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Russia Starts Temporary Ceasefire For Orthodox Christmas; U.S. Congress Still In Limbo As House Speaker Fight Drags On; U.S. Economy Adds 223,000 Jobs In December; Police Lay Out Evidence Linking Suspect To Students' Killings; Postal Workers Maintain Lifeline For Elderly Ukrainians; Prince Harry Tells All About Royal Life. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired January 06, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:29]

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR: Russia claims it's observing the ceasefire, its president called for orthodox Christmas, but CNN has already seen an

exchange of artillery fire. We are live in Kyiv. Plus, another high note for the U.S. economy as a December jobs report comes in above expectations.

What does this mean for the Fed's inflation policy? And Prince Harry begged his father not to marry Camilla, that and more revelations about his

relationship with Prince William and other royals are coming up in his memoir.

I'm Eleni Giokos. Hello, and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. We are live from Dubai.

Now CNN observed artillery fire from both sides in eastern Ukraine after the start of Russia's temporary ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas. And air

raid sirens blared in Kyiv earlier. The streets of the capital appearing more or less normal on Orthodox Christmas eve. Ukraine's top officials

dismissed the ceasefire as hypocrisy shortly after it was announced Thursday. A Ukrainian official in Luhansk is even warning locals not to

attend Christmas services, calling the ceasefire another lie and trap.

Here is what Ukraine's president had to say about it in his nightly address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): Those who continued the terror against our country and sent all those people of yours

to the slaughter, rejecting our offers to stop the Russian aggression, certainly do not value life and definitely do not seek peace.

Now they want to use Christmas as a cover to at least briefly stop the advance of our guys in the Donbas, and bring equipment, ammunition and

mobilized men closer to our positions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Scott McLean is on the ground for us in Kyiv. We also have Nic Robertson watching developments from London for us.

Scott, I want to start with you. There have been reports of strikes since Russia announced this Christmas ceasefire. I want you to take us through

the latest.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, so yes, as you mentioned our colleagues on the ground, Karim Hadder (PH), Ben Wedeman, said that they

heard not long after that ceasefire began, they heard and witnessed both incoming and outgoing fire across the frontlines in eastern Ukraine. And so

it appears that it is business as usual. Of course the Russians blame the Ukraine for breaking this ceasefire. The Ukrainians say the Russians have

carried out shelling in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine and in Kherson in the south as well, where there are dead and wounded, they say, though we don't

have numbers on precisely how many.

But the reality is, Eleni, that this cease-fire was doomed from the get-go. It really never had a chance because the Ukrainians never signed on to it.

They never agreed with it because they viewed this as simply a chance for the Russians to improve their position on the battlefield, to get more

weapons, ammunition, troops to the frontlines, to try to get the upper hand in a battle that Ukrainians feel that right now the Russians are losing.

And so you would be hard-pressed to find many people in Ukraine who actually believed that anything would change along the front lines, in fact

I met one woman this morning at a prayer service for the military at this Saint Michael's Church behind me who said that, look, she read at the

wording of the Kremlin declaration quite closely and noticed that it said there would be a cease-fire along the line of contact.

Didn't say anything about the rest of the country. So in her mind, she figured well, there would be missile strikes likely in the rest of the

country. This is how little faith Ukrainian people have in what the Russian government and what the Kremlin actually says.

I also spoke to the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine who led the prayer service earlier today, and he said, look, we do not trust with the

Russians have to say. You just have to listen to the air raid siren that went off during the church service, and it tells you everything you need to

know -- Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yes, Scott, a huge amount of mistrust. So I want to bring in Nic Robertson for us. Ukraine has warned that Russia might use this window of a

cease-fire that they called to strike churches. One official at least has said this.

