ALLEN: A would-be kidnapper clearly wasn't thinking when he allegedly chased a woman and tried to abduct her in North Carolina. As Mark Barber of WSOC TV tells us, he could not have picked a worse spot.</s>MARK BARBER, WSOC CORRESPONDENT: Police tell us that man followed the woman inside this karate school after he tried to force her into his car out here right around 9 o'clock last night. After that man made it inside this karate school, he ran into one of the instructors. Police tell us that instructor fought the man off. And as you can see, the suspect ended up on a stretcher. Officers say the man also fought with them before he was taken into custody. They said the suspect did not know the woman he tried to force inside his car.</s>ALLEN: Mark Barber again, reporting there. The CNN affiliate reports the suspect was taken to jail after he was released from the hospital. Tropical storm Pabuk has been downgraded to a tropical depression but not before it delivered a deadly punch in Thailand. The disaster management agency blames at least three deaths on the storm. Two people drowned. A third was killed when his fishing boat capsized. Though the rain has eased, flash floods are still a threat.</s>ALLEN: Finally this hour, Britney Spears surprised her fans Friday with disappointing news. The pop singer announced she's putting her career on hold indefinitely to take care of her ill father. She was schedule to start a new series of shows in Las Vegas in February and had been getting a lot of buzz. But her father suffered a ruptured colon two months ago. He is expected to recover. That is the first hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. We'll be back with another hour and we'll kick it off with our top stories. See you in a minute.
Kidnapping Suspect Chases Woman into Karate Studio.