already own a home and need cash? with the newday100 loan, you can get up to $60,000 or more and lower your payments $615 a month. no bank, no lender, no one knows veterans like newdayusa. arthel: the pentagon declassifying info on a potential russian plan to stage a fake attack by ukraine to justify an invasion. this as fox news learns russia has about 70% of the forces in place that would need to launch a full scale attack. hello, everyone, and welcome to "fox news live," i'm arthel. rich: i'm rich edson in for eric shawn. two other big stories, continuing controversy at the beijing olympics, calls for boycotts and arguments over free speech as the games get

underway. and new details from the pentagon on the isis-k bombing at the kabul airport that killed 13 american soldiers and at least 170 afghan civilians in august. arthel: alexandria hoff is at the white house, christina coleman is in los angeles on the olympic outcry, but first, lucas tomlinson live in the ukrainian capital of kiev. lucas. >> reporter: russian forces have fully assembled all their personnel to launch a full scale invasion if russian president putin gives the order. this as secretary of state tony blinken hosts his polish counterpart as nearly 2,000 paratroopers arrived in poland. [inaudible conversations] >> but if it does not, we are fully prepared for the alternative. >> reporter: keep in mind when

russian forces invaded georgia in 2008, they used half the number of troops they now have massed this evening. these forces are much more modern and capable. jennifer griffin reports 70 of russia's forces are now in place to launch that invasion, likely to cost thousands of casualtieses here in ukraine, up to 25,000 ukrainian soldiers could be killed, 4,000 russian troops and up to 50,000 civilians. and, rich, 5 million people could become refugees. forces are not just coming from belarus to the north, but crimea from the south if vladimir putin were to give that order. joint training between russia and belarusian forces this week, you see fighter jets, tanks ask assault forces. fox news has gained rare access to attend training of ukrainian forces up north for ambush, sniper fire, advanced fire fighting. i spoke to ukraine's defense

minister two hours north outside chernobyl, he didn't appear worried. the city was abandoned during the chernobyl disaster. ukrainian goreses are -- forces are using this dense terrain to prepare for invasion not far there where we're standing. if russian forces invade ukraine, they're going to be taking armed personnel carriers like this, that's why forces are training to stop them. >> i'm very, very, very sure that ukrainian arm ad forces are ready -- armed forces are ready. ukrainian people are ready and keep calm. >> reporter: the commanding general of the 82nd airborne division, chris donahue, is now on the ground in to poland along with hundreds of paratroopers, and he was the last american general to leave afghanistan a. he led are, of course, the evacuation, the last american soldier to leave the ground. while many ukrainian officials,

civilians we talked to on the streets of kiev say they're not worried about invasion, back home at washington, a very different story. many people very concerned about what they call an invasion that could happen at any time. arthel: yeah. our jennifer griffin is in touch with experts monitoring russian military movements. lucas tomlinson in ukraine, thank you so much. rich? rich: arthel, the beijing winter olympics officially opened yesterday amid ongoing outcry and boycott calls over china's abysmal human rights record. some of the backlash is aimed at house speaker nancy pelosi after she warned u.s. into athletes against criticizing china while in the country. >> i would say to our athletes, you're there to compete. do not risk incurring the anger of the chinese government, because they are ruthless. rich: live in los angeles with

more. christina a. >> reporter: hi, rich are. the california democrat got swift backlash for making that statement. take a listen. >> i respectfully disagree. with the speaker here, and i usually am supportive of her because you cannot normalize what they're doing in china. and to go there and act like all is well is no normalize -- is to normalize the very brutal behavior. >> this is disgusting, to tell our athletes don't tell us what you're seeing, just keep your mouth shut? we know that there is a lot of hypocrisy when it comes to the u.n. leadership, when it comes to the biden administration pelosis comments. >> reporter: the u.s., the u.k., qanta and australia are a handful of countries taking part in the boycott against china by not sending dignitaries to the

