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FAA Has Now Grounded Most Boeing 737 MAX 9 Jets; Israel Marks Three Months Since Deadly Hamas Attack; Voting Begins in Bangladesh General Election Boycotted By Opposition; Ukraine: Missile Strikes Kill 11, Including 5 Children; Rain and Snow Headed to Parts of the U.S. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 07, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:41]

LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Laila Harrak.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM:

The investigation begins into the mid-air scare that left a gaping hole in a Boeing 737 at 16,000 feet.

And three months to the day since Hamas staged its deadly attacks, what Israel's prime minister says about the war that followed.

And the polls are open in Bangladesh where the main opposition party is boycotting an election they say is a foregone conclusion.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM WITH LAILA HARRAK.

HARRAK: It's an air passenger's nightmare. A hole bursts suddenly in the side of your plane while you're traveling far above the surface of the earth.

Well, that's what happened on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Friday. Now most of the world's Boeing 737 MAX 9s are grounded, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

Officials are asking for the public's help finding what they call a door plug, the piece that flew off the plane. They said it came off shortly after takeoff, leaving a large hole in the side of the plane and causing the cabin to rapidly depressurize. Incredibly, the craft landed safely with only minor injuries among 177 passengers and crew.

NTSB dispatched a go team shortly after the accident happened. Investigators are now on the ground in Oregon.

An official spoke with reporters just a few hours ago, describing what they know about the plane and the accident so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, U.S. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: When you are a customer, such as an airline, purchasing an aircraft, Boeing would make an air frame, one air frame, which is sold to multiple customers. And the customers will order the design that they need for their operations. This particular aircraft for Alaska is certified for up to 189 passengers. And given the 189 passenger threshold, Alaska would not have to have emergency exit doors at that location in the aircraft. Alaska actually only has on this plane 178 seats.

For a higher-density configuration, the emergency exit door would have to be on that air frame for anything certified at 200 passengers -- I'm sorry, 215 passengers, or 220 passengers. But this door -- mid- cabin door plug, there's one on the left, there's one on the right. They are not operational. What you would see in the cabin if you are a passenger is a window and just part of the cabin. You would not see those as doors unless you are outside of the aircraft.

Now, we know that there were 171 passengers on board the airplane with two pilots, the captain was flying at the time. They also had four flight attendants on board. Fortunately, all passengers deplaned. We are not aware of any serious injuries. We are aware of reports of minor injuries.

With that said, I imagine this was a pretty terrifying event. We don't often talk about psychological injury, but I'm sure that occurred here. So on behalf of the national transportation safety board, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to those that experienced what I imagine was truly terrifying. So today we arrived on-scene at 3:12 p.m. Pacific standard time. The first order of business for me was to see the aircraft, outside the aircraft, and inside.

[02:05:02]

We then proceeded to an organizational meeting. At the organizational meeting, we bring together everyone that will be part of the factual fact-finding phase of our investigation and plan out how we intend to proceed over the next several days, and the next several weeks. We also took some time to designate parties to our investigation. The NTSB always works in what we call a party process during the fact- finding phase of our investigation.

What that means is, we bring together technical experts that would have access to all the factual information. They help us gather that factual information, but after the fact-finding phase, it is only the NTSB that does the analysis, develops the findings, developing the probable cause, and issues the safety recommendations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Alan Diehl is a former accident investigator for the NSTB, FAA, and U.S. Air Force and the author of "Air Safety Investigators". He joins us from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Sir, thank you so much for your time.

You know, what's so mystifying is that this plane was basically -- not basically, but was brand-new. Lost a chunk of its body. I mean, that's anyone's worst nightmare. Has it ever happened before? Or is it -- is it rare for something like this to occur? ALAN DIEHL, FORMER ACCIDENT INVESTIGATOR FOR NTSB, FAA, & U.S. AIR

FORCE: Well, in terms of this type of plugged door, it's been around since 1996 on predecessor 737s. I don't think there's a long history of failure. But yes, you do seem to have failures when planes are brand-new and when they get very old. So it's not surprising.

