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Dow Plunges, Asian Markets Follow; Cape Town's Day Zero Pushed to May; PyeongChang Games to Start This Week; The Death of Natalie Wood; Trump Adds Schiff to His "Little" Club. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired February 06, 2018 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[00:00:20] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour:

The Dow cliff-dived, ripple effects from the largest one-day point fall in history, now being felt in Asia.

And Cape Town's Day Zero stretches to May but if there's no rain soon, the water will run out.

Plus alongside the athletes in Pyeongchang, it seems the politicians are also flexing their muscles at the Winter Olympics.

Hello. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. Great to have you with us.

I'm John Vause.

NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

The (INAUDIBLE) slide in the U.S. stock market is sending shockwaves around the world. The Dow finished more than 1,100 points down on Monday, the worst single day point drop ever. And now Asian markets are following with big falls in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Australia.

Here's Monday's wild ride by the numbers. In the final hour of trade the Dow plunged nearly 1,600 points before pulling back some losses. Still the Dow is up almost 40 percent since Donald Trump's election in November 2016.

Ross Gerber is the co-founder and CEO and president of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Managers. He's with us here in Los Angeles. And we have CNN's Mallika Kapur standing by in Hong Kong.

But Ross -- first to you with the big picture -- what's the biggest factor here driving the sell off? Was it the U.S. jobs report last Friday? Talk about good strength in wages growth over the last 12 months and fears that that could spark inflation? Or is it simply that it's time for a correction?

ROSS GERBER, CO-FOUNDER, GERBER KAWASAKI WEALTH AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: Well, I think it's about those things but, you know, who would think that all these good news would somehow be negative. But we're moving from a period of time where post-financial crisis, with deflationary pressures to now a new period of time with a new readjustment to the new growth in reality.

We're seeing growth all across the world. We're seeing earnings as good as we've seen in decades. And I mean we haven't seen the global economy in such good shape. So this selloff is a great opportunity to get into stocks.

And I caution investors to really be patient here and look for opportunities and not to panic. I mean really -- it's really not a time to be worried about the long-term prospects of the market.

VAUSE: That is good advice. But you know, often what happens is that, you know, what's good for the economy isn't necessarily good for the markets. Although if you look at Dow futures right now, they're predicting an opening fall of 700 points on Tuesday.

This isn't over yet, is it Ross?

GERBER: No. And I hope that does happen because it will give us a great opportunity to buy. You know, my firm has always kept cash on the side for opportunities like this. We look at valuations, it's very stretched going into the weekend, this last weekend. So now we might actually have an opportunity to buy stocks at a valuation that we actually enjoy.

So, you know, investors have to think long-term during these corrections and look at the economy because it is about the economy ultimately and it's very, very good. So we're going to make this adjustment for its rates and a little bit higher inflation and such and the markets will be a little shaky. But then once that works itself out, we're still talking about very low rates and very good earnings and that's going to translate to ultimately higher stock prices.

VAUSE: And you know, Ross -- the Fed has been warning forever that inflation is expected to rise, interest rates are expected to go up. There's been a lot of talk about market correction. That seems to be happening.

But everyone has now sort of running around as if this is some kind of surprise and setting their hair on fire.

GERBER: It's amazing. It's like everybody wanted inflation for like the last five years and we've had nothing. And now we get a hint of it and it's like the end of the world.

So let's keep in mind that our paradigm of reality is extremely low rates from an extremely unique time in financial history. And we're not just adjusting back to a more normal pace of economic growth.

This is all good news but the corrections, the volatility, is part of markets today. And if you're not comfortable with those things, you need to be working with an adviser or somebody who can make sure your portfolio is somewhat muted from some of the volatility. But you know, honestly this is a normal part of healthy markets.

VAUSE: Just one last fact here though, Ross, last week Treasury released data showing the U.S. government is on track to borrow almost a trillion dollars this year. Some economists are predicting that number will actually rise to more than a trillion for the next two years partly to pay for the Trump tax cuts.

How much of those numbers freaking (ph) investors right now?

GERBER: I think this is the real risk and I think you're just hitting on it perfectly. I mean we don't really know how this math will all work with tax reform and we expect higher deficits and higher rates because of it and higher inflation because of it.

[00:05:02] The question is whether that's going to be so much so that it actually hurts the economy. And I think it's too early to tell.

