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Government Shutdown Looms as House Junks Spending Bill; Suspect who Killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Now in New York Prison. Thousands Experienced Side Effects on taking Ozempic; Lindsey Vonn Prepares for Her FIS World Cup Return. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired December 20, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
The clock is ticking for lawmakers to keep the U.S. government funded after House Republicans failed to pass a new plan backed by President- elect Donald Trump.
Syrian refugees face uncertainty after the fall of the Assad regime. We'll look at human rights concerns in the country as a U.S. delegation arrives in the capital.
And the suspect in the healthcare CEO murder is now in a federal prison facing new charges.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We are 21 hours away from a U.S. federal government shutdown after a bipartisan revolt sank the latest bill backed by Donald Trump. Republicans are scrambling after resistance to the bill's two-year suspension of the debt limit, but the legislation falling well short of the majority needed.
But the president-elect remains undeterred. He now says, quote, "Congress must get rid of or extend out to perhaps 2029 the ridiculous debt ceiling." 38 Republicans defied Trump by voting nay, and GOP leadership is now regrouping, looking at what next steps to take.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We will regroup, and we will come up with another solution, so stay tuned.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Will you drop the debt limit demand?
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Earlier, Republicans were forced to revamp a deal that had bipartisan support after pressure from Trump and his tech billionaire advisor Elon Musk sent Washington into chaos. Now it seems Democratic leadership is looking to put Musk at the center of the shutdown. Listen to this.
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REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It's laughable.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Manu Raju has more.
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RAJU: Well even though Donald Trump tried to pressure Republicans to fall in line behind this 11th hour effort to avoid a government shutdown, he got bucked by 38 members of his own party, as well as Democrats who voted en masse against this proposal to avoid a government shutdown.
One big reason why it included a provision to suspend the national debt limit for two years. Remember that issue of a debt limit was a complex, complicated issue that typically Congress spends weeks, if not months, to try to negotiate. No one wants to vote really to raise the borrowing limit in the United States, and Donald Trump does not want this to be part of his first year agenda, so he wants to take it off the table now.
He's saying deal with it now, and so he doesn't have to worry about when he's president. But there's a problem. There are Republicans in the ranks who say they will never vote for a debt limit increase, especially if it does not have spending cuts.
REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): It just stinks. That's why America doesn't trust government and it's for good that worries.
RAJU: And you said, shut it down?
BURCHETT: That's what it takes to bring us to the table.
REP. BOB GOOD (R-VA): Any extra-supplemental on the stand on its own merits, not being attached to it and it all it had pay for us and the debt limit must not be increased without commencing spending cuts and fiscal reforms.
REP. ERIC BURLISON (R-MO): When I ran for office, I said that I will not vote to raise the debt ceiling, and so I never voted to raise the debt ceiling. I love Donald Trump, but he did voted me into office, my district--
RAJU: You want to shut it down?
BURLISON: I'm not afraid of the shutdown. RAJU: Now, this all comes as Donald Trump, of course, intervened late in this whole process.
There was a bipartisan deal that was on the glide path to becoming law to avert a government shutdown, but then when Trump intervened late and said that he wanted the debt limit increase to be part of this plan, and he berated that bipartisan deal that Mike Johnson cut, as a result, it's left Congress scrambling to try to figure out a solution.
And now that Plan B has failed, Mike Johnson is trying to figure out if there's any way to avoid a government shutdown. That will occur at midnight to Saturday morning, and how long that could last remains a major question.
The two sides are on opposite sides on how to resolve an issue that could be crippling to so many Americans who rely on government services, government employees, contractors, and the like, as a shutdown now looms in just a matter of hours.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is arguing that this newly rejected plan was negotiated in a bipartisan fashion. But there's plenty of finger pointing, as we heard, across the political aisle.
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REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): At the end of the day, the American people are not going to understand if government shuts down because Democrats are upset that they don't have leverage in a negotiation.
The American people expect us to do our job. And in this instance, the job is to pass a clean C.R., to continue to fund the government, provide disaster relief for communities that were impacted by storms, and to provide support for our farmers who have been struggling in the aftermath of COVID.
The idea you're going to vote no to shut the government down, frankly, is idiotic as we approach Christmas and Hanukkah.
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): What happened here was laughable. This bill that they just put up, they are in the majority. Republicans control the House. They are in the majority. And they couldn't even get the majority of votes for this bill that they put up.
So this is a long process to go through these negotiations. We already had a bill. We negotiated it. Mike Johnson agreed to it. And because Elon Musk, a billionaire, tweeted about it, President Musk tweeted about it, these Republicans tried to go around their own caucus, all the work that's been done, and they are in charge of shutting down the government now.
