anyone who lives and dies by the word, it makes me concerned they don't question before they implement things. kelly wallace, always good to see you. >> thank you. >> warmly dressed today. thanks for watching, everybody. i'm flat out of time. great to have you with us. keep warm. set a timer for your pets if you let them outside, please. such an easy thing to do. "around the world" starts now. brutal cold with high temperatures not even hitting zero. so bad, your skin can freeze in as little as five minutes. plus, the u.s. is vowing to help the iraqi government help al qaeda fighters. but it doesn't mean u.s. troops will swoop in. also this -- >> trying to interact with him on that. he loves sports. i like the guy. the guy is awesome to me. that's about it. no more. >> dennis rodman back in north korea. this time he brought a team of

former nba players. the goal, to play some basketball for kim jong-un's birthday. welcome to "around the world" i'm suzanne malveaux. keeping safe and warm is a priority, a challenge for so many in this country. we're talking 140 million people in the united states right now, half the country dealing with temperatures below zero. in some places, the cold is so extreme, it is dangerous to even be outside for just a few minutes. the wind chill in duluth, minnesota, feels like 55 degrees below zero. that can freeze exposed skin in just five minutes. other places like chicago, st. louis, not much warmer, really. the deep freeze reaching all the way down into the deep south, as well. the whole state of louisiana has been under a hard freeze warning today. that means the temperatures have been in the 20s for several hours. baton rouge and new orleans expecting record lows. memphis, colder than anchorage this morning, if you can believe that. atlanta, where i am, colder than moscow.

forecasters say that a warming trend, thankfully, is come ohhing on wednesday. but until then, much of the country is seeing the coldest weather in 20 years. my colleague, my friend, stephanie elam, braving it in minneapolis. alexandria steele in the severe weather center to explain why this is happening. and stephanie, i've got to start with you. i know what it's like to be out there when you're covering the cold weather and you can't talk. you're literally -- your mouth freezes and everything is frozen. how are you doing? >> yeah. i learned my lesson, suzanne. i'm not going to take this thing off until it's time to talk. because i know i look like i'm in a horror movie. but it is that cold out here. i've never felt anything like this before. i've never felt any kind of cold that is this deep. and it's just not the right way to describe it. we have checked in with the city to see how they're dealing with it. what's interesting, they said crime goes down when it gets cold, but when it gets really cold like this, it goes way down. what they do see more, though,

more domestic issues, because people are cooped up in the house. but they said overall, they have been working on clearing the streets, people who are homeless, need to get to hospitals, get them to shelters. they have been working to do that. transportation departments saying that things are moving fairly well throughout the city. but they are concerned about black ice being an issue. they're also saying make sure you don't go anywhere. if you have to go without half a tank of gas in your car, and be prepared, because if you have a car that's sitting there too long and it freezes up, if you have an anti freeze issue, that could be another issue too. really they're telling everyone to stay home. they closed down the zoo today, because they didn't want people taking their families there as an alternative since the schools were closed for the first time since 1997, suzanne. >> i can't imagine the animals are doing well, unless they take them inside, as well. stephanie, you're hanging for dear life on to that cup there. is that frozen, is it liquid now, trying to keep your hands warm? >> i'm keeping my hands warm. and i saw it last night. we saw this man throw hot water

into the sky and it turned into snow. i don't know if i've been holding too long to try it. but let's see what happens. >> all right. >> see what happens here. woo! >> wow. >> it kind of happened. >> yeah. amazing. >> boiling hot water. and it turns into snow immediately in this kind of cold. absolutely crazy. it's like a cool science project. >> that you're a part of today. stephanie, it's not going to last much longer. so don't worry about it. hang in there. be warm. wednesday it's supposed to change, warm up a little bit. but you're doing a great job, steph. so we'll see you in a little bit. >> thanks. >> all right. they're calling this a polar vortex responsible for all of this wicked cold. alexandria steele is in the severe weather center. did you see what happened to that? that was pretty amazing. >> how awesome. >> the water turns immediately into snow, and just by hitting the air. >> yeah, this is really rarified air. this is the polar vortex. and a piece of this is coming