So, you know, we're going to have to wait and see how tax reform -- it's like a snow globe if you shake up all these factors and then you wonder how it ends. Whatever anybody tells you they're not sure anyway. So we're going to have to see how this experiment works.

But as far as for corporations in America, their tax rate went down substantially. It's a transference of wealth from individuals in blue states and real estate to corporations and the stock market so this is very normal. If you look at who really benefited from tax reform, it's big corporations and they'll continue to benefit at least on the short term.

VAUSE: Ok. That's the big picture.

Let's head over to Mallika for what is happening in Asia. Mallika -- is there anything else which is driving markets down across Asia or is this simply a reaction to the plummet on Wall Street.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, anybody you speak to here in Asia will tell you it is nothing but that -- a reaction to what's happening on Wall Street. They will say that there are no domestic factors at play here which is putting pressure on the markets.

Now Asian markets do typically take their cue from what happens on Wall Street and this time it's no different. So you saw the massive selloff on Wall Street on Friday, Asian markets were much lower. Yesterday Wall Street got hammered again; again Asian markets are much lower.

And it's interesting to see how quickly the Asian markets do react to what's happening on Wall Street. You know, as you pointed out just a few minutes, we saw that the Dow futures are pointing to a lower open of about 750 points and over here immediately you saw the Nikkei which has been under pressure anyway for most of the day fall further down still. It's now almost at a 7 percent loss.

So what we are seeing in Asia is nothing but a reaction to what's happening on Wall Street. People here are saying that the fundamentals for most of the Asian economies, the outlook of the stock market is still good and what's happening here is a correction. It's not a collapse.

Many people saying that the market -- you know, this was a (INAUDIBLE) around the world but certainly true in Asia as well that we'd had such a run-up for the last year and such a spectacular start to January that a little bit of pullback was necessary. And this is a correction, it's not a collapse.

VAUSE: What is interesting though is that the reaction, you know, some on the markets today like the Nikkei in Tokyo, or the Hang Seng there in Hong Kong, the falls had been bigger in percentage terms compared to what's happened to the Dow.

KAPUR: You're right. I mean the Nikkei is down almost 7 percent, down 6.91 percent. So yes, in percentage terms it is a bigger drop.

This is not unusually for the Nikkei though. And one of the reasons for that is that the Nikkei typically has a lot more liquidity. So when you do have sort of big news events in the world, the Nikkei does swing quite a bit.

It had huge fluctuations when the day Donald Trump was elected, for example. Also the day of the Brexit referendum, we saw wild swings in the Nikkei. So that's not very uncommon for the Nikkei. It's because of liquidity.

Also in terms of at times of uncertainty, you do see investors put a lot of money into the yen which is traditionally considered a safe haven. That in turn could affect, you know, Japanese large exporters, their earnings. Companies like Toyota, for example. And that too, then puts pressure on the stock markets. So those are the reasons why perhaps you do see larger fluctuations and bigger percentage drops in Japan than you've seen in New York on the Dow.

VAUSE: Ok. Mallika -- thank you for that. We appreciate you being with us there from Hong Kong. Also Ross Gerber there, here with us in Los Angeles. Thanks to you both.

GERBER: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, the U.S. president has not said or tweeted anything about the Dow's slide. He refused to answer questions about it. As you know, he seems to have constantly taken credit every time the Dow has gone up since he's been in office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The stock market is at an all-time high.

Our stock market is at an all time high.

You look at the stock market at an all time high.

The stock market is at an all time high.

The stock market is way up. We're just hitting a new high on the stock market again.

The stock market smashes one record high after another.

The stock market is setting records.

The stock market is shattering one record after another.

The stock market hit an all time record high today.

The stock market is way up again today and we're setting a record literally all the time.

I told you the stock market is hitting one all time record after another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ok. We get the idea.

Joining us now California talk radio host Ethan Bearman, conservative commentator and editor-in-chief of the "Front Page Index" Alexandra Datig, and senior reporter for "Politico" David Siders.

Alex -- so let's just start with you because the President was clearly responsible for the surging stock market, he told me that. So why would he give up a third of those gains since he came to office and when will he make it go back up because I'm worried about my 401(k)?

[00:10:03] ALEXANDRA DATIG, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Well, was it him? Because that apparently was some kind of algorithm --

VAUSE: Ok.

DATIG: -- or you know, some kind of -- yes.

