all coming from china, taiwan intelligence says. beijing calls the ruling party candidate dangerous, deepening divisions ahead of a crucial vote to define this democracy's future. and tonight you're looking live at one of nearly 2,000 polling stations across taipei. the polls are opening up in just seconds, wolf. less than a minute from now people across taiwan who have to return to their hometowns and vote in-person to participate in this election, the turnout of this one a lot of people, wolf, even flying from overseas understanding what's at stake at this time, this moment. >> the stakes clearly are enormous. thanks very much will rippley reporting from taipei. to our viewers thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. i'll be back monday morning for cnn's special live coverage of the iowa caucuses. our coverage begins at 9:00 a.m. eastern. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett out front starts

right now. out front next the breaking news, a u.s. flag in flames as massive protests break out in iran following u.s.-led air strikes in yemen. and tonight biden threatened more strikes to come. plus a cnn investigation tonight. gaza hospitals on the edge of collapse. a top target for israel, which says hamas is using some as command centers. so tonight we have an in-depth look what is actually happening inside those hospitals. it is a special report you will see first here out front. and just in tonight, ron desantis going straight to south carolina after iowa even though new hampshire comes first. he'll be in both on the same day. is it a smart move? john king is here with me at the magic wall. let's go out front. and good evening. i'm erin burnett on this friday. out front tonight the breaking news, protesters burning the american flag on the streets of

iran. you can hear them chanting, saying an attack on yemen equals war. these images coming out of tehran tonight coming as president biden says the message from those military strikes in yemen was intended for one audience. the audience in iran. >> i've already delivered the messages. >> but around the same time that biden said that reporters he delivered the message and iran knows not to do anything, news broke that the houthis who, of course, the militia backed by iran, were retaliating against the u.s. for the strikes last night. firing a ballistic missile towards a ship in the red sea, a move of defiance and one that could drag the united states into a wider war, which is something the white house says u.s. strikes are designed to actually prevent. >> we know people are anxious there about escalation. we are, too. and again, everything we're

doing and everything we're trying to do is to prevent any further escalation. >> the urgent question tonight, of course, is this. can an escalating war be contained? in yemen the outrage is palpable. the images there are stunning. look at these aerial views. thousands -- thousands -- it's impossible to even count the number of people. you saw that large view of the streets in the capital of yemen in sanah. oren leiberman is out front at the pentagon. you see what's happening in yemen. you see what's happening in tehran. is this latest missile we saw today from the houthi militia the full response that we expect, or is more anticipated? >> very much more is anticipated. that one houthi anti-ship ballistic missile that was fired from yemen, the u.s. was monitoring that, but it didn't hit close to any vessels and certainly not close to any u.s. vessels. so perhaps it was some way for the houthis to show they still

have capabilities. but the u.s. and the pentagon are expecting a much further perhaps even larger response from the houthis here, one that more directly targets potentially u.s. assets in the region as we wait to see how this unfolds. in the dead of night on the red sea, the attack took shape. u.s. navy fa. 18 fighter jets launching off the deck of the uss eisenhower part of a coordinated strike toward houthi targets in yemen. the u.s. not acting alone here. typhoons from the u.k.'s royal air force took off frim cypress to join in the attack with the support of australia, bahrain, canada, and the netherlands. >> this is an international problem that required an international response. >> reporter: early friday morning in yemen the attack hit home. the explosions and thick smoke visible in the dark skies in north west yemen and the capital under the control of the iranian backed rebel group. the u.s. and it u.k. targeted

nearly 30 sites including facilities for ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones as well as radar sites and command and control nodes. the goal disrupt the ability of the houthis to target international shipping in the red sea, something they've done at least 28 times since mid-november. >> we will make sure we respond to houthis as they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies. >> reporter: the attacks have forced some of the world's largest shipping companies to avoid the red sea, disrupting global change by adding thousands of miles to international stealing routes. >> all the targets we chose were targets meant to go after their exact capabilities. >> reporter: the u.s.-led strikes targeted locations across houthi controlled yemen including the port city with more than 150 precision guided missiles. it sits next to a critical waterway of international shipping. in yemen crowds of protesters gathered in the capital chanting slogans against the u.s. and

