injury attorneys ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ welcome to our viewers around the united states. i'm rosemary church. tensions are russia escalating as the u.s. state department calls for a reduction in staff at its embassy in ukraine. we're live in moscow with the latest. plus -- from violent covid restriction protests across europe to marches in washington, d.c., against government monday dates for covid vaccines.

we'll discuss the pushback we're seeing on covid restrictions. as we count down to the beijing olympic games, we'll look back on the two years since the chinese authorities locked down the city of wuhan . thanks for joining us. we are following developments in ukraine this hour as fears mount over a possible russian invasion. the u.s. state department says it will be reducing staff levels at the embassy in kyiv starting with nonessential staff and family members out of an abundance of caution. ukraine says russia has now deployed more than 127,000 troops in the region. amid the heightens restrictions, antony blinken is set to meet

with eu foreign ministers virtually today and brief him on his meetings with russia's foreign minister. ahead of that, u.s.'s top diplomat issued this warning. >> if a single additional russian force goes into ukraine in an aggressive way, as i said, that would trigger a swift, aer is vee and a united response from us and from europe. and, again, there are other things that russia could do that fall short of actually sending additional forces into ukraine. again, across the board we're prepared with europe for a swift and calibrated and very united response. we're looking at every single scenario, preparing for every single one. >> meantime, russia was lashing out at the uk foreign office one day after it said moscow may be considering a pro-russian politician as a candidate to lead ukraine. the russian embassy in the uk called that idea comic cal and

demanded they put an end to stupid, rhetorical provocations. to washington where cnn white house correspondent arlette saenz is tracking this. >> reporter: u.s. embassy is making changes at the embassy in kyiv. the state department ordered the departure of all families of american diplomats as well as authorized the departure of some nonemergency government personnel. officials say this decision was made out of an abundance of caution. in that travel advisory released, they wrote there are reports that russia is planning significant military actions against ukraine. the security conditions particularly along ukraine's borders and in russia-occupied crimea can deteriorate with little notice. demonstrations that have turned

violent at times regularly occur throughout ukraine, including in kyiv. this advisory also urged the departure of u.s. citizens from the country via commercial or other private transportation options. officials said if russia moves forward with an invasion of ukraine, the u.s. would not be in a position to evacuate its citizens from the country. they are saying they made this decision out of an abundance of caution, but there has been rising concern over the course of the past few weeks about russia's intentions with ukraine. the u.s. shipped its first shipment of lethal aid to ukraine in order for the country to have defense mechanisms in place should russia move forward with that invasion. the first shipment arrived on saturday and ukraine's defense minister tweeted that on sunday, a second plane landed with 80 tons of weapons from our friends in the usa. he added, and this is not the end. the u.s. has been evaluating

what kind of military assistance the country and its allies can offer to ukraine in this scenario. additionally, the pentagon has been drawing up options for president biden to potentially bolster u.s. military presence in eastern european nato countries, that have been rattled by these rising tensions between russia and ukraine. president biden convened a meeting of his national security team from camp david on saturday where he talked about some of these deterrence measures put in place. anthon antony blinken said any measure would be am et with a swift and severe response from the u.s. and its allies. the u.s. is hoping that diplomatic course will lead to de-escalation in tensions from russia towards ukraine but they also say they're planning for

all scenarios. let's head to moscow where cnn's nic robertson is standing by. good to see you again, nic. we can't get inside vladimir putin's head, but what's his likely intent here, given what we know so far? and how might the withdrawal of nonessential u.s. embassy staff play into his plans? >> reporter: yeah, his intent is to draw ukraine back into russia's sphere of orbit and to make sure its more compliant to russia's national security interest. this is why he wants to stop it joining nato. in is why he wants nato to pull further back to 1997 lines. what is going to read into the u.s. drawing down personnel at t the embassy in kyiv is hard to know. president biden's security briefing at camp david has taken on board and, you know, considers that russia's very

strong military buildup around ukraine is a threat, that it's a viable force that could -- that has the potential to invade. putin's read on that is going to be one that the united states is maneuvering for the potential of an escalation towards conflict in ukraine. how does that shape his intent at the moment? it's very, very hard to see. it's very, very hard to know what president putin is thinking right now. but i think what one can read into his intent is it hasn't really changed over the years. not since he invaded ukraine and annexed crimea back in 2014 and everything in between. his intent to bring ukraine back into russia's sphere of influence has not changed. >> nic, more weapons have arrived in ukraine as the u.s. warns of a swift and united response if russia invades ukraine.

