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. welcome to all of you watching us in the united states, canada and around the world. blizzard conditions hit the state of iowa a day haeftd first in the nation caucuses. a new poll has former president trump poised for an historic win, it is the fight for second where we're seeing movement. and as israel marks 100 days since the hamas attacks, demonstrators demand the release of those still held hostage. and protestors in washington call for an end to the military operation. live from atlanta, this is "cnn newsroom" with kim un tomorrow iowa hosts the first nominating contest of the presidential election, the state's republican caucuses.

this weekend iowa has been coping with the winter storm that brought snow and blizzard conditions and forced candidates to cancel events during the crucial final days of the campaign. arctic temperatures will still be in place monday and many are concerned it will affect turnout, so candidates are working to drive upennews yam despite difficult conditions. >> we have a lot of tremendous support. >> if you will take the time to not just go to the polls, take people with you, where layers because you might be standing in line, take your i.d., but think of the fact you might be making history. >> they can throw a blizzard at us and we're going to filght. they are throw a windchill at us

and we're going to fight. they can throw media narratives at us and we're going to fight. meanwhile a new poll is showing us a snapshot of the mood of iowa republicans. "des moines register"/nbc news poll found donald trump commands the support of a whopping 48% of likely caucusgoers. nikki haley is second with 20% and ron desantis third at 16%. national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny is there in iowa and he filed this report just after the poll results were released yesterday. >> reporter: with two days to go before the iowa caucuses open the republican presidential nominating contest, donald trump still remains the far and away frontrunner in iowa. according to a new "des moines register" nbc news poll, this has a storied history of capturing the final movements in this race shows that donald trump is at 48% in the poll.

the race for second place is a fascinating one with nikki haley edging out ron desantis just narrowly. nikki haley has 20%, desantis at 16%. the rest of the field is far below. vivek ramaswamy 8%, the rest goes down from there. but it is the top of the field showing that donald trump still has an overwhelming commanding lead of this race. his supporters are the most committed. the reason some of this matters of course as weather has really been a central concern here, blizzard warnings and dangerously cold weather, those committed supporters may be the answer to who shows up on the caucuses here on monday night in iowa. but haley clearly is riding a wave of momentum. but the poll shows that her voters are not as committed as others. it does show that 68% of people have made up their minds, a quarter of iowa voters have not. so there is still room for a movement in this race.

but bottom line, this is still donald trump's race to lose. and also the poll raises expectations of it. he is 28 points ahead of his leading rival, so the margin of victory certainly will be judged against that number. jeff zeleny, cnn, des moines. natasha lindstaedt is joining us from england. we knew donald trump had a huge lead going into this, but are you surprised it is as big as it is given he hasn't debated and put in the work on the ground like his opponents? >> no, i'm not surprised. he has only been to some 25 events compared to desantis who put everything into iowa, visited 99 counties, put a lot of money into his campaign. but trump supporters are really passionate about him. they are willing to wait hours and hours in the cold just to

see him speak. and as the report mentioned, he has this huge lead going in and that is likely to hold. in fact if he doesn't get a 25, 30 point lead or result in the iowa caucus, that would be a sign that there was something a little bit off with the campaign. but i would like to point out that i think terrorism's campaign in iowa has been much more well organized and more effective than let's say it was back in 2016 when he lost to ted cruz. so though he might not be physically appearing in iowa that much, the organization itself has been making a lot of calls, sending out a lot of emails and appears to be really effective in rallying his supporters. so this is a contest for second place, it is to see how well nikki haley does. can she build on some of the momentum that she has. she kind of edged out desantis towards the end. and then that may bring her more support in new hampshire.

but i would expect trump to win by 25 points at least. >> if haley does come in second, do you think that is the end for ron desantis? >> that really should be the end for desantis. he had some support from some key evangelicals and from governor rimkim reynolds. as i mentioned, he put everything into this campaign. he thought if he visited every county that would work. i think he is struggling because he really is just like another version of terrorism whereas nikki haley has distinguished herself much better. and said i'm more moderate, pragmatist, i'm a problem solver, this is how i feel about supporting ukraine and israel. and desantis hasn't been able to really distinguish himself from trump other than he is just not trump and trying to make the argument that he has too many legal issues at the moment and that that will disrupt his campaign and so forth. so he probably would need to

