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U.N. Security Council Hold Tense Meeting Over Ukraine; Italy Updates COVID Green Pass with New Restrictions; New York Times Buys Popular Word Game Wordle; China Races to Slow COVID Spread Ahead of Olympics. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 01, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: And Wordle takes the internet by storm. How a daily puzzle game that's only a few months old exploded into a "New York Times" product. That is next.

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SOARES: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Isa Soares. If you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories at this hour. A CNN exclusive report reveals former President Donald Trump and his advisers drafted not one but two versions of an executive order to seize voting machines in 2020. The House select committee is investigating the documents.

And in the coming hours U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. The high stakes talks come, of course, after Russia responded to U.S. security proposals at a U.N. Security Council meeting. Ukraine's ambassador says they believe that a Russian invasion is imminent but still hopes for diplomacy.

Let's get more on this story. We're joined now from Kyiv and CNN's Melissa Bell. And Melissa, let me start off with this letter that's now being handed in to the United States. I suspect and I spoke to Nathan Hodge from Moscow at the top of the show, we don't know the contents of that Russian response. But the timing of this is interesting given the fact that Lavrov is speaking to Blinken today. How can we interpret today's meeting as well given the brawl that we saw at the U.N. yesterday?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what it certainly showed was the stark contrast. There is a stark difference, the gap, the chasm there is now, Isa, between the two positions, United States and Russia. And there really was a very public standoff in the end, this meeting, that did allow us to get an idea of just how wide that gap is on -- both in terms of the depth of misunderstanding and differences of view fundamentally but also in the tone that each is now adopting with the other.

[04:35:05]

And yet, that's been welcome by Ukraine just now in a statement saying that it had been an important step further down the road to deterring Russia from carrying out another armed conflict here in Ukraine and had allowed it to see that the majority says Ukraine -- of the United Nations Security Council members are on the side of being against what that Russian buildup across the border from Ukraine. So, that's been welcome by Ukraine.

But you're right, what will be interesting is to see what comes out of that meeting, say specifically, the readouts from the Russian side. Since what we've been hearing is that initial response, that written response now to those NATO and United States proposals is not in fact the final version perhaps of what Russia intends to deliver.

Perhaps more of what we begin to understand from what various officials have been saying over the course of the morning in Moscow, is that it may be an answer to a specific issue that Russia has long raised that question of the indivisibility of security.

So, we will find out more after that meeting. Meanwhile, here in Kyiv as well, diplomatic activity will continue. The British Prime Minister will be here to meet with the Ukrainian president vowing to give 88 million pounds as well to help Ukraine weather the storm in terms of its energy supplies, try help it gain more independence from Russia. And this is something that Ukraine has long been asking for. Beyond the sanctions that it's looking for, more financial help to help it weather this storm -- Isa.

SOARES: Melissa Bell for us there in Kyiv. Thanks very much, Melissa.

Some countries in Europe are adjusting their COVID-19 rules. Austria will ease some of its restrictions later this week. Restaurants and shops will be allowed to stay open longer. And the maximum capacity of people attending events will be doubled.

Meanwhile, Germany, seven-day COVID incident rate just hit a new record high due to a surging number of Omicron cases. And Italy has updated its rules and restrictions around the COVID green pass.

CNN's Ben Wedeman joins me now live from Rome. And Ben, let's talk about the new changes in Italy. Is this because we're seeing a rise in the new subvariant or is this not related to this?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. I mean, basically what we know is more than 90 percent of the COVID cases in Italy are the original Omicron variant. But actually, those numbers are starting to go down. What is clear from the new restrictions that came in to place today, is that if you are unvaccinated, life is going to become even more difficult.

Now to get into things like public offices, banks, post offices, book shops, shopping malls, hair dressers and beauticians, you have to show a green pass. Basically, if you are unvaccinated, the only places you can go at this point are food stores, pharmacies and gas stations. And if you are over 50 and have not been vaccinated, you could face a 100 euro one-time fine. And the National Health Service will be passing that information if you're over 50 and are unvaccinated to the Italian equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service -- Isa. SOARES: And how are these restrictions, Ben, very quickly being

received?

WEDEMAN: By and large Italians with the exception of a very vocal small minority are in favor of these restrictions. Keep in mind, of course, that this country was very badly hit at the beginning of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 and now you have some of Europe's highest vaccination rates. More than 90 percent of the population has gotten one dose and 78 percent of the population over the age of 12 has received the booster -- Isa.

