diane sawyer is up next. >> thanks for joining us see you again in 30 this is world news, tonight black friday madness. tempers flair, millions of holiday shoppers punch into stores, triggering fights, even gun fire. americans are surviving the craziest shopping day of the year. helicopter crash, rescue crews scrambling after police chopper crashes into a crowded pub in scotland. braising jewel heist. france's biggest and boldest rivalry, nearly $150 million worth of bling gone in 30 seconds. french police now asking you to help them catch this thief. march of the wlals, hundreds of humpbacks converging off the coast, hundreds of spectators hoping for an encounter, what's

in the water attracting them? good evening, thanks for joining us on this friday night. we begin with black friday mania playing out tonight at malls across america. retailers opening doors earlier than ever to a crush of frenzied shoppers lured by seductive door buster deals. but in many locations the rush turned violent. shoppers brawling over discounted merchandise. is the sheer numbers at america's malls are staggering. 97 million shoppers crammed into stores today. by the time the weekend is over, that number expected to swell to 140 million. and from coast to coast, it's shop until you drop for millions of deal seekers, we begin coverage tonight with abc's chief business and economic correspondent rebecca jarvis.

>> reporter: across the country, record crowds and wild scenes as customers were determined to snag jaw dropping black friday deals. watch as merchandise goes flying through the crowds at this walmart in virginia. and this one in south carolina. and in north carolina, see the man in orange as he wrestles to grab a door buster. a father even leaving his infant in the car outside of a best buy so he could shop. the baby is okay. bullets flew outside this kohl's in illinois, multiple injuries reported after police chased an alleged shoplifter into the parking lot. even protests at some walmarts over wages. but from coast to coast, most scenes were just eager shoppers enjoying early store openings. walmart, doing more tan 10 million transactions in the first four hours of the frenzy. 2.8 million towels, 300,000 bikes, 1.9 million dolls.

but in spite of crowds like this one, a record 15,000 people at macy's in new york city, shoppers hung tough. carts leaving stores filled to the brim. and at this best buy in new york city they have been opened since 6:00 p.m. last night. the store showing steady stream of traffic, people waiting outside, coming in in waves, because it is at capacity, analysts anticipate americans will spend nearly $40 billion. that's up from last year. >> not everyone likes the adrenaline rush that comes with black friday shopping. many men losing speed midspree. can you step away and still get a good deal? one shopping insider says, absolutely. here's abc's linzie janis. >> reporter: joni meyer-crothers is the queen of savings, her skills featured on tlc's show

extreme couponing. crothers says when it comes to finding the best bargains this holiday season you don't even have to get off the couch. >> most of the deals are going to come around and can be found online, too. >> reporter: the coupon queen took a break between turkey and pie to share her strategies. tip number one, use ebates.com to get cash back on online purchases. tip number two, start following a blog, like retail me not.com, that gathers all the online coupon codes for you. tip number three, cancel that online order right before you place it. chances are you'll soon get a discount offer for that very item in your in-box. as for joni, she spent black friday shopping for charity. >> i got all this stuff here, drum roll, please, i paid $148, that's 85% savings. >> reporter: crothers says we can achieve big savings if we do

homework. she suggests researching all the items on your list, finding the best price, instead of going to three stores, go to one and ask for a price match. >> good advice. thanks so much. from the retail marketplace to the health care marketplace. tomorrow is the self imposed deadline for the obama administration to get health care.gov on track. have they succeeded? jeff zeleny now with the latest from the white house. >> reporter: it's deadline day for fixing that troubled health care web site. the obama administration is scrambling tonight to make good on the president's promise. that people could sign up for insurance by the end of the month. earlier this week in california, he sounded cautiously optimistic. >> look, the rollout of new health care marketplace was rough. and by the way, the web site's continually working better so check it out. >> reporter: one person not laughing is dan howard, who's hit one brick wall after another trying to sign up. we checked back with him today

from his home near pittsburgh still no luck. the web site is working faster, he says, but his name can't be verified. what is your frustration level on a scale of 1 to 10 about this entire system? >> my scale of frustration is very high, at a 10. i don't see it as just a web site problem. >> reporter: the white house acknowledges everything won't be fixed but will be more functional. computers experts across the country were invited to the health care command center to take an early look. >> if everyone signs on at the same time, could this still crash next week? >> if the demand is way too high, absolutely anything could crash. i don't think there's any guarantee it's going to be perfect. >> reporter: don't look for grand reopening signs on that web site. the administration is trying to keep people from rushing to it. even if it works perfectly. only 50,000 users can still sign on at once. >> jeff zeleny live from the white house tonight. thank you. turning overseas, the military

posturing heating up over the east china sea. china today saying it launched two fighter planes to investigate a does enu.s. and japanese military planes over newly declared air defense zone. china says it was identifying those foreign planes and didn't take action. a developing story out of scotland tonight. a police helicopter crashed through the roof of a crowded bar. the pub is located in the city of glasgow, we're told it was full of patrons when it lands into the roof. officials expect fatalities. firefighters are on the scene. to syria, a new alarm sound by the united nations on the plight of refugee children. the syrian conflict now in its third year a un report released says over a million syrian children are facing new threats outside the war zones they fled. school age refugees dodging bullets in syria, now being forced to work long hours for

