russian invasion. we are live in moscow this hour. anti-vaxx and antimandates. thousands take to the streets from d.c. to brussels. we have the very latest on the state of the pandemic. and with less than two weeks to go before the winter olympics and just days before the chinese new year, we look at china's covid policy two years after wuhan. >> announcer: live from london, this is "cnn newsroom" with isa soares. welcome to the show, everyone. it is monday, january 24th, and u.s. president joe biden is set to be considering option to bolster troop levels in eastern europe amid fears of a possible russian invasion against ukraine. now, according to ukrainian intelligence, russia has now massed more than 127,000 troops in the region, and as tensions remain high, america's top diplomat has issued one of the strongest warnings yet. have a listen. >> 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. and, again, across the board we're prepared with europe for a swift and calibrated and very united response. >> well, ukraine's defense minister says his country has received a second weapons shipment from the united states, tweeting that more than 80 tons of weapons will help strengthen its defense capabilities. ukraine's president has urged the u.s. and its allies to penalize moscow now for its military buildup, but the u.s. secretary of state defended the administration's decision to not impose sanction preemptively saying triggering now could lose the deterrent effect. have a listen. >> what is at stake, dana is principles of international relations established since two world wars and cold war that have kept peace and security. one nation can't go in and change the border of another. one nation can't dictate to another its policies and choices including whom it will associate. >> well, meantime, the u.s. state department says it will be reducing staff levels at the embassy starting with non-essential staff and family members out of abundance of caution. and in the last few minutes confirmed the british embassy tweeting in the last few minutes that some staff and dependents are being withdrawn from kiev in response to a growing threat from russia. the british embassy, though, will remain open. and at this hour, european union, foreign ministers are meeting in brussels to discuss the situation in ukraine. they will be joined virtually by secretary of state blinken. so, a lot going on this morning. our correspondents are covering all the developments for you. nic robertson standing by in moscow and melissa bell is in paris for us. nic, let me start with you. we've been hearing the last few minutes that uk is withdrawing some of its embassy staff and are following on from the united states as well. how do you interpret these moves? is it just prudent planning, nic? >> reporter: i think there are several ways to interpret it. it is prudent planning. that's what's being said. i think slightly the spectre of afghanistan for biden hanging over this, he has been briefed by his national security team and other advisers at camp david so he'll be fully up to speed on what's happening with dispensation of russian troop deployments and the potential threat that poses. he said he believes they could come across the border, even though russia says they weren't. given that in afghanistan president biden appeared to be flat-footed in drawing down embassy staff there, it does seem he is being cautious here. there is a interpretation being offered bay ukrainian officials the draw down, the americans in particular, but perhaps by implication of british as well. they think this is a bit preemptive. they think this is coming too soon and is unnecessary. but i think for the kremlin, they're going to be able to look at this and see, number one, president biden clearly believes that there is a potential for invasion, that the situation is, in ukraine is destabilized enough for this concern by the united states. it's not clear whether that's, you know, part of his game plan or not, but it certainly does ramp up the stakes on what's happening. the language of the possibility of conflict and russia precipitates in the conflict grows stronger with moves like this. >> it is definitely very volatile, that's for sure. melissa, let me go to you. so much was said and nic and i discussed this last week at length, the possible fought lines as well as divisions in nato. where does europe stand on a possible russian invasion here? are they all singing from the same hymn sheet? >> reporter: no, definitely not. i think there have been a lot of tensions within europe. you mentioned the divided nato. there is a divided europe in its stance toward russia. the latest crisis, those divisions even more starkly exposed than they were before. that's why what happens at that meeting of foreign ministers is going to be so important today. the unity that they manage to find on this question will be tested and we'll know more about it this evening when we hear from joseph boyle, the eu's top diplomat, on the outcome of that meeting. what would trigger sanctions from europe? we know there is a division with europe and france on one side and countries closer toward the border, the baltic countries, for instance, much more hard line in their desire to see strength from the european union. of course, as you mentioned, antony blinken will be talking to europeans about