:00:00. > :00:00.the currency if Scotland decides on independence, but for that to happen
:00:00. > :00:09.depends on the verdict of the voters later this year. Now, it is time for
:00:10. > :00:18.ABC world news. Tonight, chaos in the cold. Our
:00:19. > :00:23.reporter in the deep freeze with drivers stranded on the highways,
:00:24. > :00:31.and people forced to sleep in stores. The congressmen who lashed
:00:32. > :00:36.out after the President's speech. What he saying today about really
:00:37. > :00:41.happened. The whistleblower fearing for his
:00:42. > :00:43.life with allegations of mass corruption at the Winter Olympics by
:00:44. > :00:49.top Russian officials linked to President Putin. And, an unconscious
:00:50. > :01:06.skydiver wearing a camera, plunges to work. -- plunges to earth.
:01:07. > :01:15.We begin with that sheer icy misery all across the South. The daily
:01:16. > :01:21.chaos is still unfolding in Georgia. Today, highways jammed with miles of
:01:22. > :01:25.cars and trucks abandoned, no one at the wheel. Tonight, questions are
:01:26. > :01:32.flying about how a major American city became so slowed down by the
:01:33. > :01:39.storm. Also, good Samaritans handed out water and supplies to everyone
:01:40. > :01:45.in it. We start in Atlanta. Tonight, parts of Atlanta still look
:01:46. > :01:51.apocalyptic. Mile after mile of traffic jams, and in many cases we
:01:52. > :01:56.have seen cars abandoned by the side of the road. Right now, officials in
:01:57. > :01:59.Georgia are still try to clean up this mess and TI is part of the
:02:00. > :02:03.bridge. This is taking quite a while.
:02:04. > :02:08.Atlanta roadways frozen in place. 20 mile commute is turned into 20 hour
:02:09. > :02:13.odysseys. Drivers stuck through the night, heart will be in their cars.
:02:14. > :02:19.Some, like this woman, cut-off. I have been here since 4pm yesterday.
:02:20. > :02:24.I was going to the airport, and we got stuck behind a couple of trucks.
:02:25. > :02:30.And we ran out of gas. Only two inches of snow fell yesterday, but
:02:31. > :02:39.it's mother this city in a blanket of ice, grinding it to a halt. -- it
:02:40. > :02:45.smothered. This ice is so thick and so slippery and it is impossible to
:02:46. > :02:49.manoeuvre around. Across the south, a rare dusting of snow from Florida
:02:50. > :02:53.to Virginia beach. But enough to make roadways impassable and shut
:02:54. > :02:58.down highways and bridges, causing thousands of accidents. People
:02:59. > :03:02.forced to shelter in place, many of them in stores. Tonight, in Georgia
:03:03. > :03:07.and Alabama, several hundred children will have to sleep at their
:03:08. > :03:11.schools brief second night. Thousands were turned back to the
:03:12. > :03:18.place they started Monday in their classrooms. Teachers are forced to
:03:19. > :03:23.forage for food. I want to go home! At this elementary school, staff are
:03:24. > :03:28.staying as long as necessary. We made sure every last child was very
:03:29. > :03:33.well taken care of. The Governor today admitted errors were made.
:03:34. > :03:41.Sign that we all have lessons we need to learn. Some officials blame
:03:42. > :03:51.the weather forecast. Many trucks jackknifed, and clogged roadways.
:03:52. > :03:56.The command centre was taking dozens of calls through the day from
:03:57. > :04:01.stranded motorists. Police went car to car, marking abandoned vehicles.
:04:02. > :04:12.Little help coming, Faulks helped themselves. An extinct -- expectant
:04:13. > :04:18.mother was stranded, and gave birth to a baby girl. Salt trucks are just
:04:19. > :04:25.now arriving in this area. You can see that cars are abandoned by the
:04:26. > :04:29.side of the road, and more bad news. All the snow that melted will freeze
:04:30. > :04:35.again tonight, and that water will turn back to us.
:04:36. > :04:40.The worst weather day in memory down there. Any relief in sight?