drop out if he doesn't do well. >> so if he is a lesser version of trump, that leads to the question, if he does drop out, where do his voters go, would it actually help haley or will trump just absorb desantis' voters as well? >> i think it will probably be a mix. half of desantis voters will go to trump because they are just more conservative and their values are probably more in line with what trump wants. and then you have half of those supporters who don't like trump who are trying to find anyone but trump and will likely go to nikki haley. so i see it as sort of a mixed bag for both candidates. they will be able to pick up some of desantis voters but not all. >> finally democrats, there is no democratic presidential caucus, but the mood can't be that great given biden's poll numbers. and you look at how much republicans love trump. for instance in iowa, last poll showed almost 70% viewed him

favorably and only about 30% unfavorably. clearly democrats don't haves same passion for biden. so how much does that matterhav same passion for biden. so how much does that matter if trump is the opponent indeed? >> it is a real problem. the democrats are facing some real challenges here because biden's approval ratings are low and very low levels of enthusiasm particularly from key demographics that he won in 2020. if you look at those under 35, young people, he won by a 20 point margin. and now you see there is a lot of angst that they feel that he hasn't done enough to fight climate change. they disapprove of his handling of the war in gaza. some 70% of those under 35 disapprove. and they didn't think that he did enough to try to codify roe

v. wade. in spanish populations, he won by 2:1. and he is losing ground with hispanic males and also a lot of ground with arab-americans who assum assumed him in 2020. now only 7% say that they will vote for him because of how he is handling the gaza war. state of michigan which he won by only 154,000 votes, there are 278,000 arab-americans there, and these key demographics could make the difference. >> all great points. although, you know, democratic supporters might point out there is still a long, long way to go. plenty can change. really appreciate your contribution here, in anatasha lind lindstaedt, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. iowa has been the epicenter for dangerous weather conditions seen across much of the u.s. the iowa at a state patrol say have responded to 86 crashes because of the terrible road

conditionsmonday are currently forecast to be the coldest on record with poe employ life threatening temperatures and windchills. most of iowa was under a blizzard warning on saturday with wind gusts more than 40 miles per hour. and this has been the snowiest week for des moines since 1942 because of back to back storms. so right now in des moines, it is minus 14 degrees farenheit with a windchill of minus 45. but more than 80 million americans are under windchill alerts through the weekend and beyond. in some places frost bite could occur in as fast as 10 minutes. elisa raffa breaks it down for us. >> the blizzard exits and arctic air diving south. windchill warnings i the plains for windchill as cold as 45 degrees below zero. as the arctic air invades and spills south, this is some of the coldest air we've seen so far in the season and it is coming right in time for the iowa caucus on monday.

iowans waking up sunday morning to windchills as cold as 45 degrees below zero, frostbite happening in ten minutes or less. by monday evening, we're still looking at windchills as cold as 30 degrees below zero. frostbite times at 25 minutes or less. this is by far the coldest caucus on record, most caucus days have been in the 30s and 40s. you do have one that sticks out, 16 degrees back in 2004. now, it looks like this one will be much, much colder, probably not breaking zero degrees in des moines with a high of only minus 2. so very cold. and again factoring windchills, even colder than that. in the evening most of iowans 10 degrees below zero. and then you factor in the windchill, again 30 degrees below zero. and it is not just iowa. you have air temperatures for the upper plains here, the northern plains where we're looking at subzero temperatures lasting through tuesday and wednesday for places like rapid city, omaha, chicago as well.

minus 10 as you are waking up on tuesday morning. the cold air gets as far south as texas, we're looking at temperatures in the single digits and teens for places like there is, austin waking up to the teens by tuesday and wednesday mornings. so as this continues to spill south, it will impact most americans looking at 80% of the lower 48 with temperatures below freezing by the time we get to tuesday, almost 20 of us subzero. we're looking at records falling, maybe 250 or more records both daytime cold highs and overnight low temperatures that could fall as a result of this arctic invasion. now, this is coming kind of the first of the season. a lot of these places especially in the upper midwest are in the midst of the warmest winter on record. all of the red dots there, that is the difference between weather and climate, this is really the first cold snap, but the trend since december 1 has been a warm one.

today is a somber milestone in israel's war with hamas whose end game is nowhere in sight and now some israelis are making a new push to bring hostages home as their prime minister talks about the future of the war. that is ahead. plus thousands are taking their pleas for a ceasefire to the white house. that is coming up.