israel. the houthis say five people were killed and six injured in the u.s.-led strikes. they have vowed to respond calling u.s. and u.k. assets legitimate targets. >> translator: the american and british enemies bear full responsibility for its criminal aggression against our yemeni people, and it will not go unanswered. >> reporter: the u.s. strikes come with defense secretary lloyd austin still at walter reid medical center where he'd been since new year's day recovering from complications to treat prostate cancer. a defense official said austin spoke with president joe biden twice and gave the final authorization for the strikes on the day they were launched, monitoring them in realtime from the hospital. and defense secretary lloyd austin remains at the hospital tonight. there is no word from the pentagon or no outlook on when he could be released. it's worth noting that today he spoke with the chair and ranking member of the house armed services committee and the ranking member of the armed services committee, so, erin, he

remains in touch. it is an incredibly sensitive, critical situation as he stays at the hospital. >> oren, thank you very much. oren leiberman at the pentagon tonight. and now jaemz clapper, also a retired lieutenant general in the air force. and director clapper, the u.s. is threatening more strikes. obviously they've already used as reporting more than 150 munitions and struck more than 30 targets. look, you've been there to make these sorts of major decisions. what's going on behind the scenes right now? >> well, i think right now they're assessing the administration and national security council specifically is assessing the impacts of this first round of strikes. and, you know, the objective here, obviously, is to restore deterrence. that is to change the behavior of the houthis so they stop their attacks on shipping in the

red sea. now, i doubt this one round is going to do that, and they're probably going to have to do some more of this, you know. and i don't know what the threshold of pain is for the houthis to stop. but this is -- endears the houthis to yemeni's witness the demonstrations in the street. there's implications for them they're also paying attention to. >> of course you see the demonstrations there, the demonstrations in tehran. director, i'm curious as president biden have removed the houthis from the united states list of terror groups. and tonight in those comments he said he's considering whether to put them back on. it's easy to call out the decision to remove them, of course, but the question for you, director, is does being on that list for the houthis have any real consequences? >> well, you know, that's a good question. i think the reason they were

taken off the list was to provide an inducement or motivation for them to agree to some sort of cease-fire given the fact that this is a terrible humanitarian disaster in yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world. so putting them on the terrorist list or taking them off, frankly, i'm not sure, you know, what extent that has intrinsic value. we went ahead and attacked them when they're off the list, so i think to tidy up things administratively it would be better if they were on the list as a terrorist group because they are. >> the houthis say american interests are legitimate targets. they're being very clear about that. obviously, they can't strike the u.s. from yemen where they're based, but they and others, director, can take advantage of the chaos at the southern border. there were 225,000 illegal border crossings in the month of

december alone on that u.s. southern border. it's a stunning number. every time i say it i almost have to go check it because it does sort of stop you in your track. how worried are you about this when you look at that border? >> i've gotten very concerned about it. nature -- the composition of the border crossers has changed a good bit since my day. and now it's much more international. there are chinese, russians, and others, so we traditionally thought about it as, you know, people coming from south and central america. well, it's much broader than that. this is a serious national security concern. having said that, though, we -- it doesn't mean that should be or could be -- or should be our exclusive focus. we ought to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time to attend to our southern border

and continue our position of leadership internationally. >> i appreciate your time. thank you very much. important when we think about these issues. i want to go now to democratic congressman ro khanna of california who's also a member of the armed services committee. i want to ask you several points here. but the white house says there's no interest in being drawn into a conflict in the middle east and this is all meant to prevent escalation. just to be clear, again, 150 munitions, more than 30 targets. you just heard the former director -- director clapper saying this is clearly just the beginning, that there's going to be more, that there would need to be more. what do you say to the white house saying this is about stopping escalation? >> well, erin, first of all, the white house made a big mistake by spending a month talking to the australians, the british, the canadians. the only people they didn't talk were members of congress, which is required by article 1 in the constitution. in the war powers resolution, the president can take action

