and barack obama. and they may just launch the next leader of the free world. cecilia vega, abc news, council bluffs, iowa. >> the leader of the free world with rock, paper scissors. >> yeah. i'm curious to know if cecilia has tried the pork shop. >> for sure. >> she wouldn't have missed that opportunity. facebook at wnnfans.com. >>> good morning. i'm phillip mena. >> i'm reena ninan. here are some of the top headlines we're following this morning. it's decision day in iowa as the presidential candidates face their first test in this election season. the iowa caucuses. the latest polls show tight races with trump in the lead and sanders and clinton in a statistical tie. full coverage ahead. >>> in syria, a suicide attack has killed at least 50 people as peace takes may be forward in geneva. for the attack. >>> in california, all three of those escaped inmates are behind bars this morning. one surrendered on friday and the other two were captured on saturday. now, authorities trying to determine who may

senate and on the campaign trail have already pledged to block any replacement that president obama nominates. >> and said to be on the short list to replace calyia, merrick garland, circuit court judge jane kelly, sri srinavasan and loretta lynch. >> eliot spitzer, the former governor is of new york is under investigation for assault. sources say a 25-year-oldoman claims he tried to choke her at the plaza hotel in manhattan. the paraapparently had a romantic relationship for two years before she tried to break it off. he resigned florida 2008 after being involved in a prostitution >> police in britain are investigating a laser strike that forced a flight to the return to london. the pilot said the laser strike happened about seven miles from heathrow airport.t. the flflht continued till it was just west of ireland. when it turned around and landed safely back ing inlondon. virgin says one of the pilots it reported a mekt issue apparently linked to the laszer strike. passengers will fly to new york today. >>> new numbers so the skies were safer in 2015. 136 peoplpl died in airline a

presidential hopefuls speak out overnight. new polls jolting the campaigns and donald trump defending his temper. a live report just ahead. >>> destination, cuba. president obama set to become the first president i 80 years to visit the nation. new reaction overnight. >>> a shipwreck caught on ra. a cargo vessel smash thrhrgh a harbor lkway. the incredible scene, what caused this accident? >>> and passenger pinch. outrage as your legroom may be shrinkingut is this actually a good thing? >>> good thursday morning. we begin with a surprise shift in the latest presidential polls. >> as the republicans scramble to win over undecided voters across south carolina, a new national poll shows ted cruz for the first time making it a statistil dead heat. >> marco rubio is holding on to third place and he's going into saturday's primary with a key endorsement from south carolina's popular governor. >> it's "your voice, your vote." we get the latest right now on the campaign trail from abc's ray raimundi starting with the republicans. >> r

president obama delivers his final stata of the union address tonight. he promises to focus on big themes and to speak to all americans about the direction of the country just as the presidential primary season gets under way. details coming up. >> the race for the white house is heating up on both sides of the aisle with bernie sanders now leading hillary clinton in new hampshire by four points. ted cruz closing in on donald trump, as well in iowa by just two points. >> notorious drug lord joaquin el chapo guzman is now being held at a fortified super max prison in mexico as he awaits we're now learning that extradition process could take more than a year. >> and in college football, alabama is the national champion for its fourth national title. in the past seven seasons, the crimson tide beat top ranked clemson 45-40 in a classic game with four of bama's touchdowns at least 50 yards. those are some of our top stories on this tuesday, january 12. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." >> don't laugh at me. >> bama. >> i'm in my state of

the president did keep it short, roughly 58 minutes there, stephanie, thanks. >>> well, most o othe presidential candidates were live tweetinduring president obama's fifil state of the union address. >> the reactions fell predictably along party lines. hillary clinton congratulated the president on expanding health care coverage vowing not the hands of republicans. >> jeb bush pointed out that middle class income has declined $2,000 under president obama. >>> then donald trump simply said, the speech is really boring, slow, lethargic, very hard to watch. >> stay with abc news for the latest on his state of the union address. later in "the pulse," the first lady's gorgeous dress and john kerry's reaction when someone asked the secretary of state, who are you wearing. >>> let's return to the campaign trail and hillary clinton facing some new trouble just as she releases a new campaign ad. a new abc news/"washington post" poll finds clinton is sliding even further behind bernie sanders and this is iowa by five percentage points. it comes as she release ss her new ad spotlighting her commitment with