VAUSE: So there are other factors that make the stock market go up and the stock market go down I guess is what I'm getting to.

DATIG: Well, maybe it was the new Fed chairman who got a kind of an -- you know, maybe it was that -- you know.

VAUSE: Maybe the new Fed chair, yes.

DATIG: Could be. Could be.

VAUSE: One (INAUDIBLE), you know, is that Alex -- is there some fallout here for the President taking so much credit for the --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Now there's a correction under way.

DATIG: Yes. But I mean we have -- were we expecting it to keep going up? I mean at some point we were kind of waiting for it to come down and I mean -- VAUSE: Most of us --

DATIG: Everybody's a genius in a bull market, I heard today. I thought those were very quotable.

VAUSE: Ok.

DATIG: But yes, I mean I just, you know, I kept going wow, it's going to keep going. I didn't think it was going to keep getting to this point actually. So I'm happy it did.

VAUSE: Ok. David -- do you want to --

DAVID SIDERS, "POLITICO": The fall out is what you just rolled on tape. Package that up and put that in an ad in 2018.

VAUSE: Right.

SIDERS: I mean that's the fall out. And I think many politicians have the discipline to not entirely take credit for something that is beyond their control.

This is like the local police chief saying that crime rate is coming down in a city and it's because of his department. You look at that and you know they'll go up some year. And when they do, it's devastating.

And I think this is a problem for him if the downturn continues to go.

(CROSSTALK)

SIDERS: If this recovers in a couple of days, no problem at all for him.

VAUSE: Yes. It's in not in hand (ph). But it seems, you know, we showed President Trump there, you know, tweeting about the performance of the stock market. He didn't talk about it on Monday.

To quote the "The Penguins of Madagascar", smile and wave, boys. Just smile and wave. But you know.

And to your point, David -- about presidents not taking credit for the stock market. Here's the former press secretary for Barack Obama Jay Carney. He tweeted, "Good time to recall that in the previous administration we never boasted about the stock market even though the Dow more than doubled under Obama's watch because we need two things. One, the stock market is not the economy; and two, if you claim the rise, you own the fall."

You know, Ethan this seems like a no-brainer. Eventually markets go up, they go down as well. Does this eventually, you know, change the President's behavior even if the market does come back?

ETHAN BEARMAN, TALK RADIO HOST: No, this will never change the President's behavior. This is the Kaplan (ph) presidency especially when it comes to facts and reality. And to David point, discipline -- where does that ever happen at 6:00 a.m. or today I guess it was 4:11 a.m. He was on Twitter tweeting ridiculous things again.

So he's not going to own when it goes down. He'll own it when it goes up because reality doesn't actually matter.

VAUSE: Alex -- it seems that Trump supporters are ok with that. They're willing to give him credit for the increase in the stock market but he's not really getting blamed for when it falls. Like you said, it's algorithm (ph) -- expecting this. There are other factors out there. Is that how it works?

DATIG: Well yes, I mean it's rational to think that the market is going to adjust. I don't think it's the President's fault that the market has an adjustment.

VAUSE: Does he get the credit for it going up.

DATIG: I think he does. I mean he's -- you know.

VAUSE: It's a no-lose situation for the President then.

DATIG: Well, you know. I mean he's an all-business -- he's an all- business type of president. That's what people like me voted for. I mean I voted for him because I wanted to enjoin (ph) to boost the economy. I want it there to be, you know, better jobs and higher pay and less taxes.

BEARMAN: The economy was already well on its way to recovery under Barack Obama. It started in 2010. President Trump denied the unemployment numbers and said that they were fake, fake, fake, fake, fake until they continued to --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: He liked good numbers -- good positive numbers.

DATIG: Disagree.

VAUSE: And David -- you know, this is a President who saw, you know, the Dow and the soaring stock market almost like a personal job approval rating.

SIDERS: I think that's exactly true. And it's so interesting. I think there are a lot of voters who voted for him on economic reasons. And so whatever else we might talk about today whether it's, you know, Russia or really anything.

I mean the economy is so fundamental that I think if the economy is showing numbers like this when people go to the polls, it doesn't matter what the President says. And if the economy is up, it benefits him.

VAUSE: Yes.

All this stuff they're talking about -- that it may or may not matter, of course, we're about to get a lot more memos coming from Congress. They're apparently -- Nunes is now -- Devin Nunes rather, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is throwing (ph) his sights on to the State Department and that House Intelligence Committee has voted to release the Democrat memo.