for imminent self-defense. if one of our ships or even if a navy vessel was being attacked, but he can't take retaliatory actions for future direction without coming to congress. and i other thing i would say is have they talked to our gulf allies. i just talked today the saudi ambassador this morning. she'll tell you the saudi bombing campaign of the houthis was not successful and that the biggest thing we need to do to de-escalate and opening the shipping lines in the red sea is to have an end to the conflict in gaza, and that's what you would hearm uae as well. so i'm not sure they're consulting with the gulf allies. and today we see shipping is more restricted in the red sea. the price of oil is going up. so i don't see what we're achieving. >> they did have one middle eastern country bahrain, home of the fifth fleet. when you say they should have instead of spending that time over the past month talking to

all these other countries, they should have talked to congress. the president was asked about this. he was asked to respond to criticism like that from you and other democrats to the fact they did not seek this congressional approval. and here's what president biden said. >> i setup this morning when the strikes occurred exactly what happened. >> okay, that's pretty blunt. he says you're wrong. >> with all due respect, the president is wrong. and the president is no longer doing what he campaigned on in 2020. he criticized donald trump for not coming to congress to seek authorization on strikes against iran. and anyone who has looked it's not just democrats, it's bipartisans like senator mike lee has looked at the war powers resolution. they are saying, okay, he notified congress, he has an obligation to notify congress within 48 hours if it's in imminent self-defense. but we have known about the houthi disruptions since early december. security council has passed

resolutions about it. so, look, i'm a supporter of the president. i'm a supporter of his re-election, but he's just wrong about this issue. >> i want to ask you one question, congressman, if i may before you go. i know you said you talked to the saudi ambassador in the morning, but you were also in a classified briefing today, and the topping of this was ufos. and the reason i mention it obviously it was classified and you spent your day there. focus on a whistle-blower's claims the u.s. government operates a u.s. crash retrieval program and has the remains of a ufo and the remains of a nonhuman pilot in its possession. okay, this was a congressional hearing today. were you satisfied by what you heard there? >> of course i can't discuss anything classified, but i will say this. i and i think many of my colleagues left with more questions. and we thneed further answers. i think the person briefing us was good, but there are still unanswered issues and i think we need further briefings.

>> congressman, i appreciate your time. thank you very much for being with me. >> thank you. and next the dire warning from one of it last working hospitals in gaza. as we have a special investigation into whether israel's targeting of hospitals in the gaza strip is justified. plus live pictures out of iowa tonight. a blitzered is forcing candidates to cancel their final events before the state's caucuses. in fact, we're learning trump has just canceled three out of his four rallies. which candidate does this hurt or help the most. and the judge in the fulton county case tonight addressing for the first time allegations that the d.a. is having an improper relationship with the lead prosecutor.

new tonight, cut off. a near total internet blackout being reported in the godsa strip. this is according to net blocks, which is a major monitoring website. it includes land line, cellular and wi-fi. the palestinian's health ministry which collects data from hamas now claims it's killed 22,000 people since the start of the war in gaza. according to the ap as of early december even israel admitted the death toll at that time in the first few days of december in the gaza strip was at least 15,000. this as one of the last working hospitals in gaza warning it's

on the verge of running out of fuel and not functioning. out front with this cnn investigation on israel's targeting of gaza hospitals. >> reporter: the first two months of war decimated gaza's health care system. as israel launched an air then land offensive on the north of the strip. out of 22 hospitals in northern gaza, cnn has identified 20 that haved or destroyed between october 7th and december 7th. imagery analyzed by cnn shows over half have been directly attacked. several including the two largest in gaza, al-shifa, and another directly attacked. at the hospital cnn previously found evidence a misfired rocket from gaza was likely responsible for a deadly blast. but this appears to be the exception. >> it's calleded the qatari

hospital. >> reporter: israel and u.s. intelligence say hamas used many of these hospitals as command and control centers, a claim hamas denies. while protected under international humanitarian law, a hospital's protection during war is not absolute. >> there are instances where those protections can be lost, and that is for such time as they are being used for military activities to sort of further the activities of an enemy. that does not give carte blanche to militaries to launch an attack however they want. >> this is gaza's second largest hospital. we modelled out how weeks of israeli attacks surround it, cause severe damage and civilian harm. behind the hospital on october 29th an explosion has just hit. the director of the hospital spoke to cnn that day saying

there was bombing all around us. on november 7th idf published a video of them conducting a strike just 100 meters from the hospital entrance. here they claim they were targeting a hamas weapons depot. the strike appears to have taken place on november 5th. this video from the ground shows people being stretchered away from the scene and into the hospital. but inside already looked like this after days of strikes nearby. the idf say they repeatedly told people to evacuate. medical staff inside at the time said this is just not possible. the idf legal advisor told cnn they did not attack the hospital except in mid-november when apparently returning fire from hamas militants, releasing this footage as evidence. 21 people were killed.

