expressing regret. donald trump's former adviser distances himself from controversial comments attrib e attributed to him about the u.s. president and his family. face-to-face as north and south korea get set for talks, there are hopes it would lead to more dialogue. and a room full of one ertz. oprah winfrey brings hollywood to its feet with a rousing message at the golden globes. >> hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and of course all around the world. we are live in atlanta. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm george howell from cnn's world headquarters. "newsroom" starts right now. the tell-all book "fire and fury" paints a scathing picture

of the trump white house. the white house is pushing back. but there are no signs the fallout from the bookleting up. >> some of the most explosive quotes from "fire and fury" are attributed to steve bannon, president trump's former chief strategist. now bannon says he regrets not responding sooner to what's in the book. he says he still believes this the president and his agenda, and that he never bad-mouthed donald trump jr. as the author suggests. >> when the book came out friday, this despite legal threats from the president's personal attorneys, the president responded furiously on twitter calling it a fake book written by a totally discredited author. >> all of, this though, may be too little too late. we're told president trump is drawing a line in the sand, calling allies and friends, making it clear they must choose between him and bannon. >> our boris sanchez picks it up from here. >> it has now been five full days when we first got the excerpts from "fire and fury"

that drew not only into question the president's fitness for office, but his relationship with his former chief strategist steve bannon. today steve bannon putting out a statement for the first time directly in response to those quotations, specifically taking exception to a meeting where he describes campaign officials and russian nationals at trump tower as treasonous and unpatriotic. saying those were not directed toward donald trump jr. quote, my comments were aimed at pall pall, a seasoned campaign preferential with experience and knowledge of how the russians operate. he should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. to reiterate, those comments were not aimed at don jr. we should point out a trail of e-mails show it was donald trump

jr. who brokered that meeting with russian nationals who then looped in not only paul manafort but the president's son-in-law jared kushner. and in a later e-mail said that he loved the idea of getting dirt on hillary clinton that was being offered to the trump campaign by these russian nationals. the most fascinating part of this statement is the portion in which steve bannon tries to put himself once again in the president's good graces by saying that donald trump was the only candidate that could have defeated hillary clinton and then going a step further and touting his own abilities as a messenger for the president, saying he has taken the america first message as far as hong kong and tokyo. steve bannon here is in a bit of a predicament. over the past few days we have seen not only trump surrogates going after him, but also the president himself, calling him a sloppy steve. earlier today cnn was actually able to confirm that the president has been making calls in recent days to friends and allies, telling them that they either support steve bannon or

they support the president. so it seems as though steve bannon feels his influence shrinking and potentially is trying to salvage his political career by reaching out to the president in this way. boris sanchez, cnn at the white house. >> all right, boris, thanks. we heard from the president's senior policy adviser who appeared on cnn's "state of the union." >> he also had some choice words for the book and its author. >> the book is best understood as a book of poorly written fiction. and i will also say the author is a garbage author of a garbage a book. >> a lot to talk about here. to do so, let's bring in a professional of international relations at university of london, live this hour in our london bureau. always a pleasure to have you with us. >> thank you. >> let's go back to this

situation with steve bannon. he has offered not an apology, but offered regret about a single point about don trump jr. but with the president reportedly calling his friends and allies, telling them to pick between him and steve bannon, does bannon's olive branch of regret even matter at this point in your mind? >> well, it's very difficult to know. as we know with the president, he does change his mind actually about people and about situations. so it's difficult to know. and of course he has had a very long and very interesting relationship with steve bannon. i think bannon's position is not surprising. remember, bannon is very committed to his views on the u.s., on the future of the u.s. and u.s. foreign policy. and i think for bannon, whether he could influence the president and the united states in the course of direction of u.s. policy, whether that's within or without, outside of the white house, both of those things are very important to him. so his admittedly delayed

statement i think is pitched at being sure that he can remain a very serious voice and have important influence over the public debate and over the white house and more specifically over donald trump. how that will turn out is very difficult to know. as you can see, he is at risk now of losing a lot of his backers. but he understands that attacking the president's son is no small thing. and he uses that word "patriotic" clearly as a response to what he was saying earlier, which is that behavior was treasonous. i think it's not surprising given bannon's very clear desire to really push forward with a very nationalist agenda. and to do it from outside the white house. >> bannon now has a new nickname called sloppy steve. here is his question with statement of regret, returning hat in hand to the president. is he accepted again do you think by this president? >> well, again, i don't think