That is what's going to happen tomorrow night at midnight if we don't come to a deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now amid the fallout over the bill's failure, one congressman is defending the speaker. Listen to this.
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REP. DON BACON (R-NE): By definition, I believe, when you're talking a C.R. or a debt ceiling, either one, there's enough Republicans who will never vote for it, so you have to work across the aisle. This has been Speaker Johnson's dilemma. He knows he has to have some Democrat support to get these things passed.
So that's why he was working across the aisle. And he was, and I trust him. He's only going to agree to the Democrat priorities that he can tolerate and live with.
And I thought he did a good job. It got demonized, and a lot of lies about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now it's worth reiterating, if no deal is reached, the government shuts down at midnight Saturday morning, just four days before Christmas.
The U.S. delegation is in Syria's capital right now to meet with the interim government leaders. It's the first in-person visit to Damascus by U.S. officials since the fall of the Syrian President Bashar al- Assad.
The White House has tapped former ambassador and Syria envoy Daniel Rubinstein to lead the effort in the final weeks of the Biden administration.
The State Department says U.S. officials will meet with the group that now comprises Syria's de facto government to discuss the transition and other issues. The U.S., the U.N., and other countries have designated that group as a terrorist organization.
The head of Syria's new government said in an interview with the BBC that Syria is not a threat to the world and called for international sanctions to be lifted.
While many Syrian refugees are eager to return home now that the Assad regime has fallen, it's a day millions in the Syrian diaspora had been waiting years to see. But mixed with the hope for the future, some are afraid the current instability could lead to further chaos for Syria.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before Ahmad Morjan hugs his mother for the first time in 13 years, they both kneel in prayer. Gratitude for a reunion they never believed would come.
This is one of many emotional homecomings across Syria after the sudden fall of the Assad regime.
At just 19 years old, with security forces hunting him down, Morjan fled his family's home in Aleppo. Here he is in 2016.
Reporting for an opposition-based media network as barrel bombs rain down from the sky.
Later that year, Morjan filmed the exodus as thousands withdrew from the last remaining rebel enclave in Aleppo.
We are leaving with our dignity, Morjan says in this clip, and we will return one day.
That promised return is now finally on the horizon. Morjan says he is planning to move back to Aleppo from Gaziantep, Turkey, where he currently lives with his wife and their two young daughters.
ABDELAZIZ: What is your dream now for Syria's future?
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): I'm optimistic about the future, he says, and I have huge hope that the country will be better than before.
But not all are keen to hurry back to an unstable country with an uncertain future, says this human rights defender.
HUSSAM KASSAS, SYRIAN ASYLUM SEEKER: There's no sustainable peace, which makes me really afraid of getting back there.
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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Hussam Kassas, who is seeking asylum in the United Kingdom, is among tens of thousands of Syrians whose applications for asylum were suspended after the U.K. and other European countries paused the process to reassess now that the threat of Assad is gone.
For years, Kassas has documented potential war crimes committed by all major parties to the conflict. If he goes back, he says, his family could be targeted, or worse.
ABDELAZIZ: Why do you not feel safe to return?
KASSAS: We expected a lot of revenge killing will happen. Those soldiers will seek revenge from the people who were trying to hold them accountable, actually.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Many Syrians in the diaspora long to return and rebuild, but this moment of great hope brings with it great uncertainty.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Last hour, I spoke with Anwar Al-Bunni, a Syrian human rights lawyer and one of the founders of the Syrian Human Rights Association. I asked him about the emotions he's feeling in the wake of Assad's ouster and the de facto government in power. Here he is.
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ANWAR AL-BUNNI, SYRIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER AND CO-FOUNDER, SYRIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION: I am so optimistic.
I am so optimistic and maybe I am concerned, worried somehow, but in general I am optimistic because I believe with the Syrians. I believe there is now anybody can force Syrians to follow any ideology. The Syrians who test freedom, they will not let it down anymore.
Besides, Syrians want, most of them want to build democracies. And if we stay here outside, we will let others to draw our future. So we must be there and fight peacefully also to get our democratic countries.
BRUNHUBER: Much of the fear centers around how they will treat minorities like Kurds and Christians like yourself.
AL-BUNNI: Until now, all the sign is positive. Until now, there is no, we expect before there will be a lot of blood, but that's very good sign. There is no much violence. There is something happened here or there. But everybody knows the rebels, it's not one side. It's not HTAC.
So there is another group who maybe like ISIS, but there is other group also that is lying and support the democratic country. So it's need time to separate and let the process go on.
And the people will appear themselves and at last the Syrian democracies will build. So we will fight peacefully there. Not from outside and be worried and okay, I am afraid. It's not the solution I think.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Medics in Gaza tell Reuters Israel launched several strikes on Thursday killing dozens of Palestinians. The attacks were mainly focused in and around Gaza City where buildings and homes were flattened. Some shelters and refugee camps were also hit.
