hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and right around the world, i'm isa suarez in london and we are following two major stories just ahead right here on "cnn newsroom." >> this event will not define buffalo. >> this is an absolute racist hate crime. >> we must all work together to address the hate that remains a

stain on the soul of america. >> russia is not achieving its strategic objectives. >> russia tried to deny any enlargement of nato. >> the social democratic party has concluded that sweden should join nato. ♪ live from london, this is "cnn newsroom" with isa suarez. welcome to the show, everyone, it is monday, may 16th. we begin with the consequences of russia's war on ukraine. finland and sweden have announced they intend to join nato, reverse ago neutral stance held by the two nations for decades and really paving the way for major expansion of nato's military alliance directly on russia's doorstep. now, what you are looking at right now, a live images coming to us from helsinki in finland where finnish lawmakers are gathered to consider the issue.

swedishish use are set to do the same in 30 minutes or so both parliaments are widely expected to endorse the decisions, from there nato says the approval process could move very quickly. finland's acceptance would also double russia's land border with nate a move that's likely to anger vladimir putin who has long considered nato expansion really a threat to russia. our nic robertson is in helsinki with the latest. this is a pretty momentous day for both nordic nations. talk us through the process. we saw the live images of them debating it. what can we expect next? >> reporter: yeah, we've had prime minister marin give a speech to the finnish parliament laying out why they've come to this conclusion that russia is not safe an finland will be safer as a member of nato. that nato will be safer and stronger with finland being its member. so that is now, as you say, being debated in the finnish parliament, 200 members. there are ten or a dozen that

have clearly indicated they are against this decision, so we can expect them to speak as part of the debate today. a vote is expected more likely tomorrow than today, but it's undoubtedly going to go in the favor of nato. i spoke to a parliamentarian a couple days ago and he told me he believes more than 1830 of the 200 parliamentarians would vote in favor. sweden as well over the weekend the social democrat party of the prime minister indicating they support joining nato, that that will make the region safer and sweden safer. they also, although technically not required or constitutionally not required, they are going -- putting this before the parliament for debate and discussion. both countries, you know, prizing their democratic values and wanting to make sure that everyone on board when they come to -- when they come to make their decisions, but the outcome is a foregone conclusion at this stage. we are outside the president's

residence in helsinki, he's meeting with senator mitch mcconnell, senator susan reed, a couple of other u.s. senators here expected to make a few comments shortly. obviously the finnish president has been buoyed by the support that his country is getting from all nato members, the only wrinkle so far president erdogan of turkey indicating that he is not lookinininpotive upon the possible membership of finland in nato but nato's secretary general said very clearly he expects these issues to be tidied up. how long the whole process takes, a matter of months, hard to pin it down because everything goes before national parliaments. this is, though, as you say, a historic moment, a geopolitical shift of magnitude caused by president putin. >> nic robertson, as soon as we hear mitch mcconnell the senate republican leader we shall bring that to our viewers, nic

robertson in helsinki in finland. we are tracking a major symbolic victory for ukrainian troops near kharkiv. they say they've reached the russian border and put down a blue as well as yellow stake, you can see the video. after weeks of intense fighting some of these soldiers have even cracked a smile as russian forces repel against kharkiv moscow is ramping up attacks in other areas. we learned of a new missile strike report in ukraine in the odesa region. meantime, russia is pouring more troops into the luhansk region, they are focusing artillery and troops around donetsk and are accused of firing on civilian targets. they say the russia hospital at the hospitals, this amid reports ukrainian forces have pulled back from a bridge linking the city has been destroyed in a sign ukrainians may be taking up new give lines. suzanne malveaux is live in

lviv, ukraine. great to have you in okay. i know you arrived over the weekend. give us a sense of your first impressions so far. >> reporter: well, first impressions really are quite amazing that the ukrainians crossing over the border, we entered from the poland side and there is such a sense of optimism and hope of the people to really come back into their country no matter what the condition is here. i mean, i actually met a woman who was at the front of the line and the lines are miles long, you can imagine these cars just trying to get back home. she had been waiting in line for four days with her 7-year-old son. i talked to her and she just wanted to come home. that was the tremendous feeling that a lot of the ukrainians who i met yesterday had. i just want to talk a little bit about the sense of the message that we are getting this morning here. you had mentioned the ukrainian military unit that is just north of kharkiv who are now at the russian border. they had a message saying, mr.