the out come of his conversations with sergei lavrov. of course, that question of resolving the differences, the divisions, crucial also to that unity that we just heard secretary of state blinken talk about, that unity that the united states is so countth on in its approach towards russia thank you moment. a lot riding on this meeting today, and we've heard already as these arrivals continue, meeting delayed a little in its start from the danish foreign minister he believed europe would come up with sanctions than we've seen before, in 2014, what they have been saying the last few weeks. getting everyone on board is going to be the struggle and challenge today. we know for europeans to impose sanctions, they have to vote on that unanimously, isa. >> we've had the ukraine president asking them to penalize moscow now and do it. melissa bell for us in paris. nic robertson in moscow, thank you very much. now, u.s. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are weighing in on how the u.s. should respond if russia invades ukraine. one republican senator says u.s. shouldn't wait, and must act immediately. >> we do need to go ahead and impose sanctions on russia now. we need to show them that we mean business, and we will be there for ukraine should they invade. they see a very weak administration and president putin sees every opportunity to do what he wants to do in ukraine with very little pushback from the united states. >> i do think we should take up and pass a bipartisan bill that will show resolve and determination and apply some sanctions now, but the very strongest sanctions, the sorts of sanctions we use to bring iran to the table is something we should hold out as a deterrent. >> if we don't do something strong right now, i'm afraid that he's going to invade ukraine, which will have, as the secretary talked about, he's right. and i think you and i did, it will have global ramifications here. >> well, meanwhile, former u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo who served in the trump administration told fox news on sunday he believes russia does not see biden as credible. and he suggested the u.s. should respect vladimir putin's power. >> we had deterrents for four years. vladimir putin didn't do these kinds of things. he didn't threaten, he didn't use coerce iive activity to pus back on nato. we made sure nato was focused on its mission. when we did that, vladimir putin respected us. we had respect for him and his power. he is a very talented statesman. he has lots of gifts. he was a kgb agent, for goodness sakes. he knows how to use power. we should respect that. and if we did that, we can make sure we do the things that are right for the american people and reflect well on our country's history and tradition and make sure europe and the western world stood together. >> mike pompeo there. experts say what we are seek from russia now is nothing new. they warned u.s. and other western powers need to take the threats seriously. >> this risk of invasion is very real. you know, the administration officials with u.s. suggest there is a very real chance of a significant incursion, not just minor incursion that president biden spoke dismissively of the other day in his press conference. besides, not de-escalation at the moment, but if anything, escalation. and a failure of diplomatic -- were never concrete enough to resolve the situation. >> if there is no pushback from the united states and from the west against putin, there is going to be trouble. i mean, what has putin learned from recent history? 2008, invades georgia. what does he get? basically a stern wag of the finger from the west. invades ukraine and annexes crimea, a wag of the finger. if not when -- we have to wait until he invades finland or sweden or something like that? i can understand there has to be strong pushback. and that's what the secretary is getting at when he's talking about these strong responses. >> well, the biden administration has been in talks with a number of countries for weeks about stepping up production of liquefied natural gas. that is in case a russian invasion of ukraine leads to gas shortages. according to euro stat, russia provides europe with more than 40% of its natural gas supply. if we have a look at oil prices, they continue to rise on concerns of those tightening supplies and opec's struggle to raise its output of brent crude at the moment. just down 2/10 of a percent and wti hovering at roughly the same amount. now, america's top infectious disease dr. anthony fauci says he's reasonably confident omicron cases could peak in the u.s. by mid february. now, cases remain high overall, but appear to be leveling off. infections and hospitalizations are trending down in the northeast. and while some areas are seeing the numbers increase, dr. fauci remains optimistic. that should shift soon. >> we would hope that as we get into the next weeks to month or so, we'll see throughout the entire country the level of infection get to below what i call that area of control. and there is a big bracket of control. control means you're not eliminating it, you're not eradicating it, but it gets down to such a low level that it's essentially integrated into the general respiratory infections that we have learned to live with. >> one does hope the youngest members of society could soon get vaccinated. former fda