two. hoping it will be a christmas black morning. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. this is monday, december 26th. i hope some of you are watching from home. >> did you get back from toronto okay? >> i did. boxing day. >> like the black friday of canada. >> right. good shopping. a lot of news right now. >> right. eight days to go m s ts to go ba caucuses, paul steinhauser is live with us in des moines, iowa this morning. hi, paul. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. quiet over the weekend. things pick up today and one week to go until the iowa caucuses. the first contest in the primary caucus calendar. this is a poll that came out friday afternoon. the most recent poll here. people are likely to go to the iowa gop caucuses. three-way traffic jam at the top. ron paul at 21%. mitt romney, former massachusetts governor, 20%. newt gingrich 19%. basically it's upgrabs here in iowa with just under a week to go. newt gingrich was the front-runner in polls. look at this. >> if you really want to know how a person will operate, look at how they've lived their life, and i think that's why it's so important to understand the character of a person. to me, that make as huge difference. maybe some voters it doesn't. but for me it make as huge difference. >> i'm anita perry. when rick served as a captain, he returned home to farm with his dad and asked me to marry him. we grew up raised with christian values. values we still believe in. >> you know what makes barack obama happy? newt gingrichal baggage. he has more baggage than airlines. >> reporter: there you go. ann romney and anita perry, the wives of the candidates, telling about their husband's social values, maybe a slight dig at newt gingrich, who's been married three times. and an independent group backing mitt romney is taking on newt gingrich. one of the reasons we've seen newt gingrich come down in the polls. he's getting hammered, at least on the airwaves. >> and the weather could influence who wins. here's what he said, mike huckabee. >> if the weather is good, mitt romney is in good shape. if it's hutough to get out, ron paul will win. >> makes sense. what are smart minds saying about that, paul? >> reporter: he does have a very smart mind. his followers, supporters, energetic, sthuastienthusiastic. they'll come out on a cold night and a snowy night. i'll tell you right now, the forecast for iowa, pretty warm here. there's no snow at all. eight days to go until the caucuses. this is a big deal. you know why? we've got the cnn bus. it's a big deal when you bring the cnn bus. >> i know that. ali velshi has spent time on the bus. two week, new hampshire primary. who's on top of the latest poll there? >> reporter: new poll out yesterday, on christmas day, from "the boston globe." look at this. it is still mitt romney's state to lose, i guess you could say. the front-runner for about two years. remember, the former massachusetts governor from the neighboring state. number, at 39%, far ahead of gingrich and paul. there's jon huntsman, lower double digits. placing all his money on new hampshire, alina. >> if republicans hope to gain control of the senate in 2012, they better support dick lugar for a second term. who says that? dick lugar. he's facing a race. he tells candy crowley he believe as tea party win in the republican party could set the party back in a big way. >> the republicans running for re-election ought to be supported by people that want to see that majority. to the majority of tea partier, you can understand that, too. >> so i know what you mean is, you think that you have the best chance of keeping this seat republican? that's what you're arguing? >> yes. no doubt from all of our polling and understanding, that that is the case, and as a matter of fact, if i was not nominee, it might be lost. >> all right. on to other things. the thought counts. millions of heading back to stores to make returns and exchanges and unload those gift cards. analysts say the monday after christmas may also be the third biggest shopping day of the year because of those gift cards, especially as stores start slashing prices big time. alison kosik is live outside macy's herald square in new york city. possibly one of the busiest places in the city today. good morning. how's it looking? >> reporter: not looking busy right now. yes, the streets are bare behind me, but you betcha, it's going to get really, really bilusy on the sun comes up. a good point. it's been a good shopping season for retailers. the momentum we saw on black friday. sales up extraordinarily. then that fell off a little bit. you know, losing kind of that sales momentum, and retailers picked up on that. what they've had to do is chop prices even more, offer deeper discounts. you know what? consumers caught on to that and are keeping that in mind as they come back to the stores today to return their gifts. in fact, some people are noticing that the prices are falling. many will actually come back, return the gifts and rebuy it for anywhere from 30% to 40% off. others think, i've overspent. i'm going to go ahead and sent back these gifts. just when you think retailers think that it's a bad thing on this return day, it's really not. the national retail federation says, you know what? they think at least 10% come back to the store. the good thing. people walking back in to return the gifts are most likely to buy something else. 70% of people actually returning gifts today, ali, will walk out with bags of other things, because, you know what? they don't want to leave empty-handed, ali. >> and continuing to be good salesmen. these retailers stuck with a little more inventory than last year. it's always hard for them to gauge how good it's going to be. there are still things to be had. it might be the day to get it. interesting to see how many people are coming back to return stuff, how many are coming to use gift cards and how many are just coming out because it's a good shopping day. you'll be