a major development in the investigation into former president donald trump and his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. news that the special counsel plans to go directly to the supreme court to answer some key questions about immunity in this prosecution. plus, new polls and major questions for president biden. right now, he is trailing former president trump in two critical battleground states

that helped propel bite into the white house in 2020, so is it time for a new approach? we will dive into the numbers. and back on x get elon musk welcomes conspiracy theorist alex jones back to the platform to bubble the decision cost him? we are following these major developing stories and more coming in right here on "cnn news central." ♪ we start this afternoon with a stunning development today in russia. a key critic and chief political rival of vladimir putin is now missing. allies of russian opposition leader a.j. alexy noah vonleh said they have not had contact with him in six days. he is serving sentences totaling more than 30 years in maximum security penal colonies near moscow. the news of his disappearance comes days after putin announced his intention to run for reelection in march. want to go to cnn's fred. n'faly was scheduled to appear in court today. what happened?

>> he simply did not show up, and it's something building up over the last couple of days because his lawyers want to try to see him on friday, and that penal colony is about 150 miles east of moscow, high-security prison where he is being kept. they were brushed off until they could not see him. today, he was supposed to appear at a hearing via video link from that penal colony, and the way that his anticorruption foundation spokes people or they had, they said originally, the people inside the jail said there was some sort of power issue, but the lawyers asked again, and the people in the penal colony said he was not even listed as being a prisoner inside that colony anymore. of course, this race all sorts of alarms among those lawyers, and they found around other prison colonies in that vicinity of that area. russia, obviously a huge country , and they simply could not find him anywhere, so as of this moment right now, navalny's anticorruption foundation says that he is missing. now, one of the things we do

have to point out is apparently, alexi mobileme, who has been under harsh conditions, already inside that russian prison, he was supposed to be transferred to a different prison, which has an even harsher regime it is not uncommon for prisoners to sort of go awol, go silent in the time they are being transferred to another jail, but right now, there simply is no information at all, and one of the things that these spokespeople for alexei navalny said, he has been having some health issues over the past couple of weeks, past couple of days. apparently, he fainted inside his jail cell last week and needed an iv. this, of course, also one of the things where he has faced those harsh conditions a lot of time in solitary confinement. he has lost a lot of weight, so definitely a difficult situation, and all the more concerns as his loved ones don't know where he is and also, those inside his organization say they have no idea where he is that he simply is missing inside the russian prison system. >> really surprising news there.

thanks so much for the update. pam? >> special counsel jack smith has asked the supreme court to decide whether former president trump has immunity from prosecution. this would be a first for the high court. cnn's paula reeves, this is incredibly significant. >> for the first time can special counsel jack smith is going to the supreme court and asking them to decide a key question being litigated here, which is whether former president trump is immune from for criminal prosecution. that is a very important constitutional question, but it is also something being litigated and because of the litigation, there are questions about whether this could delay the trial, possibly, even after the election could we are talking about a trial scheduled to begin march of this year, so here, the special counsel is saying supreme court? we need you to take this issue and decide it now, because they

argued that the public interest in making sure this trial goes ahead as scheduled. right now, trump has lost at the district court level on this question. he said he's going to appeal. it would usually go to the court of appeals , but instead, special counsel want supreme court to just take this and decide by the end of the term. now, they use as precedent a similar situation during the nixon watergate investigation, and they say during that case, the supreme court was able to take a question and do things in a very expedited manner. now, alternatively, they said look. supreme court, if you don't want to take up this question, if you don't want to decide this, could you at least tell the court of appeals to make their decision very quickly? so yes, there's a fascinating constitutional question about immunity here, but the true issue here is timing, and the special counsel is trying to ensure this trial goes ahead as scheduled, even if not as scheduled, at least goes off before the election next year. >> what do you think?