And there was some talk about the fact that they were having problems pressurizing this aircraft. This particular vehicle apparently may have had some kind of leak. Now, the NTSB will have to carefully determine whether or not this leak was around that plugged door or not. That door can be opened by mechanics from the outside.

Obviously, it's not intended to be opened from the inside. But we were sure lucky that this happened at a lower altitude and nobody was sitting in the two seats directly adjacent to that plugged door.

HARRAK: Yeah, that is a really lucky break indeed.

Safety regulators are now trying to unravel what went wrong. You mentioned one of the things they'll be looking at. Are there other things they'll be trying to investigate?

DIEHL: Well, absolutely. They will take a very careful look at this particular -- that's why they want to find the missing door. And I thought the chair did a great job of asking the public to look for it. She didn't say this, but we sometimes tell the people, do not move it, do not bring it to the NTSB, leave it in place and photograph it, call the police, they'll call the board.

But in any case, they want to find the complete picture. To do that, the missing piece of the puzzle is that door that was ejected. Now, they know approximately where it went down, they think. So I think they'll have that.

How was it manufactured? You know, I've talked about a leak in the aircraft after it was delivered to Alaska. But this aircraft was -- that fuselage, rather, and door was made in Wichita, Kansas, by an outfit called Spirit. It used to be part of Boeing, it's a subcontractor now.

So, they'll want to go back and look at the assembly process and the parts. Every once in a while so-called bogus parts sneak into the inventory. These are parts that aren't FAA certified. I'm not suggesting that happened here. But the NTSB is very methodical, and they eliminate everything that didn't happen so they can focus on what did happen. So this is going to be perhaps weeks, months, maybe a year or so before the final report is issued. But if they find anything significant, they'll immediately educate and announce to the airlines, the FAA, and the world what they found.

So, not to worry. People shouldn't panic. I wouldn't be afraid to get on a 737 MAX tomorrow. Because they're going to thoroughly look at these aircraft. I know the secretary of transportation and the FAA has pushed that agenda forward with an emergency airworthiness directive which requires inspection.

So this is going to be a process that will take days, maybe weeks. But we've got to keep in mind, this is a very safe system.

HARRAK: Safe system. I mean, but how will this event now affect Boeing's MAX aircraft, which already, as you know, has a troubled history?

[02:10:08]

DIEHL: Well, of course we both remember the terrible, catastrophic losses of the Dash 8, a slightly different version of this aircraft. This was a Dash 9 that had the door problem.

But I think it may affect stock prices, and who knows, some passengers may be nervous. But I think Boeing will recover. They have a long history of engineering excellence. A lot of people point out, in recent years, they've become very financially driven.

And a lot of people thought that the 737 MAX should have been replaced with a new so-called clean sheet design. But the new regulated airline and manufacturing world, bottom line is everything. So I think the executives at Boeing decided, we can stretch this airplane one more time and do it safely. Clearly, they were wrong with what happened in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

And there was another incident just recently where they found a loose bolt on a rudder connecting rod, which is kind of scary. The nut hadn't fallen off. Excuse me, the loose nut -- the bolt hadn't fallen off. This could be a quality control problem at Boeing and at their subcontractor. So this is the kind of thing that the NTSB I'm sure will be looking into.

HARRAK: Former accident investigator Alan Diehl in Albuquerque, in New Mexico -- sir, thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us, we greatly appreciate it.

DIEHL: Thanks, Laila.

HARRAK: Sunday marks three months since Hamas launched its brutal attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making it clear he has no intention of stopping the ongoing military campaign in Gaza. He says Israel must keep going until it achieves its main objectives, which include eliminating Hamas, rescuing the remaining hostages, and making sure Gaza is no longer a threat, in his words.

On the ground, the military claims results are showing the IDF says it finished dismantling what it called the Hamas military framework in Northern Gaza, and it's now focusing on the central and the southern parts of the enclave.