It now goes to the President. Let's see whether or not he will declassify it like he did with the Republican memo last week.

Alex -- there is no guarantee that the President will actually declassify the Democrat version, you know, of the Republican memo which goes into the FBI and the handling of the Russia investigation. Should that even be a question at this point given that the President didn't even read the Republican memo and said there was a 100 percent guarantee it would be released?

DATIG: You know, I think the memo should be released. The Democrat memo should be released. I'm surprise that it's not 200 pages and it's only 10 pages. But, you know, we've only seen about 10 percent of the situation unfold. And I think we've seen a level of corruption in our government and our law enforcement, on our criminal justice system that is appalling to me.

[00:15:03] I think we're -- I'm really concerned when, you know, our most sacred institutions can be used against someone politically with unverified information. I think -- I think we're in deep waters and troubled times.

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) for that memo seems to be in the eye of the beholder. People read the same memo and they come up with a totally different interpretation of what it was.

But when it comes to the Democrat version of it, even if the President declassified it, Ethan, the Democrats still have their concerns. Listen to Adam Schiff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: We want to make sure that the White House does not redact our memo for political purposes and obviously that's a deep concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So Ethan -- what are the chances the Democrat memo will be released clean just like the Republican memo.

BEARMAN: Actually, interestingly enough, I'm going to wager that it does come out clean. And I'm going to tell you why.

VAUSE: Why?

BEARMAN: Because President Trump actually wants to use this as a weapon in his own way by saying look at what I put out here. But remember we have several days delay between the releases.

This is -- one was the opening statement which was from the Republicans. It was totally fact-free and absolutely have logical flaws across and I read it moments after it came out. And immediately number 5 was clearly just unbelievable. Papadopoulos -- that investigation was going on.

But beside that this is going to come out free and clear because then the President can say look, I'm further vindicating myself. It's all --

VAUSE: Right. Giving his own interpretation when it comes to the Democrat memo -- right.

VAUSE: Ok. It has not even been a week since the President delivered his first state of the union address to Congress. It went off (INAUDIBLE) without a hitch. It was well-received by many.

That now seems to be overshadowed by memo-gate and news bat the Dow but you know, we should say the President hasn't forgotten about the State of the Union. He has not forgotten either those Democrats who did not stand and clap.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You're up there, you've got half the room going totally crazy- wild. They loved everything. They want to do something great for our country.

And you have the other side even on positive news -- really positive news like that, they were like death and un-American. Un-American. Somebody said treasonous. I mean yes, I guess, why not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: David -- you know, treasonous and un-American. And keeping in mind this is a president who said reporters were the enemy of the people. He questioned the authority and integrity of a federal judge. He's at war with the FBI because they're investigating him over Russia.

This is not normal.

SIDERS: It suggests a lack of familiarity I think with State of the Union addresses where typically the minority party or the party not in the President's party is not applauding as well as the others.

But what's striking about -- I think about that remark is he has a message to deliver. Republicans want him to be talking about tax reform. They view this as a positive, something that works for the Party. And I have to think this is a miscalculation because talking about whether the President should be saying "treasonous" or not about people applauding is definitely off message.

VAUSE: Alex -- without being -- not clapping at the President is now treason.

DATIG: You know, I think the President is a little bit distracted right now with DACA and illegal immigration and things like that.

VAUSE: You're giving him a pass?

(CROSSTALK)

DATIG: I -- you know, I'll give him -- I don't know if I -- you know, treason is overthrowing the government.

VAUSE: Ok.

DATIG: So you know some of these tweets are not, you know I'm not going to say everything is rational that he does as he says but, you know, being a President, you know I think is a very tough job.

VAUSE: Yes. And you know, to David's point and State of the Union addresses, you know, the party in power of the President party, they roll like the (INAUDIBLE). The party out of power at the White House, they sit there and look sullen.

SIDERS: They yell you lie like Joe Wilson.

VAUSE: Let's take a look at what happened to President Obama during his time during a State of the Union address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

JOE WILSON, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: You lie.

OBAMA: These small business - -the credit they need to stay afloat.

Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress.

Let a bipartisan --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ethan?

BEARMAN: Yes. I mean this is a game that gets played at least to Democrats. They call out every single lie that the President said during the state of the union, yell out you lie. I mean I was actually waiting for that, somebody to stand up and do it.