[10:05:03]

And we know that Russia, in retaliation, has said that Ukraine has rejected the hand of Christmas mercy. There are so many questions around this, and

Russia's intention because the Russian patriarch himself has been a supporter of the war. Could you give us a macro picture here in terms of

what could be playing out?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. I mean, look, if we go back a few years, Putin has co-opted the Russian Orthodox Church to

be part of his narrative about what Russia's, and the future of Russia, so it is a little surprised that the patriarch is -- you know, he gets a lot

of support from Putin, is supporting what Putin wants which was this a 36- hour unilateral cease-fire.

Putin one said because he is not making gains on the battlefield, he wants to give some respite to his troops, he wants to signal to people back home

in Russia that, you know, he is in control of the war, when he isn't. He wants -- there's nothing that Putin wants more really than to be able to

freeze the frontlines right now and hold the territory that he's got because he's very aware that the military supplies that Ukraine is getting,

the French, the Germans, the United States, to name the three countries in the past couple of days who said that they'll send armored fighting

vehicles, which means Ukrainian troops will have greater ease to move the frontlines forward, take more territory from Russian forces.

Putin is aware of this. He wants to kind of freeze the battlefield where it is. But the frugality, as Scott was saying, for the Ukrainians is very

straightforward. Putin invaded, illegally invaded, invaded without reason. There was no provocation from Ukraine, so Ukraine has an aggressor, if you

will, in their house breaking things up. And they are told OK, we are going to pause for a minute. It's not the way that war works.

And for this reason, whatever noises, whatever we hear from the Kremlin, whether it's criticism now of Ukraine because they are not on a cease-fire

or however President Putin plays this at home, this is not a moment that is changing the narrative of this war other than they're more deeply

polarizing both sides.

GIOKOS: Yes, Nic, and so well put, an aggressor in their house. And they want to pause for a minute.

Nic Robertson and Scott McLean, thank you so very much.

My next guest says in a tweet about Putin and his cease-fire, imagine a rapist broke into your house. He rapes, kills, and then he got tired and he

asks for a cease-fire. What will your answer be?

Oleksiy Goncharenko is a Ukrainian member of parliament for the Odessa region, and he joins me now via Skype.

Thank you, sir, for joining us. Your comment, frankly, speaks to the trauma, frankly the fear, that your country and your people have

experienced over the past 11 months. Russia, in the meantime, says Ukraine rejected the hand of Christmas mercy. I want you to take me through this

mistrust based on what you have experienced.

OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR ODESSA REGION: Yes, there is a lot of mistrust because it is not 11 months, it is more than

eight years. Russia started this war against Ukraine in 2014. And from this time, they all the time they lie, 24/7. First Putin said that it is not us

who attacked Crimea, that it's some people, nobody -- unidentified, certainly the Russians. Then he was lying that he doesn't control the

separatists in the eastern part of Ukraine. Again it was a lie.

Then he was lying that he will not attack Ukraine, then he was building his military presence in our borders, again he was lying. So he's lying all the

time. And this time he's again lying. He won't -- he has two objectives. First one is to win the time because yes, he needs time to refresh,

replenish his troops, and to restarts his attacks.

And second objective is to make mess in the international territory in the general Russia, to show that Putin is a peacemaker. You know, it's so

ridiculous. The man who started the most brutal war after the Second World War, who organized genocide of Ukrainians, who killed thousands and

thousands of people, now tries to show himself as a peacemaker. That's the joke.

GIOKOS: Yes. Oleksiy, I have to ask you, I mean, you've also said this in a tweet, Putin has already weaponized food, energy, winter, and now he's

weaponizing Christmas. Does your government have information that there could have been attacks on churches during Christmas? Because one of your

officials warned people from going to church because of this potential threat.

GONCHARENKO: Exactly, and when Putin is saying something, first, what we think will happen is absolutely opposite. So he is saying I will not

attack, it means that he's planning the attack. If he's saying that we want to give people possibility to go to churches, it means for us that he wants

to make some provocation and kill people in churches.

[10:10:07]

That is absolutely what he means. Last year in my native city in Odessa during the Orthodox Easter he killed a family with a three-month-old little

girl. And such examples are unfortunately a lot of them, so that is why, yes, we are concerned about some provocations, full flag operations from

Putin, it's absolutely in his KGB style.

