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hello and welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm lynda kinkade. ahead on "cnn newsroom" -- calls for justice after the brutal beating of a 29-year-old man in memphis. the controversial police unit linked to his death has now been dismantled. israeli palestinian tensions soaring amid a wave of violence. prime minister netanyahu outlines a new plan after two attacks in jerusalem. and new zealand's most popular city begins to recover after devastating and deadly flooding. >> announcer: live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom," from lynda kinkade. the memphis police department has announced the permanent end of a special anti-crime unit known as scorpion. it comes just a day after the city released graphic videos of five scorpion officers fatally

beating 29-year-old tyre nichols. police have confirmed all the officers were with the special unit. some of the images you're about to see may be disturbing. scorpion was created over a year ago in response to rising homicides and violent crime in the city. but why the officers targeted nichols that night is unclear. nichols, who was unarmed, had been compliant. yet the video shows that even while restrained, nichols was repeatedly kicked, punched and struck without apparent provocation. steven cohen, a memphis congressman spoke earlier with cnn and said he was disturbed that no other officers intervened. take a listen. >> there were at least four other officers on the scene that stood around and did nothing. the duty to render aid is a major part of a police officer's job to protect and serve. and those officers did not do that. >> well, for the latest, here's

cnn's shimon prokupecz in memphis. a warning, some of the images in his report are graphic. >> reporter: a significant move here by the memphis police department. the police chief announcing that they are disbanding the scorpion unit. this is the unit that the five former officers were part of, their tactics have been called into question. of course, we saw their aggressive moves when they pulled over tyre nichols and when it was learned that these five officers were part of that scorpion unit, many of the community members and of course, nichols' family all came out, asking that the police chief disband this unit. now, what this unit does, they drive around in unmarked cars, aggressively fighting crime. and some of their tactics have come into question. and because of the concerns raised by the community, the police chief said that she met with officers in that unit and they all decided that in the interest of trying to heal the

wounds here and try and help some of the work that the police department and the community knows they're going to need to do to try to win back their respect, she is going to disband it. and then we'll see what happens. certainly, there's a lot more work here to do, as this investigation continues. shimon prokupecz, cnn, memphis, tennessee. well, attorney ben crump, who represents nichols' parents say he's also concerned that no other officer present that night intervened. speaking to cnn, crump said prosecutors may yet decide to charge those other officers as well. >> but we do think that there was some other officers there that should have been charged, not just these five, because they definitely should have been charged, but we think the other officers there, how heartbreaking was it when he was handcuffed there on the ground moaning and everybody was

walking around so nonchalantly, as if this is just business as usual. >> reporter: well, last hour, we spoke with civil rights attorney areva martin, about the uncommon speed both the city and police department have moved in the aftermath of nichols' brutal death. >> i think they acted in a fashion that's quicker than what we have typically seen in these cases to, one, fire the officers that were involved, charge them with these very serious charges, second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault. but i think there is still so much that we don't know about this case. i am disturbed by the police chief's refusal to come before press conference to answer questions. i know she sat down with our colleague, don lemon, to give an interview, but we have not seen the police chief. we've not been able to ask her questions. the public has not been able to ask her critical questions. and we're hearing from citizens on the ground in memphis that

there were problems with this scorpion unit well before their attack on mr. nichols. that many citizens came forward and complained about their aggressive tactics. and that those complaints were for the most part ignored. >> well, the five officers are expected to be arraigned february 17th. across the u.s., peaceful protesters have poured into the streets, demanding justice for tyre nichols. in cities like atlanta and new york, they made their voices heard by chanting slogans against police violence and waving signs for accountability. demonstrators say the marches will continue until their demands are met. >> we are out here to fight and call for justice, once again and continuously, because the work did not stop in 2020. it didn't stop in 2021. and it did not stop in 2022. we are still here and we are still fighting until justice is done. >> in the city where the fatal police beating took place, there was a unique march to honor

