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Pence Breaks with Trump; Beijing Olympics in Full Swing; Overall U.S. COVID-19 Cases Trending Down; Russian and Chinese Presidents Tout Strategic Partnership to Counter West; Boris Johnson Faces Staff Exodus amid Political Blowback; Rescuers Scramble to Save Moroccan Boy in Well; Storm Bears Down on Madagascar. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired February 05, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE (R), FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Former U.S. vice president Mike Pence takes on his former boss and says Donald Trump was wrong about the election. And now the former U.S. president has a comeback.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Plus an attempt to ease tensions: the leaders of two U.S. allies will now try to defuse the situation between Russia and Ukraine. We're live in Kyiv with the latest.

And the Winter Games are on. The first medals being handed out in Beijing all while the pandemic still hangs over the competitions.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. President Donald Trump is focusing his anger once again at the man who stood by his side for four years in the White House. He's firing back at Mike Pence in the latest salvo over his false claims that the then vice president could have overturned the 2020 election in his favor.

Friday afternoon Pence said out loud before a conservative audience he couldn't do that.

Friday night, Trump issued a statement saying in part, "Just saw Mike Pence's statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the electoral vote count, other than being an automatic conveyer belt for the old crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected president as quickly as possible.

"Although the vice president's position is not an automatic conveyer if obvious signs of voter fraud or irregularities exists."

To be clear, none of that is true. Paula Reid has more on the two's differing views and why the timing right now matters.

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PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: On Friday, former vice president Mike Pence rebuked former president Trump in the strongest terms yet, saying Trump was wrong about the Pence's authority to overturn the election January 6th.

His remarks come 13 months after the insurrection, which again he called a dark day in the history of the U.S. Capitol and then he called out Trump's Big Lie. Let's take a listen what he told the crowd at this conservative event in Florida.

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PENCE: And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. But President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.

And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president. Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election.

And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.

Look, I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. I was on the ballot. But whatever the future holds, I know we did our duty that day.

If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won't just lose elections. We'll lose our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: And Pence's remarks take on new significance as we have learned more about the pressure he was facing on January 6th from Trump and his allies from the House committee's investigation, on the attack in the Capitol.

Now, two of Pence's top aides have recently testified before the house committee, but it's not clear if Pence will also cooperate with those lawmakers.

And the split in the GOP evident earlier today at the RNC's winter meeting in Salt Lake City, where they voted to formally censure Republican Lawmakers Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their involvement in the January 6th investigation.

Cheney tweeted in response, "I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump."

So not all Republicans are embracing Trump over the rule of law. But the GOP clearly at odds with itself -- Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: And in that resolution to formally censure Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the RNC said the only two Republican members of the January 6 committee were, quote, "participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

The group later tried to draw a distinction between the rioters and those who didn't commit any violence but it didn't change the resolution.

[04:05:00]

BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile sources tell CNN investigators now have records showing Donald Trump and Republican congressman Jim Jordan spoke on the phone for 10 minutes before Jordan took the White House floor and rejected to the certification of Joe Biden's presidential win on January 6th.

On Friday, the congressman said he had multiple calls with the former president but couldn't remember if they spoke that morning. The committee is debating whether to move forward with a subpoena for Jordan after he refused to voluntarily appear for an interview.

The leaders of France and Germany are headed to Moscow in the coming days in the latest round of diplomacy aimed at preventing a Russian invasion of Ukraine. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to arrive in Moscow on Monday and travel to Kyiv the next day.

Germany's new chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to visit Moscow the following week. Moscow insists it has no intention of sending its forces into Ukraine. But tens of thousands of Russian troops, with tanks and artillery, have taken up positions within easy striking distance of Ukraine's borders. CNN's Melissa Bell joins us live from key.

Melissa, Vladimir Putin must be thrilled, all these world leaders coming to see him.

Are we expecting anything concrete to come from these latest talks?

Melissa Bell The view here in Kyiv is that these diplomatic efforts have been working. We've been hearing from the country's foreign minister, that the show that support and solidarity is having the desired effect, which is to make Moscow think twice.

The view from here and the assessment from Ukrainian authorities is that, whilst Russia has the ability to invade Ukraine, it's far from clear whether it has the intention of doing so with the Ukrainian assessment being forces are much as they were the spring of last year, apart from those new deployments we've seen to Belarus.