Medicins Sans Frontieres or Doctors Without Borders is accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing. In a new report published Thursday, Israel has denied allegations of ethnic cleansing in the past saying its goal is to wipe out Hamas.
Meanwhile, an Israeli official says real progress is being made toward a ceasefire and hostage deal, but the official added there are still gaps that must be closed with Hamas. Aid groups claim the IDF isn't allowing enough supplies into Gaza as the war rages on.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond traveled to the Kerem Shalom crossing and spoke to an Israeli official about the worsening humanitarian crisis.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: We are on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing where you are seeing pallets of humanitarian aid being offloaded here.
But the problem is this aid simply isn't getting to the people of Gaza in the quantities that are needed. Humanitarian aid agencies say that the Israeli government and the Israeli military are to blame for that. Not facilitating the safe distribution of aid. The Israelis deny that. They insist that enough aid is getting into Gaza and that they are facilitating that aid.
But I pressed one of the top Israeli officials responsible for getting that aid in on that very question.
They say that the issues are the Israeli military's unwillingness to facilitate safe distribution of aid.
COL. ABDULLAH HALABI, ISRAELI COORDINATION AND LIAISON ADMINISTRATION: The Israeli troops on the Israeli side just in the last few weeks facilitated several options in order to enter the aid to the Gazan side.
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DIAMOND: Does your role stop at this checkpoint? Do you believe that your role stops at this checkpoint that you're not responsible for how safely the aid can get distributed inside Gaza?
HALABI: The international community is responsible to deliver the aid from the crossing points to the people of Gaza. It's their responsibility.
DIAMOND: But don't you have a responsibility for making it safe?
HALABI: We facilitated the crossings and the aid till the crossing. We inspect the aid. We put it in the platforms and we encourage the humanitarian community and the organizations to come and to take the aid. The main problem, the main obstacle is the capabilities distribution.
DIAMOND: Amid that dispute between the aid agencies and the Israeli military these pallets of aid, they are piling up. And this isn't a theoretical problem. We are seeing that the humanitarian conditions in Gaza they simply aren't getting better.
In fact, there's a lot of chance that it could get worse. With the arrival of winter, the rains, the need for shelter is rising. Respiratory illnesses are rising and people are sometimes going without food for days.
Of course, a ceasefire deal could improve all of this bringing an enormous flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. We know that those negotiations, of course, are ongoing. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
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BRUNHUBER: The man accused of shooting a health care CEO on a Manhattan street is brought back to New York. He'll face new charges that could end up costing him everything. Details on Luigi Mangione's alleged motivation to kill, that's coming up here on CNN.
Plus, we'll hear from the victim-turned-heroine in France's mass rape trial and those who say the sentences were too light. Stay with us.
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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SR. CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): An extraordinary scene. 26-year-old Luigi Mangione shackled, wearing an orange jumpsuit.
His first time back in New York City since police say he fled after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was horrifically gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4th. Mangione evading police for days before eventually being arrested at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania.
Surrounded by NYPD detectives and FBI agents wearing bulletproof vests and carrying long guns, even New York City Mayor Eric Adams was there, addressing the support Mangione has received.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: You don't use a gun, and anyone that celebrates that, it is vile and it is sending the wrong message, and you're celebrating using violence to solve an issue.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The whirlwind day beginning in Pennsylvania, with Mangione leaving prison for the Blair County Courthouse, where he waived extradition.
UNKNOWN: We relinquished him to the custody of the New York City Police Department.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): He was placed in a black SUV and immediately taken to the airport and was flown by an NYPD plane to Long Island.
[03:20:06]
From there, he was put on an NYPD chopper to downtown Manhattan.
His attorneys believed Mangione would be appearing for state charges, but were redirected to a federal courthouse, where Mangione faces charges of murder through use of a firearm, stalking, and a firearms offense.
His attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo saying in court that this was a, quote, "highly unusual" situation that she'd never seen in 30 years of practicing law. She also said she had never seen a situation play out like this and asked for clarification on whether federal and state prosecutors are conducting two separate investigations.
The federal complaint revealing new details about what Mangione allegedly wrote in a notebook found on him when he was arrested. An entry marked August 15th said, quote, "the details are finally coming together" and the "target is insurance because it checks every box."
Another entry in October, quote, "describes an intent to," quote, "whack the CEO of one of the insurance companies at its major investor conference."
Mangione also facing 11 state counts in New York, including first and second degree murder. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg saying both cases will proceed.
