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U.S. Moves More Military Assets To Middle East Amid Talks; Talks Between Ukraine, Russia, And U.S. To Resume In Coming Day; Cubans Face Economic Crisis Amid U.S. Oil Blockade; Spain's Air Europa Resumes Flights To Venezuela; Glove Does Not Match DNA in FBI Database or Guthrie's Home; No Suspect Identified Amid Weekslong Search for Guthrie; Six Companies Tied to Sarah Ferguson to Shut Down; Zuckerberg to Face Jury in Landmark Case; Norway's Tormod Frostad Takes Gold in Freeski Big Air; Germany Sweeps Two-man Bobsled for Second Straight Games; Italy Beats Team USA in Men's Speed Skating Team Pursuit; Petit Pli Creates Clothes That Expand as Children Grow. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 18, 2026 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:38]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, the U.S. spells out the red line Iran cannot cross in the ongoing nuclear talks.

Ukraine's president reveals his idea for the best way to achieve a breakthrough, as the latest negotiations with Russia appear to hit another wall.

And how a former aeronautical engineer is using his expertise to design clothes that grow as your child grows.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Appreciate you joining us. Iran and the U.S. walked away from Tuesday's nuclear negotiations with guiding principles for future talks. That is, according to Iran's foreign minister. He says this round of indirect negotiations with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner in Geneva, were more serious than the first set of talks in Oman. Both sides believe they made progress, but more work needs to be done. Vice President J.D. Vance explains what the Trump administration wants to see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has certain red lines. Our primary interest here is we don't Iran to get a nuclear weapon. We don't want nuclear proliferation. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, there are a lot of other regimes, some friendly, some not so friendly, who would get nuclear weapons after them. That would be a disaster for the American people, because then you have these crazy regimes all over the world with the most dangerous weapons in the world, and that's one of the things the president has said he's going to prevent. The president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ahead of the talks, the U.S. ramped up its military presence in the Middle East. Tehran is temporarily closing the Strait of Hormuz for new naval exercises, and says they will not be intimidated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translator): They keep saying, we've sent an aircraft carrier towards Iraq. Very well, an aircraft carrier is certainly a dangerous piece of equipment, but more dangerous than the carrier is the weapon that can send that carrier towards the bottom of the sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Jeremy Diamond brings us the latest on the United States military buildup in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: A massive U.S. military buildup is underway right here in the Middle East, even as the U.S. and Iran are back at the negotiating table, it's clear The United States is preparing for possible military action.

Over the course of the last month, more than 250 U.S. military cargo planes have landed in theater. Based on a CNN review of flight data, that's a significant uptick in activity, which suggests some of these flights are tied to preparations for potential operations against Iran.

That number also includes flights to U.S. bases in Europe, which have traditionally supported U.S. military operations in the Middle East.

Those flights involve cargo planes that can carry everything from personnel to vehicles to heavy equipment, like air defense systems that we know the United States is deploying in the Middle East.

Satellite imagery is also giving us a look at the U.S.'s more muscular posture in the Middle East. This is Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The U.S.'s largest in the Middle East. A month ago, you can see 16 planes on the tarmac. A few weeks later, there are 29 planes, including seven C-17 cargo planes and 17 KC-135 tankers. Those tankers are used to refuel jets mid flight, a critical component of any air assault on Iran.

At this air base in Jordan, 12 F-15 fighter jets recently appeared in satellite imagery. We've also identified the deployment of Patriot air defense systems at that large U.S. Air Base in Qatar. These would be critical to protecting U.S. assets in the region in the event of Iranian strikes.

The U.S. also has plenty of naval assets in the region. A U.S. aircraft carrier and three warships arrived in the Middle East last month. A second aircraft carrier strike group is also now on its way.