That leaves open a window of opportunity for diplomacy to work. And that's why they're welcoming the visits. We're expecting the French president to come. He's made it clear any foot, any inch of Ukrainian soil taken by Russia, would lead to a fierce response, being one of those NATO members to have sent troops to fortify the alliance's eastern front, especially in Romania.

So he's being firm and standing in unity with his NATO allies on one hand. But he said he believes the resurrection of the Normandy talks, stalled since 2019, does allow for some room for negotiations.

It is with the view to carry on those negotiations kickstarted in Paris a couple of weeks ago that he's coming to speak to both leaders. I think what's interesting here, Kim, there does appear to be some proximity between the Russian view and the French one, that the old treaties, the old structures are perhaps not fit for today.

And there is some room for negotiation about looking once again at what treaties might be fit for the 21st century and might allow NATO and Russia and Europe to get all the guarantees about security they need.

This is at the heart of Macron's strategy, making this a European security issue that should be discussed between Europeans, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right, interesting. We'll be following all the diplomatic efforts. Melissa Bell in Kyiv. Thanks so much.

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BRUNHUBER: Turning now to the Winter Games, where competitions are moving full steam ahead following Friday's opening ceremony in Beijing. Some 3,000 performers took part, most of them teenagers.

The big event was filled with fireworks, light shows and very colorful costumes. The ceremony ended with two young Chinese Olympians lighting the cauldron in the stadium.

And one of the things is a Uyghur. Her inclusion was noteworthy and controversial since China's alleged genocide of the Muslim minority group sparked a diplomatic boycott by several Western nations.

Despite Beijing's best efforts, the COVID-19 pandemic is still lingering over the games. The Olympic committee reported 45 new infections among games related personnel on Friday. We're following all the Olympic news. Let's go to Will Ripley live in Taipei.

I want to go back to the inclusion of the Uyghur athlete in the opening ceremony.

What do you make of it?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, analysts are saying this is a message from China to the United States in reaction to its diplomatic boycott, largely due to what the U.S. calls genocide of Uyghurs, where the Chinese have set up what they call vocational training camps.

Others have called them reeducation camps; the U.S. has called it genocide. China denies that saying this is fight against terrorism and also giving people an opportunity to integrate into Chinese society.

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RIPLEY: Nonetheless, China is not avoiding the issue; they put a cross-country skier from Xinjiang, a Uyghur Muslim, right there, lighting the flame. This is basically China saying they don't want to be lectured on this issue or others by the United States and its allies.

BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much, Will.

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BRUNHUBER: Coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM, overall COVID cases are starting to trend downward in the U.S.

So will we see a return to normal in the U.S. anytime soon?

I'll ask a medical expert just ahead. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: All right, let's take a look at some of your COVID headlines from around the world.

Schools in Delhi are reopening after being closed for more than 600 days in the pandemic. Grades 9 through 12 and college head back on Monday. Nursery school through grade 8 will return a week later.

Health officials say South Korea set a COVID case record for a fifth day in a row. More than 36,000 cases were reported on Friday. The country recently increased social distancing measures in an effort to help curb rising Omicron cases.

And Greece is making it easier for Europeans to take a holiday there. Starting Monday, tourists with a European vaccination certificate won't have to show a negative COVID test to enter the country. Greek officials hope it will help boost tourism.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Canada's capital is stepping up precautions ahead of a second straight weekend of protests by truckers opposed to COVID restrictions. Ottawa police are deploying dozens of officers to the area around parliament, where the protests have been going on.

Police in Toronto are also taking precautions ahead of a similar protest there. Meanwhile, GoFundMe has suspended a donation campaign for the so-called freedom convoy, citing violence and unlawful activity by protesters.

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BRUNHUBER: And the U.S. reached another milestone on Friday. Data from Johns Hopkins University confirmed the U.S. had surpassed more than 900,000 total deaths from COVID-19.

In the past two weeks, there have been more than 2,000 deaths reported daily. The CDC is considering expanding the interval between the first and second doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to eight weeks.

