ch you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. chiming in on whether he thinks it will be fair. >> at least one dozen people are dead after a fire raced through an apartment building in new york city. and apple's apology. what it's now doing in response to the outrage over the slowing down of older iphones. >> hands off our iphones. >> i know. just let them do what they're supposed to do. welcome to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. we're coming to you live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. from cnn world headquarters, "newsroom" starts right now.

it's 2:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast. the u.s. president is speaking openly, candidly, about the russia investigation and the u.s. justice department. some of his comments surprising. >> right. he tells "the new york times" he believes special counsel robert mueller will treat him fairly if the russia investigation. mr. trump also told the newspaper the probe makes the country look very bad and it puts the country in a very bad position. so the sooner it's worked out the better it is for the country. >> here's another thing. mr. trump repeated 16 times during that interview that the probe had uncovered no collusion with russia. michael sheer is one of the reporters who worked on the "times" story. listen. >> it was about a half an hour interview and totally impromptu down at the president's golf club in west palm beach, florida. but there was a lot there. the thing that struck us most

was the comments that the president made about the russia investigation. notably, that he thought bob mueller was going to be fair to him, which really undercuts and undermines an argument that many in his party have been making for the last several weeks, that they've been attempting to discredit and undermine mueller's investigation, calling it partisan. so this kind of goes against that. >> well, let's talk now with scott lucas. he's a professor of international politics at the university of birmingham and founder and editor of ea world view. joining us from england. scott, happy holidays. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> first, it's interesting how this interview came about. in the grill room at his golf club in west palm beach, florida. no white house aides were around. and he talked about the russia investigation all by himself. what do you make of that? >> well, some things are not surprising. i am not shocked that donald trump would say again and again absolutely no collusion with russia. >> he said it 16 times.

>> 16 times. just to make sure. but we do have this takeaway, after weeks of trying to undermine special counsel robert mueller and the fbi not only through statements from white house sources but from donald trump himself on twitter saying they were unjust, they were biased against him, they were unfair, they were compromised by supporting hillary clinton, he says oh, well, robert mueller is now okay, i can deal with him. the reason why? we know from sources, multiple sources that donald trump believes that he will soon be cleared of all charges by muell mueller. at times he gets frustrated and angry, but at other times, including because he gets people who say it's all going to be okay, he thinks that this will be swept away. he thought it would be swept away by thanksgiving. then it was christmas. now it's the new year. here's the question. when it becomes clear that this investigation will not disappear in the next few weeks and that donald trump will not be absolv absolved, and he won't be

because there are still many witnesses to be interviewed, many documents to be looked through, will he again get frustrated and then turn against mueller and once more say that mueller and the fbi are institutions that are damaging the u.s. and his allies will say they're planning a coup against the president? >> right. he's up, he's down, he's up and down. this investigation certainly has had its wear and tear on this president. so we'll wait and see what happens next. it is interesting, as you say, that republicans and conservative news outlets are also going after mueller and all of a sudden the president is standing by him. let's look at another quote that he gave answering a question about hillary rodham clinton and the e-mail investigation, whether he would bring that up again. he said, "i have absolute right to do that, do what i want to do with the justice department." >> that goes back to the trump that we know and love, and that is that he sees no reason why

the justice department should work in effect independently, including with mueller. he was angered that attorney jeff sessions recused himself from the investigation. therefore, sessions could not limit it. he has been angered with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein for not clamping down on the investigation. and what he has effectively said, in contrast to the rest of the interview, is look, i can do whatever i want to with these agencies regarding the inquiry. well, of course, he can't. and the danger here is that when trump finds out he can't work with agencies, we get episodes, as we get in may, when james comey was fired as the fbi director. and that raises the possibility of obstruction of justice. so far from sweeping away the investigation statements like these by trump often reinforce it. >> right. he brought up president obama and his attorney general eric holder saying holder was loyal to president obama, indicating his frustration of course with his attorney general jeff sessions, who recused himself