tyre's passion for skateboarding. rapa called on supporters to skate through the streets of memphis saturday, something that tyre loved doing since he was 6 years old. zbl israel's prime minister has fired new proposals for what he calls terrorism. benjamin netanyahu says the measures are many response to a pair of shootings in jerusalem that left at least seven people dead and five wounded over the weekend. cnn's hadas gold has more on the violence that has rattled the area. >> reporter: two shooting attacks rocked jerusalem this weekend, just 15 hours apart in what israeli officials are calling one of the worst terrorist attacks in recent memory. saturday morning, police say a 13-year-old palestinian boy shot and injured two men just outside the old city before being shot and injured himself. and then the previous evening, at a synagogue in northeast jerusalem after shabbat services, a 21-year-old

palestinian from east jerusalem began shooting worshippers as they left, killing seven and gyri injuring three more before fleeing by car. >> this is a significant rise in the level of terror that we've seen and it marks a heinous tack on the holey sabbath day. >> the shooting becoming the deadliest day for palestinians in the west bank for over a year. an unusual daylight raid by the israeli military on thursday in the occupied west bank targeting members of the islamic jihad, the israeli military said, who were planning, they say, an imminent attack. ten suing firefight killing nine among the militants, but also a woman in her 60s, according to the palestinian health authorities. >> translator: she opened the window to look over what's going on, a bullet hit her here in the next, the bullet hit the wall and the tv screen. >> reporter: the palestinian authority calling the raid a

massacre, announcing that they were severing security coordinations with israel as a result. and then rockets launched by militants in gaza towards israel. israel responding with air strikes. although no injuries were reported on either side. the past few days, a major test for the recently installed government under israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, under pressure from his right-wing cabinet to respond with force. >> translator: i will bring to the cabinet additional measures to fight terrorism. this includes significantly speeding up and expanding gun licensing for licensed citizens. as we have seen time and time again, including this morning, this thing saves lives. >> reporter: international condemnations and sympathies poured in, including by president joe biden, as u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken prepares to make a pre-planned trip to the region, where his relationship under even higher stakes. hadas gold, jerusalem. >> the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken's three-day trip

to the middle east begins today. his first stop will be egypt, where he's scheduled to meet with the country's leader, abdel fattah el sisi, then he will make highly anticipated trips to israel and the west bank. this will be his first time in israel since a coalition government led by netanyahu came into power. i want to bring in journalist eliot gotkin who is live for us from jerusalem. i want to start first with netanyahu's response to this wave of violence in jerusalem. will it bring calm or could it further escalate the situation? take us through the plan? >> the plan designed necessarily to bring calm. first and foremost, in the words of the prime minister, designed to show that there is a price to be paid for what he describes as terrorism. so in terms of the points, we have a little bit of a snippet there from hadas' report, but there were six points in total that the security cabinet outlined at the end of the

jewish sabbath yesterday. first of all, the home of the attacker from friday night, the palestinian gunman who killed seven by the synagogue, so that will be sealed immediately ahead of its demolition. now, it's already been sealed. the israeli police confirmed this morning. national insurance rights and additional benefits of families of militants that support terrorism will be revoked, they say. there'll also be legislation to discuss the revocation of israeli identity cards, of families, of attackers that support terrorism. again, in the words of the security cabinet, they say that firearm licensing, as we heard in hadas' report, will be expedited and expanded. you'll recall that the 13-year-old boy, the palestinian boy that attacked people in israeli on saturday in jerusalem, that it was the civilians themselves in that group that was attacked that responded because two of them were carrying licensed weapons. another point was that in response to these attacks, they say that they're going to be strengthening settlements. now, it's a bit vague.

