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Syrians Celebrated A New Chapter; Widespread Destruction After 100-Year Cyclone Pummels French Territory; Trump Picks To Make Last Push For Support Before Holidays; German Chancellor Scholz Faces Confidence Vote; Israel: Unprecedented Number Of Israelis Spying For Iran; U.S. Government Draws Bipartisan Criticism Over Drone Response; Researchers Build A "Smart Cow" To Help Ranchers; Late Rally Earns Man United Stunning Win At Man City. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 16, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, a step toward normalcy in Syria. Schools reopen a week after Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. The challenge now rebuilding the country after more than a decade of civil war.
The search for survivors after a cyclone devastates the French territory of Mayotte. Hundreds of people feared dead.
And Israeli authorities say they have arrested multiple spies working for Iran recently. But to their surprise, many of them are Israeli.
UNDIENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. And we begin this hour in Syria, where the country and world leaders look toward a new chapter more than a week after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. In Damascus, university students toppled a statue of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, the father of the ousted leader, before standing on it and dragging it through the street. The statue had been standing at the university for decades.
Meantime, Christians in the Syrian capital attended mass on Sunday expressing hope that a new government would respect the rights of minorities in the country, though many said the future was still uncertain. And a return to normalcy for students in Damascus as schools reopen their doors, students and school faculty are expressing optimism for the future.
The world is watching to see if Syria's new government can stabilize the country and move toward a smooth transition.
And in the hours ahead, Syria will be on the agenda at an E.U. Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. The U.N. Special envoy for Syria, who met with the new caretaker government on Sunday, says he supports the lifting of sanctions on leading rebel group HTS.
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GEIR PERDERSEN, U.N. ENVOY TO SYRIA: We need to see that this is fixed quickly. We will hopefully see a quick end to sanctions so that we can see really rallying around, building up Syria again. And then my last point, we need to see, of course, justice and accountability for crimes, and we need to make sure that goes through a credible justice system and that we don't see any river.
The Israeli government has approved a plan to expand settlements in the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau in southwestern Syria that Israel has occupied for nearly 60 years. The plan put forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is drawing condemnation from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who say the move could derail Syria's chances of restoring stability and consider it a violation of international law. The Israeli leader had this message about Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We have no interest in a conflict with Syria. We will determine Israel's policy towards Syria according to the emerging reality on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Joining me now from Damascus is Ibrahim Al-Assil, a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. Thank you so much for being with us.
IBRAHIM AL-ASSIL, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Thank you for having me. And good morning from Damascus.
CHURCH: So, more than a week after the sudden fall of Bashar al Assad, Syria's transitional government is trying to stabilize the country while the people of Syria celebrate their newfound freedom. But how difficult is the task ahead for this new Syrian government?
AL-ASSIL: That's a great question, because the task is really difficult. The state virtually has collapsed across Syria and there is high level of poverty across the country. People just need some security, electricity and water, and they just want to be able to send their kids to schools these days.
However, there are also other challenges on the political level. What you just said, as a transitional government, many people now are starting to question that. How transitional is it? Is there really a roadmap? There hasn't been real talks about a roadmap to see some mileage milestones or some dates of what will happen next and if there is -- if there will be any sort of a national dialogue to probably include other political parties and other political actors in this government.
CHURCH: And I do want to get to that point in a moment.
[01:05:00] But Syria will be top of the agenda at an E.U. Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels in the coming hours. The U.N. Special envoy for Syria says he supports the lifting of sanctions against the leading rebel group HTS. How critical is that these sanctions are lifted, and how likely is it that will happen?
AL-ASSIL: It's very crucial for the country because there is no way for Syria to move ahead and to move forward and to stabilize itself without support from the international community. And for that support to arrive in Syria, sanctions need to be lifted.
But we're not only talking about sanctions, we're also talking about delisting Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham from the terrorist list. And now the talks are on these two paths about lifting the sanctions and also about delisting the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham from the terrorist list so they can talk to other international actors. But of course, there are different conditions, including being inclusive to other actors inside Syria and including them in this political moment.
CHURCH: Yes, you've raised that point, so let's talk about it. The rebel group HTS has clarified that they want to ensure peaceful relations with their regional neighbors, and they are committed to Syrian territorial integrity. But what about this issue of an inclusive government? How big a challenge will that be? And could the lifting of sanctions be leveraged here to get them to be more inclusive?
AL-ASSIL: Right, so the international talks have focused on these two levels. One of them is about the foreign affairs of the new Syrian government. And here we can see some alignment between Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and the international community that they do want to have peaceful relations with their neighbors and the world.
