the strike that took out qassem soleimani from the man who ordered it, u.s. president trump, telling republican donors at his resort about the last minute of the iranian general's life. also, trump's impeachment lawyers. the president reveals new members of his legal team, agency we see new documents about apparent surveillance of the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. also, ahead this hour, a big blast of winter weather. the u.s. is getting hit with snow, ice and sleet. you're in the middle of it. you don't need to hear that from me. our derek van dam will talk more about it and where it's headed. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. we're coming to you live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. we begin right now.

>> 5:00 in the morning here on the u.s. east coast. we appreciate you joining us. our top story, u.s. president trump offering a new reason why he authorized the killing of iran's top general. friday, he attended a fund raising event at this mar-a-lago resort and gave minute-by-minute details of the u.s. operation that killed iran's top military commander. >> they said, sir, and this is from, you know, cameras that are miles in the sky. they're together, sir. and they said they had 2 minutes, 11 seconds, no emotion. they have 2 minutes and 11 seconds to live, sir. they're in the car. they're in an armored vehicle going. sir, they have approximately one minute to live, sir, 30 seconds, 10, 9, 8 -- all of a sudden,

boom. they're gone, sir, cut him off. i said where was this guy? that's the last i remember. >> listen to what president trump said about soleimani shortly before that and what led him to order the drone strike. >> that shook up the world because he was supposed to be invincible. he was saying bad things about our country. he was saying things like we're going to attack your country, we're going to kill your people, i said how much of this [ bleep ] do you have to listen to, right? >> now, mr. trump did not speak of an imminent threat which his administration has been using to justify the attack. the killing, of course, led iran to retaliate with an air strike with an iraqi base helping u.s. troops injuring 11 people there. well, president trump's impeachment trial kicks into high gear tuesday, but already, it has the elements of a bad spy

model. including alleged surveillance of the u.s. ambassador in ukraine, by shadowy figures tied to the president's personal lawyer. cnn's manu raju looks at the latest information, where we're getting it and how it's playing out on capitol hill. >> reporter: house democrats will release new documents friday night as part of their push to have the president removed from office, ahead 6 their firing of a brief that will detail their arguments in the senate impeachment trial. those new documents from lev parnas, that giuliani associate, someone who is cooperating with house investigators after he was indicted on criminal charges late last year. he has provided a trove of documents showing the role that he played and his knowledge of an effort to both oust the ukraine ambassador marie yovanovitch someone who was pushed out of that position, later recalled to post by president trump, amid the push by tread trump and his allies to launch the investigation from ukraine into the president's

political rival joe biden. now, this new text message was given to parnas by a congressional candidate named robert hyde. now, mr. hyde is also a trump ally, and someone who had been in frequent communication with parnas. and this text message shows high communication with an individual from an unbelgian number. and this person with at unknown belgian number texted hyde to tell him they were tracking the movements of marie yovanovitch. and concerned he was being surveilled. according to the text message, from one point from march 2019, nothing has changed. they still have not changed. from that belgian phone number, saying, hey, brother do we step down, do you still need intel,

be safe. and also the text messages show a deeper involvement of devin nunes and his top aide to apparently dig up dirt that the president had been seeking, that the republicans have been seeking on capitol hill to and against joe biden and to look into this conspiracy theory of sort that it was ukraine that interfered in the election that undercut the findings of the u.s. intelligence community that it was russia that interfered to help president trump. but nunes' aide with the text messages with lev parnas trying to set up meetings with various ukrainian officials to get dirt. at the same time, lev parnas provided more photograph, including photographs of him and president trump and photographs of him and rudy giuliani. and this comes all at the same time that the president has distanced himself from lev parnas, saying he took pictures with all individuals. and parnas saying he has gotten

of pictures with president trump. he was in that inner circle and has knowledge of what the democrats call a corrupt scheme. so, expect all of this to come out as the impeachment trial takes shape next week in the senate. the new evidence that democrats plan to bring forward. we'll see how republicans react when presented with it next week. manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. and the white house has confirmed president trump added several high-profile attorneys to his impeachment defense team. they include ken starr, robert wray and celebrity lawyer alan dershowitz. >> reporter: with the senate impeachment trial looming, president trump is take nothing chances, beefing up his legal team. and adding a few familiar names to help on defense. >> what do you think of ken starr, mr. president? >> reporter: among them, kenneth starr, a prosecutor whose work led to president clinton's