how much of a deterrent is all of this for president putin? what diplomatic options remain, offering possible off-ramps here? >> reporter: the offv-ramp is a discussion about possible troop deployments by russia and nato. reciprocity is what nato is talking about. that's a minimalist version of what president putin actually has said he needs to have. so, it's hard to see how that's a viable off-ramp for president putin at the moment. you know, what -- to sort of shape and get him onto that off-ramp, that's what these military deployments are about. they are intended to signal to president putin the cost of an invasion that russia says it's not about to take, the cost of an invasion has a political price to pay for president putin, who has been threatened with strong and swift economic sanctions, the likes of which he has never seen before.

he knows he exerts a large amount of influence over european nations because 40% of europe's gas supplies come from russia. he could throttle back supplies if a conflict arose. so, the military option is the one that potentially gives president putin the highest cost at home if he can withstand economic sanctions of whatever shape they could be, what the united states and its allies are trying to do is raise the political cost for him at home. and that political cost would come because an invasion could be very costly in terms of u.s. force -- in terms of russian forces. again, russia says it has no intention of invading, however. >> nic robertson watching this very closely from his vantage point in moscow. many thanks, as always. a former u.s. ambassador to ukraine told cnn, it's important to make plans based on current intelligence. take a listen.

>> there's clearly intelligence that backs this up. we've known for some time, the intelligence has been very clear, that the russian federation under mr. putin is making very, very obvious moves to reinforce and to build up his forces on the borders of ukraine. this is clear to us. we've been seeing this for weeks, for months now. and putin still has a decision to make as to whether to pull that trigger. i don't think the intelligence is able to say what's in mr. putin's minds. you have to make plans. you have to take precautions. you have to get people who might be at risk out of there in a way that will allow them to leave in some orderly way. this is what the steps are being taken now. >> meantime, u.s. lawmakers are worried russia may invade ukraine. here's what democratic senator chris coons, a member of the

senate foreign relations committee, told cnn. >> i think our work in the senate and president biden's work to strengthen deterrents is what is hopefully going to succeed, but i'm gravely concerned putin will show, once again, aggression in europe and cross the boundary into ukraine in the coming days or weeks. >> republican senator joni ernst is pushing for the biden administration to take action now. take a listen. >> we do need to go ahead and impose sanctions on russia now. we need to show them that we mean business and we will be there for ukraine should they invade. they see a very weak administration and president putin sees every opportunity to do what he wants to do in ukraine with very little pushback from the united states. so, we need to have firm resolve with this. >> stay tuned to cnn. later this hour we'll go live to paris to find out what european union leaders are saying. coming up on "cnn newsroom."

anti-vaccine protesters gathered at the capitol but not in the numbers expected. plus, protesters are pushing back against restrictions and vaccine mandates all over the world. i'll talk to a doctor about how these attitudes ultimately are putting a strain on health care systems. i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save.

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♪ and we don't need your vaccine ♪ and in washington, d.c., protesters gathered to express their anger at government vaccination mandates. the defeat the mandates rally took place on the national mall sunday. organizers said they expected 20,000 to attend but only a few thousand showed up. cnn's joe johns was there and has the story. >> reporter: no secret america is polarized over the issue of vaccines. and this event on the national mall was visual evidence of that fact. one of the things that people were concerned about at the very outset was that it was being billed at an event for medical autonomy. in other words, the right not to

