survival story early this friday will tell us their amazing survival story early this friday morning, november 26th, 2010. captioning funded by cbs we got a lot of coverage of black friday today. you are looking at a live shot from a mall in braintree, massachusetts outside of boston. crowds don't look too bad, right. some of the smart shoppers that have gotten to the toys 'r' us in philadelphia, looked at their circulars, went o o o o online, know what they are shopping for doing that hit-and-run thing, hit the mall get what you need get to the next store, get to the next store. >> and get out. >> exactly right. wow, we've seen some pictures this morning. look at these parking lots. oh, lord. not my sport. but, we will have the full contact coverage of black friday for you here on the "early show" as we welcome you to friday morning the day after thanksgiving. >> as i left my building at 4:30 this morning there were people on the sidewalk. one guy says to me, do you know where best buy is? i look at my watch and look at my watch, unbelievable how material is on this morning. also ahead an exclusive interview an alabama man back in the states after serving 18 months in prison in australia for the death of his whif wile scuba diving on their honeymoon. this video was captured by a fellow tourist t. shows a lifeless tina watson lying on the ocean floor and her husband gabe watson facing charges and a trial in this country. we will be speaking exclusively about the case this morning with his attorney. we begin with black friday, the mad dash for discounts well under way as you have seen. our business and economics correspondent rebecca jarvis is at the coastline center mall in maples, florida with the latest. good morning. >> like you, i saw people walking out of the stores this morning early arms overflowing with shopping bags. for retailers the moment of truth and for shoppers the chance to snag toes des counts which started earlier than ever this year. >> good morning! >> doorbusters. >> reporter: after all the talk in the ads, black friday is well under way with these shopper ares joining an estimated 138 million that will hit the stores over this pivotal weekend. that's up 2% from last year. at wam mart, the deals started at the stroke of midnight. >> no, i've never gotten up on i normally like to avoid crowds but it was a really good deal. >> reporter: a few hours later stores like target, macy's, jcpenney opened their doors. >> look at the ads, seeing what's sale to get more for our monday. >> some didn't wait until black fray i did. for the first time in its history sears was open thanksgiving day. toys are us opened 10:00 thursday night including 600 new pop-up stores that operate sewly during the holiday season for. retailers black friday and the fourth quarter mo more important than ever for chains like sears and best buy, that number is well over 50%. retailers hope they'll have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. there are reasons for optimism. a 2.3% increase in sales is predicted overall this year. a 16% jump in online sales is being forecast. and the government reported that in october, personal income grew. with that in mind, stores are stocking up, adding inven ter in the hopes that the gifts will fly out the door. retailers aren't taking any chances. they're using the internet to help make sure shoppers know how low they're willing to go. more than half will send an e-mail to customers and nearly 40% will use facebook. >> the mood around black friday, for the retailers is tempered. i think the mood around consumers given all the advertisements and e-mails they are getting is creating a greater sense of urgency. >> reporter: and that urgency is really paying off for retailers. 10.5% of shoppers say they've already completed half of their holiday shopping. mag geef. >> just half. you mentioned an expected increase in sales about 2%. how is that expected to affect the economy overall? >> reporter: this has major implications for the overall economy, mag geechlt remember, our consumer spending accounts for a major portion of the economy, about 70%. so, the more we spend, the better off, in some respects, the economy is t. also equates to jobs b. 600,000 temporary workers were hired for this holiday. the better the season goes, the more likely they are to take on that employment full time. >> rebecca jarvis at a mall in florida. get out while you still can. thank you. >> reporter: it's beautiful out there. >> joining us to tep out with what deals retailers are putting out on the shelves is the vice president of the national retail federation. scott, good morning. >> morning, harry. >> so, how are retailers money out of them this time around? >> well, consumers certainly don't suffer from a lack of what they've suffered from was a in the absence of jobs, the best cure for a lack of confidence are great discounts on wonderful merchandise. i think when retailers get out to the stores, in fact have been for several hours, they see amazing deals on everything from laptops to jewelrys, individual go