. >> and speaking about that incident, two republican presidential hopefuls are outraged over the entire encounter with iran. new jersey governor chris christie says the sailors temporary detention shows how little respect the iranians have for president obama. and marco rubisays they knew they could get away with it because president obama wain office. elected president. >> well, thehe democratic race, hillary clinton is stepping up her attacks on bernie sanders as polls actually show him gaining ground in iowa. the sanders campaign says the tactic is backfiring instead helping to raise millions in campaign funds. with more on the war of words, here's abc's cecilia vega. >> reporter: with hillary clinton on the ropes in iowa and new hampshire, her family now out in force. bill and chelsea and hillary all over the airwaves. the target? bernie sanders. the new fight? over health care. >> senator sanders wants to dismantle obamacare, dismantle the chip program, dismantle medicare, dismantle private insurance. >> reporter: sanders outraged, saying his plan would do nothing of the sort. >> t

seven presidential candidates and no lack of attacks. first up, president obama, fresh off tuesday's state of the union address. >> president obama didn't so much as mention the ten sailors that had been captured by iran. >> on tuesday night i watched story time with barack obama. >> reporter: this debate had the fewest number fof candidates on the main stage, a high-profile effort to persuade voters before the february 1st iowa caucasuses, the gloves coming off between donald trump and ted cruz, this a testy exchange between the two accusations cruz might not be able to legally serve as president because of his canadian roots. >> you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. >> i'm not going to be taking >> you don't have to. >> reporter: cruz also forced to didn't tell the federal election commission about a million dollar loan from wall street banks for his senate campaign. >> i made a paperwork error disclosing it on one piece of paper instead of the other. >> reporter: cruz then throwing more jabs at trump attacking

we begin this half hour with a potential game changer in the republican presidential race. sarah palin says she's throwing support behind donald trump. >> and palin made her announcement last night in iowa, slamming president obama, calling him the capitulator in chief. trump says he's honored by her endorsement, adding "this is going to be fun." abc's tom llamas is there in iowa. >> i would like to bring up, if i might, governor sarah palin. >> reporter: sarah palin is back. >> are you ready to make america great again? [ cheers ] >> reporter: shaking up the republican race before the iowa caucuses. >> and are you ready to stump commander in chief who will let our warriors do their job and go kick isis's [ bleep ]? [ cheers ] not a politician. can i get a hallelujah? doggone right we're angry. justifiably so. >> reporter: the two former reality show stars have beeee close f f years. palin sitting down for new york pizza with trump in 2011 as she pondered her own run for the white house. >> how about a trump-palin ticket? >> that sounds exciting. >> reporter: trump recently

and even for the presidential motorcade bringing mr. obama back to the white house from andrews joint base and druze. suburban maryland authorities said they were getting more than one emergency call a minute. virginia police report dozens of accidents and at least one fatality. >>> and it wasn't any better from are the busy -- from the busy city streets. there were many accidents in west virginia including at least six chain reaction pile-ups. in another accident a car slid into a store front. luckily there were injuries to report here. experts say a light snowfall like this is more dangerous than the big one because drivers are overconfident. >> drivers in west virginia and washington will get a chance to find out if that's really true because a big one is on the way. >> let's get the details from accuweather's justin povick. good morning. >> we are following developing severe weather on then thursday more so over the western gulf states from louisiana back into alabama and mississippi. threats here going to be damaging winds and torn

. >> reporter: the announcement already getting reaction from the presidential candidates. >> i will not only keep it going, i will do everything i can to try to convince the democratic senate, to pass sensible gun safety measures. >> president obama is committed to continuing to abuse his executive power every way, shape and form. >> reporter: this gun owner says she doesn't like executive action, but thinks legal gun owners don't mind background checks. >> anyone who carries a gun, has a carry permit like i do is going to not mind, you know, having some kind of verification. >> reporter: the president and his critics do agree on one point, closing off that so-called d n show loophole would have done little to stop mama of the mass shootings we recently experienced as a country, however, gun control advocates say it's an important first step in keeping guns out of the hands of some of the people who shouldn't have them. kayna, kendis. >> lana, thank you very much. and, of course, we will carry the president's announcement live this morning on abc. >> and, of course, we heard from so

and gop presidential candidates >> president obama's executive actions limiting gun rights will restrict our law-abiding citizens. >> these orders today i believe are not worth the paper they are written on. >> if there's an iue related to federal gun laws he ought to go to congress and try to forge consensus to make it happen. he doesn't have this power. >> reporter: one of the country's most intractable sues for which there are no easy answers. pierre thomas, abc news, at the white house. >>> also now this morning there is a new 18-minute gap mystery involving the terror couple who carried out the san bernardino attacks. investigators know almost everything about that shooting, when it began, when the terrorist couple were killed in that shootout with police, but there's this period the fbi cannot account for and it wants the public health. what weree syedd farook and tashfeen malik during t tse 18 minutes. >> they want to make sure if they made contact with anyone we don't already know about that we're able to fully investigate those matters. grap may be when the couple ditched their