the idf said they were terrorists but acknowledged civilians were still inside. over alalschiffa hosshiffa hospl they were sheltering. an idf advisor told cnn they did not attack al-shifa but a weapons expert told cnn this is a remnant of a shell. a couple hours later the part of an israeli tank missile is found. within a week israeli forces enter the hospital. al-shifa was one of the hospitals the idf and the u.s. say hamas were operating in. but when troops arrived, they appeared to have found very little evidence of this, publishing these videos of a network of tunnels.

what the idf videos don't show is what they would have found just meters away. multiple graves dug by civilians who were forced to bury their loved ones within the hospital grounds amid the continued siege. the cameraman asks who is in the grave. my mom, she replies. a conversation i had with a legal advisor of the idf they said to me at the end of the day as long as hamas continues to use these hospitals and facilities for their military operations, there's absolutely no choice but to go there. >> there is absolutely a choice. and to frame it not as a choice is to just frame that death and destruction as just an i inevitability. >> those first two months of war now the most destructive than any conflict in history. the question remains as to whether any military objective

can justify this. >> really incredible reporting there. katie, i know you've reached out to the idf about your investigation and all of your reporting there. you asked them to respond. what did they say to you? >> well, erin, we sent them a full list of all the hospitals we identified as damaged or destroyed. and they said in response the following. quote, they did not conduct any targeted attacks against hospitals in the gaza strip. they also said, quote, any strike which is expected to incidentally damage hospitals is approved by the highest echelon of command. this damage is part of the calculation. it's known in advance and the question is whether it's justifiable. >> of course the crucial question. and also as they talk about the precision which they target all the damage that you're reporting and showing obviously flies in the face of that statement. katie, thank you very much for

that incredible reporting. and next, live pictures out of iowa. the state slammed with a blizzard tonight. the 2024 candidates forced to cancel events with just days before the caucuses. could all this lead to some sort of a very unexpected outcome? john is here. he'll be on the other side of this break with me next. and we've got new video tonight. this is from a remeet penal colony where alexei navalny is being held. asas we learn n more a about th incrcredible lenengths prisoner ththere are gogoing througugh t alive. yoyou'll see the i images. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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yup, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network. give your business a head start in 2024 with this great offer. plus, ask how to get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. and this just in. ron desantis now taking his battle with nikki haley directly to her home state, planning to travel to south carolina immediately after the iowa caucuses. not straight to new mexico where the next primary contest is actually taking place although he'll be there later in the day. her stop south carolina. so let's go straight to john king on this latest development. so, john, he goes straight to south carolina, you know, surprising everybody. what does this actually mean? >> what it actually means is he's trying to send a signal to

his voters in iowa first and then in states that follow and send a signal to his donors and a signal to his staff forget the chatter, ignore all the chatter out there that he will drop out if he doesn't do quell in iowa. now, define well in iowa, we'll get to that on monday. but there's been a lot of buzz. iowa should be a state for him, evangelical support, conservative. he has the governor's support. if he comes in a third especially a distant third a lot of people think he'll get out of the race, he's trying to stop that. nikki haley goes what my fight is going to come straight to you. south carolina is a better state for him if you're looking at the numbers. most of all, erin, remember this he's trying to send a signal i'm in it. chris christie the night before he dropped out said it was l ludicrous to think he was going to get out of the race and he got out the next day. >> meantime in iowa things are very much up in the air. let me show everybody what's happening in iowa right. that is pretty incredible.