But local health officials say Palestinians are paying a heavy price. More than 120 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Friday. That's bringing the total to well over 22,000, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is run by Hamas. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and noncombatants but has said about 70 percent of the dead are women and children. CNN cannot independently confirm those numbers. The top U.S. diplomat is pressing ahead with his whistle stop tour in

the region, aiming to prevent the war from spreading. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is holding talks in Jordan right now before flying to Qatar and the UAE later in the day. Well, that's on the heels of his visit to Turkey and Greece on Saturday.

Nic Robertson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, one of the principal messages Secretary Blinken is bringing into all his meetings in the region is that the United States does not want to see an escalation of tensions in the region. This is something that he hopes is communicated from his meetings through to the Iranian leadership and through to Iran's proxies as well.

And the day that he arrived into the region, Hezbollah retaliated for that killing of a Hamas leader in Beirut earlier on in the week. They say in response to that, they fired 62 missiles from Lebanon into the north of Israel, to a military observation post on the top of the mountain.

Now, the IDF said they counted about 40 incoming missiles and they responded, hitting the terror cell they say was responsible for that attack. The question now, does that lead to a further escalation? The hope, of course, is not.

And that attack by Hezbollah at least doesn't seem to have crossed a threshold calling for a much bigger response from Israel. But when Secretary Blinken gets here to Israel, top of the agenda is going to be the humanitarian situation in Gaza. He's going to want to push to get more humanitarian supplies in there, water, food, medical supplies. Make sure it can reach all the population. He's going to want to push for more safety and security for the civilian population in Gaza and that they be allowed to go back to their homes.

He's going to push to get more of the hostages, all of the hostages released if possible, and he's going to drill down on detail with Israeli leadership on the day after scenario. How they see the situation in Gaza evolving after the military threat has gone.

[02:15:05]

The details of the Israeli government, the defense minister has put out so far, are relatively thin, and indicate that the United States, backed by European partners, regional partners here, would be sort of leading the humanitarian reconstruction focus in Gaza. A lot of other unanswered questions Secretary Blinken will likely want to dive into.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: The White House says that President Joe Biden and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin shared a warm conversation on Saturday after Mr. Biden was caught unaware that Mr. Austin had spent days in hospital.

Here's Arlette Saenz with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden was unaware for days that defense secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized since New Year's Day. A source familiar with the matter tells CNN that national security adviser Jake Sullivan briefed President Biden on the issue after he himself had learned about the hospitalization on Thursday afternoon. The Pentagon did not publicly disclose Austin's hospitalization until Friday.

They then revealed he had entered Walter Reed Medical Center after an elective medical procedure, and he had experienced some complications. He stayed there throughout the week and remains there at this time. The Pentagon has not provided much information about how serious this matter was, but they did say that Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks did assume some of the duties and responsibilities of the defense secretary while he was there. The defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, did assume full duties over the weekend. He released a statement saying that he is on the mend and is looking forward to returning to the Pentagon.

But he did address some of these transparency issues with not disclosing the fact that he was in the hospital much sooner. He wrote in the statement, quote, I also understand the media concerns about transparency, and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better. He added: But this is important to say, this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.

Now, his hospitalization comes at an important time as the U.S. is still grappling with Russia's war in Ukraine and also the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas. There are also greater concerns about that conflict spreading and becoming a wider regional issue. So still many questions remain about what exactly sent Austin to the hospital and why he waited so long to disclose this, not just to the public but to President Biden.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Wilmington, Delaware.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Well, three years after the U.S. Capitol was stormed, we have dramatic new footage of rioters confronting members of Congress during the January 6th insurrection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's wrong with you? We got kids! You better watch out, boy!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Well, this alarming footage released by the Justice Department, you see rioters harassing two Republican lawmakers through cracks in the entrance to the House chamber. This video was notable as the targets of this hostility are Republican. However, many Republican members of Congress continue to downplay the riot.

Meanwhile, the FBI has arrested three people in Florida who are now facing charges for allegedly assaulting police officers at the riot. The two men and a woman evaded authorities until Saturday and are expected to appear in federal court on Monday. The Justice Department says almost 900 people have been found guilty of federal crimes related to the insurrection.