that we can anticipate what trump will feel or say or do in the next day or days when it comes to steve bannon. certainly the last day or two suggests that this is a very major rift. there have been people that we thought were on the way out of the white house that have remained in place. there were rumors of tillerson going or rumors of jeff sessions going. many things changed. of course the relationship between steve bannon and donald trump is very much different. but it's always been that bannon was in the white house, it was a very contentious white house. there were a lot of feuds. the president was i'm sure managing those. it's difficult to anticipate which way this will go, despite the optics, which looks like it's a very deep fracture in the relationship right now. >> all right, this book "fire and fury," it is having an impact. just listen to a republican lawmaker who has already announced his retirement, important to point that out. but speaking out now about his impressions from this book and

its portrayal of the president. listen. >> bottom line is the issues raised in that book do raise concerns for most of us. because clearly the whole idea of impulse control, lack of focus -- and we've heard this before. the book more or less just confirms what many of us had been hearing. >> the question do, you take the book seriously or literally? that was a question back from the campaign. michael wolff has insisted he is uncovering the things people say behind closed doors and it's pervasive throughout the administration. also important to point out, that his techniques questionable with some regards, attribution, things of that regard. but overall the narrative that he paints, can the trump white house easily dismiss it? >> well, i do think it seems to be -- it's widely known that michael wolff plays fast and loose, not only with making his -- those he is interviewing aware they're actually being interviewed. but he also plays fast and loose with the facts. but i think in terms of any

specific incident, one has to be wary. the thing that we can also see, though, people who have very seriously covered this white house throughout the entire presidency, who covered the campaign, who were very credible are saying, and i think for all of white house have followed the trump white house, that the general picture that's being painted is one that is not surprising actually to most people. so it's almost surprising that so many people are interested in the book given everything that we hear and everything that we have read so far. and i've read a good portion of it, but not all of it yet. it isn't so far from what we've already taken to be true about the disfunctionality of the white house. but again, the specific details in much of the book, one can't be sure of. >> always god to get the insider view. leslie vinjivuri, thank you. >> thank you. to a very different topic now on sunday night. the golden globes reminded the world of the power of women. the show honored the best in tv

and film, but it seemed like the trophies took a back seat to flicks year. host seth meyers set the tone addressing the sexual harassment scandals that have plagued hollywood recently. >> they tried to get a woman to host this show. they really did. they say hey, how would you like to come and be judged by some of the most powerful people in hollywood. and women were hmm, well, where is it? they said it's at a hotel, and long story short, i'm your host tonight. >> actor sterling k. brown made history sunday night. he became the first african american to win best actor in a tv drama for his role in "this is us." during his speech he talked about benefitting from color-blind casting. >> what i appreciate so much about this thing is i'm being seen for who i am and being appreciated for who i am. and it makes it that much more difficult to dismiss me or dismiss anybody who looks like me. >> but it was oprah winfrey who brought the crowd to their feet.

she became the first black woman to be awarded the cecil b. demille award for lifetime achievement. and during her heartfelt speech, she addressed the sexual harassment plaguing the industry. >> speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. a new day is on the horizon! when nobody ever has to say me too again. >> those words heard around the world. >> absolutely. >> before the show started celebrities were making statements. they dressed in all black. to draw attention to sexual harassment and to gender inequality, and to show support for the #metoo movement. >> actress michelle williams brought the founder as her guest. they caught up with stephanie elam on the red carpet. >> it's humbling, but it's also empowering. this is such a bold statement

for women who work in hollywood to make in solidarity with women across the world. a person like me, i stand and i represent survivors. i know that so many people on this carpet are survivors. it really makes me feel wonderful. >> and michelle -- >> it's amazing to see the women come up to her with tears in their eyes. because tarana is really among the first. she started the me too movement. because she was among the first, i see you and you're not alone anymore. >> i'm going ask you both this. do you think this is a true changing moment, a real turning point here in hollywood in the post harvey weinstein days? >> i don't think it's just a change in hollywood. it's a worldwide change that we want to hand to all of our daughters. >> i agree. i think the media pays a lot of attention to hollywood because it's hollywood. but these are women who are survivors just like the women survivors who i represent in communities all across the

country. and i do think this is a moment that is going to be lasting. we've never seen anything like this in our lifetimes. and this is not just a footnote. it's going to be the start of something major. >> for more i'm joined by rebecca sun. she is a senior reporter at the hollywood reporter. good to have you with us. so some impressive wins at the golden globe, but oprah winfrey stole the show with an inspiring speech on sexual harassment and freedom of the press that has some suggesting she run for president in 2020. what's being said about her speech and its impact? >> yeah, oprah winfrey's speech was hands-down the highlight of the night. and oprah 2020, oprah for president memes are already trending on twitter. i think she really covered pretty much everything. as you said, she addressed me too. she addressed time's up, saying the time is up where women have to say me too, where sexual harassment and sexual misconduct are hopefully going to become things of the past.

