its biggest seller: menthol- flavored newport cigarettes. reynolds' american makes brands like camel and kool. its shares fell 2.2%. and altria group was down 1.2%. it makes marlboro cigarettes. amgen today admitted to mis- branding its medicine for anemia. as part of the federal plea deal, the company agreed to pay $762 million in criminal and civil penalties. the stock didn't have much of a reaction, though. shares were down just 0.2%. they have seen a strong rally this year, rising almost 40% since january. we have a closer look at whether amgen can continue to rally. it is on our web site, www.nbr.com. click on the "blogs" tab and look for technical analysis by michael kahn. the yellow metal saw plenty of red. all of the five most actively traded exchange traded products ended higher. the financial sector and nasdaq 100 tracking funds gained the most, up 1.5% each. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> susie: super bowl advertisements are known for being some of the most expensive ads on tv, and the same is true for the online ads that

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> i'm cat greenleaf. this is "talk stoop. today's topic is space it all started when we were talking with jeremy sisto who played jesus we started talking about faith from that and it launched the entire show. let's start with the first guy -- jesus well, jeremy >> it's been a while since i sat on a stoop i'm used to more large, comfortable chairs in l.a. but i'm going to get into it. >> now you're slumming it sitting on the stoop that's how you want to kick it off? >> it's very urban -- dirty. >> like in a dirty, not fun

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >> dry mouth is uncomfortable. it can also lead to serious dental problems. >> announcer: act total care dry mouth is alcohol-free and has fluoride to strengthen teeth. >> stronger teeth and dry mouth relief. [ female announcer mcdonald's dollar menu. home of the meaty, melty mcdouble you love. and other amazing tastes for just a dollar each. every day, as always, there's a lot to love for a little on mcdonald's dollar menu. ♪ home of the meaty, melty mcdouble you love. and other amazing tastes for just a dollar each. every day, as always, there's a lot to love for a little on mcdonald's dollar menu. ♪ >>> that wraps it up for this edition of "our world with black enterprise." you can like us on facebook or follow me on twitter. thank you for watching, see you next week. >> love, sugar, and butter -- >> you have secret recipes too, though? >> can you give me one? >> i'll give it to you later. >> i'm not going to get that later. >> oh yes you will. ♪

. >> the proposal also includes an outright ban on menthol cigarettes. in the future, no artificial roma's will be allowed to mask the flavor. >> my aim here is that people can take an informed decision when they look at a pack of cigarettes, by getting the clear message that the product they buy harms. >> the proposal goes to the european council and european parliament, time the tobacco industry will no doubt use to try to snub it out. >> turning out to soccer, and no christmas cheer for shelf debt. they are out of the german cup. >> he had hoped to turn around the fortunes with his debut as head coach, but even a radical redesign on the starting lineup could not stave off the type play. the royal blues were behind on the half-hour marked. schalke rallied after the break. 15 minutes, and then leveled the score. the coach was sent to the stands after forcefully protesting a foul by schalke's jones. the turnaround was short-lived. they gave it one last go, but in the end, it went home with a spot in the quarterfinal, and it was a fitting end to a disappo

today proposed bigger health warnings on cigarette packages and a complete ban on strong flavors like menthol. philip morris shares dropped 2.1%. it is the world's biggest cigarette maker measured by revenue. in the dow, some analysts concerns hit shares of general electric and alcoa. g.e. fell hard, down 3.1%. investment bank u.b.s. removed the stock from its favored list thinking earnings growth will slow. alcoa dropped 3%. moody's put the company's credit rating on review for possible downgrade, thanks to falling aluminum prices. fighting against the weak market was oracle. the database software reported a strong quarter last night. and shares responded, jumping 3.7%, taking the stock to its highest price since the spring of 2011. digital storage stocks rebounded. western digital was up four percent. seagate technology increased 3.3%. both received positive analyst comments. fed-ex delivered earnings that were down from a year ago, but still stronger than anticipated. the drop from a year ago was blamed on customers using lower priced shipping options instead of the higher priced express s

