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President Biden and President Putin Agrees to Meet in Principle; Queen Elizabeth Tests Positive for COVID-19; Hong Kong Struggling in Fifth Wave of Pandemic. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 21, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine. Ahead this hour, Joe Biden agrees in principle to a summit with Vladimir Putin to drive to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine. It follows an ominous warning from the U.S. about what the latest intelligence indicates. Details plus what these new satellite images actually mean.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: And hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade live at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta. Queen Elizabeth tested positive for coronavirus just as England is poised to relax its COVID restrictions. We head live to Windsor for the very latest on the queen's health.

HOLMES: World leaders are in a race against time to stave off war in Ukraine. On Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden agreed in principle to a summit with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, but the White House says that will only go ahead if Russia does not further invade Ukraine.

Now, the meeting was proposed by the French president, Emmanuel Macron. It is the latest diplomatic effort to de-escalate tensions between Russia and Ukraine. But it comes as new satellite images show increased activity among Russian forces massed near Ukraine's northeastern border. We're also learning the U.S. has intelligence indicating Russian commanders have received orders to proceed with an attack on Ukraine, although it is not clear when, that's according to several officials who spoke to CNN.

All right, now U.S. intelligence officials estimate close to 75 percent of Russia's entire conventional forces have now been deployed to Ukraine's doorstep surrounding the country on three sides.

In Washington, President Biden held a meeting with his National Security Council Sunday just days after saying he is convinced Mr. Putin has decided to invade Ukraine. Still, U.S. officials say a diplomatic solution still remains on the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: While we believe President Putin has made the decision that the die is cast, until that die actually settles and until the tanks are actually moving, the planes are actually flying, the bombs are actually dropping, we're going to do everything we can with diplomacy and with deterrence and dissuasion to get President Putin to reverse the decision that we believe he's made. And part of that is making very clear what he risks in terms of sanctions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, Ukraine says this video shows pro-Russian separatists in the east launching fire against their own territory in an attempt to falsely accuse Ukraine's armed forces of carrying out an attack. Now, this comes as those separatist leaders continue urging civilians in the paths of eastern Ukraine under their control to evacuate to Russia claiming Ukrainian forces are planning an attack, something Ukraine has consistently denied and there appears to be no evidence of.

Let's bring in CNN's Fred Pleitgen from Moscow to talk about all of this. Fred, when it comes to this potential summit, it feels over a last ditch, but it is a glimmer. When might we know what the Kremlin thinks about the idea?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think throughout the course of this morning we'll probably going to hear what the Kremlin thinks of all of this and whether they are not they think something like this could be possible. And so far, what we've heard from the Kremlin in recent weeks is they say they're always willing to talk and they certainly would like to talk.

Vladimir Putin certainly would like to talk face to face with President Joe Biden. That certainly is something where I think he wouldn't only obviously want to talk about the situation there in Donbas, but generally about the wider security structure in Europe and some of those security demands that the Russians have been making over the past couple of weeks, the past couple of months where a lot of which the U.S. has so far rejected.

But the Russians certainly have told me in the past couple of weeks that they're always open to diplomacy and they certainly wants to keep talking. And as far as the situation on the ground is concerned, Michael, I think it's quite interesting some of the things that we've just shown because indeed, the separatists there in eastern Ukraine in the Donbas region are accusing the Ukrainian forces of shelling them overnight.

They said that a fighter died, that a civilian died, of course you have those images by the Ukrainian military saying that essentially the separatists are shelling their own positions and are shelling the areas inside those separatists republics in order to try and accuse the Ukrainian military of some sort of offensive which the Ukrainians say are not happening.

[02:05:04]

The other thing is those satellite images, Michael, and those certainly are something that is also very interesting to see when we're hearing some of the reports from outside those separatist republics on the Russian side where you appear to have some of those Russian forces who are on those larger bases over the past couple of weeks were sort of gathering there, now seemingly dispersing into smaller units where you can actually see tanks and sort of mechanized howitzer go through smaller towns.

