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main cause vibrations from construction. alaskan expert just how concerned residents should be. we're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news central. hi everyone. i'm jessica dean in new york alongside erica hill this afternoon and topping our hour. a new concerning cdc report about bird flu here in the u.s. the virus appears to have mutated in an infected patient from louisiana, and that could possibly increase the chances of human to human transmission. that hospitalized patient is the first severe human case of bird flu in the country. cdc officials say the person likely became infected after having contact with sick or dead birds in a backyard flock. now, the cdc is also emphasizing there is no evidence here of human to human transmission. and they do say that the public risk of infection remains low. cnn medical correspondent meg tirrell is following this and has more details for us. so,

meg, what does happen at this point? >> well hopefully nothing. you know what we've heard from the cdc about this? is that the good news is it appears the virus mutated in the patient while they were in the hospital past the time they were potentially infectious to other people. they haven't been shown to have spread the virus to any other people. and it also doesn't appear that they picked it up from the flock of birds where they're suspected to have caught the virus. and so it's not thought that this version of the virus that essentially has mutations that make it better able, potentially to infect our nose and throats, the upper respiratory tract of humans. they don't think that this is really floating around in the environment. so that's why i say hopefully nothing happens next. and we don't start to see this spread between people. so far, as you noted, the cdc says we haven't seen person to person spread. we have seen 65 confirmed cases of bird flu among humans in the u.s. and this outbreak. and all of these have come from animals, most of them from dairy cattle, some from poultry flocks. those farm

workers. in both instances there, this one person picked it up from a backyard flock. and then there's two cases where we don't know the source of exposure, but because we're not seeing it spread between people as of now, that's why the cdc is saying the risk at this moment is low to most people. >> yeah, and hopefully it stays that way. of course, all of us remember that we've just come through the covid pandemic. and so what are scientists saying about whether they're using any lessons learned from that to mitigate the threat of this bird flu? >> yeah. you know, we've been hearing from a lot of experts, including on our air this morning, doctor deborah birx, who is the covid response coordinator for president trump. she warned that essentially she thinks the u.s. has its head in the sand about the spread of bird flu from animals to people. she told pamela brown this morning that she thinks we must be. we should be doing a lot more testing. she's particularly worried that we're heading into seasonal flu season, so we're going to see a lot more human flu floating around in the environment. and one of the

concerns among scientists that she cited as well is that somebody could potentially become infected at the same time with seasonal flu and bird flu, and that the gene segments could swap around and make bird flu more infectious to humans. so that is a main concern. we know that farm workers are being offered seasonal flu vaccine, as everybody is recommended to get in order to try to mitigate that threat. but there are a lot of concerns that the u.s. hasn't acted quickly enough, and we haven't taken enough stock of what happened during covid to better address all pandemic threats, not just this one. >> yeah, meg tirrell appreciate it. thank you. also joining us to discuss doctor peter hotez, dean of the school of tropical medicine at baylor college of medicine and the author of preventing the next pandemic vaccine diplomacy in a time of anti-science. doctor, it' see y you know, i was struck by those comments, too, from doctor burks earlier this morning saying that the u.s. has its head in the sand. she says, essentially, we're not testing enough when it comes to bird flu. but at the same time, you have the cdc saying, look, we haven't really seen human to human spread. you don't need to

be that concerned about a public outbreak. how do we weigh all that information? essentially, how concerned should we really be? >> yeah, absolutely. so, you know, the way the way i break it down is we need to be concerned. although the threat is probably not imminent. you know, as you've pointed out, there are two possible routes by which h5n1 avian flu could adapt to humans, and we could start seeing human to human transmission. right now, we're not there. the first possibility is that this virus undergoes mutation, and we know this virus is capable of that. there was a paper in science magazine from the group at the scripps institute showing all it takes is a single mutation for h5n1 bind to the human flu receptor. the same thing happened as a low frequency event in this in the virus that was in this, uh, woman in louisiana. but that doesn't necessarily just because it's binding to the receptor doesn't necessarily mean we're going to see increased transmission. so that mutation