And still to come, voting is under way in Bangladesh in the country's general election marred by violence and opposition boycott. We'll have a live update for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:22:55]

HARRAK: Voters in Bangladesh are heading to the polls to vote in the country's general election that many critics say is one-sided. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cast her vote a few hours ago. Her ruling party is expected to win a fourth straight term. The main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party is boycotting the polls after the prime minister ignored calls for her resignation.

CNN's Vedika Sud joins us now from New Delhi for the latest.

A very good day, Vedika. Bangladesh goes to the polls in what some have described as a controversial election. What more can you tell us?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very controversial indeed. Perhaps a lot like the last previous election, as well. But you know, at this point, there's little doubt that Sheikh Hasina will be winning a fourth consecutive election and a fifth in office overall. That's because of what you said at the top, which is that the BNP, the main opposition party in Bangladesh, is not contesting this election. In fact, they've boycotted it. They've asked the people of Bangladesh to boycott it.

And in the run-up to this big election in Bangladesh, which has been watched so closely by the West, there has been a lot of pre-poll violence, there have been crackdowns by the government on the main opposition party. You've had the main opposition party come out on the roads. They had demanded for Sheikh Hasina to step aside and a caretaker government to take control of the election, a demand rejected by Sheikh Hasina a couple of months back.

Ever since, we've seen a crackdown on the opposition party. The main opposition party has claimed that most of their leaders have either been arrested or they have left the country. Now, this morning as you said, Sheikh Hasina did cast her vote, and she was asked a question on the credibility of this national election. Here's what she had to say to the press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEIKH HASINA, BANGLADESH PRIME MINISTER: I have to provide accountability, right? To whom? To whom? A terrorist party?

[02:25:01]

A terrorist organization?

No. I have my accountability to people, to the people. Whether the people accepted it or not. Whether they have accepted this election or not, that is important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUD: Sheikh Hasina there calling the BNP, the main opposition party, a terrorist organization. Now, over the last 15 years while Sheikh Hasina has been in power and the government has been in power in Bangladesh, she has been credited with turning the economy around, the second-biggest garment industry in the world.

Along with that, she has also faced constant criticism for her growing authoritarianism, for stifling dissent, and freedom of speech, as well as questions have been raised over human rights violations under her leadership. But at this point, the question that voters are also asking on the ground is do we really have to go and cast our vote, given that the main opposition party has boycotted this election? What this really means for the democracy of Bangladesh is the bigger question here.

Back to you.

HARRAK: Vedika Sud reporting, thank you very much.

Now, to Japan, where an elderly woman in her 90s was miraculously pulled out of the rubble five days after a devastating earthquake hit the country's West Coast. A rescuer tells public broadcaster NHK that the woman was stuck in a narrow space between the first and second floor of a house, and it took hours to free her. She was immediately taken to the hospital, and a doctor says she's well enough to have a conversation and at least 126 people were killed when the 7.5- magnitude quake struck Japan on Monday.

Thank you so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Laila Harrak. For international viewers "MARKETPLACE MIDDLE EAST" is up next, For our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:42]

HARRAK: Welcome back to all of our viewers here in the United States and Canada. I'm Laila Harrak and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Diplomatic efforts are shifting into overdrive to prevent Israel's war from -- against Hamas from spreading. Right now, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is holding talks in Jordan before heading to Qatar and the UAE later in the day. The top E.U. diplomat Joseph Burrell was in Lebanon on Saturday saying that country must not be dragged into the fighting.

While the French foreign minister said she warned Iran to stop what she called destabilizing actions in the region. Blinken says diplomacy should get a chance because it's better than the alternative.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It is vital that we engage in this diplomacy now both for the sake of the future of Gaza itself and more broadly, the sake of the future for Israelis and Palestinians and the region as a whole. There's clearly a strong desire among the majority of the people in the region for a future that is one of peace, of security, of de-escalation of conflicts, of integration of countries. And that's one path. That's one future. The other future is an endless cycle of violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: H.A. Hellyer is a senior associate fellow in International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

A very good morning in London, sir. A flurry of activity but the focus not so much on stopping the war in Gaza but rather to prevent it from widening?