winter games over concerns of china's dismal human rights record, the ongoing abuses against uighurs. nba star enes kanter is calling out corporate sponsors backing the olympicings. >> when you see what's happening with the brutality, torture, mass executions, labor camps, religious repression, genocide period, you know, but, you know, they're going to lose so much money. it's disgusting. if. >> reporter: and yesterday this video went viral, chinese officials trying to end a live broadcast of a dutch television reporter at the olympics. the news outlet said he was able to finish husband report a few minutes -- his report a few minutes later. it still led to criticism of how the chinese government operates. human rights activists are staging a sit-in outside of nbc's headquarters in new york today calling on nbc to cancel

their broadcast of the of the limb picks. rich? rich: christina coleman if, thank you. arthel this. arthel: a single suicide bomber killed 13 u.s. service members at an airport in afghanistan last august. not the complex attack first reported, that is according to a report the pentagon released yesterday. the explosion if at the airport in kabul also killed over 107 -- 70 afghan civilians. alexandria hoff is live at the white house with more. >> reporter: arthel, originally and initially military officials believed in the middle of this chaos at the kabul airport that gunfire was likely exchanged during this. the investigation has revealed, they say, that this was not the case. >> the investigation found that a single explosive device killed at least 170 afghan civilians and 3 u.s. service members -- 13 u.s. service members by

explosively directing ball bearings through a packed crowd and into our men and women at abbey gate. >> reporter: now, why questioned when service members were not ordered to retreat, military officials said to do so would have put them at greater risk. this investigation also revealed acts of true heroism. >> it came out in the briefing the bravery, the compassion, the skill that our troops showed in the moment, a a moment when they are losing their comrades and trying to rescue those who were wounded. >> the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan is a clear tarnish on pride if p's presidency, but signs of economic recovery has given the white house something to tout. the latest jobs report showed 467,000 jobs were added last month. here's the president on the better than expected growth. >> america's job machine is going stronger than ever. it's really a strong recovery and opportunity for hard working

women and men all across this great country. america is back to work. >> reporter: wages grew 5.7% in january, they have been more than canceled out by rising costs. inflation remains at historic setback, president biden vowed yesterday to get a handle on food ask gas prices. but you know, arthel, the largest gains were seen in the hospitality and leisure industry showing americans are out and about despite the ongoing pandemic. arthel: alexandria hoff live at the white house, thanks. rich: the stunning about face by embattled manhattan district attorney alvin bragg after create critics a accused him of being soft on crime. he's now walking back some of his more controversial policies. crime continues to surge as new mayor eric add also finds himself this trouble. bryan llenas is live with more. >> reporter: mayor eric adams is just the second black mayor in this new york city history,

and he's also a former nypd captain who leaned into his police experience while championing a tough on crime message. having said that, yesterday the new york daily news released a video showing adams a making a racist slur about his experience with white police officers. the video was taken in 2019 at a private harlem business alliance meeting. here's his comment from then followed by his apology now. >> definitely apologize. inappropriate, inappropriate comments, should not have been used. someone asking me a question using that comment and playing on that word, i responded in that comment. >> reporter: these comments come at a time where there is a hyper-focus on crime in the city. overall crime in new york city was up 38% in january compared

to the same month if last year. transit crime on the city's subways up 70%, shooting incidents up 32% and car thefts up 33%. critics say soft on crime policies pushed by the manhattan district attorney, alvin bragg, essentially have amounted to a get out of jail free card for criminals, and bragg has been heavily criticized for his day one memo to prosecutors laying out lenient policies like gun possession would not be punishable with jail time and resisting arrest would not be prosecuted. facing this intense backlash, bragg toughened up on these policies. he now says armed robbery will be prosecuted as a felony, gun cases including gun possession will be treated as felonies, and resisting arrest will be prosecuted. pressure on bragg is unlikely to let up, rich. there was a pro-police rally outside his office just yesterday. rich? rich: thanks a lot, bryan. bryan llenas from new york.

