from d.c. to brussels as covid-19 continues to kill. plus, what's the good wordle? the five-letter pop culture craze that's become an addiction for many of us. live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom" with rosemary church. good to have you with us. us president joe biden is set to be discussing options to bolster troop levels in eastern europe amid fears of a possible russian invasion in ukraine. at the same time, the u.s. state department says it will be reducing staff levels at the embassy in kyiv starting with nonessential staff and family members. according to ukrainian intelligence, russia has now amassed more than 127,000 troops in the region. and as tensions remain high, america's top diplomat has issued one much his strongest warnings yet. >> if a single additional russian force goes into ukraine in an aggressive way, as i said, that would trigger a swift, a severe and a united response from us and from europe. and, again, there are other things that russia could do that fall short of actually sending additional forces into ukraine. again, across the board. we're prepared with europe for a swift and calibrated and very united response. we're looking at every single scenario, preparing for every single one. >> ukraine's defense minister says his country has received a second weapons shipment from the united states, that more than 80 tons of weapons will help strengthen its defense capabilities. the first shipment arrived on friday. u.s. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are weighing in on how the u.s. should respond if russia invades ukraine. and one republican congressman blames russia's military buildup on the withdrawal from afghanistan. >> i think this all started, margaret, with afghanistan. and the unconditional surrender to the taliban when he saw weakness, weakness invites aggression. we saw that with chamberlain, hitler, reagan talked about peace or strength. >> i think our work in the senate and president biden's work to strength and deterrence is what is hopefully going to succeed, but i'm gravely concerned that putin will show once again aggression in europe and cross the boundary into ukraine in the coming days or weeks. >> former u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo, who served in the trump administration, suggested the u.s. should respect vladimir putin's power. >> we had deterrence for four years. vladimir putin didn't do these kind of things. he didn't threaten, he didn't use coercive activity. we made sure nato was focused on its mission. when we did that, vladimir putin had respect for us, he's a very talented statesman. >> well, let's head to moscow now where cnn's nic robertson is standing by. good to see you. of course, it is impossible to get inside the mind of vladimir putin, to figure out what exactly he plans to do in the end. but what's his likely intent, given what we know so far, and how might the withdrawal of nonessential u.s. embassy staff play into his plans, do you think? >> reporter: well, his stated intent is to draw ukraine back into russia's orbit of influence. that's his stated intent. his stated intent doesn't include invasion, according to his government officials, but he has the military pressure and capability to do it and is growing that pressure and capability by expanding military exercises in belarus, which brings his forces very close to the capital kyiv and, therefore, the potential for attack the country, ukraine, from not just the east, not just the south, where he's already annexed crimea, but from the north as well. his intent is certainly, you know, what president biden was trying to understand when he was getting briefed by his national security officials and other -- and others at the weekend at camp david. certainly, the hangover, if you will, for president biden, the legacy of afghanistan and missteps there in trying to predict what could happen does seem to hang over what he's doing at the moment. drawing down the staff in the embassy with something he was criticized for not doing in a timely fashion in afghanistan. and also responding to allies' concerns during the drawdown in afghanistan was something he was criticized for as well. and here this additional troop response between 1,000 and 5,000 troops that's being discussed to go to the baltic states and eastern european states is at a request of nato partners. and would include troops and equipment either already in europe or from the united states. but that afghanistan hangover, if you will, and how that shapes his response now is also, of course, shaping president putin's thinking, that this is a moment of weakness among nato partners after what happened last summer. >> yeah. and, nic, more weapons arrived for ukraine as the u.s. warns of a swift and united response if russia invades ukraine. but how much of a deterrent is all of this for president putin? from a diplomatic standpoint, what are the possible off-ramps still available? >> reporter: well, the significant possible off-ramp that seems to be, you know, the best one available to him right now would be an arms control agreement or a number of arms control agreements and agreements to reduce forces both in the sort of eastern part of -- the western part of russia and the eastern part of europe when nato is and where putin says he has concerns. but that's a minimalist part of the sort of maximalist demands that nato, you know, deny ukraine membership and also go back to 1997 levels. so, the off-ramp just doesn't seem