-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com olympics in danger. a new video promises violence and raises fresh, serious security concerns. will the winter games be safe? the bridge scandal deepens. new accusations against chris christie and his administration this morning about their handling of superstorm sandy funds. was another new jersey mayor threatened with political payback? just two remain! amazing games set up a supersized super bowl. we'll have all the highlights, plus, what happened after the final whistle that has everyone

talking this morning. >> good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> and i'm john berman. great to see you this monday, january 20th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. up first, with the olympic winter games in sochi, russia, 18 days away, there are new questions this morning about whether the athletes and spectators will be safe. a new video posted by islamic militants claims responsibility for last month's deadly terrorist bombings in the city of volgograd, threatens next month's games as well. russian president vladimir putin says they'll do their utmost to keep sochi safe. this happening as the olympic torch relay goes through volgograd this morning. cnn's phil black is there. he joins us live by phone. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, christine, the olympic flame arrived here in volgograd, coming into the train station just three weeks after terrorists walked into that same station building and blew himself up, killing 18 people. there was another attack the next day that killed 16 people. and now, only yesterday, this video has surfaced featuring two

men who claim responsibility for that attack and more ominously promise there will be more to come, especially during the olympics themselves. they say they have prepared what they describe as a present for russian tourists who will be in sochi during the games. they say they have a long list of people who are prepared to support them and take part in the actions that they have planned and that all of this is in response to the blood of innocent muslims which they say has been spilled around the world. it is just the latest indication that there are still terrorists in this country with the determination, and perhaps, the capability to exploit the international focus that will be on russia during that two-week period, christine. >> and part of that international focus will be american athletes and also american tourists. how are u.s. officials reacting, phil? >> reporter: there is real concern among some, and the concern is that the russian message that their security preparations are thorough, that everything is ready to go, that the olympics are safe, well,

that that may not match the reality on the ground. take a listen. >> so, what we're finding is, they're not giving us the full story about what are the threat streams, who do we need to worry about. are those groups, the terrorist groups who have had some success, are they still plotting? you know, there's a missing gap, and you never want that when you go into something i think as important as the olympic games. >> i would not go. and i don't think i would send my family. >> reporter: and defense analysts will tell you that even if the russians are successfully locking down sochi, they cannot lock down the whole country. and the lesson of the bombings here in volgograd is that there remain other vulnerable targets across this country which cannot thoroughly be protected during the olympics, christine. >> all right, phil black for us this morning in volgograd, russia. thanks, phil. >> pretty interesting to hear u.s. officials, leaders saying they would not go to russia

right now to the olympics due to the security situation, so pretty substantial. here at home, we have breaking developments concerning another allegation of political payback against new jersey governor chris christie. did the governor and his team withhold sandy relief funds to a key city as political payback? we are expected to hear a response in a few hours from lieutenant governor kim gudano. breaking overnight, a source tells cnn she will categorically deny the claim by hoboken mayor dawn zimmer that officials threatened to

developing this morning, temperatures across much of the midwest and northeast expected to plummet to near zero. and well below this weekend.

welcome back to "early start." a possible stumbling block for peace talks on syria.

overnight, u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon invited iran to the talks, set to start wednesday in geneva, but the move has drawn strong objections. nick walsh is live in brut. what can you tell us? >> reporter: christine, over the weekend, it was a muted celebration that the syrian opposition had agreed to attend these peace talks in geneva, the first real talks of that kind during this, for now, many three-year-long, brutal civil war. but simply, just as the joy had begun to establish itself, ban ki-moon extended this invitation to iran. now, the u.s. has been staunchly against iran's attendance, as has the syrian opposition. iran says they won't accept the main precondition that most parties have for their attendance, which is that they will be willing to discuss a government to replace the syrian president, bashar al assad. that's, of course, something which bashar al assad has been staunchly against, and in fact, he repeated suggestions he