arthel: as we've been reporting, politics disasterring a shadow over the olympics after a show of unity by chinese president xi and russian president putin ahead of the games' opening ceremonies. what does their closer ties mean for the u.s. and expert -- gordon chang up with expert analysis, next. isn't that right limu? limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows a whistle. [a vulture squawks.] oh boy. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ living with diabetes? glucerna protein smart has your number with 30 grams of protein. scientifically designed with carbsteady to help you manage your blood sugar. and more protein to keep you moving with diabetes. glucerna live every moment

arthel: breaking news on a shooting in wisconsin about 20 minutes north of milwaukee. police in brown deer say someone opened fire today from the coney of an apartment -- balcony of an apartment, killing two people and wounding two more, one of hem critically, we're told. the shooter initially fired at officers, but no officers were hurt. at this time police say the suspect is in custody and that there is no danger to the public. details, of course, are still coming in, and we will bring them to you as we get them. rich? if. rich: arthel, one person is dead and four others wounded including a virginia tech student after a shooting near the university. it happened late last night at a hookah lounge in downtown blacksburg less than a mile from campus. the four wounded were taken to the hospital, no details on

their condition. prison have not confirmed if anyone is in custody, but the school lifted its lockdown about four hours after the shooting. any with information is asked to call the blacksburg police department. arthel: the beijing winter games underway amid ifst claims of human rights abuses by china. the uighur -- a uighur athlete helped light to lumbar pick cauldron to help end yesterday's opening ceremony, and meanwhile, beijing and moscow yesterday pushed back at the pressure. they announced they're further aligning their forces with a joint statement saying quote in part or: russia and china stands against attempts by external forces to undermine security and stability in their common adjacent regions and tend to counter outside forces under any precinct text, oppose if colors

revolution and will increase cooperation if the aer -- in the aforementioned areas. let's bring in gordon chang, senior fellow at the gatestone institute, author of "the coming collapse of china," and "the great u.s.-china tech war." so, gordon, right off the bat, what kind of global threat does this russia-china threat pose? global threat? >> the global threat is that you could have conflicts at both ends of the eurasian land mass and maybe even northern africa as china, russia and their proxies take advantage of chaos. i'm not saying this is going to happen, but the risk of it is exceedingly high. china could go after india, japan, philippines if, taiwan. this could be global conflict. arthel: that risk that they're playing on, it's creating chaos ask fear and uncertainty. >> yeah. so the one thing that people, i

think, should focus on from yesterday's joint statement is that china and russia are going to be engaged in more of these gas sales from russia to china. this supports the russian economy, and when president biden threatens severe economic sanctions on russia should it invade ukraine, china could backfill as the state department warned against on thursday. the state department warned china not to backfill those sanctions, in other words, to support russia as the u.s. imposes measures. so we could have china and russia cooperating and supporting each other at a very perilous time. arthel: yeah. and they tend to ignore whatever sanctions are placed on them and whatever warnings they get. let me ask you this going back to the top, what statement is chinese president xi jinping making with the uighur torch bearer? >> what he's saying to the world is we are proud of our crimes against humanity, and what are you going to do about it, you know? clearly there's not just

genocide, but there's also government-sanctioned killings, executions, government-sanctioned rape, forced organ harvesting. the government organization of slavery which slavery is provided to western companies, so, you know, this is obvious. it's blatant. and beijing is saying, look, we're very proud of what we're doing. arthel: i want to read her from that joint statement from russia and china right now. quote: some actors representing, but the minority on the international scale continue to advocate unilateral approaches to addressing international issues and resort to force they interfere in the internal affairs of other states infringing their legitimate rights and incite differences and confrontation, thus hampering the development and progress of man kind against the opposition from the international community. so president putin and xi, they're posing this as democratic nations are the

aggressors, gordon, and oppressors. but russia and china, as you mentioned, do business with these nations. i mean, how do we get out of this potentially explosive conundrum? >> well, you know, that statement just shows blatant hypocrisy, because it's not the united states that is interfering in the affairs of ukraine, of course, it's russia. and it's russia that is threatening force against the ukraine nation. so really what china and russia are saying is, look, we're going to do what we want, we're proud of these acts of aggression. and the other explanation is they believe ukraine is part of russia so that russia can do whatever it wants. i don't know exactly what's going through putin's mind, but this is the ultimate test of peace and stability across the world. arthel: i don't want to be hyperbolic or alarmist, are we on the edge of war? and if we are, how do we pull back from it? >> well, it certainly looks like