But this is just what we can see from publicly available information. The last time the U.S. struck Iran in June, we also saw a big buildup of military force in Europe and the Middle East, but it was seven B-2 stealth bombers that delivered the biggest blow in Iran, according to the Pentagon, those flew in undetected from the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:05:06]

CHURCH: Fawaz Gerges is a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. He is also the author of The Great Betrayal: The Struggle For Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East. And he joins me now from London, appreciate you being with us.

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Good morning.

CHURCH: So, after Tuesday's high stakes nuclear talks in Geneva between the U.S. and Iran, Vice President J.D. Vance said, President Trump has a red line when it comes to Iran, but wants to see these diplomatic talks continue. But for how long do you think, given the massive U.S. military buildup poised and operationally ready near Iran's coast?

GERGES: Well, I mean, I think the good news is that Iran and the United States continue to talk to each other. This provides a glimmer of hope.

The alarming news is that the next phase of the talk is very alarming, because the divide between Iran and the United States is so huge, and my own reading is that the odds are against a diplomatic breakthrough.

The first question is that, what does Iran want? Iranian leaders have reiterated their readiness to really make painful concessions in order to reach a deal, a nuclear deal with the United States in return for lifting the American sanctions. This is what Iran wants, to focus basically on the nuclear deal.

The United States President Trump has expanded his demands from Iran. He wants to basically shatter, or basically destroy the Iranian nuclear program permanently. He wants to limit Iran's ballistic missiles program, and he also wants to end Iran's support for its local allies in the region, which really means, translation is he wants Iran to submit, to surrender, and that's why I fear if the United States insist on really Iranians and Iran's submission or surrender, I doubt it very much whether we're going to see any diplomatic breakthrough in the next few weeks.

CHURCH: And before those talks took place on Tuesday. Iran's Supreme Leader threatened to sink the nearby U.S. aircraft carrier to the bottom of the sea and double down on his refusal to negotiate on Iran's uranium enrichment. How can there be a nuclear deal without discussing that issue?

GERGES: Well, I mean, I think what we need to understand is that the United States has been building a massive, massive armada, as President Trump has put it to use the word, armada. I mean, you have now probably more than hundred American aircrafts and for your own viewers.

I mean, Iran is really talking while it's under the threat of an American war, an American Israeli wars. I think the question is, if the Trump administration, I am being very analytical here, if the Trump administration is genuine about reaching a nuclear deal with Iran, I think we might see a diplomatic breakthrough.

But it seems to me, and I could be wrong, that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, again, has prevailed on President Trump to expand his demands from Iran to really basically get rid of Iran's nuclear deterrence, which is the only Iran's nuclear deterrence which really means its ballistic missiles. And that's why Iran's Supreme Leader has made it very clear. He said, any state that gets rid of its nuclear deterrence will be crushed under the feet of its enemies.

I think this is not only this is a red line for Iran, so we have to wait and see whether the United States will be willing to focus mainly on Iran's nuclear program, as opposed to really expanding its demands, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the Trump administration to do.

CHURCH: Right. Of course, the Trump administration is insisting that at this time, they want to push for diplomacy, but it sounds like you really think there's an inevitability in the U.S. striking Iran.

GERGES: I fear so. I fear that the pendulum has shifted towards war for various reasons. The first one, as we mentioned, the divide is really very huge between Iran and the United States.

Secondly, we need to take into account the Israeli factor. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has spent his lifetime trying to bring about a regime change in Iran, and he feels this is a golden moment to strike a fatal blow against the Islamic Republic.

[02:10:04]

And thirdly, a massive American military deployment, massive and the red lines, the American red lines as President Trump and various officials have made it very clear, they really want Iran to basically accept American conditions, which is really basically surrender, if it's so.

And also, I think what we need to understand, Iran is facing an existential crisis in terms of really major economic and social crisis at home, the protesters, I mean, millions of Iranians are angry. They are -- they have despair, and now that it's facing an existential threat in terms of an American Israeli war, my fear is that Iran will fight to the last really -- I mean, anything it has in order to basically prevent the destruction of its regimes.