get the shot or the right not to wear a mask. but this event, of course, went a little bit farther than that. >> i'm in health care, worker, so that has brought me out here due too the issues i've had with my job and my current vaccination status. multiple issues with hr and doctors treating me differently and discriminating against me because of my choices. >> you should be able to believe what you want to believe, no matter what. and that's why i'm here. as long as you don't hurt anybody in this country, you can do anything you want. >> reporter: it was a very difficult to generalize about the crowd other than to say that one of the things that brought them together was criticism of the biden administration's handling of vaccines and dr. fauci. joe johns, cnn, washington. the president and ceo of premiere medical group usa and a national consultant for covid-19

testing. he joins me now from hawaii. always great to have you on the show, doctor. >> thank you, rosemary. >> so, protesters in various parts of the world are getting out on the streets, opposing vaccine mandates and mask requirements, and pushing back on any new covid restrictions, despite public health experts only trying to do their best to save people's lives. why do you think it is that some people reject their efforts and how concerned are you about this? >> it basically is various reasons, but one of the things i must say is they must not be getting the real data to show how risky it is to be out there, not wearing a mask and to be not vaccinated. the data is crystal clear, rosemary. 50 times increase of chance of death or being hospitalized in the icu with severe disease. when you are vaccinated, you are up here with your chances. the lines for the people who are

vaccinated and boosted are down here. it's almost nil the chance of dying if you've been boosted or vaccinated. i think there's a lot of misinformation we're seeing going around online. i think there's also some distrust of the political divide. so, you know, i really think that people really need to understand now, they are overwhelming our health care systems because across europe, the health care systems are overwhelmed right now. the poor health care workers are working nonstop every day, and then there's people out in the streets who in those protests are basically coming down with covid and will be in the hospital. >> it is so frustrating. doctor, we are learning that kids under 5 can expect to have access to the covid vaccines about two months from now, as they work on refining the dosage for those kids. what do kids need to be doing to protect their children in the meantime?

>> well, really, there are two major points to look at, rosemary. number one, as we have talked about repeatedly is the mask. they are available in a good fitting mask, a kn-95 that is available for younger children. that is when they are in groups, whether if you decide you have to put them in school or into day care or child care, have a well-fitting mask and teach them how to use it. change it about once a week. the second issue is, don't put them in group settings. if they're going to be out potentially with a large number of people, a birthday party or something, maybe think about it. smaller event, possibly not. now, as for that vaccine, two months is fairly optimistic. it may not be two months because they had to redo the trials because they were using very light doses with the children. they had to increase them because they weren't getting a good enough response. so, i think that using standard

mitigation and common sense will help parents. remember, in the united states we have 1 million children positive last week with covid. so, it's a real concern. >> doctor, in some parts of the country and, indeed, the world, we are starting to see covid infections plateau, even starting to come down in some areas. what does that signal to you? >> well, we don't want people to misinterpret this. we do know omicron is so contagious that it spreads through the population, it runs out of vectors. the bottom line is, we will see it dropping. we will see continued decreases in certain areas as we've seen in the east coast of the u.s. we've seen a few areas in europe. but in europe, there are still am areas reaching their all-time high. one of the things we have to understand is there are going to be what we call confounding variables that will say certain areas might see drops but

certain areas may have a long lag and may have a little zigzagy pattern we're seeing. do not expect that every region of the world or every county or every state of every country has exactly this peak and drop. it could be very different. and as i alluded to in some of my writings, we now have a new variant of omicron that is coming out that we also have to be worried about. >> doctor, when do you think the world will see an end to this pandemic? >> i think most of us have been looking out to say about two years. now, i do believe we are going to have a significant drop. we're going to have a falloff over the spring, the southern hemisphere will decrease and other countries will increase. the major advantages we'll see is the oral medications, paxlovid as well as some of the monoclonals are working well, so our death rates should continue