A new study shows wearing a mask dramatically reduces chances of testing positive for COVID. The California Department of Public Health says your risks are cut in half by wearing a mask versus no mask at all. They're cut even further by 80 percent with an N95 respirator and a surgical mask reduces the risk by 60 percent.

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BRUNHUBER: Dr. Stephen Parodi is the associate executive director of the Permanente Medical Group at Kaiser Permanente and joins me now from San Francisco.

[04:20:00]

BRUNHUBER: Doctor, thank you so much for being here with us. Many European countries have lifted or are in the process of lifting their restrictions, even though some still have high case counts. I mean, they're saying that the crisis is past and we have to start living with COVID.

So when do you think the U.S. can sort of make that pivot toward dealing with it as an endemic disease?

Are we there now?

DR. STEPHEN PARODI, ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP: Well, we're actually starting to see a waning of the Omicron surge, which is actually welcome news; reductions in hospitalizations and actual reductions in overall infection rates.

And I think what we can expect to see is that, with this surge, we had a large number of people get infected, unfortunately. That being said, a number of people have developed immunity now, at least temporary immunity, to the latest variant.

In addition to that, we have a large number of the population that has been vaccinated, at least partially and, in many cases, boosted. So it's a combination of more immunity.

But the hope would be that over time we're going to see less high surges and hopefully increasing, you know, amounts of immunity, which means that we do move into an endemic state.

BRUNHUBER: You help oversee the care of some 4.5 million patients.

Is there a danger that we rush, that we drop all the restrictions and then hospitals like yours are in danger of, again, being overwhelmed?

PARODI: Well, that's a good question. And really the key point here is you want to be realistic. You know, with other diseases like influenza, we don't just simply lift restrictions immediately. What we do is take a measured approach.

So when there's a lot of disease present, we take a lot of action. We make sure that people isolate. We make sure that people, if they're exposed, quarantine themselves. And so we'll want to continue that sort of guidance, hopefully, with actually a little bit more clarity.

BRUNHUBER: One thing that might help: soon enough, we should see all Americans of all ages able to get the vaccine. The FDA will now be looking at the data and will vote whether to authorize it for children under 5.

So for you what difference would that make in our quest to get back to normal?

Because the asterisk here is that the vaccination rate falls as you get younger and younger, down the age groups. And a recent Kaiser poll found that more than two-thirds of parents of children in that age group say they'll wait and see about vaccination or are not planning to vaccinate their young kids.

PARODI: So first of all, I think it's critically important and it's actually a game changer if we're able to vaccinate children that are aged between 6 months and 5 years, the reason being, since the start of the pandemic in the United States, 1.6 million children of that age group have been infected and actually 287 of them have died.

So just that alone tells me that it is critical that we get those youngest, most vulnerable of our population vaccinated.

But secondly, just as importantly, it's going to allow us to more safely keep schools open because children in that age range are often siblings of children who are in school. And, of course, they're children with parents. And parents need to work.

If we want to be able to open up society more effectively, I think having those children vaccinated is going to be critical.

BRUNHUBER: As we talk about getting back to normal it does seem to depend not only on where you live geographically but what race you are. Black and Brown Americans are still dying at much higher rates than others in this country from COVID and are less likely to get some treatments, like anti-virals, for instance.

So is there, as we start sort of dismantling our emergency COVID response to drop the restrictions, that these groups will be disproportionately affected as all the protective infrastructure is dismantled?

PARODI: Well, it's going to be critically important that we have the right outreach mechanisms as we do, you know, open up society, so making sure that we still have actually the federal necessities available, so people have access to testing, for example; that we have equal access to being able to get in and be seen.

We are working with our state government to ensure that there's equitable distribution of new therapeutics, whether monoclonal antibodies or the oral therapies. So we can't actually take our eye off the ball, even if we are able to say, in fact, you don't need tests at a certain point in time.

But you need able to have access to tests, for example, if you're getting sick, for instance, and to provide that level of clarity.

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PARODI: That you may not need to test for surveillance but you need a test when you actually develop symptoms.

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BRUNHUBER: And join me next hour for more with the doctor and we'll discuss if it's too soon to start lifting restrictions in the hopes of moving out of the emergency phase of the pandemic. Again, that's next hour.

