good morning to you. i m jessica dean in washington. jim sciutto is off today. we re following several major stories this morning. overnight ukraine rocked by a barrage of russian missiles. the defense minister saying it s the most massive missile attack since the invasion began in februariment we know power is out in several regions including parts of the capital kyiv. we ll be live on the ground ahead. plus, the u.s. reinstating covid tests for travelers coming from china as beijing drops its own restrictions despite an overwhelming surge in cases. a fresh apology from southwest airlines today, plus new steps the airline is taking to reimburse passengers whose holiday travel was ruined. still more than 2,300 southwest flights canceled today. we re told the scheduling nightmare could end as soon as tomorrow. let s begin this morning on the ground in ukraine. cnn senior international correspondent ben wedeman is in kyiv. ben, you saw firsthand some of this damage. tell us
u.s.-mexico border looking for asylum in the united states. breaking, the biden administration officially out with new rules for travelers from china. we re live at the white house with the details developing as we speak. i m hallie jackson in washington. joining me now is msnbc correspondent shomari stone at bwi airport, mike memoli is with the president in saint kroi in the virgin islands. some people have canceled vacation plans altogether. what are the airlines saying. talk us through that piece of it. reporter: right now people are trying to get answers. they re understandably frustrated and they re waiting in line here this line has grown over the last hour and they re trying to get more answers right over there. people can rebook their flights if it was within 30 days of the original travel date. people can also go on the southwest website and try and get a refund. i tell you, that s just not the problem with all the cancellations. look over here. look at all thi
both hypothesis including the lab leak they ended up hurting the credibility of science. dana: the debate over the origins of covid and credibility of our health officials leading the charge comes back today. dr. fauci is about to testify before a house panel on his response to the virus in his first public testimony in nearly two years. remarkable. it has been two years. welcome to a new hour of america s newsroom, i m dana perino. bill: good morning. i thought dr. redfield was very interesting last hour. i m bill hemmer. the pandemic may be officially over but the world may never fully recover from the damage it posed. a lot of questions finally getting more pointed. republicans on that committee are digging into the lab in wuhan china and whether a key fauci advisor was looking to evade laws, a cover-up. dana: the founder of public vcc. you follow it closely. i want to play some sound from democratic lawmakers questioning the conduct of dr. morens last week. what
the discussion was lively with arguments for both possibilities. two participants have testified before this subcommittee that i did not try to steer the discussion in any direction. it was decided that several participants would more carefully examine the genomic sequence. after this discussion several became convinced the virus was not deliberately manipulated. they concluded that the most likely scenario was a spillover from an animal reservoir, although they still kept an open mind. they appropriately published their opinion in the peer reviewed literature. the accusation circulated that i influenced these scientists to change their minds by bribing them with millions of dollars in grant money is absolutely false and simply preposterous.
via YouTube / Associated PressThe first Chinese scientist to publish a genomic sequence of the COVID-19 virus—without permission of government health authorities—says he has been allowed to return to his lab following a sit-in protest he started after he claimed to have been locked out of the facility over the weekend.Virologist Zhang Yongzhen on Wednesday wrote online that the medical center where his lab is located had “tentatively agreed” to permit him and the rest of his team to return and r