GIOKOS: Russia confirmed the biggest attack on its forces, killing what they said 89 soldiers. Ukraine says it is much higher. This was, of course,

widely discussed even within Russia internally about how they could have been targeted, it was an interesting, you know, conversation to watch.

How would you characterize right now what, you know, Russian soldiers, Russian troops, our thinking and feeling in terms of how they are coping

with their agenda to win this war? Because with a cease-fire, there are many questions around whether they want the frontlines to freeze,

particularly because they feel like they are losing ground.

GONCHARENKO: Absolutely, they are losing the ground, and you can see that from the beginning of September, Ukraine liberated a big part of our

territories, thousands and thousands of square miles, and that is why Putin is now looking for a possibility to stop Ukraine, he still hopes for some

unrest in the West. He still hopes for some changes, political changes in the United States, European Union, United Kingdom.

He is doing everything he can to make these changes to provoke some problems in these countries, both with food crisis, energy crisis, refugee

crisis, that is his hope. And for a military point of view he understands that he can't issue the goals he had in the beginning, and his goal today

is just to hold the line, which he has for the moment. But it is very difficult for him. Russian troops are demoralized. They don't know what

they do in Ukraine. They're clearly demoralized with the loss of (INAUDIBLE).

I want to stress your attention that an act against a Russian military base in Makiivka was exactly precise. No one civilian was hurt during these

attacks. It's absolutely opposite to how Russia is doing the war, killing thousands and thousands of civilians, and yes, because of some of these

attacks and hide losses of Russians, Putin is now trying to show himself as a peacemaking inside Russia, too, because he wants to say to his people,

OK, I understand that you are suffering. And I want to make some peace. But certainly it's why.

GIOKOS: Yes, look, in the lead-up to the new year, there have been major strikes, major attacks, France and Germany saying they're going to be

sending more equipment.

Oleksiy, I want to ask how you are doing, how your family is doing? How your colleagues are doing? And whether you feel you have enough resources,

and enough to just get through a possible, you know, a scenario with more aggressive strikes like you've laid out, that's how Putin responds?

GONCHARENKO: My family lives in Odessa. They did not leave the country even for a day during -- from February 24th, so yes, it is difficult. As for

millions of Ukrainians, we are deprived from electricity, from time to time, and it can be up to three days without electricity. You can imagine

sometimes we are deprived from running water, in some cities like Mykolaiv, where it is deprived from running water from April. That was half a million

population city before invasion. And now our network for humanitarian center is delivering water there from April and will deliver more than one

million liters of water.

But just imagine a city without running water for so many months. So yes, it is very difficult, but the most difficult is for our fighters, for our

men and women on the frontlines who are fighting not only for Ukraine but for the whole world.

GIOKOS: Thank you very much, Oleksiy Goncharenko.

GONCHARENKO: Thank you.

GIOKOS: Oleksiy Goncharenko, thank you very much. And I know that so many Ukrainians are celebrating Christmas. We wish you all well and we thank you

very much for your insights.

GONCHARENKO: Thank you very much.

GIOKOS: So today marks a dark moment in American democracy. Lawmakers are holding an observance this hour on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to mark

the second anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. Police have stepped up security and, as you can see, they're holding a moment of silence. Let's

watch it.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE ON CAPITOL HILL)

[10:15:08]

GIOKOS: All right, as you can see a moment of silence, for January the 6th, as you can see marking two years since that insurrection. Police in the

meantime have stepped up security ahead up of several planned protests at the Capitol and Supreme Court.

Five people died and more than 140 officers were injured when Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. The rioters were trying to stop the

peaceful transfer of power after Trump's 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden.

This afternoon, President Biden will award 12 Americans with Presidential Citizens medals. Among the heroes to be honored is Bryan Sicknick, Capitol

Hill police officer who died defending the Capitol. Now the estate of Sicknick is suing two rioters and former President Trump as well.