to be a particularly likely off-ramp at the moment. how this -- the military support that's being given to ukraine at the moment affects president putin's calculus, it intended to. it's supposed to send the message that although there won't be western nato troops joining ukrainian troops, u.s. special forces training ukrainian special forces right now, there will be more sophisticated armaments, sophisticated anti-tank weapons, surface-to-air missiles being supplied, and that's supposed to -- intended to impact president putin's calculus because it was signaled there would be greater casualties, russian casualties, should there be an invasion. again, russia keeps saying they're not planning an invasion but this signals there would be a greater cost for troops and, politically for president putin if he makes, in the u.s. eyes, a wrong move. >> watching this all very closely. cnn's nic robertson live for us from moscow. many thanks. covid cases in the united states appear to be trending down. many states are reporting far fewer cases than the week before. so, could the pandemic be nearing an end? dr. anthony fauci says we should not be overconfident, but it is a step in the right direction. >> there are still some states in the southern states and western states that continue to go up. but if the pattern follows the trend that we're seeing in other places, such as the northeast, i believe that you will start to see a turn-around throughout the entire country. so, things are looking good. we don't want to get overconfident, but they look like they're going in the right direction right now. >> and in washington, d.c., protesters gathered to express their anger at government vaccination mandates. the defeat the mandates rally took place on the national mall sunday. organizers said they expected 20,000 to attend, but only a few thousand showed up. cnn's joe johns was there and has the story. >> reporter: no secret america is polarized over the issue of vaccines. and this event on the national mall was visual evidence of that fact. one of the things that people were concerned about at the very outset was that it was being billed at an event for medical autonomy. in other words, the right not to get the shot or the right not to wear a mask. but this event, of course, went a little bit farther than that. >> i'm a health care worker, so that has brought me out here due to the issues that i've had with my job and my current vaccination status. >> multiple issues with hr and doctors treating me differently and discriminating against me because of my choices. >> you should be able to believe what you want to believe, no matter what. that's why i'm here. as long as you don't hurt anybody in this country, can you do anything you want. >> reporter: it's very difficult to generalize about the crowd other than to say that one of the things that brought them together was criticism of the biden administration's handling of vaccines and dr. fauci. joe johns, cnn, washington. >> this protests are concerning for a number of reasons, including the likelihood that so many of the people marching are unvaccinated and unmasked. and i spoke earlier with a national consultant for covid testing about the dangers. >> they must not be getting the real data to show how risky it is to be out there not wearing a mask and to be not vaccinated. the data is crystal clear, rosemary. 50 times increase of chance of death or being hospitalized in the icu or severe disease. i mean, when you are vaccinated, you are up here with your chances. the lines for the people who are vaccinated and boosted are down here. it's almost nil the chance of dying if you've been boosted or vaccinated. i think there's a lot of misinformation that we're seeing going around online. i think there's also some distrust of the political divide. >> and a vivid reminder of just how polarizing the covid pandemic has become. even a measure as simple as wearing a mask. basketball hall of famer, john stockton, tells the spokesman review that his alma mater, gonzaga university, has suspended his season tickets. the reason? he refuses to wear a mask. stockton also has a history of opposition to vaccines and other measures, such as lockdowns. cnn has reached out to stockton for comment. coming up, beijing flexes its military muscle flying dozens of warplanes near taiwan. we'll have the details just ahead. welcome back, everyone. taiwan says mainland china sent nearly 40 warplanes into its air defense zone on sunday, the largest such incursion so far this year. taiwan's defense ministry says the planes included dozens of fighter jets and a nuclear-capable bomber. in response, taiwan says it deployed air defense missile systems to monitor the situation. beijing's show of force comes one day after the u.s. and japan conducted naval drills east of taiwan. cnn's paula hancocks has been monitoring the situation from seoul, south korea. she joins us now live. good to see you. what more are you learning about china's latest incursion and how taiwan is reacting? >> well, rosemary, this has been happening frequently over recent years. the beijing has sent aircraft usually fighter jets into the air defense identification zone near taiwan. and each time, taiwan's air force is tested, its defenses are tested. as you say, they did have to activate their missile defense systems, they deployed them, they also issued radio warnings, according to the defense ministry. but they have complained of beijing testing out this gray area, as they call