European leaders are scrambling to defuse tensions between Russia and Ukraine while the U.S. fears an invasion could come at any time. And people in Russia don't see it that way at all. I'll speak with a journalist in Moscow, about the Kremlin's messaging to its people.

Plus a dash for the door at 10 Downing Street as the so-called Partygate scandal haunts the British prime minister. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

France's president will spearhead the latest diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions over Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron is expected to try to get Moscow to offer some sign of deescalation along the borders.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is currently in Beijing for the start of the Winter Olympics. It was the first time in two years that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has met a world leader in person. CNN's Nic Robertson has the latest from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: President Putin's trip to Beijing and meeting with President Xi of China proving to be a huge boost for President Putin's position.

He got reinforcement on his central message --

[04:30:00]

ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- that NATO should stop moving eastward and the United States is the country that is causing all the disruption in Eastern Europe at the moment.

He got buy-in from President Xi on that and both of them issuing a joint statement, talking about a deeper strategic coordination, that in that there would be a message for the world, not just on the security front but the economic front as well.

President Putin getting some big economic deals signed, one of them on oil. But also talks between the two leaders of future cooperation on high tech, on green tech.

Of course, Russia needs a lot of support there but there's an important piece of messaging for President Putin that he can do business with China. It may not cover all the deficit that he might have if there were every sanctions as promised by the United States and European nations if Russia invades Ukraine.

But signaling there that he does have another economic partner who can make up some of that potential shortfall. Meanwhile, back home, the United States, getting huge criticism for saying that Russia was planning a false flag operation involving actors, involving blood, that would then be used to precipitate an incursion, a Russian incursion into Ukraine.

The foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, calling that delusional, saying that there have been more and more of these things that clearly people didn't believe them. And heavy trolling as well for the State Department spokesman, Ned Price, on Russian TV, where a reporter ask him a question for more details about these allegations of a false flag operation.

Ned Price, not giving those details. And here, the Russian media playing that up, that this is just another empty claim by the United States -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Moscow.

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BRUNHUBER: Recent polling by the independent Levada Center gives us a sense how Russians view what's going on. So when asked who's to blame for tensions centered on Eastern Ukraine, half of those surveyed responded with "the United States and other NATO countries;" 16 percent point the finger at Ukraine and only 4 percent accuse Russia.

The rest pointed mostly to the self-styled breakaway regions or had no opinion. Now despite that, Russians are showing a degree of optimism about the outcome. Only 3 percent expect there to be a war with the country of Ukraine. A little more than one-third consider the scenario to be quite likely but the majority say that war is either unlikely or rule it out all together.

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BRUNHUBER: For more on this let's bring in journalist Alexey Kovalev, who's the investigative editor at the Medusa Project and joins us from Moscow.

Thanks so much for being with us. I want to start with the perception that seems to be the dominant view in Russia the U.S. and NATO is to blame.

Does that reflect what they're seeing on state and social media?

Because according to the U.S. State Department, the Russian language content on social media pushing stories about Ukraine being the aggressor has increased 200 percent from the daily average a month before to an average of nearly 3,500 posts today. That's pretty significant.

ALEXEY KOVALEV, RUSSIAN JOURNALIST: I would say thank you for having me on. And I would say, yes, this is the general line in Russian state media today, which is kind of shifting its delivery in the past eight years, which used to be focused quite centrally on Ukraine as the biggest -- as Russia's biggest adversary.

And for hours every day all the major national networks would spend hours explaining how aggressive Ukraine is, how it's overtaken by Nazis. And Ukraine is at the same time Russia's biggest existential threat and at the same time kind of a wayward brother.

But now I think there's a general shift in -- in that general line, in that Ukraine is no longer -- even has any agency in the Russian state media's eyes. It's just a puppet.

BRUNHUBER: I wanted to ask you about that shift, because some of images are quite stark. I mean, you've written the diet of the state propaganda Russians are being fed now is very different than it was during the 2014 invasion of Ukraine. So just take us back then.

What kind of images and stories were Russians seeing and hearing in the news and on social media in the prelude and during the invasion?

KOVALEV: Well, one particular image I was looking at just now, a clip from a recent top show on Russian TV, that Ukrainian gangs (ph) are preparing to attack the breakaway regions. That's the way they're putting it.

