welcome to "world news." tonight travel nightmare, that monster storm threatening the busiest travel day of the year. snow, rain and wind, our team on the roads and in the air. will those giant balloons in the macy's thanksgiving day parade be grounded. held hostage, the white house weighs in, will our new relationship in iran free this agent held longer than any other american. >> please help me get home. real deal, news tonight about the secrets of those black friday prices. why some of the those big sales may not be such a big bargain after all. and on top of the world -- ♪ >> new york central park center stage for one direction's blowout are concert. the formula for creating the biggest pop group on the planet.

good evening. diane is off tonight. as we come on the air a ferocious storm system with very bad timing is creating all kinds of trouble. look at the countdown clock, one of the busiest travel days of the year hours away and this is the storm, power up and on the move, arctic air, downpour, strong winds and tornados. the national service issues watches, warnings and advisories in 20 states tonight and so many wondering will they make it home for thanksgiving. abc's weather editor sam champion starts us off. good evening, sam. >> reporter: good evening, george. there is a light, cold rain in central park. this prethanksgiving storm has made it on the east coast. look at the radar. it's the entire east coast, every eastern state from the gulf coast to maine is getting

something outs of this storm. there is still the possibility of severe weather in north florida all the way to coastal a carolinas. let's head south a little bit though because that's the area that took the brunt of the storm during the day today deep into atlanta where they had a break in the rain for a couple of hours but now back into rain and there is even a possibility of that cold air bringing light snow in the morning. our gio benitez is standing by in atlanta right now. good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you from a wet atlanta, so much rain here all day long, so many accidents and the timing couldn't be worse. for millions of americans tonight, getting to grandma's house for thanksgiving means doing battle with mother nature. >> it's going to be a hectic day on tap for us. >> heading home for the holidays could be more difficult. >> monitoring the ugly weather conditions across metro atlanta. >> it will be a white thanksgiving. >> reporter: in portland maine high winds are causing havoc, in

virginia the morning freeze turned into afternoon downpoors. >> some sleet and some freezing rain, and this morning, my driveway was solid ice. >> reporter: up and down the east coast, this storm is causing a traffic nightmare. hundreds of accidents just as tens of millions are expected to drive for thanksgiving. in birmingham, alabama, this morning, an 18-wheeler sliding off the road and ending up on its side. and in pittsburgh, a car slid off the road and was left dangling over a hillside. in north carolina, mostly rain. a driver ending up in a ditch. >> i hydroplaned over here and came off and slid around. here in atlanta, we rode along with the department of transportation's heroes unit -- the first responders for traffic accidents. the number one danger? black ice. >> a lot of times in weather like this you don't see that ice on the road? >> no, they won't know until they're hydroplaning. >> reporter: to keep safe on the roads, a great tip from aaa they tell us -- don't use cruise control. in slippery conditions, you need to be able to ease off the gas

quickly, and you can't when your cruise control is on. so that's the mess on the ground but if you are flying up, the air is messy, too. for that part of the story we turn to abc's david kerley at o'hare international airport in chicago. david, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. this is united's o'hare airport command center, the busiest time of the year. over all tonight there are 7200 flights in the air. in atlanta one in three flights was delayed today. there is another map they're interested in in chicago. it's that map sam showed you, the weather map and the storm which could cause huge airline delays. worried about the weather passengers are hitting airports early, but in some cases even that is not enough. >> i actually had a job interview in little rock and i got stuck in houston last night because my flight from little rock was delayed. >> reporter: that's just the start.

tomorrow 2.4 million people will fly, the second busiest day of the year, that is if they can fly. the east coast storm could cancel or delay flights. for airlines, the pressure is on. >> does it get any bigger than thanksgiving? >> i would say the combination of thanksgiving and christmas is indeed our super bowl, our chance to shine. >> good job. >> reporter: we joint this united crew as they turned around this 737 in less than an hour and a half, cleaning, refuelings, unloading and reloading. i even joined them in the belly of the plane. >> man, is that heavy. >> reporter: this jet headed to l.a. left on time. will others be as lucky tomorrow? as this storm sits over the east coast, major hubs could be effected, maybe the biggest one new york. one in ten flights goes through new york, boston and philly at risk as well. by the way that l.a. flight landed 32 minutes early that we