she also talked about intersectionality and talked about the significance of being the first black woman to receive this award. she remembered seeing sydney poitier become the first black man to win a golden globe back in '63. she talked about recy taylor. that's really important. recy was a young black woman who in 1944 was gang raped by six white men, and two grand juries failed to bring indictments against them, which means they were never charged even they admitted they had done it. and she died ten days ago. oprah winfrey really gave recy taylor that platform and really moved the entire room to tears. and i would imagine a lot of people at home as well. >> yeah, incredible. and the golden globes were the first major awards show to go to air since the harassment and sexual misconduct allegations shook hollywood to its core. and we saw significant projects

win big, three billboards, lady bird, big little lie, the ha handmaid's tale and others. what stood out and what will everyone be talking about in the hours ahead, do you think? >> that is what was really interesting. you saw all of the really major awards on the film and television side happened to be really female centric projects. in an earlier era they would been called women's pictures. but now they're being honored in a general sense. "lady bird" was directed by greta gerwig in her directorial debut. she was snubbed for best director win. but her film won best comedy was huge. "the handmaid's tale" and "big little lies" were projects that start and produced by women. what was interesting to me was "three billboards" winning best drama. that race wasn't a sure thing. some thought it would have gone to "the shape of water." some people thought "the post." they looked like they were positioning "three billboards" as a sort of female centric

movie with frances mcdormand's performance grieving the death of her daughter. >> this is more about a cultural correction than an awards night. was that the sense you got? and could this signal some significant shift in hollywood and ultimately society? and seth meyers, did he get that balance right? >> you know, it was a really, really tricky challenge to be able to address, properly address this climate of something so serious, something that really goes beyond hollywood with all of the traditional work of an awards show. you saw a little bit of that awkwardness coming out of oprah winfrey's speech right into the best director category, which natalie portman went off prompter went to note was all men. that was an amazing moment that an unscripted moment that turned out to be another highlight of the awards show. i thought seth meyers did a good show. i thought he really disappeared after the monologue which set the tone. he went right for it. he was very direct.

he name checked and called out harvey weinstein, kevin spacey, woody allen. these were guys who were revered at the golden globes in the past. and now are persona non grata. >> all right, rebecca sun, always great to talk with you. appreciate it. >> thanks. >> still ahead, one of the u.s. president's top advisers comes to cnn to defend his boss from the bombshell new book. >> and it got tense. the details coming your way in just a moment.

welcome back. on tuesday, north and south korea will meet face the face for the first time in more than two years. this meeting considered a breakthrough for the two countries. and there are hopes it will open

the doors to broader cooperation. >> though the u.s. won't be there, president trump says he would be open to talking directly with the north korean leader. but the american ambassador to the u.n. says that does not mean the u.s. is softening against kim jong un's nuclear threats. >> i'm dealing with the diplomats on the ground. i'm dealing with all of the actors in this situation. it is a serious situation, and he can't sit there and imply that he is going to dry drestro united states without us reminding him of the fax and the reality, that if you go there, it's not us that's going to be destroyed, it's you. >> so let's get more on tuesday's talks. we turn to will ripley. you have reported extensively from north korea. just how significant could these talks prove to be? how much is it achievable? >> well, if you think about the fact that there is -- could likely be a north korean delegation coming here to south

korea to march alongside south korean athletes on a world stage, that is a significant achievement in itself. of course, the hope is that beyond the olympics, that these talks could can lead to more conversations about bigger issue, divided families on the korean peninsula, for one example, and north korea's nuclear program. but we have history as an example that talks in the past have looked promising at the beginning only to break down and tensions to reescalate once again. and the united states and south korea are still going to continue with joint military exercises that usually gets some kind of military response from the north that will happen after the olympics. the focus right now, a peaceful pyeongchang winter games. and that's what they're going to be discussing tomorrow morning, 10:00 a.m. local time in an area that is rich in history and considered one of the most tense and potentially dangerous flash points on earth. the korean demilitarized zone, a place where two worlds collide,