ALVIN BRAGG, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Speaking generally, we've had state prosecutions and federal prosecutions proceed as parallel matters and we're in conversations with our law enforcement counterparts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Mangione is behind bars at the same federal jail where music mogul Sean Diddy Combs is being held on sex trafficking charges. The Metropolitan Detention Center is notorious for its poor living conditions and has been described as, quote, "hell on earth."
All right, now to the latest on Monday's deadly school shooting in Wisconsin.
Court documents show that 20-year-old Alexander Paffendorf of California admitted to the FBI that he plotted with a 15-year-old school shooter to carry out a separate mass shooting at a government building armed with explosives and a gun. Paffendorf has been ordered by the court to turn over his guns and ammunition to authorities within 48 hours.
One of his neighbors told CNN police carried out what appeared to be some sort of gun case where they searched Paffendorf's home.
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ALEX GALLEGOS, ALEXANDER PAFFENDORF'S NEIGHBOR: I'm just glad that the cops and everybody, FBI, whoever, was on top of it and is getting to the bottom of it before anything bad happens. I've only seen him a few times. He's real quiet. I've just seen him walk to his car and back, said hello. That's about it.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Wisconsin police are going through the 15-year- old's social media and documents to find out how she got the handgun used to kill a teacher and a 14-year-old student at a private school in Madison on Monday.
Police said Wednesday that a handgun and a second gun that wasn't used in the attack were found at the school. They say the motive for the shooting is still unclear.
A Michigan judge has denied a motion by Ethan Crumbly to withdraw his guilty plea in the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School. Crumbly killed four classmates and wounded seven other people in that attack. Attorneys argued the shooter, who was 15 at the time, didn't understand his rights when he pleaded guilty.
That deal left him a void at trial and resulted in a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Crumbly pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count of terrorism causing death and four counts of first- degree murder.
Well applause is ringing out around the world after all 51 men implicated in France's mass rape trial were found guilty on Thursday. The woman who gave up her anonymity for the chance to publicly shame them is being heralded as a hero.
Gisele Pelicot's husband solicited dozens of strangers to rape her while she was unconscious, an ultimate betrayal that she transformed into a twisted triumph. CNN's Melissa Bell picks up the story.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gisele Pelicot was determined that the shame should not be hers. Waving her anonymity and with it that of her rapists.
Rapists, we see you, shouted the crowd outside as inside, Dominique Pelicot received the maximum sentence of 20 years for the drugging and mass rape of his then-wife Gisele over nearly a decade.
Outside the court, there was anger that the 50 other men on trial alongside him had not received the maximum sentences sought by prosecutors.
But as she left the court, Gisele Pelicot made no comment on the verdicts.
GISELE PELICOT, SURVIVOR OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE (through translator): I have faith now in our capacity to carve out collectively a future where everyone, women and men, can live in harmony, in respect and mutual understanding.
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BELL (voice-over): A stark contrast to the brutality of a trial that saw the violent rapes of an unconscious Gisele Pelicot shown in court day after day.
Through the videos shot by her then husband of more than 50 years, Dominique Pelicot, unmasked by chance in 2020, when a guard caught him filming up women's skirts in a supermarket.
An incident that led police to the horrors that this unassuming retiree had on his phone and computer. Videos of more than 200 acts of aggravated rape against his wife, most including other men. It was not far from the couple's home in the sleepy town of Mazan in southern France that he met the men after recruiting them online.
Dominique Pelicot's lawyer said her client will consider whether to appeal.
We are going to take advantage of the delay, which gives us 10 days to decide if we want to appeal this decision, she said.
As she left court, Gisele Pelicot was again celebrated for making the trial public and for having, in her own words, forced shame onto the perpetrators and where it belongs.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Avignon.
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BRUNHUBER: A Georgia Court of Appeals has disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the 2020 election subversion case against Donald Trump and his alleged co-conspirators.
The court found that a significant appearance of impropriety was enough to potentially taint the case in the public eye. However, the court didn't dismiss the case entirely. Instead, a new special prosecutor would need to be appointed for it to continue.
Now the Fulton County D.A.'s office said it will appeal to the state Supreme Court. Further appeals could drag out the situation even more. Trump and his co-defendants have several challenges and legal arguments still under consideration.
French President Emmanuel Macron tours the devastation left by Cyclone Chido in Mayotte as local officials race to stop hunger and disease from spreading. We'll have the latest on the situation in the French territory after the break.
Plus, Russia's president talks about a possible meeting with his future U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, but without making any commitments. We'll explain that and more coming up. Please do stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
We're getting word of multiple fires and injuries in Ukraine's capital following the latest round of Russian strikes on Kyiv. Officials say at least one person was killed and nine others injured in the bombardment early Friday. Heating systems and infrastructure were damaged in several parts of the city.