may actually be the less likely route, the more greater concern that i've been reading about and hearing about and knowing what we know about influenza is the second mode, which was also mentioned in your report. that is reassortment. so imagine, for instance, that a farm worker working, working in dairy farms gets infected both with the h5n1 from cattle and simultaneously in flu seasonal influenza, which likely will happen because we're going to start seeing the big increase in seasonal flu. um, there is that possibility of reassortment. and that may be actually the greater danger. and so one of the things that i've been advocating for is for people to get their seasonal influenza vaccine. you should get it anyway. and i would recommend that regardless of of anything that's happening with h5n1, because flu is a serious killer and causes a, um, a serious cause of morbidity, mortality in the united states. but there's the

potential that if that reassortment does happen, that seasonal flu could offer some partial protection for that new avian flu that's circulating around. so i think we've got to get that message out more. the other thing we're not doing right now is we need to be stockpiling h5n1 vaccine and starting to think about vaccinating our farm workers. they're already doing that in finland. so there are a lot more steps that we could be taking right now that we're not. and and i am concerned, as we head deeper into the flu season. >> and so i hear you on getting vaccinated. get that flu vaccine that is that seems like a thing that people can go do today and is pretty simple to do. what else can people do to protect themselves? again, reminding everyone we don't have human to human transmission at this point. and this is mostly infecting people who come in contact with these animals. but i think there are also questions from people out there. can i drink milk? can i eat chicken? things like that. >> you certainly can drink. you can certainly drink milk and

eat chicken, but it needs to be pasteurized milk and not raw milk because there is that risk of the virus is is in raw milk right now, and it's in raw milk in many areas of the of the country, particularly and particularly in california and elsewhere. um, but also other poultry products, chicken, eggs. you need to cook that at the specified temperature as well. so those are also important measures. and of course, the usual things to prevent you from getting seasonal flu. hand washing is going to be very important. and by the way, we still could see an uptick in covid. so remember to keep up to date with your covid immunizations and boosters. and we are also moving into rsv season, respiratory syncytial virus season. and there's a vaccine for that too. for those who are eligible. so being mindful of that we are moving into respiratory virus season there is that possible risk that avian flu could reassort with seasonal flu. get your flu vaccine i think is going to is probably one of the most

straightforward things you can do right now. >> okay, that's good advice. we should all take it. all right. doctor peter hotez, thank you so much for that. and this just into us, the white house now addressing that deadly plane crash in kazakhstan, national security council spokesperson john kirby saying officials, quote, have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by russian air defenses. now, this comes after azerbaijan airlines said preliminary information suggests the flight went down, quote, as a result of physical and technical external interference, more than half of the 67 people on board were killed. >> we are also hearing for the first time from a survivor of that crash. you see him here. this is video of him praying on board the flight, he told reuters. from his hospital bed. he heard a loud bang on the plane and that it was obvious to him the plane had been damaged at that point. he went on to say the plane's crew did a great job, in his words, at keeping passengers under control. >> after the bang, people

started getting up from their seats. not everyone, of course, but those who were emotional. they all stood up. the flight attendants immediately entered the cabin and started telling the passengers, what are you doing? don't get up under any circumstances. everyone quickly get back to your seats. everyone sit down, everyone calm down. everything is fine. everything will stabilize. >> cnn correspondent nadia bashir is following all of these developments for us. and i know now you have some more information on the survivor, but there's also new information about a second black box that's been recovered. what do we know about that? >> that's right. these two black box recorders will be crucial for investigators examining the evidence in order to figure out exactly what led to this plane crashing on wednesday. they will be, of course, assessing the flight data recorded, as well as potentially internal recordings from within the cockpit. but according to authorities, it could take around two weeks for investigators to complete that assessment and examination. but of course, there are a whole

range of lines of inquiry that they will be looking at at this stage, including damage to the aircraft. we've seen, of course, video and images emerging showing the wreckage, the fuselage showing holes and perforations in parts of the plane's body. so that will certainly raise questions, particularly as many continue to speculate around shrapnel hits mid-air on this plane. and as you mentioned, we have been hearing from u.s. officials. reuters has also heard from a number of unnamed sources familiar with the ongoing investigations, suggesting that the plane may well have been downed by russian anti-aircraft air defense systems. now, it's important to underscore that as far as we understand at this stage, the plane crashed shortly after drone strikes hit parts of southern russia. so there has been some concern around drone activity in the region. the potential for this aircraft to have been targeted by mistake in the midst of these drone strikes happening nearby. and of course, we've been hearing these reports now from the survivors. remarkably, 29 people survived that crash,

