is that it's being leaked to the public. >> reporter: there's also serious concern that some of the leaks could threaten u.s. counterterrorism operations on two fronts. afghanistan, and yemen. in afghanistan, where president hamid karzai has already come under fire for afghan corruption and questions about his mental stability, u.s. officials say the secret cables reveal new and even more embarssing claims about his personality and private life. perhaps more troublesome, the leaks reportedly include top-secret informationbout u.s. military and intelligence operations against al qaeda in yemen. and some critical dispatcs about yemen' president. u.s. officials fear those leaks could not only threaten u.s. military operations, but jeopardize future cooperation from both countries on two itical war fronts. >> anything that is said in these classified cables that is released that is publicly embarrassing is going to complicate our ability to fight the enemy in those two countries. >> reporter: this will be the third massive leak of classified u.s. documents by wikileaks. the controversial founder of the website, who faces alleged rape charges in sweden, has been tweeting about this latest release all week as part of a fund-raising drive. the coming months will see a new world where global history is redefined. keep us strong. but how did wikileaks get hureds of thousands, perhaps millionsof pages of classified u.s. documents? pentagon officials say the prime suspect remains 23-year-old private bradley manning. an army intelligee officer in baghdad who's now in custody and charged with illegally downloadinghousands of classified documents. many of which have already been released by wikileaks. pentagon and state department officials have launched a massive damage control campaign. calling all those world leaders who may have been mentioned or maligned in these documents. but, they say, there's so many they may not get to all of them before tomorrow. r "today," jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. and now here's carl. >> amy, thanks. this morning, revealing look at life in the west wing. author and msnbc political analyst richard wolfe gained extraordinary access to the presidt an his advisers for his explosiveew book "revival: the struggle for survival inside the obama white house." richard wolfe joins u this morning. >> good morning, carl. >> the news of the day involves this injury in the basketball game. is it indicative of his style of play? >> well, these are tough games, okay. >> you played several times. >> i have played several times. and it's not because of my height or skill. mainly because they needed bodies. but these are tough games. but it's old man basketball. what we lack in finesse we make up for with the physical stuff. so it's rough. it's competitive, and this is a president who, look, i suspect if we'd worn a mouth guard he'd have been just fine but he likes to trash talk. so that's the kind of game it is. >> was an injury like this bound to happen, do you think, at some point? >> you know everyone plays close together. he was defending. he's defended me and you know, sometimes you get there a lit late and someone moves to the basket quick. yeah, of course. >> you spent 21 months covering the campaign and that's one reason you had so much access to the white house once they were in office. >> right. >> what surprised you most about hothey operate? >> well, the most surprising thing to me is the swings from failure to success, it's been a repeat. one of the things i call the book "revival" is because he's been written off so many times before and the question is why. it turns out that the transition from campaigning to governing has been something thiefeen wrestling with all the way through, and toy are now. what's the balance now with these newly empowered republicans, as they try a campaign against them, but also try and run the country and the revival piece of this is that there are those folks that want to get backo the campaign days. that's what they want to revive. >> you divide the white house almost no two groups. a group that wants to really change the way washington operates. >> mm-hmm. >> and another group that says we have to do business in this town. >> that's right. and i call one side revivalists and one kind of survivalists. there's a sort of ironic catch to it. if you're going to go with the ways of washington, do the deals, then you undermine what this candidate and president wanted to say he wanted to do in 2008. which was reform, and change, and transparency. and along the way, there's a feeling that he drifted away from that 2008 spirit, precisely because he's wanted to pull the levers of power in washington. >> and none of this is really launched on the family, especially michelle obama, herself, who you argue is somewhat disappointed, and at least the clarity of the message. >> right. but in the ear part of this year, as they were written off, left for dead when they lost in massachusetts, the president said that h was getting a very hard time from the first dy. she was unhappy with the message, unhappy that he'd been portrayed as the guy to blame for the economy and had lost his message of change. so you know, she weighs in at least in the account of the president to his senior aides. >> you've gotten a lot of knocks over his pursuit of the health care deal and you say it really does stem to an extremely personal experience. >> right. this is the president, you know, when you ask why did he want to risk his presidencyn this? why did he want to put so much on health care? you could see it when he signed the health care bill into law in the east room, he got extremely emotional, fighting back the tears. a lot of that comes from his mother's experience. struggling with insurance companies with terminal cancer. those were the stories tat really motivated him through campaigning for health care. and it comes down to that personal thing which, i think, is surprising for someone. we all think of aseing cool and detached from politics. >> you think they underestimated the degree to which the gop had changed? >> absolutely. this is something that rahm emanuel told me through the reporting of "revival" this is a different gop. this was not the party that could have nominated ronald reagan to be president in emmanuel's point of vi. there was no bob dole. they were trying to find something that didn't exist anymore and that was a big miscalculation. >> in the secon half of the term, going to make 2012 look like the midterms or is it going to be better do you think? >> i think they are now very aware that they have to get back to their campaigning spirit of 2008, if they're not the chang candidate, then we're in for a fourth change election and they're going to find themselves on the wrong side of it. >> the book is "revival." richard, thank you very much. now here's amy. oh wow, look at that. calm down donkey. it's vacation time! ohhhhh, who says ogres can't sur nice moves fiona. ha, ha, ha, i love 3d. wooo hoooo [ shrek ] gingy? [ laughs ] do the roar. roar! marty, what's shk doing on a cruise ship? looks like he's having fun! [ female announcer ] join the dreamworks experience for the ultimate vacation, only on royal caribbean. still to come, the royal wedding. how you may be able to seet in a whole new way. >> plus the incredible rescue of three teens after 50 days adrift at sea. but first these messages. no, you can't see it but trust me it is cold outside this morning. some of the coldest air many of you have seen all season. good morning it's 7:26. i'm aaron gilchrist. in the "news4 today", a warning. local police urge you to put safety first has you head out to stores and malls. kmour surroundings and aid carrying too many packages. several bulky shopping bags may make you distracted and make you stand out as a target for thieves. keep your bag out of sight of those walking by your vehicle. be careful in darkparking lots. those areas see moreedestrians this time the year. today is small business saturday. a push to get crowds to more locally owned businesses. discounts lured crowds the old town alexandria-area yesterday along with fre city parking. american express is offering 200,000 card holders a $25 credit if they use their cards todayt a locally owned shop. some economists say out of every $100 spent at locally owned stores about $68 goes back to the community in the form of taxes, payroll and other expenses. a heads up for commuters who use metro smart benefits. starting i december riders could lose the unused funds at the end of every month. it gives workers a tax-ee or pre-tax transit benefit. the change stems from a mandate from the irs and depends how employers implement the irs order. your forecast coming up next. a very chilly stt to this saturday morning. let's check in with meteorologist kim martucci. >> good morning. it is chilly outside. you want to definitely have that coat with you as you head out to do those early morning errands. check out numbers. they don't lie. some 20s in our suburbs like sterling where it's 29. your facebooking me and telling me your local weather. stafford is 30. 