Again, the Russians are saying that they have no plans to invade, but the U.S. of course, is saying they believe that the situation is growing more dangerous by the hour and that essentially they believe that Vladimir Putin has made a decision to further invade Ukraine.

But again, the Russians say that that is hysteria. That is something they've been saying over the past couple of weeks, but right now, you can sort of see here on Russian media and among Russian politicians that they certainly are also saying that the situation, especially down there in Donbas continues to escalate, Michael.

HOLMES: All right, great wrap-up there of events, Fred Pleitgen, appreciate it. Thanks so much. Now, joining me now is Peter Zalmayev. He is the director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative. He joins me now live via Skype from Kyiv, and good to see you sir. Given the logistical difficulties we all know about in taking the entire country, could you envision if Putin does indeed choose to invade a more piecemeal approach, perhaps carving off areas he could control?

PETER ZALMAYEV, DIRECTOR EURASIA DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE: Indeed. That's what most local analyst and a lot of western analysts country to what we're hearing from the White House and the intelligence that they claim to have unearthed that really, Vladimir Putin is not interested in, you know, bringing on crippling sanctions against his regime. He is not interested in having a western international media, you know, or report on bloody scenes from Ukrainian cities, cities populated by people that Vladimir Putin claims is an ethnic kin to the Russians.

So, it still seems to be that, you know, at the very least, you know, what we will start or we'll see at the beginning as an incursion in the east of Ukraine. It's already happening, the false flag operation that we had been warning about has already started, you know, the Russian -- the U.S. Embassy in Russia, in fact, is saying that, you know, to be aware that there may be false flag operations in Russian cities such as building explosions or other areas that will later be blamed by the Russians on the Ukrainian side.

So, while you cannot rule out a full country invasion, it seems that Vladimir Putin will be taking a piecemeal approach and that has been his modus operandi all along in Ukraine.

HOLMES: We know that, you know, in a one-on-one fight, it's not a fair find in a military sense. What do you think would happen in the days after an invasion? What would Ukrainians do to counter it?

ZALMAYEV: Well, you have to understand that, obviously, the Ukrainian army is not the same as it was in 2014 militarily and morale wise. There's obviously much more clarity as far as what Ukrainians are willing to do to defend their country.

Also, you know, there's the blunt fact of U.K.-U.S. having shipped anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. Currently, Ukraine probably has an anti-tank missile for each Russian tank. So what's the calculus for Vladimir Putin has, you know, become a much more difficult one.

And, you know, I was just at the Munich Security Conference yesterday and in meetings both official and unofficial, western officials including -- and former American generals and very, very high level individuals have said that if we see Ukrainians fighting, if we see the resolve on the part of Ukrainians to fight, we will be supplying them weapons and Vladimir Putin knows that.

HOLMES: It would be, you know, an insurgency and I spent years covering Iraq. An insurgency would be a very bloody affair, wouldn't it?

ZALMAYEV: It would be indeed a bloody affair, I mean, especially if we're talking about large population, you know, centers. So, once again, it seems very unlikely right now that Vladimir Putin would go for that sort of scenario, but once again, you cannot discount it. Vladimir Putin has been in a bunker, in complete isolation, almost entirely for the last two years.

[02:09:55]

He's surrounded by really crazy individuals who are, you know, who have a very messianic bent. They think that Russia will and should have a showdown with the west to assure its future. But -- so whilst we cannot discount it, if you can leave that Putin remains a saint after, that you probably -- that then you'll will consider the other ways that he can cripple Ukraine and try to bring it to its knees.

He's already doing it. There have been a series of cyberattacks. He's blockading Ukraine supports from the Black Sea that has caused the hryvna, the national currency to fall, the investors to flee for the exits, and that may be part of Vladimir Putin's strategy.

HOLMES: Yes, yes, yes, to choke off Ukraine economically perhaps without even firing a shot. I wanted to ask you about the Donbas, you know, it's interesting. If the Russians miraculously backed off, the invasion is off, that region is hardly likely to then turn around and say okay, we're back with Ukraine, is it? What would you see happening there? And might the step (inaudible) act unilaterally even if they're not being told what to do by Moscow?