:04:41. > :04:46.There is. Here we are, shivering on the Hudson River with ice behind us,
:04:47. > :04:52.and all the way down to Florida, cold. On this map, 42% of the nation
:04:53. > :04:57.is covered in snow. The snow will melt after tomorrow. We will look
:04:58. > :05:04.for high temperatures, not just tomorrow, but Friday, Saturday and
:05:05. > :05:12.Sunday. The warm weather will go from the 40s after the 50s. We add
:05:13. > :05:18.about 10 degrees per day. It will be close to 80 by the time we reach the
:05:19. > :05:23.end of the weekend. What about these charges from Florida officials that
:05:24. > :05:29.it was a bad forecast to blame? Two days in advance, they had a watch or
:05:30. > :05:33.advisory. They flipped and flopped between the two, but we knew so was
:05:34. > :05:45.coming. As of yesterday morning, there was a winter storm warning: 41
:05:46. > :05:53.42 inches of -- a winter storm warning, announcing one or two
:05:54. > :06:01.inches of snow. The White House knows that that one
:06:02. > :06:05.speech won't make a big difference with that one speech won't make a
:06:06. > :06:06.big difference without a follow-up campaign. The President was out
:06:07. > :06:09.there, hitting that give America a race theme. They were campaign style
:06:10. > :06:15.events in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Even if he can't get Congress to go
:06:16. > :06:19.along with an increased the minimum wage, Democrats they believe will
:06:20. > :06:26.have a campaign issue the fall. Look at the ABC news, with overwhelming
:06:27. > :06:32.support for a minimum wage increase. The President will push hard on
:06:33. > :06:39.that. There were some grace notes, the tribute to the army ranger. They
:06:40. > :06:47.shout out from the President... In America, our success should depend
:06:48. > :06:56.not on accident of birth, but the strength of work ethic and the scope
:06:57. > :07:02.of our dreams. That's how the son of a barkeeper became the Speaker of
:07:03. > :07:08.the house. There are some signs of a fall between the party in the house.
:07:09. > :07:22.Today, the house overwhelmingly passed $1 trillion farm bill that
:07:23. > :07:28.show there may be looking to move forward on immigration reform. There
:07:29. > :07:32.is another story from the capital making headlines. Right after the
:07:33. > :07:36.President's speech, a member of Congress lost his cool and
:07:37. > :07:40.threatened to kill a journalist. It was all caught on camera. Today, he
:07:41. > :07:49.is apologising, and we look at whether that is too little too late.
:07:50. > :07:55.Today, the New York congressman was a model of contrition. I was wrong.
:07:56. > :08:00.It should not have happened. Last night, a reporter asked about an
:08:01. > :08:07.investigation against him. We wanted to get him on camera about that. He
:08:08. > :08:18.refused to talk. The congressmen returned... He threatens to throw
:08:19. > :08:26.the reporter of the balcony. And it gets worse.
:08:27. > :08:37.Yes, that's right. They congressman says he will break the journalist in
:08:38. > :08:44.half. Congress in Grimm was elected during the Tea Party wave in 2010.
:08:45. > :08:50.He is now under investigation by the FBI himself to determine whether he
:08:51. > :08:55.solicited illegal campaign contributions. That was what the
:08:56. > :09:01.reporter was trying to ask him. The story played out all day long. I'm
:09:02. > :09:07.sure my mother is going to be yelling at me some more. She is
:09:08. > :09:11.right. It was not the State of the Union address response that the
:09:12. > :09:22.Republicans had in mind. And there is a new twist in that Lori we
:09:23. > :09:24.reported on earlier, the cruise ship stricken with a lightning fast
:09:25. > :09:34.gastro virus. -- that story. It will sail again
:09:35. > :09:38.this week. What was supposed to be a ten day cruise to Paradise returned
:09:39. > :09:42.to New Jersey today. Passengers walked out with their luggage,
:09:43. > :09:48.hopeful that is all they brought with them. Nearly 700 people got
:09:49. > :09:55.sick on board, likely effect by the highly contagious Norovirus. Really
:09:56. > :10:02.bad. You have never felt pain until you have had this. Some passengers
:10:03. > :10:07.describe five or six hour waits to get into the infirmary. One person
:10:08. > :10:12.was taken off in a stretcher. It was a lovely cruise but unfortunately
:10:13. > :10:16.the virus was not part of the package I signed up for. The cruise
:10:17. > :10:27.line is offering compensation. 50% of the current cruise and 50% off
:10:28. > :10:32.the next cruise. The clean-up began even before the ship docked. It's
:10:33. > :10:36.fully sanitised. The methods that have been so effective in
:10:37. > :10:40.controlling this virus once we understood it was happening...