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> how is saturday treating you so far at 8:30 now? >> good breakfast. good o.j. welcome back, everybody. i'm christi paul. >> and i'm alison kosik. randi and victor are off today. thanks for starting your day with us. some stories we put an eye on this morning. >>> arizona sheriff joe arpaio says his program is working so well he wants to use it in schools now. the maricopa county sheriff, background here, used are aed volunteers to protect area malls during the holidays for the past 19 years and in that time, there have been no violent incidents reported. on friday, he announced that he does plan to deploy the armed volunteers to area schools now ow as well. >>> and the woman at the center of the newtown charity scam case has been arrested. apparently 37-year-old bronx woman, nouel alba made a facebook page claiming to be the aunt of 6-year-old victim noah pozner, one of the children killed in the connecticut shooting. she told donors money will go toe a funeral fu

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> good morning, d.c. dark there now, but waky, waky our elected leaders. you have only two days ahead of you before that fiscal cliff deadline. hope you're well rested and fed and dugout from the snow storm yesterday because the clock is ticking down on 2012 and to that deline for avoiding the fiscal cliff, but after weeks of negotiations, patience is running short. here's president obama after his meeting with top political leaders on friday. >> the american people are watching what we do here. obviously, their patience is already thin. this is deja vu all over again. america wonders why it is in this town for some reason you can't get stuff done in an organized timetable. why everything always has to wait until last minute. well, we're now at the last minute. the american people are not going to have any patience for a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. >> and he apparently wasn't kidding. we put out a call for our cnn ireporters to send us their mes

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> can you hear it? tick tock, the clock is ticking. three days from possibly going over the fiscal cliff. it's our focus this morning. if lawmakers fail to reach a deal, that would mean spending cuts and tax hikes for 88% of all american households come tuesday. look at these numbers from the tax policy center. some of the poorest americans who make up to $20,000 a year, will have to shell out $412 more to the irs and everyone earning more than $40,000 a year will be affected. if you make $40,000 to $64,000, you'll pay almost $2,000 a year, if you make between $64,000 to $108,000, that jumps up to 3,500. and anybody making more than $108,000, yeah, you'll have to give up a little more than $14,000. overall, the average american will pay more than $3,500 a year. will lawmakers be able to pull off a deal before the new year? here's cnn chief correspondent ali velshi. >> alison, i have no idea whether we'll get a fiscal cliff deal done or not. i do have a pretty good i

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> welcome back to cnn sunday morning. i'm alison kosik in for randi ka kaye. bottom of the hour. here are the stories we're keeping an eye on this hour. it's down to the wire in washington. less than 48 hours left for congress to make a deal and avoid the fiscal cliff. leaders from both political parties have expressed hope that a deal can be reached. in the senate negotiators worked late into the night trying to put together a plan, and the whole senate will come together in a few hours from now for a rare sunday session beginning at 1:00. an hour later the house will meet. in a world far away from the capitol, everyday americans are growing frustrated with political leaders and their lack of action when so much is at stake. we asked or cnn i-reporters to send us their messages for washington and we got a ton of responses. lynn to vernon hill with a bit of advice for politicians. >> my new year's message it to washington is to grow up, act like adults, do juror job

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> a group called the population reference bureau tracks people, where they live, and where they're going. it analyzes trends and their implications. it describes the current state of rural america as a place where workers won't go because there aren't any jobs and businesses won't locate because there are no workers. as a result the bureau says a broad area of the country is emptying out, rural areas are caught in a downward spiral. just 19% of americans live in rural america now, the lowest ever recorded by the census bure bureau. no one worries mother about that than the agriculture secretary who says as a by-product of the population decline rural america has lost political clout in washington. >> we're losing our young people because we're not doing a particularly good job of sending the right proactive message from an economic perspective, and that then translates into a lack of support for programs that are important to rural america. >> that would be programs

