this is "cnn newsroom." we want to welcome viewers joining us from the united states and a warm welcome back to our international viewers. i'm errol barnett. >> i'm rosemary church. let's update you on the top stories. world financial markets are looking to rebound from major losses. in the u.s. the dow fell before regaining ground to close down

1.5%. in the asian pacific region, the nikkei finished more than 2 % lower. hong kong is down 1.57%. the shanghai composite finished down more than 3%. >> it appears a 1400-year-old christian monastery was destroyed just months after isis took over mosul in iraq. experts base that on these before and after satellite images from 2014. a former iraqi advisor says he can't confirm that the monastery is what is showing in these pictures. we are now told 22 people have died from the attack on a university in pakistan. four militants were killed in wednesday's siege. a pakistani spokesman claimed responsibility, but another denied any role and condemned the assault.

sarah palin is following up her endorsement of donald trump with campaign appearances wednesday. the former vice president shl is trying to fire up voters in about a week and a half. >> trump is in a tight race there with cruz. he spoke with don lemon about the importance of the endorsement. >> she wanted to endorse me, and she let it be known, and i was actually really impressed. i've had a great relationship with her for a long time now, but the fact that she chose me over many others. >> reporter: other dead cruz. >> her endorsement is powerful, especially in certain areas like iowa. and they wanted that. by the way, the crowd, you saw the reaction today in oklahoma to sarah. it was a very important endorsement, and i was just very

honored she wanted to do that. >> i'm glad you -- >> she didn't come um and say i want that. she wanted nothing. she just wants what's good. she loves the country, and she really wants what's good for the country, don, which is really nice. >> joining me now is josh rogen, our cnn analyst. thank you so much for being with us. let's start with donald trump who is leading cruz by 20 points in the latest cnn poll for new hampshire. that is a significant lead, and now, of course, he has sarah palin's endorsement. what impact is that likely to have on trump's standing yrk do you think. >>? the longer he continues to rise in the polls and gain ground on his nearest competitor, ted cruz, the more and more the pundits and conservative commentators and even mainstream republicans are sort of coming around to the realization that there's a growing possibility,

although not yet a probability he could take this nomination. it also shows that the attacks on ted cruz are working. it shows that the mainstream candidates j jeb bush and marco rubio have failed to do something spectacular that would allow them to break out. and it shows the attacks against trump continue only to fuel his support rather than diminish it. >> on the other side of the political equation, we're also seeing bernie sanders outperforming hillary clinton in head to head matchups in that cnn, wmur poll. that has to have the clinton camp scrambling. what is happening, do you think, and how bad is this for clinton? >> i think the clinton camp realizes they were too late to the game to start to draw a big contrast between clinton and sanders and to sort of go after sanders, not necessarily in a negative way but in a way that might start to impact his

favorable ratings. at the same time, hillary clinton's unfavorable ratings continue to track high, and we see with more and more news leaking out about her trouble with her own e-mail server that she has a two-part problem. she has to keep her own unfavorables low, and she has to start going after sanders' favorable. they have a problem. they're trying to fix it now. >> you mention the server. on top of this, clinton's campaign has accused someone of conspireing with republicans to leak information about her personal e-mail server. let's have a listen to what she said. she relied to it late wednesday. >> this seems to me to be another effort to inject this into the campaign. it's a leek. i'm going to leave it to the experts at the justice

department. nothing changes the fact that i never sent or received material marked classified. >> that is quite an accusation. what sort of evidence does the clinton camp have? >> i interviewed a clinton spokesman today. and he laid out a very circumstantial case. there is no hard evidence that the clinton camp has put forward. they simply connect the string of dots and conclude on their own this this conspiracy is going on. of course, the republicans and the intelligence community deny this. in the end, there's no way to adjudicate this, objectively from the outside. we don't know what's in the e-mails. the fbi investigation that secretary clinton referred to will make the final determination on that. and now that she's put her stock

into that investigation, if it comes autoand derps she did something wrong, she'll have a very big problem, maybe insurmountab insurmountable. >> josh rogen, many thanks for talking with us. appreciate it. >> thank you. lawmakers in michigan have approved $28 million in emergency funding to deal with a crisis in the city of flint. the drinking water is contaminated with lead. >> however, the mayor says fixing the damage to infrastructure and people's health could cost as much as 1 $.5 billion. >> there have been estimates. that's only about infrastructure. how do you put a cost on what's happened to what we've done to people, what's happened to them, and we know we have kids that will need live long services and support. >> the white house has sent an enjoy to flint to help coordinate federal efforts to fix the problem.