28 la plata. 34 downtown. we'll get up and take a look down show you the numrs here and how they compare to yesterday morning. you ready for this? it's 24 degrees colder than where we were yesterday at this time. so, yes, much colder tes hve moved in. morning, november 27th, 2010. you're taking a look at the rockefeller center christmas tree. the 74 foot pine tree weighs 12 tonights and it will be lit this coming tuesday night right here on nbc. back inside studio 1a, i'm amy robach along with carl qutanilla, who is filling in for lester. and coming up in this half hour, it's being called the divorce curse. women who make more money than men, and it's csingroblems at home. are the higher incomes actually causing the couples to divorce? 're going to have a surprising answer. >> interesting story. then there's tiger woods. believe it or not it has been one year since this life-changing scandal first surfaced. tiger says he is ankful and is feeling better each and every day. but can he ever recover from the damage? we will take a look back and have a closer look. >> and then we're going to contin our series on the pop culture icons who influenced our lives. for lester it was the partridge family. today it's my turn with the '80s pop band duran duran. the videos, the styles, the songs. and guess what? the band is still going strong, as i found out when i met them in london. that's comg up in our next half hour. they were so funny, and so cute still. i was really impressed. you know you have low expectations sometimeshen someone was your idol. >> oh, yeah, of cour. >> they met and exceeded all that. >> it sounds like they feel like they're going to play for awhile. >> they have a new album coming out. >> trying to impress with my duran duran knowledge. >> first we begin with what's being called the miracle rescue sea. three teenage boys from the south pacific were lost at sea in their small aluminum boat. that was back in early october. 50 days later, they were found, alive. nbc's lee cowan has more. >> reporter: rarely has a pair of sea legs been so happy to set foot on dry land. three teenage caaways, adrift for almost two months. managed to walk off the fishing boat that found the with just enough energy for a smile. >> are you glado be alive? >> yes. >> reporter: for 50 days they've been a speck in the south cific, a floating needl in a haystack of blue that new zealand's air force was unable to find. their families even held a memorial, fearing the ocean had claimed the trio for good. now, on that string of tiny islands in tokelau that they call home, they're saying the oceagave back a miracle. >> oh, we're so happy. everyone is so happy. all of tokelau people are so happy that, oh, what a story. >> reporter: the three had set off back in october to find love, it's rumored. a girl on a nghboring island. but not far from samoa their outbrd stopped, leaving them at theercy of the current that carried them some 800 miles off course. it was in a pretty lonely part of the south pacific, rarely traved and well outside the major shipping lanes. andet for some reason, a tuna boat decided to take that very heading home, and was shocked to see anher boat off its bow. >> they were just skin and bones. the skin was falling off their bones practically. but, they were jt overwhelmed. >> reporter: they had survived on rain water, a few coconuts, raw fish, and one unlucky sea gull. if their home was to imprs a girl, their story of survival undoubtedly will do the trick. but first, they may have to explain toheir grateful parents what on earth they we thinking. for "today," lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. >> you can kind of jest a little because it didave a happy ending but they're calling this girl the siren of the sea. >> i wonder how long to take the parents to kiss them, i'm so glad you're home to hitting them upside the head. >> we're all glad they're safe and sound at home. now for a check of the weather with bill out on the plaza. >> good morning, everyone on this sarday. wonderful crowd. this is a a november chill in the air. good morning. yes, lots of 30s and some 20s on the weather map as you get started for your saturday morning routine. take that jacket and layer up. wel have bright sunshine as we head into theafternoon. no snow here. great lakes, though, they will be piling it up a foot or more, watertown, bfalo around here wehave sunshine, rain comes our way on tuesday. and towards the end of the week we'll be dried out again with highs only in the 40s. now back to new york city. if you want to get your weekend forecast or hour by hour forecast, weather.com. >> all right, bill, thank you. comi up, the divorce curse. what it means for women making more money then they're husbands. >> plus, time to buy. what the housing market looks like for you this holiday season. but first these messages. od for 23 yards. - hey. he went to jar. - that's a peerless diamond. the ideal ideal-cut diamond. what? female announcer: if you want to create yourwn one-of-a-kind ring, get to jared this friday througmonday, because you can receive get set in diamonds rewards, up to $1,000 toward a beautiful diamond setting, wh you buy your diamond at jared. choose from thousands of diamonds and hundreds of settings. get up to a $1,000 reward this friy through monday at jared. 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[ female announcer ] so with keurig, every cup tastes like it's brewed just for you. ♪ because it is. choose. brew. enjoy. keurig married women making more money than their husbands may be a good thing for the family income, but as you'll see, it may also lead to divorce. in today's economy, women are taking the reins othe american workforce. and bringing home the bacon. ♪ takin' care of business >> in nearly one-third of marriages, the wife is better educated than her husband, and in 22% of couples, she's also the primary bread winner. >> and what we're really seeing is around the worl women in the job market and of course with this, we're beginning to see growing economic equality between the sexes. >> reporte but what's padding the pocketbook could be hurting marriages. >> myusband was very supportive of my career, he wanted me to be successful. but, he didn't want me to be more successful. >> reporter: antoinette banks is a lawyer in new york city. when see saw her salary skyrocket, her relationship went south. >> i think he had the expectation of being the primary breadwinner. >> reporter: a recent study found women who make more than their husbands were 38% more likely to get a divorce. >> it's a very uncomfortable relationship. >> reporter: for laura wellington, being the mother of five and owner of three companies, left little time for her marriage. >> my devotion had to be to the childr and work. you know. and all that meshed together. >> it's about expectations. how the family going to work. it's about