But when it comes to the domestic issues and how they are running the current government, we see some divergence here. We haven't heard much talks about any roadmap for elections in the future or for launching some national dialogue inside Syria where other political actors are welcome to come to Damascus and participate in these talks or any sort of laws to establish political parties inside the country.
So there are certainly priorities when it comes to security and economic development. But also economy wasn't the only problem inside Syria. The political environment was a huge challenge. And to be able to include different actors inside Syria so they feel they are part of this new system is totally crucial, especially for a government that does not have a strong army.
And its legitimacy only comes from what we can call a revolutionary legitimacy that sooner or later will be drained and people will ask for different type of legitimacy that's built on including other actors on the ground.
CHURCH: And the other big question, of course, is how likely is it that a new Syrian government will respect the rights of minorities in the country? That is a big concern. AL-ASSIL: That's absolutely a big concern when we talk about religious
minorities, when we talk about ethnic minorities inside Syria. And also if we take a step back and we look at the social contract, many people inside Syria, even if they come from an ethnic or religious majority, they don't necessarily feel included in this new social contract.
And that's why a national dialogue is extremely important, because there is a collapse of the social contract inside Syria and there is a need to regenerate that by launching these political tracks of Syrians probably meeting each other for the first time in a country that has been divided for over a decade.
CHURCH: Ibrahim al-Assil in Damascus. Many thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.
AL-ASSIL: Thank you.
CHURCH: The incoming U.S. administration has been warning of consequences if the remaining hostages held in Gaza are not released soon. And a source says President-elect Donald Trump's pick for hostage affairs envoy will hold meetings with Israeli officials on the issue in the coming hours.
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Mr. Trump on the situation in the Middle East and the need to bring the hostages home. Meanwhile, at least five people were killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted a civil defense service office in central Gaza Sunday.
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ZAKI IMAD EDDINE, CIVIL DEFENSE SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The civil defense unit stationed in the Nusrat refugee camp was targeted while teams were there. These teams work around the clock to rescue people.
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Everyone knows that the civil defense organization is a humanitarian body that provides service during both peace and war to civilians and has no political involvement. The team was directly targeted.
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CHURCH: An Al Jazeera photojournalist who was covering rescue efforts after an earlier bombing was among those killed. Al Jazeera is condemning the attack. The IDF claims the site was being used as a command center by Hamas and Islamic Jihad territory.
In the U.S. Donald Trump's key cabinet picks are looking to build support ahead of Senate confirmation battles. A source tells CNN that the president elect's choice to lead the country's top health agency and his pick for defense secretary are expected back on Capitol Hill this week. CNN's Steve Contorno has more.
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STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Monday kicks off another critical week on Capitol Hill for Donald Trump's cabinet picks. It's the last expected week these senators will be in D.C. before they head home for the holidays. And on Sunday, we heard from Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who urged Donald Trump's allies to knock off the pressure campaign trying to get Republican senators on the Hill to support his picks blindly.
THOM TILLIS, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: Pete Hegseth had a good week. This week on Capitol Hill, I'm working with Kash Patel. The members are not really swayed by these. If anything, they could create a structural problem for future nominees if they overreach.
But I don't believe that it's coming directly out of Mar-a-Lago. I think it's coming out of groups. Sometimes they have good behavior, other times they're out there to make some change and get their name out there.
CONTORNO: Trump's pick for defense secretary Pete Hegseth will continue meeting with senators this week. It comes after a weekend where he had a public display of support from President-Elect Trump when the two appeared side by side at the Army-Navy football game.
And on Sunday, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham revealed that in his conversations with Hegseth, Hegseth told him that he would release from a nondisclosure agreement a woman who accused him of sexual assault.
LINDSEY GRAHAM, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: He told me he would release her from that agreement. Yes, I mean, just think about what we're talking about. I'd want to know if anybody nominated for a high level job in Washington legitimately assaulted somebody. I've known Pete for years. I met him in Afghanistan. I've heard nothing but good things about his service over there.
CONTORNO: Hegseth has denied the accusation, saying it was a consensual encounter. Steve Contorno, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
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CHURCH: Republican Senator Mitt Romney is standing by his criticism of Donald Trump's character, but he is acknowledging the president elect's grip on the party. Romney says Mr. Trump and the MAGA movement now define the GOP.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: MAGA is the Republican Party and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today. And if you were to ask me who the nominee will be in 2028, I think it'll be J.D. Vance. The Republican Party has become the party of the working class, middle class voter.