barack obama addressed the issue during a visit to detroit on wednesday. >> i am very proud of what i've done as president. [ applause ] >> but the only job that's more important to me is the job of father. and i know that if i was a parent up there, i would be beside myself that my kids' health could be at risk. that's why over the weekend i declared a federal emergency in flint to send more resources on top of the assistance that we've already put on the ground. >> and we are learning new details about how officials in michigan have dealt with the crisis over the past two years. the governor has released all of his e-mails about the situation. >> now, they include comments from one staffer who says it was the city's problem, not the state government's. others seem to dismiss

complaints and even call the issue a political football. we have more here now from sara gannon. >> reporter: melissa maize says the ominous change in the water was particularly noticeable. >> my youngest would say it's yellow, and it would smell like open sewer. we were told we're getting used to the new system. it's safe. it's okay. >> reporter: it was far from okay. flint's tap water was laced with dangerous levels of lead. the state knew about it and did nothing. the trouble began two years ago when the state decided to switch flint from detroit's drinking water to a new system that wouldn't be ready for two years. in the meantime to save money, they switched to the flint river water. that first decision turned out to be a mistake. as did nearly every step the

state back after it. michigan's department of environment tall quality shoulders much of the blame. what a preliminary task force report caused an abysmal response. at the time the state agency told flint it didn't have to add an agent to the water saying it wasn't necessary until two six month monitoring period had been conducted. in other words, they were willing to wait a year to see whether the water was safe. all the while, river water flows through the lead pipes leeching lead and dangerous metals into the water supply, and what came out of the tap in many homes was toxic. almost immediately, residents started complaining. their water was brown. some people droppeveloped rashed became sick. there was bacteria so the city and state officials added c

chlorine and told people to boil water. both mistakes. at city meetings people were told the water was safe. >> we found the worst lead water contamination i've seen in 25 years and i've seen a lot. >> reporter: residents didn't find out about the lead until measuring edwards stepped in. he tested the water early last year. >> it was very scary to see the levels of lead that were hazards waste levels of lead coming out of her tap water. >> reporter: that's right, the lead levels in one home were so high, water from the tap could be considered hazardous waste. it led to an memo, a report which was leaked last summer. it said the high levels of lead in the water were especially alarming because the state's water testing was flawed. so the true lead levels were probably much higher.

>> we were just waiting for the appropriate authorities to help flint residents to enforce federal law. >> reporter: when flint's former mayor asked the epa for more information, she was shot down as you can see in this e-mail exchange obtained by cnn. the regional director writes the preliminary draft report shouldn't have been released outside the agency. only when the report is fully vetted will it be shared with the city. that wouldn't happen until months later. meanwhile, families were still drinking water poisoned with lead. the epa blames the state saying in a statement to cnn, whamd in flint should not have happened and that the epa's ability to oversee was impacted by failures and resistance at the state and local levels. the state was continuing with its own mistakes. according to mark edwards, butchering around a water testing.

. they not only tested the wrong homes but altered the reports eliminating tests from two homes that would have shown toxic levels of lead. the state says the changes were legitimate. >> they fabricated a report that made it appear like flint was passing the lead and copper rule with flying colors. >> reporter: in the fall the government admitted there was lead in the water and flint's was switched back to detroit's water supply. it wasn't until earlier this month that they brought in bottled water and declared a state of emergency. >> coming up in our next hour, we'll hear from a woman whose son was diagnosed with lead poisoning. she's basically a resident turned activist now trying to stop this from happening elsewhere in the country. stay tuned for that. and in the city of detroit, the school system is asking a judge to keep their teachers

from calling out sick as a form of protest. on wednesday, almost all schools there were closed. educators are prothe testing what they say are poor working conditions in public schools, rat infestations, crumbling walls, classroom overcrowding and low pay. detroit school officials say there isn't enough money to fix everything and that the school system is drowning in debt. still to come this hour on cnn news room, 50 million americans are bracing for a major winter storm, and washington d.c. could be facing a blizzard of record proportions. >> plus astronomers think they found a ninth planet, and it's much, much bigger than earth. we'll take a look. how do i know i'm getting the best price on this? we'll match any competitors price. what about this? price match guarantee. and this? yep! so no monkey business, no tomfoolery? oh, we do have tom foolery, tom. staples has a price match guarantee. make low prices happen.