to drop. but until we vaccinate the world, we will see variants. we will see multiple variants and as the ceo of pfizer said today, which i've been saying to you, rosemary, on this show with cnn, we're going to have two more years of vaccinations to really take us to the next level. we need to find a way to vaccinate the less fortunate people of the world. >> so important. dr. scott, thank you so much for talking with us. appreciate it. >> thank you, rosemary. stay with us. later this hour on cnn, we will have live reports on those european covid mandate protests i just mentioned with the doctor. plus, the latest on the covid outbreak in hong kong. we'll also look back at the first lockdown in wuhan on the two-year anniversary and how it's impacting china's preparations for the upcoming winter olympic games. coming up, european union

leaders are meeting to discuss growing fears of a possible russian invasion in ukraine. a live report just ahead. plus, an attack that may have taken months to plan. the battle to reclaim a prison housing isis militants in syria after inmates took over. a live report after the break. a. this is the style master. designed to style your stubble in one stroke, a pivoting metal head that defines every edge, and three comb lengths for added versatility. one tool that helps you choose, change, and master your style. king c. gillette blendjet's new year's sale is on now! make your resolutions come true with this incredible deal on blendjet 2. it packs the power of a big blender on the go, and it crushes right through ice.

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there's been fierce fighting since thursday. the sdf say at least 27 of their fighters, dozens of isis members and at least 15 inmates have been killed so far. hundreds of civilians, including women and children fled homes in nearby areas following the isis attack. cnn's ar joins us from istanbul. what more are you learning about this siege? >> reporter: well, at this stage right now, it seems as if the sdf does control the area around the prison, but the prison complex itself, very hard to get accurate information out of there, but isis fighters do maintain a certain level of control on portions of the prison. the u.s. has also been involved, not with boots on the ground, but by providing air support.

this was a fairly complex attack, according to a statement by the sdf that is based on fighters, isis fighterss they managed to detain. this has been some six months in the planning and involved around 200 isis fighters launching that initial attack on the prison that took place last week, late last week. they started this off, again, a complex attack by an explosion at the prison's gates and then they were able to storm inside. this really underscoring a number of very concerning situations that have been evolving in this part of syria. not recently but actually for years right now, ever since the u.s. and other coalition members declared isis had territorially been defeated in this area, and that is isis's ability to form the sleeper cells and then to re-emerge and carry out these types of attacks. the sdf, the main fighting force on the ground, for years now has been warning that it does not

have the capability to not just territorially control these areas, but also to continue to maintain security for prisons like the one that we saw come under attack on thursday where these fierce clashes have been continuing for days right now. this particular prison houses thousands of isis fighters. not just from the region, but from a number of foreign countries as well. foreign nationals whose own countries have been refusing to take them back. but also at the same time, refusing to provide any sort of a solution to the detention. not just of isis fighters inside these various different prison facilities across this portion of syria, but also for people who are considered to be the families, the wives and children of isis, effectively being held in prison-like conditions across a number of locations in syria. it also goes to show what the

sdf and other analysts have been warning about, that isis is a very patient organization and that it has been plotting, regrouping, especially over the course of the last few months, to carry out not just these types of attacks but potentially make more threatening terr territorial impanz in the future. >> thank you for bringing us up to date on that situation. yemen's houthi rebels confirm they targeted the united arab emirates. uae said they intercepted two missiles. a ministry of defense statement said the attack did not result in any casualties. wou we'll bring you more information on in as we have it. back to or top story this hour. all eyes on ukraine as fears of a russian invasion intensify. u.s. president joe biden is now

reportedly considering options to bolster troop levels in eastern europe. the u.s. state department also announced plans to reduce staff levels at the embassy in kyiv. it comes as ukraine says russia has now deployed more than 127,000 troops along the ukrainian border. meanwhile, eu foreign ministers are gathering right now in brussels to discuss the escalating tensions and possible sanctions on russia. for more on this, we want to bring in cnn's melissa bell, who joins us live from paris. what are eu foreign ministers saying about the rising tensions at ukraine's border with russia? and what options are being considered now? >> reporter: the big question, rosemary, will be whether they agree on the raft of sanctions that washington are looking for them to agree on, looking for that union that antony blinken has been talking about over the