it, and constantly carrying out these, what they call infringements. the timing, of course, is always important with these kind of things. as you say, it comes just a day after the navies of the u.s. and japan staged a massive military drill in the seas off the east coast of taiwan, in the philippine sea. it's not clear just how close to taiwan they actually were, but it was a massive show of force. you had significant weaponry there. you had, for example, two navy aircraft carriers from the u.s., am bibb yous assault ships and much more. this was a show of force, not just to beijing, when it comes to taiwan, but also as part of this freedom of navigation that the u.s. is engaged with to show there should be freedom of navigation in the waters close to china in the south china sea, pushing back against chinese claims of sovereignty in those areas. now, according to a u.s. statement, they said this training was to preserve and protect a free and open indo-pacific region. quite often when the u.s. carries out these kind of freedom of navigation drills, there is some kind of response from beijing. rosemary? >> all right. thanks to paula hancocks joining us live from seoul. appreciate it. the united arab emirates said it intercepted two ballistic missiles targeting the capital of abu dhabi early monday. they blamed houthis and said the attack did not result in any casualties. we will bring you more information on this as we have it. the u.s.-backed syrian democratic forces are tightening their siege of a prison housing isis suspects after inmates took over the facility. there's been fierce fighting since thursday. they say at least 27 of their fighters, dozens of isis members and at least 15 inmates have been killed so far. hundreds of civilians, including women and children, fled homes in nearby areas following the isis attack. taliban officials are meeting with leaders from the international community in norway to discuss human rights and other economic, social and political issues. norwegian officials say the meetings in no way recognize the legitimacy of the taliban, but are a necessary step to prevent an even worse humanitarian disaster. a taliban spokesman says cooperation is the only way to solve afghanistan's problems. the talks will continue through tuesday. still to come, what new york officials are planning to do to curb the recent gun violence in the city. we'll have the details just ahead. growing up were cooking with mom. so when she moved in with us, a new kitchen became part of our financial plan. ♪ ♪ find a a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com ♪ three times the electorlytes and half the sugar. ♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fast. 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(vo) ask your doctor if it's right for you. learn how we could help you save on imbruvica. this is elodia. she's a recording artist. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. gun violence has americans on edge across the country. crime rates are up in major cities and in the last few days, police officers have been shot in texas and new york. a 22-year-old new york police officer was shot and killed while responding to a domestic incident in harlem friday night. a second officer is in critical condition. new york's governor plans to hold a multistate task force meeting on illegal guns wednesday. new york's mayor explained what steps he'll take to cnn's dana bash. >> to go after the underlying reasons you're seeing crime in our city. this is a sea of crime that's been fed by many rivers. we have to dam each one of those rivers. we have to go after those laws that are not realistic on understanding what's happening on the ground. we have to stop the flow of guns. a manhunt is under way in texas for the man who gunned down april deputy constable. police say the deputy was killed while making a traffic stop sunday. witnesses say the man got out of his car and just started shooting. cnn's nadia romero has details. >> reporter: in the early morning hours of sunday morning, 47-year-old charlsz galloway, a 12-year veteran, a corporal, field training officer was conducting a traffic stop. witnesses say the man he pulled over got out of the car and immediately started shooting. police say he used an assault-type weapon and shot corporal galloway several times before he even had a chance to get out of his patrol car. authorities say there's no known motive for the shooting. take a listen. >> he got out of his vehicle and immediately fired upon the deputy. multiple times. striking him. and then drove off. this is senseless. it makes no sense whatsoever. >> what we are seeing on what appears to be a regular basis on the streets of harris county has got to stop. it has got to stop. these are not assaults. these are not attacks. these are brutal, brutal murders. >> corporal galloway is survived biz hi daughter and sister. this brings to mind what happened friday in new york city. two police officers were responding to a domestic disturbance in harlem. one of those officers, just 22 years old, was shot and killed during that shooting. another officer is still in the hospital fighting for his life. nadia romero, cnn, atlanta. china is gearing up to host the winter olympics in just a matter of days. burgeoning covid outbreaks are testing the country's zero covid strategy. straight ahead, live reports from beijing and hong kong. and how frustrated governments are making life tough and expensive for the unvaccinated. we'll explain when we return. ♪ three times the electorlytes and half the sugar. ♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fast. and there you have it. woah. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow. big deal. we get unlimited for just 30 bucks. sweet, but mine has 5g included. relax people. my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one-upping itself. take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. with less than two weeks to go before the winter olympics and just days before the chinese new year, mass testing is under way for more than 2 million people in beijing. at least five cases have been reported in funtai district in the past two weeks, meaning hundreds are quarantined and a ban on gatherings. chinese are lowering the threshold for olympic participants, making it easier to produce a negative test. so far more than 70 covid cases have been registered among personnel related to the olympics. all of them are nonathletes. meantime, take covid outbreak in a hong kong community has spread to more than 170 confirmed or preliminary positive cases. hundreds of people are under a snap lockdown after cases were reported over the weekend. we're joined now live from hong kong and our david culver in beijing. welcome to you both. what is the latest on this housing of covid outbreak and how is it testing hong kong's zero covid strategy? >> reporter: i'm standing outside a housing area in hong kong and this is effectively the epicenter of hong kong's omicron outbreak. on sunday the city reported 125 new locally transmitted cases of covid-19. that is the highest daily tally in a year. 104 new cases can be traced to the cluster at this public housing estate. a number of residential buildings have been sealed off overnight. two buildings sealed off for a five-day lockdown behind me. covid-19 testing is under way all afternoon. we've been seeing lines of people line up here to go for mandatory covid testing. 35,000 residents have to undergo this exercise. over the weekend we heard from hong kong authorities who described the outbreak as exponential. i want you to hear this from the top executive, carrie lam. >> translator: we are worried the exponential growth of cases we have seen in other parts of the world is now happening here. >> reporter: as cases rise, frustration is rising as well, especially among members of the community who are under lockdown for up to five days. when carrie lam was here for a site visit on sunday, yesterday, she was met with angry jeers and slurs at her from residents stuck in that building right now. her site visit lasted only 15 minutes. >> thanks for that. david, let's go to you now. how have china's covid policies changed since that massive lockdown of wuhan at the start of this pandemic two years ago? and what will it mean for the olympics? >> hey there, rosemary, good to be with you. it's interesting to look at what kristi was talking about over the border in hong kong. those are the type of restrictions that are part of the zero covid approach that mainland has been dealing with about two years, going back to wuhan. we just marked two years since that unprecedented lockdown that lasted some 76 days. i think what's important to take from that is that in many ways the strict measures, while they've evolved a bit, they're still in place here. there are three real pillars to this approach. one has to do with the lockdowns. that's really no longer so much c citywide, although that happens at times, it's really community-based. that will play out if someone has tested positive in a certain neighborhood or close contact. the other part is the mass testing. as testing has become more and more available, certainly since the early days in wuhan, you see that by the tens of millions are able to test entire city populations over the course of just a few days. and then you have the contact tracing. that is based our on cell phones, we're tracked throughout. if we come in close contact with a potential covid case, then that, in turn, could flag us and put us into either rt isolation or quarantine. these are really the measures that are playing into the olympics now. we're seeing that in -- while they're keeping the population separate, the general population, us, from those coming in as part of the olympics, the athletes, the olympic personnel, the media, they're employing this in what's going to be a surprise to a lot of people. i think folks who are coming in are shocked to see this zero covid strategy and how it's going to play out. yes, they're lowering the threshold a bit but they're still maintaining a very strict policy when it comes to those testing positive, having to be isolated and for a certain period of time, will stay that way until they're deemed safe enough to re-enter the rest of the olympic bubble and participate in any events they're initially part of taking. so it's right now keeping numbering low. you have roughly 3,200 athletes and personnel who have already arrived. after that, more than 70, the total number is 78, who have tested positive. in that group they split it between the 43 who tested positive upon entry because of very strict measures coming in, that's at customs, and the other 33 or 35 have tested positive in the closed-loop system. it's an ongoing process and we'll see numbers change throughout. >> most definitely. wow, i remember your incredible reporting from wuhan at the very start of all of this. david culver reporting from beijing. many thanks to both