dictatorship and democracy staring each other down. >> it's a very, very big reminder of what's at stake on the korean peninsula. >> reporter: the first official talks in two years will be held in panmunjom, the so-called truce village straddling the 38th parallel, the tense dividing line between two neighbors still technically at war. delegations from both sides of the dmz will be sitting a stone's throw away from the path a north koreian soldier took in november in a dramatic defection, shot five times running south. the talks will take place in peace house, one of three buildings in the truce village, built specifically for discussions like this. two in the south, one in the north. >> sometimes the two koreas have disagreements over which side the talks should be on. >> reporter: this time they're on the south side. north korean officials will likely pass through the same blue huts i first visited in 2015, the year the last round of marathon talks took place,

lasting some 44 hours, nearly two days. >> in favor of armed intervention -- >> reporter: to understand the dmz we need to go back to the end of world war ii. the soviets and americans divided korea just like they did germany. most historians say the communist north tried to get it all by invading the south. the north says it was the other way around. technically, the war never ended. an armistice agreement put both koreas back on their side of the dividing line, a standoff nearly 65 years and counting. today north korea is facing its toughest sanctions ever over leader kim jong un's rapidly advancing nuclear program. >> for the north koreans, the motivations to take part in these talks is undoubtedly due to the pressure building up on the country. >> reporter: pressure that only stands to increase in 2018 unless both sides find a diplomatic path, a path that begins here in panmunjom, a

painful reminder of the region's violent pass tense present, and uncertain future. incidentally, today is north korean leader kim jong un's birthday. he is believed to be in his early to mid-30s though his exact birth year has never been publicly verified. it was just a couple of years ago i was in pyongyang on his birthday week hen he ordered a nuclear test. george and rosemary, this year it's peace talks. many around the region and around the world are hoping this will be a sign of things to come for 2018. diplomacy as opposed to military escalation like what we saw last year. >> there is certainly hope for that. and will, u.s. president donald trump is taking credit for the talks taking place. did he have a role to play in pushing north korea to this point? and now of course mr. trump is pushing for talks with the north korean leader himself. could we see that happen? >> as far as the role president trump played, his administration

has been a driving force in these sanctions that have really stepped up the pressure on north korea. and the sanctions are being enforced by what we can at least see on the surface, which means north korea is not able to import things like oil. it's been drastically cut. and north korea is also not able to sell a lot of the things that it uses to bring in revenue. in the medium to long-term, that could bode serious problems for the north korean economy. and the fact that they came to these talks so quickly, within about a week or so, from the time the offer was made to the time the talks happened does indicate that the north koreans are certainly keen to sit down and have conversation cans, starting with the olympics. president trump's tweets, on the other hand, which have included insults of the north korean leader, kim jong un, those certainly would not be viewed as productive because there are a lot of north korean officials who have told me that they're not necessarily sure that the dprk feels they could negotiate with the trump administration given that kind of disrespectful fiery rhetoric and mixed messaging. but a lot of the experts believe

the sanctions would be one reason why north korea is wanting the talk now. >> all right. will ripley, we'll be watching to see what comes of those talks, joining us from seoul in south korea where it is nearly 5:30 in the afternoon. still ahead, one of the president's top advisers appears on cnn. ahead you'll hear some of his frank comments in the interview, defending his boss. plus, a winter storm had already grounded flights. now frustrated passengers are dealing with soggy luggage. the misery gross at jfk airport. we'll take a look at it. back in a moment. ♪

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welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you. this hour, the former white house chief strategist steve bannon says he regrets not speaking out sooner. "fire and fury" quotes steve bannon as being highly critical of president trump and his family. a top trump adviser stephen miller called bannon's comments in the book grotesque. the leaders of north and south korea are sending envoys to meet face-to-face. they'll discuss north korea's desire to compete in the upcoming winter olympics and how to have direct relations between the two countries. at the 75th annual golden globes, oprah winfrey brought the crowd to its feet sunday. she was honored with a lifetime achievement award. during her heartfelt speech, she addressed sexual harassment

against women in the entertainment industry and beyond. many celebrities wore black to draw attention to the issue. shanghai's maritime bureau says there is a continuing risk of explosion and sinking of an oil tanker that collided with a freighter off china's east coast saturday night. meanwhile, the search-and-rescue mission is ongoing for 31 missing tanker crewmembers. the country's ministry of transport says one body has been recovered so far. theta tanker was carrying 136 ts of oil when the accident happened. cnn's matt rivers joins us now from beijing with more on. this matt, what are you learning about this situation and what happened exactly? the circumstances leading up to this. >> yeah, not sure. no word on the cause yesterday in terms of how these two ships managed to collide saturday night. this was an iranian oil tanker and a chinese grain ship colliding.