from the russia investigation. what do you make of that? >> well, we know that he was frustrated not only with sessions but to reinforce the point that we've just made he asked james comey, the fbi director, for a personal pledge of loyalty soon after the inauguration. he repeated that request until comey was fired. that is part of the case that has been made against trump by his critics, which says he tried to step in and kill this investigation, which would be obstruction of justice. now, whether robert mueller agrees with that, we have to wait and see. but i think it's interesting that trump, you know, we get these moments where he's a bit more relaxed, he's not as aggressive, he's had a few days away from washington, where he prefers to be in florida, yet even when he's relaxed he leaves these hostages for fortune. and once we get back to washington in the new year and the pressure's back on everything can get intense. and remember, one other thing, on a different topic we're talking about, this is the same man who last night denied climate change. just went on twitter and flat

out said you know, it's going to be really cold on new year's eve, therefore climate change must not be happening. which of course is a shot across the bow against all scientists and all people who think maybe this climate change is real. >> right. scott lucas. thank you. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and we'll talk about that climate change tweet a little later here on the show. confusing climate with weather. big difference there. in the meantime, a tweet from the u.s. president sent out thursday morning, it's raised some eyebrows. >> mr. trump wrote, "caught red-handed. very disappointed that china is allowing oil to go into north korea. there will never be a friendly solution to the north korea problem if this continues to happen." >> also from that interview with the "new york times" the president said this -- "china hurting u.s. very badly on trade, but i've been soft on china because the only thing more important to me than trade is war." let's go live to cnn's alexandra field following the story live in beijing this hour.

always a pleasure to have you. alexandra, this response a very sharp one from the u.s. president. has there been any response, though, to the tweet or the accusation? >> well, the accusation has had a response, george, and that tweet "caught red-handed" is certainly sure to garner some notice, some attention. that said, it probably won't shock people here, they have seen president trump take this kind of tone with china throughout this past year when it comes to the issue of how to rein in and deal with north korea. on the allegation itself, this accusation that china is allowing oil into north korea, a move that bo defy u.n. sanctions, the ministry of foreign affairs did respond to that earlier this week, denying those allegations and those accusations. and that was actually a direct response to south korean media reports which suggested that there were satellite images showing chinese ships transferring oil to north korean vessels. flat out you had the ministry of foreign affairs here saying that

that wasn't happening, that china is doing its part in fully implementing and upholding these wide-ranging u.n. sanctions that you have seen leveled against north korea several times throughout the course of the last year. the spokesperson for the ministry went on to say that if there was evidence that chinese ships were involved in this kind of practice that this is something that would be dealt with. fast forward, you get this very accusatory tweet from president trump, and now we are hearing from state department officials, one official who is saying that the state department is aware that there has been an effort to skirt u.n. sanctions by using ships to transfer prohibited goods, that involves refined petroleum and also coal coming from north korea. this state department official says that ships from several different countries appear to be involved in this and that some of the ships come from china. so we are awaiting further response from officials here in beijing, but they continue to put out the same line, really, in the face of all accusations from the trump administration, that they are doing their part to uphold sanctions.

this is a touchy issue for china. we know that it's the priority of the trump administration of course to cut off the resources that fund the illicit activities of the regime. they want to cut off the flow of oil to north korea because the economy there and the military are so heavily dependent on the foreign oil that comes from china. again, it's touchy for china because they don't want to spark a crisis on their doorstep, the kind of crisis that could send millions of refugees coming across that border right here into mainland china. george, natalie? >> alexandra field following the story live in beijing. thank you. in new york city at least 12 people are dead after fire swept through an apartment building. four others are critically injured. >> the fire commissioner says the fire started thursday evening, started on the first floor of the building and then spread fast. the youngest victim, a 1-year-old baby. new york's mayor called it the worst fire tragedy in 25 years. >> we're here at the scene of an

unspeakable tragedy. in the middle of the holiday season a time when families are together. tonight here in the bronx there are families that have been torn apart. this is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century. based on the information we have now, this will rank as one of the worst losses of life to a fire in many, many years. >> it's a terrible tragedy. the cause of the fire still under investigation. but here's the thing. more than 100 firefighters, they fought that fire in extremely cold conditions. >> jay dow from cnn affiliate wpix has the latest from the scene. we warn you, though, some might find this video disturbing. >> reporter: it now ranks as one of the worst fires in new york city history in recent memory. >> go! >> reporter: residents stood in