H.A. HELLYER, SR. ASSOCIATE FELLOW IN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES, RUSI: Good morning. Yes, indeed. I think the efforts for bringing this conflict to an end sort of skipped to the end of it and trying to look beyond. I think this is entirely regrettable, quite frankly. It's very clear in terms of Israel's plans for moving forward, they don't really see much need to think about the day after. And they are far more intent on prosecuting the war. And they are very clear that, in spite of international public opinion demanding a cease-fire as a result of so many civilian casualties in Gaza, as a result of the Israeli strikes, they will not listen unless United States engages in a far more serious fashion.

And what we've seen so far is shuttle diplomacy, but also awareness on the Israeli side that the United States won't do more than simply talk. There's no suggestion, for example, that there will be the halting of arms or the reduction of aid or anything that is substantive enough that will hold the Israelis back from not only prosecuting this war further in Gaza, but also risking the regionalization of it and the spreading of it to places like Lebanon and elsewhere. And this is incredibly dangerous for regional security.

HARRAK: Incredibly dangerous for regional security. I mean, in the meantime, we're all watching desperate scenes play out in Gaza, a deepening humanitarian catastrophe, starvation and disease rampant. Yet this is something there are no tools to stop the war? HELLYER: So there are many tools. This is the irony of the situation.

While the Israelis are ignoring the United Nations and other international organizations and resounding public opinion worldwide, including within a lot of the United States, there is a country that has the ability to hold the Israelis back and has many points of leverage with which to use. And that is the United States.

However, the Biden administration has been very clear, especially from the very top, that it doesn't really intend to do that. Instead, it will issue these statements, engage in shuttle diplomacy. When you compare what the United States has done previously in other conflicts in the 1980s and so on with the Israelis, where they engaged much more heavily but with leverage that the Israelis respected, took seriously, and as a result corrected their behavior or deviated from their plans.

[02:35:05]

At the moment that isn't the case. As a result, the Israelis have become more reckless, especially in the past few weeks. I think that's very regrettable and dangerous.

HARRAK: So, what do you think is the point of Secretary of State Blinken's now fourth tour of the region? Will it make any difference?

HELLYER: I hope so. I mean, it's very clear D.C. doesn't want this to be regionalized. They don't want Israel to engage in a war with Hezbollah that will simply bring about yet more destruction and instability in the region. They don't want, for example, the territory of Gaza to be reduced by the Israelis implementing, quote/unquote, security zones. They don't want the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza into Sinai and elsewhere, which is what many Israeli officials have been talking about for months now. They don't want any of that.

The question is, what they're going to actually do about it. And if the Israelis take seriously that they're going to do something about it. Otherwise, we see a scenario where, unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are forced out of Gaza itself. Not simply out of their homes in Gaza.

Your reporters, I'm sure, have already seen that more than 70 percent of people's homes in Gaza have either been destroyed or damaged, and they can't live in them anymore. That sort of scenario where they're actually forced to leave Gaza altogether, either by force the displacement or by making the Gaza strip so incredibly uninhabitable, people will do anything to leave, to escape the bombing, the starvation, the humanitarian crisis that you alluded to.

And then looking at the West Bank, which is not so far away, the Israelis have been displacing scores of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, much as they have been doing for many years now, and making the prospect of any type of two-state solution a complete pipe dream. And again, if we're looking for solutions for regional stability to actually be real, we need to do a lot more when it comes to bringing this conflict to a close, in terms of an immediate cease-fire, and seeing forward a political solution that is actually durable and sustainable. And this is not the way.

HARRAK: We've got to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us, H.A. Hellyer in London. Thank you very much.

HELLYER: Thank you.

HARRAK: Now, some of the casualties of Israel's war on Hamas are historic sites and priceless landmarks in Gaza. Churches, mosques, and other cultural institutions, some of which have been around for thousands of years, reduced to dust and rubble.