of course the immediate concern was for those missing crew members. 32 crewmembers from that iranian oil tanker were missing with the ministry of foreign affairs here in china confirming that one body has been found so far. the immediate concern is going to be the search operations for the 31 sailors, those crewmen that still are missing at this point. a difficult task given that there is a fire on board that tanker that is spraying a lot of smoke up into the air. these are very cold waters where the two ships collided. the rescuers have a difficult mission ahead of them trying to find those missing crewmen. if that's the immediate concern, though, the flip side of that will be the potential environmental impact. i mentioned that fire on board the iranian tanker. we're not sure the status of the fire at this point. but what chinese officials have said there is a concern as a result of that fire, there could be an explosion. and a result of the explosion, the tanker itself could sink.

we know that some of the oil on board has already leaked into the surrounding waters. we're not sure how much at this point. but of course if there is an explosion and a subsequent sink ogg after that vessel, that could make that environmental situation even more treacherous. that's compounded by the fact that the kind of oil that son board this ship is an ultra light crude oil. and that is the kind of oil that is colorless. it's not the heavy crude oil that you would think of with your more traditional oil spill out in seas like this. and it makes containing that kind of a spill that much more difficult. we're not there yet. as far as we know, there hasn't been an explosion on board. the ship is still floating at this point. but that is the concern for officials moving forward. the remaining crew that are missing and the potential environmental catastrophe that could occur. >> certainly a challenge lying ahead there as people work to try to find those men on board the tanker. cnn's matt rivers bringing us up to date on the situation.

we'll keep an eye on this story of course. we're returning now to the united states. a closer look at the fallout from the new book "fire and fury." it paints a very unflattering portrayal of the trump administration. >> yeah. former chief strategist steve bannon is quoted extensively, and his comments did not sit well with president trump. mr. trump's senior policy adviser spoke with jake tapper about the book and bannon. and it didn't exactly go well. here is look. >> to president trump and the white house have been calling the investigation a witch-hunt, a nothing burger. he called it treasonous and unpatriotic. and he said, quote, the chance that don jr. did not walk these up to his father's office on the 26th floor is zero. did president trump meet with any of the so-called jumos in

that meeting? >> steve bannon's eloquence notwithstanding, it's tragic and unfortunate that steve would make these grotesque comments, so out of touch with reality and so vindictive. and the whole white house staff is deeply disappointed in his comments, which were grotesque. and with respect to the trump tower meeting that he is talking about, he wasn't even there when this went down. so he is not really a remotely credible source of any of it. it reads like an angry, vindictive person spouting off to a highly discredible author. the book is best understood as a work of poorly written fiction. and i also will say the author is a garbage author of a garbage book. >> you were at the campaign during that trump tower meeting, i believe, in the summer of 2016. just answer the question, because you were there and steve bannon was not. did any of those people from that meeting meet with president trump as bannon says, the chance

that don jr. didn't walk these jumos touch his father's office. did president trump meet with any of the people? >> i have no knowledge of anything to do with that meeting. >> okay. >> but what i can tell you unequivocally is that the allegations and insinuations in this book, which are a pure work of fiction are nothing but a pile of trash through and through. to your comment, he was also the president's chief strategist. so one of the other tragedies of this grotesque work of fiction is its portrayal of the president. the reality is that the president is a political genius who won against a field of 17 incredibly talented people. who took down the bush dynasty, who took down the clinton dynasty, who took down the entire media complex with its 90% negative coverage. took down billions of dollars in special interests donations. and he did it all through the people and through his strategy and his vision and his insight