But let's be blunt though. One of the things that the Democrats have missed, and I think that this is an opportunity especially on the economic message that was hurting Hillary Clinton during her campaign.

We do need to recognize and celebrate any time there is low unemployment and an increase in wages and bonuses being paid. We don't have to credit President Trump for all of it but we do need to celebrate when the American worker benefits.

[00:20:02] VAUSE: I think the problem was that for the Congressional Black Caucus was that the African-American unemployment rate in this country is still double what it is, you know.

BEARMAN: It is absolutely --

VAUSE: -- they believe that they celebrate even though it's coming down.

But at that point -- Ethan, Alex and David -- good to see you all. Thank you.

Well, a short break.

When we come back, there is now a little breathing room for droughts. We can take them but not a lot. Ahead -- a new prediction for when the taps run dry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Well, to South Africa now where Cape Town is forecast to run dry a month later than first thought. Officials have pushed back the projection to Day Zero when the city's taps are expected to run dry from April to May 11.

Residents are still required to limit their water use to try and make the most of their dwindling supplies. City officials were able to buy a little more time because of a drop in water use from the agricultural sector.

South Africa has been in a drought now for three years. Let's go to Pedram Javaheri our meteorologist with more on this -- Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, as you said, you know, a little bit of breathing room here and when you think about the agricultural industry as well about 70 percent of our planet's fresh water supply is committed to the ag industry.

In fact, when you break it down it's about 20 percent to industry in general. And then 10 percent for domestic use; 70 percent goes to the agricultural community and then you had to think that 80 percent of water supply dedicated to them and the fresh water supply.

But the persistent pattern has really been the initial problem. This high pressure in control, deflecting any storm so we get storms that want to get close and one after another, they push off just to the south and not much rain falls from them.

And unfortunately when you take a look at how things have played out, we had a healthy year in 2013. Dropped that roughly in about say by 30 or 40 percent, cut that again by another 30 or 40 percent and had some of our driest years on record in the past several years -- so the reservoirs certainly not getting any replenishment of water.

Now so level 6 -- the restrictions have been in place and that means there's less than 50 liters of water per day in place for the communities across this region of West Cape and also Cape Town as well.

Of course, we know the average person consumes upwards of seven times that amount. You break this down, you take a family of four, they're essentially only allotted to wash their hands twice per day for a family of four. That gets you up to 50 liters that quickly.

And you see the break down and a lot of people of course, have been taking baths as little as twice per week using buckets and towels, saving that water, using it for the toilet to flush it only when necessary.

So all of these restrictions really an incredible reality taking place across portions of South Africa. And water has been really, really non-existent really from the forecast.

And some element of good news when you look at the seven-day forecast. We haven't seen this in weeks.

Temps warm up but look what happens Friday. The models have consistently pointed at a storm system to approach this region potentially push through this high pressure that weakens a little bit and bring some rainfall.

[00:25:01] Now it's not a significant amount of rainfall. Anything though, anything absolutely will help and we think upwards of maybe 25 millimeters, 30 millimeters tops could fall some time between Friday into Saturday. Beyond that high pressure builds again, once again we go back to where we began with very dry conditions in the forecast.

Now with all that said, I wanted to bring in someone here to break down exactly what's going on. Someone that's very close to what's happening across South Africa. Xanthia Limberg joining us right now from Cape Town; she's a member of the city's mayoral committee for water.

Thanks for making some time for us, Xanthia. And of course, in know that you're very busy these days but, you know, first off of course, very grateful to see that Day Zero has been pushed back just a few weeks into May.

This story has really quickly captivated the world's interest when it comes to a major modern city that can arrive at a moment like this. Do you recall anything quite so extensive or really restrictive happening in Cape Town or any other major cities?

XANTHIA LIMBERG, MEMBER, CAPE TOWN MAYORAL COMMITTEE FOR WATER: Cape Town has experienced droughts previously but not to this particular level. The severity of the drought is unprecedented. The worst in our recorded history and therefore we obviously have to ensure we make all interventions possible to manage this particular drought.

The issue around rainfall is that it's still largely uncertain which means we all intend to find demand management interventions while working on augmentation schemes in order to introduce additional water supply into the system from alternative water sources as well.

And that combination we trust will ensure that we will be able to overcome this particular severe drought.