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KOVALEV: Because Russian propaganda kind of blends it all together, the extreme state sponsored homophobia and anti Ukrainian sentiment into one.

But it's not that much out of the ordinary. I would say the rhetoric is a bit more subdued than it was eight years ago, which, when the entire state media apparatus was in overdrive. It was just war hysteria 24/7. And now it's more -- I wouldn't say it's a beating of the war drums but just a low hum.

BRUNHUBER: So what do you make of that difference, then?

The mood seems completely different.

Does that give us a sense of optimism that we might not see an invasion like we did before?

KOVALEV: I think last time, eight years ago -- about eight years ago today, in spring and summer 2014, when Russia was already invading Ukraine -- we're not talking about an invasion of Ukraine. It's been ongoing for eight years.

And it was already riding a massive wave of patriotic euphoria on the back of, you know, annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. And it was already using -- the invasion of Ukraine was rising on that wave. And they were -- it wasn't just all top down imposed by the states in the region.

People were quite energized by that feeling. There were people in the streets. There were volunteers, signing up to go fight in these, you know, breakaway regions for the pro-Russian forces.

There's nothing like that now. And it's clear that, you know, the public opinion is very much against any war.

BRUNHUBER: So then what do you make of the accusation from the U.S. that Russia's preparing an elaborate false flag operation, a fake graphic video, with staged explosions, corpses, actors and so on, as a pretext for an attack on Ukraine?

And Russia's denied it, of course.

KOVALEV: Well, to be honest I'm more alarmed by, for example, the Bloomberg agency jumping the gun and publishing a newswire, saying that Russia invades Ukraine.

If a major U.S. agency can do that, a soldier on either side of the border can do that, too. And that's a lot more dangerous, I think, than any false flag operations. And I'm pretty sure that somebody somewhere is probably preparing a false flag operation.

But you've got to understand, there's a lot more players than just the Russian military. There's the, you know, Russian mercenaries, who may or may not be under complete control of the Russian military. And there's a lot of people involved. It's not all centrally controlled.

So it may not be. But you know, the fact that, you know, the U.S. hasn't presented one piece of evidence of this false flag attack being prepared, it undermines the faith in the U.S., not in Russia.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Well, listen, thank you so much for your expertise on this in Moscow. Really appreciate it. KOVALEV: Thank you for having me.

BRUNHUBER: Downing Street is in full damage control mode as one close aide of prime minister Boris Johnson after another heads for the door.

So have a look at this. These were some of the newspaper headlines this week, calling the exodus a "meltdown" and a "bloodbath." Johnson lost five close aides in two days, as his office works to shake off the blowback from the so-called Partygate scandal. Salma Abdelaziz is in London with more.

So Salma, yesterday I was talking about the four aides are left, now adding another person today. This just continues to be bad news for Boris Johnson.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You're looking at a prime minister now, weaker than ever before, less popular than ever before, who's quite literally fighting for his political survival.

Five top aides -- the head of policy, the chief of staff, the top secretary, the coms chief -- these are major hits for any administration to take, especially within a 48-hour period. If you look at the larger picture, for weeks now, prime minister Boris Johnson has been plagued, mired in this Partygate scandal.

You've looked at weeks of bad headlines. You now have the summary of one of two investigations which has been released, the Sue Gray report, accusing the government -- not accusing.

[04:40:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Finding the government having had failure of leadership, failure of judgment, giving little thought to the British public, excessive drinking at the workplace.

I mean all of this together should be more than enough to take down any prime minister, Kim. But Johnson soldiers on.

Now why is that?

Because it's up to his party, the Conservative Party, to push him out of office. And they have yet to reach that threshold. The threshold would require 15 percent of Conservative lawmakers -- that's 54 Tory lawmakers -- to submit letters of no confidence, triggering a vote to push prime minister Boris Johnson out.

Now there are a small handful of lawmakers that have come forward and submitted those letters but still nowhere near that threshold.

Now why is that, you might ask?

Well, there's a couple of reasons here: Prime minister Boris Johnson is seen as a political survivor. He's a charmer, a charismatic man, a winner within his own party and there are few alternatives to him.

So for now, it seems his party is unwilling to take those steps to push him out. But when you look at, every day, a prime minister who's getting weaker and weaker, you think at some point the clock must run out.