Well, will the 12th time be a charm for Kevin McCarthy? He is trying to win the role of House speaker in the U.S. Congress, and that's as his party

takes over the chamber, but he has failed again and again to get the required number of votes. This fight among Republicans is making history,

thanks to a handful of holdouts. The House is set to reconvene in the next couple of hours.

CNN's Manu Raju reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Eleven times in a row Kevin McCarthy has failed to get the 218 votes he needs to be elected

speaker. It has been 100 years since a speaker's race has gone to multiple ballots. It's been since the mid-1800s since a speaker's race has gone for

this many ballots. And Kevin McCarthy is not at where he needs to be. The 218 votes he needs to be elected speaker.

But behind the scenes, he has been negotiating. He and his allies along with some of those holdouts to try to assuage their concerns, try to bring

them over to his side. He has proposed a number of measures to give them more power, give the rank-and-file members, especially members of the far-

right Freedom Caucus, some of those members denying him the ascension to the speakership, giving them more power, more say over the legislative

process, the ability to call for a vote to oust a sitting speaker.

Now, under the rule proposed by McCarthy, one member could do that. That is down from conference rules that about half of the Republican conference,

111 members traditionally to be able to do. McCarthy has gone all the way down to have one member, which raises concerns about keeping the

speakership stable, the stability of the speakership, assuming he gets the job.

Now McCarthy, in speaking to him late -- soon after the final failed vote on Thursday, was confident he would ultimately get there. He just didn't

know when.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The entire conference is going to have to learn how to work together. So it's better that we go through this process right

now so we can achieve the things we want to achieve for the American public. What our commitment was. So if this takes a little longer and it

doesn't meet your deadline, that's OK, because it is not -- it's not how you start, it's how you finish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But even if a deal is reached with some of those dissidents and McCarthy and his allies, that doesn't mean that he's going to get the 218

votes right away. There are other members who have different concerns. They are trying to work out an agreement with those members who have those

different areas of concern.

Can they get there with those members after cutting those deals? That still remains to be seen. So if he does get this deal, he has got some more work

to do, which means a lot of people think this is going into next week at least to see if McCarthy can get the votes. If not, maybe even beyond.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: As Manu just said, potentially going into next week. CNN's Lauren Fox joins us now live from Washington.

Lauren, Republicans are said to have a call right about now. What do we know about this call and what potentially can play out?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big question for this call whether or not there is an agreement yet with those 20 holdouts

for Kevin McCarthy if that adds to his vote total as he seeks the speakership again today, the fourth day in a row. So far, no victory. This

will be the 12th vote which makes this very historic up here on Capitol Hill.

We're going to be watching to see whether or not he announces any new concessions, whether or not he continues to build on his support so far,

that just hasn't materialized on the floor -- Eleni.

GIOKOS: Lauren, could you give me a sense of what we are expecting, and Many Raju was explaining that perhaps into next week, you've got 20

holdouts. This is going to be the 12th vote. They're convening in about a couple of hours or an hour and a half. And the sense is that people are

very concerned he's going to get the same rejection despite the fact that you've got concessions that he's willing to make.

FOX: Yes, I mean that is the concern and that is why we're going to be watching the floor so closely at noon.

[10:20:01]

Do they try to adjourn for the weekend? Do they try to push this forward so they can keep negotiations or do they announce some kind of deal on this

10:15 call that shows progress for Kevin McCarthy? We just don't know right now how long this is all going to play out, how long it's going to take.

Obviously there is a lot riding on this vote today potentially at noon, but again, they could go to the floor and try to quickly adjourned for the

weekend to give themselves more time. We just don't have a clear sense right now which way or which direction Republicans are going to go.

GIOKOS: Lauren Fox, thank you very much for that.