games, and dvds and apparel, of course. there are no shortage of bargains for all the bargain hunters. >> there may not be a short of bargains but we've seen a lot of retailers said we'll keep our stock way, way down because we don't want that overhead to try to figure out how to get rid of it in january. is there enough to buy if you go learned their lessons from two years ago when they had too much invin tory and i think they will bring in the right balance. however that, means they don't want to be left with excess inventory for unthan planned markdowns that eat into profits. the advice to the consumer, if you see something you like, it's a great deal. pick it up now. once it's gone, basically, it's gone. >> where will we find the very best deals this holiday season, what kinds of products? >> well, no doubt electronics are huge, in terms of deals for the holiday season. we're seeing dlerz 100 blew ray players, $200 hd televisions. and no shortage of 50% off on video games. so, clearly, electronics are a good way to go. we've seen 80% off of jewelry. a lot of buy one get one free in terms of apparel 689 literally across the board on black fray day and cyber monday no shortage of deals. >> what about gift cards? year by year by year we find out surveys say they are the number one requested gift. just buy billions of dollars the growth in gift cards have just been amazing. >> there really have. this year we expect people to spend roughly $24 billion on gift cards, up slightly from last year. in the last couple of years people were shying away from gift cards looking for more sale merchandise. but as the economy is becoming less of a factor people are more willing to pay full price for the gift card. >> we thank you for your expertise this morning. appreciate it. >> thanks, harry. >> happy shopping. >> still ahead we'll ensure happy shopping helling you thousand equip your clf today before you head out so that you are as efficient as possible. right now we check with erica hill at the news desk. good morning. >> good morning. strong words for north korea this morning, warning the border dispute is bringing north and south korea to, quote, the brink of war as our correspondent reports new trouble near the disputed island north korea attacked earlier this week. >> reporter: distance shots put nerves on edge shown here a plume of smoke within the north boredrs. no shots landed on south korean territory near yeonpyeong island the site of the gun battle four days ago. however the attention the explosions have received highlights continuing tension on the korean pennisula. the top u.s. commander in south korea visited the ravaged island today and offered his support. >> it is clear to me by the [ inaudible ] received and what i've seen here physically north korea attacked this island. it is a clear violation of the arm stas agreement. >> reporter: naming a new defense minister as the government responds to criticism it was unprepared to fight back south korea's also rushing to boost its security. more troops have been stationed to yeonpyeong and there will be joint naval exercises sunday in the yellow sea featuring the aircraft carrier the "uss george washington" the message is clear. >> to prevent north korea from being tempted to make another prok indication against us. >> reporter: despite the displays of strength many island residents -- >> all you reporters. come here and live here in i don't think yeng, this man says. you will see the artillery falling and you will know whether this is a place one can live. these people caught in the crosshairs between north and south korea aren't willing to wait to see if the south security plans will grow. sa milestone day in afghanistan, u.s. troops have now been there exactly as long as the soviets were in the 1980s, nine years, 50 days. the soviet mission ended in failure. in india a parade and ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the deadly mumbai terror attacks. 166 people were killed when pakistani gunmen went on a rampage across the city. starsts included a train station and luxury hotel. for the second time this month, u.s. agents discovered a major tunnel used to smuggle drugs into california. the half-mile-long underground passage ran from tijuana, mexico to san diego's otay mesa area. agents found an undetermined amount of marijuana but you you may recall earlier this month authorities discovered a tunnel nearby. that tunnel had lighting, ventilation, even a rail system. they also found 20 tons of marijuana. one of the largest seizures in the country. two astronauts returned to earth after five months aboard the international space station. shannon walker and douglas wheellock landed safely along with a cosmonaut colleague. the action thanksgiving day of course on the field on also at your dining room table. in the first game, a comeback against dallas. the cowboys just missed a tying field goal. the saints beat the cowboys 30-27. up next, pats' lions, tom brady of new england threw four touchdown passes against detroit, all in the second half. the patriots came