BRUNHUBER: You'd think. We'll keep following the twists and turns of this. Thanks so much.

A jury has found lawyer Michael Avenatti guilty of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing from his former client, Stormy Daniels. Now you may remember that Daniels is the porn star who said she was paid hush money to cover up a sexual encounter with former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The charges against Avenatti revolve around a book deal he helped to negotiate for Daniels. Prosecutors detailed how he secretly got her literary agent to move $300,000 into an account he controlled. Avenatti says he's disappointed and plans to appeal the verdict.

Millions in the U.S. are dealing with the aftermath of a massive winter storm. We'll go to the CNN Weather Center for the latest.

Plus a race against the clock in Morocco to save a little boy, who's been trapped in a well for days. We'll have the latest straight ahead. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: In Morocco, rescuers are making slow but steady progress in their efforts to save a boy trapped in a well.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): These are live pictures of the rescue site in northern Morocco. Rescuers are using heavy machinery to try to reach 5 year-old Rayan. But the operation is risky.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): A race against the clock to try to save a young boy in Morocco, who has been trapped in an underground well for days.

On Tuesday, 5-year-old Rayan fell into a well in a town in northern Morocco. His mother said he was playing in the area when he disappeared. The well is approximately 45 centimeters or 17 inches wide at the top.

It was small enough for him to fall into but too narrow for anyone to reach him. Now he's stuck, about 30 meters or 100 feet down.

An all-out rescue effort was launched. Bulldozers and heavy machinery were brought in. Broadcasters have been livestreaming workers as they dig a second hole to try to save him. A camera lowered into the well showed pictures of the boy alive. Rescuers have also sent water and oxygen down through a tube.

Workers say they are going as fast as they can, first digging down and then over to get closer to the child's location. But it's meticulous work. Drilling too aggressively could collapse the walls around the well.

One rescuer says, "The most complicated matter is the landslide but the machines are operating and the teams are working hard with no food or sleep."

Crowds have gathered at the scene, where there is a helicopter standing by to take Rayan to the hospital. And, there's been an outpouring of support on social media, where the #SaveRayan is trending across North Africa.

Raya's grandmother says, "He's very much loved here in the village, not only at home."

Rescuers are hoping their efforts will soon pay off and they can return little Rayan to his family.

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BRUNHUBER: A powerful cyclone is headed straight for Madagascar. How residents are preparing for yet another dangerous storm after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, just weeks after a deadly tropical storm hit Madagascar, the island is bracing for another dangerous cyclone. It'll make landfall on the east coast of the country in just a few hours.

On Friday, residents in Madagascar's capital prepped for the storm's arrival, placing bricks and rocks on the roofs. The cyclone is expected to bring significant winds and flooding, along with storm surge along the coast.

Millions of Americans are dealing the aftermath of a massive winter storm. The heavy snow and ice created dangerous driving conditions from New Mexico to New England. In Oklahoma, local governments say they've been working tirelessly to cleanup the slick roads and the same goes for Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh is still dealing with power outages and dangerous conditions caused by flooding, freezing rain and snow. If there's any consolation, there are fewer flight cancellations today. Only 940 so far, compared to 4,000 on Friday.

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BRUNHUBER: An Idaho state trooper went the extra mile -- or a few extra feet anyway -- to keep a cat from running away. Have a look at this.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): He did a flying belly flop to fetch the feline after he pulled a van over on the highway and found controlled substances inside. The trooper called animal control to come for the pets.

The cat made a break for it but the trooper showed his catlike reflexes and caught the cat before it reached the woods.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, three fishermen survived after their boat capsized and sank off the Massachusetts coast. One of them, Joe Roderick, telling CNN affiliate WBZ they held onto floating hoses from their boat for 45 minutes in the freezing water.

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JOE RODERICK, MASSACHUSETTS FISHERMAN: The whole boat flipped over. We got thrown in the water. And I remember swimming away from the boat, because I didn't want to get pulled down in the suction.

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BRUNHUBER: Shaken, bruised but alive, Roderick and his crewmates were treated in a hospital for hypothermia. A woman onshore being praised for calling the police when she saw the boat roll over. The crew members were not wearing life jackets or survival suits.

That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'll be back in just a moment. For more news please do stay with us.