>> they can't do it, and the supreme court can grant this, as paula had said. they have the clock on their minds here, and look at everybody knew this was eventually going to make it to the supreme court one way or another. the normal course of action would be to go to the appeals court..com take months and months, and it ultimately make a decision, which ultimately is to appeal to the supreme court. this is an important constitutional question. it's never been resolved and it has nothing to do with donald trump. have to go to the supreme court and who knows what they're going to do? as paula said, they may kick it back down to appeals court and others to expedite it or simply just answer, first, this question of immunity. there is other claims that trump's team is raising, but the immunity one is immunity from prosecution. it's really the big one that has to be resolved soon. >> reality is these are majority conservative justices,

several appointed by trump. the reality is they could say, yeah, he has immunity. you can move forward with this. >> even before you get there, the very question where the supreme court takes this case on is itself an open question. the court has been, since 2019, far more frequently granting these emergency requests to go straight to them. that may be a function of the justices on the court or some things changed in their heads and we don't know because we're never in the room, but they have done it more frequently. they may do it now, and we'll have to see pretty quickly how they will resolve it. >> reading through the filing that just came in this afternoon, the special counsel is arguing nothing could be more vital to our democracy than that, a president who abuses the electoral system to remain in office is held accountable for criminal conduct. i know this is just coming out, but are you hearing anything from the trump camp? forget they have not responded yet, but i do that we should pay attention to what elliott said, looking at the timeline,

and that's really what it is for the trump people as well. when i talked to them about one this trial is going to happen, they do believe the march trial is going to happen before the election, that of course being the special counsel's investigation and his attention to over to the 2020 election, but they do still think there is some wiggle room because of the fact this was going to the appeals court, because of the fact they believe they can delete it. they are going to try to do every thing they possibly can to push this past the election because they think that donald trump can win the election, and he is not in trial every single day. that is very interesting in this, to me, the fact they have clearly had called them on their game and said, okay. you're waiting here. you pushed this to appeals court for now, we're going to get this over with, so that takes one element out. one thing trump's team is relying on, having this be a lengthy process. >> the trump team could have appealed to a three-judge panel of the court of appeals . if they did not get a decision

they liked there, they could then appeal it to the full court of appeals, and if they didn't like the decision there, they could've taken it to the supreme court. even under the best of circumstances for the trump team, could've taken months, and i think like you said, it is calling the bluff. supreme court does not have to agree to it, as we know, but this was a very aggressive step by the prosecutors to move this case along. >> it's huge because the trump legal strategy boils down to delay, delay, delay, and there was a hope is constitutional question, which has never been decided before, would take a little while to get through the appellate process, possibly go to the supreme court, and they hope it could at least delay the trial, which has a ripple effect on other criminal trials until after the election it's clear special counsel is like no, we're going to try this option. this is aggressive. this is the first time we got to supreme court. the question is whether the supreme court wants to do this, if they want to completely rejecgt their request or meet them halfway. they say time is of the essence here. there is a public interest. let's move it along .

>> so timeline wise, when can we expect to hear from supreme court? >> it supreme court. they kind of do what they do when they wanted it, so i would expect they too are mindful of the timeline here comes i would expect we will hear from this soon, but they don't have a deadline. >> and it's just a reminder, rights, of the collision between the legal cases and the fact that trump is running for president, and he has -- we're in the lead up to the iowa caucuses, and today, he was going to testify, then pulled out last minute. >> it looks like this case is wrapping up, but that doesn't mean his legal problems are wrapping up yet they are ramping up this is happening the same time his campaign is ramping up you look at the scheduled january with the both the iowa caucuses as well as new hampshire primary. he's going to be on the road a lot more, and yesterday he has to be in many states. he sees the field in new hampshire. they are not feeling as confident as they are in iowa, so he had to be traveling when they are trying to plan, it's

been difficult, according to the people around him, because they can't plan that far ahead, even if they think they know the date of the hearing in march that's going to be here in d.c. they don't think they are set in stone because of these various legal maneuverings that his lawyers are doing to try and get those dates delayed. >> i think a lot of folks don't realize these are two completely different government systems that exist independently of each other, and yes, we have the selections every four years, but it is not and as many judges regard it is not their responsibility to time their proceedings to accommodate other things in government like elections and so on, and they can't go on to get to trial on time sometime. >> we have seen that argument judges should not have to worry about the election, but that's exactly what trump want to do. he want to say they are taking a because they want to rule against me, and he is willing to use the politically. >> you had that graphic up, which is the month of january and how to busy it is for different campaign events, and adding potentially oral arguments in the supreme court in january on this central issue that would really decide

whether he goes to trial before or after the election? again, a massive development. >> it absolutely is. thank you for helping us better understand what this means. paula reid, kristen holmes, elliott williams. the future of harvard's president, still in question after her testimony on campus about anti-semitism, but now faculty members are coming to the defense. the biden administration is urging israel to quote to clarify the circumstances around photos like this, showing dozens of men detained, blindfolded, and stripped down to their underwear. more on what israel is saying. and alex jones, the conspiracy theories to call the sandy hook massacre a hoax, is back on xp x, elon musk's version of twitter. why did musk want him back, especially with advertisers already fleeing? more o on that, cocoming up.