ZALMAYEV: Well, I don't believe there is enough, first of all, there's enough will to fight there for the so-called, you know, Donetsk (inaudible) People's Republic. We've already seen people running for the exits there, not only being evacuated by the Russian side, but some fleeing back to Ukraine. There's just no willingness to fight for these quasi-states. No one believes in -- that they're genuine, you know, political entities.

Having said that, obviously the language issue remains pretty pernicious and the region has been through eight years of massive Stalinist-type indoctrination by the Russian media and the Russian, you know, the Russian bosses who have been running essentially this region. So, Ukraine in whichever scenario will probably have to make a compromise with the language issue allowing the region to keep the Russian language as a regional language. HOLMES: Yes. That would be an interesting compromise. In the broader

picture, Putin, of course, wants Ukraine to give up the whole notion of NATO membership. Do you ever think there would come a time when Ukraine would entertain that or that the west would perhaps pressure Ukraine to entertain them?

ZALMAYEV: Well, I believe that's been a red herring for Putin all along. I do not believe that he generally believes that NATO is as serious and significant and existential threat to Russia. He does not believe that Ukraine is going to be a member of NATO anytime soon. So, it's a moot point what Ukraine says to Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin considers it a personal tragedy, the loss of Ukraine. He wants to recreate the Soviet Union in some form or shape. He's willing to let Ukraine keep its flag, keep its U.N. seat. That what he is doing with Belarus for example.

He does not need a formal, you know, subjugation of the country, but like what he has done with Belarus. He's deprived that country over the last few months in our plain sight and view of its sovereignty. Belarus has turned into an essentially protectorate under military occupation by the Russian Federation. And that's exactly what he has in mind for Ukraine.

HOLMES: Yes. By invitation in Belarus, but a lot of people are wondering whether the Russians will ever leave now that they're there. We're out of time, Peter Zalmayev, thank you so much. Always good to get your important analysis.

ZALMAYEV: Thank you.

HOLMES: All right, I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine. I will be back with more later in the show. For now, let's turn to Lynda Kinkade at the CNN Center with today's other stories. Lynda?

KINKADE: Thanks so much, Michael. Another great interview. We will catch up with you soon.

Well, still to come, an update on the British monarchy after Buckingham Palace announces the Queen has tested positive for COVID- 19. We're going to go live to Windsor when we come back.

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[02:15:00]

KINKADE: Welcome back. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is wishing Queen Elizabeth a swift recovery after she tested positive for COVID-19. Buckingham Palace says the 95-year-old monarch is experiencing mild cold-like symptoms and plans to continue light duties this week. According to U.K. media, she is fully vaccinated.

CNN's Anna Stewart joins us now from a very windy Windsor. Good to have you with us, Anna. So, it sounds like the queen is doing pretty well at this point in time, which is great. ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: It certainly seems that way. I'm sure I'm

not alone in wishing she would rest up given she is 95 years old and has COVID, albeit, with mild symptoms. But we are told by the palace that she will carry on working doing light duties and actually this week, she didn't have any major events as one public engagement next week that could be canceled. We'll have to keep an eye on her agenda.

But her symptoms certainly do appear to be mild according to the palace and we're told that her medical physicians and she does have a whole team that work within the royal household for her, they will continue giving her medical attention.

Now, some will question what that means. It's possible that the queen is receiving antiviral medication given her age and she is at higher risk due to her age from severe disease from COVID, but hopefully all will be well. But quite extraordinary that just two months out from her 96th birthday, yes, the queen will keep on working, Lynda.

KINKADE: Yes, it really is amazing. It speaks to her work ethic. So, tell us about the staff, royal family members, any others in isolation or quarantine that we know of?