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CNN crews on the ground described the explosions as loud and intense. Ukraine's Air Force says Russia may have used ballistic missiles in the attack. We'll keep an eye on this story and bring you the latest.
Meanwhile, political correctness was out the window on Thursday as Ukraine's president spoke about his Russian counterpart. Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a European Council meeting in Brussels asking for more air defense systems to protect Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
He also responded to an idea floated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his annual press conference suggesting it would be interesting to see Ukraine's air defenses take on Russia's new Oreshnik ballistic missile.
On a response on social media, Zelenskyy posted a video of the conference and called the Russian leader a, quote, "dumbass" in the text above it. His verbal response was no more flattering. Listen to this.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): He says that we will strike somewhere in Kyiv, for example, with the Oreshnik, our new bomb, and let them put up air defenses. And let's see what happens. Do you think this is an adequate person? Just a scumbag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now Putin in his press conference talked about the war in Ukraine and a possible meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who's expected to push for peace talks. As Brian Todd reports, the Russian leader isn't putting his cards on the table yet.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the tightly choreographed, celebrated ritual that's become his year-end news conference, the 72-year-old Russian president spoke about the possibility of meeting with President-elect Donald Trump after Trump takes office.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I don't know when we'll meet because he hasn't said anything about it. I haven't spoken to him at all in over four years. Of course, I'm ready for this at any time, and I will be ready for a meeting if he wants it.
TODD (voice-over): Vladimir Putin's claim that he hasn't spoken with Trump in more than four years contradicts reporting by journalist Bob Woodward that the two men have had as many as seven conversations since 2021.
Trump has also denied having multiple calls with Putin since leaving office. But Trump told CNN last May he could end Russia's war on Ukraine within 24 hours, a promise he repeated throughout the 2024 campaign, though offering few specifics.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: We'll be talking to President Putin and we'll be talking to the representatives, Zelenskyy and representatives from Ukraine, we've got to stop it. It's carnage. TODD (voice-over): One analyst says Putin is being ultra-careful when
publicly discussing a potential meeting with Trump.
JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUNCT PROF., GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY AND FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: He says, yes, I'm open to discussing, et cetera, but he doesn't really get specific. And I think that is because he doesn't know exactly what Trump is going to propose.
TODD (voice-over): At the news conference in Moscow Thursday, Putin put a positive spin on his war in Ukraine, insisting Russian forces will push the Ukrainian army out of the southern Russian region of Kursk, where it's been since August.
PUTIN (through translator): The guys are fighting. There is a battle going on right now, and serious battles. It's unclear why. There is no military sense in the Ukrainian armed forces entering the Kursk region or holding on there now as they're doing, throwing their best units there to be slaughtered.
TODD (voice-over): Trump has said the Biden administration's decision to allow Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia with American made missiles could escalate the war. And he again lambasted that move this week.
TRUMP: Certainly not just weeks before I take over. Why would they do that without asking me what I thought? I thought it was a very stupid thing to do.
TODD (voice-over): But one analyst says this.
EVELYN FARKAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE MCCAIN INSTITUTE: I think it strengthens Donald Trump's hand as he enters office because he will have a Ukraine that continues to have a bargaining chip, a Ukraine that can potentially pressure the Russian president.
TODD: At the Moscow news conference during the entire four and a half hours of it, Vladimir Putin never spoke about and was never asked about the thousands of North Korean troops fighting alongside the Russians in the Kursk region. And there may be good reason for Putin's omission.
In recent days, U.S. and South Korean officials have told CNN the North Koreans have suffered hundreds of casualties there, including about 100 believed to have been killed.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Joe Biden will make what's likely to be a highly personal trip in the final days of his administration. The White House says he'll travel to Rome next month and meet Pope Francis. Biden is a devout Catholic who met the pontiff at least five times before.
Officials say the two leaders will discuss efforts to advance peace around the world. Biden will also meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella. That could be his final international trip as president.
Alright. We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, reports of unsavory side effects from popular weight loss drugs, which users say they weren't warned about. We'll have that and more coming up. Please do stay with us.
[03:35:03]
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BRUNHUBER: We're learning new details about a terrible tragedy in Nigeria, where at least 35 children have been killed in a crowd crash at a fun fair.
Police say six others were critically injured. The mayhem unfolding at an Islamic high school in the southwestern part of the country. It's not clear what set off the crowd, but authorities say the main sponsor of the event is among the eight people arrested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAYO LAWAL, DEPUTY GOVERNOR OF NIGERIA'S OYO STATE: The resultant effect of this very careless act is the huge death that we have recorded, unfortunately, and avoidably too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: According to a local radio station, organizers were expected to host 5,000 children under the age of 13 at the free event where they could win prizes and scholarships. A police spokesperson has promised justice will be served.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to visit more neighborhoods in the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte today, days after it was hit by a powerful cyclone, Chido. On Thursday, Macron surveyed some of the devastated areas. At least 31 people are confirmed dead, but the death toll could reach into the hundreds or even thousands.