they haven't gone into spe specifics, but we'll be expecting more details in the coming days. finally, reinforcing militarying and police units, expanding arrests and focused operations to collect illegal weapons are also going to be carried out. those are the main six points announced by the security cabinet yesterday evening. prime minister benjamin netanyahu ahead of those discussions outlined the reasons why they were going ahead with these things. >> translator: our response will be strong, swift, and precise. whoever tries to harm us, we will harm them and everyone who assists them. we have already carried out widespread arrests of those who support, assist, and incite terrorism. we are deploying forces. we are reinforcing units, and we are doing this in various sectors. >> reporter: and there's been more violence overnight as well. there was an attempted attack by a settlement near the dead sea,

where the gunman's gun malfunctioned, apparently, according to the israeli army. also, was an infiltrated settlement north of the west bank. that attacker was killed by the security patrol there. and we're also hearing from palestinian officials in the west bank, saying that dozens of settlers went on a kind of rampage, setting fire to cars, and in one case, a home caught fire after the car that was set alight. the flames then spread to the home. so a lot of property damage there. that's according to palestinian officials. and so, on the eve, effectively, of u.s. secretary of state antony blinken's visit to israel and the west bank, clearly, this is showing signs of the situation just escalating, more violence and no doubt this will be on the agenda between secretary of state antony blinken and israeli officials, both with the israeli officials and with palestinian officials,

as well. lynda? >> and we will be following that trip very closely in the coming days. eliot gotkin, good to have you with us. thanks so much. we are following three major stories in iran. a massive fire at an oil refinery, an explosion at a military plant, and an earthquake. i want to start with the fire. it happened at a refinery near the city of tabriz on saturday. the intensity of the blaze made it difficult to fight. in the past hour, we're learned it has been put out. one firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation. state media says the cause of that fire is under investigation. well, meantime, iran's defense minister says an explosion at a military plant in the city offishvahon was caused by small drones. no casualties reported and only major damage occurred to the roof of that complex. no clarity on who or what was

behind that attack. and in the northwest of the country, at least three people are reported dead, 816 injured after an earthquake hit the city of hoy. that's according to state media. saturday's 5.9 magnitude quake was so strong it was felt across several nearby cities. a ukrainian village liberated from russian troops doesn't feel like home for its residents anymore. still ahead, why the area remains a ghost town, even the russian forces are gone. plus, new zealand residents assess the damage and begin the cleanup from heavy rain and storms and flooding. we'll have the details later this hour. start by cooking a lasagna. load your dishes. 24 hours later, when your dishwasher is full, let finish quantum clean your dishes. if the stains aren't gone, your lasagna is on finish. ( ♪ ) lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. tastes great in our iced coffees too. which makes waking up at 5 a.m. to milk the cows a little easier. oo) mabel says for you,

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why burn a candle when you can switch to air wick essential mist? it's the modern way to transform fragrance infused with natural essential oils into a mist. air wick essential mist. connect to nature. welcome back. ukraine has taken russian thriller fire in the east, just as it gets to work to get morefire power to fight back. a official said that russia had launched close to 300 strikes over the last day. ukraine is concerned the town could be a springboard for future russian advances if it's captured. well, meanwhile, ukraine says it's in talks with western

allies about getting u.s. long-range missiles. the so-called attack ems system would enable ukraine to hit russia's logistical bases behind the front lines. but russia is reluctant to send them, because of concerns that ukraine could use it to hit targets inside russia. for more, barbie nadeau joins us from rome. good to have you with us, b barbie. so ukraine wants these tactical longer-range himissiles. he's calling them vital. at this point, the u.s. won't go that far, fearing that it could escalate the situation. >> that's right. you know, ukraine is saying that basically russia is going to have this very aggressive spring offensive. and they're trying to use that as a motivation to get more allies to sort of help them beef up their military capabilities. these long-range missiles are a key part of that. let's listen to what president zelenskyy had to say about this.