the details of t partnership. and they can become extremely complex when people went into a marriage with certain expectations and those expectations are not fulfilled. >> expectations and income could be a bad combination for some marriages. matt tit is a relaonship expert and danica voice is known as a financial fitness coach. it's a huge issue and makes a lot of sense. broadly, why does it always come down to money? why is it such a huge issue in marriage? >> because it's very emotional. we're very connected to it from the time we interact with our families and our friends. it really dictates the way so many people interact with each other so it is a veryemotional things it's used to show love. it's used to take away love. it's used if you get good grades. so we do have an expectation that money equals the amount or how much we love someone. >> and for so long, for so many decades women marry in large degree for financial security. and as their incomes have gotten better, guess, there's less reon to ick around i it's not working out. >> two primary reasons that we got married in the past was to pro-create and to provide. and women, at this point, don't need those two things from men anymore, or as much as they used to. >> matt, you know this personally, right? you lived through this exact scenario. >> when i got married my wife was making six to seven times as much as i was. i was just out of a divorce, i was on my attorney's couch. it was disastrous. i said how can i feel wanted and needed? what do i need to do? what's lacking from a woman that has career success, she's financially soent. wh's lacking is maybe emotional and physical intimacy. maybe it's just being there to listen to her problems. >> how did you handle the situation? what steps did you take? >> i was smart about it. i looked at the situation, i said what is she lacking? what can i do? i can give her a family home, more of a family life. more of a stability factor. what can i do? the main dishwasher, dogs i've walked, and homes i'm taking care of. so my career, you kn, actually exceeded her career. she was smart enough to see those things in me and if the guy is smart, he'll know how to handle a woman without knowing that she's being hdled. and that -- >> that's true. >> andaybe part of the secret, is for the woman who's makg more money, to say, i may not need you as much financially, but i still need you. >> exactly. and that need is so important. because we as women want to be wanted. men need to be needed. and so when we can do that, exactly as mattsaid, there are so many things that money can't buy, but the emotional piece is huge. and to have someone to talk to at the end of the day,nd to really have someone who is going to be affectionate and to have someone who is going to hug you and embrace you, those are the thin that money can't buy. those are what women are still fundamentally looking for. >> women need that. she needs emotional support. she needs someone to say how was your day? what can i do? here's a different perspective, to make your career better. if you're a guy, it's lacking, money, do that for your wife. in most cases, matt, do you think it's genelly the guy's problem? the guy's issue? >> absolutely. because we've been socialized to be the provider. we're the ones that takeare of everything. >> and you have to adjust. >> yeah, and if you can't, you're the weaker sex. don't do that. be strong. >> fascinating stuff. still to come this morning, a ar in e life. looking back on the tiger woods sex scandal. but first, this is "today" on nbc. 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[ cheers and applause ] male announcer ] achievement gets points for living life. earn pnc points for your credit and debit card purchases. ♪ find out more at pnc.com/getpoints. pnc. for the achiever in us all. still to come on "today," sneaky scams. befo you head out to the mall beware of the holay shopping cons you need to look out for. >> plus duran duran. i got to meet my teen idols in person. but first, these messas. ad, where does breakfast come from? mom...? umm...in a far away land there is... the kingdom of breakfast. every morning giants go on a long journey and make a delivery to some breakfast wizards. they use magic wands to turn everything hot & tasty... and before you know it, you've g a hot and delicious breakfast. so -- where did i come fro... [ male announcer ] the simple joy of a real breakfast. ♪ because they have 20% more calcium per chew than viactiv or for the delicious flavors like chocolate truffle and vanilla creme? mmm. -mmm. -mmm. 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[ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one and earn doubleiles on every purchase, every day. go to catalone.com. i wonder what it could be?! what's in your wallet? good morning. 7:56 right now. i'm aaron gilchrist. in the news for today, one man is dead after his car collided wi a tow truck in charles county, maryland. this happened around 8:00 last night on 301 south near holly lane. stanley wallace was driving when he hit a tow truck that was crossing 301. he was ejected from the car and died from his injuries. the driver from the tow truck didn't suffer any injuries. six students at dunbar high school in northwest d.c. have been arrested and charged with sexual assault. d.c. police say it happened on monday on campus during school hours and that the victim knew some of the six male studentsing charged. the gi told her parents when she got home from school and went to the hostal for an exam. police say becauseall the students involved are juveniles their identities will not be released. we'll take a look at your forecast in just a second. stay with us. kim martucci is in storm center 4 with a look at our forecast. >> good morning day. the temps outside, those yea you have to wear that jacket. layer up. 35 degrees. and our busy winds have subside. they are out of the southwest at 6 miles per hour. more numbers showhat sterling now out of the 20s at 31. winchester 38. 28 manassas. 31 la plata. we havehe clearing skies. the snow will stayut of our reach in pennsylvania and new york. still lots of sunshine. high 46. 47 i annapolis. martinsburg 41. 44 in frederick and right in town 47. aaron, back to you. more news and weather in 25 minutes orso. for now back to new york and more of the "the today show". it's 8:00 nown this saturday morning. the 27th day of november, 2010. we have a great crowd this morning. we want to thank everyone who's come out to the pla to spend part of their morning with us. i'm amy robach along with carl quint neleh in for lester holt this morning. >> good to be here. a little chilly. >> it is a little chilly. but it feels appropriate. >> for fall. >> it's nice to have you here. >> thank you, good to be here. >> coming up this half hour we're going to talk about tiger woods at a crossroads. hard to believe but exactly one year ago today the tiger woods sex scandal hit. his life, his career, his reputation, all changed. now he's speakin out and as you'll see he's grateful for what he has. but can he put it all behind him. we'll talk about that. >> also cominup, all eyes are on britain's future princess kate middleton. how is she holding up in the royal spot light? we'll talk to one of her friends and find out what a new book reveals about prince william and kate's romance. >> and then, the scam alert. you know it's a big season for buying and shopping from online tricks to credit card cons. we're looking out for you this holiday season with some expert advise that will keep you from becoming a target. that's all ahead. >> but first we're going to tell but theatest on the fbi's sting in portland, oregon, where investigators say a teenager was plotting a car bomb attack during christmas tree lighting ceremony there. nbc's pete williams is in washington with the details. pete, good morning. >> reporter: amy, good morning. the fbi says there never was any danger at th tree lighting ceremony because there never was a real bomb. but agents say the man they arrested thought it was real and wanted to cause dth and injury. 