down, it's the coldest air in the northern hemisphere. normally this air circulates around the poles. but when the polar vortex is weak, it's allowed that tea party cold to drop into the northern hemisphere. if you're under 40 years old in this part of the world, you've never seen air like this before. rarified. 51 blow is what it feels like in duluth. five minutes, that's all you need for frostbite. 35 below, you only need ten minutes. so certainly dangerous. they're calling this a pds. we usually only use that terminology as meteorologists around minneapolis when there are even tornadoes or severe weather. but around minneapolis in the upper midwest, it's a pds, particularly dangerous situation. temperatures are cold, air is cold. of course, the snow that fell. and also the visibility. and that coupled with do not get out and drive also, because you get out there, something happens to your car. the antifreeze freezes at 15 below. you're stuck in the car and in life threatening cold temperatures. that's the do not drive reason

behind kind of the package. cold air, look at this. brutally cold, 30 below where we normally are in atlanta, georgia. it will find the northeast, though. temperatures in the 40s and 50s from boston to new york. that will change by this afternoon. and they too will get into this rarified air. and there you go. highs and low temperatures in atlanta, georgia, suzanne, getting to the single digits for the first time since 2003. we're expecting 7. if it goes to 5, it will be the first time since 1985. >> unbelievable. all right. well, thank you very much. hopefully it's going to warm up soon. on wednesday you say a little bit better. >> absolutely. we're going to all see warm -- much warmer temperatures by the time we get toward the end of the week. you want to see how warm? 50 in sin see. what does that look like for saturday? >> pretty good. >> 60 in atlanta saturday. >> very nice. i'll take that. in the meantime, stay indoors. be safe. now to north korea where they're welcoming a familiar face. we're talking about dennis rodman, the former basketball player there. he is helping king jong union

celebrate his birthday. his team of former nba players play the country's senior national team. rodman says, look, this is all about fun. this is not about politics. but others are wondering, why does he keep visiting this country? it's very repressive, a history of human rights abuses. well, here's karl penhaul with more. >> reporter: party time for north korean's strong man, kim jong-un. he turns 31 wednesday, and basketball bad boy, dennis rodman and his team of nba all-timers headed there to help him celebrate. >> all good. >> reporter: rodman is describing this trip as basketball diplomacy. but ruled out kenneth bay, doing hard time in a north korean labor camp. >> i'm not trying to save the world, not trying to save ken bay. that's not my job. my job is sports. i'm going over there to try to

interact with him on that love, sports. he loves sports. i like the guy. the guy is awesome to me. >> reporter: rodman and his nba buddies are scheduled to shoot hoops with the north korean national squad. it's a birthday treat for kim, who is an avid basketball fan. on his last trip in december, rodman spent a few days coaching the north koreans. as they waited for their plane to pyongyang, players insisted the focus was on the game, not politics want but shooting guard, doug christie, is hopeful they can build bridges. >> sport is what we're going for. sport is something that cancels and conquers all borders, all lines. and it's an exciting feeling. >> reporter: power forward, charles d. smith, also seemed optimistic. >> the extreme views on north korea come about because most people have not been there. and because people have a sense of fear of the unknown.

>> reporter: critics see the trip as a publicity stunt and highlight north korea's record of human rights abuses. but the nba all stars just want to play ball. >> i'm looking forward to playing and putting on a show in north korea. >> we don't really get into the political aspects of it. but we all enjoy the game, love the game. just try to spread all the great qualities that the game brings. >> reporter: only last month, kim jong-un sent his own uncle to the firing squad on charges of corruption and treason. that kind of controversy prompted rodman's irish sponsors to pull out. but he remains unfazed. >> one thing, we could actually get along. let's get along. >> reporter: some people are describing this trip as basketball's version of the expendables where a group of has-been action heroes come together for one last mission. we must wait and see whether rodman's main mission is to

party with a dictator or whether he's hoping to score a diplomatic slam dunk. karl penhaul, cnn, beijing airport. here's more. secretary of state john kerry says the u.s. will not supply boots on the ground to help stabilize iraq. but will offer support in other ways. plus -- >> reporter: the terrain is dense and disoriented. they force their way through the undergrowth. our cnn team can barely keep up. >> police chase down poachers who are killing elephants in the congo.