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CHURCH: Ron Brownstein is CNN's senior political analyst and a senior editor at The Atlantic. He joins us now. Good to have you with us.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Hi. So, several key cabinet picks are expected on Capitol Hill this week, including Donald Trump's choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth and his pick to run the Health and Human Services department, Robert Kennedy, Jr. as Senate Republicans come under this increasing pressure to confirm these and other cabinet picks.
So where's most of this pressure coming from? And how likely is it the senators like Joni Ernst will bow to the increasing pressure?
BROWNSTEIN: You know, there's organized groups that are trying to leverage this pressure. Heritage Action Turning Point USA but the real pressure is what Mitt Romney just said in the bite that you aired. The Republican Party has been transformed in the Trump era and the Republican primary electorate is more populous, more blue collar, more alienated than it was 10, 12 years ago. And there is probably less room for officials to break from Trump and his agenda without facing some consequence.
Now, you know, senators tend to win their primaries, but they don't like to have them in the first place. The real threat, I think, is that Trump, in fact, I think many of these senators recognize that if it came down to it, even within their own state, more Republican voters are probably aligned with Trump than with them if there is an argument. So all of them, I think, recognize they have limited leeway here. Not zero, but limited.
CHURCH: And Ron, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says Hegseth told him that he is willing to release a woman accusing him of sexual assault from a nondisclosure agreement. What might be the impact of such a move?
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BROWNSTEIN: Don't forget that the bookend to that, of course, is the Hegseth lawyer saying they're prepared to sue her for defamation if she comes forward. And, you know, depending on what she says. I think that the clearest impact is going to be that more Republican senators are going to want to hear from her.
Again, you know, as we talked about before, I think every Republican senator has a number in their head about how many times they can publicly vote against Trump nominees. The fact that Mike Gaetz got out before anyone had to cast a vote against him kind of, you know, allowed that, didn't take one off the board for them. And I think that Republican senators will be more comfortable voting against nominees they can criticize from the right, like Tulsi Gabbard, Potentially, maybe even RFK Jr. given that anti-abortion groups are still uneasy about him.
But I do think in the case of Hegseth, that declaration, Republican senators are going to say, OK, let's hear from her.
CHURCH: And as we just reported, Republican Mitt Romney told CNN's Jake Tapper on the weekend that, quote, MAGA is the Republican Party. And he also said Republicans are now the party of the working and middle class voters. Do you agree with those assessments? And if that's the case, what might this mean for the Democrats?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, Trump showed significant gains, you know, across the board among blue collar voters in this election. I mean, he started off in 2016 with the strongest performance among white voters without a college education since Reagan. I believe in '84.
In 2020, he made some gains among non-white working class voters. And in this election he made further gains among non-white working class voters. And in that sense, Romney is right. The piece he didn't mention is that there is also, you know, a thin layer of super wealthy, really the top, you know, 1/10 of 1 percent, like Elon Musk, like many of the Wall Street and Silicon Valley titans who allied with Trump and who have enormous impact over his agenda. And so there is this still this conflict.
I mean, Trump did improve among working class voters, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck and were hurt more than upper middle class voters by the inflation of the last few years. They hired him to do one job, above all, get their cost of living under control.
But it's very unclear whether his agenda will really move in that direction. In fact, most economists have looked at it think the combination of big tariffs, mass deportation and large tax cuts aimed at the top are more likely to rekindle than to suppress inflation.
So I think the question of how lasting these gains are is very much tied to the actual performance over the next four years just as Biden's gains in 2020 were washed out by discontent over his actual performance over the previous over the last four years.
CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: Cyclone Chido has killed at least 11 people in the French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. But government officials say the death toll could rise to hundreds, possibly thousands. The storm was the equivalent of a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane when it hit on Saturday. Chido's winds topped 220 kilometers per hour. It flattened entire neighborhood, damaged the airport and knocked out power to many areas and it left many residents frightened.
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JOHN BALLOZ, MAYOTTE RESIDENT (through translator): It was the wind blowing and I was panicked. I screamed, we need help. We need help. I was screaming because I could see the end coming for me. Now there's nothing much people can do. People are keeping still. They haven't moved. They're waiting for help. Help for food, for the electricity to be back up and water also, there's no running water.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Rescue and cleanup missions are underway. France is deploying more than 1,000 emergency workers to help. A weakened cyclone Chido went on to make landfall in Mozambique. It is the strongest storm to hit Mozambique in five years. Guy Taylor is chief of Communication and Partnerships for UNICEF Mozambique. He joins me live from Pemba in Mozambique. Many thanks for talking with us.