we are following a developing story out of iceland where residents of one town are again being told to leave their homes amid the threat of a volcano eruption. these are live pictures from a volcano erupting near grindavik 70ky kill low meerts southwest r rick vow kick. the traumatic pictures we're seeing there. grindavik first evacuated back in november and that following weeks of seismic activity which culminated in a dramatic eruption and expelled bursts of lava, sent smoke into the sky. these pictures shows damage the pressure from the vaguolcano wa

able to do. today marks 100 days since hamas launched its deadly rampage killing 1200 people and taking around 240 hostages.t no under way in tel aviv to mark the occasion, set to last for 24 hours straight calling for the release of hostages still held in gaza. meanwhile netanyahu had blunt words reacting to allegations of genocide at the international court of justice, he called the case brought by south africa a hypocritical onslaught he says brought on behalf of those who want to commits another holocaust. regarding the war's 100 day mark, netanyahu said this -- >> translator: we today mark 100 days of war, 100 days since the terrible days in which our citizens were slaughtered and kidnapped. we are continuing to the war to its conclusion to total victory until we have achieved all of our objectives, elimination of

hamas, return of all of our hostages and the guarantee that gaza will never again pose a threat to israel. we'll restore security both in the south and in the north. no one will stop us. not the hague, not the axis of evil nor anyone else. elliott gotkine is in london. 100 days into the war, take us through how the families of the hostages are marking this somber occasion. >> reporter: here in london, it is actually a big cry culminating in a rally in the center of the city later today. the focus very much on what is going on in israel and in the renamed hostages square there. organizers say 120,000 people turned up last night to continue to keep up the pressure on the israeli government to do everything it can to bring those hostages home. and also to continue to remind the world that 100 days into

this war as you say sparked by the murderous rampage, more than 100 hostages remain in captivity probably deep underground in the tunnel network. we've heard from released hostages talking about the lack of food, lack of medicine and about female hostages being tortured and sexually abused. and the families there in tel aviv repeating and trying to maintain that pressure to try to get those hostages home. and there were messages of support for that objective from french president macron, there was the u.s. ambassador and others of course also hearing from freed hostages. and i think one of them summed it up i those the way many of these families are feeling, gabriella who was in captivity for 53 days after being kidnapped say i can't imagine how we can continue to exist and think that we will move on as a society and state without returning all the hostages as soon as possible. of course the problem is that there is no sign of another truce coming into effect.

israel has only so far managed to rescue one hostage despite many attempts since the war began on october. and so these families are becoming increasingly desperate i think. they say time is running out. earlier in the week we actually saw a number of them go to the gaza with specially designed loud speakers to try to call out so if their loved ones if they are in kahn yunis or nearby so that their loved ones could hear them from their own mouths telling them to be strong, they haven't been for gogotten and t they are loved. so they continue to keep up the pressure. no sign of it having an impact just yet, but certainly 100 days on, their hope is that their loved ones, those hostages, more than 100 of them still in the gaza strip, will be home very soon. kim. >> all right. elliott gotkine in london, thank you so much. now for more analysis, we're joined by senior jerusalem post columnist and senior fellow at the jewish people policy

institute. thank you so much for being here with us. so first just to build on what we were hearing there, your reflections on the war 100 days in. could it be another 100 days before it ends? >> hard to imagine and believe, the heart refuses almost to believe that it has been 100 days since these people were taken and since the massacre and barbaric attack took plains inside israeli communities and homes. it is unimaginable when we think about what these hostages have been going through, how there still are over 130 of them being held in some dark hole somewhere inside gaza. men, women, children, the elderly, people who are wounded who needed and still need medical care. and how hamas continues to hold on to them and refuses to allow them to come back to their families. and can i imagine that this will take another 100 days? unfortunately the answer is yes.

because we nknow what hamas doe and how it operates and what it wants. it uses these hostages as a cynical tool to undermine and pierce the heart of israel every day every hour. and we're marking today 100 days, but what i can only imagine what people are going through, families of these hostages and their loved ones, is really horrifying. >> yeah, we're showing pictures of the hostages rally with signs saying bring them home. some of the hostage families feel the war's two objectives are contradictory, destroying hamas and getting the hostages back. are they right on that? >> to some extent there is inherent contradiction because the continued degrading of hamas through the ground offensive which has been going on now for about 80 days out of the last 100 days is meant to degrade hamas capabilities to weaken it, to prevent it from being able to carry out another october 7