>> translator: it would be possible to stop this russian terror if we could provide our military with relevant missile power, so that terrorists do not feel impunity. ukraine needs long-range missiles in particular to remove this option for invaders to destroy ukrainian cities using missile launche ers deployed fa from the front line. >> and you know, these missiles have about four times the capability of anything in ukraine's arsenal right now. now, washington, of course, saying that it could lead to ukraine using them to attack inside russian territory. but zelenskyy saying that he instead believes they would be a deterrent that could perhaps hold russia back a little bit in these relentless attacks. >> and tell us a little bit more about the fierce battles in the east. particularly this town that has been pounded in recent days by russia.

why is it strategically important? >> well, you know, a lot of military analysts say that it's not so much that this is a strategically important town, as much as as it is a way to engage a ukraine military and to keep them from being stronger elsewhere, perhaps in the north where some attacks may be going on. of course, the front line is several hundred miles long. it's a very difficult thing for the ukrainian military, especially when they don't have all the equipment they say they need to protect it. but a lot of these analysts are saying that this is really just a way for russia to engage these troops to keep them busy while they attack elsewhere. lynda? >> barbie nadeau for us. good to have you across the story. thanks so much. well, meanwhile, residents in some eastern communities are struggling to rebuild months after a russian retreat. cnn went to a village the russians fled months ago that's still practically a ghost town. as our ben wedeman reports, its people have next to nothing to

come back to. >> reporter: war passed through the village of villhenky and left desolation in its wake. it once was a quiet farming village, home to a few hundred souls. then the russians came. they moved into houses, their uniforms, their boots, their boxes of rations strewn among the rubble. they moved into the school and the community social center and all over town, russia's once-mighty war machines reduced to rusting hulks. a now headless statue stands atop a scarred monument commemorating the dead from the second world war. the russians were driven out of this village in autumn of last year, but barely a home, barely a structure is in tact. it's going to be a long time

before anyone can move back here. or so we thought. we stumbled across a handful of residents struggling to resume a pale shadow of their past lives. there was no roof, says mikahlo. we had to rebuild it with our own hands and with the help of volunteers. a missile landed directly on his well. anatoly was the last to leave before the russians came. since returning, he's scavenged scraps left behind to build a tractor. even when spring comes, we won't be able to plant anything, says anatoly. we have nothing to work with and the fields are full of mines. there will be no harvest this year. it's like the end of the world, says tomila.

before the war, she and her husband had a new home built next door for their daughter. it was destroyed. there were farmers working here, she says. kids were going to school, grandmothers were walking around. now it's like one big graveyard. where the dreams of the past lie buried in the ruins. ben wedeman, cnn, dovhenke, eastern ukraine. well, finland's foreign minister says it does not expect progress on these nato membership bids before elections in turkey in may. he believes both nations are on course to eventually join the military alliance, according to finish media. the statement comes days after ankara called for the postponement of a three-way meeting in february, involving turkey, sweden, and finland.

turkish/swedish relations suffered a major blow earlier this month after stockholm police authorized a protest outside the turkish embassy, where a far-right politician burned a copy of the qkoran. turkey has rejected to reject finland and sweden's bid to build nato, saying they're members of the a separatist party which it views as a terrorist organization. in light of all of that, turkey's foreign ministry has issued a travel warning for its citizens traveling or living in europe, krciting an increase in antiislamic, zen phobic and racist actions. the warning reads, be cautious and stay away from areas where demonstrations may intensify. act calm against xenophobic and racist harassment and attacks. still ahead this hour, donald trump hits the campaign

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welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm lynda kinkade, and this is "cnn newsroom." former u.s. president donald trump has pledged his 2024 presidential campaign will focus on the future. he announced his strategy as he met supporters in south carolina and unveiled his campaign leadership team for the state. earlier, he was in new hampshire, holding his first campaign event, since announcing his presidential bid back in

november. >> they said, he's not campaigning! this is like about a month ago when i announced. well, i said, you know, i've got two years. they said, he's not doing rallies! he's not campaigning! maybe he's lost that step! i'm more angry now and i'm more committed now than i ever was. >> well, trump's visit to new hampshire comes as he trails florida governor ron desantis in the state's republican primary polls. right now, he's in second place with 30%. this was the scene in lima, peru, saturday, as police and protesters clashed on the streets. one person died during the demonstrations, bringing the protest-related death toll to 58. meanwhile, peru's congress rejected a motion that would have set the country's next presidential vote for december. demonstrators have been demanding new elections since political unrest began last december, when former president