impeachment and who trump has publicly railed against. >> ken starr is a lunatic. i really think ken starr is a disaster. >> reporter: and robert wray. and constitutional lawyer alan dershowitz who gained fame during o.j. simpson's trial. and the including the possibility that damaging witnesses could be called to testify. >> i should be their number one witness. >> reporter: among them, lev parnas, rudy giuliani's ukraine fixer who is under indictment for campaign finance violations. >> i'm the one that got all of the dirt, supposedly? why aren't they calling me to testify? why do they need biden? call me. ask me what biden did wrong. >> reporter: parnas telling cnn that he witnessed the top aide ambassador marie yovanovitch should be fired. >> to my knowledge, the president fired her at least four times, five times, even

once in my presence. >> reporter: but trump is sticking to his claim that he doesn't know parnas. >> i don't know parnas, i guess they have pictures taken which i do with thousands of people. >> reporter: in the face of stunning allegations brought by parnas, today secretary of state mike pompeo broke his silence. >> i've not met this guy lev parnas, to the best of my knowledge, i've never communicated with him. >> reporter: and announcing the state department plans to investigate whether the former ambassador to ukraine was ever under surveillance. >> i suspect much of what's been reported will ultimately prove wrong but our obligation, my obligation is as secretary of state is to make sure that anytime there's any officers we'll obviously do sthap. >> reporter: despite the lsu team visiting the white house with president trump there was no avoiding the elephant in the room. >> we'll take pictures behind the resolute desk. it's been a long time with

presidents, some good, some not so good. but you've got a good one now, even though they're trying to impeach the son of -- you can believe that. >> reporter: and the announcement that ken starr would be joining the defense team. monnic kalu winsky appeared to weigh in, this is a definitely a are you kidding me day. alan dench 0dershowitz made statement. >> it's the same argument i would have made if hillary clinton had gotten elected and she were being impeached. it's similar to the arguments i

made against the bill clinton legal team and only to argument about the impeachment. which i've written about extensively and why these two articles don't rise to the level of an impeachable offense. i will go into the history of the formation of the constitution. and the history of how these words came to be. and leave it to others to argue the facts. and make strategic decisions about witnesses, that's not within my jurisdiction. >> alan, why are you playing the semantic games, whose side are you on? you're part of the defense team, are you embarrassed? >> you sound like my mother. i said i was defending the right of nazis. she said to me, son, are you for the jews or the nazis. i said, the constitution. she said, i'm your mother, don't

tell me that. i'm against impeachment. i'm clear about that. i think it would be unconstitutional. it would set a terrible precedent for this president to be impeached for these alleged articles of impeachment. >> let's talk about this with natasha lindstaedt a professor, good morning, natasha. >> good morning. nice to see you. >> what do you make of mr. dershowitz's comments there. and anderson asking him what side are you on? certainly, he's an attorney, been associated with jeffrey epstein, harvey weinstein, and now he is making sure that he fights for mr. trump in this trial. how could it look, with this legal team in place? >> this legal team is controversial. it's classic trump.

it's about getting a lot of attention with these high-profile figures. and i think the reason why he chose the likes of dershowitz and starr is because they have a lot of experience on tv. and they have a lot of experience on tv defending trump. they're well-known to the public and they're going to be able to frame the debate to the way that i think trump is able to take this on to the campaign trail. they have earned some respect from republicans as well. and, of course, it's not just about making a case to the public, they have to make sure there's no republican defections. but as already mention they had come with a lot of baggage. alan dershowitz has defended o.j. simpson, and jeffrey epstein. kenneth starr was released from baylor because of the way he mishandled the misconduct on the

alleged football team there. and robert ray was charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend. they come with a lot of value but i think trump thinks they'll attract aattention and that's what he's always loved. >> yeah, what do we say, they're good on tv, despite having at questionable things in their past. i'm not sure what that means, where we are in this tv world. we'll talk about that another time. let's get to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, he's indicated he plans to use the 21-day trial of president clinton in 1999 as a model. that should be familiar to ken starr. but he hasn't detailed the trump trial. what will you be looking for as it comes to light? is it looking short and sweet, and as mr. trump has wanted or does it look down and dirty to you? >> i think the best case scenario for republicans would be that it's short and sweet,