style massacre again. and so far the i dchldf has bab working meticulously, but they are going from the north where they started and now in the central gaza and as well as the area known as kahn yunis in the south where they believe the main hamas leadership is hold up in one of the underground tunnel bunkers possibly alongside many of the hostages. so the operation needs to continue. through the operation, aerial about bombardments, airstrikes, ground offensive, taking out some of these targets, it could lead to harming also of the hostages. israeli intelligence doesn't necessarily know where all the hostages are being held and at the same time, hamas is saying and we don't know if we can believe them, that if israel were to withdraw all its forces, it would be willing to engage in a swap that would see the release of all the hostages. so there is what sometimes looks like a contradiction. but on the other hand and the idf chief of staff says that the

military pressure on the ground is pushing hamas to maybe make a deal. so you can't have one without the other. they do have to come together. ground offensive and continued effort to get the hostages home. >> what do you make of the frustration we're seeing in those protests in israel? hamas of course is really to blame here, but why is so much anger being directed at netanyahu himself? >> because the israeli people, and especially those who have family members who are being held in the gaza strip, believe that the government is not doing enough to get their loved ones home. and this is extremely complicated. when hamas came in on october 7 and murdered and massacred in the most brutal way 1200 people and took 240 hostages, what we knew right away on that day, on that morning, was that not only was this massive blow to israel with just the scope of how many people were killed and the scope of the attack, but now that they have our people, they will be able to continue to basically stab us in the heart every

single day. we the jewish people, we the israeli people, we preserve life, we believe in the sanctity of life. hamas believes in killing people, in holding people hostage, in putting their own civilians as to save them as terrorists. so a clash of civilizations. and so the family of those being held want the government to it more because that is the only one that they can call out to. hamas ignores our calls. hamas doesn't care. the people have only one address and that is the government of israel. >> we'll have to leave it there. we appreciate your analysis. thank you so much. >> thank you. in washington protestors gathered in front of the white house and elsewhere, many calling for a ceasefire demanding u.s. president biden withdraw support for israel. gabe cohen was there.

>> reporter: this was a huge rally that that included a march through the streets and as well as a protest outside the white house. and its size and program really mirrored last massive march for gaza that we saw here in washington which i covered back this early november. but the message on saturday felt even more urgent as the death toll in gaza continues to rise. these protestors calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. and really trying to put political pressure on the biden administration to end its unequivocal support for israel and to end any military aid for israeli's war effort in gaza. i spoke to a palestinian american woman who said that she's lost family in gaza since this conflict began. and she said she voted for president biden back in 2020 but 2024 she said is a different story. take a listen. >> i have american family who are stuck there now. and we have tried every avenue for their evacuation. they have tried four times.

they were shot at at the border. there is no circumstance in which president biden has my vote in the upcoming election. he is single handedly fundings genocide of my feel. >> reporter: and there was one incident connected to the protest with u.s. park police arresting two people they say for disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer. gabe cohen, cnn, washington. and much more to come here on "cnn newsroom" including the latest from the campaign trail as republican candidates work to motivate iowa caucusgoers amid a brutal winter storm. plus while many in taiwan are celebrating the results of a historic election, china is not happy at all. more on why after the break.

watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom." returning to our top story. tomorrow's republican caucuses in iowa and brutal winter weather that is making campaigning difficult and creating worries about turnout after blizzard warnings forced multiple cancellations friday and saturday, candidates are trying to keep sunday's events on the books amid an all out final push to win over any caucusgoers who remain undecided. kylie atwood has more. wr . >> reporter: a flurry of activity in iowa just one day before the caucuses are set to begin. former president trump after having to cancel events due to the weather has a rally in iowa. we have nikki haley with three campaign events, ron desantis with four campaign events, all of them encouraging their supporters to actually get out and support them given the extreme circumstances that the weather will create on monday. it will be the coldest iowa

caucus to date with temperatures potentially negative 10, neglect it i h -- negative 15. so there are questions about which campaign that will be a down fall for. former president trump predicting that it actually could be helpful for him because he feels like he has very supportive and enthusiastic supporters. the other campaigns are saying that they feel confident about the operations that they have on the ground here in iowa. but all making their final push ahead of iowa caucus on monday night. kylie atwood, cnn, iowa city. china says taiwan is still its territory and that won't change even as the island's ruling party celebrates a historic election victory. the democratic progressive party clinched a third consecutive victory with 40% of the toogs votes. china had warned taiwan that democratic progressive win could increase the risk of conflict. but voters shrugged off those