13 degree weather thursday night and watched as firefighters frantically wheeled one unresponsive victim after another, performing chest compressions along the way. away from a burned five-story building at 2363 prospect avenue in the belmont section of the bronx. >> the last i heard was my mom text my sister that they were trapped in the room. >> reporter: christine, she declined to share her last name, stood in shock at the corner. her mother's last text message, she was trapped in her third-floor apartment with her 8-month-old granddaughter with no way out. >> i asked if the third floor was cleared, and i just -- they just looked at me and looked away. >> reporter: residents recall climbing out of their apartment windows to escape the fire, which they told us may have started on one of the lower floors. >> what floor do you live on? >> third floor. >> third floor? >> yeah. >> you saw the smoke coming in your apartment? >> yes. >> and that's when you left through the back window? >> yes. >> you climbed down the fire

escape? >> yes. >> get out of the way, now! move, move, move, please! >> so no word on the cause of that fire in new york. now we turn to mumbai, india. at least 14 people there were killed in a fire at a rooftop restaurant. most of the victims women attending a birthday party. 21 others were injured. >> the fire reportedly started in a top-floor restaurant before overtaking the whole building. police say the restaurant's owner and manager could be held responsible for homicide. the united states and turkey have taken steps to ease rising tensions. on thursday they lifted all visa restrictions on each other's nationals, ending a nearly three-month dispute. >> it started when turkey arrest a local u.s. staff employee for suspected ties to exiled cleric fethullah gulen. turkey blames him for that failed coup last year. the number of people killed in the war in yemen keeps

growing. the u.n. reports 68 civilians were killed in separate air strikes tuesday. by thursday, 109 civilians had been killed. that's in just ten days. >> tuesday's air strikes hit areas by iran-backed houthis in western yemen. a u.n. official said all parties in the conflict had shown a complete disregard for human life. the saudi-led coalition dismissed his comments as biased. well, apple is trying to make amends after admitting it slowed down the performance of some of its older iphones. what the company is offering some of its customers. the story ahead. also, millions of people in the northern u.s. are dealing with freezing temperatures and lots of snow. we're talking lots of snow. meteorologist derek van dam will give us the lowdown coming up here. ♪ let out your inner child at the lexus december to remember sales event. lease the 2017 rx 350 for $399 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪

apple is scrambling to counter customer outrage and multiple lawsuits after it revealed it deliberately slowed older model iphones. apple says chemical aging of batteries could be one reason behind the lower performance of iphone 6 and 6s devices.

they say they'll cut the price of battery replacement and issue a software update to help monitor battery health. >> my wife has always thought something was happening with those phones. the company issued a letter to customers stating this in part, "we know that some of you feel that apple has let you down. we apoll jooid. we have never and would never do anything intentionally to shorten the life of any apple product or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades." >> let's bring in cnn tech reporter heather kelly. nice to see you. but apple did say it deliberately slowed down the iphone operation. so what's up here? >> it did. it's important to know if you read the letter today it's not actually apologizing for slowing them down. it's more apologizing for how it was communicated or rather not communicated at all to customers. and it's going to keep on doing it going forward. it's just going to try to be a little more transparent with what it's doing with this update it's going to roll out soon with

ios. and it's going to help people get up to the full potential with cheaper batteries. >> so the apology seemed a little bit less than sincere. what's up here with apple? is it losing its way sort of? >> i don't think it's less than sincere at all. i think they're being very careful about what they're apologizing for. it's actually a pretty clever workaround, like on the tech side, as a way of stopping these phones from shutting down automatically because their batteries are old. i think it's kind of clever. but it's obviously angered a lot of people. hence the many lawsuits, which i'm sure apple is not pleased with. i mean, it will be seen like if they can get over this loss of trust, this letter shows they're definitely a little panicked about that. >> and how are people, people that have been kind of curious about their iphone and what it's been doing, george's wife is one of them p if they're thinking what's wrong with my iphone, how will you know if this is how you're being affected, this is

the situation? >> well, it's only certain iphones. they're looking at iphone 6 and later. if you have an iphone -- an iphone 7 and later, you shouldn't really be experiencing too much of this problem. at least not yet. it could come up in the future. you can definitely go to an apple store and ask them to check the life of your battery, how many charges it has on it, what percentage it's at, and they can tell you if it's time to pay that $29 for a new battery. >> beats the 70-something-dollar charge. do you think this will do anything to customer loyalty or tarnish apple's integrity? >> i mean, we have like a little apple scandal maybe once a year. i don't know if this is batterygate. it doesn't seem to have a lasting impact. in the end iphones are often a superior product to the competitors and doing clever things like this might be one of the reasons why. but they definitely need to work on communication about these kinds of issues. >> right. in this era of apologies for other things we've been seeing apple needs to get its apologies