we're on edge of war when you have about 127,000 russian troops on the ukraine border. the question is deterrence and how do you deter this, and i think part of it is going to be, clearly, imposing these sanctions on russia before an invasion to show that we have the will to do it. putin, unfortunately, says, oh, you know, the u.s. might say this and threaten this, but they're not going to do anything. and that's why i think that president biden has to show some resolve on this. if he does that, i think he can force the russians to pull back. arthel: let me get a quick question, short answer. you mentioned president biden. do our internal problems here at home, are political paralysis, the rise in domestic terror, soaring crime rates, i mean, do these issues clip cripple our ability to take on this russia-china threat? >> well, they certainly do. both the russia and china think the u.s. is in decline. they jump on this. we need what senator arkansas they are vandenberg said in 1947, before politics to stop at

the water's edge. he didn't like truman's policies, but he supported them because he felt that we needed to show unity to moscow. and that's exactly what we need today. arthel: okay. gordon chang, we'll leave it there. thank you, gordon. thanks very much. >> thank you, arthel. rich: the publishing world is mourning the loss of editor jason epstein. he died yesterday of congestive heart failure, credited as an innovator helping put literary classics in paperback. he also assisted in creating and launching the new york review of books in the library of america. his wife, to have judith miller, says he passed away at his long island home surrounded by his books. jason epstein dead at age 93. we'll be right back. [♪♪] if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control®. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels

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second year and showing no signs of slowing down. a large percentage come from countries beyond mexico and the northern triangle of central america. william la jeunesse with more from hidalgo, texas. >> reporter: hey, rich. for perspective, when president trump finally got all his immigration policies in place, illegal traffic across the border was down to a thousand apprehensions each year, thousand a year. now -- sorry, a thousand a day. now illegal traffic is 6,000 apprehensions a day, and 60% are being released. so we are at the port of entry in the rio grande valley right across from a migrant camp in rinosa, mexico, where migrants gather. to most americans, the border is a place. but to the people you see here,

crossing that border is a dream. most will wait for the best opportunity, and according to, the hs statistics, some will see a judge, but 9 out of 10 will enter illegally and never leave. >> he's just looking for basic and safe human rights that a will protect him as a worker, period. and then also just the future of his son. as long as we have food to eat and a little bit of shelter, i'm willing to wait as long as it takes to enter the country legally. >> reporter: so despite the thousands here spent on smugglers, they depend on the effort and goodwill of u.s. taxpayer-funded ngos and church groups. and critics will say that they're partially to blame, if you will, for the surge because i without that ngo support, many could not afford to get or stay here. but the actual workers say, listen, that's not their intent to break the law, but to serve a need. >> there is so much about the rule of law that we are called

to follow and implement, right? that's why we have borders, that's why we have law enforcement. and at the same time, you can be compassionate, you can be empathetic to someone suffering. >> reporter: so what you see here in nearby la jolla, texas, happens pretty much every night. people cross the river, these large groups, they'll hike about a quarter mile and go to the ballfield where they'll be picked up by a bus and basically go through processing. so two things, rich. number one, i kind of screwed up that lead. so apprehensions were down to a thousand a day under trump, now they're around 6,000 a day under president biden. 60% are released. title 42, it was renewed this week for another 60 days but, of course, the worry is what happens after that. we're going to depend on mexico to try to put a lid on that because the u.s. would never be able to handle the kind of load or the traffic that we're likely

to see when that is removed. back to you. rich: william la jeunesse, thank s very much. arthel. arthel: all right, rich, well, with tensions still high along the russia-ukraine border, fox news is learning russia now has in place about 70% of the forces it would need to launch a full scale invasion. that's about 130,000 troops. experts are monitoring russian military movement and say 83 battalions are now massed on the border, and that's up from 60 just two weeks ago and 14 more are in transit. let's bring in fox news contributor dan hoffman, former cia station chief who served in moscow. first of all, dan, what do those stats and numbers say to you? >> well, it says to me that vladimir putin is still deadly serious on having the capability to invade ukraine. now h that's a full-throttled invasion that would result in russia taking kyiv, the capital,