following breaking news this afternoon. special counsel jack smith has just asked the supreme court to decide whether former president trump has immunity from prosecution. this is a major move that could have a serious impact on the former president's schedule ahead of the 2024 election, and there is new cnn polling that's giving us a clearer picture of where things stand in that race . take a look at in georgia, a hypothetical rematch shows donald trump leading joe biden 49 to 44%. obviously, this is if donald trump becomes the republican nominee it is notable, though, because by the narrowly won the peach estate in 2020. a similar story is playing out in michigan, where the former president is up by 10 points, and that flip is significant because biden beat trump . by a wider margin . let's break down the numbers with cnn's jeff zeleny. we will expand more on georgia

and michigan in a moment, but let's go to the polling in iowa because as i said, all that is contingent on trump becoming the nominee, the new numbers out of iowa don't dissuade anyone that he likely will become the nominee. >> they sure don't they show a commanding lead in a widening lead. the reason this matters is five weeks from tonight on the iowa caucuses, the first votes in the iowa campaign, and look. florida governor ron desantis had hoped he would be gaining some ground. nikki haley hoped she would be as well, but if you look at these numbers, which i think we have, a 32 point lead in iowa come of the former president has over desantis, over haley, slightly more than that. you can see the change .. 43% in october, up to 51% now , slightly over the majority. that is significant. the desantis, holding steady a slight amount, and haley at 16%. so, as this field is contracted, getting smaller, that has benefited donald

trump. >> he now has the majority of those polls in iowa . when it comes to attributes for two leading candidates right now, what are the numbers? what do they show? >> look, nikki haley and ron desantis, they are trying to gain ground and make their arguments in conservative areas, but if you look at the attributes specifically, you will see what numbers we have . on this. the florida governor or the attributes, i guess of biden and trump, we'll look at those. the temperament there, if you look at the former president, it is 58% to biden, 47%. of course, this is in georgia, not iowa, so let's go back to our iowa conversation one second because what's really interesting there is 49% of voters said they have made up their minds, but of trump supporters, 70% have made up their minds, so that show some very solid and sticky support for him, but look . there are five weeks. voters have not voted, but the burden is on the candidates to make the case to voters why it matters.

one central point that ties all these numbers together, electability could one of the arguments nikki haley and ron desantis have been trying to make it donald trump is not electable. these numbers in georgia and michigan are new polls show that may not be the case at all. >> is a matter of fact, i saw one poll that showed desantis actually had less odds of beating trump then biden did at one point, so let's talk about the breaking news . because we got some numbers regarding the impact the criminal charges might have on former president trump. how does a look going against this campaign. >> georgia is a battleground state. georgia and michigan are two of the five states biden turned blue, but look at these georgia numbers specifically. of course, that is the essential case in fulton county, georgia, the case where one of the prosecutions is going to be. in georgia and michigan, 47% in georgia and 46% in michigan say trump would be disqualified if

these charges over 20 elections are true. additional 14% say it cast doubts on his fitness for office. was, four in 10 americans that it is not relevant at all, so what these numbers are is simply a reminder that this is a very fluid race this is unlike any other presidential race we have covered or ever seen. he is under a criminal indictment. the supreme court is willing on another case. for all of these numbers, voters have not yet voted, but it's an indication of one thing. if it is a trump/biden why house, there are signs of alarm, and there are certainly awareness of that. >> appreciate it. quick programming. be sure to watch it again and host two republican presidential town halls. governor ron desantis, making his case not neglect them is darwin a jake tapper moderating can we have vivek ramaswamy at wednesday, 9:00 p.m., all right . on cnn. the job of harvard's first