straight, learn how to apologize. >> big year for apologies. definitely. >> heather, thank you. >> sure. thank you. >> text me. i'll see if i get this quickly. >> or not. a blast of arctic air has brought record low temperatures and historic amounts of snowfall to parts of the united states. look at that. some of these images just incredible. >> yeah, that right there is ohio. it got so cold in an area that parts of brandywine falls in cuyahoga national park just froze right over. >> very cold. the u.s. president also weighing in on these cold temperatures. take a look at this tweet. "in the east it could be the coldest new year's eve on record. perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming that our country but not other countries was going to pay trillions of dollars to protect against. bundle up," the president says. donald trump is right that the temperatures will be frigid for new year's eve.

but the tweet misleading. look, this is a very clear distinction, so between climate and weather. >> that's right. he did get the fact that new year's eve forecast is looking absolutely frigid in new york city. but just as you mentioned, he is kind of almost suggesting that global warming doesn't exist. and we know there are facts and science to prove that wrong. and what's really interesting is that noaa has just released that 2017 looks to be ranked as one of the top three warmest years on record. okay? so that is just one of many scientific backgrounds we could look at. we've got 2016, 2015 coming in in a close first and second. and then you see pictures like this. this is in minnesota, the minnehaha falls freezing over. and you say global warming? what global warming? well, there is a marked difference between the weather and the climate, as george

mentioned. trying to explain this to you, weather phenomenon is something that is measured in how the atmosphere behaves between minutes and, let's say, as far as a week or two in advance. the climate, however, is how the atmosphere behaves over an average of at least 30 years. so you can see the difference there. we're talk iing short-term vers long-term trends in patterns across the world. one thing's for sure, the weather pattern, the distinct change in the jet stream that's going to pull our arctic air in from the north is going to bring temperatures downhill for new year's eve across the new england coastline, including in new york city where the big apple is and where the ball will be dropping at midnight on the 31st. of course 8 degrees is one of the coldest temperatures ever for a minimum temperature at least for new york city on new year's eve. in fact, it ranks up there as the coldest since 1962, just as donald trump suggested. of course when you start factoring in the wind, that

brings down your body temperature. you have the risk of hypothermia and that's not what we want to see. national weather service suggesting people bundle up. obviously, it's going to be cold. wind chill factor is well below freezing in many locations. just seeing images like this just incredible to see what the u.s. is dealing with right now. but again, a marked difference between weather and climate. we'll end with this because everybody loves this type of video. this time of year. this is actually frozen -- excuse me, boiling water turning to ice crystals in a matter of seconds. that's how close it is across the midwest. >> i was up in new york and i'll tell you, i've never experienced cold walking in the streets of new york city like that. i was like get me out of here. >> and i know you fly back to new york city this weekend, and it will be even colder. >> awesome. >> maybe stay in atlanta. >> yeah, i think so. >> derek, thank you. all right. a wisecracking star of the 191960s "dick van dyke" show has died. >> she was a charmer. rose marie was 94 years old. the actress and singer played

the witty sally rogers on the sitcom. her trademark black bow in her hair, always searching for a husband, and earning three emmy nominations along the way. >> born rose marie mazzena, she was first a child star, baby rose marie, who began her nine-decade career at just 3 years old. besides numerous acting and nightclub gigs, she became a fixture on tv game shows. rose marie died at her home near los angeles. >> she was a good one for sure. well, it's official. alabama gets its first democratic u.s. senator in a quarter century. but the republican who wanted the job still won't admit he lost. that's coming up. plus a high-speed rail station opening soon in jerusalem named for the u.s. president. how israel is getting swept up in trump mania. "cnn newsroom" live around the world and in the u.s. stay with us. shield annuities from brighthouse financial, allow you to take advantage of growth opportunities. with a level of protection in down markets.