:10:41. > :10:44.Before it can go out again, workers will have to scrub down the entire
:10:45. > :10:51.vessel. 15 passenger decks, 14 elevator is, more than 1500 state
:10:52. > :10:56.rooms, three swimming pools, and miniature golf course. Do you feel
:10:57. > :11:03.confident they will be able to do this? There are some very specific
:11:04. > :11:07.guidelines about how ships should be decontaminated after outbreaks of
:11:08. > :11:11.this nature and I believe that the cruise line will adhere to those
:11:12. > :11:16.regulations. Officials want their next customers to know that they
:11:17. > :11:22.will be in shipshape by Friday. Counting down to the Olympics.
:11:23. > :11:27.Terror threats already dampened the spirits of the games. Tonight, we
:11:28. > :11:33.have an exclusive investigation into charges of rampant corruption.
:11:34. > :11:37.Bribery, suitcases full of cash and a whistleblower who says there is a
:11:38. > :11:44.contract on his life because he dared to speak out. A home at the
:11:45. > :11:49.end of this road, one hour away from London is the hiding place of this
:11:50. > :11:54.exiled Russian businessmen, who now fears he will be killed after making
:11:55. > :12:01.allegations about chaos to Russian officials overseeing construction at
:12:02. > :12:06.the Winter Olympics. You will be drowned in blood. Yes. He told us
:12:07. > :12:10.that he personally delivered huge payoffs to some of the officials,
:12:11. > :12:15.one inside the office of the President, using a piece of luggage
:12:16. > :12:29.like this stuffed with tens of millions of rebels. -- roubles. The
:12:30. > :12:31.former Deputy Prime Minister, a political rival of Vladimir Putin,
:12:32. > :12:37.says he has documented how well-connected Russians got rich
:12:38. > :12:48.from Olympic contracts. $30 billion altogether. Yes. The Olympic Stadium
:12:49. > :12:53.is three times the cost of any previous stadium anywhere in the
:12:54. > :12:56.world. Even worse, he says, the nine billion dollar Highway and rail
:12:57. > :13:05.project to the ski fields above Sochi, 30 miles away. In his
:13:06. > :13:09.exclusive interview, President Vladimir Putin said he knew of no
:13:10. > :13:15.evidence of a serious corruption of them. TRANSLATION: We have not seen
:13:16. > :13:22.any large-scale instances of corruption. He has apparently
:13:23. > :13:27.forgotten the problems with the long delayed Olympic ski slope, six times
:13:28. > :13:31.over budget. This shows the moment he was told the contract are
:13:32. > :13:33.building the ski slope was also the very Russian Olympic official
:13:34. > :13:38.supposedly overseeing the construction. The vice president of
:13:39. > :13:43.the National Olympic Committee is taking care of such a large-scale
:13:44. > :13:47.construction? That official fled the country before he was charged with
:13:48. > :13:54.embezzlement. But, of course, Vladimir Putin says he is not aware
:13:55. > :13:58.of any such problems. Coming up, a skydiver falls to the Earth,
:13:59. > :15:18.unconscious, but is saved by his friends.