pedro castillo was removed from office. his successor expressed her regret at the failure to pass the motion. protesters have been calling for her resignation for weeks. so far, she's refused. well, let's get more now on this developing story. for that, we turn to stefano posibann. >> reporter: demonstrations between protesters and police continued saturday in lima as thousands taken to the street calling for the resignation of president bulwarte. she expressed regret to hold early elections did not receive enough support to go through the congress. lawmakers will discuss the motion again on monday with the hope that going to the polls will broker a truce with the demonstrators who have been voicing their demands for almost two months. and the weeks of unrest have

inflicted damage on peru's economy. in particular, in the regions of the amazon and the andean mountain range. with fewer products reaching the markets, more people are going through either channels to get fed. >> translator: our soup kitchens have started from the first days of the strike. we have started cooking for 100, 200, and so on, and now we cook for 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 people. >> according to the government, these protests have already caused over $1 billion in losses due to blocked roads and damages to infrastructure across the nation. for cnn, this is stefano po potseban, bogota. peter pavel has won the presidential election. he won 58% of the votes defeating andray babbitts.

he had campaigned as an independent. he backs keeping the czech republic firmly in the european union and nato and supports continued aid to ukraine. in his victory speech, pavel thanked his supporters and promised to bridge the country's political differences. >> translator: thank you very much. i would like to thank not only those who voted for me, but i would also like to thank those who did not vote for me, but who came out to vote, because -- [ cheers and applause ] because it's clear that they care about this democracy and what happens in this country. >> pavel will take office in march. and some news just coming into cnn. british prime minister richey sunak has sacked conservative party chair, this comes after the completion of an independent investigation into sahowi's personal finances. the inquiry revealed what is described as a serious breach of

the ministerial code. that's according to a letter from the prime minister's office shared with cnn. well, in the u.s., more than 18 million people are under winter weather alerts as dangerously cold air and gusty winds move into the northern plains and the upper midwest. and snow spreads from the cascades to the rockies and into the great lakes region. on top of that, the coldest temperatures since that record-breaking freeze at christmas. it's already causing traffic chaos. officials in wisconsin believe snow, ice, and whiteout conditions were a factor nor a massive 85-car pileup on friday. at least 21 people were taken to hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. in new zealand, people are facing a tremendous cleanup and recovery after torrential rains caused widespread flooding in auckland. the death toll has now risen from three to four. auckland airport resumed international flights earlier

today, while the heavy rains have now eased for now. more wet weather is expected in the coming days. isabel ewing reports. >> reporter: well, the situation here in auckland is simply an enormous cleanup job. and what's expected to be an historic number of wet weather insurance claims. thousands of people without their homes. now, there have been three deaths across auckland as a result of the floods. one was a young man kayaking in the floodwaters who was swept into a storm water drain and one was a man living in this house, you can see, behind me. a landslide came down while he was inside and his body was found on saturday. the house was shifted off of its foundations and tilted forward. now, left sides have been replicated like this across the region. there have been 5,000 homes being assessed for damage from floods and leftandslides. and what's simply staggering about this whole event is just the magnitude and the extent of the damage and the severity of the weather.

we've had four months of rain in just a few hours. it's the most rain, the biggest rain event ever recorded in auckland. now, for mayor wayne brown w.h.o been in office since october, this has been the first big test for him and one that many believe he has not passed. he's been under fire for a lack of communication from official channels while the emergency was unfolding on friday night. w people were swimming out of their homes, cars were floating, people were being evacuate and a state of emergency wasn't announced. it was only declared at 10:20, late on friday night and that's when the central government support could be triggered. now, this has left huge questions over the preparedness of the region for an event like this. auckland airport is back up and running, mostly it's still quite chaotic. that since there was torrential rain and high winds on friday, that caused a plane, a pilot to lose control, taking out six of the runway lights. now, that caused massive delays.

now, international arrivals and departures have resumed. but there is still ongoing delays at that airport. now, as for the weather, you may be able to notice the wind here is picking up. we have just received a civil defense alert warning, telling people to stay indoors. there is more heavy rain coming overnight. some reprieve on monday, but another serious weather event coming through on tuesday and wednesday. and that is going to seriously hamper the cleanup efforts and also the concern is cause more landslides around the region. >> isobel ewing there. well, house speaker kevin mccarthy taps conspiracy theory advocate marjory taylor green to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. we'll talk to an expert about the implications of that when we come back.