And that's why all regional actors, with the exception of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Oman, all of them want a diplomatic solution, because the Middle East cannot afford another war, and any war between Iran and United States could be catastrophic for regional stability and economic viability as well.

CHURCH: Fawaz Gerges, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate your analysis.

GERGES: Thanks.

CHURCH: Another story we're following. The U.S. military has struck three more alleged drug trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. U.S. command reports, all 11 people on board were killed. That brings the total death toll from the U.S. campaign against international drug trafficking to 135.

Democrats and legal experts say the strikes amount to murdering civilians, since the U.S. has not declared and Congress has not authorized a war on drug cartels.

Round three of peace talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States are set to resume and then wrap up in the hours ahead. Ukraine's lead negotiator said the first day of discussions focused on practical issues. Russian state media described the mood as very tense. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff posted, and I'm quoting here, President Trump's success in bringing both sides of this war together has brought about meaningful progress. Both parties agreed to update their respective leaders and continue working towards a deal.

Now, earlier, Ukraine's president told Axios the best way to achieve a breakthrough is for him to meet face to face with his Russian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also told Axios that it's unfair for the U.S. president to call on Ukraine to make concessions, but not Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Even on the day when new formats of talks begin in Geneva, trilateral and bilateral with the United States, Russia responds with a strike. This very clearly demonstrates what Russia wants and what it is focused on. There were also nearly 400 drones. The threat of strikes does not disappear. Cold weather itself attracts Russia, and they will continue trying to turn winter into a weapon of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the latest on the negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly doesn't seem as though very much in the way of progress was achieved during the talks. I mean, there was no press conference. There was actually supposed to be a press conference by both the Russians and the Ukrainians separately, obviously, both of those were canceled, and the negotiations ended at some point in the -- I wouldn't say even too late evening hours.

So, it does appear as though the talk's progress appears to have been quite difficult. It's unclear what exactly the Russian strategy is.

Of course, we have heard in the past from the negotiators, especially from Steve Witkoff, that he believes that progress was being achieved. But of course, a lot of that progress is also very hard to come by, especially if you look at some of the most difficult issues that are on the table.

I would say one of them being security guarantees for the Ukrainians, what the Russians would be willing to accept, as far as Western security guarantees for the Ukrainians. And then, of course, that huge topic of territories, which, and if territories the Ukrainians would cede to the Russians as part of any peace agreement.

And so, today, it seems as though the negotiations went on for a very long time. One of the things that I thought was quite interesting is that, as they were wrapping up today, the political part of the talks apparently wrapped up earlier than the military part of the talks, so they went on for a little bit longer. Still though, it seems as though progress not sure how much was actually achieved today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And this just in, a Downing Street spokesperson says U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with the U.S. president about the trilateral talks, and here is part of the statement. "The Prime Minister reiterated his condemnation of Putin's barbaric attacks on innocent civilians in Ukraine, and the leaders discussed the ongoing negotiations to deliver a just and lasting peace." That's from the spokesperson.

[02:15:14]

Well, after being suspended for more than two months, flights from Spain are once again heading to Venezuela. We'll have the details after the break.

Plus, the U.S. and Cuba may be talking, but Washington's oil blockade is leading to an economic crisis for the island nation. CNN is in Havana. We'll have details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:02]