heavy winds, snow, teenagersly low temperatures. in fact, wind chills are as low as minus 45 across the state. thank god i was there last week. it was a-bomby 30. haley, desantis, vivek, ramaswamy all hitting campaign stops. and now trump canceling three out of four of his events in iowa this weekend. and the forecast for caucus day is a high of negative 3. okay, that's not good news when it comes to getting people to vote and have their say, right, john, because you want people to get out. but that could automatically affect turnout. how does it all work on monday? >> let's go through the process first. let's look right here. by the math iowa's not a big deal. yes, it's first but in terms of winning the nomination it's about delegates. iowa only has 40 of the republican conventional delegates, that's 1.6% orof the total. you're saying what's the big

deal, it doesn't matter. it's the first contest so it's about the moment. there are some exceptions but mostly you have to vote in person. that's why the weather matters. you have to show up. when you do show up you get in a room, the campaigns all get to appoint a rep toofb to give a speech. vote for trump, vote for haley, vote for ramaswamy. you give a short speech normally, sometimes it goes on a bit. >> more like a weldsing. >> there's pressure your neighbors are look at you, your friends are looking at. but then it's a secret ballot. the republican vote at the caucus is a secret ballot. you might feel a little intimidated by the speeches but then you vote by secret ballot. that's the unique process. the question is does it matter especially on the republican side, erin. forgive me for turning my back but 99 counties. 52 years now iowa's been the first. a lot of criticism it's too rural, it doesn't represent the whole country. the track especially for iowa on

the republican side is not that great. if you look at the last three contested caucuses. big comeback but santorum in 2012, iowa's track record of picking nominees was not so good. the last time it happened was george w. bush in 2000. he'll bristle but he wants a higher number than 40% that george w. bush got. trump's going into this essentially i'm the incumbent republican president. that's his mind-set. >> when you look at that 41%, right, obviously the way trump's polling right now could indicate it's conceivable he outperformed, and that's very unclear. where does the race stand? >> let's take a look at that. we'll get the final clue tomorrow night when the brand new iowa poll comes out. these are the three iowa polls over the last five months. trump started at 42. as of last month he was at 51. if he comes in above 50% it's going to be hard to say he's weak. if he comes in above 50%, wins iowa big like that, then it'll

be up to the new hampshire stop. desantis 19 five months ago, 19 last month. a little dip in the middle but he's essentially going to flat line. haley has been an interesting story, 6% five months ago. she's now somewhere close to desantis. so that's the big question. has she ticked up a lat? are they really that far behind trump? and remember on caucus night i mention santorum in 2012 and way back in my first campaign pat robertson in 2008 came out of nowhere to come in second. >> okay, tenth presidential election for john king. i'm not going to ask anyone to do the basic math here but i'll tell you what that adds up to. it adds up to wisdom, so tell me what you are looking for. >> sometimes that experience helps. sometimes in a new republican party completely changed by donald trump, sometimes that experience is not so valuable. so what are you looking for? number one it is 99 counties. so let's go through what we know about this. let's start right here. if you look at the rural

counties, the lighter gray, those are the rural counties. think about the last couple of presidential elections, that is trump country. right, so can donald trump in these rural bands at that top and bottom of the state, run it up? that is his strength right there. if you come on here there are a lot of evangelicals who live in these rural counties. the darkering the shading the more evangelicals live in those counties. in 2015 trump and desantis split that vote. who else lives here, though, look at the shading here. the darker the shading the higher percentage of people in that county who do not have a college degree. high school educated that is trump's base. see the whiter pinkish purple there even that is 60% do not have a college degree. that tends to be his base. let's watch. >> all right, so you're talking about desantis and trump. what about haley? >> let me blank this out and

come back to this. if you're haley you're looking at this. these people don't traditionally vote in these caucuses. see the lighter gray around des moines, this is where the population growth happens. population growth in the suburbs, and erin, we know the suburbs are donald trump's kryptonite. the question is there are more moderate republicans, a lot of them are new to iowa, the question is how will they vote. >> all right so the extreme weather. what does this mean? because it is extreme. we're talking about a high of negative 3, a state where a lot of voters tend to be older. >> look, this is where we are right now, and i think we can show you what the forecast is for monday night. this is a giant test of organization. do you have the phone numbers? are you texting people over the weekend, especially seniors? if you live in the rural areas you might have a 20 or 30 minute drive to your caucus site. can you convince older voters to