that they get it done within two weeks and that it doesn't get ugly and really personal. but i think it's actually going to be get very, very dirty. i think it's interesting that he's chosen to bring starr back. i mean, starr was making the case that clinton should be impeached on very, very weak grounds. now, he's trying to say that someone the president trump who bribed another country into investigating their political opponent and withheld $400 million in military aid to do so doesn't reach the level of being an impeachable offense. so, it's going to be a crazy trial, i think. and that doesn't really bode well for mitch mcconnell. he wants it to end quickly. but at the end of the day, the public is going to pay attention, and they've already made up their minds. to see that there hasn't been much movement going on in terms of public opinion on whether or not they feel that trump should be impeached. i think this is going to play really well to the republicans. they're going to think that this

is great that trump did nothing. it was just about a phone call. it was all a witch hunt. and this shows that the democrats are completely motivated by their partisan interests. and democrats are going to be completely appalled by the whole process that trump did reach impeachable offense and that the republicans are stonewalling again. i think in the end it's going to be ugly and the country is more polarized than ever. >> we'll see if the democrats have any cards to play in structuring it a little bit their way as well. we appreciate your insights, natasha lindstaedt for us, thank you. ukraine is launching a criminal investigation as documents continue to emerge, suggesting the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine may have been spied on. we'll look at that next. also, again, that winter storm sweeping across the united states, creating all kinds of trouble for travelers. we'll find out whose in the

crosshairs from derek van dam. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ don't get mad. get e*trade, dawg.

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all right. this video says it all right

here. forecasters are saying a powerful storm could affect 118 million people this weekend. it's already causing problems. in minnesota more than 170 vehicle crashes have been blamed on the storm. you can see why right there. brutal wind. some 1700 flights were cancelled friday. hundreds more cancelled saturday. now, we turn to derek van dam, he's going to sort it out for us. we feel for all of you in the middle of it. >> really, well said. i can't get enough of that video. that is frightful. you can imagine driving on itei roadways. no wonder people are pulling over. there's another storm in east coast of canada which i'm highlight in just a moment. i want to show you the video coming out of western iowa. >> i'm so scared from this. >> this is another one of those split second moments, if it was a moment earlier, we would have a different outcome.

the good news, the driver, the state trooper and the delivery truck individual not injured, seriously, but my goodness, this was a split second decision here. we had the gentleman there, you can see the delivery truck driver who was stuck. trying to get rescued by the state trooper there in the yellow. and then, of course, another truck coming down the highway was going too fast for the conditions and spun out just a few feet away from those two individuals. let's get to the weather graphics and talk about what's happening today. because it's this major storm system that's marching eastward across the great lakes and towards the east coast. that is the reason why we have some wicked wind weather at the moment. 118 million americans under some sort of winter weather alert. yeah, that shading in red, i bring your attention to that, that is blizzard warnings. even though the snow has stopped falling we still get winds 50 miles per hour in some locations.

i'm showing you friday's cancellations at the airports. i haven't seen numbers like this in a long time. 1700 flights cancelled. over 400 flights delayed. at chicago o'hare airport, reports of delays of ten hours. you can imagine being at the airport ten hours to get on the tarmac to take off. my goodness. that weather is shifting eastward. look out, washington, new york, boston. you've got a transition period. you'll start out as snow and then the warm air will come through to the east coast. and a mix of rain adding more misery to the forecast. you can see the additional tolls in the forecast, from the great lakes to the east coast. it's upstate new york that will get hit the hardest with the potential of 6 to 10 inches of snow across pennsylvania. heads-up if you're traveling there and the i-nie hi-95 corri.

let's take you to the east coast of canada. this is halifax, while they're dealing with a snow emergency from st. johns to newfoundland. you can see how the roads are closed because they, too, were dealing with a cycle from the east coast. >> we can all stay in right now, right? >> hot cocoa, coffee. >> heat, sounds good. derek, thanks. now, we want to turn to richmond, virginia, an event coming up there that people are worried about. officials there are on a heightened alert ahead of a guns rights rally on monday. on thursday, federal authorities arrested three men allegedly tied to white supremacist groups. an fbi official says it's feared they were planning to commit violent acts at the gathering. cnn's alexandra field has more. >> reporter: here in richmond, virginia, extra security measures are already being put in place days before a pro-gun rally that is scheduled for