GUY TAYLOR, UNICEF MOZAMBIQUE: Thank you.
CUHRCH: So Cyclone Chido, as we just reported, is the strongest cyclone to make landfall in Mozambique since 2019. What's the level of damage from the storm so far? Have you been able to assess that?
TAYLOR: Well, I think we're still in the early stages of assessing the full impact of this cyclone. As you say, it arrived in Mozambique yesterday morning, intense tropical cyclone, category 4 cyclone, bringing with it very heavy winds and a lot of rain.
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We are now being able today to get out into some of the surrounding areas to assess a little bit the impact on the population. Here in Pemba yesterday we saw many houses with roofs torn off, health care facilities, schools put out of action, a lot of public infrastructure completely wiped out and many children, many families have really lost everything.
So, we're very concerned as UNICEF about the immediate impact, particularly on children, but also about the longer term impact, the risk of spread of water borne diseases, children being cut off from critical services, things like access to healthcare, treatment, access to clean water and sanitation, all of which are really critical to stop the spread of diseases and keep people alive and healthy in these difficult times.
CHURCH: Of course. And of course, what areas have been most severely affected by the cyclone? What's the situation like in rural parts of the country?
TAYLOR: Yes, well, the cyclone made landfall just south of Pemba in a very rural area. I mean, Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world and the province where Cabo Delgado, where the cyclone hit is one of the poorest provinces in the country.
So people here, many living in very basic structures made out of bamboo, out of branches, out of mud bricks, really not designed to stand up to winds of this magnitude. So as I say, we're assessing the situation today. UNICEF has fortunately been able to pre-position large quantities of supplies which we're now able to distribute to keep people alive and healthy.
But I think the scale of the need for a disaster of this magnitude really outweighs the ability to respond. We already have about 3.4 million children in Mozambique in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. And this is only going to make the situation a lot worse for them. CHURCH: And are you able to estimate how many people have been
displaced or in urgent need of assistance at this stage?
TAYLOR: Prior to the arrival of the cyclone, were estimating that around 1.7 million people could be impacted. We still haven't been able to ascertain a reliable figure on the number of people in need and should be able to firm that up today as we manage to get out into some of these very rural communities and villages and assess the impact on those most children and families.
CHURCH: So what kind of aid is being prioritized right now? What's the greatest need?
TAYLOR: So in the immediate term, we always prioritize those immediate basic life-saving supplies, things like water purification tablets, medications supplies and medications to stop the spread of water borne diseases like cholera, like malaria, like diarrhea, which are really some of the biggest killers of children in a situation like this.
We're working with our U.N. partners who are providing things like shelter, materials, providing food to people who, as I said, really lost everything. Then over the longer term, we work closely with the government to try to ensure continuity of those basic services, to make sure people can get their healthcare, to make sure that people have access to clean water, to make sure that children can go back to school when the schools reopen here.
So we're working hard, we're supporting government in their efforts to respond. But as I said, it's a disaster of quite large magnitude and I think the need really outweighs the ability to respond.
CHURCH: Guy Taylor, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate talking and we appreciate what you do. Thank you.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHURCH: Still to come in the hours ahead, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces a confidence vote he's expected to lose. We'll have a report from Berlin on how his coalition fell apart. Back with that and more in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Today, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces a confidence vote that he called and is likely to trigger early elections. Scholz is expected to speak in several hours ahead of a two hour debate. Before voting starts, CNN's Sebastian Shukla explains how Germany got to this point.
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SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN FIELD PRODUCER (voice-over): Back on November 6, Germany's Rocky coalition spectacularly fell apart. OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Too oft, too many
times did he act to serve his clientele and party. Too many times did he break my trust. Such egotism is completely incomprehensible.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor unceremoniously firing his finance minister, Christian Lindner. The two massively disagreed about Germany's economic future.
CHRISTIAN LINDNER, HEAD OF LIBERAL PARTY, FORMER FINANCE MINISTER OF GERMANY (through translator): The Chancellor gave me an ultimatum to suspend the constitutional debt break. I couldn't do that because I would have been breaking my oath office.
SHUKLA (voice-over): But the divisions between governing parties go far deeper than a financial mechanism.