SOARES: Ben Wedeman in for us in Rome. Good to see you, Ben, thanks very much.

In just a few months, gray, yellow and green boxes became synonymous with an insanely popular online word game. We'll talk to a New Zealand researcher who helped spread the word about Wordle. That's next.

[04:40:00]

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SOARES: The word of the day is times, as in "New York Times." The newspaper has bought the cultural phenomenon Wordle. Millions of people play the online puzzle game that gives you six chances to guess the day's five-letter word. "The Times" says it bought the game for seven figures. Wordle would initially remain free as the newspaper works it into its puzzle portfolio.

For diehard fans "The Times" is working to ensure your win streaks are preserved, do not panic. For those who aren't familiar with the Wordle's meteoric rise, New York's soft software engineer Josh Wardle raised the game in October of 2021. 90 people were playing by November 1st. Nearly two months later 300,000 others joined in. Digital experts in New Zealand helped fuel the game's popularity by posting their scores on Twitter. Hence why you see these little boxes every time you log in.

When more people joined their conversation, they created #dailyWordle. From there, well, it has exploded. With me is one of those experts from Wellington, New Zealand, Andrew Chen. He's a research fellow at the University of Auckland. Andrew, thank you so much for coming on the show. Look, let me say right from the beginning, I do not Wordle but I can tell you pretty much everyone around me here Wordles from directors to camera operators. They all Wordle. So, tell us why you think it's caught on.

ANDREW CHEN, RESEARCH FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND: Yes, well, I think firstly Wordle is a pretty simple game in that the rules are very simple but there's a lot of complexity behind it in terms of your strategy and how you try to guess the word in as few guesses as possible. And that combination makes for a really great game.

I think the other thing that kicked things off was that we had these emoji groups that were developed to help share the results. And for people who didn't know what those grids were, it was very intriguing to see them on Twitter. And you go, well, I don't know what this is. I want to find out what this is and so that was part of how the game spread.

SOARES: And that's how I've come across it as well, on Twitter seeing those little boxes. But you know, it kind of lacks as well looking at it from just this morning when I looked at it. It does lack a bit of the richness of a crossword though. So, what is it that has made them such a huge phenomenon? I know you said its simplicity but is there more to it?

[04:45:00]

CHEN: Yes, I think also the accessible nature of it and for people who don't do crosswords regularly, they might find them actually a little bit intimidating and it's a larger time commitment. You may have to spend 30 minutes to do a difficult cross word. Wordle is a thing you can do for 5 minutes while you're having a cup of coffee in the morning and it's enjoyable.

SOARES: Yes, my producer actually told me this morning that before she used to look at Instagram and now, she Wordles. When I looked at it, Andrew, what struck me -- briefly looked at it, I have to say, I didn't see any advertising tied to it. There's no push notifications. And I guess that's pretty attractive in this day and age.

CHEN: Yes, the creator, Josh Wardle, has talked about how he has assured a lot of common conceptions, you know, common expectations around online games that you have to have micro transactions and you have to have advertising and you're supposed to be collecting all of their email addresses to send you marketing material. And he was just doing none of that. So, it was really refreshing for it to be different to a lot of the other online games. And it'll be interesting to see if the "New York Times" can continue to keep that spirit alive.

SOARES: That was going to be my next question to you. Because having looked at the news of course in "The New York Times" have bought it for seven figures. Some, many are worried of course, that it will go behind a pay wall. And many are worried -- I'm talking about Twitter here -- many people commenting that now they won't Wordle anymore. How do you think that will change, Andrew?

CHEN: Well, my hope is that "The New York Times" will use it as one channel to get more people on to their platform and in order to be able to do that effectively they'll have to keep Wordle free. So, fingers crossed that that's their strategy but, you know, it's a commercial business. They're going to have to make commercial decisions.

SOARES: We shall keep an eye on it. Everyone is very excited about Wordle. I shall give it a try a bit later. Andrew Chen, thank you so much for your perspective. And if you are at home, if you Wordle, I would like to know your thoughts. Let me know on Twitter what you think about "The New York Times" purchase and whether you would pay for the game @IsaCNN.