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and welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom" live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you. this hour, u.s. president donald trump says he believes the special counsel robert mueller will treat him fairly in the russia probe. that puts him at odds, though, with other republicans who've criticized mueller lately. the president insisted in that interview 16 times to the "new york times" that there was no collusion with russia. at least 12 people were killed in a fire at a new york city apartment building. four others are in critical condition. the youngest victim, a 1-year-old baby. the mayor calls it's worst fire tragedy in new york in 25 years.

former international football star george weah set to become the next president of liberia. in a runoff election carrying more than 60% of the vote. apple is apologizing over slowing the speed of some of its iphones. it says battery may be behind the performance. apple says it will cut the price of battery replacement and issue a software update to help monitor battery power. the u.s. state of alabama a deep red state that typically votes republican but it's about to get its first democratic u.s. senator in 25 years. >> democrat doug jones has now been certified as the winner of this month's special election. in january he will fill the seat left vacant by jeff sessions, who was picked to become u.s. attorney general. >> as you can see, the final vote against republican roy moore was close but not close enough to trigger an automatic recount under state law. we get the latest now from cnn's diane gallagher.

>> broke every record in the history of the state for special election. >> reporter: doug jones officially certified by the state of alabama to be its next u.s. senator. >> this election has been conducted with the utmost integrity. it's been safe, secure. it's been credible. >> reporter: in spite of a final hail mary from the roy moore campaign alleging potential voter fraud. >> this election was fraudulent, and what we need to do is ask the secretary of state to do his job and to investigate this. >> reporter: moore's refused to concede to jones after losing the election earlier this month by more than 20,000 votes. >> when the vote is this close, it is not over. >> reporter: but most republicans, including the president, have called for moore to concede. >> as far as roy moore, yeah. it's certainly -- i would certainly say he's done. >> reporter: and the state of alabama says those voter fraud accusations just aren't true. >> people are entitled to their own opinion, but they're not entitled to their own facts. >> reporter: moore calling to delay certification until there is a thorough investigation and

for a new special election. but minutes before the state certification a circuit court judge denied moore's complaint. the complaint alleges out of state residents had been allowed to vote in that election. fraud experts concluded that fraud had taken place. one of those experts is richard charnin, who has blogged about jfk conspiracy theories and the murder of dnc staffer seth rich. and moore is questioning the high voter turnout in jefferson county where a large percentage of the population is black, calling it highly unusual. the alabama secretary of state says many voter fraud complaints have already been dismissed. >> more than 60 of those have already been fully adjudicated and dismissed. but we have several that are still active and we'll continue to investigate those until they are fully adjudicated. >> reporter: doug jones' campaign released a statement saying, "this desperate attempt by roy moore to subvert the will of the people will not succeed. the election is over. it's time to move on." moore's complaint also brings up allegations he had relationships with teenage girls while he was in his 30s and several others

accusing him of assault. moore denied those accusations throughout his campaign. >> these allegations are completely false. i did not date underage women. i did not molest anyone. >> reporter: but he released an affidavit he signed of a polygraph test he says he took after the election over the allegations made against him. moore states, "the results of the examination reflected i did not know nor had i ever had any sexual contact with these individuals." >> the democrat senate-elect will head to washington to begin serving in january. >> all right. diane gallagher reporting there for us. now to israel, where you could soon drive down donald trump street. a picnic at a park named for the u.s. president. or even visit a rail station that has his name. >> it's donald trump-mania. it's a big thank you to mr. trump for recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital earlier this month. for more on that here's oren

lieberman. >> reporter: salahedin street in jerusalem, one of the main arteries to the old city's famed damascus gate. the largely palestinian state named after the great muslim leader goes straight into the heart of the muslim quarter. now a jerusalem city council member wants to name it after a different leader, president donald trump street. it's part of a wave of projects across jerusalem and israel being dedicated to the american president. another street in the southern israeli city of ashkelon also to be dedicated to trump. a park in a city in northern israel will be called donald trump park. the mayor even getting a thank you letter from the president. the biggest project of all will be right in the old city of jerusalem, an underground stop for the soon to be operational high-speed rail named donald j. trump station. the idea came from minister of transportation israel katz. >> translator: people will arrive overseas, pilgrims, jews and muslims. they will come on the train in the safest and quickest path to

the most important places and they will hear on the microphone that you are arrived at the station of the western wall and temple mount named after president donald trump. >> reporter: katz shows me around the planned site of the station entrance. it will leave passengers a few feet away from the western wall. trump became the first sitting u.s. president to visit the holy site in the u.s. city in may, a move that was hailed by the israelis as a diplomatic victory, who saw it as acceptance of israel's control over the holy site. but not nearly as big as trump's recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel. >> but today we finally acknowledge the obvious, that that jerusalem is israel's capital. >> reporter: israel has lauded trump as a hero even as the majority of the world overwhelmingly rejected trump's decision. any change to the status of the old city can set off demonstrations and protests across jerusalem and the region. and the high-speed rail project has already run into its share of controversy since the tel aviv-jerusalem line runs under part of the west bank.