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welcome back. house republicans are making good on their promise to investigate the response to the covid pandemic. earlier this week, new house speaker kevin mccarthy announced the formation of a select subcommittee to get answers to the origins of the coronavirus. he also wants it to investigate what mccarthy calls, quote, the federal government's gain of function research that contributed to the pandemic. gain of function refers to altering viruses in a laboratory to learn more about how viruses infect and impact humans. but doing so could make them more infectious or more vi virulent. now among those on the committee, democratic representative from georgia, marjorie taylor greene. her personal twitter account was personally suspended at the beginning of the year for spreading misinformation about covid. well, i'm joined now by dr. scott miskovich. he's a national confident for

covid-19 testing. dr. miskovich joins us now from hawaii. good to have you with us. >> thank you and how are you today? >> pretty well, pretty well. so i want to look at this committee, which obviously was created by the republicans to look at the biden response. i want to start with some of the people on the committee, because, obviously, there are some doctors on this committee, but there's also some covid conspiracyists, like the lawmakers, marjorie taylor greene from georgia, where i am right now. she was banned from twitter for spreading disinformation about covid. she claimed the omicron variant was a democratic host -- hoax, and she said that the vaccines don't work on numerous occasions. what do you make of the fact that there's someone like that on this investigating committee? >> it's -- it's very concerning, because she clearly is the extreme messenger that our country hears a lot and she's feeding these individuals that

believe in these conspiracies. now, we totally believe that this type of messaging causes americans to lose lives. it causes them to lose faith in things like the vaccinations, which have just saved lives in the medical studies across the united states and the world have left no doubt. and so, the other thing that she will do is continue to foment dissension for other things that are working, whether it's the medications that we use, the antivirals that we use. even wearing masks or other things that, you know, we know save lives, it really is a dangerous time. yet at the same time, this is payback probably for, you know, the fact that the democratic-controlled legislature had a committee that finished in december and they were feeling they probably want some retribution. >> yeah, it seems that that may

be the case, given, she's not the only conspiracist on this committee. there's also ronnie jackson, former physician to trump and obama, who also claimed that the omicron variant was a democratic hoax. does it do a disservice to the cause? and what concerns do the medical community have about these hearings potentially sowing more doubt? >> well, we have concern and we try to look to see that some of these members, i think we have three physicians on the panel, we hope that their medical ethics and two of them have long-term military careers, including ronnie jackson, who's a rear admiral with 25 years as an emergency physician. but, right now, i think we're looking at still saving lives. that is the key. and then we're moving forward as covid has lessened in the united

states, but not over. we're looking for proper preparation for addressing future pandemics. and if all we're doing at this stage is talking about conspiracy theories and not focusing on the bipartisan problems that we know existed throughout the united states, we're missing what america needs right now, moving forward. we're missing what the world needs right now, is for us to assume a role of leadership and to have proper communication with other governments, and also coordinate within our country the messaging that needs to be coordinated. >> and are there concerns dr. miskovich that this could impact in real terms the uptake of covid booster shots? >> oh, absolutely. you know, right now, we are in a position where if you look at the major countries that are

offering boosters that are wealthy countries with solid medical systems, we're dreadful. we're, you know, we're in the 70s at best with our ranking, and we still need these boosters, because as we now know, obviously, the new variant that is spreading across the country still can cause deaths. and where are the deaths occurring? in our nursing home community, in our senior citizens and those at risk. so right now, besides that, the other thing it will cause is just no americans it seems like anymore are even thinking about wearing masks when we still know that this is the recommendation, if you are at risk. so very concerned about booster uptake. and the basic messaging that we have tried to give to the american people for safety. >> dr. miskovich, we're almost four years into -- since this