president, we made it. and this small unit showing the video with that blue and yellow staff that they had, really a sense of pride here. it is symbolic, it is real, it shows once again that there are some wins. there are some victories as the intense fighting continues. >> reporter: it almost looks like fireworks, but these explosions aren't for show, they are incendiary munitions, yet another day of crushing russian firepower aimed at the besieged city of mariupol. over the weekend a large convoy of cars and vans carrying fleeing residents managed to leave the city. up to 1,000 vehicles arrived in zaporizhzhia which would be the largest single evacuation from mariupol since the fighting began. one man says it was a harrowing

journey. >> translator: we barely made it. there were lots of elderly people among us. it was tough. people went through hard things before, they were nervous. the trip was devastating, but it was worth it. >> reporter: meanwhile, further east, russian troops are zeroing in on the town of donetsk where 15,000 people still live but the ukrainian military say russian forces have suffered losses as they try to push through the luhansk and donetsk region. areas around the city of kharkiv are back under ukrainian control. nato secretary general says these are major setbacks for the russians. >> they failed to take kyiv. they're pulling back from around kharkiv. their major offensive in donbas

has stalled. russia is not achieving its strategic objectives. >> reporter: but some russian forces are getting additional help, about 600 chechen fighters -- >> i want to take you live to mitch mcconnell who is speaking right now in helsinki. let's listen in. >> -- very important moments for finland and your visit has been very important. we had a very good discussion. i refer -- want to refer our last meeting that was in march in washington and i once again, want to thank you for encouragement you gave then a couple of months ago, and now you see the results. we had a very interesting discussion not only dealing with finnish membership in nato, but also ukraine and how we see

world developing, getting better. how we get rid of these problems we have, the crisis in ukraine. very important, as you said. once again, it's very valuable to have you here. thank you. >> mr. president, it's great to see you again and this historic day in the history of finland, brought about, obviously, by vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine. first on that issue, just let me say briefly i expect the united states senate to finally approve the bipartisan package of $40 billion this week. we also want to thank your country for all you've done to help the ukrainians and to deal with some ukrainian refugees as well. with regard to the news of

today, i'm safe in saying that strong bipartisan support in the united states for admission of finland to the world's most successful military alliance. there's never been a more successful military alliance than nato. finland brings a lot to the alliance. frankly, their participation strengthens the alliance significantly and it's a great honor to happen to be here on the day when your request for admission is official. and let me say that the goal in the united states will be to approve that as rapidly as possible. >> now we have time for some questions. let's start from left and go to center and then to the right.

first there. >> reporter: finnish broadcasting company. i have a question for senator mcconnell. so what's your estimate, when will -- when will the congress vote on ratifying the finnish membership on nato? will that happen before the midterm elections? and then what do you think -- and how many republican senators will vote in favor of it? >> well, we hope to do it as rapidly as possible. your question is what is rapidly as possible? and i think certainly we hope to achieve it before the august recess when congress typically goes out of session. obviously that would be well before the fall election. with regard to the size of the vote, i think it will be very significant, not unanimous, but very significant. >> can you pass the microphone

to the gentleman next and then we go to the center. >> reporter: cbs news. senator mcconnell, you are calling on president biden to declare russia a state sponsor of terror. can you explain why? and, mr. president, do you also agree that russia should be declared a state sponsor of terror and why? >> well, first, the president has within his authority to designate russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. anyone who has been able to observe the events of the last couple of months would have to conclude the russians certainly deserve to be included on that list. >> like i said, how we deal with russia, what we say about russia, that is what we discuss with our eu partners. eu has been very active and i'm sure that the discussion will continue, and also activities.