black president is likely on the line today at the university a positive governing board meets a regularly scheduled session. numbers are expected to discuss the outcry along with clotting along with the heads of mit and pen testified on capitol hill about anti-semitism on campus and failed to explicitly say the genocide of violate their schools' codes of conduct . >> is calling for the genocide of jews violate the rules of bullying and harassment, yes or no? >> it can be depending on the context. >> penn's liz magill resigned over the weekend. more than 700 faculty members of harvard saying that she should not have the same fate. they said the signatures on the letter backing gaye, st. louis university must resist pressures,, quote, at odds with harvard's commitment to academic read him. cnn's matt egan joins us with the latest. tell us more about why these harvard professors and staff are supporting clotting?

>> she is clearly under fire. we have heard from ceos, donors, and politicians demanding that harvard cut ties with its president. but now, we hear from more than 700 harvard faculty members who are coming to her defense. now, will it be enough to save her job? it is too early to say, but this is a notable show of support at a time when claudine gay needs it the most, now what is interesting is some of the people who have signed to this position supporting gay, they've actually been quite critical of her for example, harvard legal scholar lawrence time he slammedclaudine gay on exxon social media right after the hearing. he said this testimony from the harvard president, he called it: deeply troubling, but now , he had this attitude to back the petition. he told me quote once external pressures, whether from ultra

wealthy donors or politicians pursuing their ideological agendas override the internal decision-making processes of universities, we are on the road to tyranny, and he added he fears history could repeat itself . . another harvard faculty member, he told me this is really all about external pressure this faculty member said claudine gay has no problem managing the campus . her problem is managing the donors. now, listen to what jacob miller, the president of the harvard hello told cnn about the situation. >> i don't know exactly what the right step forward is because claudine gay resigning would look like a capitulation to donors and politicians, which is not what harvard stands for, but at the same time, cnn pick containing her role in his compromised position is also not a great solution either.

>> so now, we wait to see what the governing board bodies of harvard decide to do. will they put out a statement of support for claudine gay? will they decide to part ways? we'll see. forgot we shall see. matt egan, thank you for bringing at the latest on that. cnn's team, on the ground seeing heavy smoke and flares in the air over northern gaza today. we have a live report from the scene up next. detroit police, they say it's taken a person of interest into custody connected with the probe into the murder of a detroit synagogue president. more on what police are saying, coming up.

more intense fighting today as israel defense forces draw deeper into gaza. a short time ago, cnn crews witnessed several large explosions in northern gaza. battles for control of the enclave has spiked since the truce ended a week. the humanitarian crisis is also worsening. families fleeing that fighting, they are finding basic necessities in short supply. making matters next, today, a critical pipeline for aid did not even open. tell us what you are seeing there right now, jeremy? >> reporter: pam, we have been witnessing very heavy explosions over the course of

the last several hours. perhaps the heaviest explosions we have heard from this position in weeks now, really shaking the frames of doors and windows where we are right now, and we watched as there have been large plumes of smoke billowing from places where the israeli military has been operating for weeks now, including the northeastern most town, as well as a refugee camp, which we know over the last several days has been the source of heavy fighting as the israeli military works to try to take down what they say is one of the last remaining hamas strongholds in northern gaza. of course, israeli military operations are also very much focused in southern gaza, where israeli troops and armored vehicles, tanks, have been moving into the second largest city in gaza of khan younis. the israeli military says it pursuing hamas there as well as its leader in gaza, who they believe is hiding under ground. >> jeremy, u.s. officials are renewing calls for israel to protect civilians, but the u.s. is not backing international calls for a cease-fire. has the u.s. laid out at all

what the potential consequences would be if israel does not do a better job of protecting those civilians in gaza? >> reporter: you know, at the beginning of this war, we were hearing there was private pressure from u.s. officials to israeli official to protect civilian life. in recent weeks, we have seen both private and public pressure, but nothing yet concretely tying the rhetoric to any kind of action the u.s. would take, but there is no question israeli officials are feeling the pressure. whether they have acted on it yet is an entirely different question. i can tell you from speaking to israeli official's comedy recognized the clock is taking a as far as u.s. support for the war in the way it's being conducted. that is why we have put more emphasis on evacuating civilians from certain areas in southern gaza, dropping more leaflets, directing them to head to cities like rafah, but the reality on the ground is something else entirely. the areas they are telling civilians to evacuate to, like, rafah, they are funny the civilians there are fighting