LEONIE VON RANDOW, POLITICS REPORTER, WELT: All three parties contributed to why this coalition fell apart by provoking one another by publicly fighting.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Leonie von Randow is a political reporter at WELT. She's covered the coalition since it was formed. She says the euphoria of this government ended abruptly, triggered largely by the war in Ukraine.
VON RANDOW: The government had to take on a huge debt to kind of put more money into defense and into the army. And also the economy started to really stumble because were so largely dependent on Russian gas and oil. So that's kind of where it all went downhill.
SHUKLA: By throwing out the Liberal Party in his traffic light coalition, a reference to party colors, Olaf Scholz was forced to call a vote of confidence in himself. His suggested timeline was a vote in January and elections in March.
SHUKLA (voice-over): The opposition saw their moment to pounce.
FRIEDRICH MERZ, HEAD OF CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, CDU (through translator): This is not behavior that does justice to this office. And above all, it is not behavior that does justice to the situation of the country.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Parties forced him into a reversal the confidence vote on December 16 and federal elections on February 23. The polls put the Conservative CDU, the party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, way ahead of Scholz's party, the SPD, and a surging far right AfD coming in second place.
VON RANDOW: The election is probably coming at a very good time for the AfD. This is just a moment when many people are generally very unhappy with the government. So they kind of want to make a point and vote for an extreme party to kind of show how unhappy they are.
SHUKLA: A crucial vote then beckons for Germany as this coalition has been unable to right itself. Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.
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CHURCH: His neighbors say he was the unassuming man next door, but Israeli authorities claim he's just one of an unprecedented number of Israelis recruited to spy for Iran. That story just ahead.
Plus, frustration is growing across the northeastern U.S. as the federal response from mysterious drone sightings creates more questions and answers.
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CHURCH: Israeli authorities say an unprecedented number of Israelis have been spying for Iran. Dozens have been arrested over the past year, accused of carrying out missions like photographing military bases and even plotting government assassinations.
Our Jeremy Diamond reports on the fallout following the arrest of one alleged cell leader.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: In this low income building in the city of Haifa, apartment 5 looks just as ordinary as every other until you notice the spot where police broke in.
Israeli authorities say the man who lived here, Azis Nisanov, was the leader of a group of Iranian spies.
LEONID GORBACHOVSKY, NEIGHBOR (through translator): I wasn't surprised, I was shocked. It was like thunder amid clear skies.
DIAMOND: His next-door neighbor, Leonid Gorbachovsky, was home when police pried the door open with a metal bar. He says they turned the place inside out and found piles of cash.
Israeli police say Nisanov led a seven-person cell of Israelis who gathered intelligence for Iran for more than two years and are now awaiting trial. And the Haifa 7 are allegedly just one cell.
Israeli authorities say they have uncovered multiple spy rings in recent months.
SUPERINTENDENT MAOR GOREN, ISRAELI POLICE: If you go check the last year and the last decades, we can count on two hands How many people got arrested for this. the last six months we have over 30 Israeli citizens that got arrested.
DIAMOND: So that's unprecedented.
GOREN: Yes. Of course.
DIAMOND: Superintendent Maor Goren, who oversaw the investigations, says the arrests foiled multiple assassination plots as well as ongoing intelligence gathering efforts. While some of these alleged Iranian spies were accused of plotting to
kill senior Israeli officials, others had a different task, photographing Israeli military bases like the Nevatim (ph) Airbase right behind me. And Israeli officials say those photographs that information actually helped the Iranians carry out those ballistic missile attacks in April, as well as in October.
Missiles struck Nevatim Airbase in both of those attacks. And while the base's location is known to Iran, police believe zoomed-in photos and videos provided additional targeting intelligence.
GOREN: Some of them got recruited by the Iranians by using the social media.
DIAMOND: Many of those Telegram messages provided by Israels Shin Bet security service are wildly unsophisticated. Spam-style messages offering interesting and exciting jobs that pay a very high salary.
In one series of messages provided by the Israeli police, an alleged Iranian handler writes "We just need brave men. Are you brave for a lot of money," before tasking their mark with buying gasoline and setting off forest fires.
ODED ALLAM, FORMER MOSSAD OFFICIAL: It worked, and based on the theory of the big numbers.
DIAMOND: Oded Ailam, a former top Mossad official, says Iran is more interested in casting a wide net than in recruiting skilled operatives.
[01:34:50]
ALLAM: And they said to themselves, ok, if we fail here, we'll go to the next one. And they don't really care of the outcome.