helped locate. >> let's bring sam back. walk us through this forecast for the next 24 hours. >> reporter: i think we're done with early flights coming out of the east coast for little while and we'll show you why. look at the path over the next 24, 36 hours. even keeping some snow in the mix here. by thursday, by thanksgiving day, this storm is out of the u.s. and it's taking most of the snow and rain with it. here's the snow we're talking about, from knoxville to buffalo to burlington. some of these areas for buffalo, erie, cleveland, this is an all snow event. the western part of new york, i'm convinced you may see 18 inches of snow. look at the rain here, generally two to four along the i-95 corridor. rain won't cause delays for airports but we're expecting

strong winds, 30, 40, 50 miles per hour wind gusts which will delay flights. >> what does that mean for the macy's parade? >> reporter: all right, this is not necessarily good news. they'll make that decision thursday morning when they get a chance to look at the real winds, but the forecast for that time period is a 20, 25 mile per hour wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour. the threshold for pulling those balloons is 23 mile per hour steady wind with gusts up to 30 so it's going to be very, very close. >> that is close. you, sam and the weather team tracking the travel mess throughout the night. we move to washington and a brand new test for obama care. after that troubled launch, word today that the supreme court will consider a challenge from employees who say the law's requirement to cover contraception is a blow to their

religion history. here's jim avila. >> reporter: hobby lobby plays christian music in its stores and sells some religious oriented gifts but mostly it's an arts and crafts shop. it's a business model that promotes a christian life-style and full birth control coverage mandated by obama care does not. >> we do everything we possibly can to be help to our employees of how they can structure their life based on biblical principles. >> reporter: the owners don't want to provide health insurance that pays for post exception birth control for its 25,000 employees, telling the supreme court, the so called contraception mandate violates their religion. >> my convictions enter into how we run our business. >> reporter: the first amendment guarantees individuals the right to practice their religion as they wish. now the supreme court will decide if for profit corporations have that same right. >> this would be the first time

that the supreme court has ever recognized that corporations are protected in their religion liberty in the same way that living, breathing human beings are. >> reporter: the practical effect of hobby lobby and a second business, a kitchen cabinet company run by men night, winning would mean it would be exempt of a fundamental principle of obama care, birth control at no cost. >> the women employed by these companies are legally entitled to no cost, fda approved contraception coverage and the employers are trying to take that away from them based on their own religious views. >> reporter: making your boss's faith a question to ask in future interviews. jim avila, abc news, the supreme court. we move to afghanistan where there was a diplomatic showdown because the white house and president karzai. susan rice is urging the afghan

president so sign a deal that would keep they have thousand troops in the country for several years to train forces. karzai said he won't unless they release all prisoners from began tan know. rice responded. all american troops will leave next year if karzai refuses to ryan. the wish of one american family granted. former fbi agent robert levinson has been held hostage longer than any other american and his family is hoping tonight that the recent thaw in u.s. relations will bring him home soon. here's abc's brian ross. >> please help me get home. >> reporter: as of today, no american has been held hostage longer than former fbi agent robert levinson. for him it is day 2,455 since he disappeared in iran. the once clean cut 65-year-old

floor man last seen alive in this video releases two years ago in a prison suit with a long beard and wild gray hair. >> 33 years of service to the united states deserves something. >> reporter: there were signs of some progress today with an unusually delicate statement form the white house, "respectfully" asking, not demanding, that iran help secure levinson's safe return. >> it's a code word in islamic republic circles. it's a country that tends to be particularly sensitive about how it is approached and how you ask questions of it. >> reporter: levinson was reported missing during a trip he took in 2007 to iran's kish island as a private investigator after he had retired from the fbi. iran has denied holding him, but investigators don't believe that. levinson's family hopes that seeming thaw in u.s.-iranian relations could lead to his release, although u.s. officials said today his case was not part of the recent talks in geneva. >> but we have raised,

repeatedly raised his case and the case of other detained american citizens. >> reporter: iran has admitted to holding at least two other americans. amir hekmati, a former marine of iranian descent from michigan, visiting his grandmother but accused of being a spy. and saeed abedini, an iranian-american pastor form idaho, sentenced to eight years in prison for establishing churches in iran. levinson's wife chris said this seventh thanksgiving without bobby will be almost impossible to bear, as it will be for the other two families as well. >> so hard. okay, brian. thanks very much. we turn now to a terrible tragedy caught on tape. families watching a veteran animal trainer play with a tiger he raised from birth when the animal snaps. officials are investigating tonight as the trainer fights for his life. abc's david wright has the story. >> reporter: caught on a tourist's camera, a tiger attacks its trainer. a playful demonstration, suddenly life threatening. >> that's bad. that's awful. >> reporter: the trainer's colleagues rush in to save him.