commissioner scott gottlieb says children under 5 can start getting their shots in late march. while young children wait for eligibility to get their shots, some adults are saying they never will. protesters you can see there gathered at the u.s. capitol on sunday to express their anger at government vaccination mandates. organizers say they expected 20,000 people to attend, but only a few thousand showed up. cnn's joe johns was there and has the story for you. >> 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 as 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 in the health care worker, and 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, and that's why i'm here. as long as you don't hurt anybody in this country, you can do anything you want. >> reporter: it's very difficult to generalize about the crowd other than to say 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. well, staying in washington, u.s. lawmakers investigating the january 6 insurrection have been communicating with former attorney general william barr. barr was a stan unch ally of donald trump, but he resigned in january of 2020 after allegations of fraud. they looking for the defense secretary to seize voting machines in battleground states. >> to be honest with you, we had conversations with the former attorney general already. we talked to the department of defense individuals. we are concerned that our military was part of this big lie on promoting that the election was false. so if you are using the military to potentially seize voting machines, even though it's a discussion, the public needs to know. >> well, it is unclear who wrote that draft executive order and the house committee is not aware of any operation plans to carry out the plan. but the chairman said they do know that a potential reason -- potential person was identified to become the next attorney general who would communicate and interfere with certain states ratifying their results. we'll stay on top of that story, of course, for you. coming up right here on the show, beijing flexes its military muscle, flying dozens of war planes near taiwan. we have the details for you just ahead. plus. anger over covid restrictions spills out into the streets of belgium. we'll have the latest in 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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 and she joins us now. paula, give us the reaction from taiwan to these latest chinese war planes. >> reporter: well, isa, taiwan reacted in the same way it always does have to react when beijing carries out these incursions, which is done frequently over recent years. it does have to scramble and it activates its missile defense system. it also gives verbal warnings. and taiwan is really criticized beijing for what it calls these gray zone tactics, for really putting the pressure on, really testing the air force and the reaction of taiwan itself. now, as you said, it was a significant incursion in the sheer number of aircraft that were involved, not the most ever. certainly the most this year. 34 fighter jets among the 39 war planes in all. now, it does come just a day, as you say, after the u.s. and the japanese navys did have a fairly significant show of force in the waters off the east coast of taiwan in the philippine sea. it's not clear how close it was to taiwan. that information is not forthcoming. but what we saw there was a very large military drill, a navy drill we saw from the u.s. side, for example, a couple of aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships among other things from the japanese side, a helicopter destroyer. so it was a significant show of force. from the u.s. point of view, it is part of their freedom of navigation policy to show that the waters in that area and in the south china sea are free for navigation for all. we have seen china claiming the seas in that particular area and it's been a source of tension for many years. the u.s. saying it was conducting training to preserve and protect a free and open indo-pacific region. so certainly that is expected to be one of the reasons that we saw this incursion from these fighter jets from beijing. but as i say, it is something that we do see frequently and have seen an increase over recent years, isa. >> indeed. you and i have spoken at length about this, last year in particular. paula hancocks for us in seoul. paula, thank you very much. great to see you. this is the scene in belgium, brussels. some 50,000 people demonstrated against covid restrictions on sunday. a clash between police and protesters led to a dozen arrests. when protests turned violent, police used tear gas. they also used water cannon you can see there. now, according to authorities at least three officers and 12 demonstrators were hospitalized because of their injuries. let's bring in cnn's scott mclane who has the latest from the weekend protests over restrictions and mandates. and, scott, let's start with those images out of belgium. what do these protesters want to see from the government? because covid cases there continue to spike from what i understand. >> reporter: yeah, look, isa, these protesters want to see the restrictions, the covid restrictions in belgium and across europe start to go away. right now in belgium, well, those protesters by the letter of the law should have been wearing masks because they were