and his experience. >> according to "the new york times," special counsel robert mueller has in his position an early draft of a letter that you helped write in may 2017 detailing the reasons to fire fbi director james comey. according to the newspaper, the first line of the letter mentions the russia investigation. did you write a letter outlining reasons to fire comey and list the russia investigation? sand that true? >> here's the problem with what you're saying. the final draft of the letter -- >> i'm not talking about that one. i'm talking about the one that comey has. >> if you want to have an answer to your question and not to get hysterical, then i'll answer it. the final draft of the letter has the same line about the fact that there is a trump russia investigation, that this has nothing do with. >> so it was just moved from the top to the bottom? >> no. look at the letter. it's the beginning. the investigation is referenced in the beginning of the letter released to point out the fact

that notwithstanding having been informed there is no investigation, that the move that is happening is completely unrelated to that it was a disclaimer that appeared in the final version of the letter that was made public. >> the president and the white house -- >> jake, the reason i want to talk about the president's experiences, what i've seen with him traveling, to meet dozens of foreign leader, with his incredible work. >> okay. you're not answering the questions. >> you have 24 hours a day. >> stephen, you're being -- >> you're not going to give three minutes. >> i get it. there is one viewer you care about right now, and you're being obsequious, you're being a factotum. >> you know who i care about -- >> the president was watching and responded on twitter. >> mr. trump seems not to be a fan of jake tapper. no surprise there. this is what he tweeted.

jake tapper of fake news cnn just got destroyed in his interview with stephen miller of the trump administration. watch the hatred and unfairness of this cnn flunkie. as jake pointed out, that was just for one viewer, and that viewer was certainly watching. . >> "cnn newsroom" pushes on. the uk's parliament gets back to work after new year's break. >> a look at the challenges facing prime minister theresa may that's still to come. stay with us. it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders i have to ship out. shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everything's pretty much done. it's so much easier so now, we're ready, bring on t. shipstation. the number one ch of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free.

welcome back, everyone. we're in london. the british parliament is getting become to work after the new year's break. >> prime minister theresa may

has a frantic schedule ahead hechlt is facing a health service crisis and has to tackle the ongoing brexit negotiations. today she is set to reshuffle her cabinet. for more let's bring in bianca nobilo. it's good to have you with us this hour. first of all, what prompted this reshuffle? and what sort of changes are expected from it? >> a reshuffle was expected after the election in june last year. but of course the election didn't go the way that the prime minister was hoping. she had called it to increase her mandate for brexit. was expecting this huge majority that didn't happen. in fact, her majority was red e reduced. she ended up in a hung parliament. she was in no position to move members of the cabinet around. that's when it was intended. she wasn't in a position to reshuffle all of last year. then she had a couple of members of the cabinet drop out through scandals. and most recently her closest ally and secretary of state de facto deputy prime minister

damian green was asked to leave by the prime minister late last year. after the fallout of an investigation into him having pornography on his office computer. the investigation was about ten years ago. but allegations resurfaced and he was asked to leave. so that is what has prompted this reshuffle today. after the recess and parliamentary break, parliament is back today. and the prime minister is going to be moving around her cabinet. >> talk about a frantic schedule. the health service crisis, brexit, the prime minister has a great deal on her plate. by reshuffling the pack, will that provide her any relief? >> the tricky thing about a reshuffle is that it does create generally more disgruntled mps than happy ones because it leaves many mps that may have been hopeful about a promotion disappointed, and only one person raised to that position in cabinet. she is likely to leave the key

players in her team, such as the brexit secretary david davis, boris johnson, amber rudd in place. that's what we're hearing. the mps would be very surprised were she to move any of them. but she might be bringing in fresh blood, any potential leaders after she is no longer leader of the party. there seems to be a dearth in the tory party a leadership potential. many people are keeping an eye on that. as to whether or not it can help, what it does do it certainly projects a sense of confidence. because she wouldn't be able to reshuffle the cabinet at all if she was in as weak a position as she was last year. however, we should be careful about overstating that strength. because she is certainly not in a particularly aught th lly aut position yet. >> brexit top of mind. i want to talk about the reporting from the daily telegraph that the prime

minister will appoint a cabinet minister for no deal brexit in this reshuffle. show that being perceived as people hear that possible news? >> there has been many rumors swirling in the run up to this expected reshuffle there was talk of a brexit super department, perhaps combining the business department with the brexit because of the heavy focus on the economy and future business links with brexit. however, none of that can be substantiated at this time. it's very normal to have agreements circulating prior to a ea reshuffle. one of the names mentioned in all of this is boris johnson and whether or not it may be possible he is moved over to a role more involved with brexit. but purely speculation at this point. we'll have to wait and see. we're expecting to hear news about this reshuffle in the coming hours, george. >> bianca nobilo live for us outside number 10. thanks for the reporting. we'll stay in touch. german leader angela merkel is desperately launching another