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> very chilly new york city. investors going into a short holiday week worried about a fiscal cliff deal. all markets pointing to a lower open. markets close at 1:00 p.m. eastern today. >>> gas prices have dropped by nearly 12 cents over the last two weeks. the average cost of a gallon of regular is $3.26, according to the latest lundberg survey. in the last 11 weeks, gas prices have fallen by 58 cents per gallon. lower prices at the pump are not likely to continue. we can see an increase of 5 or 10 cents per gallon soon, due to increasing crude oil prices. >>> a potential big snag for transport and trade. 16,000 workers at 15 ports from boston to houston on the verge of going on strike. the international long shoreman's observation association has been bargaining since march and a contract extension expires on the 29th. you've heard about the fiscal cliff. what about the dairy cliff? that's what dairy farmers and milk producers are called dairy subsidies set to exp

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> minding your business this morning. the impending fiscal cliff is creating jitters on wall street, despite the fact that congressional leaders are meeting with the president trying to work out a deal. dow, nasdaq, s & p 500, futures all pointing lower this hour. signaling a potential sell-off at the opening bell. the fiscal cliff isn't the only potential cliff. thousands of dockworkers from maine to texas could go on strike within days if they can't reach a deal with major shipping companies. these workers move all kinds of goods from the nation's ports to the stores. >> from your mom to ppop retail toto trucking companies to your farmers. this will be felt nationwide. everyone relies on these ports to move commerce. >> one port official says east and gulf coast ports handle about $55 billion worth of cargo are every month. >>> patrick dempsey is doing his part to necessitate the economy. is he part of a group that is trying to save about 500 jobs by buying tully'

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. christmas tornadoes and an extreme white christmas for millions. thousands cleaning up and holiday travelers stuck this morning. >>> new information on the snip whoever set a trap for firefighters we burning his own house down. his chilling words left behind in a note. >>> aloha means good-bye. president obama cuts his hawaiian vacation short to deal with the fiscal cliff. it is already too late? good morning, 7:00 in the east. i'm alina cho. >> and i'm drew griffin. soledad o'brien is off today. "starting point" begins right now. >>> our starting point, a cruel one. a one-two christmas punch from mother nature. tornadoes and blizzards tearing through the south and midwest. >> oh, my god. we need to go. it's right there. >> mobile, alabama, took a real beating. a twister blowing up transformers, leaving more than 25,000 customers without power. reports to damage to homes, a high school, and church. >> it came in behind the church right there, and then all green fluorescent lighting an

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> welcome back to "early start." it's 24 minutes after the hour. i'm here along with caina bash. dana, take a look at this video. it just may blow your mind. the company spacex launching a successful test flight of its grasshopper rocket. now after launch, it actually hovers in the air as it is doing right now and then lands vertically very softly. >> wow. >> we're going to see it eventually, i think, instead of breaking up. it has the potential, by the way, to change space flight as we know it and save a whole lot of money in the process. the private space flight company says it's almost -- there's the landing -- almost ready for its first liftoff. a few kinks to work out. they carried cargo to the international space station and hopes to take people there soon >> you know what, i'll let other people do that. would you do it? would you get on? >> i don't think so, but people pay a lot of money to do it. >> i know, i know. i'll get their reports when they get back.

powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. >>> welcome back to "early start." it's 23 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning, stock markets worldwide are in a holding pattern waiting the results of those fiscal cliff talks in washington. stocks could take a big hit next week if congress does not make a decision in time. adding to concerns treasury secretary timothy geithner warning congress yesterday we will reach the nation's debt ceiling on monday. that's when the government reaches its legal borrowing limit. treasury can keep the government operating a couple of weeks using emergency measures but congress needs to act on this too to avoid a full-blown debt crisis. >>> toyota is announcing a record $1.1 billion settlement over the unintended accelerator issue. it will go directly to its customers past and present. toyota will install brake override systems for vehicles identified by toyota as having problems with floor mats getting stuck. toyota also setting aside $250 million to compensa