DIAMOND: Unlike previous Iranian intelligence efforts in Israel, which have largely involved Palestinian recruits, the majority of those arrested in the last year have been Jewish Israelis, many of them new immigrants, according to the police.
They were also often poor or had criminal histories. People like Slava Guschin, who lived in this apartment and was allegedly part of the Haifa cell.
For neighbors like Riki and Moshe, who saw him struggling and had given him food and clothes --
RIKI, NEIGHBOR: Shock, shock.
MOSHE, NEIGHBOR (through translator): No one could believe it. People here that know him, that also brought him food and everything. They want to kill him.
DIAMOND: A sense of betrayal for the accused spy next door.
And Iran did not return a request for comment about the spying allegations. As for Azis Nisanov, the alleged leader of the Haifa 7, I spoke to his attorney, who did not deny that Nisanov photographed these military bases, but said he did not know that he was working for Iran.
He said that his motives were purely financial and that he did not believe he was harming Israel's security.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Two Russian cargo ships carrying oil were in distress between the country's mainland and annexed Crimea during bad weather on Sunday. That is according to Russia's ministry of emergency situations.
What seems to be a large Russian cargo ship that snapped in two can be seen in this video circulating on unofficial Ukrainian and Russian Telegram channels. CNN has been unable to independently verify the location.
The ministry says a helicopter rescue team responded to a request for assistance after one of the vessels ran aground and was damaged. It says one person out of 27 people across both ships is known to have died.
Theres no suggestion the incidents are related to Russia's war in Ukraine.
U.S. federal agencies are facing growing bipartisan criticism over their response to a rash of mysterious drone sightings across six states in the northeast.
Homeland Security officials, as well as the FBI, have downplayed any security concerns while also acknowledging the unusual nature of these sightings.
Donald Trump's incoming national security advisor, Mike Waltz, says the issue exposes gaps in U.S. airspace security.
New York's governor says federal authorities are deploying a state-of- the-art drone detection system to assist local investigators. It's the type of technology the Senate's top Democrat has been calling for, as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on. And that's what the Robin does.
Today, we're asking the DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, to deploy special detection systems like the Robin, which use not a linear line of sight, but 360-degree technology that has a much better chance of detecting these drones. And we're asking DHS to bring them to the New York, New Jersey area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Julia Benbrook has more on the federal response from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Following the uptick in reported drone sightings in the northeast, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
But Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is looking to assure the public that there is no known public safety threat and that his team is closely monitoring any developments. He also says the agency is in close coordination with state and local authorities.
During his most recent comments about the drone sightings, during an interview with ABC that aired earlier today, he said that the federal government has deployed additional personnel, resources and technology to help New Jersey state police address the drone sightings.
Now, while Mayorkas has said that there's no question people are seeing drones, he has also said that the technology has confirmed that at least some of those drone sightings are actually small manned aircraft.
He is calling on Congress to act to help them address future situations, asking them to extend and expand the government's authority when it comes to drones.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities. And it is critical, as we all have said for a number of years, that we need from Congress, additional authorities to address the drone situation.
[01:39:47]
MAYORKAS: We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision.
That is one important element that we have requested, and we've heard it echoed by the state and local officials themselves.
BENBROOK: Mayorkas was asked about President-Elect Donald Trump's social media post, suggesting that the government could shoot down the drones.
In response to that, Mayorkas said that there are some agencies within the Department of Homeland Security and outside of the department that could do that, but that they need those authorities expanded as well.
Now throughout these investigations and during these drone sightings, Mayorkas has continued to say that his team is not aware of any direct national security concerns tied to the reported drone sightings.
But he has pledged to provide an update if his team sees any cause for concern.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The remaining five members of the infamous Bali Nine drug gang are back home in Australia after a deal with Indonesia to release them from prison.
The five men had served 20 years of their life sentences for attempting to smuggle more than eight kilos of heroin out of Bali.
In a statement, they said they were immensely grateful to the Indonesian president and his government for their release. The issue has long been a point of tension between Australia and Indonesia, with Canberra advocating for their release for decades.
Seven tourists have been hospitalized for suspected poisoning in Fiji after drinking cocktails at an upscale resort. The country's health ministry says the victims suffered nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms but are now in stable condition.
Four of the tourists are Australian. A family member of two victims told Australian media that his relatives became sick after drinking pina coladas in the resort lounge. Australian officials are monitoring the situation.
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JIM CHALMERS, AUSTRALIAN TREASURER: Fiji police are investigating to determine the cause of the illnesses, and will try and keep people updated as that investigation continues. DFAT has updated its travel advice for Fiji with some extra information.
