world, i m laila harrak. at the vatican the first holy mass of the new year will commemorate the late pope emeritus benedict. we re live from st. peter s square. and the year begins with flooding and evacuations in california as over 25 million could be affected by extreme weather. details and the forecast ahead. and defiance as ukraine enters the new year untd a barrage of russian missiles. we will hear from the ukrainian and russian leaders on two very different visions of what lies ahead. announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with laila harrak. from new zealand to the u.s. most of the world has now ushered in 2023 with a mix of hope, excitement and flare. hours ago new york held its traditional ball drop in front of a jam packed times square. it was a spectacular show complete with fireworks, music and a ton, literally a ton, of confetti raining down on the crowd. celebrations were also held across europe, africa and asia and in the next hour hawa
Watching very closely is the race for house speaker to see been kevin mccarthy will be speaker of the house coming up in this next term in congress. additionally the white house has been preparing for an onslaught of congressional investigations spearheaded by republicans. republicans have promised to look into things like hunter biden s business dealings with the white house, believes it s actually politically motivated, to issues like the withdrawal from afghanistan. biden for the first time will be in office during the divided government with a very steep climb ahead for getting any of his agenda passed in congress. arlette saenz, cnn, traveling with the president in st. croix. brazil is bringing in the new year with a new president. the inauguration for lula da silva is hours away to be followed by a massive party with his supporters. here is one lula fan ready to celebrate. translator: i am very happy. very excited.
Evacuees have been taken off the airport in the previous 24 hours before that. but that s entirely possible, given the volume of air traffic we have, indeed, seen. but now, of course, it is all about reduce ing the military presence safely. and i would suggest as quickly as possible, frankly. we are in the closing hours of daylights here in kabul. of course, there will be that moment when essentially the last troops move toward departure aircraft and there has to be someone to take over security at that airport and it may end up being the taliban. jim? one thing i notice as the plane was taking off, that s a very steep climb. that s typically what they do. t they try to get out as quickly as they can out of danger of anything fired at it. n nick paton walsh, in doha, thank you very much. hospitals overwhelmed with covid patients even before the hurricane struck. how doctors there are racing to save lives in the midst of a
Democracy. castro says the dnc speech writing has done a serious disservice to democratic voters. ouch, dana. dana: it will be fascinating to watch what happens to see if we can use technology. if not, they re going to have their own internal battle. we will report on it. president trump faces a small group of primary challengers. mark sandberg may join soon. he s the former south carolina governor. he said defeating a president would be daunting but adds he has survived long odds in the past. if we wait another four years, i think we re going to be too late. the mechanics to your point are absolutely daunting. it would be something of a david and goliath story and impossible at many different levels. it would be a very steep climb, but you know that going in. dana: sanford law says congressional to republicans joe walsh officially in the race. safety recall on one of the
we re only a day away from a crucial primary that could determine where this republican marathon is headed. fresh off a run away win in puerto rico, mitt romney is now looking to score big in illinois. rick santorum needs a strong showing as he tries to deny romney the nomination. the two rivals have long since taken off the gloves, but now they have put on some brass knuckles as well. our national correspondent jim accosta is in chicago with the very latest. the top two gop contenders are practicing their own brand of chicago style politics on this day before the illinois primary and both rick santorum and mitt romney are proving to be untouchable. reporter: the battle for the gop nomination has come to illinois and in the land of lincoln the republican party is a house divided in an uncivil war of words. i m somewhat experienced in the economy, i m not an economic light weight. president obama is. we re not going to be successful replacing an economic light weight wit