this underground stop in the old city for its location and its namesake is no less controversial, no matter how deep it's buried. oren liebermann, cnn, jerusalem. liberia will soon have a new president. how one of football's all-time greats became a political force in his home country. >> we'll have that coming up. it's been 100 days since maria hit puerto rico and still much of the island will start 2018 in the dark. ♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪

a joyous celebration in liberia as the west african nation welcomes a new president. and he's an ex-footballer. george weah won tuesday's runoff, getting more than 60% of the vote. >> the country will have its first peaceful transition of power since 1944 if weah's inauguration goes snoothly. our patrick snell has details.

>> reporter: dancing on the streets of liberia. supporters of former football star george weah celebrate a hard-fought victory over vice president joseph boika in liberia's presidential election. the country held a runoff vote on tuesday after neither candidate won more than 50% of the vote in the initial ballot in october. this week's election was also delayed after claims of fraud were investigated and later dismissed. weah was extremely popular with the country's youth, who wanted to see change in the country's government, which was criticized for not doing more to tackle problems like poverty and corruption. whether or not the 51-year-old will enjoy success as president is yet to be seen, but he certainly enjoyed plenty on the pitch. among others, mr. weah played for monaco, psg, and ac milan. he was africa's first and only

ballon d'or winner and was named footballer of the year on three occasions. patrick snell, cnn, atlanta. >> patrick, thank you. now to puerto rico. many residents there starting the new year still in the dark. it's been 100 days now. 100 days since hurricane maria struck that island. much of it still doesn't have electricity. >> it's not the way to ring in the new year, is it? cnn's layla sanity yooeg reports that is unlikely to change as well anytime soon. >> reporter: it's more than just the flip of a switch. >> whoo! >> reporter: finally, a hint of what life was like before hurricane maria. after more than three months without power, ida is one of the lucky few who just got power. ♪ >> she says "i want to take a hot shower." that's what she's excited about. a hot shower.

>> reporter: this city in southeastern puerto rico has a massive generator to power its substation. it's enough to power part of the town, not a permanent solution. not enough to turn the lights back on for all 38,000 people. it's always been known for its agriculture. now it's known for that area. where hurricane maria came in with 155-mile-per-hour winds, knocking out electricity immediately. the mayor says he doesn't know when power will be restored. he believes they were the first to deal with maria and they could be the last. mayor rafael surillo was born and raised in these mountains near the coast. he calls maria a monster that destroyed them. he's saying the urban area could get power very soon but this area, the mountainous area, he says it could be summer before they see it, which take note, summer is when the hurricane

season begins. miles away from town, high up in the mountains where the power lines are harder to fix, this woman has little hope her home will be back to normal soon. maria rushed in through the windows and doors and it ruined more than furniture. it ruined her life. for now new paint is all she can afford to fix any of it. >> [ speaking spanish ]. >> reporter: she has no idea when she'll get power back. i'm asking her if she thinks it will be soon. >> no. >> reporter: without power cheryl and her children lost more than the lights. without power they don't have water. the mayor says the problem, constant bureaucratic delays. for a month they had power workers here but not enough materials to actually carry out their work. >> yay!

>> reporter: mayor surillo calls this a start. he says they need more generators, power poles, cables. the u.s. army corps of engineers admits a shortage of supplies stemming from other natural disasters is part of the reason it took so long to get power back to people like ida. >> [ speaking spanish ]. >> reporter: she doesn't have to wash clothes by hand anymore. back in town tonight ida will spend the night in a home overjoyed. power is the best christmas gift they could ask for. but for the families up in the mountains, the sun sets on another night as they wait for their gift to arrive. layla santiago, cnn, yabucoa, puerto rico. >> layla, thanks. >> that was certainly a headline from this year. and coming up here, we'll look at? other headlines from this year, including hollywood, which generated many. some stories were fraught with controversy. >> while others helped renew faith in love. cnn counts down the top entertainment stories when we return. whoooo.