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>> this is a fight that belongs to the iraqis. that is exactly what the president and the world decided some time ago when we left iraq. so oh we are not, obviously, contemplating returning. we are not contemplating putting boots on the ground. we're going to help them in their fight. >> joining me, pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, nick robertson, who has covered iraq and middle east for many years, and jerusalem. i want to start off with you, brash rah. secretary kerry says the u.s. is not going to put boots on the ground. tell us in very practical terms, what can the u.s. do at this point to tstop the fighting in iraq? >> well, it will be very limited. of course, no troops, because neither the u.s. nor the iraqis two years ago could come to an agreement that would allow u.s. troops to stay. so the u.s. pulled out and maliki well knew what he was getting into at that point. the aid, the assistance, most likely to be the acceleration of some weapon sales to iraq,

especially hell-fire missiles and drones so they can conduct their own surveillance and re n reconnaissance in this area of iraq and also intelligence-sharing. the u.s. will share, as it has for the last many months, satellite intelligence, intercept information, that sort of thing, with the iraqi government. but no troops and very limited help at this point, suzanne. >> nick, i want to bring you into the conversation here. we know that american forces very successful in going up against al qaeda, 2006, 2007, essentially because we were aligned. the united states, rather, aligned with the sunnis. now you've got a situation where the sunnis are aligning with al qaeda. they are so frustrated with the sheer dominated government of maliki. how do you win them back? >> reporter: what happened was, the sunnis we're talking about here, sided with u.s. troops to overthrow al qaeda in 2006, 2007, were really the tribes. it's the tribes that have the power in the al anbar.

and the tribes realize al qaeda was undermining them. also at that time, prior to that time, the united states had already taken away the power of the tribal leaders. they gave that back to them, allowed them to carry weapons, have weapons and have authority. and right now, if the government of nori al maliki can give the tribal leaders some authority, make them feel like they count if their area, i.e., give them political responsibility, not just in al anbar, but at a national level, as well, he'll win those tribes back, and they will turn against al qaedas aas they have done before. they know al qaeda was killing tribal leaders before. there is a lot vested for the tribes to go with the government. but the government has got to put that on offer and it's not clear that's happening, suzanne. >> and rah gabarbara, give us a sense of these militants, members of the islamic state of iraq and syria or isis.

>> reporter: well, this is what is so important right now in this area. these al qaeda groups, look, this is not the old al qaeda of 2003. the old al qaeda of 9/11. this is the rise of the the al-qaeda affiliates. young, fierce fighters, very much committed to their own agendas. and this is an area without that central governmental control that nick is talking about, that is free for them to operate. and make no mistake, you look at the map, this is right up against the syrian border. so you have a rat line of fighters going in and out of syria. you have an increased capability to train, fight, recruit, finance. these are the worries that the u.s. has, that this whole new area is emerging of al qaeda strength of this new affiliate group. and it may be very tough to stop them. >> and nick, button this up for us. the civil war in syria, the fact

this is spilling over into iraq. explain how these two arelated. >> reporter: sure. what isis is doing in syria is grab land. they have had the longest and best of all the rebel groups strategic plans coming, using years of experience in iraq. putsing some of the first fighters on the ground, rebel fighters inside syria, building on that. being good fighters, able to go against the syrian forces, winning over for a while, at least, syrian support. they have attracted a huge number of foreign fighters. they're attracting a lot of money to their cause. you know, what's another worry for the international community, just this weekend, an i.s.i.s. fighter from spain was arrested, going back to spain after he had been through syria. there are thousands, thousands of foreign fighters with i.s.i.s. right now fighting in syria, in iraq, possibly, as well, too. but potentially going to go back to their homes. many, many have come from europe and this is a real concern. they pose a real threat to security when they go back home,

as well. >> all right. we're going to be following the developments in iraq very closely. nick barber, thank you very much for your perspective. the u.s. coast guard going in to save the day. this is an american ice breaker headed to the icy antarctic trying to free not one, now two ships that are stuck. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief.