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roads. and the mayor there is asking everyone the to stay home if they can. >> even president obama's motorcade had a hard time getting over the ice. the storm system could affect tens of millions of people. in virginia, there were 163 car accidents reported due to the slippery conditions. >> pedram javaheri is tracking this for us. this will hit the d.c. area hard, but the entire region will be hit. >> it's an expansive area. it's the size of multiple u.s. states put together. the it's parallel to the eastern seaboard. friday night to saturday morning, about 30 million people under winter storm watches. this is ahead of what we have in store in the next couple of days. about 8 million people in store for a blizzard watch. i want to point this out. when you take 8 million people around washington and baltimore, a blizzard watch for a densely

populated area. the most blizzard poen areas in the united states are wisconsin, and minnesota, sparsely populated in those spots. not sparsely populated there. this is profound implications if it happens. and better agreement as far as what would happen now. it pushes offshore. the fringe of it where it goes north or south dictates how much snow is picked up. at this point, high likelihood the heaviest snowfall, some around washington d.c., philadelphia, and lesser amounts toward new york city. take a look at this. see this indication in the dark purple. near the top of the charts when it comes to the amount of snowfall expected. upwards of two feet. now, weather records have dated back to the 1890s across parts of the nation's capital. when you peel it back, two feet

doesn't happen often. only one time it exceeded two feet across the region, back in 1922. there is a wind element to all of this. we get winds that could gust 40 to 55 miles per hour. put this in place for three hours and reduce visibility down, and the definition of a blizzard falls in place. a very treacherous scenario from friday to saturday. i want to bring the forecast in. take a look at what's in store. washington d.c. looks like it would get the bulls eye of the snowfall. new york, around six inches. boston, lesser amounts to around two inches. this is the latest update. the numbers have been changing over the last couple of hours. the it's going to be major impacts if you have any travel plans. the one area of good news is the forecast is for late friday night into early saturday morning at the maximum, and that's a time most people are home as opposed to it happening friday morning around rush hour.

at least some good news. >> there's time to prepare. >> 20 inches? that's horrible. a man in minneapolis is at least having some fun with the freezing weather. tom groting takes blue jeans, dips them in water. when they freeze, they stand up by themselves. >> like there's a bunch of invisible men standing around. >> he started this as a winter prank to cheer up a neighbor. now people look forward to the display every year. two american astronomers have discovered a possible ninth planet in the solar system, and it's not pluto. >> it is so far away it would take up to 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the son. cnn has more. >> reporter: remember when pluto was demoted to a star. space nerds, rejoice. our nine planet glory might be

restored. researchers from cal tech believe they found evidence of a massive planet in our solar system. they have appropriately named it planet nine. they believe the mass could be ten times that of earth and that it dwells far beyond the known planets with an orbit that's 20 times further than the sun from p neptune. they estimate it would take about 20,000 years to go around the sun once. researchers haven't exactly laid eyes on planet nine. they discovered it using computer simulations and math models. unusual orbits and clusters of objects were analyzed. they said they have the result of the gravitational force of planet nine. they're not the first to claim they've discovered another planet. the hunt for planet x has been

on for over a century. every promising claim has been shut down by scientists. that hasn't stopped these from going public with the theory. think want to galvanize the scientific community and prove the existence. happy planet hunting. >> well, if you don't mind getting up before sun rise, the skies are offering a special treat for the next few weeks. from now until february 20th, you can see five planets spanning the sky together at the same time with your naked eye. >> that's kind of cool. mercury, venus, sat the terursa jupiter. >> tomorrow on cnn news room, the happy ending to a story we first told you about back in august. >> a nine-year-old was

considered unadoptable. she was thr he was abandoned at three. he met him at an orphanage in beijing. >> it's hard to find a family for him. we waited for nine years. he waited nine years. >> reporter: a family that promised to adopt him backed out. many of his friends found homes and moved away. now finally, an american family is filing paperwork to adopt him. >> dad, mom, three sisters and grandparents. wow. that's a big family. >> reporter: the wilsons from the kansas city area are trying to raise $36,000 in adoption costs. >> if i have parentings, he says, i can live. i can have a life. his life is still likely months away. an eternity for a young boy who's been waiting nine years for a family. suddenly, no more words. only tears.

it's okay. [ crying ] >> incredible story, and now his wait is finally over. will was with the wilson family as they arrived in china to meet their son and bring him home. that story is tomorrow right here on cnn news room at 8:00 in the morning in berlin. >> rosemary and myself invite you to stay with us today. we have much more coming up in the next hour. >> we are covering u.s. politics, a monster storm and global markets. and we're back in a moment. , the mid-size van from mercedes-benz. it's got small-ability and big-ability. towing-ability and stowing-ability. rack-ability and hvac-ability. it's fully customizable and sized just right to give you cupcake-ability,

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new revolutions of how the state of michigan botched the flint water crisis. newly released e-mails show how it unfolded. nearly 50 million americans are in the way of a dangerous winter storm. and later, a rapper jailed in south africa. now he's rapping about it with kanye west's help. >> this is our second hour. a big welcome to