CHURCH: Peru's interim president has been removed from office following a political scandal just four months after he was sworn in. Congress, voted to censure Jose Jeri, following accusations that he held off the record meetings with Chinese business people. He apologized for the meetings but denies any wrongdoing. His ouster marks Peru's eighth change of leader in nearly a decade. Meantime, lawmakers are set to vote on the next interim president. A

general election is expected to take place in April, but Peruvians say they are filled with uncertainty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It is correct, but now I don't know what's coming for us, because we are still waiting. We are in uncertainty. Really, it's as if we are in anarchy. We don't have a good government. No one who is convenient for us, no one who cares about our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): For me, it's fine, because he is a president who has contributed nothing in the short time he has been in office.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I think it's really good what they've done, because there was already so much background, and Congress wasn't doing anything. But I think it's really good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: People in Cuba are dealing with the impact of a crippling oil blockade. The island nation's oil supply has fallen off after Washington cut off shipments from its ally Venezuela and threatened to penalize other countries sending oil, and drivers are struggling to keep their engines on. CNN's Patrick Oppmann reports from Havana.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Owning a classic car in Cuba used to be a gold mine. Until recently, Mandy Pruna (ph) earned more from one hour driving tourists in his vintage 1957 Chevrolet than most Cubans do in a month. But he's no longer able to make a living.

Just before taking me out for a spin, Mandy canceled his permit to work as a chauffeur.

Everything is uncertain at the moment, he says, there's no fuel. We don't know if there will be any and how we will pay for it. There's no tourism.

Cuba is becoming an increasingly paralyzed country as the Trump administration's policy of blocking oil shipments from abroad cripples an already ailing economy, where just weeks ago, cars lined up for hours at the pump. Now there's no one because there's no longer any gas. Each day, public transportation is harder to find, many switch to bicycles.

When I first came to Cuba, the Soviet Union had just fallen into more bikes on the road than there were cars. As this crisis goes on, it feels more and more like we're returning to those times.

The White House is strong arming Cuba's communist run government to open politically and economically in exchange for the fuel shipments to resume. Cubans are seeing food prices soar as the crisis drags on.

We are paying two, three times as much to restock and keep people happy, a vendor tells me, there's no food and there's no immediate solution in sight.

OPPMANN: This is the kind of place that I buy vegetables for my family, and most of the products are coming from outside of Havana. Transporting them from the countryside is going to get more difficult, if not impossible.

Cuban officials have responded by saying people need to start growing their own food.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Cuba may just be weeks or perhaps days away from running out of fuel. A humanitarian disaster could be on the horizon.

Already, many fishing boats sit idle.

One can't work. The country is stuck. There's no industry. Nothing is happening, this fisherman tells me, and we'll see how this ends.

Until then, the best many Cubans can hope for is to stay afloat as their country goes under.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: One of Spain's major airlines has resumed flights to Venezuela. They were suspended in November amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela. CNN's Pau Mosquera has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than two months of absence, Caracas is listed again as a destination at Madrid- Barajas airport rising tensions between Venezuela and the United States along U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean under the Trump administration, prompted many international airlines to suspend their connections with the country at the end of November 2025.

But that changes this Tuesday, at least in Spain, Europa becomes the first Spanish career to restore flights to the Venezuelan capital, bringing back the passengers to the check in counters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm happy, very happy to be going back home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm happy to be returning to my country. I came on vacation for two months, and because of the problems with Venezuela, I ended up stuck in Spain. I had to pay for an extension of my stay in the country, and now I'm finally heading back home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I came on October 26th with the intention of leaving on December 18th, and of course, I got caught up in the problems that happened, so I'm leaving now.

[02:25:01]

MOSQUERA: How does it feel to be going back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Well, I have mixed feelings somewhere between nostalgia and happiness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I hope to find a perfect country, calm and peaceful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I hope to find the country in a little better situation, although I don't think it will be much better, but at least it has improved a little.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We'll see when I arrive in Venezuela, I'll find out. I've been told things, I've heard things, but I want to see it for myself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): From what I've seen in the news, it's much better. I hope it continues to improve, and that everything goes well for all of us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I don't know what I'm going to find. I'd be lying if I speculated.

MOSQUERA: What do you hope for?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Oh, I hope my people have what they haven't had, food, shoes, clothing.

MOSQUERA: For now, Europa will operate three flights a week to Caracas, other Spanish careers are expected to follow on the forthcoming weeks. For example, Plus Ultra is expected to resume the services on March the third, while Iberia is expected to restart at the beginning of April.