STEWART: Yes, because this has been a series of events, really. We were concerned about the queen getting COVID a couple of weeks ago when Prince Charles first tested positive and that was just two days after he had seen his mother, the queen. And a few days after he tested positive so did his wife, Camila, the Duchess of Cornwell.

Now Prince Charles has left isolation at this point. The queen has been kept in what we're calling HMS bubble, a limited staffing within the royal household since the pandemic began to keep her safe and (inaudible) social distancing really within the castle walls.

[02:20:00]

But we are told that really that bubble has been infiltrated because there are other cases of COVID within Windsor Castle's household. We don't have any specifics as to who but this comes as the U.K. lifts all restrictions from COVID and with omicron still around, which is highly transmissible, it's perhaps no surprise that finally COVID has infiltrated the royal bubble. Lynda?

KINKADE: Yes. Exactly. It's remarkable. She hasn't had it before, really, but let's hope she continues to do well, Anna Stewart, thanks so much for joining us.

Well, as Anna mentioned, despite the queen's positive case, England is moving forward with plans to end all isolation requirements for those testing positive for the virus. The prime minister's office says an announcement is expected this week rolling back all restrictions as the country moves to treat COVID-19 as a virus that is here to stay.

And Israel is lifting restrictions as well, allowing all tourists, regardless of vaccination status back into the country from March 1st. Travelers won't have to present proof of vaccination, but instead will have to take a PCR test before and after their flight. And Australia has fully reopened its borders to vaccinated travelers

making for some, emotional reunions to families who have been apart since the pandemic began. Can't wait to get back there in the coming months. Well, still to come, Hong Kong's fifth wave of COVID-19 goes from bad to worse with Hong Kong -- with hospitals there on the brink of collapse. Is help from mainland China enough to slow the spread? We are going to go live to Hong Kong for the latest.

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[02:25:00]

KINKADE: A spectacular scene there in Beijing. Fireworks lighting up the sky as the Olympic host city said farewell to the 2022 Winter Games. Spectators danced, sang and cheered in the Bird's Nest Stadium for the closing ceremony. After 16 days of competition, Norway sat atop the medal table with a record number of gold.

But the games were not without controversy in particular the doping scandal surrounding 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva who tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the games. We'll have more Olympics coverage on "World Sport" in about 20 minutes.

Hong Kong is ramping up testing trying to contain the spread of the region's fifth wave of the virus. Hospitals are stretched to the limit with reports of people stuck outside in the rain due to a lack of hospital beds. The government has brought in more than 100 healthcare workers from mainland China to help treat severe cases and manage new patients before the region's hospital system is completely overwhelmed.

Kristie Lu Stout is following the developments and joins us now from Hong Kong with the latest. So Kristie, police have been recruited to help control this growing outbreak. Just explain how they're going to be deployed.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Lynda, Hong Kong is reportedly mobilizing its police force to help contain this growing fifth wave of infection from COVID-19. "The South China Morning Post" reporting that the police would help prepare for mandatory testing. We know right now as authorities are considering how to roll out mandatory testing in the future for the city of 7.4 million people.

Now this news comes shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the city to take the main responsibility to stabilize and control this growing outbreak. On Sunday, Hong Kong reported over 6,000 new daily cases of COVID-19. They reported 14 new deaths caused by the virus.

Mainland China has pledged help and help is on its way and help is here in the form of expertise for treatment, for testing, for building new isolation facilities. In fact, right now, mainland Chinese teams are helping to build these new isolation quarantine and treatment facilities in Penny's Bay. That's a corner of Hong Kong located near Hong Kong Disneyland as well as the old Kai Tak Airport site. The Kai Tak cruise terminal. These facilities will be able to provide some 10,000 isolation beds

but when you talk to experts, they say it's not enough. In fact, experts at the University of Hong Kong have said that look, right now, Hong Kong is reporting 6,000 new daily case of COVID a day. That will surge to 28,000 new daily cases a day by March. Back to you.

KINKADE: Wow, so cases rising and certainly not enough isolation beds. Kristie, just explain what went wrong in Hong Kong. How did it get to this point?