out there a few hours i guess? >> reporter: yes, i will, and watching peel doing shopping and people watching. >> reconnaissance. that's your work. reporter research. >> reporter: that's fine. >> alison kosik outside of macy's. >> that's my favorite kind of research. >> totally right. it's necessary. you have to do it. >> that's right. the day after christmas. also new this morning, terrorists bomb five christian churches in nigeria right in the middle of christmas services. at least 25 people were killed. dozens more injured. locals are blaming a radical islamic group suspected of having ties to al qaeda. both the white house and the united nations have condemned the attacks. a similar string of bombings happened in nigeria last christmas season. more worries about iraq's future this morning after yet another deadly car bombing. police say a suicide car bomber struck a security checkpoint right outside iraq's interior ministry compound, killing at least two people. dozens died in bombing since the last u.s. troops left iraq, which is only a week ago. the three young daughters and parents of a successful advertising executive killed in a house fire on christmas morning. it happened in stamford, connecticut, the executive, madonna badger, managed to escape the house along with a family friend. and a bloody morning northwest of dallas. seven people found shot to death in an apartment in grapevine, texas. police say it appears all the victims were related. police say all were shot while in the process of opening christmas gifts, or they just finished doing so. the suspect shooter is one of the seven fatalities. a global think tank targeted in the u.s. was hacked. in a posting, says it stole confidential credit list. among the list of clients, bank of america, lockheed martin and the defense department. thousands poured into st. peter's square to hear the pope's christmas message starting off with the unveiling of a larger than life nativity scene. he prayed for the end of violence in syria and comfort in the philippines. back in action on christmas day. the dallas mavericks raising their championship banner then falling to lebron james and the miami heat 105-94. the king leading the way with 37 points. back in los angeles, kobe bryant and the lakers squared off gu s against the bulls. the bulls won that game 88-87. and carmelo anthony leading new york to a 106-104 victory. knicks winning. how than. still ahead, a bloody crackdown. told go right to a town under siege to appreciate a larger civilian massacre. the makers of enfamil baby formula running new tests for a killer bacteria after an infant death. the company says the product is safe. and how president obama is mixing work with pleasure in hawaii this holiday season. you're watching "american morning." it is 12 minutes after the hour. x [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? 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[ male announcer ] icy hot no-mess applicator. wherever you hurt, it massages in icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. no pain. no mess. welcome back. new this morning, the makers of enfamil baby formula says the product is safe following a massive recall of their premium newborn formula. the company conducted a second round of testing on the same batch of formula consumed by a missouri infant who died from a bacterial infection. the new tests show the formula is free of the bacteria. investigators are trying to find out, was it in the environment or in the water mixed into it, but this 10-month-old baby died after drinking this formula. >> we'll watch that story. and arson blamed for a christmas fire that burned a post office in nevada. investigators found anti-government graffiti and bullet holes in the building. the blaze began outside but firefighters sprayed water into the mailboxes and that soaked the mail inside. about 800 people use that post office, by the way. officials are working to restore the wet mail and dliv ter to customers. a delegation of south korea citizens crossing the demilitarized zone to mourn the death of leader kim jong-il. and kim -- mohammed jamjoom has more. >> reporter: we have no idea if the arab league observers will be able to get close to the scenes of violence that continue to forge out of syria. here a tank rolls down a street. a neighborhood in a flashpoint city. activists say thousands of syrian troops have recently surrounded it and are shelling it almost daily. cnn can't verify many of the videos posted from syria but one describes the carnage he's witnessed explaining how everyone's become a target. >> in last two days there is a lot of injury. 100, 200 injury. in the last three day, they've secluded literature, because they shout and bomb one house. civilian house. >> reporter: in the past week, the syrian government's bombardment has escalated. the same day a protocol was fined allowing those arab league observers into syria. activists say the syrian army stormed a town. a part of a province. this video reports to show family members mourning of loved ones who have died. they've become accustomed to the violence. many fear to bury their dead in public cemeteries. in this video taken in november, some buried this loved ones near a deserted road. at a hospital, one demonstrators lays in his bed and tells of the horrors he's seen. i've seen wounded people taken by security people with their oxygen masks still on, he says. another man experience add crackdown he experienced. i was injured by gunfire in a protest, he says. security forces fired on us and injured many youth, and one was killed. i went to a hospital and was treated. with many syrian neighborhoods deserted and besieged, many people are now questioning how effective the arab league mission will be. >> mohammed jamjoom joins us from cairo. hearing of fresh violence coming out of syria. what's the latest from there? mohammed? >> reporter: alina, we're hearing reports of more carnage going on in syria. 