and they have been discussing the terrifying final moments before the crash. take a listen. >> we have said i was conscious when i felt the impact i was thrown up, hit down, thrown up again. >> i was strapped in, i was being thrown back and forth. it all lasted a few seconds and then everything went quiet and silence. everything was quiet, calm. and i realized that was it. we had landed. >> we've seen the videos showing some of those injured passengers emerging from the tail end of the aircraft, which appears to be somewhat still intact, although upturned. many of them, of course, were injured. at least five are said to be in a serious but stable condition. but of course 38 were killed in this crash. at this stage, azerbaijan airlines says, as you mentioned, that it believes that the plane was subject to external physical and technical interference. so that will be something that investigators are looking at at

this stage. azerbaijan airlines has now canceled flights from its capital baku, to at least seven cities in russia, potentially as a result of the concerns surrounding nearby drone activity and the safety precautions needed to operate in this particular region. and we are learning, of course, that both survivors and the family members of those that have been killed are now being offered compensation by the authorities. but again, many will be waiting to hear those firm and clear answers as to what led to this crash. that investigation could take several more days, if not weeks, for a final answer to be ascertained, but we will be keeping an eye on those updates coming in as they do come in. >> all right. nada. appreciate it. thank you. also joining us this hour, cnn global affairs analyst mark esper, who of course, served as defense secretary in the first trump presidency. he's also a board member, a strategic advisor for a handful of aerospace and defense related companies. it's good to have you with us. i know you just you heard these comments from white house national security council spokesperson john kirby on the

record. now, about the possibility that this plane was brought down by russian air defenses. as you look at what we do know here two days later, what is your first question, your main concern at this point? >> well, first of all, good afternoon, erika. um, look, i think in all that i could see and what i've heard, it looks like it was a, uh, fragments from a from a missile or or a cannon fired by an air defense artillery system using a proximity fuze. that's what would make those perforations in the fuselage of the aircraft. so the the question is, i guess from a larger perspective is if if the russian city of grozny, for example, was experiencing a drone attack, why isn't the russian version of the faa shutting down the airspace and diverting aircraft to a different city? uh, number one, that should be par for the course, if you will. and then secondly, if that attack was going on or it just transpired, why was the aircraft forced to depart russian airspace, fly across the caspian sea and land in kazakhstan? those are the two bigger questions i have out

there. beyond what downed aircraft? to me, again, circumstantially, it looks like an air defense system perforated. the hull of the aircraft, caused the damage, which eventually led to the crash landing, and secretary esper kirby also said, we're going to respect the joint investigation process between kazakhstan and azerbaijan. >> azerbaijan. you just listed out some of the questions that you and others have. do you think we'll ever get the full story here? >> not from the russians. they tend to lie and obfuscate, so i'd be surprised if we do. but again, i think we can piece together at least the basics of what happened and get to some ground truth. but i think, looking ahead, if you're flying into these parts of russia that are being attacked by ukrainian drones, then i think you've got to be concerned about the viability of a commercial flight going into these places. and i think russia has to address that, that larger issue for the broader flying community that's out there flying in and out of russia while we wait for

russia to potentially address that. >> does that say to you that maybe commercial flights should avoid russian airspace at this point? >> well, i wouldn't fly a russian, a russian or any type of aircraft into russia that borders ukraine right now. and again, russia has a history of this. we know that russian air defense systems shot down a malaysian flight over ukraine in, what, 2014. so again, you know, it's very opaque as to what's going on inside of russia. vladimir putin is going to try to dodge this issue because he does not want to, um, you know, embarrass his, his country and what's going on. and he's going to want to try to reassure people that flying to and from russia is safe because he's got to be concerned about his already weakened economy being further affected by people unwilling to travel to or from russia for business. >> if we zoom way out for a second, does this, how does this, if it does connect at all with how many resources they've had to pour into the war on ukraine?