French authorities have distributed tons of food and other supplies to the island.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
But an angry crowd booed and shouted at the French President, begging for more aid. This is what Macron had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Rebuilding Mayotte, that's the commitment I've made. That's the wish of the elected representatives of the population. Rebuilding both housing and sustainable public buildings that meet the standards and that will cope with events like this cyclone, or the natural events that, unfortunately, we have to deal with in the region. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Cyclone Chido knocked out electrical grids, crushed schools and hospitals, and damaged Mayotte's airport control tower when it struck last weekend. Authorities are racing to stop hunger and disease from spreading, and local officials are warning that lack of safe drinking water and poor sanitation conditions could lead to a disease outbreak.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Mozambique, where the storm hit after passing through Mayotte, dozens were reported killed.
All right, I want to bring in Jean-Francois Corty, President of Medecins du Monde France, who joins us now from Paris. Thank you so much for being here with us. So just to start, what is the latest situation in Mayotte?
JEAN-FRANCOIS CORTY, PRESIDENT, MEDICINS DU MONDE FRANCE: OK, you know, this is a huge catastrophe, because before the cyclone, there were like 70 percent of the population that were very poor, and also something like 30 percent of the population had no access to clean water.
[03:40:06]
Today, we don't have a clear overview about the number of deaths and wounded people, probably hundreds or thousands deaths, because all the slums have been destroyed. And we think that there are something like 150,000 people living in those slums. So the situation is really catastrophic.
Everything has been destroyed. And there is a lot of huge pressure on food access and also clean water access.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, let me ask you about that in terms of access to clean water. I mean, what are the effects there in terms of disease and so on, if people don't have access to clean water?
CORTY: Yes, you know, at this time, the huge pressure is on food and water, because Mayotte is an island. There are no capacity to make by themselves food. They are obliged to import it.
So there are huge logistic activity to import all this food and water access. There is an emergency to take in charge wounded people and also to take in charge all the chronic diseases, as usual, I mean. There is something like 300,000 people living in Mayotte, and all the medical health system has been destroyed, except the hospital in Mamoudzou.
And also, we have to take care about epidemic risk, because in Mayotte, there is a common way of cholera outbreak.
Beginning of 2024, there was a cholera outbreak. So that means we have to be very careful on those issues, like also malaria. Some tropical diseases are located in Mayotte. So there is a huge emergency also in health access for population who lost everything. We have also to insist on habitation. Probably something like 200,000
people, they have no house today. So it's a huge emergency for all those aspects.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, it's a huge challenge. And as you touched on, I mean, this is France's poorest territory. And we saw there, before I introduced you, when President Macron visited, some people embraced him, others, as we heard, they're booed. So what do you make of the French government's response so far, and what more needs to be done? What's the priority?
CORTY: Yeah, today, you know, I think the priority is to have a common solidarity with the emergency action.
And so Medecins du Monde, my organization, we also were on the field for a long time, and we have no news from part of our team until now. Just have to know that something like 15 people, we don't know if they're still alive or not, because it's difficult to have access by mobile phone, by road, because everything is destroyed.
So we are now on solidarity action to respond to the emergency. I think the French authority regarding the emergency are doing the right thing. But the polemic is about the lack of capacity to prevent it, you know.
There are, well, not enough plans to prevent this catastrophe. We know it will happen. And the other thing is that we have to be careful about the fact that the head will develop now. This head should stay a long time.
You know, most of the catastrophic situation, we know that after the, I mean, the magnetic time, everybody left the island, and still a lot of people in need. So we have to provide medical assistance, food, clean water, and ask people to rebuild within a few months and probably within a few years.
So it's very important to stay and to imagine that we have to stay a long time to respond to all the need.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, certainly it promises to be a long-lasting disaster. So many challenges. Let's just hope that help gets to those who need it most. We'll have to leave it there. Jean-Francois Corty in Paris. Thank you so much.
And we'll be right back here on CNN NEWSROOM.
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[03:45:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Thousands of Amazon drivers went on strike in four U.S. states on Thursday, with less than a week to go before Christmas. The company's promising it won't affect holiday deliveries, arguing that these aren't official Amazon employees. Members of the Teamsters Union are striking at seven facilities, claiming to represent about 7,000 Amazon workers nationwide. But these drivers work for other companies that are contracted by Amazon.
So Amazon says it isn't required to negotiate with them. Of course, that's not how the workers feel. Some say they're struggling to put Christmas presents under the tree this year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: We're going to be fighting until we get what we deserve.