pandemic was announced, was declared a pandemic. what more do you think we can learn about the origins of this virus? >> wow, you know, at this stage, you know, we've all heard the conspiracy theories of the lab leak, but at this point, lynda, let me be point-blank. we're going to have other pandemics. we will have future pandemics and the origin of the pandemic at this stage certainly, let's follow it, let's talk about what we can do. but it's all about preparation. there will be future respiratory pandemics. we can learn back in history of similar pandemics that occurred when these labs didn't exist, you know, back right at the turn of the century. we now know that there was likely another coronavirus that was very parallel. and there will be other viruses that will happen from, you know, the animal-to-human spread that won't be coming in labs.

so we have seen across the world. so, you know, we need to focus on it, prepare for the next pandemic. get the united states to get a good information system, so all of our states and counties talk to each other. coordinate the world, so that we're all in the same page, so that unlike this last pandemic, the messaging kind of leaked out across the world. let's get it and finally, let's find a way to get every person on the planet in the united states the necessary treatment instead of, you know, the bias that has been where people in second world countries or third-world countries have less access to care. we need to find a way to treat everyone. >> yeah, being prepared and having clear communication is key. dr. scott miskovich, good to have you with us. thanks so much for your time. >> thank you, lynda. well, the battle of melburne in men's tennis is underway right now. the favorite, novak djokovic of serbia facing the young

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australian open is underway right now. and nine-time winner novak djokovic has grabbed the lead. the serb easily took the first set, 6-3, against the greek prodigy, stefano tsitsipas. if he can recover and defeat the 45-year-old rival, he would be the first person from greece to win a grand slam. well, djokovic is seeking his 22nd grand slam title since his passed his first, and the winner will become the new world number one. meanwhile, yesterday, we saw a thrilling women's final. here's the details. >> so the first grand slam title for i rena, do you think there's going to be more coming up for her. i think there's a good chance if she continues to play like that. >> previously, she has had best results at u.s. open. i think those conditions are perfect for her. now that she's got the first one out of the way, why not? she is incredible. i think this is now like the

monkey off her back, isn't it? got the nerves out of way, the got the first one in the back pocket. yeah, i totally think that she's going to do it again. >> we have to talk about a little bit about elena, big disappointment for her. she won the title last year in wimbledon. we thought she had the edge going into the match because she knew what they had to expect pretty much. are you disappointed with her performance? what would you have have liked to see her doing better, maybe? >> not at all. i think you could tell from her reaction at the end of the match, she knew it was a good match. the fact that she wasn't so disappointed, she made a really lovely speech, shows that the level was high. it's one of those matches where you can walk offcourt with your head held high and say, my opponent was too good today. there were some things that she could have changed, gone a bit more down the line, but these are such small things that ultimately didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. she just came up against someone a little bit better today. >> it was a high-class women's

finals. laura and i were happy that we could witness that and it's back to you in the studio. >> well, buffalo bills safety damar hamlin is speaking publicly for the first since he suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of a game earlier this month. he thanked each of his doctors by name, his teammates, and the fans. here's a little bit of what he had to say. >> as i continue to make so much progress recovering, i think it's finally a good time to share a few things. i think it was important for me to wait and speak publicly at the right time, as it was just a lot to process within my own self mentally, physically, even spiritually. i'm so thankful to everybody, i know that it isn't enough just to be thankful. this is just the beginning of the impact that i wanted to have on the world. and with god's guidance, i will continue to do wonderful and great things. i couldn't do this without any of the support and the love and i can't wait to continue to take

y'all on this journey with me. >> a wonderful recovery. damar hamlin has been out of hospital since january 11th and doctors say he's making remarkable progress. that wraps up this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm lynda kinkade. i'll be back with much more "cnn newsroom" after a short break. stay with us. you're watching cnn. when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis persists... put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom rerelief with rinvoq. check.k. when uc heheld me back... i got lasting, steroid-freee remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand... rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections,

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