it made them not able to support bashar al assad and his regime in syria. now you're seeing that there, uh, potentially accidentally shooting down a passenger plane. does it speak at all to how how thinly their resources are spread right now? >> well, clearly, they've refocused the military for sure. and the economy on the war in ukraine. we know that, uh, you know, they're spending 8%, 9% of gdp on the war right now. the russian economy is on a war footing with regard to the production of arms and ammunition. so they're very focused there. and i think what's happening on the ground is if you're in these border towns, whether it's southern russia, where this happened in the caucuses or in between the line of path between ukraine and moscow, you've seen over the over what, two years now, you've seen a variety of ukrainian drone attacks against russia. so if you're if you're an air defense gunner in russia somewhere, you're nervous, you're concerned about missing a target that may attack your

the motherland, russia. and so i think you have anc soldiers manning these systems, not wanting to make a mistake in terms of allowing an enemy drone to pass through. and i think they're taking shots at aircraft in this case, we do know or we believe at least that there was electronic warfare taking place where the russians were jamming the gps system of this aircraft. and we also know that there was fog in the area. that's what prevented the aircraft from landing the first time. so now you have, um. plausibly russian air defense gunners shooting at radar targets that they can't visually verify, shooting up in the air. and again, that concerns me for, uh, any type of commercial aircraft flying in and out or through russia, for that matter. >> yeah, it is concerning. all right. secretary mark esper, thank you so much for being here with us. thank you. and still ahead, what's behind president-elect donald trump's repeated suggestions that the u.s. should take over the panama canal or countries like greenland and canada. we've got new reporting about his potential or possible real motives. >> plus a hearing today for the suspect accused of killing a woman by setting her on fire on

the new york city subway. new details on the charges he is now facing. stay with us. this is cnn news central. can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much new year's day on cnn. >> now's the time to go back in time and shine a light on the family journey that led to you. learn when they said, i do. when they became heroes, how they ruled the school, and what you got from your parents. the places on mom's side and dad's side. detailed dna results, inspiring family history, memberships. now's the time to save at ancestry with cargurus filter millions of listings to land the perfect deal.

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>> really? yeah. anything is cash packable. >> chill. sorry. >> tis the season to cash back with chase freedom unlimited. >> how do you cash back? chase, make more of what's yours. >> i'm hanako montgomery in tokyo, and this is cnn. >> with just 24 days until his inauguration this week, president elect donald trump has made it clear he is focused on his desire to possibly take control of the panama canal and buy greenland when he returns to the white house. sources now telling cnn these preoccupations for trump are all part of negotiating tactics to force foreign leaders to the table. cnn's alayna treene broke this new reporting for us. elena, walk us through what you're learning. >> well, that's right, jessica. when i talk to some trump advisers, this was their interpretation of some of these recent calls and really this fixation we've seen donald trump have, whether it be his focus on wanting to take over control of the panama canal or him talking about wanting to buy greenland, which we should say, greenland's prime minister says the country is not for

sale. all of that, i'm told, from this adviser, is essentially strategic that donald trump is trying to use all of this as a way to force foreign leaders to the negotiating table, one to try and boost u.s. trade and try to get some better trade deals for america, but also to try and curb both china and russia's influence overall abroad. now, as it relates to the panama canal specifically, i'm told that donald trump believes that america that he wants really american vessels to have better shipping rates and better rates as they pass through the canal. that is one overarching goal for all of this. but also, he believes that china controls a lot of the ports in the canal, and that essentially is giving them control over the shipping rates, but also which vessels can pass through. now for something like greenland, where he's calling for, again, this reviving, this desire from 2019, really, of them wanting to buy greenland. i'm told that really he thinks that having more u.s. control over that region could help deter

russian aggression in the arctic. now, i'm going to read to you just what one of these advisers told me. they said, quote, everything has to be looked at in terms of curbing russia and china influence, while also protecting the economy. that is what they said. this all comes down to. now, one thing that i also just found very interesting is i had a lot of people asking me this week, you know, where is this coming from? particularly his fixation on the panama canal. but when i talk to sources close to donald trump, they said that this is actually something he's been fixated on for several months now and pointed me to an interview he actually did in august with tucker carlson on fox, where he brought up the panama canal. he essentially said that then president jimmy carter and the treaty that he signed, giving control over the canal to panama was a mistake and that essentially that he would want to see what they could do about trying to get america a better trade deal. regarding the panama canal if in august. so all to say, a lot of this, of course, is unclear. i think some of the claims that he is making, including when we didn't mention, which is that he wants to try and absorb canada into the u.s. as the