UNKNOWN: We want a living wage. We live in one of the most expensive cities in the country. We want to be able to afford to live here.
TRENTON KNIGHT, AMAZON DRIVER: You look at other companies like UPS, I mean, they are doing a lower volume now and they're getting paid a lot more than we're getting paid. We're getting more volume and less pay. That doesn't seem fair.
SAMANTHA THOMAS, AMAZON DRIVER: We already came to that conclusion that we were not recognized, even though we are the face of Amazon. We wear the uniform. We drive the trucks. When we pull up to your house, you say, oh, that's Amazon, not that's Samantha or that's this. We're Amazon. We should be recognized as such.
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BRUNHUBER: And thousands of U.S. Starbucks workers are set to go on strike in the coming hours in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, and other cities will be added through Christmas Eve. The union says Starbucks hasn't met its demands for immediate and future pay raises. The union has struck Starbucks several times in the past, but many stores stayed open because managers and workers from non-union stores replaced the workers.
Widespread alleged drone sightings across the northeast U.S. have caused public confusion and concern. Well, now the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is restricting the use of drones in 22 locations in New Jersey until January 17th. It's limiting flights above power stations and other critical infrastructure.
Drone restrictions have been in place in New Jersey since late November at a Trump golf course and a military research facility. New York's governor also announced that as a precaution, federal authorities are planning to temporarily restrict flights over critical infrastructure there as well. The FAA has said multiple times that there is no threat to safety or national security.
The weight loss drug Ozempic has been hailed by many as a miracle worker, transforming the lives of millions of its users. But as the drug and others like it rise in popularity, thousands of people are experiencing unwanted side effects without warning.
CNN's Nick Watt has more.
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PATRICIA, FORMER OZEMPIC USER: I'm always going to the bathroom. I had to prepare myself for this, and I don't know how long I can sit.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Patricia is one of the 15 million or so Americans who've taken Ozempic or one of the other so-called GLP-1 drugs. She is diabetic.
WATT: What did you kind of hope it would achieve for you?
PATRICIA: Lower my A1C and help me to lose weight.
WATT (voice-over): She's a veteran.
PATRICIA: This is my battalion I was in. Can you pick me up?
WATT: There. Am I right?
PATRICIA: Yes.
WATT: Yes.
WATT (voice-over): She did lose weight. Her A1C did fall. Then, she says, her doctor doubled the dose, as suggested by the manufacturer, and within two weeks--
PATRICIA: I was going so often, I began to bleed. When it became bright red blood, I knew it was hospital time.
WATT (voice-over): She saw a doctor in the E.R.
PATRICIA: He said, you have a lower G.I. erectile infection and you're hemorrhaging.
WATT (voice-over): More than 1,300 people have already filed suit against the makers of these drugs over side effects they say they suffered and inadequate warnings. Patricia plans to file soon.
WATT: And how many clients do you have now on this?
ANDREW VAN ARSDALE, PATRICIA'S ATTORNEY: We have over 6,000 clients.
PATRICIA: It doesn't say it on the pamphlet that you're going to be hemorrhaging.
WATT: And if it had said that on the --
PATRICIA: I wouldn't have taken it.
WATT: (voice-over): The label does warn of diarrhea, but not hemorrhaging.
VAN ARSDALE: I do think we'll find evidence that they were aware that some of these reports were coming in, and maybe they didn't do enough about it.
[03:50:05]
WATT (voice-over): The maker of Ozempic declined an interview, but gave us a statement that reads in part, Novo Nordisk believes that the allegations in these lawsuits are without merit, and we intend to vigorously defend against these claims. The known risks and benefits are described in their FDA-approved labeling.
UNKNOWN: You may have seen photos of celebrities and others showing off dramatic weight loss.
WATT (voice-over): These drugs are now ingrained in the zeitgeist.
UNKNOWN: Party time, guys!
WATT (voice-over): "South Park," "SNL."
UNKNOWN: Since my doctor prescribed Ozempic for Ramadan, I've never gotten more work done.
WATT (voice-over): And so many commercials in between.
WATT: I can hum the tune from the commercial.
VAN ARSDALE: There's a reason you can hum the tune. There's a reason everybody knows about this. Because of the amount of money they're putting into the marketing of these products.
PATRICIA: I heard about Ozempic on the TV.
WATT (voice-over): Patricia has now stopped taking it, but, she says, is still suffering.
PATRICIA: Uncontrollable diarrhea.
WATT: Which makes life quite hard to live.
PATRICIA: Right. So I stay pretty much close to the house. I still have the effects of uncontrollable going to the bathroom.
WATT: There are, of course, many, many people taking these drugs very happily, and getting great benefit from them. Patricia and her lawyer are not saying these drugs should be banned.