All right, just ahead, Wall Street is getting a look at the latest U.S. jobs numbers for December. Can you hear the applause? We'll bring you the

latest from New York. Plus, scoping out trash cans and strategic traffic stops. See what investigators did in the weeks leading up to the suspect's

arrest in the University of Idaho murder case.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: The U.S. added 223,000 jobs in December, beating expectations and making 2022 a year of historic -- pardon me -- job growth. That's despite

the Federal Reserve's efforts to cool the labor markets. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says 2022 was the second best year for the labor market

according to records that go back to 1939. But wage gains moderated suggesting they're coming off the boil.

Here's what Wall Street thinks of the numbers. Let's take a look at how the markets are faring right now. As you can see Dow Jones is up over 1

percent. Nasdaq also in the green and S&P hitting 1 percent higher.

CNN's Matt Egan is standing by live in New York for us.

I have to say, seeing a bit of unexpected jobs numbers, I've kind of become acclimatized to this, but what's interesting is that the hourly wage rates

has somehow softened, and the big question has been with jobs growth is whether this is going to impact inflation, so how are investors and market

participants reading into the latest data?

MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eleni, you know, this does look like the Goldilocks jobs report that Wall Street, the Fed and even the White

House were all looking for, right. People didn't want to see numbers that were too hot because that would suggest that the Fed has to impose more of

this really tough medicine, and no one wanted to see numbers that were too cold because that would suggest the Feds is already over medicated the

patient.

And so there does seem to be somewhat of an in-between here. Non-farm payrolls, they did increase more than expected as you mentioned, but this

was a slowdown, this 223,000 jobs that is down from 256,000 for the month before. The supply of workers increase, that's encouraging.

[10:25:04]

And the numbers that's really getting the attention of investors is wages. So average hourly earnings were up by 4.6 percent year over year. That is

high historically, but it is actually a 16-month low.

Now if you're sitting at home and you're concerned about the price of groceries, the fact that your paycheck is not increasing by as much as it

has been is of course not encouraging, but this is what the Fed want to see to try to get some confidence that inflation really is getting under

control. I think the one part of this jobs report that does not really look like Goldilocks is unemployment.

The unemployment rate down to 3.4 percent. That is tied to the lowest level in half a century, which is pretty incredible and that is moving in the

opposite direction of what the Fed wants to see.

Eleni, I think if you put all of this together, I think that big picture, the jobs market does appear to be going the way the Fed wants. It does seem

to be cooling down. I think the question, though, is whether it's getting there fast enough to satisfy the Fed, and that remains an open question.

GIOKOS: Very difficult to please central bankers, as you and I know, but as you say, it's a tough balancing act and this is going to be very telling

about where inflation is going.

Matt Egan, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

EGAN: Thanks.

GIOKOS: All right. New details are shedding light on how authorities identified the suspect in the killing of the four university students in

Idaho, and what investigators saw him doing before his arrest. Law enforcement sources tell CNN Bryan Kohberger was seen killing his car

thoroughly, wearing surgical gloves and throwing out trash in a neighbor's bin. Before Kohberger appeared in court Thursday, authorities released

court documents laying out the evidence police say they have.

Veronica Miracle has more details on this story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bryan Kohberger clad in an orange jumpsuit appeared in an Idaho courtroom Thursday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All rise.

MIRACLE: The 28-year-old is charged with the brutal stabbings of four University of Idaho students more than seven weeks ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Kohberger, I am going to advise you of the rights that you have in this case.

MIRACLE: In newly released court documents, investigators detail the evidence that led to his eventual arrest. According to the affidavit,

Kohberger's DNA profile obtained from the trash at his family's home, matched DNA on a tan leather knife sheet left behind of the crime scene,

and was found laying on the bed of one of the victims.

That same document says one of the surviving roommates says she was awoken around 4:00 a.m., heard crying from Xana Kernodle's room and heard a voice

say, it's OK, I'm going to help you. And that she heard the crying and saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask. She describes him as 5'10" or

taller, male, not very muscular but athletically built with bushy eyebrows, saying he walked past her as she stood in a frozen shock phase.

The question still remain about why no one called 911 until almost eight hours later. The document also details multiple sightings of a suspected

vehicle from surveillance footage, showing a white Hyundai Elantra like this one that helped lead to Kohberger's a rest.