Pau Mosquera, CNN, Madrid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: More fallout for a former British royal with ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Up next, why the former Duchess of York is shutting down several companies, back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:01]

CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. There has been a potential setback in the investigation into 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. DNA test results from a glove found about two miles from her home do not have any matches in the FBI's national database.

The Pima County Sheriff also confirms the results do not match any DNA found in Guthrie's home. The FBI claims the glove looks like those worn by the person seen on the doorbell footage approaching Guthrie's front door just hours before Nancy was reported missing on February 1st.

Law enforcement is conducting follow-up investigations in Guthrie's neighborhood and several local businesses in search of more clues. On Tuesday, the Pima County Sheriff insisted authorities are dealing with an abduction case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe it is a kidnapping?

SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: I believe it was a kidnapping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Targeted kidnapping?

NANOS: Yes, I believe whoever did that knew what they were up to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The DNA from the recovered glove will now be subject to genetic genealogy analysis. Authorities are hoping this approach might help match the DNA with publicly available family trees.

CNN's Randi Kaye takes a look at how investigative genealogy has been critical in solving other high-profile cases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In February 2015, 31- year-old Allison Feldman was found dead inside her Scottsdale, Arizona home. She'd been beaten and strangled.

HARLEY FELDMAN, ALLISON FELDMAN'S FATHER: She'll never come back and that's what hurts the most.

KAYE (voice-over): DNA was discovered at the crime scene, but it wasn't a perfect match. So investigators cast a wider net using what's called familial DNA.

CHIEF ALAN RODBELL, SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA POLICE: It's probably one of the biggest advancements in my time.

KAYE (voice-over): The advancement in DNA technology allowed authorities to search genealogy databases for first-degree relatives of the suspect with similar DNA as a means of zeroing in on the killer. They got a hit three years later.

RODBELL: We came up with a family linkage to this person that was in custody.

KAYE (voice-over): The sibling of the man in custody turned out to be the suspect, 42-year-old Ian Mitcham, who authorities say killed Allison Feldman. He's currently on trial for her murder. Investigators in Los Angeles struggled to identify the Grim Sleeper, a serial killer who had eluded police for nearly a quarter century.

DET. DENNIS KILCOYNE, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: We've got this beautiful DNA profile, all these dashes and dots and this and that, but there's no name and address or face to go with it.

KAYE (voice-over): They too turned to familial DNA.

JERRY BROWN, THEN CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We can search for someone in our database who has a family member, a brother or a father, who is related to DNA taken from a murder scene. And that's exactly what happened in this case.

KAYE (voice-over): A break in the case came when the suspect's son, Christopher Franklin, was arrested and had to provide a DNA sample. Investigators found their familial link to the DNA evidence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first time we've found a relative in the database. It's exciting to us.

KAYE (voice-over): In 2010, Lonnie David Franklin Jr., the Grim Sleeper, was arrested at his home in South L.A. and later convicted of killing 10 women.

The 1984 murder of 14-year-old Wendy Jerome also solved using familial DNA, a first in New York State. She was killed on Thanksgiving night. Authorities say she'd been raped and stabbed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was blood evidence shown in photographs around the body.

KAYE (voice-over): For decades, Wendy's mother waited to find out who took her daughter's life.

MARLENE JEROME, WENDY JEROME'S MOTHER: I've come a long way since that day.

KAYE (voice-over): In 1999, DNA found on Wendy was uploaded to the FBI's DNA database. No matches.

[02:35:00]

After New York law changed in 2017 to allow for searches of familial DNA, investigators tried again. And in 2020, got a hit in the suspect's genetic family tree. Nearly 36 years after Wendy was killed, police arrested then-56-year-old Timothy Williams.

JEROME: They came to my house and said, we got him. We got him. And that was, I can't tell you what that sound meant to me.