shelters that are overcrowded and under resourced. they are finding hospitals with little resources, and we are seeing the same images of women and children being killed in a lot of these strikes, civilian casualties continue to result from heavy israeli bombardment in southern gaza as well, and in addition to that, despite the fact that u.s. officials have indicated they believe in the coming weeks, israel will ramp down its operations and move to a less intense days of fighting in the new year, just yesterday, the israeli national security adviser said he believed the continuing offensive will be counted not just in a matter of weeks or months, but perhaps even longer than that, so very much from the israeli perspective, they are not looking at winding down these operations any time soon at least, that is the public posture we are hearing from them. instead, they are making clear they want to continue until they can reach their objective of destroying hamas and

removing it from power in gaza. >> jeremy diamond, thank you so much. car wreck conspiracy theories alex jones is back on x, formerly known as twitter. why elon musk says he is allowing jones back on the platform, coming up next.

welcome back to "cnn news central." . are some other headlines we are watching this our. police in michigan make an arrest in the death of a synagogue president. assessment was arrested last month but later released. police have not provided details on the second suspect authority said earlier evidence suggested the stabbing was not motivated by anti-semitism.

also, the older sister of reality star alana thompson, better known as honey boo-boo, passed away. anna cardwell battled cancer the last 10 months. thompson said on instagram, this was a post i wish i did not have to make it cardwell never made a formal announcement of her diagnosis but did speak about her cancer battle on social media. the supreme court refused to take up a washington state law barring licensed health care professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors. the scientifically discredited practice attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. the three conservative justices, clarence thomas, brett kavanaugh, said they would grab you. that claimed it violated his free speech. access, granted right-wing conspiracy theorist alex jones is back on x, the social media outlet only known as twitter.

remember, he was banned from the platform back in 2018 for breaking rules the prohibited harassment and hate . we should note some of his false and inflammatory conspiracies claimed that the sandy hook elementary school massacre was a hoax that former fbi director robert mueller was a demon, that the u.s. government played a role in a september 11 terror attacks, and that it also had other weapons that triggered catastrophes like major floods. the current owner of x, elon musk, restored jones' account after conducting an unscientific poll of users, but this is a stunning result from muscat he made a promise last year to keep jones off the site. this is what he wrote. quote, my firstborn child died in my arms. i felt his last heart to be. i have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics, or

fame. . to discuss the decision is lynette lopez, a columnist of business insider who covered elon musk extensively. thank you so much for sharing your afternoon with us. it is not just any conspiracy theorist being allowed on the platform. jones, as we noted, has a track record of especially heinous and cruel lies, so why do you think elon musk went back on his word? project elon musk is desperate to turn twitter into something. you know, we have seen advertisers walk away from the platform in droves over the last few weeks. a couple weeks ago, he told them to f you if they don't want to see hate speech next to their advertisements, and, you know? they are taking it seriously and leaving. i recently wrote a piece this weekend called elon musk's luck is running out on business insider about how much pressure there is on him to make debt payments to the wall street banks who financed his purchase of twitter to the tune of about $13 billion, so elon needs to

make something out of this website. it is causing him a lot of money, and that means it will eventually cost tesla and spacex money to go because they are all connected. >> it seems like, from muscat's actions, he's turning twitter into something -- or x into something more like 4chan, this sprint out of that post all kinds of outlandish content. is that a fair assessment of what he is doing? >> i think he is turning into a reflection of what he sees on his feet and what he thinks is acceptable, and i think over the last couple of months, over the last year, we have come to learn that elon thinks things are except the goals that are not acceptable to the majority of us, that most americans would consider antisocial behavior like, you know, pretending that the sandy hook parents are, quote, crisis actors, which is what alex jones claimed and over $1 billion because he lied about

all that stuff. so, we're starting to understand elon a little better. he said he had all these hopes for twitter, like he was going to turn it into an everything app where you could go shopping into all these things. none of that is going to happen to people are repulsed in leaving, so now, what he has to do is draw, you know, a certain kind of user to the platform and hope that will save it. it won't. this is going to be a disaster, and mostly and that's i think it will end up in bankruptcy. >> am wondering, linette, muscat held spaces, essentially like a conference call over x, with not only alex jones, presidential candidate witek ramaswamy, an accused sex trafficker andrew tate. is this the kind of scenario that's going to attract major advertisers to come back to twitter? it certainly doesn't seem like