come, it's a giant test of resilience, a test of loyalty and a test of organization over the weekend. can the campaigns convince these people, please, we need you to vote. >> it is incredible. it's dangerous. it can be life threatening, and it's sort of this two or three-day window. outside of it as i said positively balmy, relatively. tonight trump's lawyers zeroing in on allegations the fulton county d.a. is having an affair with the lead prosecutor in the case. plus new video tonight from inside the brutal russian prison for alexei navalny says he's now being forced to use newspapers in order to stay warm. we have this footage first for you. it's a prison known as polar wharf.

not just any whiteboard... ...katie porter's whiteboard is one way she's: [news anchor] ...often seen grilling top executives of banks, big pharma, even top administration officials. katie porter. never taken corporate pac money - never will. leading the fight to ban congressional stock trading. and the only democrat who opposed wasteful “earmarks” that fund politicians' pet projects. katie porter. focused on your challenges - from lowering housing costs to fighting climate change. shake up the senate - with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. this election is a choice between results

or just rhetoric. californians deserve a senator who is going to deliver for them every day and not just talk a good game. adam schiff. he held a dangerous president accountable. he also helped lower drug cost, bring good jobs back home, and build affordable housing. now he's running for the senat. our economy, our democracy, our planet. this is why we fight. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. tonight the judge in donald trump's georgia election case scheduling a hearing on allegations the district attorney fani willis is romantically involved with the lead prosecutor in the case, a man named nathan wade. at issue is whether the money she paid wade for working on the case was then used to fund their lavish vacations together. one of trump's lawyers raised

the issue earlier today making it the first time these allegations were brought up in a courtroom. neither willis or wade have responded to the allegations so far, but of course trump has long tried to discredit willis and this raises major questions about this. >> the allegations are unsubstantiated in large part like the core of the allegation. in fact, "the washington post" right now has a headline blazing which says georgia prosecutors remain silent days after explosive allegations. so i think it's a problem. and if the allegations do bear out, then it's an even more serious problem. >> all right, so this is not the first time willis' at best judgment has been called into question. she attended a fund-raiser during her investigation into trump's election interference. and the fund-raiser was for a democrat running against one of the targ

investigations, right? so that had already happened. and now you have this. does her record if this does bear out, right, and as you point out they've been silent so there's a real question mark tonight does this disqualify her from prosecuting the case? >> so i don't think it necessary imlicates the case itself. that would be a high burden to show there's a conflict of a certain sort and that you'd have to be taken off the case or something like that. a second question might be still independently just forget about case should there be disciplinary measures taken, what about misconduct just in terms if the allegations are true. and she acted this way as the district attorney. and then that still has blow back implications for the case indirectly. >> there's the public perception, which is what all this ultimately even though i s say it's a court of law is all about. they have a specific concern,

it's several but one of them is meetings nathan wade had with the biden white house counsel's office. they're raising the question why would he have been meeting with the biden white house council office the inference being if there's not political interference in this case? is there a legitimate concern? >> it would be a legitimate concern if there's political machinations going on and it's political people they're meeting at the white house. all we have is a line that says the prosecutor wade is meeting with the white house counsel lawyers. >> you think it would be -- it would make sense in his role, if none of the allegations were true and he was just the lead prosecutor these meetings would make sense? >> absolutely. can i speak to the former white house chief of staff, can i speak to the former white house counsel for trump? and then what's your legal position going to be if we were to reach out to them. he has to ask those questions. on its face i don't think there's a smoking gun or something or where there's smoke

there might be fire. where it stands it's obvious that would have to take place in a certain sense. >> right, now of course you have the certain questions and that is the whole issue is the perception. all right, ryan, thank you very much. ryan goodman. and next incredible new video from inside the brutal colony where alex nee navalny is being held. this prison is so remote it just gets 2 hour of light per day at this time of year. this is the story and imnls you'll see first out front tonight. and breaking news polls are just opening for an election the entire world is watching. it is a crucial one that could ultimately determine if the united states gets dragged into a major war.