JAVAHERI: Yes. Xanthia -- we know that some rain as I said is forecast later in the week. Is there really a scenario that you can think of that we can foresee, potentially changing the fortunes of folks across Cape Town and pushing the water restrictions past May.

Of course we saw that with the agricultural industry stepping up reducing their consumption. Is there a scenario that could potentially continue to improve things beyond that the agricultural industry had been able to do so far?

LIMBERG: Well, even though there is rainfall scheduled for this particular weekend that rainfall is obviously greatly welcome. We are going to require at least three years of average levels of rainfall in order to completely surpass the impact of the drought.

And so going forward water restrictions are possibly going to be a permanent way of life here in Cape Town and in the broader way (INAUDIBLE). Demand from agriculture has declined which does provide us some relief as urban users. But this doesn't mean that we're out of the woods. We still have to collectively reduce our consumptions. The city's also intensifying pressure reduction of our entire water articulation (ph) system.

We're still targeting high consumers and installing water demand management devices on those properties. And then our enforcement if it's around compliance with the new waters restrictions is ongoing. This is all obviously done while we are still working on augmenting our existing supply.

JAVAHERI: Xanthia -- I know there are many concerns right now, of course, surrounding the story that's taking place there in Cape Town. But one of them is civil unrest and once water runs dry, what's the city going to do to prepare for that?

LIMBERG: Well, the city obviously is planning for a worst case scenario and we -- if our dam levels reached 13.5 percent that is the trigger point for when we introduce water collection points. Approximately 200 of these water collection points will be set up across Cape Town and obviously there is risk of unrest and so the South African police services as well as the South African army post has indicated that they will be committing their resources and additional capacity (ph) to manage a water collection scenario.

We are, however, planning to ensure that we are prepared for that worst case scenario. But at the same time trying to ensure that we avoid reaching that point as well.

JAVAHERI: Xanthia Limberg -- thank you so much for your time and joining us here on CNN today.

LIMBERG: Thank you.

JAVAHERI: John -- we'll send it back to you in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: Thanks -- Pedram. Yes, desperate times. And it's a terrifying prospect that they're going to turn that faucet or tap on, there'll be nothing there.

JAVAHERI: yes.

VAUSE: Oh boy.

Thanks -- Pedram.

Ok. Good piece.

The gold medalist at the Winter Olympics games -- up next, what the top U.S. diplomat has to say about the chances of U.S.-North Korea talks.

Plus new revelations in the long-running mystery of who killed actress Natalie Wood now 40 decades on. Investigators say her husband actor, Robert Wagner is a person of interest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE (voice-over): Welcome back, everybody, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. We'll check the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

South Korea is calling the Winter Games the Peace Olympics. North and South Korea are competing under one flag, offering a glimmer of hope of better times to come.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will be at the opening ceremony and he was asked about a possible meeting between the United States and North Korea on the sidelines. And he replied, we'll just see.

This is relevant because North Korea's ceremonial head of stage, Kim Jong-nam, is also attending Friday's opening ceremonies. But Pence has made it clear his message to the world will be to remind everyone about the North's oppression and tyranny.

Amid the intrigue and diplomacy there's actually the games themselves. Paula Hancocks joins us now live from PyeongChang -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, John. Well, just in a few hours we're expected the North Korean art troupe to arrive by ferry, just on the east coast of South Korea, 140 member delegation, part of this very large North Korean delegation that is attending here.

We know the athletes are already here and when you go down into the town and into Gangnam, you can see an awful lot of athletes from all around the world have been arriving. The excitement really is building.

But when you look from a unity point of view, when you look at what the North and South Koreans are going to be doing over the next the coming days and weeks, certainly we have seen before that there have been North and South Koreans marching side-by-side at an opening ceremony.

[00:35:00]

HANCOCKS: It shows that even though this is significant, it's not new.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Training the champions of the future. You may well be looking at a future Olympics speed skater for South Korea. This little boy is certainly being taught by the best.

Former Olympic speed skater Bora Lee (ph).

Lee (ph) competed in three Winter Games. In Turin 2006 she also led the joint North-South Korean delegation at the opening ceremony, flying the unified flag alongside North Korean figure skater Han Jong- in (ph).

"Because we were entering together," she says, "and holding that flag, the traditional Korean folk song "Aran (ph)" was playing. My heart was full. It was very touching."