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CHURCH: Officials in Fiji say the incident is extremely isolated. The incident comes weeks after six tourists died from methanol poisoning after drinking at a bar in Laos.
Still to come, a rare tornado hits northern California over the weekend, but more winds and rain are on the way as recovery begins. We will have the latest forecast.
Plus how scientists say the world's first smart cow could improve cattle farming and help the environment. Back with that and more in just a moment.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go home. Let's go home.
Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh my God. Ok. Oh my God.
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CHURCH: Powerful winds send debris flying as a rare tornado hit northern California over the weekend. The National Weather Service recorded winds up to 90 miles per hour or nearly 145 kilometers per hour. And it only lasted about five minutes.
But that's all the time it took to uproot trees, down power lines and damage nearby vehicles.
CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa has more details on that storm, and the next one that's expected to hit the western U.S. this week.
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ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We had an incredibly active weekend of weather in California. We had an EF-1 tornado confirmed in Scotts Valley that sits about an hour south of San Francisco.
We had 90-mile-perhour winds in that twister, and it was able to snap trees, down power lines and overturn cars, injuring some people.
Now, this is incredibly rare for the Bay Area. I mean, we're talking only nine tornadoes on average happen a year in California. The storm was so powerful, we had winds up at 78 miles per hour in Monterey. 83- mile-per-hour gusts at the San Francisco airport.
That was clocked during a tornado warning that was triggered in the San Francisco Bay Area, their first ever tornado warning in history. No tornado was confirmed out of this, but those 80-mile-per-hour gusts did do some damage to trees and power lines there as well.
That storm working its way east. But we have another one that's already on its way in. An atmospheric river will develop as we go into the week. So more rain and snow is likely.
We're looking at a level four out of five when it comes to impact for the atmospheric river, meaning it could be potentially hazardous. Some of that rain will be beneficial, but with the amount of rain coming in a short amount of time, we could be looking at some hazardous conditions.
I mean, look at how healthy these rain chances stay as we go into the workweek, especially Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. For a place like Eugene, Oregon, two to four inches of rain is likely some isolated totals up to six inches possible.
You can see all that moisture start to move in as we go into the workweek starting on Monday. Rain and snow from Washington down towards Oregon and northern California.
Even as that clears, another round comes in going into Tuesday as the atmospheric river continues to pump in some of that moisture.
Overall, rain totals will be about two to four inches, some of those totals up to six inches are possible. And we're going to add to the snow depth in the mountains as well another one to two feet of snow possible on top of what they already got.
Winds will also be gusty as well. That could cause some problems with power outages.
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CHURCH: Pope Francis praised residents of the French Island of Corsica on Sunday during a one day stop to the largely Catholic area. People lined the streets for the island's first recorded visit by a Pope.
The Vatican estimates more than 80 percent of the island is Catholic. The Pope celebrated mass with residents lauding the amount of children he saw on the island and calling their presence a grace from God.
He also met with French President Emmanuel Macron during what is likely to be his final trip for the year. Macron invited the Pope to attend the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral earlier this month, but the Pope decided not to attend.
The day also included an early celebration of the Holy Father's birthday. Pope Francis turns 88 on Tuesday, already 11 years into his papacy.
Well, Brazil's president is out of hospital and can return to work, according to doctors. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva underwent two emergency surgeries last week to treat a brain bleed.
Doctors say he will need to refrain from much physical activity, but can participate in government meetings. The 79-year-old president spoke optimistically about his future on Sunday.
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LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT: You know, I defend the right to live up to 120 years. I say that whoever will live up to 120 has already been born, and I believe that I have the right to reclaim that this is me.
So I have a lot of expectations. I am a very disciplined person. I have a huge commitment to this country.
Argentine President Javier Milei has been granted Italian citizenship while on a state visit to Italy. Italy's foreign ministry says it was given due to his bloodline. Milei has three Italian grandparents who moved to Argentina in 1926.
The process was expedited for him, but the decision has sparked some criticism coming weeks ahead of new rules that will make it harder for children born in Italy to foreign parents to become citizens.
Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia are working on building the world's first smart cow. They believe their A.I.-powered robot will help cattle farmers keep their fields green and their herds healthy.
Lynda Kinkade shows us how. [01:49:51]
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not something you see every day. A bright-red, cow- sized robot against a green backdrop of rolling pastures. But despite looking out of place, swag bot is the field worker of the future.