Nada Bashir shows us what has been lost.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): They were cultural treasures and hubs of the community in Gaza. Now they lay in ruins. Like Palmyra in Syria, or the ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq, victims of war. These pictures show one of the oldest churches in the world before Israel's assault began three months ago. This is what it looks like now after an Israeli air strike in October.

HABIB SILAS, ST. PORPHYSIRIUS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH: What's the reason? Why? We're asking from god to bring peace in the area. Our roots are here. We are here 2,000 years. We're not going to leave. We're still here. We'll continue our life.

BASHIR: The church's father Habib Silas says 17 people died in the strike on the compound where people were taking shelter. Israel says it was, quote, collateral damage and wasn't the intended target. But it's not the only historic site to have been destroyed.

The grand mosque in Gaza has history that is said to date back to the time of the Philistines and has spent time as both a temple and a church before becoming a mosque. Today, all that remains standing is the minaret. Its library with historic manuscripts largely lost.

ISBAR SABRINE, PRESIDENT, HERITAGE FOR PEACE: The mosque itself, we can say it's a symbol of the people, a symbol of the daily and cultural life in Gaza. So unfortunately, with this loss, the people in Gaza, they have lost a very important symbol of their identity and of their city.

BASHIR: And it's not just places of worship.

[02:40:00]

This bathhouse, said to have been built in the 14th century, has been in the hands of the same family for generations, destroyed in an instant. The Israeli military saying it was targeting a Hamas terrorist squad. Whenever this war ends and reconstruction begins, one thing is for sure. So much of Gaza's history now lies in rubble.

Nada Bashir, CNN, in Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRAK: Ukraine says Russian missile strikes on its Donetsk region killed 11 people on Saturday, including five children. Eight others were wounded and crews have been searching through the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings for any survivors. Officials say at least one man has been rescued so far.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, offered condolences to families who lost loved ones and warned Russia that there will be consequences for these attacks.

And Ukraine has intensified its bombardment of Russia's Belgorod region in recent days. Officials say there say people are living in fear and don't feel safe after the string of attacks.

CNN's Barbie Nadeau has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: As Ukraine increasingly takes the war across the Russian border, the governor of Belgorod, Russia, who's suffered heavy attacks in recent days has offered its citizens away from the border with Ukraine. The move comes up after Ukraine says it wiped out a Russian stronghold there in Friday, mining the roads and possibly massive damage just as Russian military leadership were carrying out inspections to address reports of poor condition.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in Crimea, which Russia annexed illegally in 2014 with air raid sirens heard throughout Saturday. Ukrainian defense intelligence said on its Telegram channel it had carried out a special operation there which resulted in losses to Russia.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Still to come, rain and snow are on tap for parts of the U.S. The latest on a major winter storm and where it's heading.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:12]

HARRAK: The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado has touched down in south Florida, the first one of the New Year. Well, you can see the twister swirling around in this video captured in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. The city's fire department says it all happened just before 6:00 p.m. local time near the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Fire officials add, after crews searched the area, no one was hurt and no structures had significant damages. The city's urging people to watch out for any debris and downed power lines in the area.

Well, meantime, other parts of the United States are dealing with or bracing for a winter storm. A large system that's dropped a combination of heavy snow and rain in the northeast is continuing to move north. As of last check, that makes snowfall in Pennsylvania, Maryland, west Virginia, and Virginia.

Overnight, the heaviest snow is expected in central and northern New York and throughout New England, from Connecticut to southern Maine. A few snowflakes were already spotted in New York City and Philadelphia Saturday afternoon, but rain has now overtaken the snow in those cities.

In Connecticut, transportation officials are preparing for the snowstorm headed their way.

And CNN's Polo Sandoval is in Hartford with more on the state's plans to keep thousands of miles of roads clear and safe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, officials have said they do not expect any major disruptions in some of the major cities throughout the northeast. However, going into Sunday, we do expect at least some significant snowfall, particularly in portions of the northeast. In fact, if the forecast holds true, we are expecting what could be perhaps one of the biggest snow storms here in Hartford, Connecticut, that we've seen in about three years. Last time, we saw close to a foot of snow.