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2017, what a year forehead lines, for royal engagement to a

monumental mixup at the oscars. it's been a big year in entertainment. >> cnn reporter nischelle turner counts down the top stories from hollywood. >> reporter: from political spoofs to muse call tragedies entertainment and news intersected like never before in 2017. >> all right. first of all, i'd just like to announce that i'm calm now. >> "saturday night live" hit records after the latest presidential election and kept the momentum by going by spoofing trump's presidency throughout 2017. >> lock him up. >> alec baldwin's portrayal of the president and kellyanne conway and melissa mccarthy's scene stealing take on sean spicer made it required viewing and earned all three actors emmy

awards. movies aren't just a boy's club anymore. from batman to the avengers, super hero films have dominated the box office over the last decade, but in 2017 wonder woman proved females have just as much power on the big screen. >> your wrath is over. >> the first female led super hero film of the 21st century received critical raves and ruled the summer box office becoming one of the year's highest grossing films. wonder woman also became the biggest live action film ever by a female director turning star gall gadot and patty james into winners. news from taylor swift and jay z, it was a spanish diddy that took over the air waves. "despacito." this became the first spanish tract to hit the u.s. since "the

macarana." it became the most viewed youtube clip with over 4.5 billion views. breaking royal news, prince harry officially engaged to american actress meghan markle. >> it's time for another royal wedding. the pair met on a blind date and harry told reporters he knew the star was the one from the start. >> didn't let you finish proposing. i said, can i say yes now? >> she didn't let me finish proposing. it was like, can i give you the ring? she was like, oh, yes, the ring. >> reporter: all eyes will be on what markle will wear down the aisle when they marry may 19th. la la land. >> the most awkward mixup.

>> faye done away and warren baity screwed it up. moonlight had in fact won the award. >> there's a mistake. "moonlight," you guys won best picture. >> the uncomfortable picture continued as baity explained he had been given the wrong envelope. that proves that when it comes to live tv, well, anything goes. details are coming in very much breaking right now. a terror attack outside an arianna grande concert in may killed 22 people. it injured nearly 60 people. grande returned in early june to have a one love manchester concert and visited fans injured at the royal manchester children's hospital. a few months later a gunman opened fire killing 58 and injuring hundreds more.

it took place during jason aldean's popular route 91 harvest festival. the las vegas attack is the deadliest shooting in american history. aldean paid tribute to the victims with an emotional performance on snl in october. #metoo shakes up hollywood. a series of sexual harassment allegations against numerous hollywood heavy weights sparked an outcry sure to change the entertainment industry forever. harvey weinstein and kevin spacey were a few ofthe men called to task for the alleged indiscretions. #metoo denounced sexual harassment. it was included in "time magazine's" silence breakers person of the year. the power of social media continued to keep entertainment in the news inspiring both change and conversations. it's sure to continue in 2018. nischelle turner, cnn,

hollywood. >> nischelle, thank you so much. in northeast china an art expo is on display for people who are willing to step into the bitter cold, and i mean cold, to see this one. >> it's packed with all kinds of creations made of snow and ice. here's amber walker. >> reporter: a dazzling 3d light show complete with polar bears, tigers, and melting ice effects debuts in china. the lights adorn a model of harbin's saint sophia cathedral made completely of snow. this is the first time a 3d light show has launched at the 28-year-old snow sculpture art expo known as a global leader of snow sculpture art. the main skuculpture is a skier anticipating the beijing olympics in 2022. the annual exhibit is a main feature at the famous harbin ice festival luring sight seers from

all corners of the globe to a series of enchanting winter activities, competitions, glittering light shows. there are penguins that slide, siberian tiger sightseeing and palaces fit for a snow king. a wonder land saturated with rainbow colors sure to bewitch any adventure seeking traveller willing to brave the cold of the frosty ones ahead. amber walker, cnn. >> stunning. that will wrap up our first hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george howell. let's do it again. another hour of "cnn newsroom" will be with us. stay with us. (avo) help control cravings

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a surprising comment from the u.s. president on the russia investigation this hour. fatal fire to tell you about in new york. a baby is among the dead and what the mayor is calling the city's worst fire tragedy in 25 years. and apple apologizes after all the outrage over the slowing down of older phones. now the company's trying to make it up to all of you. we'll see what you think about what they're doing. >> see what's happening with that. 3:00 a.m. here at the u.s. east coast. cnn world headquarters in atlanta. i'm george howell.