of you. despite a slight easing of restrictions, belgians still took their anger over covid rules to the streets of brussels. authorities in belgium say some 50,000 people demonstratesed against current covid restrictions on sunday. clashes between police and protesters led to at least a dozen arrests and police using tear gas. they also used water cannon. according to authorities, three officers and 12 demonstrators were hospitalized because of their injuries. governments around the world have been trying to figure out how to overcome vaccine hesitancy and skepticism. since data shows vaccines are the best protections against coronavirus. now some plan to hit the unvaccinated where it hurts the most, in the wallet. cnn explains. >> reporter: it just got more expensive to be unvaccinated in austria. the country's parliament passed a measure to make covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for all adults. >> translator: if we want to break the circle of lockdowns, we need this law and an end to the restrictions to protect us from the coronavirus. and i think that's what we all want. >> reporter: after being passed by the upper house of parliament and signed by the president, the measure is set to come in force in february, with fines of up to roughly $4,000 rolling out in mid-march for anyone who can't provide proof of vaccination. it will be the strictest covid-19 law in europe, affecting all aus stree yans 18 and older. pregnant women, people with valid medical conditions and those who have recovered from coronavirus in the past six months will be exempt. it's a get tough tactic that comes after weeks of volatile protests in austria by a vocal minority over coronavirus restrictions. and many countries facing similar resistance say they've heard enough. in greece, people over 60 who choose not to get vaccinated now face fines of more than $100 a month. health officials say the financial leverage seems to be working. more than 90% of people in that age group have now received the shot. many in the weeks after the mandate was announced in late november. a similar fine is set to begin next month in italy where people over 50 and unvaccinated by choice will also face fines of more than $100. and by mid-february, workers over 50 must have a health pass showing their vaccinated or have recovered from covid-19. otherwise they face a fine of up to $1,700. the italian prime minister justified the step, saying it's mainly the unvaccinated who are straining the country's health care system. >> translator: we must never lose sight of the fact that most of the problems we have today come from the unvaccinated. nonvaccinated people are much more likely to develop the disease and severe forms of the disease. >> reporter: quebec's premier also calling out the unvaccinated, saying they are putting a financial burden on others and should be taxed for that. >> those who refuse to receive their first dose in the coming weeks will have to pay a new health contribution. >> reporter: though details have yet to be finalized, the premier says the tax could exceed 100 canadian dollars but will not apply to those who cannot take the shot for medical reasons. quebec has been one of the worst hit of canada's prove ins. the premier says only about 10% of quebec's population is unvaccinated, those people make up 50% of patients in intensive care. critics say such a penalty could face legal challenges. >> the worry is that it does set a precedent that this is the kind of thing that's permissible and so, you know, the same logic that applies to this measure would apply to, you know, taxing people because of certain other choices they make. >> reporter: after almost a year of pleading with people to get vaccinated, many european governments are losing patience with the holdouts. french president emmanuel macron says he wants to piss off the unvaccinated, but a growing number much places say it might be more effective to make them pay up instead. cnn, london. french fashion designer manfred mugler tied at age 73. he was known for his provocative and exaggerated designs. he launched his first clothing label in 1973 before starting his self-named label. more recently he was known for styling iconic looks for beyonce, lady gaga and rapper cardi b. for our international viewers, world sport is coming up next. for those in the u.s., i'll be right back. with more news. you're watching cnn. control of your financing. at carvana, get personalizized terms, browowse for cars that fit your budget, ththen customize your down paymt and monthly payment. and these aren't made-up numbers. it's's what you'll really pay, right down to the penny. whether you're shopping or just looking. it only takes a few seconds, and it won't affect your credit score. finally! a totally different way to finance your ride. only from carvana. the new way to buy a car. we're getting destroyed out there. we need a plan! i have a plan... right now at t-mobile customers on magenta max can get the new iphone 13 and t-mobile will pay for it! upgrade to the iphone 13 on us. my family's been devastated by covid-19. and we're not alone. we've all had to find new ways to keep going. and cue has made that easier. with cue, you get lab-quality covid-19 test results in just 20 minutes. speed and accuracy. it's just for the nba; it's for you too. cue health. the official covid-19 home test of the nba. go cue. go you. ♪ three times the electorlytes and half the sugar. ♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fast. welcome