SALAH SUKKARIEH, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: Once the animals, once the cattle, are used to the robot, they will follow the robot around. And so if you move to certain parts of the pasture, the animals will follow through. And if you stop, then they'll stop and they can graze that particular part.
And why that's important is because, if you over graze then you ruin the pasture and so you don't want to over graze, so you want to move the animals to the right part of the pasture where there's good protein, good carbs.
KINKADE: When it was launched in 2016, swag bots' only job was herding cattle. Now sensors and A.I. give the smart cow the power to do much more.
SUKKARIEH: It can actually measure the property of the animals motion as its moving along. So what we call its gait. So how it's actually moving. And if you measure that information over a number of different days, you start to build up a characteristic profile of that animal.
And from that you can determine whether or not the animal is healthy or not healthy on a particular point in time along that -- along that path.
But also we can sense it -- we can sense a collection of animals and where they're moving as a -- as a herd. And that tells us also information about the herd characteristics and why those two things are important is that if the robots going around and measuring pasture and measuring quality of pasture, it can actually determine where the best part of the land is for the animals to move to.
KINKADE: Australia is a top global producer of beef, but over grazing can hurt already poor pastures. Swag bots creators hope to eliminate that issue.
SUKKARIEH: The population of the world is growing and we have the same amount of land to feed that population. And so maximizing how much food we deliver for the same amount of inputs, even less in terms of the inputs, is what's important.
And the only way we can do that is with precision agriculture. And doing that on such large scales needs robotics.
KINKADE: Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
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CHURCH: A stunning result from one of football's fiercest rivalries.
When we come back, the highlights from Sundays nailbiter Manchester Derby on CNN NEWSROOM.
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CHURCH: The noisy neighbors were silenced on Sunday. Pep Guardiola and Manchester City suffered yet another defeat. This one ended in stunning fashion against longtime rivals Manchester United.
At home, our Don Riddell has the derby details.
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DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLDSPORT ANCHOR: Yes, they lost again for the eighth time now in just 11 games.
Manchester City are having an absolute nightmare and this one is going to really sting.
You know, City have been so utterly dominant over the last decade that their current malaise just seemed unthinkable. But they went ahead against Manchester United through Josko Gvardiol in the 36th minute. And that actually looked as though it would be enough for all three points.
However, their lack of ambition hurt them and their failure to manage the game proved to be just catastrophic. Bruno Fernandes equalized for United with a penalty two minutes from time, and then two minutes later in the 90th minute, City's defense dozed off, failing to spot the danger as Amad Diallo latched onto a long ball rounding the goalie to score.
[01:54:45]
RIDDELL: As you can imagine, United were just jubilant. This has not been an easy season for them either. But City weren't just heartbroken, they were utterly shell-shocked.
PEP GUARDIOLA, MANAGER, MANCHESTER CITY: I don't have defense. So I'm the boss. I'm the manager. I have to find a solution and I don't find a solution.
So this is a big clap and big clap when you lose 8 to 10 -- something wrong has happened. So I said, yes, I can say the schedule is tough. Yes. The injuries, the players. Yes. But. No. So yes.
We give away again and what you have to do is keep walking. But I'm the boss, I'm the manager and I'm not good enough. It's as simple as that. I have to find a way to talk to them, to the train to them, to the way you have to play, the way you have to press, the way I have to build up and I'm not good enough.
RIDDELL: He is one of the greatest football managers of all time. I never thought I would hear Pep Guardiola say I'm not good enough. You know, this club used to be one of the most feared teams in all of
Europe, but for all of their vast wealth, Manchester City just cannot buy a win. Just once in their last 11 games in all competitions have they come out on top.
And their form in the Premier League is now officially the joint (ph) worst. Since the start of November their points per game average is just 0.57. That is the same as the bottom team, Southampton, and poorer than every other team.
Next week they're going to be away at Aston Villa, which will not be an easy game either. Manchester City really struggling big time at the moment.
Back to you.
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CHURCH: Thanks for that. Well, as the world counts down to Christmas, Santa Claus is making brave appearances in all types of places around the world.
In Washington State, this jolly diver can be spotted swimming in the Seattle Aquarium as part of a 15-year-old tradition.
And in Barcelona, thousands of Santas traded their customary reindeer for motorbikes. They rode through the city center despite controversy over pollution concerns.
And perhaps bravest of all was this group of Santas in swim suits in Budapest who braved biting winter temperatures as part of a run to raise money for a children's charity.
I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with much more news after a short break.
Do stay with us.
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