KAYE (voice-over): Williams was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life.

Randi Kay, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The fallout of the Epstein Files continues to impact the British royal family and some former royals. The latest consequences involve companies connected to Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York. Max Foster reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six companies listing Britain's Sarah Ferguson as sole director are set to shut down as the Epstein firestorm rolls on. The former Duchess and her ex- husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, are under renewed scrutiny over their ties to the late financier after Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges involving an underage minor.

Last year, Ferguson's spokesperson said she'd cut off relations with Epstein, "as soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him." DOJ files suggest otherwise. Epstein's crimes were publicly reported in 2006, the year he was also first arrested.

The latest tranche of files released by the Department of Justice revealed the depth of Ferguson's friendship with the late financier, with one email thread discussing a lunch date in Palm Beach. This was 2009, just five days after Epstein was released from jail after serving 13 months.

It'll be myself, Beatrice and Eugenie, Ferguson tells him, referring to her daughters at the time aged 20 and 19 years old. Cannot wait to see you, she tells Epstein in a subsequent email.

Another exchange between Epstein and his assistant shows that he paid more than $14,000 to fly the duchess and the two princesses to the U.S. on that trip. Just days later, Ferguson thanks him for being the brother I've always wished for.

And the following year, she goes as far as saying, you're a legend. I'm at your service. Just marry me. Then in March 2011, Ferguson publicly apologizes for being associated with Epstein, saying in an interview, quote, "I abhor pedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf."

Except that, in private, she appears to apologize to Epstein for publicly denouncing him, calling him a supreme friend. Ferguson's spokesman told British media this email was sent in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats.

Now, publicly available documents show that in the past few days, six companies, which lists Ferguson as the sole director, all filed an application to strike the company off the U.K.'s official companies house register. It's not clear exactly what services those companies provided or whether they were active at all.

We reached out to Ferguson's representatives multiple times for comment on the exchanges seen in the Epstein documents. CNN has also requested comment from princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Max Foster, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg is preparing to face grieving families in a few hours when he takes the stand in the landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles. CNN's Clare Duffy has a preview.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, this is absolutely going to be one of the biggest days in this trial. Mark Zuckerberg taking the stand to testify for the first time before a jury about these claims that his platforms have harmed young users.

And also in the audience tomorrow are going to be families, parents who say their children were harmed or died as a result of social media. And what I think is really remarkable is that among the parents that are flying from around the country into L.A. in hopes of securing a seat in this courtroom are parents who are also in the audience in 2024 on Capitol Hill, in that moment that you'll remember where Mark Zuckerberg turned around to face families and apologize for the harms that they say their children experienced online.

Now, we expect that Mark Zuckerberg tomorrow will be asked questions that try to get at the reasonableness of the steps that this company has taken to try to protect teens and children on the platform, these questions that are going to ask what the company knew about the potential risks to young people and whether it did enough. And we know that there are internal Meta documents that have come out in the course of this litigation that suggest, for example, that only a small number of teen users as of around this time last year were actually enrolled in parental oversight tools.

[02:40:00]

So, those are the kinds of things that we think that Mark will get asked about during his testimony. I'm also told by legal experts that it's going to be very important how Zuckerberg presents on the stand. Does the jury find him likable and trustworthy? So lots to watch there.

And just a reminder of what the stakes are here for both Meta and YouTube, which are the defendants in this case. If the jury sides with the plaintiff here, that could set a precedent for hundreds of other similar cases to be resolved in a similar way and potentially put these companies on the hook for billions of dollars in damages and also require them to make changes to their platforms.

Now, this moment is especially critical for Meta, given that at the same time that this L.A. trial is going on, the company is also standing trial in a separate case in New Mexico, accusing the company of being complicit in child sexual exploitation on its platform. So, two really critical trials happening at the same time.