They're just saying that the manufacturers, the pharmaceutical companies, should spend a lot more time and effort looking into potential side effects, and should make the warnings around those potential side effects much more explicit. There is, of course, a long and complicated legal road ahead.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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BRUNHUBER: And a Los Angeles Lakers star, LeBron James, has set a new NBA record in his 22nd season as a pro basketball player. He's now spent more time on the court during the regular season than any other player in the league's history.
James' combined playing time stands at almost 57,500 minutes, which he reached during Thursday's win over the Sacramento Kings. The old record was held by NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for 35 years.
American skier Lindsey Vonn at the age of 40 is preparing for her return to the World Cup in Switzerland this weekend. It marks a major comeback for one of the greatest skiers of all time. Vonn retired from the sport in 2019 and underwent a successful partial knee replacement surgery earlier this year.
She spoke about her return to the sport she loves and the reaction from critics in this exclusive interview with Eurosports' Viktoria Rebensburg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDSEY VONN, 82 CAREER WORLD CUP WINS: I mean, anytime you're skiing downhill or honestly any alpine events, you always take a risk. It doesn't matter who you are, anything can happen. And that's the risk that we all take. And that's part of, I think, the thrill of downhill is that it's dangerous.
You have to be willing to risk everything in order to succeed. And it's always been the case. You know, I wouldn't be doing downhill if I wasn't willing to take the risk. And things haven't changed now that I've had a knee replacement.
My doctors have cleared me. You know, they're very confident in what I'm doing. I wouldn't be doing it if it was like a reckless, you know, idea. I'm, you know, I think a lot of people have a lot of wild ideas about how crazy it is that what I'm doing.
But I'm not as -- I'm not a dumb person. I've talked to the best doctors in the world and they've cleared me to do this. So it's not a bigger risk.
I'm sure I'm going to have to have another knee replacement at some point in the future because I'm only 40 years old. But that would happen whether I skied or didn't ski. So to me, it's the same.
VIKTORIA REBENSBURG, EUROSPORT: When someone knows downhill skiing better than you, or like you are the one who knows this sport the best, you know, so.
VONN: I think that's something that bothers me, is that people think that I'm taking more risk than anyone else. But I know downhill probably better than almost anyone out there.
REBENSBURG: What else, absolutely.
VONN: So I mean, you know, there's 18 year olds out there skiing downhill who probably have never run a World Cup downhill. I'm definitely a lot safer than those people. And I also feel like I have a lot of knowledge that I want to share, you know, with my teammates. And honestly, I've always said anyone that wants help or has a
question, I'm always open. I mean, I'm always open to sharing and I want to share, you know, my knowledge because downhill is a sport where the more knowledge you have, the better you can be. And I want to help others succeed as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Macau is marking 25 years since it returned to Chinese rule after hundreds of years under Portuguese control. Chinese President Xi Jinping was there for a special flag-raising ceremony a few hours ago. Macau is a Chinese special administrative region located near Hong Kong. Xi also presided over the inauguration of Macau's new leader, the first since the handover to be born in mainland China and not have a background in business.
[03:55:08]
One of Europe's most impressive holiday spectacles is in a place you might not expect. Kosovo's capital, Pristina, is 95 percent Muslim. That isn't stopping people from enjoying a decidedly Christian celebration. They're flocking to three Christmas markets and a display of cultural diversity.
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MICHAEL SEHLSTEDT, CHRISTMAS MARKET VISITOR FROM SWEDEN: I think it's very clear that, you know, Kosovo will take any opportunity for a social gathering, even if there is no religious connection to Christmas or anything like that. Any opportunity to be outside, to meet and to see other people, I think will be popular here in Pristina.
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BRUNHUBER: Now the markets include such symbols of the Yuletide as Father Christmas or Santa Claus, as well as activities for the kids. And mainly it's a chance to set aside differences and enjoy oneself. Pristina's mayor says, quote, "we're celebrating life, we're celebrating the city, we're celebrating freedom, inclusivity."
Well, the denizens of the London Zoo just got an early Christmas feast. So while llamas Dainty and Andre were treated to wreaths of leafy branches, Molly, Nuru and Wilford, the giraffes, had a more traditional Christmas dish of Brussels sprouts served straight from a plastic jug, you can see there.
And while this may be no cause for celebration for our herbivore friends, three North African lion cubs were recently born at Whipsnade Zoo, north of London. Footage from its cub cam shows them learning to play and suckle while their mom takes care of them.
Now, these cubs are a success story, but North African lions face greater threats in the wild than South African lions and are in need of conservation efforts to help the species survive. Very cute. All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim
Brunhuber. More CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster in London after a quick break.
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