LU STOUT: In a word, it could be summed up as complacency. Hong Kong has had two years to stockpile testing kits. Hong Kong has had two years to build isolation centers and quarantine facilities. Hong Kong has had just under a year -- it was just under a year ago when the vaccination system was rolled out. Just under a year to get certain members of the population especially the most vulnerable and the elderly to be vaccinated and boosted.

All of that time and opportunity has been squandered and that's why we are at this place today where Hong Kong is literally scrambling for resources, getting resources from mainland China, mainland China rebuking Hong Kong authorities last week. That's what we got in the form of that message from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

And now we're hearing from experts that despite these surge of activity to be able to create more isolation beds and quarantine spaces, looking at the models out there, it's still not enough to deal with the surge of infection that is coming our way. Back to you.

KINKADE: It's head-scratching and looking at those scenes, they're like the scenes we saw in New York before vaccines were even available. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Thanks very much.

LU STOUT: Thank you.

KINKADE: Well, two incidents involving police and protesters are under investigation after a violent weekend of protests and nearly 200 arrests in Canada. Ontario's special investigations unit is looking into a serious injury reported by a woman who interacted with a police officer on a horse.

The group is also investigating the use of antiriot weapons during the protests. No injuries have been reported so far but this special investigation's unit is asking anyone who may have been hit by a projectile to contact them.

Still to come on CNN, we are following a high stakes last ditch effort at diplomacy for a peaceful resolution to the Russian/Ukraine crisis.

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[02:33:00]

HOLMES: Welcome back. I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv in Ukraine. The White House says U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed in principle to a summit with the Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine. Now the French brokered summit represents a last ditch effort at diplomacy as the military crisis intensifies. But the White House warns the meeting can only take place if Russia doesn't invade Ukraine in the interim.

And would also only occur after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meet on Thursday. All of this happening as new satellite images show increased activity among -- forces mass -- near Ukraine's north eastern border. And the U.S. Defense Secretary says an invasion could lead to mass casualties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: You could see a significant amount of combat power move very quickly down to take Kiev. So, in terms of the types of things that could happen, one only need to look at what's on the other side of the Ukrainian border. If he employs that kind of combat power, it will certainly create enormous casualties within the civilian population.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, sources tell CNN the U.S. has intelligence that Russian commanders have received orders to attack Ukraine not clear when however, and importantly. CNN's Ben Sciutto following that part of the story.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: According to the latest U.S. intelligence assessment orders have been sent to Russian tactical commanders to proceed with an invasion. This according to officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence telling myself and my colleague Natasha Bertrand. We should be clear, however, that the U.S. is looking for multiple indicators that an invasion is coming.

This is one of them, but others such as electronic jamming, or massive cyber attacks against Ukraine have not yet been observed. It is also worth noting The orders such as this could be rescinded or this could be part of a misinformation campaign intended to mislead the U.S. and its allies.

[02:35:07]

SCIUTTO: However, this intelligence comes as we've heard public statements from the most senior U.S. officials, including the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of State, saying in recent days that the U.S. now believes Putin has made a decision to invade. Secretary of State Anthony Blake in saying today in his words, that the Russian playbook is moving forward. Jim Sciutto, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.

HOLMES: And joining me here now in Lviv live is CNN's international security editor Nick Payton Walsh. Good to have you back, Nick. You worked and lived in Russia for years and covered the early days of Putin. I'm curious, what is your take on who might be in his ear? Who is giving him advice? And crucially, is there anyone around to say, no, that's a bad idea?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes. And that is the fundamental question behind all of this. Has he made a decision and was that decision informed by what most outsiders think would be the catastrophic nature of deciding to send 150,000 troops into a country which has a pretty visceral level of disgust for the Kremlin has been doing over the past years.

There is a cabal of what they call Slovakia. The people behind the security ministries very much surrounding Vladimir Putin, mostly men in their late 60s, the defense minister Sergey Shoygu, Alexander Berdnikov, the head of the FSB, the National Security head Patrushev. These are all men steeped in the former KGB in their past around Putin. And I think all probably too, with an eye on the future as well.