wasn't even going to be interested about talking about stepping down. an interview with the foreign press news agency just on sunday but released earlier today saying he might stand for re-election again. so, just when people had begun to think those talks could happen on wednesday, they seem to be falling apart. the syrian opposition saying they're suspending their decision to actually attend. iran, perhaps, also trying to put on a positive face, saying it's suspending some enrichment of uranium as part of the nuclear deal, but really, many wondering if these vital talks on syria can actually still go ahead in geneva wednesday. christine? >> nick paton walsh in brut for us. thanks, nick. this morning also a whole lot going on in this region, especially with iran. the landmark nuclear deal between iran and six world powers is now under way. this is an interim agreement under which tehran promises to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for economic sanctions being eased. so, it is, in effect, as of this morning, cnn's reza sayah is

monitoring developments. reza, what is the latest? >> reporter: watershed day, john, for iran, washington and the world powers. remember, all sides agreed on an interim nuclear deal back in november. today that deal is put into action. all sides start doing what they promised they'd do on paper. for iran, that means halting 20% enriched uranium and diluting its current stockpile. according to state media, that process started within the past ho hour. with this, technically, iran will not be able to produce the fuel necessary to make a nuclear bomb. international inspectors arrived in iran a couple days ago. they will verify that the process is taking place in the coming hours. iran also agreeing not to commission its heavy water reactor, another potential source for nuclear fuel. iran also agreeing for daily inspections by international inspectors. in return, they get sanctions relief worth roughly $7 billion. this deal will be in place for

six months while all sides agree on a tougher, permanent deal. in the meantime, look for opponents, critics of this deal,

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threatens safety at the olympic games in sochi, just 18 days away.

meantime, the olympic torch relay is going through volgograd today. cnn's phil black is there and joins us live. big concerns about what has already happened there and about the ominous threats about what could happen going forward, phil. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, christine. the olympic flame arrives here this morning amid very, very tight security, and it is just three weeks since the train station behind me

safe, may not entirely reflect the reality. take a listen. >> so, what we're finding is they're not giving us

through and expedite the rockefeller project. >> reporter: zimmer says she met with federal investigators concerning these accusations. i'm joined by cnn political editor paul steinhauser, live in our washington bureau. paul, what's interesting to me here is this deals with superstorm sandy. for so long, we've seen it as an area

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super bowl xlviii, the denver broncos punched their ticket with a win over the patriots. it was billed as manning versus brady, but manning was the better player, by far, on sunday. seahawks' top-rated defense carried them to a 23-17 win over the rival, the san francisco 49ers. they are heading to their second super bowl appearance in franchise history. super bowl xlviii, a good one, will be played on february 2nd at new jersey's metlife stadium. >> i thought tom brady looked like he was going to cry after that game. he wanted it so bad!

>> he did get to go home to gisele bundchen, though. just saying. it's true! it's true. >> chris cuomo. >> chris cuomo's here with what's coming up on "new day." >> i think he was upset because he can't believe how many receivers he missed. very unbradiesque performance. >> true story. >> of course, he didn't have many guys to throw to. j.b. has softened me up to the pats, lifelong jets fan, wearing my jets green today. peyton hang was great, has a much better team, as well, though. i think we got it right with the horses and the hawks coming up. >> sure did. here's what we're doing today. it's mlk day, obviously, and we want to celebrate the great leader's message of peaceful discourse, and that way through change, but we're not seeing a lot of that throughout the world today as we cover it. first, dealing with chris christie, no peaceful discourse going on right there right now. ugly allegations facing the governor, new ones from a local mayor, saying she, too, was

strong-armed. sandy funds being held back unless she did what the governor's office wanted. a message involving the lieutenant governor. we'll bring in the congressman who called for the federal investigation. we're going to question him vig obviously about whether or not this warrants federal investigation and why. we're going to talk to a chief republican defender, former mississippi governor, about how he sees this chris christie situation. and then we're also going to talk about the new threat against the olympics. it's not just

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