19-year-old mohamed osman mohamud was arrested friy night after he tried to detonate what he thought was a van packed with explosives. court documents say it was mohamud who came up with the idea last august of setti off a bomb at the christmas tree lighti ceremony. investigators say he wanted to kill, quote, a huge mass of people with their families. they say during the past several nths he bought bomb components and practiced setting off explosives. he worked with two men he thought were terrorists but were actually working for the fbi. they helped him build what turned out to be a fake bomb. they arrested him friday night after he helped assemble the components, rode in the van to the ceremony and then repeatedly dialed a number on a cell phone that he thoug would set it off. >> the big question, how law enforcement actually found out or now about mohamud's plans to form ts terror plot. >> law enforcement officials say that they started investigating him after they got a tip that he was intensely interested in committing violent jihad. and thengents monitored his e-mail communications with a former college student who went to the tribal areas in pakistan where terrorists are known to operate . >> all right, pet williams with the latest. thank you, pete. now to the holiday shopping rush. a lot of retailers hoping that shoppers turn out for the bargains, and bringing them a profit. nbc's mike taibbi is live at the manhattan mall in manhattan. mike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carl. the shopps have been showing up, anecdotallyt least a huge black friday opening yesterday here at the manhattan mall in manhattan. i think the doors just opened, people are starting to trickle in right now. the numbers at least again anecdotally all look pretty good. the national retail federation is estimating a modest improvement this year, about a 2.3% increase in holiday sales over last year. that after a flat year last year and a disastrous 2008. but everything looks pretty good. one other stat, don't gift it as a measure of how the economy is doing. 50% of those asked say they're buying for themsves first or only for themselves as opposed to 9% last year. another indication that at least so far black friday weekend looks like it's off to a pretty good start. >> how is the scess or lack of success of black friday sales, how is it being measured? >> they measure every way they can. they look at the size of the crowds who show up, the early opening yesterday, macy's says its crd of 7,000 here in manhattan was twice as big as the year before. they count the cars in the parking lots of the mall, supposedly up 12%. even here in manhattan, the improvement district had kids out counting the number of shopping bags per hour that they see. that number also up from last ar. so far everything looks good. the real report card when they get the actual sales figures after this black friday weekend. >> mike thanks a lot. >> i was going to say the same thing, there's nothing wrong with self-gifting. let's head now back inside to lynn bry who is at the news desk with a look at th other top headlines. good morning. >> good morning, amy and carl. good morning, once again, to all of you. we begin in south korea. where tenons are escalating over the north's attack earlier this week. and there are dire warnings against tomorrow's planned military exercises between the u.s., and south korea. nbc's ian williams is live in seoul with me. ian, good morning. >> lynn, good morning. passions running extremely high here in south kea today, where they've been holding the funerals of the two young marines who died in tuesday's attack on yeonpyeong island. now this funeral was broadcast live nationwide, and during it the commander of the south korean marines threatened what he calle thousand fold revenge for that attack. now, also, today we've seen a series of protests here in seoul, urging tougher action by the south korean government. it com just hours before this joint military exercise between south korea and the u.s., which will take place in waters just to the southwest of here. now, at the heart of that operation, of course, will be the "uss george washington," the aircraft carrier with 75 warplanes on board. the island where that clash took place tuesday has been the scene of a big cleanup operation after the attack. but also the authorities going door-to-door to make sure that civilians have evacuated ahead of this exercise, lynn. >> nbc's ian williams. even, thank you. secretary of state hillary clinton has reached out to several countries in advance of this weekd's expected release of classified state department cables by the website wikileaks. the communications are said to include candid assessment of foreign leaders and could embarrass the u.s. president obama is recovering today after getting 12 stitches on his lip. the commander in chief got roughed up just a bit in a friendly game of basketball on friday. he was elbowed by an employee of the congressional hispanic caucus institute, who said the president is a tough competitor, and a good sport. luckily for him. and maybe that's why the president didn't join his family to welcome the white house christmas tree. mrs. obama, with first daughters malia and sasha greeted the douglas fir as it arrived by horse and carriage. the 19-foot tree from a pennsylvania farm got the thumbs up from the first family. it will adorn the blue room duringhe holidays. that's the news. and now back out to amy, who's on the plaza. all right, lynn, thanks so much. we want to check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins, who is also out on the plaza with me. i'm shivering little bit. >> it's a little cold. 34 out here. and of course, this is thanksgiving weekend, everyone still thankful for so many around here we're in the mid-30s but a beautiful day with sunshine. good morning i'm meteorologist kim martucci. it's great to have you with us. as we get through the holiday weekend together. the warm spot is winchester with 38, la plata 31, clinton 32 and good morning to my friend america down in ldorf. she says it's cold. at least you have the sun today. we'll take a stab at 47 by the ternoon. now back to new york city. >> also our friends from ohio and alabama people here. wonderful people. back to you, carl. >> all right, bill, thanks. now to tiger woods. it's been exactly one year since that mysterious early morning crash outside h florida home. since that moment, everything chand for the golfer, and the way the wolf views him. here's nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: in the year since his plunge into international andal, tiger woods' life went from bad to worse as he was ripped apart publicly. but now,e says, he's turned a corner, and fls much more balanced. >> amazing, you know, how much better i feel internally each and every day. how thankful i am to have the connection that i have with my kids, and people who mean the most to me. he's almost been freed or unshackled by a lot of this stuff. it's ironic such a terrible thing would lead him to feeling this good about himself. >> reporter: until a year ago woods was on top of the world, a billionaire golfing great, flush with endorsements and championships. but then came a 911 call at 2:25 a.m. in wind mer florida. >> what happened? what's wrong? >> i have a neighbor, he hit the tree. >> reporter: at first, it seemed a routine car crash. >> tiger woods has been in an accident. his suv ran afoul of a fire hydrant and a tree in the wee small hours of the morning. right outside his house. >> reporter: but soon there were questions, then lurid claims that woods, a married father of two, had wide range of extramarital affairs, igniting a tabloid frenzy, and destroying his carefully crafted image as a family man. woods lost millions of dollars in endorsements. and many claim he wasn't forthright about what he had done, despite his public apology. >> i