>> reporter: senator mcconnell, nic robertson from cnn. president erdogan has said that he doesn't look positively upon finland and sweden becoming members of nato. can president erdogan block this process? and you've mentioned how quickly the united states you anticipate will move. how long do you believe this process of acession should take? >> i hope whatever his concerns are will be worked out. by any objective standard both finland and sweden bring a great deal to the nato alliance, strengthens the alliance far beyond what it is today and open flee that will be president erdogan's view, too, in due ti time. >> let's call at the end of the line. >> reporter: senator mcconnell,

i would have two questions, if possible. many finns are worried about the so-called gray period between application to nato and then the actual final ratification. what sort of security aid could america provide? could it include sending troops to finland's aid? and secondly, i'd like to ask are you concerned about the growing divisions within the gop in the united states, especially there's a growing number of house members who are against aiding ukraine, and obviously one senator stalling the approval of the aid package. thank you. >> well, with regard to your first question, i don't know the answer to that, that would be up to the biden administration to discuss with your president and the team here in finland. with regard to dissent, look, in the united states we've been over 200 years arguing over

everything and so i do not anticipate either the ukraine package to be completely unanimous or the decision on finland and sweden's admission to nato to be unanimous, but it won't be close. there is broad bipartisan support, but some dissent. i mean, in america we have dissent over almost everything. >> the gentleman on the left. >> reporter: senator mcconnell, what are your expectations for finland in nato? what kind of member state do you expect finland to be? >> well, finland is -- punches above the weight of a number of existing nato members. europe mission to great toe

greatly strengthens nato. that's why we've been partners, in a sense, before the actual admission. you add a great deal to nato. nato is already the most successful military alliance in world history, now it's going to be even stronger than it was. >> we are slowly running out of time. let's take at least two questions next to each other there to follow. okay. >> reporter: the finnish news agency. former president trump said he wants to at one point he wants to pull u.s. from nato. are republicans still committed to nato? >> absolutely. that's not the majority view in the republican party, certainly not the majority view in among senate republicans or house republicans. >> reporter: during the

discussions did you talk about any concrete -- senator mcconnell, did you discuss any concrete ways to enhance finnish security during this gray period while we are waiting for the ratification process to go through? >> well, your president made it clear he would like for us to move quickly, i'm also committed to moving quickly. we would love in the united states to be the first to ratify the admission, but there's some procedures wf to go through that could end up making it possible for some other nato allies to get ahead of us, but our goal is to get there as quickly as possible. >> any final words? >> we were discussing already two months ago about the support that usa is willing and what is possible to give, and i really appreciated the information.

>> we seem to have lost that feed but i can give you a rough idea of what we have been hearing there from helsinki in finland. of course, we heard the finnish president meeting alongside, as you just saw speaking there mitch mcconnell the u.s. senate republican leader who is in helsinki, finland with a delegation of gop senators. really becoming an important time as we've seen today members of finnish parliament debating their accession into nato. in terms of what we've heard from mitch mcconnell he said he expects the senate -- talking about ukraine here -- u.s. senate to approve the $40 billion aid package this week in ukraine. he says it probably won't be unanimous in terms of a decision but it is significant. he said similar words in regards to sweden and finland's a session to nato. he said there's strong support to the world's most successful military aligns lyons. when asked about the expectations for finland as part

of nato he said that finland punches above its weight in comparison to other existing members. he also said that the goal is to approve this process as rapid, as quickly as possible. our nic robertson was standing there, he asked a question. nic, what did you take away from that? >> reporter: yeah, the idea that the united states could be, according to senator mitch mcconnell, could be and would like to be the first country to grant permission for finland to accede to nato, a very strong commitment there, actually, he said because of legal technical procedures it may take a little bit longer to the united states to complete the process than other countries, but clearly the united states at the leading edge of supporting finland. he talked b you know, the close nature of the way that the two countries have trained before, have been on joint operations before. we know they've been in iraq at the same time, afghanistan statement, could have owe voe,

lebanon, bosnia all of these places finnish forces have worked side-by-side with u.s. and other nato members. i think that's one of the big take a ways here, the fact that they want to do it quickly. he seemed to think as well that the wrinkles that president erdogan is sort of casting ahead of finland requesting to become a nato member and the process of accession there he seemed to think that those could be overcome. so a very clear and strong support for what's the support of ukraine of course but also the support here of finland's application. >> let me go to jomana next. jomana karachi is with us from istanbul. explain the rationale for erdogan's objection and whether, of course, turkey's concerns are being addressed by nato. >> reporter: well, isa, we first heard those concerns from president erdogan on friday, quite a surprise for many countries and turkey's allies when they came out and said they