back, everyone. hong kong is struggling to cope with a growing mental health crisis. from the coronavirus pandemic to social changes in recent years, as more people show symptoms of depression and anxiety, the health care system is struggling to cope. cnn's will ripley has our report. >> reporter: beneath hong kong's bright lights, a dark secret. depression and suicide rates rising. the city's happiness index falling. many in hong kong struggling. experts call it a mental health epidemic. one of the hardest hit groups, young people. like university of hong kong student steph. >> what i would call the worst day was that complete lack of hope. >> reporter: lack of hope about the future. in a city rocked by upheaval in the past few years. from the protests to the pandemic. and china's ongoing crackdown on hong kong's freedoms. >> it's almost been a perfect storm of social change, political change and now a pandemic. and the hong kong system is struggling to cope with the epidemic of mental health. >> reporter: hong kong's public health system, overwhelmed. patients with nonurgent cases are waiting from nine months to almost two years to see a psychiatrist. the average visit, just six to eight minutes. dr. lucy lord is an obstetrician who suffered debilitating post natural depression. >> everybody has mental health, just like we all have physical health. >> reporter: she's the founder of mindhk, a foundation focused on fighting mental health stigma. only a quarter of those suffering seek professional help. one in seven face a common mental disorder in hong kong. it's even worse for high school students. more than half show signs of depression. >> intervening early doesn't just save people's lives, it saves their families, it saves their relationships, it saves their can rreers. it saves everything. >> reporter: getting help early, helping steph from a life-threatening eating disorder from high school. >> when you share your story, how often does it happen that you open up to someone and they open up to you and say, i've been struggling, too? >> all the time. almost every time, will, and it's quite wonderful to see that. i'm here and i'm alive to share the story. >> reporter: a story shared by many in hong kong. only a few getting help they so desperately need. will ripley, cnn, hong kong. a wildfire in california is forcing hundreds to evacuate and has shut down part of a major california highway. take a look at these images. gusty winds are helping the fire to grow and so far cal fire says it's only about 35% contained. so, joining me now is pedram. what can you tell us more about this and when might it be fully contained? >> the winds are beginning to die down. this certainly exploded in the past 24 hours. we saw this rapid exexpansion of this particular fire. really goes to show how dry this landscape is. 35% containment, 700 acres consumed. it's the only large fire across the state of california and 12 active fires across the entirety of the united states, which just pales in comparison to what you see in june, july and august where thousands of fires across the united states perform the state of california, even with the rainfall we've seen in recent weeks, 98% of it remains in moderate to severe drought, 1% in extreme drought and portions of central california, significant drought in place here. what's happened the last couple of days, high pressure set in place. we've had an offshore component of winds. temperatures warmed up into the 60s. a few degrees above seasonal averages but they can warm by compression as they come downslope the mountains and gusting 45 miles an hour saturday morning and saturday afternoon and the fire expanded over that span of a few hours. when it comes to fires, especially in this region of california where you have so much elevated terrain and landscape, we know fire speeds essentially double by about every ten-degree increase in slope. again, i use the analogy of lighting a match, holding it straight out, it will burn slowly toward your finger. give it a slope, it rapidly burns toward your finger. this is what firefighters are dealing with across this region of california as these fires are expanding so rapidly. with this particular one, the good news is the winds have died down. there's some wet weather, maybe four, five days away before it approaches this region. at this point we think the firefighters should be able to get the upper hand on this because the winds will be dying down over the next several days. >> let's hope so. many thanks. scrabble and words with friends have a new competitor. wordle is a new game taking the internet by storm. it's a simple concept drawing the attention of millions of people. players try and guess a five-letter word by rearranging letters based on limited clues on the game board and players often share their word grid on social media afterwards. celebrities like comedian jimmy fallon have hopped on the trend. he says he's addicted to the game. wordle has even caught the attention of "saturday night live." >> let's get today's wordle. could we do that, please? i got the booster, okay, because i made the booster. i made the beautiful vaccine. it's an incredible vaccine, but it's very -- unfair what's happening with the covid treatment, okay. white people are being told to give back of line. they're being told, back of line. speaking of white people, john mayer, the devil wears prada and prada is right next to tiffany. tiffany is my daughter and tiffany is by