at a large gathering. they also should have been social distancing as well. there are curfews in place for restaurants and bars and belgium continues to use the covid pass as well. there were also protests in france over the weekend. they are upset after a court upheld the legality of the new health pass law in france, which comes into effect today. it requires vaccination for a range of really everyday activities. restaurants, bars, even regional transit is affected. so life is about to get very inconvenient and very difficult for the unvaccinated in france. that appears to be by design. the french president has made no secret in the past of his desire to piss off the unvaccinated, to try to encourage them to get the shot. that's little more than encouragement, it seems. some countries have gone even further than that. austrian lawmakers have voted to mandate people to get the vaccine with heavy fines for people who continue to refuse. and german lawmakers will begin debate soon, a similar law to have a similar vaccine mandate for almost everyone in the country. things look a lot different on the other side of the english channel, isa, that is because the government has already said, you no longer have to work from home. you can go into the office. there's no longer masks required in schools. that was as of last week. and then thursday, this thursday, the mask mandate across england for indoors, it is going away as well. and so is the covid pass, which was only required for large gatherings and for night clubs, things like that. and so the health secretary's approach here has been, look, we need to live with covid kind of like we live with the flu as this disease becomes endemic. the uk has serious advantages over the rest of europe. namely, almost two-thirds of the population or eligible population has been boosted, plus cases here, hospitalizations, they are falling as well, isa. >> well, i for one am very much looking forward to see colleagues back in the office including yourself, scott. good to see you, scott. thanks very much. coming up right here on the show, it's been two years since wuhan first went into lockdown. now less than two weeks before the winter olympic games, we take a look at what the country is doing to prepare and what's changed since 2020. plus, an attack that may have taken months to plan. a battle is underway to reclaim a prison house and isis militants in syria after inmates took over. why it could signal isis is regrouping for something bigger. if i go to sleep right now, i can get more.... four hours. that's not good. what is time? time. time is just a construct. construct. construction. there is a crack. oh god are you kidding me?! oh god... hi, aren't you tired of this? -yes! good days start with good nights. seems like a good time to find out about both. why are you talking like that? is this an ad? are we in an ad? yep, it's go time with wireless on the most reliable network. ok, that jump was crazy! but what's crazier? you get unlimited for just 30 bucks. nice! but mine has 5g included. wait! 5g included? yup, even these guys get it. nice ride, by the way. and the icing on the cake? saving up to 400 bucks? exactly. wait, shouldn't you be navigating? xfinity mobile. it's wireless that does it all and saves a lot. like a lot, a lot. welcome back to "cnn newsroom." i'm isa soares. if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date. with our top stories this hour. the u.s. and the uk are withdrawing some families and staff at the embassies in ukraine amid growing fears of a russian invasion. meanwhile, eu foreign ministers are meeting in brussels this hour to discuss the tensions in the region. ukraine says russia has nearly 127,000 troops standing by. much more ahead on this 30 minutes or so on "early start." tensions between taiwan and mainland china are ratcheting up as well. china sent nearly 40 war planes into its air defense zone a day after u.s. and japan conducted naval drills east of taiwan. in a response of show of force from beijing, taiwan deployed its air defense missile systems. in coming hours, opening statements are set to begin in the federal civil rights trial for former police officers indicted in connection with george floyd's murder. the three men have been charged you can see there with violating floyd's constitutional rights during his arrest in may 2020. two of the former officers face another charge alleging they did nothing to stop former officer derek chauvin from kneeling on floyd's neck for more than 9 minutes, leading to his death. chauvin pleaded guilty to civil rights charges last month and faces up to 25 years in prison. now, 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 as well as new york. a 22-year-old new york police officer was shot and killed while responding to a domestic incident in harlem on friday night. a second officer is in critical condition. new york's mayor explained what steps he'll take to cnn's dana bash. >> we're going to go after the underlying reasons you are seeing crime in our city. this is a sea of crime that's being fed by many rivers, and 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. >> well, new york's governor plans to hold a multi-state task force meeting on illegal guns and that is happening wednesday. and a manhunt is underway in texas for the man who gunned down a deputy constable. police say