or perhaps it might be further attacks in the danbas region, he's got a menu of options from which to choose right now, and that's the way he wants it. arthel: so you're saying president putin appears to be ready, question, is diplomacy dead? how nimble must the u.s. and nato allies be? do they have a menu? >> well, we're at an inflection point right now. putin has massed his troops, he's getting a chance to see how the united states and our their toe -- nato allies would respond. the united states and nato, we're practicing deterrence essentially by punishment. we're not going to mount any preemptive sakss of the -- sanctions of the sort of what gordon chang suggested. what they're saying is we will make it prohibitively costly in terms of spilled blood and

treasure. that means we'll provide more military assistance to the ukrainians to mount an inquestion educative -- effective insurgency against putin and at the same time mount very, very expensive sanctions that would impact russia's economy. now, is that enough to deter russia? that is what the united states is seeking to determine. there's no more important time for our intelligence community right now, having those sources who can inform us about putin's plans and intentions and how they might be changing. arthel: so many things rushing through my head right now which, first of all, i know that, it's my understanding that the ukrainian military, they have the will, but i'm not surethey have the full might to push back on russia. also putin, he's not a stupid man. he knows their potential consequence -- there are potential consequences involved for him, but he also understands how he has world gripped waiting for his last minute decision. so, i mean, all of those things at play here, what's it gonna

be, dan? >> right. so, listen, i spent a good portion of my cia career trying to see the world through the eyes of vladimir pilot if, and what i can tell you is right now he's relishing the fact that russia is going to toe to toe with the superpall power, the united states. -- superpower. vladimir i putin has absorb sobbed all of our attention right now, and that gives him a bit of added gravitas on the world stage as we're seeing at to the olympics but also at home. he needs to demonstrate that he's still the toughest, most ruthless guy who can defend russia which he wants to portray as a besieged fortress. russia has massive conventional and nuclear forces, but nothing scares him more than democracy. and if you crane were to join nato or the european union, even just having expanded links with

the west and creating a functioning democracy with an effective and growing economy, that's just a clarion call to putin's own population whom putin is repressing. now, he has to thread the needle because if he takes this too far, he knows russia under the czars collapsed in the first world world war, the afghanistan adventure cost gorbachev greatly. he's got to be careful not to bring a war upon his country that could result in his own downfall. so he, too, is threading the needle. arthel: yeah. i don't think -- like you said is, he doesn't want to go down, and nobody wants world war iii. a couple more things in the short amount of time i have with you. as you know according to reports, putin's planning a video, you know, it's fake, that'll make it look like it was ukraine striking first as a pretext. so put a hold on that for me. i want to talk about xi jinping,

chinese president. he's also closely monitoring the tense situation in ukraine. in fact, i want to read a quote from the assistant secretary of state in the bureau of east asia and pacific affairs. it says, quote: if russia further invades ukraine and china looks the other way, it suggests that china is willing to tolerate or tacitly support russia's efforts to coerce ukraine. even when they embarrass beijing, harm european security and risk global peace and economic stability. so ending this with how bad could this get, you've already kind of said that a, but also i didn't ask you this, what is the likelihood of president putin forging a cyber attack on ukraine? >> well, cyber attacks are certainly a part of what russia has consistently done to ukraineful they've mounded -- mounted a hybrid warfare going back to 2017. but i would just emphasize that taiwan and ukraine, they are on the geopolitical fault lines

right now in the ideological struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. and china's watching very carefully. they are stressing taiwan's air defenses with those massive number of incursions. they want to win that fight without firing a shot, and they're watching very carefully about whether the united states and our allies will stand up to russia and ukraine. and if we don't to that effectively, there are severe implication not just in europe if for our nato allies on the border including the baltic states, but also for asia and ukraine. arthel: ukraine and taiwan on the geopolitical fault line are. dan hoffman, thank you very much for joining us. >> thanks. arthel: rich? rich: arthel, hundreds of truckers have blockaded parliament hill in ottawa to protest canada's covid mandates and restrictions, and now gofundme is canceling a fundraiser in support of the so-called freedom convoy 202. it cites reports of violence among the protesters which it