last 24 hours. that's crucial that european allies should appear firmly on board and tough on moscow with regards to ukraine. as you say, those arrivals have just begun for that meeting of foreign affairs ministers. we just heard from the danish foreign affairs minister arriving at the meeting and saying he expected the -- that europe would be tough with regard to those sanctions and he thought they would go further than they had in 2014. look, the problem with the way europe approaches ukraine is not only that nato has been divided on the question of the stance to towards russia the last few years, but europe the divisions are substantial as well. with europe's two biggest economies, eugermany and france hesitant, those closest to the borders and baltic region to get as tough, perhaps, as others would have them. we know germany has been very skeptical with regards to sanctions that would, in a sense, come back to haunt them. looking at the importance of

russia to their economy, looking at the importance of gas supply as well. only last week france's emmanuel macron, taking the presidency of the european council, was in front of the european parliament talking about the need for a security pact that was independent of negotiations with the united states. those are some of the tensions that and exist within europe with regard to the strategy that should be adopted towards moscow. so, all eyes very much on what comes out of this meeting. i suspect washington will be watching as closely as is moscow, rosemary. >> no doubt at all. melissa bell joining us live from paris, many thanks. coming up on "cnn newsroom," anger over covid restrictions spills out into the streets of belgium. we'll have the latest just ahead. it's been two years since china first put wuhan in lockdown. two weeks from the winter olympic games, we take a look at what the country is doing to prepare and what's changed since 2020. . what if i sleep hot? ...or cold? no problem, the sleep number 360 smart bed is temperature balancing

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authorities in belgium say some 50,000 people demonstrated against covid restrictions in brussels sunday. clashes between police and protesters led to at least a dozen arrests and police using tear gas. they also used water cannon. three officers and 12 demonstrators were hospitalized because of their injuries. meantime, a covid outbreak in a hong kong community has grown to more than 170 done firmed or preliminary positive cases. hundreds of people are under a snap lockdown after cases were reported over the weekend. kristie lu stout is in hong kong with all the latest information on the lockdowns there. first, let's bring in scott mclane in london with all the latest on the weekend protests across europe over restrictions and mandates. so, scott, what more are you

learning about these protests in belgium and across other parts of europe? >> hey, rosemary, 50,000 protesters in belgium. as you mentioned, things got ugly. police say some protesters threw heavy objects at them. we're talking about things like garbage cans and cobblestones from the streets. protesters are upset about continuing covid restrictions in belgium, the use of covid passes, mask requirements for large outdoor gatherings, the list goes on. there were also protests in paris over the weekend. protesters there are none straighted after a court upheld the legality of france's new covid pass law, which comes into effect today. it requires proof of vaccination to access all kinds of everyday things like regional public transit, bars, restaurants, that kind of a thing. a negative test is no longer enough to avoid vaccination. that is going to make life very, very inconvenient and difficult

for the unvaccinated. and it seems to be by design. french president emmanuel macron has said previously his aim was to piss off the unvaccinated to try to get them to take the shot. other countries in europe are going even further. we know aus stree yan lawmakers have voted to make vaccines mandatory, the german government is looking to start a debate to follow suit, potentially. it's hard to imagine things looking any more different than they do across the english channel because the british government has already said that mask -- or that masks will no longer be required in school and that people can go back to their offices. later this week, mask mandates across the country will go away, so will the use of covid passports. they were required only for large events, nightclubs, that kind of a thing. the health secretary says the new mantra is, we need to live with covid like we live with the flu. the reason the government feels they can do that, rosemary,

because, omicron cases are coming down sharply. they seem to have peaked, hospitalizations are also coming down and deaths have flattened as well. plus, on top of all that, the government has already convinced almost two-thirds of the eligible population to take the booster shot. that is a big head start on the rest of europe. >> kristie, what is the latest on a housing covid outbreak and how is it testing hong kong's zero covid strategy here? >> reporter: i'm standing outside of a crowded housing area in kwai chung and this is the epicenter of hong kong's covid outbreak. the city reported 125 new locally transmitted cases of covid-19. that was the highest daily tally in a year. of those new cases, 104 can be linked to a cluster here. in the last five minutes, the hong kong government is reporting an additional 69 locally transmitted cases