51st state. i mean, something like that is just not going to happen. but this is all really donald trump's way of trying to exert his dominance over these leaders and also trying to bring them to the table to see what he can do to maybe change, you know, pricing, whether it's related to the panama canal or different trade deals, as well as trying to kneecap both russia and china as much as possible before he takes office. >> jessica alayna treene with her new reporting. thank you very much for that. and joining us to talk more about al this is congressman jake. he's a democrat from massachusetts. congressman, thanks so much for being here with us. we appreciate it. i just want to note first, you are on the house select committee focused on the ccp. i'm curious if you think there is legitimate concern about china's influence on the panama canal. >> there are two shipping companies domiciled in hong kong that have a presence at the panama canal zone. no evidence that i have seen that that represents a security threat to the united states. i actually, ten years ago

commanded a combined riverine training team. it combined colombian and u.s. special operators to train the panamanian public forces and how to do patrols on the panama canal zone. and i found the panamanians to be professional, to be pro-american. these are our allies. the world. jessica, is complicated enough without picking fights with our friends. i would really encourage president trump to look at the two hot wars that we've got to handle right now one in ukraine, one in the middle east, and ensure that we are supporting ukraine to unconditional victory and that we are supporting israel now that it has the upper hand against iran. >> and you just heard my colleague alayna treene, with her reporting that trump advisers are explaining this as as a negotiating tactic that he's using. and i hear you saying that the world is is complicated enough. do you agree with this sort of tactic? do you think that that could be appropriate and bear fruit for america? >> no, because the pax americana, which has spread peace and prosperity globally for the last 70 years, is based on the idea that america

supports and respects the rule of law everywhere. and when we are seen to bully a small country like panama, i don't think it makes us look strong or tough. i think it makes us look petulant. and it also, it's worth noting, jessica, that if he's worried about being overcharged and that raising prices for american families, that runs directly contrary to his idea of adding tariffs on imports from canada, from mexico, those are going to raise costs for food and for car insurance and for housing for american families. far more than the rate that the panama canal zone are charging. >> i want to also ask you about this back and forth between elon musk and vivek ramaswamy vivek ramaswamy with the maga supporters over cybersecurity startup prior to congress. do you think, as musk said, there is this dire shortage of exmotivated enginee

and do you think more of these h-1b visas should be issued? >> i'm a strong supporter of the h-1b visa program. i represent massachusetts, as you know, jessica, and i'm not sure there's a state in the union that more benefits from the kind of high skilled immigration that h-1b visas unlock than massachusetts does. and the democratic party has been squarely in support of this program for decades now. i haven't been paying much attention to this debate between vivek and maga because, frankly, i think vivek and elon musk are consuming far more oxygen than is appropriate right now. these are not actually policy makers until proven otherwise. they have no mandate. they have no elective office. i'm focused on congressional leadership. i'm focused on the president elect because they're the ones who actually wield the levers of power. and we've got to ensure that speaker mike johnson, or whoever the next speaker is, comes in and actually legislates on behalf of the american people, takes on the health insurance lobby to lower drug prices, takes on fentanyl exports from china, takes on

the gun lobby. otherwise, i think that we're going to get distracted by i think this elon, vivek, sideshow. >> and yet, elon musk was right at the center, along with the president elect, of blowing up that bipartisan negotiated deal to avert a government shutdown and fund the government. did it surprise you how much power he had in that? >> the republicans have a trifecta in washington, d.c. when you have a trifecta, it's easy to break things. i mean, the president elect can tell his party, i don't want to do this, and they're not going to do it. breaking things is not hard in washington, d.c. building things is hard in washington, d.c. and what did they do? they broke something, a bipartisan deal that would have saved $5 billion for taxpayers on drug prices and lowered co-pays at the pharmacy counter. and what did they build? they didn't build anything. so i'm pretty unimpressed with the ability of this incoming administration to actually work its will through its own party. and until i see otherwise, i don't think that vivek and elon are actually the center of the policymaking universe right now. i'm looking at the next speaker of the house. i'm looking at the next

president trying to hold them to account. >> and i'm curious to they're going to have the house speaker election next week. we famously said, through many, many rounds of voting on kevin mccarthy a couple of years ago. how do you think it's going to go this time? >> well, i was just on amazon looking for some paperbacks to bring into the house chamber, because i think it's going to be a long few days. >> yeah. >> and then again, before we go again, just with your military background, i do want to ask you about this new information that we're getting on this plane crash in kazakhstan. do you expect or have you been briefed on this? do you think that you'll be getting more briefings on this and the possibility that it was brought down by russian air defenses? >> it looks to be right now, to me, the premise is that russia indeed brought down that airliner, and it's not the first time that that has happened. it is an unconscionable tragedy, and it underscores the barbarity of the kremlin and the necessity that the united states, our allies in europe and in east