as they flee, the tigers chase them. watch closely. the wounded trainer stumbles and falls. his colleagues rush back to drag him to safety. shocked spectators, including kids, watched in horror. >> one of them got a bit of bear hug on him, and just grabbed the shoulders and was clawing away, got his neck and his arm. and then a bit of blood came out. >> reporter: the trainer was airlifted to a brisbane hospital where he's in serious but stable condition with bite wounds on his shoulders and neck. the incident took place this morning at the australia zoo, founded by steve irwin. known as the crocodile hunter, irwin, was famous for getting too close for comfort with wild animals. he died in 2006 after a sting ray stung him. but his approach lives on at the australia zoo. the zoo's videos show the trainers playing with tigers as though they were kitty cats. today the tigers reminded everyone they're not.

david wright, abc news, los angeles. and still ahead, the secrets about those black friday prices and why the number 30 could be key to know if that bargain is real. and one direction invades new york. are they the beetles or the back street boys? we're back in two minutes. side-by-side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. that's one smart board -- what else does it do, reverse gravity? [ laughs ] split atoms? [ flo chuckles ] [ whirring ] hey, how's that atom-splitting thing going? oh! a smarter way to shop around -- now that's progressive. call or click today.

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all out war for your holiday dollar and retailers know it's the sales that lure you in. >> the american consumer likes to feel like they're out there getting a deal. >> reporter: but the black friday secrets some stores don't want you to know, you may not be getting the great deal you think you are. >> the pricing system where they mark up so they can discount is built into their business model. >> a deal or not a deal, that's the question. >> how is 30 percent? >> weak. everything is discounted so is that really a deal? >> 40, now we're talking, 50 absolutely. >> reporter: house how insiders tell us it works. take this sweater at $50. the company's target price is $35. that's where the customer feels like they're getting a deal. why not price it at $35? last year when jcpenney tried that, customers fled.

>> as a general rule of thumb, shoppers should look for discounts at 30 percent or more. >> reporter: we call that the 30 percent rule. most stores expect to sell items at 30 percent off. so look for discounts higher than that. those are the real deals. also places like camelcamel.com let you chart an item over time. take this camera. sale price $299. 7 months ago it was 10 bucks less. so that's the deal to skip. finally, in the midst of all that holiday shopping chaos, if you think you got a dud, go back and get a price adjustment, allowing you to win that battle of the bargain. rebecca jarvis, abc news, new york. when we come back, good news for ron burgundy. >> i don't know how to put this, but i'm kind of a big deal. >> turns out the anchor man

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in tonight's "instant index," uncle sam needs you to vote. so do these turkeys, caramel and popcorn, the finalists for a national thanksgiving turkey. only one bird can hold the title. both get a presidential pardon. hatched on the same day, raised on the same farm, caramel is lean and tall, popcorn with smaller feathers. this is caramel's gobble. this is popcorn's. you can vote online. stay tuned to see who wins. and it turns out ron burgundy was onto something. >> i can barely lift my right arm because i did so many. i don't know if you heard me counting. i did over 1,000. >> the anchor man getting exercise at the office. a new study finds it's never too late to start. researchers in england studied older adults who didn't start exercising until near retirement. the late bloomers were three

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finally tonight, the most popular band on the planet, one direction. their new album an instant number one in 97 countries. turns out every generation has its breakout boy band. sara haines breaks down their secrets to success. ♪ >> reporter: they are the latest pre-fab five. the adorable brits behind the hits. thousands of teenage girls, camping out in the bitter cold this morning. will there be tears? and, of course, this. we've heard those screams before. for the monkees. ♪ new kids on the block.

♪ and those '90s boy band gods 'n sync. ♪ now, one direction, like the boy bands before them, the product of an offstage musical mastermind. in their case, simon cowell, who >> have i said why don't we put these five into a group. it literally took 10 minutes. >> who is your favorite? >> reporter: they could become a 1 billion dollars jugger nut. harry is the charmer. louie is the jokester. zain, the quiet one, liam the mature one and niall is the sweetheart. i spoke to him.

>> you turn out so many every time. is it still a rush? >> you can never get used to what's going on. >> reporter: sara haines, abc news, new york. >> a lot of fans in my house. thanks for watching.night. have a good night and i'll see you tomorrow on "gma." and when you t up -- can i play?

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