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welcome back to "around the world." here is some of the news happening right now. in great britain, they are now preparing for another onslaught of rain. parts of southern england and wales have already been devastated by a series of storms that experts say are the worst to hit the u.k. in 20 years. another barrage of rain is coming over the next 24 hours, with wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. at least three people have died since last week, including a man killed when his scooter fell into a river in oxford. and in germany, chancellor angela merkel back in berlin, recovering from a skiing accident.

merkel fractured her pelvis while cross-country skiing in switzerland. officials say her injuries are not serious. she is expected to make a full recovery but will need help walking. the news of merkel's fall comes eight days of her fellow countryman, michael schumacher, the most successful race car driver in formula one history, was critically injured while skiing in the french alps. the u.s. coast guard now on the way to the icy waters off antarctica to help a pair of trapped ships. 52 tourists and scientists were airlifted from a russian ship last week. you might recall that story. but a combined 120 crew members, they're still aboard that ship and the chinese ice breaker that gut stuck trying to help them. details on the latest rescue mission. >> reporter: it's now the turn of the u.s. coast guard to try and freeze the two ships frozen into the antarctic ice.

the "polar star" will head south from sydney. she is 399 foot long and she can carve through 21 feet of ice at one time. so here's hoping she can do what the others couldn't. and that is to set the academic and chinese ice breaker free from the ice. i know we have been saying this for a while, but fingers crossed. >> all right. fingers crossed. the rescuers now trying to rescue the rescuers. if you spend any time on the internet the last couple weeks, you have probably seen this. this is a headline that said kim jong-un, later of north korea, executed his uncle by feeding him to a pack of hungry dogs. the fact that kim had his own uncle killed in the first place shocked a lot of folks. and this really took it to a whole another level. it turns out the story has more red flags than a military rally in pyongyang. it is not true. brian stelter is with us. brian, it starts off with

something pretty outrageous to begin with. but it was -- it started -- it was satire. and people just didn't know it was satire. then it snow balls, people start to think it's real. now what is it? >> reporter: it's one of these stories that snowballs. it does start from a very tiny place, one person's satirical message. but then it gets picked up by a newspaper and a website in china that seemed to take it as if it's true. and then translated versions of that chinese report start to spread on to american websites. we saw all sorts of websites posting these stories. even some pretty usually respected ones. like nbc news.com, for example. they put it up and said "report" and then it had the headline about how the north korean leader allegedly fed his uncle to 120 dogs. but having the word "report:"these websites seem to think it's okay to repeat what someone else has already said. but that's not what real news organizations should be doing. >> it almost goes to when you

start -- if you say it often enough, people start to think it's true, even if it's not true. and i think i guess part of the problem too is the nature of north korea being so secretive itself, it wasn't like it was going to say either way, no, we didn't feed them to the dogs, we d. how did that play into this? >> because we have so little visibility into north korea, that stories like this can take on a life of their own. because it can't -- it can't be disproven, for example. you know, there's no evidence that it wasn't true -- although there is evidence it wasn't true. but it's impossible to completely prove it either way. you know -- also because we don't see into the country, i think that's why people are willing to believe just about anything about north korea. and that's a problem both for the american media, as well as for american citizens, when they're reading the media. we have to take reports about north korea with a lot of grains of salt. >> yeah, absolutely. all right. thank you, brian, appreciate it. very much. fascinating story. big decision from a member of a prominent political family. what liz cheney says she needs to do, and why she is doing it.