from behind to beat the lions, 45-24. in the night game, mark sanchez of the jets connecting for a third quarter touchdown against cincinnati. the new york jets beat the bengals 26-10. the jets and patriots are now tied with the best record in the nfl. dave price is off this morning so i have a check of the weather for you today. later today, scattered showers and thunderstorms will continue for much of the southeast. it will be another dry and pleasantly mild day in the southwest. scattered snow showers and gusty winds are expected to develop across the great lakes. the plains, though, will remain cool and dry in both the northeast and northwest, look for more scattered showers there you go. news, sports and weather. harry, now, back over to you. >> thanks, erica. >> to that miracle at sea. three teen-aged boys back on dry land this morning after spending almost two months floating adrift in the south pacific. cbs news correspondent whit johnson has their remarkable story. >> reporter: a navy vessel brought three teen-aged castaways to land today in the fiji islands after a harrowing adays lost at sea. the two 15-year-olds and one 14-year-old were gaunt and clearly weakened with one hooked to an iv helped to a waiting ambulance. they somehow survived living on a couple of coconuts, a few flying fish, rainwater and a seagull they caught and ate raw. the teenagers from the new zealand administered territory drifted nearly a thousand miles before being spotted by a tuna boat northeast of fiji. >> they were waving, it was very frantic. they were very weak, there were no massive jumps of joy. they definitely had a massive smile. >> reporter: the rescuers say they were severely sun burned emaciated and so dehydrated they resorted to drinking sea water, which could have been disastrous. >> their actual physical appearance was very disturbing and heartbreaking they were just more or less -- >> reporter: the three were presumed dead after several unsuccessful searches by the new zealand air force. their families had already held a memorial service for them. now the tone-aged friends are recovering in a hospital in figi, happy to be alive. whit johnson, cbs news, washington. if i'm not mistaken, i was reading one of the accounts and said this boat, fishing boat was way out of its normal waters. so, the chances of them ever being found are so small. >> that's right. >> this boat just sort of happened to be in this odd place and there they were, really lucky. >> way outside the commercial shipping route. unbelievable they were found. >> good story. >> to london and warning from queen elizabeth this morning. she doesn't want the paparazzi hounding her grandson and soon-to-be bride kate middleton the way they did princess diana. charles, good morning. >> reporter: maggie, the royal family is looking in ways to take a tougher stance against prying photographers, the queen seems determined to throw the full force of british law providing protection for prince william, kate middleton, and her family. when you are part of britain's royal family, parading in front of cameras, comes with the territory. but the queen wants to draw the line of what's public and private when it comes to her future in-laws. she's taken legal steps to provide protection from the paparazzi for prince william's fiancee, kate middleton and her family after pictures popped up showing the middletons learning how to shoot on the queen's private estate in scotland. prince william has already made clear he takes a zero tolerance approach to the paparazzi threatening to take both criminal and civil action against any photographer who steps over the line. he also personally promised his fiance's father he would protect kate from the media. >> what you can't do is sneak throughout bushes and take photographs of them when this reat private play. >> prince william blames the paparazzi chasing his mother, princess diana, to her death in a paris cash crash more than 13 years ago and determined his future wife will not have to tolerate the same kind of harassment. back when kate was simply william's girlfriend in 2007, she made a formal complaint to britain's press complaint commission that she was the victim of harassment. but as one photographer put it, now it's open season. kate middleton, for that matter, her family, are fair game. now, just last week prince william's press secretary sent a letter to royal correspondents he reminding them even after the engagement the middleton family remains private individuals. maggie? >> thank you, charlie. still ahead a alabama man faces murder charges in the u.s. after his wife drowns on honeymoon in australia. >> a look back at tiger woods disastrous year to see if he can get the swing back, so to speak on the course and with the public. >> are you staying home because you are afraid of the black friday crowds? we'll make you less afraid and tell you how to be as efficient as possible as we look live at a mall in naples florida. don't go away. you're watching "the early show" on cbs. 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