martin luther king day. officials here say they have received credible threats and they're doing everything in their power to stop the kind of violence, conflict that we saw just two years ago at an alt-right rally in charlotte west virginia. >> reporter: a men arrested after heading to a pro-gun rally, according to law enforcement, prosecutors slapping them with multiple firearm charges one of them a comedian citizen is accused of crossing from canada into the u.s. according to court documents the men had more than 1500 rounds of ammunition. and built their own gun. even bragging, oh, oops, looks like i accidentally made a machine gun. prosecutors say the men smashed their cell phones and threw them in the toilet before agents took

them in custody. they're members of the white supremacy group called the base training their fighters to fight in a race war. prosecutors show them training with a group. long guns raised. and at the ready. and alecing african-americans and jewish people, as well as building bombs. the men were planning to attend a pro-gun rally in richmond, virginia, being held on monday, martin luther king jr. day according to authorities. the measure has left governor ralph northam to temporarily ban firearms on state and local grounds and invoke a state of emergency. >> state intelligence analysts have identified threats and violent rhetoric similar to what has been see before other major events such as charlottesville.

>> reporter: the memory of the unite the right rally is still haunting the state more than two years later. it quickly turned violent and leading to a slash between neo-nazis and counterprotesters. and left one woman dead. >> no one wants another incident like the one we saw in charlottesville in 2017. we were noill not allow that ma and violence to happen here. >> reporter: governor northam's temporary ban of weapons around the capital have gone into effect. groups supporting the rally challenged the governor in court. a judge ultimately sided by the governor. in richmond, alexandra field, cnn. with the former u.s. ambassador spied on, ukraine is so furious over the possibility of such an act taking place, it's launching a criminal investigation. coming up, we'll look at the new documents being leaked about it.

also, bush fires causing a red haze over sydney, australia. so, just how big of a problem is climate change to the country's bush fire crisis? we'll see what the public is saying about that issue.

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welcome back. to our viewers here in the united states, all around the world, you're watching "cnn newsroom," i'm natalie allen. well, the white house has confirmed that president trump has added three high-profile

lawyers to his defense team, alan dershowitz on the left, and ken starr. and robert ray succeeded starr in the independent counsel's office. the u.s. state department will investigation accusations. new documents suggest the spying was done by rudy giuliani, dr dd trump's personal attorney. it indicted lev parnas. as the documents are being released, ukraine is announcing it released documents in the surveillance of former ambassador marie yovanovitch. but as sam kiley reports this isn't the first time that the country has found themselves in the middle of u.s. affairs.

>> reporter: ukrainians once again found themselves in the center of issues that really have their roots in washington, d.c. and donald trump's impeachment trial now. the latest evidence suggesting, from the ukrainian perspective, that they should open a criminal investigation. this follows a text exchange that suggests in text between robert hyde, a congressional candidate. and lev parnas, at the time, a close associate of rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, frequently a traveler here to ukraine, in which mr. hyde seems to suggest he's got some kind of information. perhaps even some kind of a surveillance operation that he's got access to. or privy to, involving the u.s. ambassador to kiev. now, as a consequence of that, the ukrainians have launched a criminal investigation, an extraordinary situation, really, in which americans are being potentially investigated for spying on americans in a third nation. that being ukraine.

this has angered the ukrainians who are also saying that they have no evidence that would support this yet. but they're simply conducting an investigation to see whether or not there's been any criminal activity. they also say that they've reached out to the federal bureau of investigation but have not yesterday heard back from them. they want to see all of the evidence available to the united states, so that they can conduct their investigations here. because they are angry. and they're saying that ukraine cannot ignore such illegal activities on the territory of its own state. now, the secretary of state mike pompeo has been asked about this text exchange. and, indeed, wider questions on this whole thing what engulfed ukraine and, of course, his own administration. and has been very reluctant indeed to respond in any meaningful way. sam kiley, cnn, kiev. >> we want to point out that

hyde admitted to monitoring and the bottom line, there's a whole lot going on in ukraine right now. you heard that police are investigating the possible surveillance, that's police in ukraine, on the former ambassador. cyberpolice have opened an investigation into reported hacking of burisma, that's the gas company, at the heart of the trump impeachment process. the one that hired joe biden's son hunter. and, remember, from the lev parnas interview with anderson cooper, he said ukraine president zelensky and other leaders are, quote, still rocked to this day over that fateful phone call with mr. trump. one might understand. look where we are now. for more, cnn contributor jill dougherty joins me from washington. and a knoll at theed wefellow a