asia, continue to support ukraine through to victory over this unprovoked invasion. that means we need ukraine to have a secure eastern border and security guarantees. we need ukraine to have freedom of navigation in the black sea. we need ukraine to be joining the european union. we have to win this war, not just not lose it. >> all right, congressman jake, thanks again for joining us on a friday. we appreciate it. >> happy new year. >> happy new year. still ahead, new york mayor eric adams is now directing police to explore federal charges for the suspect accused of burning a woman to death on the subway. plus, a cnn investigation to a secretive factory fueling russia's drone war in ukraine. we'll have new details when we come back right here on cnn news central. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. >> long after guests leave viruses and bacteria linger, air fresheners add a scent, but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace, eliminating odor and killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the

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suspect sebastian zapeta-calil, an undocumented immigrant from guatemala, did not appear in court this morning. his arraignment is set for january 7th. he is now facing the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted. gloria pazmino has been following this story for us from the beginning. so, gloria, bring us up to speed here on what more we learned. >> well, erica, basically what's happened is that over the last few days since the suspect was arrested and taken into custody, the prosecutors have been showing evidence to a grand jury, which today decided to indict him on these charges. as you said, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, as well as arson. what this means is now the case will be remanded, will be sent to the kings county supreme court, and the suspect is going to be arraigned on the charges on january 7th. so the indictment will be unsealed then. but we know many of the details of the alleged crime from our reporting in the in the past couple of days. we know that he is accused of setting fire to a woman who was

asleep inside of a subway train. law enforcement officials believe that the woman was likely homeless and taken refuge inside the subway train. take a listen to the district attorney talking about his prosecution of the case. >> i want to assure the people of this city that this office will do everything in our power to hold him accountable. this was a malicious. deed, a sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system. this act surprised many new yorkers as they were getting ready to celebrate the holidays. >> now, erica, the woman, the victim in this case has not yet been identified. officials are still working to do that, in part by using advanced dna evidence and in order to identify her. in the meantime, mayor eric adams here in new york city, has said that he is directing the nypd to work with federal

authorities to explore the potential of bringing federal charges against the suspect. this is relatively rare that you would see the federal government stepping in to bring additional charges on a state case. it does happen. we saw it most recently with the mangione case, but the mayor showing his willingness to cooperate with federal authorities when it comes to offenses allegedly committed by undocumented people. >> erica, which is definitely interesting, gloria. appreciate it. thank you. still ahead, why are dozens of large buildings in southeast florida sinking by several inches? and just how worried should people be? we'll ask an expert next. >> i want to be the greatest player that i could possibly become

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scientists found 35 buildings that sank as much as three inches over a seven year period. buildings which could accommodate tens of thousands of residents and tourists. >> so do they need to be concerned? joining us now is structural engineer matthew robles. it's good to have you with us. so first of all, as i understand it, so three inches over seven years, that sounds like a lot. i mean, we know things settle and maybe sink a little bit. is the extent of this gradual sinking surprising to you? >> it's very surprising. these buildings are designed because of the soil that they're on to subside over their lifetime. anywhere from 50 to 70cm, which is like 20 to 30in. so to see 10% of that in three inches over a short period of time is concerning. and surprising. >> are they safe? >> yes. they're safe. again, like i said, they've been designed to accommodate this type of movement. but the question is, how long is this

accelerated subsidence going to happen? and is it going to shorten the life, the lifetime lifespan of the building? >> yeah. and it sounds like the main cause is vibration from construction. and it raises the question, is there too much construction for that area? >> you know, that is a good question. you know, like i said, the the study that was. performed showed exactly accelerated subsidence right along coincident with the construction. and so the question of too much construction, who knows. it's just really surprising that it happened so quickly. and it's something that hasn't happened before. and so it could be very unique to just this one little area. so for me to say there's too much construction, i don't know. but i can say that it is coincident and is most likely and the study show is causing this subsidence. >> so you say the buildings are still safe, right? but it may be a shorter time frame. i guess that they are safe when we look at this. this isn't