deputy constable charles galloway was killed while making a traffic stop on wednesday. a man got out of his car and started shooting with an assault type weapon. authorities say the motive is unknown. evgenia he got-- >> he got out of his vehicle and immediately began firing on 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. >> well, the 47-year-old deputy constable was a 12-year veteran on the force. he leaves behind a daughter and a sister. now, in the coming hour, wikileaks founder julian assange will learn whether he can appeal a high court decision on his extradition to the united states. he won an appeal he cannot be extradited after agreeing to special conditions to protect assange's mental health. his lawyers argue the assurances are vague and meaningless. let's bring in nina dos santos in london. it's a rather long battle for him as he tries to avoid being extradited to the u.s. >> reporter: well, isa, it is going to be an even longer battle if from here. if anybody is getting their hopes up this situation is going to be resolved any time soon, they may well be disappointed because it could go either one of two ways. essentially what we've got in 45 minutes' time, that kind of decision coming out of the one of the senior courts in the uk about whether or not julian assange's legal team on the grounds they put forward have the right to appeal against that decision that was delivered on the 10th of december, essentially paving the wait for julian assange to potentially be extradited to the united states because of all the assurances that his -- that the court and legal experts have been given by u.s. diplomats and the department of justice that julian assange will be treated in different conditions than they said would be a danger to his life. essentially, u.s. authorities would take into account that he might be at higher risk of suicide and prevent that. essentially now what we've got is it can go one of two ways. it could be shutdown at this stage. julian assange's team put forward the argument this case is politically motivated, assange would not get a fair trial in the united states if he was extradited there to face justice, and also it would have a chilling effect on freedom of speech in this country, not just for julian assange, but for journalists as well and human rights activists. that is the argument that is being played out right now as we speak in a london courthouse. depending on which way it could go, it could either be expedited to the home secretary and the legal team do not have the grounds to appeal. if they do have the grounds to appeal, expect much, much longer legal battle from here. if things go towards the home secretary at this point, there is the option of potentially going to the european human rights courts to try and get justice there. but that may be further down the line and, again, will protract things much, much longer. so, again, another chapter in this very long running legal saga, isa. >> indeed. we expect a decision in about 20 minutes or so. stay with us, we'll have the latest on that. nina dos santos, thanks very much, nina. now, the us us-backed syrian democratic forces are tightening their siege of a house after inmate facility. there has been fierce fighting since thursday. have a look. now, the sdf say at least 27 of their fighters, dozens of isis members, at least 50 inmates have been killed so far. hundreds of civilians, including women as well as children have fled homes in nearby areas following the isis attack. cnn's arwa daman joins us from istanbul, turkey. tell us how much control the sds has here. >> reporter: well, isa, they are claiming to have control over the surrounding areas. they have, in fact, implemented a curfew in the larger towns and villages around the prison itself. but inside the prison that really is another story. this has been going on since thursday, and this takeover of the prison by these isis fighters did not necessarily start with the inmates. it was very much a well-planned and coordinated attack. that, according to the sdf statement which they are basing on statements that they have gotten from isis fighters they say they detained. this was around six months in the planning and involved about 200 isis fighters initially attacking the front gate of the prison and being able to storm inside. while at the same time prisoners began to riot as well. now, this particular facility holds more than 30,000 isis fighters. worth noting, too, isa, a number of hundreds of these are potentially minors. they are not just from iraq and syria. they have nationalities from dozens of countries around the world. this exact occurrence is something that the sdf, the syrian democratic forces that predominantly kurdish fighting force, u.s.