related to the kwai chung cluster. a number of residential buildings are locked down. 35,000 residents here ordered to take -- undertake mandatory daily covid-19 testing. over the weekend we heard from hong kong authorities who described the outbreak exponential. i want you to listen to this from hong kong's top official, chief executive, carrie lam. >> translator: we are worried the exponential growth of cases we have seen in other parts of the world is now happening in kwai chung. >> reporter: as cases rise in kwai chung, anger and frustration as well. when carrie lam paid a visit to this very building on sunday, she was met with angry jeers. her visit to the site lasted, in the end, only 15 minutes. back to you. >> scott, kristie lu stout in hong kong, many thanks to you both. it has been two years since china took drastic measures in

the city of wuhan to contain the coronavirus outbreak. on january 23, 2020, chinese authorities locked down wuhan, sealing more than 11 million residents inside their homes. the 76-day lockdown signal the central government feared that the virus would spread rapidly. so, let's take a look at the timeline of how these events unfolded. on december 31, 2019, china alerts the world health organization to cases of, quote, viral pneumonia, in wuhan. on january 20th, china confirms person-to-person spread. three days later, china locks down millions of people in wuhan and within hubei province. on february 24, 2020, the city's first makeshift hospital starts to receive patients. in mid-march, wuhan registers zero new covid-19 cases.

a few weeks later, on april 8th, authorities begin allowing people to leave the city, officially ending the lockdown. in the time since and with less than two weeks to go before the winter olympics in beijing, china is determined as ever to stamp out the virus as it prepares to host the upcoming games. so, senior's david culver was there and he joins me now live from beijing. none of us can forget your incredible reporting throughout that. of course, david, let's talk about how china's covid policies have changed since that massive lockdown of wuhan at the start of this pandemic two years ago, and what it will mean for olympic preparations just days away from those olympics. >> reporter: that's right. we're nearing closer and closer, rosemary. as i think back to our time in wuhan, i believe it was january 22nd, the day before that lockdown, an unprecedented one at that, we did our live report

from there. our one and only. it was speaking with you. shortly thereafter, a few hours later, got the call, wuhan going on lockdown. it stayed i that way for 76 days. as you lay down that timeline, it's important to look at that, not so much as a reflection back but to show us where things have gone here since in china. one thing has remained, strict measures are in place. we can trace zero covid, that policy that china is trying to stick to, back to the wuhan lockdown. what has taken place since have been three different pillars of this zero covid policy. one, you have lockdowns. not so much citywide ones, though those exist as well. but more so targeted ones. the isolated ones which they really put folks in certain communities or neighborhoods, sealed inside their homes, confined there until they're deemed safe to re-enter society. and then the other part is the mass testing. you have to remember, early on, they didn't know exactly what they would be testing for so they didn't have the tests. now they have the capability to

test tens of millions of people. we see entire populations of cities tested in a few days' time. the last aspect is contact tracing. that's using smartphone technology, more than anything else, to monitor our whereabouts, to know if we've come in contact with a confirmed case and to follow us really throughout the country if we're a potential exposure and possibly transmitting that virus to other people. so, that has been really sophisticated and enhanced over the past several months or so. all of that timing around the olympics. so, the folks who are coming in, these olympic arrivals, getting a taste of this zero covid policy, especially if they're coming from countries out west, especially the u.s. where they are probably not used to these type of measures within the so-called covid bubble that will be the olympic bubble, the closed loop system, as they refer to it here. they're going to have to undergo daily testing. we're already seeing some cases have surfaced. in fact, six more were added today, a total of 78. of that number, rosemary, 43 of