trump. wordle. philosophy professor at the university of utah and scholar of games joins me now from salt lake city. great to have you with us. >> great to be here. >> so, everyone's enjoying this game, wordle, "saturday night live" and jimmy fallon getting in on the craze. what is it about this game that has everyone hooked, do you think? >> a lot of people have been confused about why people are so excited about wordle because the actual mechanics are similar to a lot off other games people know like mastermind and word puzzle games. i think the most important thing about wordle is the way wordle works, it generates this kind of natural graphic that records your movement through the puzzle. when you put it online, it's not that someone just sees your score. that would be boring. what happens is people can actually see your struggle. they can see -- they can see where you -- that you just got the right answer instantly or you got stuck and went down a weird alley and they can probably, if you're a wordle player, see you're tearing your hair out and then you got it. all of that is visible in the graphic. like, one quick second. and i think that's the most important thing about wordle. it's the sharability of the struggle experience. >> and you wrote in your article about this. and you said that the shareable word grids give us quick glimpses into other people's minds. what did you mean by that? >> i mean, one of the strange things about games is they seem really artificial because they're so narrow. one of the standard ideas -- one of the things i'm most interested in about games is not just that we compete but that they specify a really specific way of being a person. so, in my book, the way i describe it is a game tells you what your agency is. it tells you what you want to do and it tells you what abilities you have to do it. and so in normal life, right, in normal life, what we want to do and how we're going to do it is incredibly variable among people. but in a game, games often align us in this strange, artificial way so that we all are suddenly aiming at the same thing in exactly the same terms, using exactly the same abilities. >> the big difference between this word game and others is that the player can take as much time as needed, right? with very little information to go on. so, what strategies are people using to win this game? >> one of the interesting things about wordle is first it seems like it's a pure guessing game. you're supposed to give six tries to guess the word of the day. and the word of the day is some five-letter word. and you think it's just random. but then you realize that what wordle is doing is giving you feedback. and the feedback is really str straightforward. in your guess, if you get the right letter in the right place you get a green color. if you get the right letter in the wrong place, you get a yellow color. you realize is you're not just guessing words. you're trying to pick words to scan the space of possible letters. you start shifting around your word to hit high-frequency letters. it's weirdly for me a lot like poker because a lot of people when they startle playing poker, they think something like, oh, it's just random. there's nothing you can do. there's so few moves you can neighboring. and then wordle, once you start playing, you realize it's not random at all. you have all this incredible control of picking words to search the alphabet for possibilities. knowing what the letter frequencies are. >> we'll see what its life span will be. thank you so much for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> it is a lot of fun. turning to u.s. football now where there are now just four teams who could play in the super bowl three weeks from now in the most dramatic game this weekend, the kansas city chiefs beat the buffalo bills in overtime. this touchdown catch sealed the victory. the chiefs will face the cincinnati bengals and the los angeles rams proving tom brady isn't invincible after all. the rams knocked the tampa bay buccaneers out of contention with this deep pass to set up the game-winning field goal. los angeles will now face the san francisco 49ers he with the winning team headed to the super bowl. thanks so much for joining us this hour. i'm rosemary church. i'll be back about more news from all around the world. you're watching cnn. i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. with the new personalpoints program, i answer questions about my goals and the foods i love. i like that the ww personalpoints plan is built just for me. download the ww app today for a 14-day free trial. ♪ three times the electorlytes and half the sugar. ♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fast. i was injured in a car crash. i had no idea how much my case was worth. i called the barnes firm. when a truck hit my son, i had so many questions about his case. i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. your case is often worth more than insuran call the barnes firm to find out i could've made. what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm, injury attorneys ♪ call one eight hundred,est resul eight million ♪ welcome to our viewers around the united states. i'm rosemary church. tensions are russia escalating as the u.s. state department calls for a reduction in staff at its embassy in ukraine. we're live in moscow with the latest. plus -- from violent covid restriction protests across europe to marches in washington, d.c., against government monday dates for covid vacces