says violate the platform's terms of service. this is a day after canadian prime minister justin trudeau questioned how gofundme would prevent donations from no moting extremism. critics say gofundme has stolen that money from the truckers. the site says it will refund to coe nors if they request it by february 19th, the remaining funds chosen by the fundraiser's organizers. arthel: manhattan district attorney alvin bragg is reversing course on two of his most controversial policies as he takes heat for what critics call a soft on crime approach. we're going to have those details for you straight ahead. ♪ ♪ subway's eat fresh refresh has so many new footlongs, here's how they line up. we got the new chicken & bacon ranch, new baja steak & jack, and the new baja chicken & bacon, aka "the smokeshow."

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rich: as gun violence surges in new york city, controversial manhattan district attorney

alvin bragg appears to be reversing course on what police critics call soft on crime, this after outrage over a memo his first day in office asking prosecutors to downgrade certain crimes to misdemeanors. yesterday he writes, quote: a commercial robbery with a gun will be charged as a felony whether or not the gun is operable, loaded or a realistic imitation. a commercial robbery at knifepoint or by other weapon that creates a risk of physical harm will be charge thatted as a felony. let's bring in tommy shepard, former new york police department officer. tommy if, thanks so much for joining us this afternoon. i want to get your take on where this memo has now taken us within the city when it comes to prosecution that the d.a.'s office is now clarifying that if you use a knife in a robbery, that constitutes a felony. have you ever seen guidance like that before? >> well, first of all, thank you for having me.

thank god they're recognized that -- recognizing that. i don't know how they ever got away from that, that you can use a gun and a knife in a robbery and it's not going to be prosecuted as a felony? that's a crazy idea. i don't know how they even got to that. i really believe the t.a. is changing course -- the d.a. is changing course because the d.a. and the president who was just here this week, i think they just realized finally that the defund the police movement is one of the craziest ideas this country has ever had. rich: now, the president has said and said in his comments when he was in new york earlier this week that the answer is not to defund the police, and to make it clear, these efforts are largely why you hear it from the national democratic party, this is ongoing in a number of states, local city governments. but the bulk of policing in our country is done at the local level. i want to play a little bit of what the president had to say clarifying what he would like to

see with local governments and their policing. >> sure. rich: okay. so basically -- we don't have that, but what the president says is if you commit a crime and a gun goes, not only are state and local prosecutors going to come after you, but expect federal charges and federal prosecution. he then gets into saying they have created a strike force to crack down on illegal guns. the president is saying it, the white house rest secretary is talking about this. what's your perspective on this focus on getting illegal guns that come up i-95 and end up in new york city? >> well, i think they're realizing that the cops are not the problem, and i'm going to tell you, the second amendment is not the problem. the real problem, the real issues they're avowing, they're still not talking about it. it's the soft on crime policies, it's the defund the police and

it's bail reform. and they're still not recognizing that our biggest problem the criminals themselves. not the guns. rich: well, when you look at what the prosecutors in manhattan are now discussing doing and the impetus for the first memo that came out a month ago, at the beginning of the district attorney's tenure, he says the goal is to invest more in diversion and alternatives to incarceration, to try to, in his words, well-designed initiatives that support and stabilize people, particularly individuals in crisis in youth. their perspective is we're putting too many people in prison, we have got to cut down on the number because you take a mistake that's stupid and turn them into a real criminal when you throw them in like's island. do we have -- liker's island. do we have a problem with putting too many people in prison, and is this something that should be pursued or should be pursued in a different way than the city has thus far gone

about it? >> this this is -- if this is what their problems really are and this is what they want to talk about, then let's get back to the table and talk about bail reform. they need to change it. hay went too far. and -- they went too far. and not prosecuting crimes and putting these criminals on the streets because the prisons are overloaded? that's not the answer. you never should put our children's safety and all of our safety at risk because of politics. rich: do you think the president's visit this week moved the needle at all among police officers if they were watching what the president and mayor had to say about all this, and how important is a message from the president knowing that these decisions really are made at the city level? >> well, listen, if the president and all of our elected officials are going to support the police, we welcome that. we don't care if you're a democrat or republican. we want to keep the streets safe. we risk our lives, and we need you to have our back.