thoughts making lai ching te their president. >> we believe we can choose our own president. >> will ripley is joining us from taipei. so take us through the results and the reaction. >> reporter: one of the things that lay whichi ching te told v china would be essentially choosing their chief executive of a company that has to report to china. the will of the people negligible. and taiwanese saying they don't accept that. or at least the voters that vote for the democratic progressive party. rarely falling on the taiwanese ka capital, but a blizzard of

confetti. on the losing side, calls for unity as taipei braces for beijing's brewing storm. >> most important part for me is our relationship with china. and we've been bullied for years on end. i just can't stand kneeling down to their demands and their medaling with our elections. >> reporter: to say china did not want this result is the understatement of the month, maybe the year. china despises the president-elect lai ching te and face the vice president even banned from entering china. diplomacy, forget it. ahead of the election, china did all it can to paint a foreboding picture of four mother years of the green party. but in the end, it was a third they were for the green party.m

the green party. but in the end, it was a third they were for the green party. likely beijing seeing red. and within minutes, a bold claim from the taiwan affairs office. taiwan is china's taiwan, the dpp does that represent the mainstream view on the island. they did capture 40% of the vote. turnout more than 70%. about 20 million taiwanese more than 80% of the island's population eligible to vote. and many did. in taiwan, there are no absentee ballots. >> i'm very pleasantly happy. >> reporter: some like this student from the u.s. flew 16 hours to cast their votes in person. were you afraid taiwan would become similar to hong kong or the next hong kong if there was a different result? >> really for sure. especially since other two party applicants were more economic partnership with china. first step of encroach himself. >> reporter: when the buzz of victory wears off, a sobering reality for taiwan's new president. his party lost control of parliament, a sign of voter

dissatisfaction with low pay, expensive housing, lack of opportunity, local issues have never been the ruling party's strength. it is why they lost the last round of local elections. but partparty's two term presid put taiwan on the global stage like never before. and ran on a continuity ticket. >> translator: we are telling the international community that between democracy and authoritarianism, we still stand on the side of democracy. >> reporter: and he says safe guard taiwan from china's ongoing intimidation and threats. within the last couple of hours, we received confirmation from the american institute of taiwan which is essentially the u.s. de facto embassy here that group of senior but former u.s. officials ank acting in their private capacity but sent by the united states are on the ground here to meet

with lawmakers and politicians and offer the united states congratulations for this election which is being touted as an example of a young vibrant democracy successfully pulling off yet another democratic election. they have only been doing these since 1996. but as taiwan celebrates this peaceful transfer of power, the inauguration happening may 20, they do so under the ominous clouds of china's persistent threat of a potential war. the big question, what will china do and when. >> exactly. great reporting out there, will ripley in taipei, thank you so much. coming up, cnn investigation examining a series of strikes on hospitals in gaza amid the hamas-israel conflict, that is after the break. stay with us.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ now the latest on israel's war against hamas. a massive rally is under way in tel aviv marking 100 days since the militant group launched its rampage in israel.

the event is set to last 24 hours straight, they are calling for the release of the more than 150 hostages believed to be still held in gaza. and a top u.n. official is facing a horrific picture about the humanitarian situation in northern gaza saying u.n. workers have recently seen corpses on the streets and people desperate for food. controversial strikes on hospitals in gaza have happened often in the first few months of the israel-hamas conflict. here is katie . >> reporter: and outside a hospital on november 9. near by it is the indonesian hospital at the same night, shear panic. the first two months of war decimated gaza's health care system a as israel launched an r

and then land offensive on the north of the strip. after 22 hospitals in northern gaza, cnn has identified 20 that have been damaged or destroyed between october 7 and december 7. imagery analyzed by cnn shows over half have been directly attacked. several including the two largest in gaza, al-shifa and al-quds directly attacked. this evidence suggests where cnn found evidence a misfired rocket is likely responsible for a deadly blalast. but ththis appears t to be the exceptioion. israelel and u.s. intelligenency hamamas used many of these hospitals as command or 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 get carte blanche to militaries to launch an attack however they want. >> r reporter: this is al-quds, gaza's second largest hohospita. we modeleled out howow weeks of israeli attacks around it cause severe damage and civilian harm. behind the hospital on october 29, an explosion has just hit. the director of al-quds spoke to cnn that day saying there was bombing all around us. on november r 7 idf publishehed video o of them conductiting a strike just 100 meters from the hospital entrance here. they claim they were targeting hamas weapons depot. the strike appears to have taken place november 5. 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 was just not possible. >> we have civilian people.. >> repororter: the legal advised to cnn they did not attack al-quds hospital except in m mi november when apparently returning fifire from hamas militants. releasing this footage of evidence, 21 people killed. the idf said that they were terrorists, but acknowledged civilians were still inside. over at al-shifa hospital, displaced civilians were sheltering in the courtyard where attacks were intensified. an idf legal adviser again told