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last two weeks. but that ends today. the supreme court has just ruled in favor of the state's request to temporarily block same-sex marriages. jeffrey toobin joins us from new york to talk about this. jeff, hundreds of gay couples who have gotten married since december 20th when the district court judge said the state's law banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. what happens? what happens to their marriages? >> good question, suzanne. i don't think anyone knows for sure. the answer is probably that they remain married. this decision by the supreme court didn't suddenly divorce them. but the status of their marriages, i think it's safe to say, is somewhat questionable. and whether they file for -- when they file for some sort of benefit, some sort of legal entitlements that married people have, there could be a challenge to that. and that would set in motion another legal issue -- another legal case, and i don't think anyone knows the outcome of that for the moment.

rjt it's absolutely crazy when you think about it in this country that you can get married and then your marriage essentially is worthless, just weeks later, because of the legal issue around all of this. what does this mean for gay couples who want to get married in that state? >> well that, at least, has a clear answer. they cannot get married now. gay couples cannot get married in utah until the court of appeals, the tenth circuit court of appeals, resolves this case. and if -- and then, of course, only if they decide that gay people have the ride to be married in utah. what the supreme court said is, this case is on hold while the circuit court of appeals, which is the intermediate level court, decides the case. so i think for at least several months, it's clear that same-sex cup he is will not be able to get married in utah. >> all right, jeff. thanks for explaining for us, and obviously we're going to be keeping in touch with the developments throughout the supreme court and where this goes next. thank you, jeff.

appreciate it. in just a couple hours, it's going to be the senate that will take up the issue of whether or not to extend unemployment benefits for more than 1 million americans who need this. our christine romans tells us, there is likely going to be a really tough showdown. >> reporter: suzanne, president obama back from vacation, and the big push this week, extending emergency unemployment benefits for 1.3 million americans. those benefits expired last week. they are on average about $300 a check for these folks. the federal jobless aid program, this program in particular, was a recession-era emergency program on top of the six months of state jobless benefits people get when they lose a job. it has been renewed annually since 2008. but now some lawmakers, republican lawmakers, arguing that extending it just adds to the federal deficit unless it is offset by spending cuts. some also say this program always meant to be temporary. an emergency program. and it incentivizes people to stay out of the work force.

also, look, the jobless rate has fallen now to 7%. you can't be giving emergency benefits forever. i asked the ceo of pimco, one of the world's largest bond oh investors. what he thought. he said it is the right thing to do to extend those benefits. >> to cut them off at this point is bad economics. it's also horrible social policy. we know we have a long-term unemployment problem. we know that 38% of the unemployed are long-term unemployed. and it's for no fault of their own. it's that the system itself is having problems generating jobs for them. >> it's a point of view of well, of the president. president obama meets with long-term unemployed mernls. he is expected to talk about his desire to extend benefits. congress also taking up the issue this week. the house ways and means committee released a report saying the expiration has taken a $400 billion bite out of the economy. the labor secretary said many unemployed have gone from a position of hardship to one of catastrophe. one thing is clear, though, suzanne. even if there is an extension of

three months saved for those benefits at a cost of $26 billion, you're not likely to see those emergency benefits last for the rest of the year. suzanne? >> all right. thank you, christine. senators also have another important vote today. they're going to decide whether to confirm janet yellen as head of the federal reserve. yellen is president obama's choice to replace ben bernanke. she would start february 1st. she would be the first woman in the job. the vote is set for 5:30 this afternoon. and first on cnn, liz cheney giving up her bid for a senate seat in wyoming. the oldest daughter of former vice president, dick cheney, says that she made the decision because of, quote, serious health issues in her family. want to bring in our own wolf blitzer from washington to talk more about this, and some other news. so wolf, first of all, liz cheney said serious health issues have recently arisen in our family, and under the circumstances, i've decided to discontinue my campaign. my children and their futures

were the motivation for our campaign, and their health and well-being will always be my overriding priority. of wolf, do we know what she is talking about when she says the health issues she is referencing? >> we don't. they're keeping that very, very private, very confidential. obviously, according to that statement, at least, the impression is something involving the kids. she has five children. we don't know the details. we don't know what she is referring to. clearly, it's obviously something very serious, and her decision to go ahead and drop out of this race. she wasn't -- didn't look like she was gaining much ground against mike enzi, long-time republican incumbent senator from wyoming. the polls showed she had a really uphill struggle ahead of her. but she was in this race at least for a while, and now she is no longer in it. >> has there been any response or any reaction from her sister? i know there were feuds during this race or her father. anyone weighing in on what is happening with her? >> i haven't heard any response