tonight, you're looking at new footage from inside the brutal penal colony where vladimir putin is keeping his number one enemy, alexei navalny. it's incredibly remote in carp which is about 1,200 miles away from moscow. and you see where it is above the arctic circle. two hours of light a day this

time of year. it comes after we got our first look at navalny since his secret transfer to that prison in a court appearance via video link. you see him there in a black prison uniform standing behind bars. for the first time sharing stunning details at what life is like at a prison known as polar wolf. matthew chance is out front. >> reporter: he seems gaupt but in good spirits. alex a.i. navalny even cracking jokes and a smile with his first public appearances by the russian opposition leader since arriving at this arctic penal colony where temperatures have plunged. >> translator: the reality of prison is that it is a very cold place. do you know why they take newspapers there? to cover up because i'm reporting to the court here, it's much warmer to sleep with a newspaper, for example, than without it. and you just need this newspaper to stay warm.

>> reporter: it's as if the kremlin's doing everything to make navalny's sentence last year extended to more than 30 years as miserable as possible. conditions at the remote polar wolf colony where he was secretly transferred last month, his family losing contact with him for over two weeks. a notoriously tough with dark, freezing winters. in 2021 state controlled russian television was granted access to the colony where long-term inmates including some of russia's most notorious criminals work in spartan conditions. navalny's supporters concerned for huis welfare say it's far harder now to monitor his condition. >> it is in the north so it's very cold there. and even today the light there is for two hours per day, so i mean the conditions like the environment conditions there are

much worse than they were before in the region that is close to moscow. so from this point of view they definitely want to try to isolate alexei and to make it more difficult to access him there. >> reporter: but his previous treatment, navalny says, was harsh too. the opposition figure his head shaven telling the judge his 10-minute meal breaks were simply too short in which to eat. >> translator: i get two mugs of boiling water and two pieces of disgusting bread, and i wanted to drink this boiling water normally and eat this bread normally, but in ten minutes i most choke on those boiling water, and this is done solely to prevent a person from eating normally. >> reporter: but inevitably navalny's complaints against the russian prison authorities were dismissed by the court. one of the kremlin's fiercest critics, this seems little but

hardship ahead. erin, it is a relentless situation that navalny is in. one small relief i suppose are for the russian opposition figure, though, is that when the judge in this court was considering his complaints outside of the court, navalny was briefly allowed to speak to his own mother by videoconference call. but that is a increasingly rare opportunity for alexei navalny to grab a few words with the family and the loved ones he's been forced to leave behind. back to you. >> all right, matthew, thank you very much. just absolutely amazing in how they want -- they want everyone to see some of this. next, the breaking news. a military on alert as polls open in an election that could possibly lead to a war here in america. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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house is warning it would be, quote, unacceptable for china to interfere in taiwan's elections. the polls there have just opened in an election that could determine if china and taiwan go to war. it comes as china says its army is now on high alert. the military warning it will, quote, smash any taiwan independence thoughts. this election is crucial and will rippley is out front live tonight from a polling location in taipei. and will, the stakes for the world could not be higher in the election where you are right now. >> reporter: that's right, erin. china has made no secret they they openly loathe the party, the dpp, the ruling party that has currently had a slight lead in the latest polls available. although the polls closed more than a week ago. in fact, the only information voters have outside this polling center is newspapers here. it's very old school in taiwan. no absentee voting. you have to go to your hometown and show up in person. consistently wave seen people

here at this nearly 2,000 polling sites across taipei. this is a neighborhood with older military veterans that tends to prefer the opposition view that a better relationship with china would help avoid war, a view that is shared by some voters who we spoke with in the rallies leading up to this vote. take a look. >> translator: if the democratic progressive party doesn't change their direction, i think that war could happen in our generation. >> reporter: but the ruling party says the only way to prevent war is not to try to recalculate the relationship with the u.s. but actually double down on that relationship. the u.s. has sold billions of dollars in weapons to taiwan over the last eight years of the ruling party's presidency under tsai ing-wen. the candidate says he's going to continue that policy with the u.s. but the opposition warns that could be a dangerous path leading taiwan and the u.s. and china right into a cross strait