13 people killed and dozens wounded today during shelling attacks by syrian security forces. they say that the neighborhood has been particularly hit and this is on the same day that dozens of arab league observers, about 50, are planning to arrive in order to try to help end the violence there. now, for the past few days, opposition activist groups in syria have been calling on the arab leagues to go directly to this city when they arrive so they can stop what is being feared a genocide, a continuing massacre. a member of the arab league spokesman said today that the arab league plans to go tomorrow to this city. still unclear where exactly they can go, what the mission is, but one member tells us observers have been going in are planning to move ahead to the city. >> mohammed jamjoom joining us live by phone from cairo. thank you very much. a look at the weather. rob marciano in the extreme weather center for us this morning. i was in toronto ob christmas eve and snow started to come down. it didn't stay. you sort of said that. that was going to be the way. kind of a -- >> you got some snow, though. >> when i tweeted out that rob said so, all sorts of people in toronto said, rob doesn't know what he's talking about. and it snowed on christmas eve. went away quickly. >> that must have been after you call immediate out on twitter saying it wasn't snowing. obviously, there was still some time. >> i told you i still love you. >> more important, merry christmas everybody. temperatures in the northeast, borderline for what's happening on the radar scope. it isn't going to be much of anything. there were spots across the northeast. in northern new england, where they had a bit of a white christmas. maine, not many. five inches of snow. three inches, vermont can use the snow for sure. delays traveling in new york and d.c. a little wind. boston, the front pressing through the area with those flurries bringing cooler air. it will bring wind into places like philadelphia and chicago as well. temperatures are still fairly mild. 45 degrees in new york city. look at chicago. 48 degrees. temperatures, hard-pressed to find temps definitely cold enough for snow. a weathermaker down south. they'll take it. rain stretching into ports of northern mississippi and louisiana as well. the two converge on the northeast mostly in the form of rain. the track is too far to the west to make it a big snowmaker. the back side of this, parts of western pennsylvania, and northern new england, seeing just a little snow. maybe even toronto. maybe coat the grass up for our friends in canada. >> my nephews were in ottawa skyping me, showing me several inches of snow. they're just so excited. excited when there's snow. i'm in miami later in the week. rob, can you give me a fairly certain forecast there won't be snow there? >> going out on a limb. no snow. >> i guess 80 and sunny? how's that? >> yeah. thanks my friend. it's the day after christmas for us. it's boxing day for the rest of the world. it's the rett of the world's black friday, actually. there could be a monumental holdup in london as shoppers rush to the stores for boxing day bargains. we'll tell what you that is. does the nose know? should the evidence hold up or put away a suspect for life when a dog sniffs it out. interesting story we'll tell you about, that you have to remain watching the show. 23 minutes after the hour. i'm not crazy about these light fixtures. kitchen's too small. what's next? 607 franklin st. ♪ sea bass... ♪ ooohhh! ♪ i like it. yeah, i love the kitchen. 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"minding your business" this morning. markets in the u.s. and europe are closed for christmas today. they will be open tomorrow. as of friday, the s&p 500 is back in positive territory for 201. the dow is up 6% for the year. a public service announcement on the day after christmas. use your gift cards. the national retail federation says since 2005, $41 billion in gift cards have gone unused. if you use the cards try not to go over the value of the card pr retail analysts estimate more than one-third wind up being more than the value of the card. holiday shopping is over. so it's the season for returns. retails estimating returns. stores may be more flexible with rules on receipt virmts, restocking fees and time frames for returning but experts say don't wait too long. some have shortened returns for electronic items to as little as 14 days. raising the minimum wage in 2012. hourly rates go up between 28 cents and 30 cents in arizona, colorado, florida, montana, ohio, oregon, vermont and washington. colorado the smallest increase. $7.64 an hour and washington will have the largest at $9.04 an hour. the latest "mission impossible" cruises to the top of the box office. studio execs hoped 2011 to finish with a bang. ticket sales are running way behind last year. 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[ man ] still love that wind in my face! talk to your doctor. don't kid yourself about the risk of heart attack and stroke. if lipitor's been working for you, stay with it. lipitor may be available for as little as $4 a month with the lipitor co-pay card. terms and conditions apply. learn more at lipitorforyou.com. good morning. welcome back. it's 31 minutes after the hour. time for this morning's top stories. a tight three-way race is unfolding eight days before the iowa caucuses. according to the latest american research group polled, ron paul topped the gop field with 21% of vote followed by mitt romney with 20% and then newt gingrich with 19%. deadly christmas morning in grapevine, texas. seven people aged 18 to 60 found shot to death inside an apartment about 25 miles northwest of dallas. according to police, all of the victim, four women, three men, were apparently related and all shot while opening christmas gifts or cleaning up holiday wrapping paper. police say the suspected shooter is among the seven dead. and the biggest shopping day in most of the western world. boxing day. it may