from her sister. we know that there was obviously a painful experience for the entire cheney family when liz cheney came out and opposed same-sex marriage. her sister is married to a woman, and this is -- this resulted in a public reaction, a very angry reaction from mary cheney, her sister, and mary cheney's wife. and the whole family was clearly upset about the way this was handled. clearly, liz cheney thought that to get the republican nomination in wyoming, you had to be against same-sex marriage. and she came out against same-sex marriage. the former vice president, her dad, later said she didn't -- she believed in traditional marriage between a man and woman. but this was a really painful experience for the cheney family and so many of their friends to see this anger that developed between these two sisters. >> and widening this out a bit beyond the family here, wolf, were there people in republican circles who really felt like

perhaps they quietly wanted her to go away, that this was something that was not looking good for the party? >> yeah. mike enzi is not well-known outside of wyoming. but he's a pretty popular senator among republicans. he's very conservative. he is 69 years old. she is in her late 40s. one of the arguments she had been making is maybe he is too old. that wasn't a popular argument, especially among his republican senatorial colleagues. a lot of them are not only in their 60s, but 70s and even 80s. so it's -- it wasn't a very popular argument. and she -- you know, she angered a lot of long-time republicans in the state of wyoming by coming out and saying she was going to challenge mike enzi for that republican senatorial nomination. now she is out of the race. mike enzi will clearly get the republican nomination, wyoming being a very republican state. he has a pretty good path of getting re-elected, i think, for a fourth time. >> all right. wolf blitzer, thank you, appreciate it. iraq's troops are in a big

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so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

iraqi troops have their hands full trying to fight off al qaeda-linked militants. it was over the weekend they made advances in several

critical areas, including on bar anbar province and fallujah. fallujah is 37 miles west of baghdad. it was the site of some of the bloodiest fighting between u.s. forces and insurgents during the iraq war. joining me is nick burns, former undersecretary of state, who was also u.s. ambassador to nato. nick, always good to see you. want to get your perspective here. we saw recently secretary of state john kerry saying the u.s. is not putting boots on the ground. but what can the united states do to stop the fighting? >> well, suzanne, secretary kerry is right. there is not a chance the united states will put american troops back into iraq. but the united states has been doing two things. first, the u.s. has been supporting prime minister maliki since he took power many years ago in both the obama and bush administrations, and you see the u.s. providing political advice to prime minister maliki, hoping he can keep it together, because

being pushed apart by these factions. secondly, prime minister maliki has pursued very ineffective policies towards the sunni population. he has in effect driven them away. and he's not inspired any confidence that his government will rest sunni interests as well as shia interests. so the united states is pushing prime minister maliki to be more effective in ceilidealing with sunni population, particularly with tribe relations like anbar province. >> is this something the united states can deal with? has the united states -- obama administration, last confidence in maliki? >> i don't think so. i think they're worried that this is as bloody a situation as we have seen in iraq since the terrible years of 2006 and 2007, just before the surge in anbar province. that brought diminished violence in iraq. so washington is very worried about the performance of the iraqi government. they don't think that prime minister maliki has been representing all the people of iraq. but there is really no

alternative for the united states. we -- washington believes we've got to support the central government. you don't want to see iraq fracture along sectarian lines. >> you know, the american forces were successful in the past when they went up against al qaeda, 2006-2007, because they are aligned with the sunnis. now you've got a situation with the sunnis aligned with al qaeda. how do you bring the sunnis back? >> i think the way you bring them back is the way that president bush and general petraeus did in 2007 with the surge. you work with the tribal leaders in places like ramadi and fallujah. you urge the iraqi government and baghdad to transfer political power to them. to give them real power and real voice in the system. those political leaders, the tribal leaders, don't want to see al qaeda succeed. this might be a temporary alliance between al qaeda and some of the tribal leaders now. and we have seen that play out and the horrific violence just over the last few days in ramadi and in fallujah. but i do think that can be

effective. but it requires prime minister maliki to step towards the tribal leaders. >> let's talk about the state of al qaeda. president obama campaigned in 2012 really a regular theme. and here's the point he was making. >> al qaeda is on the path to defeat. path to defeat. path to defeat. >> so it doesn't look like al qaeda is on the path to defeat at this moment. what does this say about the state of al qaeda now? >> well, al qaeda central, the osama bin laden's al qaeda, has been largely defeated on the afghan/pakistan border. but you have seen, suzanne, in iraq. now you see in syria and lebanon, a surgeance of war fueled by al qaeda front groups and this isis groups which nick robertson was talking about, fighting in both syria and iraq. and you see al qaeda-inspired groups and somalia and in yemen.