It's one of the reasons why Connecticut transportation officials have been preparing for this. They've been deploying, pre-situationing, and prepositioning I should say over 600 pieces of dedicated snow removal equipment. It will be their job to work throughout the night to make sure the nearly 4,000 miles of roadways are safe and clear.

One of the things that officials have on their side is the fact that this storm will be hitting on the weekend during the overnight hours. So because of that, they do expect the impact of this storm to be at least fairly minimal, at least that's what they hope for. I want you to hear directly from one transportation official as he breaks down really why this storm is one that they're watching.

COMMISSIONER GARRETT EUCALIDO, CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: We're New Englanders. We're used to it. But I think it's going to be a good refresher course for a lot of people here at DOT, but also people throughout the state. This is what winter should look like.

SANDOVAL: Experts are tracking and monitoring what is likely going to be a bigger, even more menacing storm that will start from the interior of the U.S. and be cutting its way up to the Great Lakes region with a combination of ice, snow, and heavy wind as well.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, Hartford, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Tributes are pouring in for one of the greatest soccer stars of all-time. Brazilian football legend Mario Zagallo has died at age 92. The South American legend won four World Cups as a player and coach, the only man to accomplish the historic feat. Zagallo was a winger on the Brazil team which won back-to-back world cups in 1958 and 1962.

He would start in both of those finals. He was also a huge success as a manager, overseeing what was widely regarded as the greatest international team of all-time, the team that included the legendary Pele went all the way to World Cup glory in 1970.

Zagallo was also assistant to Carlos Alberto Pereira, who in Brazil triumphed at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Hugely respected and admired in his homeland, Zagallo's impact as a player and manager over many decades was immense.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:53:18]

HARRAK: A controversial op-ed has set off some bad blood between associates of pop star Taylor Swift and "The New York Times". The newspaper published a lengthy opinion piece this week speculating about the pop star's sexuality. Although Swift has said she identifies as an ally of the LGBTQ community, the essay's author listed various references in Swift's songs suggesting the megastar secretly identifies as queer. A person close to the star called the opinion piece invasive, untrue, and inappropriate. A spokesperson for "The Times" declined to comment on the criticism of the story.

And Monday could be a landmark day in NASA's long-term mission to return to the lunar surface. The Vulcan rocket is set to take off loaded with equipment that will gather data for future moon missions.

But as CNN's Kristin Fisher reports, not all payloads are scientific.

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KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Apollo 17, 1972, the last time the U.S. made a soft lunar landing. Now, 50 years later, NASA technology is returning to the surface of the moon.

The Peregrine mission 1 is a NASA collaboration with private space companies. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic spearheaded the design of the lunar lander, which you can see here being loaded on to a Vulcan. The rocket itself was created by the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. And this will be its inaugural flight. NASA's taking a back seat on the mission with Astrobotic running operations from its own ground control in Pittsburgh.

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Peregrine is due to land on the moon on the 23rd of February, gently touching down near the Gruithuisen domes, which are named after the Bavarian astronomer. Peregrine marks the start of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services or CLPS which will allow the government space agency to outsource the launch and transport of its lunar cargo to private companies. That cargo is key to NASA's Artemis program, which aimed to put the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.

The peregrine lander is a boxy, 2 1/2 meters long and just under 2 meters tall. On board, pieces of NASA cargo, some of which will gather valuable data for future moon missions. Also on board, an assortment of payloads from seven different countries, including a bitcoin- encoded coin from the Seychelles, a lunar rover built by students at Carnegie Mellon University, and even human remains thanks to Elysium Space.

Capsules containing a portion of Elysium's customer loved ones will create a lunar memorial for friends and relatives to look at in the night sky. Hot on the heels of Peregrine will be NASA's second CLPS mission. Intuitive Machine's Nova-C lander will launch on a SpaceX rocket as early as February, delivering five more payloads to the moon's south pole.

With around a dozen companies bidding for NASA's lunar contracts, peregrine marks the start of a brand-new moonshot and a giant leap for the entire space industry.

Kristin Fisher, CNN.

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HARRAK: And that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Laila Harrak. Stay with us. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.

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