Meta has denied the claims in both of them. And with regards to this L.A. trial, the company says it strongly disagrees with these claims and that it thinks that its record of protecting young users online will speak for itself. Of course, ultimately, going to be up to the jury to decide. Back to you.

CHURCH: She just might be having the best time of any Olympian in Italy. Skiing star, Breezy Johnson gets a gold medal and a ring. CNN's Coy Wire asks if she saw that coming. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:46:12]

CHURCH: Well, the men's freeski Big Air finals turned into a thriller after a slight weather delay in Italy. Norway's Tormod Frostad held the nose of his skis as he spun through the air before making a smooth landing. He took home the gold. Team USA's Mac Forehand came away with silver after landing a triple 2160 spin while holding the nose of his skis.

Elsewhere at the Games, Germany swept the two-man bobsled for the second Olympics in a row. Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer were 1.34 seconds ahead of the rest, taking home the gold. And another great win for host nation Italy, they beat the American favorites for the gold in men's speed skating team pursuit. The U.S. settled for silver while China claimed bronze.

Breezy Johnson won her first-ever Olympic medal in Cortina and Team USA's first gold of these Winter Games. But she's getting almost as many headlines for what happened right after her victory. She spoke with World Sports Coy Wire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Pure power meets poise, one of the fastest, fiercest athletes on the planet, Breezy Johnson, Olympic downhill gold medalist. How does that sound?

BREEZY JOHNSON, OLYMPIC DOWNHILL GOLD MEDALIST: It sounds a little surreal. I still think that I'm having a hard time fully processing it, but it's definitely something that I've wanted since I was a little kid.

WIRE: Now a gold medal isn't the only bling you're leaving the Olympics with. Your boy popping the question after you finished the Super G. Did you see that coming? And might you consider a destination wedding in Cortina now?

JOHNSON: I did have an inkling that he was going to do that. I had suggested that it was always kind of my dream to get engaged at the Olympics. And so, yeah, he planned the whole thing out. And it was a very awesome moment with all of my teammates and friends and family around. So, yeah, it was pretty special.

WIRE: It was so special, so sweet, incredible. And the fact that you won gold here at these Olympic Games, awesome stuff. Now, downhill skiing is often called the most dangerous event at the Winter Games. If fear had a voice at the top of the course, what would you say back to it?

JOHNSON: I always say that fear has to come with you. You can't kick it out of the car. You just put it in the back seat.

WIRE: Does life feel slower after you've just flown down a mountain?

JOHNSON: It does feel a little bit slower. I think that there's -- for me, the act of using your body the way you do in skiing, you're sometimes resisting up to 4Gs of force. You're very anaerobically taxed. My heart rate usually reaches peaks in skiing that it doesn't get to even on a max bike test. And then combining that with that mental physics of trying to hit postage stamp-sized spots with your skis and really have the perfect line and the perfect timing over things, it demands all of your attention, and it's really a feeling of being alive. And that's part of what brings me back to it every time and is really special.

WIRE: Ski racing careers, they're full of highlights. They're also full of setbacks. You missed the Beijing Olympics due to an injury. What has adversity taught you that maybe winning never could?

JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because, yeah, people are often jealous of the amazing moments, the wins at the Olympics, the world championships, but rarely are people jealous of the path that it took to get you there. I think you really have to find joy and meaning in those hard moments.

And it can be hard at times for sure, but when you find meaning and accomplishment from work, from doing your best, from being brave enough to try at something that many people just aren't willing to take the risk to do, to fail at, is what I find meaning in and it keeps me going in those tough moments and is, to me, the real accomplishment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:50:19]

CHURCH: Congratulations to Breezy Johnson there.

Still to come, the problem parents know all too well, kids outgrowing their clothes almost overnight. But a London-based company says it has a solution.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Dubai has a new kind of firefighter recruit, one that's made of metal and has four legs. The robots operated by Dubai Civil Defense will now tackle blazes alongside human firefighters. The technology allows the robot to reach dangerous environments that humans can't get to due to safety or size.