so whatever he wants to do, he wants to throw money at the problem, let's sit down, let's have real conversations, and let's all work together. that's the only way we're going to fix our streets. rich: if you could tell the president one thing, one thing that you would want police departments to do in this country and one thing you want him to get behind, what would it be? >> well, first off, i would want him to recognize the dangers of being a police officer. i would want him to recognize whenever we have a police officer murdered in the line of duty, okay, recognize that. because a lot of politicians are very quick to jump on the bandwagon when the things go wrong and when it's against the police. we need them to come back, and we need to start fresh moving forward together. rich: tommy shelf linker nassau county benevolent association, thanks very much for joining us. arthel? >> thank you for having me. arthel: okay, thank you. well, a days-long effort to save a 5-year-old boy who fell into a

moroccan well, well, it's almost complete. rescuers have entered horizontal access tunnel they dug up next to the well, and they do expect to reach boy soon. surrounding soil made it impossible for crews to make the well's opening wide enough for an result to enter. the child fell into the well four days ago, dropping more than 100 feet before he became stuck. and a camera lured into the well showed the boy was conscious on thursday, but officials now say they're unsure if he is still alive. we pray that he is. a medical team and helicopter are on site to provide care once the child is rescued. rich. rich: transgender u-penn swimmer lia thomas facing more pushback, this time from her own teammates. what they're demanding from both the school and the ivy league. ♪ ♪ your plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach.

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arthel: so there's a new twist in the controversy over u-penn transgender swimmerly -- lia thomas. 16 of her teammates are asking the university not to challenge a new protocol that could bar lia thomas from the naacp -- excuse me, ncaa championship next month.

[laughter] you can see what's on my mind. charles watson is live in atlanta with her. are the team saying, charles, they don't want hia to compete -- lia to compete in the championships? >> reporter: yeah, arthel. that's essentially what they said in this letter. they raised concerns about lia thomas' snatching championship opportunities away from them as well as question the fairness of a transgender woman competing alongside women who, excuse me, against athletes who are biological woman -- women. these girls say, look, we support thomas in her gender transformation, but they point out thomas has a biological upper hand saying, quote: biologically, lia holds an unfair advantage in competition in the women 's category as evidenced from the her rankings that have bounced from 462 as a male to number 1 as a female.

parents are also a voicing their frustrations, telling fox news digital that the swimmers were told not to speak to the media after expressing concerns about competing against a large athlete like thomas. this comes after usa swimming emphasize ised or transgender athletes have to -- to provide evidence that their testosterone levels are below a certain threshold continuously for at least 36 months. this follows new ncaa guidelines that allow sports' national governing body to set its own rules when it comes to transgender athlete participation. now p at this point it's unclear if thomas will be able to compete in the ncaa championships here in atlanta next month, but we are hearing reportedly that a governorreniny for the ncaa is expected to sit

down at the end of the month to make a decision on this. no word yet on what penn's next move will be. arthel? arthel: okay. charles watson reporting, thank you. and we'll be right back. dry eye symptoms driving you crazy? inflammation might be to blame. time for ache and burn! over the counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. those'll probably pass by me! xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. xiidra? no! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda-approved non-steroid eye drop specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects, include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait fifteen minutes before reinserting contacts. talk to an eye doctor about xiidra. i prefer you didn't. xiidra. not today, dry eye. we gotta tell people that liberty mutual

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california couple is free after been trapped for 58 days straight first responders

rescue the pair and their dog as their supplies began running low. they had been stuck on the sierra nevada mountains since a december 6 after record-breaking 16 feet of snow fell in the area. rich, yes or no could you stand to be trapped in a cabin with your fiancé for 58 days customer. >> you know what she is watching so absolutely. [laughter] works with you in an hour. [laughter] ♪ ♪. paul: welcome. paul. russia president and chinese president culver holt and expansion front and pledging no limits to the friendship between their two countries where the two leaders met in beijing on the sidelines of the winter olympics as concern grows over russia's military buildup around ukraine. the meeting comes days after the biden administration announced the deployment of 3000 u.s. troops to eastern