low pay in lebanon and jordan to help support families in exile. back here at home, a small town in western missouri has been rocked by a pipeline explosion, for 30 inch natural gas line ruptured late last night sparking a massive fire that could be seen for miles. no injuries reported. the cause of the rupture under investigation. those evacuated families who have thanksgiving weekend interrupted are back in their homes tonight. millions of other families meantime are still on their thanksgiving get aways, aaa estimates nearly 39 million americans are hitting the road at some point this weekend. but tonight a new alert about the safety of many of the kids riding in those cars. here's abc's david kerley. >> reporter: show us your car seat let's see how you did. call it a car seat pop quiz. we asked lindsay dafer, if we could cher her son's car seat with an expert from the group safe kids. >> the car seat itself is shifting more than an inch of

movement. >> reporter: with a couple expert adjustments, this seat is snug. >> it doesn't seem like it will budge. >> reporter: nearly three quarters of all car seats are not installed properly, and this is what can happen to an unrestrained child in a vehicle. >> it needs to attach. >> reporter: mother of a 3-year-old shannon sullivan never tried to secure a car seat and needed help. >> i'm going to pull all the excess belt out. you get a nice snug fit. >> reporter: a couple tips. try the inch test. pull the car seat. if it moves more than an inch at the belt, it's too loose. for the first two years, a rear facing seat is recommended. and for older children, it's suggested boosters be used for some kids until they are 12. groups including safe kids and probably your local fire department will check to see if your child's seat is in right. that way, if a news crew ever stops you in a parking lot -- >> wow, that's in there really good. >> you passed. >> reporter: you too can pass

the safety test. >> are you happy? >> i am. i'll let my husband know. >> you got an a. >> reporter: david kerley, abc news, alexandria, virginia. >> one family that never lost home, the first family got a jump on holiday decorating. arrival of the christmas tree by carriage. the 18 1/2 foot tall douglas fur will reside for the holidays in the white house blue room. and while the first family looks ahead to the holidays, in an abc news exclusive tonight, the president and first lady opening up to our own barbara walters about their future after the white house. >> i know you don't like to think that much in the future. but you are in your second term. do you have a dream for what you'd like to do? will you continue in politics? you must -- >> no. >> no? >> that's a no. >> well, look, i think it's fair to say i've run my last

campaign. i won't be in another elected office. will i continue to care deeply about the issues that we have been working on? absolutely. >> whether they move back home to chicago or stay in washington d.c. depends in large part on their youngest daughter sasha. >> sasha will be a sophomore in high school. >> so you may want to stay in washington, because of sasha. >> well -- >> i don't want to pin you down, but i am. >> let's go this way, sasha will have a big vote. you know, obviously, they have -- and michelle have made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my cockamamie ideas of running for office and things. and so i want to make sure that it's good for them. >> tonight on a special edition of 20/20, barbara walters at the white house. barbara asking president obama about the rough rollout of obama care, and when he thinks america will elect the first female president. that's tonight at 10:00 eastern. turning now to a spectacular sight on the west coast, nature's largest and most

majestic creatures in the waters off monterey struggling to answer a call of a maritime dinner bell, here's abc's clayton sandell. >> reporter: in the wild, you go where the food is. and right now, it's the waters of california's monterey bay. >> whoa! >> reporter: hundreds of killer whales, dolphins and enormous humpback wlals are showing up for a booming seafood buffet thanks to an unusual late season abundance of anchovies. >> we haven't seen an chief ease in this kind of mass in years and years. >> reporter: the feeding frenzy is a once in a lifetime show. whale watching companies are packed. >> we have hundreds of wlals in the bay. it's magnificent. >> reporter: this underwater bounty is the opposite of what we saw a few months back in southern california, when hundreds of sea lion pups began washing up, skinny and starving. >> there's no bait in the water. no anchovies, no sardines.

>> reporter: but for now there is still plenty to feast on, both for the majestic humpback and those watching their spectacle from above. clayton sandell, abc news. >> still ahead on world news, it sounded like an oceans 11 plot. a jewel heist in france. now we're seeing how it really went down. just one man, one gun. and safety first, the little guy behind the heavy lifting, how he got his hands on the controls.

an inside look at a jewel heist on the french riviera, millions of dollars in jewels stolen from a luxury hotel. surveillance reveals it wasn't anything like oceans 12, abc's lama hasan shows us it was a simple plan. >> reporter: this newly released surveillance video shows one of the world's biggest diamond robberies in history taking place on the french riviera in july. make no mistake, this is no oceans 12 where a group of thieves plan and successfully execute sophisticated jewelry heists. >> you may want to call the rice patty now. >> reporter: this is low tech. and simple. watch as the lone gunman casually strolls into the exhibition in the luxurious carlton hotel in broad daylight. he holds the store keepers and unarmed security guards at gun

point. nachs $143 million worth of rings, earrings and pendants, places his loot in a bag and disappears, you're watching the robbery in real time. job done in a mere 30 seconds. larry lawton was a professional thief and now advises on how to prevent robberies. >> when you go into a jewelry robbery, you're going to know everything beforehand. i would be very surprised if they get anything like fingerprints, i used to use sometimes crazy glue on the fingertips which is clear or other things to smudge prints. >> reporter: which perhaps explains why this man is still at large with french police releasing this video hoping they can finally catch this thief. lama hasan, abc news, london. >> coming up, the golden girl, getting a groove on. betty white gets provocative showing a young singer how it's done. our instant index is coming up.