those cases were detected upon entry. so, they're going to continue to monitor those numbers. i think it's fair to say we can continue to see more cases come in, but officials there are determined in saying that there is no widespread infection. there is certainly no outbreak within that olympic bubble. they consider it to be under control. >> and as you point out, i mean, some of these athletes coming from around the world are going to be quite shocked by these strict measures in place. david culver joining us live from beijing. many thanks, as always. taiwan says main land china sent nearly 40 warplanes into its air defense zone on sunday. the largest such incursion so far this year. taiwan's defense ministry says the planes included dozens of fighter jets and a nuclear capable bomber. in response, taiwan says it deployed air defense missile systems to monitor the situation. bay jings's show of force comes one day after the u.s. and japan conducted naval drills east of

taiwan. spacex's unmanned dragon cargo ship is on its way back to earth after undocking from the international space station. the trip originally had to be postponed due to bad weather. the dragon is set to splash down off the coast of panama city, florida, in the coming hours. now, some of the cargo and experiments on board will be transported to nasa's kennedy space center. the impact of the eruption near tonga is being felt in south america as the damage hits the beaches in peru. the aftermath of an oil spill coming up.

much needed outside aid has started arriving in tonga as the island nation struggles with the aftermath of recent volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. ash from the january 15th disaster still blankets much of the country. the government estimates around 84% of the population was directly impacted. but covid concerns have complicated relief efforts. tonga has only had one case of covid since the pandemic

started, and strict restrictions are in place. well, part of the damage from the tonga eruption can be seen thousands of miles away. the clean-up from an oil spill in peru is under way and environmental groups warn the damage could be long lasting. >> reporter: waves of black sludge wash up on a popular beach in peru. this time of year it should be filled with sunbathers. instead, emergency crews in biohazard suits scoop oily sand into barrels to be transported to toxic waste treatment facilities. the beaches another casualty of the powerful volcanic eruption thousands of kilometers away in tonga. peru says a tanker ship spilled some 6,000 barrels of oil into the sea more than a week ago while it was offloading the crude to a refinery. unusual high waves were the

cause of the accident. the refinery says it isn't responsible and maritime authorities should have issued warnings about the rough seas. p environmental emergency has been declared for the next 90 days. so far health officials say 21 of peru's beaches have been polluted. dead seals, fish and birds are washing up, covered in oil and fishing activities in the area have been suspended. local residents say they, too, have been impacted. >> translator: nothing, nothing is sold, this fish vendor says. the fish, more than anything, give off the smell of oil and people don't buy it. environmental groups say cleaning the beaches with shovels and buckets is not nearly enough. and the damage to the country's rich marine life could be long lasting. they say they have deployed more than 1,300 workers to the area, along with large vessels and

skimmers to try to filter the oil from the ocean. the united nations also sending a team of experts to help with the emergency response. still few who live around here think this will go away soon. this man says, everything is toxic right now. look at the oil stains on those stones. it's hard to clean them immediately. it will take years. everything here is polluted. a disaster initially caused by a force of nature, though some say the devastating effects in peru could have been mitigated. an investigation is ongoing. many people questioning why the ship was unloading in such conditions. if there was sufficient warning about the dangers. michael holmes, cnn. and on a much lighter note, next time you're checking your email before you enter your spam folder, check it first. a michigan woman is $3 million richer because she checked hers. laura spears purchased a mega

millions ticket online through the lottery website. while searching for an email a few days later, lo and behold, she found a message from the michigan lottery informing her that she was a winner. spears says she plans to share the winnings with her family and retire early. isn't that wonderful? and finally, it was raining teddy bears in pennsylvania last night. just watch this. >> goal line, gets it back. right circle, pulls the trigger. and score! >> fans of the hershey bears hockey team tossing more than 52,000 plush toys after they scored their first goal last night. in doing so, they broke their own world record. the toys will be donated to more than 25 local charities. that is wonderful. thank you so much for your company. i'm rosemary church. take care of yourself and your loved ones. "cnn newsroom" continues. this is how you imagine your dishwasher.

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hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and right around the world. i'm isa soares in london, and just ahead right here on "cnn newsroom." >> one nation can't go in by force and change the borders of another. >> it's provocative to send 130,000 troops to your neighbor's border for no apparent immediate reason. >> he wants a replay, a redo of the end of the cold war. >> the u.s. and the uk order families of its embassy staff to le