About two weeks after the murders, police from Washington State University were Kohberger attended school flagged his vehicle, later seen at a traffic

stop in mid-December in Indiana while driving with his father to Pennsylvania.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this your car? OK.

MIRACLE: And before the cross-country drive, and just five days after the murders, Kohberger received a new license plate for his car according to

Washington State Licensing documents. Cell phone records also show that Kohberger's phone was near the victims' residence at least a dozen times

since June, including about five hours after police believe he committed the murders, according to court documents. Kohberger, seated with a new

court appointed attorney, responded to each charge of murder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you understand?

BRYAN KOHBERGER, SUSPECT: Yes.

MIRACLE: While no evidence was released that connects Kohberger to the victims of any indication of motive. The pain for the victims' family is

all too real, as some sat in the courtroom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's obviously an emotional time for the family, seeing the defendant for the first time. This is the beginning of the criminal

justice system, and the family will be here for the long haul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Big thank you to Veronica Miracle for that report.

And still ahead, life in a Ukrainian town on the frontlines of the war. A mobile post office has come to town. We'll take you to eastern Ukraine for

a look at what that means to the elderly who live there.

And just a little later, standing shoulder to shoulder in some of these images, but not seeing eye to eye. Prince Harry's latest revelations about

the breakdown in his relationship with his brother.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:32:31]

GIOKOS: Welcome back, I'm Eleni Giokos in Dubai, and you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Moscow wants to use Christmas as a cover to give Russia time to resupply. This, after Vladimir Putin

declared a temporary unilateral cease-fire. The Russian president is pushing for 36-hour break for Orthodox Christmas.

CNN has observed artillery fire from both sides in eastern Ukraine since the start of the cease-fire. While air raid sirens have gone off in Kyiv,

the streets of the capital appeared normal. Ukraine is dismissing the cease-fire as hypocrisy. One official even suggesting that Russians are

preparing terrorist attacks in churches in the occupied areas.

As this war grinds on, so too does life for ordinary Ukrainians. Many of the elderly depend on government pensions which are hard to deliver in

warzones.

Ben Wedeman went to a frontline town in eastern Ukraine where postal workers served as a lifeline for retired people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sometimes a morning stroll to the post office is not just a stroll. The town of Siversk has

been on the firing line for months. But a few, mostly the elderly hang on with dogged determination.

And on this day, the post office, a mobile post office, has come to town. Oleksiy Vorobyov (PH) heads the local military administration and urges

residents not to bunch up just in case shelling starts.

They're waiting to pick up their modest state pensions. For most just around $100 a month but enough to buy supplies from the handful of shops

still open. Getting the job done safely is a challenge.

We are trying to choose the right time and place, Oleksiy says. But this is war. Today it's like this, and tomorrow it can be totally different.

Russian forces on the distant ridge are just a few miles away.

(On-camera): Rain or shine or shelling, the people from the post office come here once a month to hand out pensions. Without those pensions, the

few people remaining here would not be able to survive.

(Voice-over): In the cold, they wait patiently for their turn.

This is essential, says Ludmilla. We have nothing, only water in the well. No electricity. No gas, nothing since March.

[10:35:05]

Living in constant danger for months on end, they get by on stoic fatalism.

I was born here, says Olga. This is my motherland. I am not going anywhere. What will be, will be.

Anna Fesenko (PH) runs the mobile post office. Is she afraid, I asked her.

It's a good question, she answers. We just feel people need us. When you enter the town, you probably thought no one is here. But look how many are

here. Someone needs to come here and give pensions. If not us, who?

Despite the gloom of war, the mail or rather the pensions always get through.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Siversk, Eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Well, let's get you up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now.

China is softening more measures for COVID-19 as the country moves away from mass testing. China's top health authorities says it will add rapid

antigen tests to diagnose COVID cases. Those who test positive will now be able to get treatment at home, and COVID patients will no longer need a

negative test to be discharged from hospitals.

Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento are some of the major cities in California being walloped by a powerful winter storm. The threat of

flooding and mudslides could get worse as more storms roll in to the northwestern U.S. this weekend. Two people, including a toddler, have been

killed in the storm.

Hackers have posted e-mail addresses and other data from more than 200 million Twitter users to secretive hacker forums on the dark Web. Experts

say the data was likely stolen from Twitter in 2021, and is extremely valuable to identify thieves.

Intensely personal and very detailed, Prince Harry's new book and his media blitz are causing a stir. What that could mean for the House of Windsor,

next. And we have an update on the condition of the NFL player Damar Hamlin days after he suffered cardiac arrests on the football field.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: More revelations and more accusations from Britain's Prince Harry while promoting his new book. The Duke of Sussex says he was, in his words,

probably bigoted before his relationship with Meghan, the now Duchess of Sussex. That's just one of the new details emerging from his interview with

Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes."

[10:40:01]

During his media blitz, the prince has also elaborated on the alleged physical assault by his brother. Harry tells ITV that after Prince William

knocked him down, he, quote, "wanted me to hit him back, but I chose not to."

CNN's royal historian Kate Williams joins me now live from London.

Kate, good to see you. Look, how would you describe the revelations that we're hearing about and the impact that this is going to have on the

palace?

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: The revelations keep on coming. We've had a lot of intimate detail from everything about Harry's growing up, his

relationship with his father, death of Diana, how he experienced the death of Diana right up to his real fallout with William, fallings out between

Meghan and Kate. I mean, there is so much detail here, really there is nothing I think that Harry hasn't held back.

He's told us everything. This is a memoir so far, I mean, I think there is more to come as well because it has even been published yet, although this

is a memoir that lays bare a very, in Harry's view, an incredibly dysfunctional family in which he as the number two, the spare, has suffered

a lot. Suffered the death of his mother and suffered always being second best. So I really think he thinks the relationship between him and his

brother and father is so damaged, there is no point holding back. He's telling us everything and this is very, very damaging to the royal family.

GIOKOS: Do you think at some point the palace is going to have to respond to these allegations, to what Harry has said?

WILLIAMS: Well, the palace said that they weren't going to respond to the Netflix documentary that came out just before Christmas, and they don't

seem to be looking as if they're going to respond to this, but really there are some endless allegations, endless suggestions here, and things like,

for example, Harry and William wanted the investigation to Diana's death reopened. They felt it didn't go far enough.

Prince Charles didn't put his arm around Harry when he told him that Diana was dead and how he feels he was left alone, and all these physical

altercations with William. All of these -- everything that's in the book I think the royal family should answer, but I don't think they will answer. I

think they have sources talking on their behalf.

What the royal family are going to do is really step up their charity work, step up their appearances, and hope that speaks for them. But Charles'

reign is very, very, early. This is not helping it along.

GIOKOS: No, absolutely not. Kate Williams, we are going to talk again in the next hour. We'll have more in-depth conversation. So much to talk

about. Thank you very much for your insights.

All right, fantastic news, just coming in about NFL player Damar Hamlin. He is now breathing on his own. "WORLD SPORT'S" Andy Scholes joins us with

this amazing recovery.

ANDY SCHOLES, WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Yes, Eleni --

GIOKOS: I mean, this is amazing. It's fantastic news.

SCHOLES: It is, the great news just keeps coming and coming. The latest is that he had his breathing tube removed, and Damar Hamlin was actually able

to Facetime his teammates at their team meeting. And he told him that he loves them. And you have to think, that's just incredible. We're just four

days removed to him going into cardiac arrest. They're on the field on Monday night football, but the news just keeps being positive and we are

going to talk more about that coming up on "WORLD SPORT." And hear from the Buffalo Bills head coach and quarterback Josh Allen about what these last

few days have been like for them.

GIOKOS: Yes. And also what the first thing he said when he woke up, so we'll hear it from you in just a short while. Andy Scholes more with sports

after this. Stay with CNN.

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