am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and self-ish behavior. >> reporter: in the months to come, he and his wife elin dirced. she receiving a reported $100 million settlement. meantime, woods' golf game suffered dramatically. >> a lot of tiger's not winning 2010 has to do with the emotnal struggle that he went through. >> reporter: a struggle that woods says has now made him a better person and that many fans hope could eventuay lead to a comeback. fo "today," mark potter, nbc news, miami. and joining us with more this morning, cnbc sports business reporterrd courtney hazlett, todayshow.com's pop culture correspondent. darren, if we're going to look for a way to measure the come back, look at the number of ads he's been in this year so far, about $700,000 worth. a ar ago this time, $70 million worth. >> clearly, carl, the fact that he did not win really impacted him as an endorser. not only did he lose an estimated $25 million in deals, an he lost the ability to forever say, i'm the guy who's untouchable. don't worry about your brand. and i think that was big, electronic arts sold their game with his name on it. sales are off about 30%. and nike couldn't bring him back because he just didn't win. >> you recent did an interview with his agent who said he expects to see him back in the mainstream in 2011. how lily is that? >> well, i think that there's going to be cpanies that are going to, you know, want to go forward with him. i think nike's obviously stuck around for a reason. they think he's goi to be the number one player in the world again. they think he can win again. the question is, mark steinberg, his agent, told me he's going to get endorsement deals and there's one on the way. who is this tiger woods that you're now investing in? and do you pay a discount versus last year, obviously the year before all this happened. >> courtney, there'ses business side and then there's the personal side. some of the rumors that he is now beginning to date around a little bit. >> the are rumors but they're also very connient given that this is the one-year anniversary. rumors would surface saying he is seeing women again. i think one of the big mistakes tiger is making right now is he's talking about his feelings. i mean, nobody wants to hear about tiger's feelings. a lot of people's feelings were hurt here. we don't care thatou've grown or whatnot. we want to see a good golfer. at the end of the day he's got to win. >> he did this interview with espn. he's written the op-ed for "newsweek." he is tweeting now, which there are a quarter million followers. >> someone who should not be allowed to twitter. if he couldn't handle the text messages, tiger woods,witter might not behe best forum to be reaching out to your fans. not only that, and i'm joking around a little bit, but the tweets that he's actually doing are saying, thanks for all the lo, fans. no, we're actually following you to see when you make a mistake. not necessarily because we love you. it's turni limb into a caricature of himself. >> and i think it has to be genuine. if he's going to go on twitter and tweet, he's been ribbed all along for the fact that what he's saying, what's coming out of his mouth, is that really him? or is that someone putting words in his mouth, because it is the strategy to recovery. >> how aut this game, just his golf game as it is, first year without winning a major championship? in order for this comeback to be complete does he need an award? does he need a trophy? >> i think so. i mean, we wrote his comeback story. we said, america needs to forgive. and they will. but they won't if he's not the same ayer. we can't get our minds off what happened. so he's got to win, and he's got to win like he did before in order to be the tiger woods that we once knew. >> he's got the added problem of his apologies not ringing sincere with some people. you argue in order for his comeck to be comple that's got to change. >> that's got to change. he has to actually seem sincere. i think the doushl-edged sword was the fact that tiger was so private earlier, now that we're hearing this personal sidef him, it doesn't seem really genuine. had he been genuine with his personal life leading up to this, we'd have something to compare to. but right now all we have to compare ito are all the mistresses. >> amazing as one person said, the higher the reach, he was so successful, the decline mes it all that more remarkable. >> i don't know if he's ever going to get back to that point. >> i think another thing that has to happen is elin has t move on, maybe get married. and eryone once they see she's okay, because at the end of the day, it was his family that got torn apart is what everybody was so angry about. not because he didn't play golf as well as he used . but because he tore apart this family unit. if she's okay, tiger's going to be okay. >> it's been crazy year with lebron james. people say that they hate lebron james more than they hate tiger woods. why? because lebron did something to you. he didn't go to chicago. he didn't go to new york. he did something to you. tiger just did something to himself. >> right. darren, courtney, thanks so much. ill to come this morning the royal wedding. how the bride-to-bes holding up under all the pressure. d sneaky scams to watch out for this holiday season. right after these messages. ♪ [ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] ow, ow! 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[chuckles] trust me. i know. ho-ho-ho-ho-ho. - introducing charmed memories, a new collection at kay jewels. each design is hand- crafted in italy, and because you choose the charms, the possibilities are endless. create your own memories with charmed memories, one more reason kay is the number one jewelry store in america. - i love it. - santa said you would. no, really. and now to the royal wedding of prie william and kate middleton. this morning a new book is providing us with even more insight into what's being called the greatest love story of the century. joining us now is nbc news royal contributor and longtime friend of kate middleton, jessica hay. ssica, good morning. >> good morning,amy. how are you? >> i'm doing well. and we mentioned you are a good friend of kate middleton. how is she holding up to all of this attention? i ow she's dealt with it in pieces up until now. but this is probably at a whole new level. >> yeah, absolutely. she has been with h for a long time so she's had a long time to prepare for what is going to be a massive public occasion in april. now, i thk, from what i've heard, she's holding up pretty well. she's got a good head on her shoulders, as i've said before. and she's a vy calm person. of course, it's going to be stressful for her. but she loves william. so, for her, it's just a natural progression. >> i'm re, asll of us saw what william's mom, pncess diana, went through, with the paparazzi, is she prepared for that kind of attention? is she nervous about it? >> i think deep down she's very nervous, obviously, with the past that happened to diana. she obviously doesn'tant that kind of thing to happen again. and obviouy william doesn't want that to happen to her, either. although she is prepared. i don't think there's going to be so much pubc scrutiny over her. they're going to give them a lot of privacy. >> just ten days after the announcement of their engagement a new book has hit the shelves called "william and kate: a royal love story." the book has been written by the royal reporter of "the sun." can you describwhat their budding romance was like? >> well, way back when they first started it was just like any other normal couple. they clicked instantly. they have a lot of similar interests. which i think, you know, bodes well for them. and they were just like any other normal couple. they used to go out to parties together. you ow, friends, going to the pub. st normal things. and i think that's why they make such a lovely couple. and they haven't changed. they're still exactly the same they're almost still in their honeymoon peri. >> the book has gone so far as to call their romance the greatest love story of the century. that's quite a tall order. is that how you would describe their romance? >> i would describe it as a very, very lovely romance. if youall it the greatest, that's generalizing a lot. but i think it is a very lovely romance. and you know, we're lucky to have those two. because, they do make the wld a bit more of a happier place at the moment. >> it is nice to watch them so in love. jessica hay, thanks so much. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. bye. >> bye-bye. and we're bang. but first, this is "today" on nbc. still to come on "today," how to avoid holiday season scams before you hit the mall. >> plus from rio to the reflex, my teen idols duran duran. but first, these messages. ♪ would you like me to read you a story? you can't read. 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[laughing] yeeah. tha's why there's castrol gtx... with our most powerful deposit fighting ingredient ever. castrol gtx exceeds the toughest new industry standard. don't let deposits hold youcar back. get castrol gtx. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. good morning, it's 8:26. i'm kimberly suiters. topping your news for this saturday morning, d.c. police are looking for a cyclist who hit two people and took off. people say the bicyclist hit a man and a woman in their 70s in the 600 block of massachusetts avenue northwest yesterday. both victims were taken to hospital. the man is sbd in critical condition. advice for commuters who use metro smart benefits use it or lose it. starting in december riders could lose unused fund. the program allow employers to provide workers with a tax-free or pre-taxed amount ey can put on their metro charge card. the change is a mandate from the irs and depends on how that irs order is implemented. order is implemented. ♪ ♪ [ dad ] yeah! [ cheers and applause ] [ male announcer ] achievement gets points for living life. earn pnc points for your credit and debit card purchases. ♪ find out more at pnc.com/getpoints. pnc. for the achiever in us all. kim martucci is back from her leave. she brought the cold with her snipe see su out the window. it's looking great otherwise. let's take a look at what we woke up to this morning. sterling 29. manassas you had a low of 23. we touched down at 33 inside the district. now we're at 35. 36 in martinsburg. 35 also at annapolis. lot was sunshine. that's going to be nice today. the snow up to the north will stay up to the north across the great lakes. we'll get up to 47. better tomorrow. 49. bright sunshine. rain doesn't sneak back in until tuesday. that'shen we have a 70% chance and by then we'll be flirting with highs around 60. back to you. thank you. we'll ha a full hour of news, weather and sports at the top of the hour with "news4 today". until then it's back to new york and "the today show". we're back on this saturday morning, november 27th, 2010. everyone has come out to share part of their thanksgiving weekend with us. outside on the plaza, i'm amy robach, along with carl quintanilla filling in for lester. very enthusiastic crowd out here. >> yes. >> still to come this half hour today, buyer beware. >> as you all know the holidays are fast approaching. some of the holiday deals can actually be too good to be true. so coming up we've got the sneaky scams you need to watch outor before you actually go out and spend your money. that's important. >> absolutely. and then we're going to continue our series, my first idol. and this morning, two words, duran duran. remember the songs to reflex, real hungry like the wolf? i loved them. so did you, carl. i feel better about my past love as a 'tween teen. the '80s band is releasing a new album. i got to fly off to ldon and meet with them. it was a lot of fun. >> when you walked in the room, were you nervous? >> i was excited. and then i was really, because i didn't know what to expect. but they were great. and i was so pleasantly surprised. always nice when you meet your idol and they're nice and fun and all the things you thought they would be. >> ps are you tired of turkey leftovers yet? a lot of people are. this morning master chef marcus danielson is with us for a delicious alternative for this time of year. >> all right. a lot to get to. but firslet's check in again with bill karins on the plaza with the weather. >> well, good morning, everyone on this saturday. it looks pretty quiet not a bad weekend forecast here. good morning. i'm meteorologist kim martucci. bright sunshine for you. but it is a little colder than average with highs in the upper 40s. normally we're in th middle 50s for a high temperature. we'll hold off on rain until tuesday. by then 60 for the high. now right now you can see where we compare. 35. 30 man spaps 38 winchester. you folks to the south quantico way standing in at 36. have a high of 48. now backo new york city. there's already been a lot of football goingn this thanksgiving weekend. we've got more for you. we're going to end it all on sunday night with two of the best quarterbacks in the nfl. philip rivers, who's been extremely ho and the indianapolis colts, of crse peyton manning. they play that game indoors. should be quite a game. back to you, amy. >> this morning on our series "today's teenidols" i'm reaching back to the '80s for m choice of duran duran. the band defined the era and for me they were the pop icons that influenced my life. the sound, the videos, the style. duran duran embodied all things '80s. i spent the better part of that decade with their posters on my bedroom wall listening to my favorite song, "the reflex." and flipping through their issues of "tiger beat" but i had to wait until now to fulfill my teenagdream. here i am in london, it's taken me 27 years, i crossed the atlantic, and now i'm finally going to get to meet duran duran. i waited a long time to meet you. a quarter of a century almost. >> very patient. >> nice to meet you. >> simon lebon, nick rhodes and roger taylor, along with fourth current member john taylor all started with the band touring the clubs around england nearly three decades ago. you guys hen't changed a bit. so you're still doing music, too. >> just finished a new album. >> we've been very lucky because we g to do what we wanted to do for a long time. ♪ >> they splashed onto the scene in 1981 with their first single planet earth. and with it came instant fame. when you said you all peormed, you playing here in london, and to go from that to all of a sudden, having, you know, teenagers screaming, fainting at your very sight, and singing all the words. it happened so quickly. >> signs of success did take us by surise. we knew we were good, and we knew that we had a very original sound. we knew that we wrote good songs. thenormity of the success. >> beatlesque. ♪ >> for duran duran, timing was everything. making its debut in the u.s. at e same time was a new cable television networkalled mtv. >> i remember the first time a record company executive came to us and said, look, we'd like to make a video for your song, planet earth, off our single. we said what do you mean? they said well we're going to make a little film that goes with your ng. we were laughing saying, you're kidding? we get to make a film with the song? from that point we thought of them as little films that ran with your music. >> reporter: the result, unforgettabl scenes from the golden era of music individual hes fwro hungry like the wolf to the provocative girls on film. some controversy in some of your videos at the time. now it's probably kind of funny to even think that that was controversial. >> they worked really well for us. >> you put it right up on the edge. >> a very good excuse with the videos to put some beautiful girls in it. >> after 19 chart topping hits, over 80 million records sold, and countless concerts to sellout crowds around the world, in the last decade the fans have turned to the internet to reach their fans. >> the