-led, has been happening sometime. they don't have the capability to continue to hold these thousands of prisoners in facilities across the region. they had been anticipating this sort of an attack, saying that it would be taking place at some point or another, and now most certainly it has demonstrating the threat isis continues to pose. isis reportedly having sleeper cells to carry out the attack. other concerns are the large sprawling, but ram shackle camps that exist in this area that are mostly housing women and children claimed to be afraid with isis members. many of them foreign nationals whose cousins triz are refusing to take them back. so at this stage, isa, the sdf is pointing to all of this a clear indication, on the one hand, isis has not been entirely defeated. analysts will say this is an organization that knows how to bide its time, take advantage of targets of opportunity, continue to carry out, albeit a smaller scale, complex attacks. this is exactly why the international community should not lose sight of what's happening on the ground in swaths of syria and it must be noted iraq as well. >> important context there from our arwa daman in beautiful snowy istanbul. thanks very much, arwa. now, coming up we'll take a look at how the lockdown in wuhan in 2020 set a precedent for china's covid policies. we're live for you in china next. ♪ my name is monique, i'm 41, and i'm a federal contract investigator. as a single parent, i would run from football games to work and trying to balance it all. so, what do you see when you look at yourself? i see a person that's caring. sometimes i care too much, and that's when i had to learn to put myself first, because i would care about everyone all the time but i'm just as important as they are. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown line, crow's feet and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, 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before the winter olympics and just days before the chinese new year, mass testing is underway for more than 2 million people in beijing. hundreds are in quarantine and public gatherings are banned in some places. chinese authorities have also lowered the testing threshold for olympic participants, essentially making it easier to produce a negative test. and you may recall it was two years ago that china first ordered a lockdown in wuhan imposing drastic measures to contain the outbreak. on january 20th, 2020, china confirmed person-to-person spread. three days later china locks down millions of people in wuhan and in hubei province, it wasn't until april they were able to leave the city. david culver has a look at the time. have a look. >> reporter: new york city on new year's is packed. now it's sparse. many are taking health officials' advice and wearing their masks. we are, too. this is where they believe the source of the coronavirus is. it's the wildlife and seafood market. and you can perhaps see over there. it's cordoned off. within minutes much us arriving and recording, security asked us to stop filming. there is an uneasiness felt throughout wuhan. this gives you an idea how seriously people are taking this seriously to leave wuhan and get out before public transportation is strictly limited. this is a sense of trying to navigate new normal, post lockdown, how to figure out exactly they will be able to move forward and yet at the same time find some sense of normality. >> fantastic from david culver. right from the beginning, cnn. he joins me now. how are things going on, especially with china's zero covid policy, how effective has it been from your vantage point? >> reporter: isa, the previous reports made it feel how far we've come from that, but in many ways we're very much in the same place where the wuhan lockdown put us. and that was the zero-covid strategy. what we're experiencing today, but that same zero-covid approach. on the eve of the olympics, it is going to remain in place and could be in place several more months. it's had its impact and people are still feeling the result of what was ultimately sparked on that january 23rd, 2020. you still have the three pillars. those identify really to be the contact tracing, which is the smartphone tracing, following us throughout on our devices. you also have the mask testing which can be done in the tens of millions, and early on you didn't have that kind of capacity. now they certainly do. and you have the lockdowns. so wuhan was an extreme example. a city of 11 million people. we've seen it recently with, for example, xi'an. they had to seal off the entire city and confine people to their homes. certainly not the duration of 76 days wuhan was. one thing that is worth noting there has been an evolution, if you will, of some of these techniques. for example, the cell phone tracing, contact tracing. one thing that's come to our attention today, in fact, if you go to a pharmacy and you want to buy maybe a cough drop, fever medication. early on they would make note of that, physical note and they would report it to the local community. now it's all tracked on your phone. i have friends who have been flagged. their health code, your entry of everything from parks to airports to train stations will turn a different comer and will prevent you from entering certain places if you have purchased one of those items that could treat a symptom of covid-19 and you haven't gotten an immediate test. that's what's happening in beijing. it tells you how strict they are keeping the measures. it is because the olympics, isa. >> by the way, how many covid tests have you taken, david? >> 101 as of today until it's 101 is negative results. >> wonderful news as always. david culver for us in beijing. great to he see you. >> reporter: thanks, isa. coming up, a fire burns near california's highway 101. pedram javaheri is tracking that for you. >> a large fire across portions of california. more on that and also very cold weather into south florida coming up in a few minutes. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. with hepatitis c i felt i couldn't be at my best for my family. in only 8 weeks with mavyret i was cured. i faced reminders of my hep c every day. i worried about my hep c. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret i was cured. mavyret is the only 8-week cure for all types of hep c. before starting mavyret your doctor will test if you've had hepatitis b which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b, a liver or kidney transplant, other liver problems, hiv-1,or other medical conditions, and all medicines you take. don't take mavyret with atazanavir or rifampin, or if you've had certain liver problems. if you've had or have serious liver problems other than 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look, the met gala dress to life for kim kardashian. he launched the self-named label in 1974 and had made his mark on international fashion by the '80s. tributes as you can imagine have been pouring in from celebrities and fans alike. diana ross tweeting, i will miss you. this was a wonderful time in our lives. the creative director of the fashion label wrote on instagram, you changed our perception of beauty, of confidence, of representation and self-empowerment. now, a wildfire in california is forcing hundreds to evacuate and has shutdown part of a major california highway. take a look at these images. we're seeing gusty winds really, really helping the fire grow, and so far the cal fire says it's only about 35% contained. cnn's meteorologist pedram javaheri has the latest. good morning, pedram. >> yes, isa, certainly an unusual set up to see fire activity across the state of california. it's the only large active fire in the state and one of only 12 fires in the united states to be in place there when it comes to, again, large active fires. 700 acres consumed, 35% containment. good news with this is the winds are dying down. the bad news is the incredible drought scenario that has been in place, of course, for years across the state of california, even with the abundant rainfall we saw in november and december, almost the entirety of the state still dealing with moderate to severe drought. shows you why january fires are possible. high pressure is in place as well as the offshore could have point help fuel the fire ignited and the recipe in place for the fire to expand. but for now the winds are forecast to die down over the next several days. should give the firefighters 9 upper hand as we go into wednesday, thursday, friday to put the fire out. high pressure building, again, across the southwest. big story is not just the wintry weather across the areas of the great lakes region, the cold air, the coldest of the season spilling a little farther toward the south. there were know -- snow showers. an an impressive amount, unless you're on the shores of lake michigan and portions of the eastern great lakes. the cold air is the talk of town. florida, south florida. frost advisory getting near the freezing mark. look at ft. myers, 39 degrees. should be in the 50s. miami dipping down to 40 degrees. the morning hours 61. of course, in northern florida, down to 27 degrees. a couple of blasts of cold air still in store. much of it doesn't get as far this go round. across parts of the great lakes it will be plenty cold over the next few days. chicago, a high of 35 degrees. minneapolis 10. atlanta best we can do, around 58 degrees. isa. >> not bad at all. thank you, pedram in american football we will get an idea who will face off. kansas city chiefs host the bengals in the afc championship. this after a dramatic game this weekend where the chiefs beat the buffalo bills in overtime. it was thanks to this touchdown catch from travis kelsey ceiling the victory there. and on the nfc side, the los angeles rams proving tom brady isn't invincible after all. brady's buccaneers knocked tampa out winning the game field goal. that is the news. thank you very much. that does it for us on "cnn newsroom." i'm isa isa soares in london. the coverage of tensions with russia continues with christine romans and laura jarrett. the details are on the screen. i shall see you tomorrow. have a wonderful day. bye-bye. does your plug-in fade too fast? try febreze fade defy plug. it has built-in technology to digitally control how much scent is released to smell first day fresh for 50 days. la la la la la. new year, new start. and now comcast business is making it easy to get going with the ready. set. save. sale. get started with fast and reliable internet and voice for $64.99 a month with a 2-year price guarantee. it's easy... with flexible installation and backing from an expert team, 24/7. and for even more value, ask how to get up to a $500 prepaid card. get a great deal for your business with the ready. set. save. sale today. comcast business. powering possibilities. good morning, everyone. it is monday, january 24th. it's 5:00 a.m. here in new york. thanks so much for getting an early start with us. i'm laura jarrett. >> good monday morning, everyone. i'm christine romans. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. president biden signalling stiffened resolve in the escalating standoff with russian president vladimir putin in ukraine. drawing down staff in kiev, ordering the departure of all family members of embassy personnel.