necessarily tied to climate change, but i can't help but wonder if there's a connection between the two. so there's the particular type of soil and the land that's there. but you also have i mean, you can't deny the fact that sea levels are rising, and especially in coastal communities, that's an issue. are these two things working in concert? >> they could be because, you know, tidal driven groundwater movements are also associated with cyclic strains. that's very similar to construction issues. and so raising sea levels and and the tidal driven groundwater movements could be associated with global climate change. and if that is the case, then they are working in tandem together. the problem is trying to relate the two. right now we don't see a connection, but one could draw that conclusion if they if they wanted to. >> do you think people that live in other coastal areas should be worried about something like this? >> you know, i don't think they should be, you know, about 20% of the united states is underlain by this. what is called karst, the limestone and sandy layer. and this is a

very, uh, unique, unique to this area. i don't think really anybody needs to be worried because, again, the buildings understand the subsidence is going to happen. it just is on this type of limestone and sand. it's just the lifespan of the building is going to be shorter. and luckily it's you know, it sounds quickly over years, but we as structural engineers and the structural community can step in before we see these strains take any kind of sudden movement. this is not this is not a brittle failure where you're going to like, like a sinkhole where you're going to sink into it. all of a sudden it's gradual. we're monitoring it. so we'll have a lot of early warning before anything, uh, happens. >> well, that is that is definitely good news. we will end on that more positive note. yes. matthew robles, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> still ahead here. fears of sabotage. finland has now seized a ship tied to russia, suspected of cutting a vital undersea cable. we have more ahead on this growing

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alleged russian sabotage across europe. everything from arson to, you know, cyber attacks and things like that, all part of the hybrid war that has gone alongside the war in ukraine. so that's one concern. the second, now that we have this allegation, both from the finnish customs service and the eu's top diplomat, that this ship may be part of this so-called shadow fleet, this grouping of hundreds, potentially, of vessels that have mysteriously changed ownership, many of them aging vessels, by the way, that have this sort of murky ownership and are used allegedly to transport russian oil in circumvention of sanctions, that this may now be another risk associated with that, that they could potentially be involved in this kind of sabotage. so that is the key concern. obviously, this comes after a spate of incidents we saw in november that several undersea telecoms cables were severed within hours of each other. at the time, european politicians blamed russia, pointed the finger at russia, but the u.s. didn't see signs

of interference there. but the u.s. had warned. several months earlier, several u.s. officials telling cnn that they'd been monitoring suspicious shipping activity in the baltic and believed that russia could be getting ready to to carry out some kind of sabotage involving these undersea cables. so europe is now on high alert. nato is ramping up its presence. and i think now that finland. finnish officials have actually boarded this alleged shadow fleet vessel, it will be crucial to watch what comes out of that investigation. >> yeah, absolutely. clare, i also want to ask you about some of your reporting that you have out today, new reporting about this secretive factory helping to power russia's drone drone war on ukraine. what have you learned? >> yeah. so what we've seen over the last sort of half year is a really exponential increase in drone attacks involving shahed, those iranian designed drones and similar types of drones on ukrainian cities, civilian areas. they went from a sort of monthly average of around 400 between may and july this year to 2400 in

november. and we've seen a high level continuing into december, including, of course, that attack on christmas morning involving 100 drones. so look, we know why they're doing this. this is a war of attrition. they're trying to wear down ukrainian air defenses, trying to wear down the resolve of ukrainian civilians. but what we've been looking at is how they're doing this. russia is facing crippling labor shortages. so bringing people into factories like this is a major challenge. we've seen social media recruitment targeting teenagers at an affiliated polytechnic university. we've seen that they've been using african women as well. these satellite images have also shown serious levels of expansion. construction of two new buildings in the last nine months and in terms of sanctions as well, because this facility has been sanctioned now by the u.s., the eu and the uk, how are they getting around that? well, we are seeing increasing involvement from china. cnn sources with the ukrainian defense intelligence say that that involvement is ramping up,

including a chinese prototype now being allegedly used for a new type of decoy drone. so there's a lot going on there that we've been tracking. and we think the expansion is continuing. excellent. >> great reporting, clare, thank you very much for all of that. and when we come back another day, another stowaway. major questions right now about u.s. airport security after another unticketed passenger was discovered on board a major jetliner. more coming up and it has been one wild year. >> i know that home live stream was crazy. >> what you have been following actual news, right? oh, boy. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn and streaming live. i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for. >> sling lets you do that. hey, where are you going? >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i want. >> sling lets you do that to sling. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let

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