don't view finland and sweden's membership bid positively. we have had some clarification from senior turkish officials, the foreign minister and others saying, look, they are not blocking these two countries' membership. they are saying that turkey have some issues that need to be addressed, security concerns that need to be addressed by these two countries and by nato. they say they want security guarantees. what turkey is accusing sweden and finland of is basically saying that members of the pkk, that separatist militant kurdish group is considered a terrorist organization by the united states, by the eu and by turkey, they say that members of the group are operating in finland and in sweden. they also accuse mainly sweden of arming and providing support to the ypg, that is the syrian kurdish militia operating in northeastern syria that turkey views as the same group as the

pkk and this is something that has been really at the heart of disagreements between turkey and other nato allies over the years because they had chosen the ypg as a partner in the fight against isis and also turkey wants sweden and finland to lift bans on military exports to turkey, some arms exports, some restrictions on its defense industry. basically they're saying they are not closing the door, this is not a firm no but they want discussions that have started over the weekend. the turkish foreign minister meeting with his swedish and finnish counterparts saying they presented them with evidence for these allegations turkey is making. they are getting proposals from these two countries. we have heard from u.s. officials, the secretary of state, also the nato secretary general, everyone seems to agree that this is something they will be able to address and work through, not overly concerned about turkey's objections so far. >> it doesn't seem to be so far that they're going to peter in

any way their accessions. clair, finland's acceptance is historic, but would double its border with a nato country, obviously with russia. how much will that rattle, do you think, putin, president putin? >> a lot. i think this is, you know, categorically one of the worst case scenarios for russia. putin as long as i've been covering him which is about 15 years now has worried about nato expansion into eastern europe, the fact that this will double the land boarder is extremely concerning. we heard from the deputy foreign minister called this a mistake with far reaching consequences. i think the optics of what we just saw, a top u.s. senator standing in finland endorsing this in-person, a look back to what putin said on february 24th when he announced the special military operation, a speech in which he referred to nato nine times, he proceeded to say it's not about nato itself, it merely serves as a tool of u.s. foreign policy. he said that the problem is in

territories adjacent to russia they're creating a hostile anti-russia. this is how he views it, the encroachment on his tear towers. the question is what will russia do. the foreign ministry has warned about retaliatory steps of a military technical nature. >> on that point let me go back to nic. i don't know if you heard in terms of what the next steps would be from russia or how putin may view this, but one of the questions that was put to the president there and as well to mitch mcconnell was about this gray period between acceptance and obviously being fully on board with nato. a fully fledged member. what's the security concerns if you are living in finland? >> reporter: that russia could act militarily along the border, could try to create attention, could try to, you know, influence the mood in finland. that there could be, you know, a potential cyber threat. one of the reasons that politicians here have kept their

views on a pretty tight hold since this began being discussed here, middle of april, and the sort of -- the endorsement by the government and this discussion in parliament has been kept short is because there isn't -- there is a real feel that if the process was long and if there was to be, for example, a referendum this would give russia an opportunity with sort of -- to be able to interfere in the process. you know, to sort of feed false news into -- or fake news, rather, into the democratic process here. so you can apply the gray area -- you can apply it to the process that's going on in finland and that's where they've kept it short and the gray area while finland has asked nato for membership and is waiting for that to happen. you saw the finnish prime minister last week, other nordic

nations oversee their defense pacts with the states as well with finland. russia could try to exploit the interim period before finland becomes a full member and before it falls under that an attack on one is an attack on all and all of the other nato members would come to their support. that's the concern. >> nic robertson, clare sebastian and jomana karachi thank you to you both. i will have much more after a very short break. and looking to buyuy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what arere the three ps? the three ps of lifife insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54, what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month.

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welcome back, everyone. a weekend of deadly shootings in the u.s. has refocused guns, race and domestic relations. it is one of four lethal gun incidents this weekend alone. first, california authorities say one person is dead and four others critically wounded after a gunman opened fire at a church in laguna woods. a suspect believed to be an asian man in his 60s is in custody. authorities say he was stopped before law enforcement arrived thanks to an extraordinary actions by churchgoers.