so this is a real problem for the arab world. it's a real problem for the united states in trying to diminish level of violence in all those places. but what's most worrisome, suzanne, for a long time now, people have been predicting that the syrian civil war might produce a wider war. we're beginning to see that happen, particularly in iraq and lebanon, where these sunni and shia passions and divisions between them are now playing out in all three countries, and that's a big problem for the arabs, as well as the united states. >> nick, in light of that fact, because it's such an important point you made, where should the u.s. be focused? should it be focused in iraq, syria? where do you think it's most important? >> well, the united states is by far the most powerful outside player. but it's got to work closely with the arab governments in the middle east with the saudis in particular, to try to bring relative peace to places like syria and lebanon. that also means the united states has to talk to odious

figures. and we'll see in a couple weeks when the syria peace talks start in geneva that the united states will have to talk to the assad government. secretary kerry said over the weekend iran might be brought into the talks. that might be have the choice we have to make to see it brought to an end. >> nick burns, thank you very much. appreciate it, as always. arwa damon going along for the dangerous job of hunting down poachers who just killed an elephant for its ivory tusks. shots were fired. we'll show you what they actually found. ryan, your hotel's robes are fabulous. so i'm choosing all of you with hotels.com a loyalty program that requires no loyalty.

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avoid if you take clopidogrel. for many, relief is at hand. ask your doctor about nexium. welcome back to "around the world." right now secretary of state john kerry flying back to the united states after a wind chill wind trip. meetings in the mid east peace. sunday he met with kings of jordan and saudi arabia to brief them on the progress. kerry met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and mahmoud abbas last week. israel and the palestinians are making some progress towards a framework agreement to guide the talks on formal peace deal. but still have got a way to go. sudan's president has arrived in south sudan for talks with that country's president. they're trying to find a solution to the violence that has left more than a thousand people dead. 200,000 have been forced from their homes in just three weeks.

the violence erupted when rebels loyal to the ousted vice president of south sudan tried to stage a coup. and all this week, cnn is reporting on a terrible, horrible problem. this is the killing of thousands of elephants every year. the problem so bad, central africa has now lost almost two-thirds of its elephants. arwa damon went along on a hunt for the poachers, where shots were fired, the end, a sad find. this is a cnn exclusive, and got to warn you here, these images are graphic. >> reporter: it's been eight, grueling, hot hours on this river. chasing poachers in the republic of congo's largest national park. for these eco guards, disappointment follows disappointment. >> when you put your hand inside, it's actually still quite warm, which means that they probably left early in the morning. >> reporter: finally, around a bend, signs of activity. smoke rising along the bank.

they rush ashore and fan out into the jungle. within seconds, a gunshot. and the pursuit begins. the terrain is dense and disorienting. the men force their way through the undergrowth and slosh through water. our cnn team can barely keep up. they've all gone forward, trying to chase down what seems to be a poacher, who at least most definitely is armed. they appear to have caught him completely by surprise. the head of the park's anti poaching division brandishes the weapon captured by one of his men. >> tried to shoot him. >> reporter: hooked on adrenaline, he describes what happened. he tried to shoot me, like this,

he says. he tackled the poacher, grabbing the gun, but the poacher got away. >> there is elephant meat in the boat. >> reporter: they find the boat filled with fresh elephant meat, still dripping blood. even more hangs off the sides. it's a sickening image of a trade that has decimated the park's elephants. the nonprofit group african-american parks estimates that central africa has lost 62% of its forced elephants in the last decade. in this park alone, thousands have been killed in the last five years. in the week we spent here, we only saw one alive. the park, about the size of connecticut, is patrolled by just 76 eco guards. not nearly enough. but some 40% of them are former poachers themselves, which helps big-time. >> they know how poaching works. so it's easy for them to think like them. >> reporter: it's part of a