Nobody is immortal. And so, criminologists will be thinking at this stage, if really, Vladimir Putin does go ahead and do this extraordinary military maneuver, compared to by the U.K. Prime Minister's the plan for the biggest war in Europe since 1945. Is that done out of some internal dynamic or some external misinformation? Has he been told this will be easy and a cakewalk? Most people, I think, look at this as the possibility of a comparable experience to the Soviets in Afghanistan if they really did do this.

And so yes, it's the quality of information that he's getting. A lot of Western officials you speak to say, they are concerned that COVID has left this man who's always been seen isolating himself behind kind of antiseptic curtain almost increasingly less well informed about what's actually going on the outside world. And what made before is any adventure he tries to undertake here.

HOLMES: Yes. Which is an extraordinary thought, isn't it? And that distancing, even literally, with that massive table as he keeps his distance from everyone. But to the point of, is there anyone to say no, I mean, is he the type of man, is he the type of character who people could go up and say, this is not a good idea or they just listened to whatever he says?

WALSH: It's very difficult to balance the idea of this Russian leader who has the world sort of on tenterhooks here who has the U.S. and Europe bracing themselves that his calculated moves could launch the continent into some sort of broader conflict. Balance that idea of a rational actor who's managed to sustain his place in power, and maneuver Russia back into position in the world stage.

That rational actor with a completely irrational actor who would plow Russia straight into this extraordinary military catastrophe, frankly, not just for Ukraine, but likely for thousands of Russian soldiers and lives as well. So, those two things are essentially the answer to the question here. How do you reconcile the rational man we've seen rise over decades and the irrational act that's supposed to be about to be happening, according to U.S. officials?

HOLMES: Yes. Fascinating insight. Great to have you here, Nick. Our international security editor Nick Payton Walsh with us. He will be back next hour, so stick around for more of our conversation.

All right. Moving on last hour, I talked to the President of the Kiev School of Economics, Tymofiy Mylovanov. And he was also a former Minister of Economic Development and Trade in Ukraine. And I asked him about the damage done to Ukraine's economy because of this crisis. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYMOFIY MYLOVANOV, PRESIDENT, KIEV SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, even if there is none, there is already a lot of damage. Access to capital markets, capitalization of the company's logistical problems, insurance costs going up. The GDP forecast a couple of weeks ago was revised down by about one percent. And there are estimates produced by our analysts give School of Economics and others that a blockade -- let's say if there was a blockade of the ports, that could hurt us between half a percent to three percent GDP per month.

This is just without any kinetic action without an invasion. If there is kinetic action that depends because it's really hard to assess the specific scenarios. But we can -- we have some data, we have some experience in 2014 when the East was invaded and when Crimea -- next. The Ukrainian GDP dropped by 14 percent because of that.

[02:40:04]

MYLOVANOV: So, that was the damage. And overall assessment of the damage in 2014 and further was, you know, the estimates range from 70 to $200 billion, which is approximately one year GDP of Ukraine currently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine. I will be back with more next hour. But now let's go back to Lynda Kinkade at the CNN Center with the day's other top stories, Lynda.

KINKADE: Thank you, my friend. Good to have you there in Lviv for us in Ukraine. Michael Holmes there.

Well, Northern Argentina is being devastated by ongoing fires. Officials say over a million acres or nearly 405,000 hectares have been scorched by the record breaking fires. Experts blame a historic drought and two years of high temperatures. Local authorities have declared a state of emergency and have dispatched hydrant planes to combat the fires.

And rescue operations are ongoing in Brazil. But the death toll is rising after those deadly landslides north of Rio de Janeiro last Tuesday. The number of fatalities were slightly on Sunday to 157. More than 150 people remain missing. Hundreds have lost their homes or have been displaced.

For our international viewers, World Sport is coming up next. For those watching here in the United States. I'll be back with more news after this short break. You're watching CNN.

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