>> we believe a group of churchgoers detained him and hog tied his legs with an extension cord and confiscated at least two weapons from him. he was detained when the deputies arrived. that group of churchgoers displayed what we believe is exceptional heroism and bravery in intervening to stop the suspect. they undoubtedly prevented additional injuries and fatalities. >> authorities say this kind of violence should never have occurred within the sanctuary of course for church and are promising a full investigation. u.s. president joe biden and the first lady are set to travel to buffalo, new york, tomorrow to visit the families of the victims of this weekend's deadly mass shooting. at least ten people were killed in what authorities say was a racially motivated attack. an official says the 18-year-old suspect told authorities he was targeting the black community. now investigators are reviewing 180-page manifesto posted online, in it the suspect

allegedly details how he had been radicalized online and describes himself as a white supremacist. cnn's shimon prokupecz has more on the investigation from buffalo. >> reporter: police revealing new information on sunday saying that the alleged shooter received a mental health evaluation last year after an unspecified threat at a school -- at his school where he lives. they say that the state police brought him to the hospital and he received this evaluation. we don't have any other information. they say up until this point he has not been on anyone's radar. they also say that the weapons that were used in this case, the two that they found and then the one that was used in this shooting were all purchased legally. they are investigating his social media and his internet access indicating that he was research this location. they also say that he was here on friday, out here, looking around, indicating that perhaps that he was planning this for some time. also investigators say that his

parents, his parents have been cooperating, but he also, according to sources, has been making statements to investigators, what they have described to me as being disturbing, and talked about the motivation, saying that it is very clear, investigators say, that he came here to target this community, specifically to target the black community, and that his targets were black people inside the tops supermarket. shimon prokupecz, buffalo, new york. we are hearing from survivors of the buffalo shooting, including one woman who was working at the supermarket alongside her daughter. she described the terrifying moments after shots rang out. >> my daughter was crouched down in the front for the entire shooting, kept running until i got all the way to the back door, the back door was stuck, but morris, my co-worker who told us to run to the back, he's also the one who was able to get the door open for us to get out of the building.

we were afraid. we didn't know if someone was on the other side of the door. she was in panic mode, but she did not move because she didn't want to be noticed that she was -- that she was there. >> her and her daughter were eventually reunited after police arrested the suspected shooter. we are learning more about the victims of the mass shooting in buffalo the youngest of the ten people killed was just 32 years old, the niece of another victim says her aunt was, quote, the life of the party was just doing her regular grocery shopping when she was killed. another victim 77-year-old pearl young the long time substitute teacher is being described as a true pillar in the community. the oldest victim was 85-year-old ruth whitfield, the mother of buffalo's retired fire commissioner, new york's attorney general spoke about the victims as leaders gathered in buffalo for a memorial service. have a listen. >> i heard about the senior citizen who planted trees on her block, i heard about the woman who just went to visit her

husband in the nursing home and stopped by tops to get something to eat. i heard about the young gentleman who worked in the office of senator kennedy who survived, who was shot through the neck and who god basically spared his life. i've held in my arms a young lady who worked at tops who was so afraid that she was about to die, who witnessed the bloodshed, who shaked and quivered in my arms this morning, who was afraid for her community, but afraid also for herself. this event will not define buffalo. >> new york's governor has now announced nearly $3 million in funding for the victims as well as the families of those affected by saturday has mass shooting. buffalo is just the latest city devastated by a mass shooting that authorities say was motivated by hate. now a number of community leaders are calling for more to

be done to stop hate speech from spreading online. >> we need to send a message that there is no place on the internet for hate speech, for hate indoctrination, for spreading hate manifesto. so i'd like to see real deliberate action taken on gun control and ending hate speech on the internet. >> we have seen this before. the question is now what, when will the justice department aggressively pursue these domestic terrorist cells that are populating on social media platforms? when will social media platforms finally stand up to their community responsibility and remove -- remove these cells? when will news corp. stop funding fox news to promote theories that only divide and create tribalism using nfl funds? we have to talk about now what?