program created in the last year, where poachers are given amnesty if they hand over their weapons and confess. he says this raid is proof his program works. but the unit's successes come at a price. this is a country where corruption is routine, and where poaching with impunity has been a way of life. all these echo guards have been threatened. frank tells us, three men attacked his wife. they tried to rape her, but she was strong, she pulled back, and her dress ripped off and she ran away, he says. the same men who are part of his villages poaching ring tried to attack him. he stabbed one of them. the unit doesn't find any elephant ivory, but does end up with four guns, ammunition and a cell phone, a potential lead to the poachers. the eco guards torch the camp, to send a message. these men often find themselves

pursuing people they once worked with, friends, neighbors, and even family members. in the ever-evolving fight against the ivory trade, out here, it's now personal. >> arwa damon is joining us live from london. very, very powerful, arwa, your reporting there, and the fact you went behind the scenes with many brave men who were literally following the poachers. at did you learn? were they discouraged when they saw all of the elephant meat and tusks and everything? is this an ending battle, a losing one? >> reporter: you know, we were talking to them about that. because their successes are so limited. it's only about 1% of the time they're able to make a significant bust. but for them on that particular day, just the fact that they were able to get those four guns, and that's what was important to them, at least four guns out of the hands of poachers. for them, that was something of a fairly significant victory. but one doesn't really appreciate just how similar this

is to guerilla warfare until one is actually on the ground with them, seeing how dangerous the situation actually is. and, of course, you were hearing from them there, the fact they have all been threatened, even the head of the division. he had to move his family out of the park headquarters, where they were living to the capital to try to keep them safe, because of the intensity of the threats they were getting. >> arwa, is there any fear when you're following the poachers, when they're following the poachers, the poachers will turn around and start shooting back at them? it seems like it would be a very dangerous situation. >> reporter: it is. and it potentially can be. although based on what they were telling us, a lot of the times the poachers will just fire a few shots, and then try to run away and escape the scene. of course, then the challenge for the eco guards is trying to track them down, and our story that's going to be coming up tomorrow is actually whether or not they were able to find enough clues at that site, that poacher's campsite to track down

the individuals that carried this out. >> excellent work, arwa. and, of course, we are going to be following and carrying your series in the noon hour throughout the week. thank you very much, arwa. appreciate it. a coast of england getting hammered now with huge waves and some of the worst flooding in years. going to show you what happened as these folks were filming the coastline. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

great britain seeing some of its worst flooding in years. wind gusts as high as 70 miles per hour. we are shown this powerful storm. >> reporter: days of torrential rain and high winds have battered the english coastline. just take a look at this video taken by kevin ice in sussex, england. he posted it on youtube. and you can see the cliff just collapses, because huge waves have battered its base. and that's what caused it to fall. people have been warned to stay away from the coastline and the environment agency has also said there could be more flooding and more rain is expected over the next 48 hours. >> check this out. some people in toronto, they actually thought there were burglars who were trying to bust down their doors, that there was a gun battle outside their homes. but that's not the case. what they were actually hearing were frost quakes. they are like sonic booms. and this is what happens.

they happen when water freezes in the ground, expands, and then basically blows up. it's kind of like an earthquake, but closer to the surface. frostquakes usually happen farther north in canada, so people in toronto not really used to them. one person tweeted here, awakened by a loud boom. thought a family member was in trouble. absolutely amazing. thanks for watching "around the world" today. cnn "newsroom" starts right now. cnn "newsroom" starts right now. have a good afternoon. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now, the coldest temperatures in 20 years sweeping across the united states. memphis, tennessee, get this, colder than anchorage, alaska in atlanta. colder in moscow. how dangerous are these bone-chilling temperatures? right now, the supreme court calls a halt to same-sex marriages in utah, at least temporarily. we'll talk about what happens next and what this means for newly married same-sex couples in that state. and right now, president obama is bhe