last five years have been people saying oh, my god, the internet is killing off the music industry. and it isn't. it's changing it. >> it's the most district route we have to our audience. >> with the release of their 13th studio album next month, it's an audience they hope keeps tuning in. >> you know, we're the band that people like to put on when they want to get people jumping. >> you guys see music forever in your lives? >> yes, actually. >> duran duran? >> we're very lucky in that we've got jobs that don't particularly have age limits on them. >> as long as we have an audience that you know, is there to receive us, i can't see an end to it. >> wow. >> you know, there was so much of the interview, i mean when i left, my face hurt because i was laughing so hard. they were really funny. they were actuly igniting things. >> you are guaranteed backstage passes from now on. >> you're right. are you listening? that's exact right. >> can we get one more look -- >> no! that was prom. '89. so embarrassing. >> you look great. >> can we move on, please? up next seasonal sneaky scams. >> how to keep your family safe. [ female anouncer ] smooth skin? not good enough. [ female announc ] now get baby-smooth perfection with new dream smooth mousse from maybelline new york. some makeups leave skin rough, dry. ours is cream whipped, so it hydrates. skin looks flawless, baby-smooth. new dream smooth only from maybelline. i el like i have to wind myself to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the lack of energy. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about pristiq®, a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctoright away if your depression worsens or youave unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not aroved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding sk. tell your doctor about all your medications, including those for migraine, to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. tell your doctor if you have heart disease or before you reduce or stop taking pristiq. side effects may include nausea, dizziness and sweating. for me, pristiq is a key in helping to treat my depressn. ask your doctor about pristiq. this morning on today's risks, sneak j scams. shoppers are often targets for tricks and cons. >> it happens all the time. how can you outsmart the scammers? we put together a panel of experts this morning to make sure you don't become prey this holiday season. >> first up we'll talk shopping scams. we'll all be doing a lot of buying in the days and weeks ahead. here with popular scams is lisa lee freeman, editor in chief of shop smart magazine. >> good morning. >> a lot of these are variations on old themes. one of them is called smishing. >> you heard of phishing. that's wn they send you an e-mail. this is when they send you a text message, looks like a legitimate institution like paypal or your bank and asks you to call an 800 number. there's an automated service that asks for all your account information. you give it to them. they clear out your account. >> best way to prevent that? >> only call phone numbers on legitimate paperwork like your statements -- don't call the 00 number on the text message. call the company through the statement. >> we know gift cards are going to be popular. i was amazed to see the ways people can get in to a gift card and take things from you before you spend on it. >>hat's right. you go into a supermarket, you see the car stands and you grab one. well a crook it's just as easy for a crook to nab one. they scan the ont, they scan the back, when you activate it they rip it off. >> the bestay to prevent that as well? >> try to buy gift cards from behind a customer service counter so no one c get to them before you do. and alsosk for a receipt and give the receipt to the recipient. >> one thing you say to watch out for are tiny little charges on your credit card statement. >> that's right. you see a charge on your credit card, maybe it's $10, $20 or less and you think it's got a legitimate-looking company flex to it. maybe even an800 number so you probably pay it. well criminals are stealing hundreds of card numbers and they're billing lots of people small amounts and ripping people off. if y see a charge that doesn't lookegit call your credit card company. >> membership programs. how can that go wrong? >> what happens is you get a little pop-up message after you are checking out from a big legitimate shopping site, it says sav an extra $10 or $20, click here. when you click there and you automatically get entered io some membership program, and they start billing your credit card $10 or $20 a month. so you've got to be beware of those pop-ups. >> totally different third party. >> absolutely. >> and now here's amy. >> carl, thank you. and now to travel scams, and the bogus deals you need to watch out for before you book your trip. mark orwall is the international editor at travel and leisure. good morning. >> good morning. >> many travelers hit the road d rent cars. if you rent a car they always ask you about insurance. you want to get this insurance. and i never quite know what to do. what are the rules? >> and it's expensive. as much as $20 a day. don't ge insurance if you don't need to get it. because if you have personal car insurance it's generally covered. if you have -- if you're paying with a credit card, many credit cards will include car rental insurance. if you use that car to pay for it. lastly, remember to take a picture. use yourell phone, take a picture of the four sides of the car before you drive away and when you bring it back because i've been hearing a lot of reports about car rental companies calling the renter and saying, hey,here's a dent in the car we're charging you extra for that you can prove that there wasn't. >> something else to give out when you're traveling you might have more valuable things in the rental car than you might otherwishave. now is not the time to let your guard down. >> do not drive around in a stage city with all your valuables, your carry-ons, electronic gear, caras. don't leave it on the front seat right next to you. you're inviting a rip-off. >> airlines have found plenty of ways to charge us extra money from in flight snacks, baggage, often it can feel like you're getting scammed. how can you avoid those extra charges? >> i would always recommend u carry-on luggage, because you're not gointo get charged for baggage. but if you do have to check bags pay for the baggage fee when you book your airfare. beuse you're acally going to save money. if you go to the airport they're going to charge you an extra $3 to $10 per piece of luggage each way. if you're traveling with a family that costs real money. >> the fake villa scam. if you go to a vacation destination spot. what is this? >> it's actually vacation rental properties that don't exist. if you go online to rent one of these holiday properties, a villa in france or a condo in hawaii, ma sure that you have a telephone number and address for the rental agency. don't just use the website. talk to somebody there. get references from people who have actually stayed at this place. go to google maps, google the address and make sure that the rental unit actually exists. because people have gotten ripped off this exact wa >> that's incredible. okay, thanks for the advice. and now here's carl. >> all right, amy, thanks. finally, outsmart scams, getting dupewith make you feel like a helpless victim. here with tips to protect yourself is la toya drake, aol consumer adviser. >> good morning. >> one thing that helps the scam tist these days is the influx of e-cards which are being sent all over. >> that's right. people are migrating away from tritional mail going over to e-cards. if you receive sething like an e-card from a friend or family member click this thing to retrieve it. do not cling the link in many cases. it's a fishing message. you click the link, a virus is downloaded. >> you say don't do anything that requires you to download something. don't open