how are we going to pivot away from this domestic terrorism that we have seen for african americans we know what it means for domestic terrorists not to be held accountable. it means for us more domestic terrorism. we have to come to grips with white supremacist behavior and all of the racist dogma that's out there that's causing harm to the african american community, jewish community, latino community. we have to stand up as a society. >> we will have much more on the latest mass shootings in the u.s. coming up on "early start" that begins in about 20 minutes or so from now. i want to show you these live images coming to us from finland's parliament in helsinki as well as sweden's parliament in stockholm. lawmakers on both sides really discussing the possibility of joining nato. we have been seeing this morning of course and hearing from the finnish president the importance of this vote. we've also been hearing from the u.s. republican leader mitch mcconnell throwing his support, the u.s. support, find finnish

accession of course to nato, this of course would ditch both coming in sweden and finland would ditch decades of course of neutrality for both of those countries and really ignoring the russian threats of retaliation that we have been seeing. both countries really debating as of this hour this accession to nato. as soon as we have that note, nic robertson said it may be as early as tomorrow we will bring that to you. north korea is not saying how many citizens have covid-19 but kim jong-un is sending the military to help with so-called fever cases. those details from the region just ahead. dry skin is sensitive skin, too. and it's natural. treat it that way.

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welcome back. north korea is ramping up efforts to fight hundreds or thousands what have it calls fever cases after reporting its first outbreak of covid-19. kim jong-un has ordered the military to help stabilize the country's medicine supply. state media says he is strongly criticized the public health sector for its handling of the crisis during an emergency meeting on sunday. blake kassig is following this for us from tokyo. do we know how widespread it is and why are they still calling it fever cases here? >> reporter: the covid crisis in north korea seems to be getting worse by the say, isa, but in a country that is extremely isolated under normal circumstances it's unlikely we will ever know just how widespread this outbreak is within its borders, but clearly the humanitarian crisis is serious as north korean leader kim jong-un has recently

declared a major national emergency, ordered all cities nationwide to lock down and has said the current outbreak is the greatest turmoil to hit north korea since its founding more than 70 years ago, a telling statement from a current leader of a country that suffered a devastating if a anyone in the '90s when experts say 2 million people died. since north korea identified or admitted its first ever case of covid-19 late last week, fever cases in north korea have been surging with nearly 400,000 new cases reported yesterday. according to state run media kcna the outbreak started in late april and has since resulted in more than 1.2 million so-called fever cases, more than 560,000 people are still being isolated with symptoms and 50 people have died, although it is unclear if those fevers or deaths were caused by covid-19 and the reason for that uncertainty in the and the reason why we are still calling these cases fever

cases instead of covid cases is because of the level of testing in north korea, it's extremely low. the vast majority of those people showing symptoms in all likelihood haven't been tested. making matters worse experts say the country lacks significant health care infrastructure, it's likely almost none of the country's 25 million people have been vaccinated and to date north korea hasn't secured any vaccines through organizations like covax despite being eligible. since the outbreak began the country's bureau led by kim jong-un has criticized the anti-epidemic sector for being careless, irresponsible and incompetent because kim says state provided medicines weren't supplied to people through pharmacies in time and for failing to recognize the current crisis, isa. >> i know you will stay on top of the story for us. thanks very much. while the coronavirus pandemic is hitting china's economy harder than expected new government data for april shows the world's second largest economy suffered stunning drops

in retail sales as well as factory production, unemployment also surged the second highest level on record, more than 30 cities remain under some form of lockdown. in shanghai there may be hope in the city of 25 million is planning for life to return to normal next month after declaring the outbreak under control. starting today supermarkets, pharmacies and other businesses are set to gradually reopen. china's strict zero covid efforts are proving to be a stark contrast with taiwan's pandemic policies. will ripley joins me live from ta taipei. how exactly is taipei dealing with covid? how successful has it been? >> reporter: well, you know, it was really successful during the pandemic when this was one of the few places on the planet where people were living a relatively normal life as the rest of the world was in lockdown, largely because of the zero covid policy, shut down their borders, didn't allow anybody but residents and special exceptions into the country. that allowed them to stay covid

free for more than a year up until last may when they had a major covid outbreak and hit with the reality only 2% of the population at that time about a year ago had been vaccinated. well, fast forward a year later, you have close to 80% of the population fully vaccinated, many people getting boosters and you also have covid numbers that have surged to record highs with the highly transmissible omicron variant, you are talking about tens of thousands of enough cases every day, yet they are not going into lockdown, they are not panicking, businesses are open, people are going to work. lots of people are getting covid tests, i can tell you i can think of a dozen people who i know personally who tested positive for covid over the last few days, but unlike what's happening in china where they go to a government isolation center and they're quarantined, people are just told to stay in their homes, keep getting tested as long as they don't have symptoms and stay home until they stop testing positive. so it's a shift away from this zero covid strategy. because of the fact they say, you know, with omicron even the