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LT. MOHAMMED AHMAD ALSUBOSI, DUBAI CIVIL DEFENSE: One of its specifications or capabilities is that it is very mobile in staircases. Plus, it can go through very tight spots that usually human firefighters cannot get through because of the heavy kit that they are wearing. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: City officials say the firefighters can spray water almost 200 feet and pump more than 600 gallons of water per minute. It's a part of Dubai's latest effort to deploy autonomous and A.I.-powered systems into everyday life. The self-driving patrol robot launched in November, and uses A.I. and facial recognition in the most populated parts of the city.

A London-based company is tackling one of the biggest challenges facing parents, kids who quickly outgrow their clothes. CNN's Leroy Ah Ben tells us how an aeronautical engineer is trying to revolutionize kids' clothing.

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LEROY AH BEN, CNN PRODUCER: So apparently, these clothes are meant to grow as your child does. So, I am super curious about how this technology works.

AH BEN (voice-over): What if you used aeronautical engineering and recycled materials to tackle the global challenge of waste from fast fashion? You get Petit Pli. These look like simple pieces of children's clothing, but they are designed with the same principles used to build satellites.

Hi, Ryan.

RYAN MARIO YASIN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, PETIT PLI: Welcome, Leroy.

AH BEN: Hi.

YASIN: Welcome to Petit Pli, very welcome.

AH BEN: Thank you very much. So, this is where the magic happens?

YASIN: Yes, we're here in InnovationRCA in London and this is where we're commercializing Petit Pli's clothes that grow

[02:55:00]

We're just doing a studio shoot down the hallway. Let me just take you there now.

AH BEN: So, this garment is meant to grow as the child grows. How is that even possible?

YASIN: So we've embedded an auxetic textile in the garment, which allows it to grow in its width and length. So you can see here the width of the leg is larger on the extended piece than it is on that side.

AH BEN: Like many design ideas, it didn't start with technology. It started with frustration.

YASIN: So when I gifted my nephew some garments, I was so excited to send it over to Denmark. By the time it arrived, it didn't even fit. And that really served as an insight into then helping me look into how fast children do grow.

They grow seven sizes in two years. And for me, that just seemed crazy. People were focusing on ethical and sustainable solutions for adult wear.

It boils down to one super simple metric, which is every year in the U.K., about 200 million items of children's wear go to waste every single year. So I used my background in aerospace engineering, where I specialized in deployable structures for Inanic (ph) satellites, and then applied those origami principles to textiles that would actually grow with my nephew bigger.

AH BEN (voice-over): In space, those structures have to unfold perfectly. On Earth, Ryan wondered, why couldn't clothes do the same?

YASIN: And with an auxetic behavior, you can have something which, as the child is growing in length, you can start to accommodate the growth in the circumference of their limbs and torso. And you can actually have something that follows their pattern of growth.

AH BEN (voice-over): Petit Pli doesn't claim to fix fast fashion, but it does challenge one of its assumptions, that growth has to mean constant consumption and also waste.

YASIN: Even if it's just one garment replacing seven, and still other garments are bought around that, but at least that this can actually reduce that consumption substantially.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Very unique. Well, dozens of pancakes were tossed into the air in races across London on what's known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. It marks the final day before the start of Lent. Crowds gathered to watch participants dressed in unique costumes flip pancakes.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just come for the pancakes. If we can get close, we'll definitely start shouting for whoever is winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Winners were presented with frying pans and trophies. Organizers say the race isn't just for fun.

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INGA RALPH, ORGANIZER AND SPECTATOR: I think it's a huge amount of work, of course, but it's also enormous fun. It also raises funds for charity. But I think what is important about it is that it's the juxtaposition of a modern, vibrant economic city with this deep, rich heritage. And it just reminds us that there is such a long history behind everything. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: I want to thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. Do stay with us.

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