it's helping. >> no. imagine that cocktail party. yikes. no. this is not -- this is not what advertisers want to see. this is not where anyone wants to be. it is getting super weird , and whenever things go wrong with elon's businesses, he asked really erratic. you know, in 2018, when tesla was almost bankrupt to his own admission, he told people who were skeptical about his ability to get the model 3 car outcome he told them to just go ahead and sell the stock, so when, went elon is hungry for cash, he tends to bite the hand that feeds him, so this isn't going to turn around, and there isn't anyone in elon's camp who can tell him to do anything else. linda should probably pack up her laptop and head home now. it is -- her job is over, so i

don't see this turning around. i wish that, you know, there were some responsible adult who could go in there and try to create a stable, healthy platform, but there is no one there. we're it is getting super weird. linette lopez, thank you so much for joining us . it could potentially get weirder. >> it will. >> thanks so much, linette. it's one of the biggest parties in hollywood, so why does no one want to host the golden globes? ahead, the show struggling to find a master of ceremonies, and it is less than a month away. we'll be right back.

first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.”

connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you.

the nomination for the 81st golden globe awards are out today. barbie scored nine nominations, that's the most for any film this year. oppenheimer is right on her heels with eight nominations. what we don't know right now is who will host the january 7 ceremony. several top stars have declined including chris rock, ellie one, will arnett, sean hayes and jason basement. elizabeth joins us from los angeles. >> let's start with the nomination. tell us what the reaction is, are there any movies that would

have been expected to be on the list that are not? >> you know, the reaction this morning is really full of excitement. this is a year where everybody is going to know a lot of the films and it certainly does stars. when you look at the list of nominations, this is truly, truly a-list, everyone from selena gomez to jennifer aniston to leonardo dicaprio. and what is really exciting is this year there is a new category for cinematic and box office achievement. what that means is a film to be nominated in this category had to have earned $150 million worldwide. what that means is that people have seen it, will know it, they will be excited to watch, and to see the stars. you know that barbie, we should note that barbie comes from warner bros. and discovery. as you said, leading the nominations today, also oppenheimer in that category.

mission impossible, super mario brothers, and even taylor swift's errors to were made it into that category. you know that any time taylor swift may show up at an award show that is a good thing. people are going to be talking. >> they are talking and watching, maybe. so, some reporting on chris rock and others declining to host. why do they keep declining? any word on who could host the show? >> so, no word on who could host the show quite yet. but i have heard from a source close to the golden globes that they are in active serious conversations with three potential host. in a perfect world he would expect there would be a host attached less than a month away. but the show will go on. what i am hearing in my reporting is that people like chris rock and allie wong have turned down the slot to host not because they are against the globes, they are very

excited about the globe. both chris rock and allie wong are nominated this year. the reason why they don't want to host is because it is a lot of work for little payoff. this is not a globe-specific issue. you also run into this with the oscars and the emmys. there's a reason why jimmy kimmel is about to host for his fourth year in a row. of course he is phenomenal, but also not a lot of people want to do it, and not a lot of people are great at it. you get a lot of instant feedback and often times the feedback is negative especially in the world that we live in today. that is why we see the stars turning down the offer. but they will find one and with all of the star power among the nominees even if they don't have a huge house, there definitely is still a reason to tune in. >> all right, thank you so much. the mystery in russia is one of vladimir putin's most prominent critics goes missing,

supporters say they are not sure where he is, and they are concerned. the latest on this, i had on cnn .

we continue to follow the breaking news, special counsel jack smith has asked the supreme court to decide whether donald trump has any immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes emitted while in office, this is the first time that the high court could weigh in on the historic prosecution of the former president. plus, the air force has disciplined more than one dozen people in connection to intelligence leaks from the air national guard, some new details of that investigation, and the national security implications. >> and two key battleground spay -- the numbers show people may have an achilles' heel, we are following these stories and all more at cnn news central. top of the hour,