wilson center. what do you make of that investigation of the ambassador, what do you make of that, if that happened? >> you know, i think until we do get into the investigation, because we won't know. the subplot here is that mr. hyde, according to other people and apparently according to him has drunk quite a bit over the years. so there's a question legitimately whether he was indeed even sober when this conversation was going on. he says, in essence, it's a joke. that he was just fooling around with lev parnas. so, was it real? was it not? but when you get these apparent, you know, emails that are coming in from other people in other country who were, perhaps, surveilling the u.s. ambassador, it does get more complicated. it would be very serious, as you

pointed out, if you had an american ordering the surveilling of the u.s. ambassador in ukraine. it would just be unthinkable. but anything in this case doesn't really seem very unthinkable. you know, i think the one thing that's really difficult right now, ukraine is right in the middle of this. they're right between democrats and republicans. ukraine still needs assistance from the united states. and being put in this position of having to kind of defend its honor and as i said, if there was this type of investigation or surveillance, i should say, is it would potentially break ukrainian laws. it could break the geneva convention, et cetera. so, it's serious for ukraine. and they really are between a rock and a hard place. >> right. and all the while, they've been working to just, you know, keep their separation from russia. keep russia at bay. and they had this tremendous

side show that just seems to be ramping up, instead of ramping down, before we see an impeachment trial. this must be a tremendous strain on this country? >> it is. and they have other problems. i mean, they have the existing conflicts, you know, in the eastern part of the country. they no longer have crimea. they have economic problems. and then they need the defense assistance from the united states. and then they have to manage that relationship with russia. so, to put that all together with the fact that their president, as we all know, is mr. zelensky not a seasoned politician. a guy who came from reality tv, who apparently, you know, has a lot of good intentions. but this would be very difficult, even for a seasoned politician to work themselves through this, let alone a novice. >> right. and it comes at a crucial time for them. and you also wonder about their

other allies, that they may reach out to, to form stronger relationships with, now that the united states seems to be seriously distracted. and, perhaps, started all of this in the first place? >> yeah, and i don't think they really, you know, have a whole lot of friends because, really, the biggest friend they need is the united states. they need united states' aid, united states money, and to help end this fight. and zelensky, the president, does ultimately want to bring that conflict in the east to the end. think of it, his entire eastern part of the country has been involved in a conflict that's killed very close to 14,000 people already. so, there's a time frame here. and then you have vladimir putin in moscow looking at this and

realizing that zelensky is in, you know, a bind. and using that kind of -- you know, exploiting or manipulating that in certain ways to bring the conflict to an end in the way that russia would like it to end, which is to continue to have influence. so, this story always feels very complicated. i think even to people who are in the field, it's quite complicated. but it's very serious. because ukraine is a very big country. you know, it's as big as france. and it's a very significant country for russia. so, we have to watch that. and then also just the role that it's playing right now, against its own will, in the american impeachment saga and the election. >> right. absolutely. when it will get on appropriate footing again with the united states, its ally, and the help that it needs? we'll wait and see on that one. we always appreciate your

insight, thank you, jill, jill dougherty in washington. now, we turn to australia. the government there is split over the impact of climate change and its role in the country's nafire crisis. but the public is very set on what they think about it. we'll look at the chasm between the citizens and the government, coming next.

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in australia, firefighters are taking advantage of heavy rain and cooler conditions in parts scorched by bush fires. authorities in new south wales say the number of fires burning has dropped to 69, with only 19 yet to be contained. you can see the damage, though. years of drought have intensified the fires which have killed now at least 28 people and destroyed more than 3,000 homes. australia's government faces harsh criticism for being so underprepared for this fire season. but the catastrophe is

underscoring something else. and that is the divisin between how elected leaders view the threat of climate change, compared to the general population. look at this. 61% of australians believe climate change to be a serious and pressing problem that needs addressing. even if it involved significant cou coasts. 10% believed it may not be a problem. meteorologists warn that climate change affects the conditions there and around the world. but prime minister scott morrison has made clear he's a staunch backer of australia's mammoth coal industry, in fact, only russia and saudi arabia import greater amounts of fossil fuels. australia also has one of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions per capita behind