bid to build a new ruling in her country and pull germany out of the worst political crisis in years. her reputation and perhaps her political future are on the line as talks begin in berlin between her conservative bloc and the social democrats. >> keeping in mind merkel's party was weakened in last september's general election. that after poor showing. as a result, she needs to cobble together the support of other parties to govern and pass legislation. we'll take a short break here. it's frustrating enough to have winter storms delay your travel plans, but for some travelers this weekend became a further nightmare. the situation at jfk. that's next. plus a look at the weather ahead. we'll see if the u.s. east coast finally gets a break. from the cold, the bitter bitter cold bone-chilling weather. stay with us.

we've been tabbing about the cold weather in the united states. only adding insult to injury for folks at new york's jfk airport. >> yeah, they have dealt with a winter storm, flights delayed and canceled, luggage piling up, and topping it all off, parts of the airport were flooded from a water main break. cnn's polo sandoval has the very latest. >> reporter: it certainly was an inconvenient weekend for passengers at new york city's jfk international airport. first the aftermath of thursday's wicked winter weather leading to what authorities near jfk have described as a cascading series of issues, including a backlog of flights and stranded passengers. and then on sunday, an actual cascade of water inside terminal 4, all of this caused by a pipe that burst that flooded in the arrivals wing, or at least a portion of the arrivals wing in terminal 4. it prompted the shutdown of some international flights arriving here in the terminal.

authorities now trying to get to the bottom of what caused it. >> we will thoroughly investigate why this pipe burst. we will thoroughly investigate why it was not adequately protected. and we will examine carefully the contingency plans that were in place in order to recover for this event. and we will determine the accountability and responsibility for the failure that did occur this afternoon. >> the international flights later resuming at about just before 8:00 p.m. on sunday night. and this comes after officials here at jfk have been struggling to try to fully recover. they have been dealing with a series of issues, everything from frozen equipment breakdowns to baggage handling breakdown. even staff shortages as well. but now officials hoping with this new day, potentially slightly warmer temperatures will be an opportunity for some of the operations here at one of the world's most busiest airports to be back to normal. polo sandoval, cnn, new york.

>> all right, polo, thank you. so right now two weather extremes at work on opposite sides of our planet. pedram javaheri following it out. >> the big story across the northeast of course is the cold temperature that have been in place, guys. 5, 10, 15 degrees across, at least what it feels outside. a light breeze across the region and new york city and jfk, we had a 5-degree temperature on sunday morning that broke a record. it was 6 from 2014. the polar vortex event? that was three years ago yesterday that it took place and brought temperatures acrokrocroh of the eastern u.s. into single digits. records were set on sunday. big-time cold and the longevity of it is most impressive. notice what's in store. winter weather advisories. we're talking 80 million people underneath this. roughly one in every four people in the country going to be impacted by this. but cleveland, chicago,

cincinnati work your way towards the washington metro area, could see a glazing of ice here. but all of this going to impact more airlines across this region. of course road travel going to be hazardous as well. accumulations of ice generally speaking. see the pink contours? that's less than a quarter inch. and that typically is a transportation issue. any time you get up above a half inch, that brings trees down, power lines down. exceed a half an inch, we're talking widespread extensive damage to properties as well. at least on the minimal end. but the airport is really going to have a tough time over the next 24 hours. talking about heat, the opposite end of the story where. is the hottest place on earth? typically this time of year that's in australia. but not so typical by live does that happen in sydney. how about the hottest temperature in almost eight decades in sydney. that's in celsius. 47.3 celsius which is about 117 fahrenheit in the western suburbs. average temperature, though, for this time of year sits at 26

celsius. we're talking almost about 80 dress or so. it's a 78, 79 degrees fahrenheit. and it's in the one-teens fahrenheit. we get some slightly cooler temperatures by later in the week and it builds right back in place across this region. in celsius notice the temps climb from the middle 20s all the way up to almost the middle 30 there's. heat big time across portions of australia. and sydney of all places, not just alice sprangs theings ther. >> such extremes as well. thank you so much. >> thanks, pedram. >> and thanks to all of you for your company this hour on "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm george howell. it's a pleasure to be withious. the news continues with our colleague max foster on deck in london.

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