To our next story, Alec Baldwin has settled a lawsuit over a 2018 parking dispute in New York City. A man claimed the actor shoved and punched him. Baldwin later pleaded guilty to a harassment violation and agreed to an anger management program. But he also sued the man claiming he exaggerated his injuries. The attorneys in the case say the two parties have reached an agreement. The details were not disclosed.

The clock may not have run out on Brady's football career just yet. The legendary quarterback has something to say about reports of his retirement. That is ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

[04:50:00]

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SOARES: Just three days until the start of Beijing Winter Olympics and its final preparations are being made. China's hoping the world will focus on the spectacle and not its rocky journey of course to hosting the winter games. In a literal turn of events Taiwan will now send its delegation to the games after previously citing the pandemic and transportation factors as their reasons for not attending.

Let's get more on the story. CNN's Steven Jiang joins me now from Beijing. And Steven, China clearly wanting to focus on the Olympics rather than the COVID cases. How is it being covered there? What is the mood?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Isa, the mood is celebratory but I think probably not because of the games, at least not yet, but because today is the Lunar New Year. So, happy year of the tiger to you.

The authorities in Beijing actually have sealed off a few apartment blocks in a neighborhood not far from the bird's nest. That's the stadium where the opening ceremony will be held in just a few days. This obviously because of a few fresh cases of COVID here and thanks to the government's continued zero COVID policy here.

But inside the Olympic bubbles which are completely sealed off from the rest of Beijing, more COVID cases as well with the authorities saying 24 people on Monday tested positive including athletes. Some of these athletes are now speaking out about their COVID status including American bobsledder Alana Meyers Taylor. Who says she tested positive in Beijing a few days ago and is now in isolation. Now, she's actually a three-time Olympic medalist. So, this is her fourth games here.

But this is the most special because she actually brought her son here and the son whose name is Nico who's turning 2 actually later this month was born with down's syndrome. So, her dream is really to put a medal around his neck this time. But that obviously is going to be tricky because even though she's showing no symptoms, according to the rules she has to test negative twice on two consecutive days before she can be released from isolation. So, as you can imagine, all of this have is creating quite a bit of uncertainty not to mention complication and the pressure on athletes like her and their teams and their sports -- Isa. SOARES: Yes, that must be so stressful for her. I hope she gets

negative very quickly. Steven Jiang, happy Lunar New Year to you and everyone watching.

Now, probably the greatest quarterback in the history of the National Football League says he hasn't made a decision on retiring just yet. Reports were rampant over the weekend if you remember that Tom Brady was hanging up his cleats after 22 seasons. Listen to what he told the Sirius XM "Let's Go" podcast on Monday. Have a listen to this.

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TOM BRADY, NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE QUARTERBACK: Sometimes it takes some time to really evaluate how you feel, what you want to do and I think when the time's right, I'll be ready to make a decision one way or another just like I said last week.

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SOARES: The 44-year-old Brady has won seven Super Bowls. No quarterback has thrown more touchdown passes or won more playoff games than Brady.

Now Rihanna just reveals her pregnancy in the most fashionable way ever. Posing with Asap Rocky on the Manhattan Williamsburg Bridge. Rihanna's baby bump peeked out of a pink coat amidst the jeweled chains.

[04:55:00]

The music power couple were by celebrity photographer Miles Diggs. It's being called the pregnancy shoot to rival all pregnancy shoots. Didn't even know that was a thing.

And we shouldn't really be talking about it but we are talking about Bruno. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARACTERS SINGING: We don't talk about Bruno no more We don't talk about Bruno

But it was my wedding day We're getting ready and there wasn't a cloud in the sky

Bruno walks in with a mischief vows grin

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: In my house we love Bruno. My kids can't stop listening to it. This is in "Encanto" of course, "We Don't Talk About Bruno." And it just made it to number one on America's Billboard Chart. It's been number one in the U.K. here for several weeks. It knocked off Adelle's "Easy On Me" and became the first Disney song to reach the top spot since a Aladdin's "A Whole New World" back in 1993. "Encanto" tells the story of a Colombian family with magical gifts. But as the song suggests, they don't always want to talk about it. It's a fantastic song and a beautiful movie as well. If you have got time, do watch it. That does it for me here on CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you very much for

watching. I'm Isa Soares in London. Our coverage of the CNN exclusive reporting on Donald Trump's attempts to intervene in the 2020 election continues on "EARLY START" with Christine Romans and Laura Jarrett. Have a wonderful day. I shall see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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