oec nations behind mainly gulf states. it's gedependent on colal, not mention the climate change despite where the popular opinion stands. let's look at where the disconnect exists. with joined in australia by a fellow of economics at the university of queensland. thank you for joining me, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to ask you, why does the disconnect exist? the prime minister almost seems blase about climate change, when the country and citizens are reeling. >> well, the situation is very similar back in the united states, the majority of people except mainstream science see climate change as a concern but when conditions come around,

with the government, managed to get elected in the last election even with the current policy. within the conservative policy, there's a large group of people, within the republican party. with that, at the peril of the cabinet which we have mentioned, you have a recipe for doing nothing at that climate change. and that also extends, of course, to denial of the burr fibers coming from what is likely the meteorology or the scientific organizations all of which have been dismissed by the deniers, as part of global conspiracy to prevent global warming. >> it just goes to show you the power of fossil fuels, doesn't it? and the importance of the leaders to rely on. but if this continues and, of course, morrison talks about the economy's the most important. but wouldn't an environmental

disaster, at some point, start to affect the economy? >> yeah, it's obvious that the cost of these fires is over 100 billion australian dollars. that more than wipes out the interest to australia, particularly the thermal coal used. so economically, it doesn't really make any sense. as i say, it's important to stress the disproportionate power of the industry, and it's actually come of importance. but also the attitudes which are with a lot of people, simply around climate change. and of course, president trump says that, and many people in the current government say that. >> but look around the world what's happening with the movement in climate change, the science seems to deny it. president trump has always been a denier, and many people scoff at the way he even mimics

climate change. what will it take as the people of the world say this has got to be fixed? and the solutions are there, they're right there. but we just can't shake the whole on coal production. >> that's a very good question, i think we're are seeing a shift in taustralia. the people who were denying that climate change is a problem shift their position marginally, but they're still saying do nothing. it will go away as climate has been. but i think the majority of people have accepted the position, but, i guess most people thought this is something for the future. we're now seeing this, every australian is seeing unbreathable air and the citizens themselves could burn. so we are seeing, finally, a shift.

but still wagers. the government actually hasn't given to this position at all. >> is there a concern once the fires subside and life goes on that this will again be something what is shelved? or do you think this could cause a paradigm shift for australia? >> well, of course, we don't know. but certainly, this is something, where we are in australia, in queensland, we had relatively mild effect of fires. we had some catastrophic losses last year, but nothing like the cities, to walk in the straits of the casual this of australia, we have smoke that you cannot breathe. it's something that i don't think we'll be getting outside of. >> we know that 2019 was the second hottest year on record and we'll see what 2020 brings. we thank you for your information. thanks for being with us, john quiggin, we appreciate it. >> thank you. all right. constructing a solid foundation from a natural disaster.

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welcome back. in the philippines, officials continue to closely watch the tall volcano, you've no doubt seen the pictures. authorities are keeping the alert level at the second highest level, meaning t could happen anytime. despite the danger, one community is using the ashes blanketing the area to create an opportunity. and cnn's lynda kincade has that. >> reporter: taal is one of the most active and deadliest volcanos in the philippines. located about 60 kilometers south of the capital manila it began erupting last sunday, spewing lava, causing earthquakes, dusting homes. homes have been damaged and ash affecting the landscape. one city has come up with a novel idea to their advantage.

turning the volcanic ash into bricks. it's about 30 kilometers north of the volcano. the city has its own facility that makes construction bricks from materials including recycled plastic. well, now, they're using the same technology with ash, collected from rooftops and streets. >> translator: we need to think out of the box. we have to think about what we can do, during times when we are in need, we become better thi think thinkers. how can we change misfortune into opportunity. >> reporter: the ash produced 5,000 bricks a day to help rebuild schools. they also plan to sell them to companies and donate the profits to those directly affected by the volcano. >> translator: eventually, we will be encouraging other affected areas to pack and give us the ash they've collected and we will convert it to bricks. directly or indirectly, they are also doing their part in helping

those affected. >> reporter: while the danger remains as further eruptions could happen anytime, one community finds opportunity among the ashes. lynda kincade, cnn. >> let's hear it for innovation for a volcano. thank you for watching "cnn newsroom." i'm natalie allen. for u.s. viewers, "new day" is ahead. for everyone else, i'll be right back with our top stories. thanks for watching.

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