Sydney's Summer Olympics in the year 2000, a joint delegation at the opening ceremony; Athens 2004, North and South Korean athletes again walk side by side. And last year the North Korean women's ice hockey team was cheered on by hundreds of South Korean pro-unification supporters, again flying the unified flag.

Sporting unity among enemy states is nothing new. The same with cultural exchanges. A North Korean orchestra will hold a concert here in Gangnam Arts Center on February 8th.

There is a long history of cultural events managing to bridge gaps that politics never could but of course the question is, can it go beyond the artists, beyond the athletes?

Is there enough momentum for real change on the Korean Peninsula?

These South Koreans think not. Protests in North Korea even being part of the games, believing Seoul is being duped, giving something for nothing.

As for Lee, she regrets her moment of unity led to little movement politically but hopes that, 12 years on, having a joint women's ice hockey team compete at the Olympics could set the two Koreas on a different path.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: John, not everything is going as it should. It rarely does when it comes to these kinds of sporting events, when you have so many countries all together. But beyond the geopolitics we're hearing from the organizers that about 1,200 security guards have actually been pulled from duty because of an outbreak of Norovirus. Now this is also known as the winter vomiting bug, just to put that into context and show you what they have at this point. We know that 900 security guards have been brought in to try and bridge the gap so they make sure security is still tight.

But we also know that the CDC in Korea is coming down to PyeongChang to try and make sure they can contain this, that it doesn't grow further than it already has -- John.

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE). Sounds awful. Thanks, Paula.

HANCOCKS: I won't.

VAUSE: Well, after almost 40 years, there is new interest in the mysterious death of Hollywood star Natalie Wood. The actor is best known playing Maria in "West Side Story."

And on a November weekend back in 1981, she was on a yacht with her husband, actor Robert Wagner and their friend, Christopher Walken. He is also an actor. Wagner has said he was jealous of Walken's friendship with his wife. He'd argued with both of them about it.

He also said when he couldn't find his wife that weekend he assumed she'd just gone ashore. Wood's death was ruled an accident but now authorities say Wagner's story just does not add up.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) he's a person of interest be was the last person with her before she went in the water, right. So he's there, he's the last one with her and somehow she gets in the water.

He can say, no, I don't want to talk to you so -- and that's his right. We understand that and we've tried to talk to him. And so far he's doesn't want to talk to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Similar situation for CNN. We reached out to Wagner and his representatives for comment but there was no response.

When we come back, a little goes a long way for Donald Trump. We'll take a look at the U.S. president's favorite insult.

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VAUSE: "Crooked," "Lyin," "Sleazy," "Sneaky," "Salty," "Wacky," "Crazy" are just a few of Donald Trump's favorite nicknames for his opponents. Now he's using "Little" -- a lot. Maybe he's out of ideas. Here's Jeanne Moos. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump sure knows how to put the "little" in "belittle" with his tweeted nickname for Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He calls him Little Adam Schiff.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Little Adam Schiff.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Little Adam Schiff.

MOOS: Little Adam Schiff.

Now, why does that sound so familiar?

TRUMP: Little Rocket Man.

Little Marco.

And they have Little George Stephanopoulos.

MOOS: He's tweeted about Little Michael Bloomberg, Little Barry Diller, Little Morty Zuckerman and Little Bob Corker, who also got the honor of a pointless apostrophe.

Lots of previous Littles led one critic to tweet, "He has run out of nicknames. Dude really has a sub-third grade vocabulary.

Tweeted someone else, "That's the best you could do? You even suck as a bully."

The congressman Trump dubbed "Little Adam" looked on the bright side.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Look, first, he attacked me some months ago, calling me Sleazy Adam Schiff. Now, it is Little Adam Schiff, which, I don't know, seems better.

MOOS: Even some of the president's supporters conceded he could have done better.

MOOS (voice-over): "Would have preferred Shifty Schiff."

With so many little nicknames, it's clear the president doesn't believe little goes a long way. President Trump speaks his own lingo, one day saying...

TRUMP: I guarantee you, my IQ is much higher than any of these people.

MOOS (voice-over): -- only to plead humility the next.

TRUMP: I am non-braggadocious (sic).

MOOS (voice-over): Even a supporter can't keep a straight face -- Jeanne Moos, CNN -- TRUMP: Don't worry about it, Little Marco.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen, gentlemen --

MOOS (voice-over): -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. Stay tuned now for "WORLD SPORT." We will be back in a little bit of time at the top of the hour. You're watching CNN.