:15:19. > :15:27.Next tonight, amazing video of a midair rescue. A skydiver in free
:15:28. > :15:32.fall at 12,000 feet, knocked out cold and not able to open his
:15:33. > :15:37.parachute. This is what happens next. The video starts with a group
:15:38. > :15:41.of skydiver 's climbing onto the outside of a plane and preparing to
:15:42. > :15:45.jump. A small camera is attached to the helmet of an experienced 25
:15:46. > :15:52.-year-old skydiver called James Leigh. He has done this more than
:15:53. > :15:58.1000 times but never before has this happened. Seconds after he leaps, a
:15:59. > :16:03.freak accident. He is hit in the back of the head by a fellow
:16:04. > :16:08.skydiver. He is knocked out and tumbles unconscious through 12,500
:16:09. > :16:15.feet towards certain death. You can see his arms going limp. Skydiver 's
:16:16. > :16:20.fall at a rate of 120 mph on average. Look at what happens next.
:16:21. > :16:24.His friends noticed there is something wrong with him. They
:16:25. > :16:31.approach, giving him hand signals to check if he is OK. Seeing that he is
:16:32. > :16:41.not, they've reoriented his body to the correct position and then deploy
:16:42. > :16:43.his parachute. It's incredible. When somebody is unconscious and
:16:44. > :16:51.tumbling, it's virtually impossible to catch them. This is not the first
:16:52. > :16:55.skydiving mishap to make the news of late. This week, a 16 -year-old girl
:16:56. > :16:59.in Oklahoma made a hard landing after her parachute failed. In
:17:00. > :17:04.2005, a pregnant woman had her parachute malfunctioned. Both
:17:05. > :17:07.survived. As James drifted towards the earth in the English
:17:08. > :17:13.countryside, he regained consciousness, with no memory of the
:17:14. > :17:19.incident. When he lands, you can see how relieved he is. Tonight, he says
:17:20. > :17:27.this incident will not stop him from diving again.
:17:28. > :17:30.Big trouble for Justin Bieber. He is arriving back in Canada tonight to
:17:31. > :17:36.face charges of assaulting a limousine driver last December. This
:17:37. > :17:40.comes on the heels of his arrest last week in Florida for drag racing
:17:41. > :17:47.and drunken driving. Now, a rare moment of unity in Washington. It
:17:48. > :17:59.was not about policy or politics but that deeply personal tribute to an
:18:00. > :18:06.Army Ranger. The American hero who brought a nation to its feet. If the
:18:07. > :18:13.nation remembers nothing else from last night, we will remember Corey
:18:14. > :18:18.Rensburg. It was nearly five years ago when the President and he first
:18:19. > :18:24.met in Normandy. The young, strong Army Ranger was commemorating
:18:25. > :18:31.D-Day. Days later, he would be back in Afghanistan for his 10th combat
:18:32. > :18:36.deployment. Only this time, a massive bomb would leave him
:18:37. > :18:43.clinging to life, his brain badly damaged, his body partly paralysed.
:18:44. > :18:47.Months of trauma. But then came that picture, a soldier and his
:18:48. > :18:52.commander-in-chief next to his hospital bed. A photograph that
:18:53. > :18:57.would catch the President's I while visiting wounded Warriors. He
:18:58. > :19:05.suddenly realised he had met this soldier before. He could not speak,
:19:06. > :19:12.he could barely move. But Corry did not give up, returning home to
:19:13. > :19:17.Phoenix. It's unbelievable! His parents at his side. Every day, he
:19:18. > :19:23.works to get stronger. And last summer, the president visited
:19:24. > :19:27.again. That was when it happened. He wanted to show me something and he
:19:28. > :19:34.leaned out of his chair and he reached out and grabbed his wallet,
:19:35. > :19:39.pulling himself forward. He stood up and he looked at me and he gave me a
:19:40. > :19:52.salute. -- he grabbed his walking stick. And he said... He said
:19:53. > :19:59.Rangers lead the way. Ranges like Corry, who every day works to
:20:00. > :20:10.recover from ever inspiring a nation that needs to remember. Thank you
:20:11. > :20:31.for joining us. I'm not sure if it's the headline
:20:32. > :20:37.you would like. Yet again, more rain in the forecast. On top of that, it
:20:38. > :20:42.will be very cold. Perhaps one of the coldest days so far in many
:20:43. > :20:43.areas. Across the