something if you don't recognize the sender. >> that's exactly right. >> other than deleting it, what should we do? >> it's not enough to delete it. you have toend it to the ftc. they've got an e-mail address, it's spam@uce.gov. they store those messages at a da database in law enforcement agencies. >> hopefully over time those things end up. >> absolutely. >> you talk about how do you know when you're actually getting a good deal and some of these price comparison sites are pretty beneficial tool. >> that's right. our number one go-to tip. pricegrabber.com, bizrate are great price comparin sites. if you're in a store, you're shopping one of these final liquidation, going out of business, you need to know if you're actually getting real prices that are bargain basement. check the pricetag, if it's a different color, if it's a different font, that merchandise probably did not come fr that store. it came from a third party. so maybe marked up the merchandise. >> even though don't believe the signage in other words. even if it's staring you in the face. >> that's correct. >> y make the pot, too, that as consumers we have rights that we probably don't always know about or hear about. >> many people don't think about this. when you purchase an item online by phone, the company has to send that merchandise to you within the shipping range that they say. if there is no shipping date, within 30 days, you should receive that merchandise in 30 days, if you don't have your product, you have the rig to cancel and demand your money back. >> amazing because at this time of year consumers have so much coming at them they probably aren't as watchf as they should be. >> that's right. most consumers are wrapped up in getting the best deals. you have to be your own advocate. >> la ya drake, thank you so much. when we come back, cf marcus danielson shows us some delicious dishes for the holidays. this morning on "today's" holiday kitchen, a savory salmon dish that will make you forget all those leftovers. marcus is grating horseradish. he is the chef and owner of the new restaurant red rooster harlem when you walk into the kitchen it smells amazing. i honestly never even knew that you could do that. >> i love horseradish. >> i thought it comes in a bottle or sometng for me. >> it could. or it could be grated fresh just like this. >> and it smells great, too. >> a wonderful piece of salmon with skin on. after the holidays lik this, eating light, eating something at is not a lot of -- something like always love to do this. next stage just eat light. so what could be better than to have salmon dish. >> right. >> you think that that was going to be really spicy. really hard to eat. you say when you look eight the rseradish does what? >> turn sweet and really nice and moist. think about the horseradish here. almost becomes like a little oven. lots of horseradish, salt and pepper, in the oven for about six minutes on 375. >> that's it. >> you're going to have wonderful, moist baked lmon. and with that you're going to haveome couscous. >> pumpkin couscous. >> staying in season. >> that's amazing, too. >> i've got some pumpkins. we were talking about before. some tomatoes. >> big, plump raisins. >> i'm adding a little bit of cilantro and parsley. i love some greens and then i cook the couscous. >> separately. >> yes. >> and then i'm just going to stir this in there. >> you want to stir that? >> sure, i'd be happy here. >> what did you cook during the holidays? >> you said did y cook? and i hesitated. i said i baked. i don't know if baking is the same. >> just a tad. >> like the swirl. >> everyone thought it was really impressive. but it just took a knife and a swirl. >> but did you like it? >> i did like it. >> i love baking. >> thas what matters. >> this is absolutely amazing. >> it's very rick. you sauteed it in butter or olive oil? >> a little bit of olive oil. >> you just have this wonderful salad. >> in the oven you have the cooked salmon. >> right. >> and also sort of look at this. >> it looks beautiful. five, six minutes in the oven. this crust is solutely amazing. >> wow. >> i brought with me a wonderful, freshsalad. a salad made with grapefruit. >> croutons. >> yes. >> some more of those raisins. >> yes. >> those raisins. >> this iso refreshing and nice. >> ok. >> what kind of dressing do you have on here? >> here it's just grapefruit juice. a little bit of olive o. >> hmm. that's so good. >> i wanted you to get a chance to eat. i know it can get competitive in here. >> i heard tre was panacotta. >> taste the fish. >> this is the salmon? >> this is the salmon. the horseradish baked salmon. >> that's the radicchio. >> the radicchio is radicchio, which is absolutely wonderful. >> and then for dessert. >> happiest for dessert. >> a little bit of pomegranate and then some fresh pomegranate on top of that. it's not really a sweet dessert. >> how do you make this? this looks like something i couldn't make. >> no, no, similar to the way you make chee cake. it's not that difficult to make. if you do it the day before. >> a little crunch. >> it's nice. >> do you have containers? >> you know what? i made some extra for you. >> a mixing bowl. >> i wanted to ask you what temperature did you cook that salmon at? >> 375. >> it was so noise. >> it was great. >> and then the salad with it is just refreshing. >> this is refreshing, too. >> locale. >> hardly. marcus muelson, thank you so much. this is great. my mouth is full here. >> thank you very much. s haven't stopped at walmart! come in saturday at 6 a.m. for great deals onlectronics! like a vizio 37-inch hdtv for $378 and get a $40 gift card! get there first -- quantities are limited. this saturday only at walmart. yep! look in your bag, made you something. 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[ female announcer ] wh the #1 doctor recommended ingredient to help brindown children's fever.. trust in triamin. - good for 23 yards. - hey. he went to jared. - that's a peerless diamond. the ideal ideal-cut diamd. what? female announcer: if you want to create your own one-of-a-kind ring, get to jared this friday through monday, because you can receiv get set in diamonds rewards, up to $1,000 toward a beautiful diamond setting, when you buy your diamond at jared. choose from thousands of diamonds d hundreds of settings. get up to a $1,000 reward this friday through monday at jared. so chef marc is upset because i acted surprised. but it was so great. it's amazing. thank you chef marcus. that's going to do it for us on this saturday morning. lynn berry, bill karins, thank you for being here. tomorrow on "today," the art of an apology. i just said i'm sorry. the right way to say i'm sorry. >> and we'll look ahead to cyber monday. have a great day. good morning, i'm kimberly suiters. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. straight ahd on "news4 today" a bizarre hit-and-run under investigation. police are looking for a bicyclist. we're learning new details about a foiled terror plo a 19-year-old was planning to bomb a tree lighting ceremony. retailers are counting up sales' represents from black friday. have a november chill in the air. i'll tell you all about your weekend weather forecast when we come right back. all that and more when you join us for "news4 today" in two minutes. temperates tumble. it's the end of november and it feels like it. most of you are waking up to temperatures in the 30s. some had the 20s. your forecast seconds away. terror plot foiled. overnight the feds announced the arrest of a 19-year-old college student they say he wanted to blow up a tree lighting ceremony. a busted first lip. president obama's face is a little swollen this morning. find out whye needed 12 stitches. it's not for the 1 days of christmases either. good morning. welcome to "news4 today". i'm kimberly suiters. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. it's saturday, november 27, 2010. meteorologist kim martucci is with us this morning in for chuck

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