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instant index on a friday night. betty white from hot in cleveland to a hot new video and a little boy having trouble

coping with his new glasses. abc's nick watt has it all. >> reporter: first up on this week's instant index, a guy takes out the trash in his underpants, when it's 40 below. why? cause his wife told him to, when he was about to get in the shower. his bravado evaporates with a passing car. this week, over a thousand strangers sent little noah fisher pictures of themselves wearing glasses. why? well, little noah just got his first pair of glasses and was upset. so his mum started a facebook page, glasses for noah. >> i love you no what, and your glasses are good. >> reporter: over in norway, this 3-year-old lives out every 3-year-old boy's fantasy and operates an earth mover, his dad is supervising and claims this is totally safe. really? meanwhile, at a charity event in london -- yup, that's actually prince william on stage with jon

bon jovi and taylor swift. more startling for a buttoned up brit, he also man hugged jbj. one more thing, betty white steals brit smith's thunder in her latest music video, 91 years old and still shaking her thing. that was the instant index. i'm nick watt. >> still ahead tonight, that girl. that actress. giving so much back to children, carrying on her father's dream, bringing huge stars together to help children. our person of the week, coming up.

finally tonight, she inspired so many women to be strong and independent, back in the 1960s, in the series, that girl. tonight she's using her star power to inspire holiday shoppers to take a second to help out. and for this actress, marlo thomas is our person of the week. >> reporter: who can bring sofia vergara, robin williams and jennifer aniston to the thanksgiving table? >> want to do lunch? >> someone is feeling a lot better. >> reporter: marlo thomas can.

>> a woman came to me and handed me a letter and said would you give this to jennifer aniston? i want you to know she saved my daughter's life. she said i want an mri i think i have this disease that jennifer aniston was talking about. >> reporter: the campaign now in it's tenth year let people donate an extra dollar or two while holiday shopping at america's biggest retailers raising an astounding $380 million since it began. is it the force of your personality? you've gotten all these companies to come together and to buy into the thanks and giving campaign. >> i don't think it's the force of my personality. people want to do something good. you just have to show them where it is. >> reporter: st. jude children's research hospital was founded by marlo's famous father, danny thomas with a big promise. >> no child would ever have to pay. we would take care of the child and the family completely. and we would share our discoveries with the scientific and medical community worldwide.

>> a hospital for children of all races and creeds, nonsectarian and free. >> every kid will have a fair chance. >> reporter: that's bold. but bold is in the thomas dna. marlo's mom, a gifted singer. marlo's dad, a gifted entertainer. marlo making her own flash in the hit '60s sit-com, that girl. >> are you that girl? >> reporter: she was the first single working woman ever on television. >> i don't want to get married just yet. i have my career to think about. >> reporter: i remember my mother, a single parent, how inspired she was by that show. >> how nice. thank you. it was an exciting thing to do. we are talking 1966, that girl was part of the wave of the women's movement. >> reporter: a wave marlo's continuing to ride. she's starring in a play called, clever little lies. >> no other guest has had this many questions. >> reporter: she hosts a web interview show. we don't have time to read your

full resume. actress, activist, best selling author, a grammy, golden gloen. how do you find time? >> it's just a life. isn't it? my father says there are two kinds of people in the world. the givers and the takers. the takers sometimes eat better but the givers always sleep better. >> may she sleep better always. and so, we choose marlo thomas as our person of the week. thank you for watching, we are always here at abc news.com, night line later and gma first thing in the morning. good night. next on abc7 news at 6:00 a lawsuit that threatens to unravel the deal of the bart strike. police arrested protesters

outside of a walmart. >> and michael finney says best deals may be yet to come z a stranger's kindness giving this football team a big opportunity. >> this is out of the east bay. some walmart protestors have been arrested. good evening, everybody, i'm larry beil in for dan ashley tonight. >> i'm carolyn johnson. it's part of a black friday protest against the giant retailer on behalf of walmart workers. allen wong was there and joins us live from san leandro. allen? >> reporter: that protest died down significantly since those five were arrested. right down there in the middle of the boulevard, but here is what it looked like around

arrested the protestors. the walmart, many are former and current employees complaining of low wages and poor working conditions. >> it's way bigger than walmart. like i'm saying we have fast food strikers here, we have bart team here, teacher union here, it's about worker that's shop at walmart and pay them and don't know they're not treating their workers fairly. >> we offer competitive wages, health benefits starting at $18 a paycheck, we know these are quality jobs and are proud of what our owe a.associates continue to do. >> demonstrators may have blocked some traffic but it hasn't stopped shoppers from buying on black friday here, walmart says crowds have been very steady here all day. there were protests across the nation but this is the