cnn they did not attack al-shifa, but weapons experts said this is a remnant of an israeli illumination shell. a couple hours later, the maternity ward is hit. within a week israeli forces enter the hospital. >> entering the east corridor. >> reporter: 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, somehe replies. can i put to you a conversation i had with a legal adviser. they said to me at the end of the day, as long as hamas continues to use the hospitals and facilities for their military operations and our aim is to defeat hamas militarily, there is absolutely no choice but to go there. >> much of the death and destruction, damage including to hospitals, health care facilities, is known in advance. it is part of the calculation and that is absolutely a choice and to frame it not as a choice is to frame that death and destruction is an inevitability. >> reporter: those first two months of war are now among the most deadly and destructive of any conflictct in rerecent hist. the questition remaiains as to whwhether any military objectiv can justify this. katie poll glaze, cnn, london. and cnn sent a list of the

hospitals and idf said that they did not conduct any targeted attacks in the gaza strip. and any strike which is incidentally expected to damage hospitals is approved by the highest command. coming up, an organization is proving that one family's trash is a playground for fish. we'll explain.

millions of americans are under windchill advisories in the midwest including in kansas city where the defending super bowl champions faced off against the dolphins last night. out there braving the cold taylor swift bundled up in a travis kelce 87 jacket. it was neglect 5 farenheit making it the fourth coldest game in nfl history reminding everyone in the stands that the game was more than just for fair weather fans. the chiefs beat the miami dolphins 26-7. with the yuletide season over, countless christmas trees are heading to the sidewalks for trash collection, but one swedish organization is giving discarded trees a new

environmentally friendly purpose as paula newton tells us. >> reporter: lights are gone, decorations put away. there is one organization in sweden trying to stretch that christmas spirit into the new year. since 2016, the swedish anglers association has been collecting recycled christmas trees and tossing them into the bays and waterways around stockholm. it may look like a cold and icy grave, but it is actually a new beginning for the trees. >> so we tie them together, three or four together, and then we tie them to a weight, in this case rocks in a bag. everything is biodegradable. and then we throw them out into the water and they will sink down to the bottom. >> reporter: there the trees will settle into their new role, providing habitats for marine wildlife. environmentalists say there is a

lot of boat traffic in these waters and not enough vegetation for the fish to thrive. but the trees come each year like christmas to help make up for the loss. >> if you look at it, there are plenty of places to hide in here. there are all these branches and there are the pine needles as well. >> reporter: since the start of the initiative, more than 1,000 trees have been deposited into the waters. scientists hope that makes for a lot of happy fish and humans like it too. eco-friendly way of recycling a special part of the holiday season. >> in sweden you give the christmas tree like a personality. you take it in, you choose it very carefully. and then you live with it. >> reporter: it is a gift that keeps on giving for inhabitants above the surface and below. paula newton, cnn. and before we go, soap opera

fans are mourning the loss of a familiar and beloved actor. bill hayes main stay on days of our lives for more than 50 years, he died on friday at the age of 98. hayes created the role of doug williams on the daytime soap opera way back in 1970. his character was best known for being the father of hope williams. one-half of the show's super couple bo and hope. it was on the show that he met his future wife susan and their characters even married on the show. they won lifetime emmy achieve himself awards. his last appearance on air was just last month. this hour of "n newsroom." i'm kim brunhuber. i'll be back with more news in a moment. but i want to leave you with the pictures of the live volcano erupting southwest of grindavik.

♪ welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and all around the world i'm kim brunhuber. ahead on "cnn newsroom" -- monday we have caucuses, but it's going to be frigid cold out and if my little beer can can make it out of my driveway again, we will be voting for sure. >> a bitter cold across iowa isn't stopping republican candidates and their supporters from getting out a