toughest contact tracing and quarantine regimes aren't going to work. they have accepted for the economy to reopen they also have to evolve their approach. they have watched the chaos in shanghai and china and have promised it won't be repeated here. >> quite a significant shift from taiwan. thanks very much, will. still to come right here on the show, severe weather in store for parts of the u.s. with record high temperatures some making fire conditions worse but that's not all. millions of americans on alert across the northeastern situates as line of potentially dangerous storms approaching this region this afternoon. we will break down the details and even a few isolated tornado in the northeast. more on that in n a few minutes. s of hep c. in only 8 weeks. the virus multiplieses daily and can damage the liver over time. mavyret stops hep c and d cures it. if you've had hepatitis s b, it may flare up...

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deployed tanker trucks you can see on the streets giving everyone a welcome sprinkling of water. temperatures have been above 40 degrees celsius recently. pakistan is also struggling in the oppressive week and zoo workers are spraying animals with water and putting up shades to protect them from the sun. >> a cold front moving across the u.s. is brewing up severe thunderstorm conditions for the northeast, damaging winds, hail and even tornadoes are at risk as the system moves east. pedram javaheri shows us what's in store for monday. >> good morning. severe weather once a again across the eastern united states, this time across the areas of the northeastern u.s., the most densely populated corner where a level 3 on a scale of 1 to 5 in place for enhanced risk for severe weather. 60 million americans in that area and the storms are set to arrive late this afternoon, boston, new york, philly, washington all could see strong

winds, heavy periods of rainfall for a few hours and the severe weather elements could bring large hail, maybe a couple tornadoes. level of concern for tornadoes 5% chance for any given point within 25 miles of that given point. the odds are there, but you will notice as far north as syracuse, as far south as richmond, va, that's where the thunderstorm potential could be for the most severe storms. notice over the last several days five reports of tornadoes across the eastern half of the u.s., the vast majority related to wind and hail. this is kind of what we expect for portions of the northeast over the next few hours. as far as temperatures are concerned, big time heat towards the latter of the portion of the heat. potentially some record temperatures, as much as 150 reported temps could be observed across the entirety of the southern united states, maybe a couple in the northeast. our friends in texas have seen triple digit heat come back and back in their forecast later this week. portions of colorado another

hire, the high park fire across forces of south central colorado. almost all of the state underneath drought conditions, 1100 acres consumed, 10% containment. a lot of work to be done across that region. calf canyon fire containment remains -- 104 across phoenix, 59 across seattle, temperatures in boston touching almost 80 degrees. isa? >> thank you very much. now, the final four teams are set for the nba playoffs, the boston celtics crushed the defending champs the milwaukee bucks on sunday 109-81. grant williams put up a career high 27 points as the celtics advance to the eastern conference finals, second seed boston will face the top seeded miami heat with game one set for tuesday in miami. and the dallas mavericks shot down the phoenix suns with a dominant victory, 123-90, luka

don vich put on a show with 35 points and ten rebounds. the mavs led by as many as 36 points as they advanced to the western conference finals. dallas will take on the golden state warriors wednesday in san francisco. a heart felt story we must tell but before we go. in the midst of war ukraine's folk rap group won this year's euro vision song contest on a wave of good will. >> thank you so much. thank you for supporting ukraine. this victory is ukrainian. >> and news that have win made it all the way to troops hunkered down in the mariupol steel plant which has been under siege you remember from russian forces for weeks. ♪

♪ >> the azovstal steel plant they ended their performance with a plea to, please help ukraine. that does it for here for me on "cnn newsroom." coverage of the news shootings in the united states continues on "early start" with laura jarrett. do stay right here on cnn. frank is a fan of fast. he's a fast talker. a fast walker. thanks, gary. and for unexpected heartburn... frank is a fan of f pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc cacan take one to four days to fully work. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast.

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are you a christian author with a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! good morning and welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is monday, may 16th. i'm laura jarrett. christine has the morning off. we begin this morning in buffalo, new york, and we start off the top here with what we know about the victims. police say they range in age from 32 to 86. among them, aaron salter,