Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Ban On Social Media For Children Under 16 Takes Effect; Volodymyr Zelenskyy Meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni To Discuss Peace Plan; Pete Hegseth Briefs Top Lawmakers Amid Boat Strike Controversy; Israel to Reopen Border Crossing With Jordan; Syrian Army Driver Reveals Mass Graves Under Assad Regime; Influencer Helps Elderly Veteran to Be Able to Retire; Nonna Silvi, Italian TikToker wins "Creator of The Year"; Picasso Painting to Be Raffled in Paris for Alzheimer's Research; UNESCO Could Designate Italian Food a Cultural Treasure; Argentina Breaks Record for Largest Golden Retriever Gathering. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 10, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:37]

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

Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Australia takes a bold leap with the world's first ban on kids under 16 using social media apps. How two teens are fighting back.

Ukraine's president is preparing a revised version of a U.S. backed peace plan, what President Trump has to say about that.

And why this 84-year-old grandmother was just named Italy's TikTok creator of the year.

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

CHURCH: Good to have you with us, and we begin in Australia where teens and children are now adjusting to life without some of the most popular social media apps. Australia's first in the world, sweeping ban on social media for those under 16 went into effect on Wednesday. The new law comes after years of concerns about the potential negative impacts that social media platforms and their addictive algorithms can have on mental health.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads argues the new ban will actually make children less safe. Most of the 10 banned platforms say they will comply with the law using age verification technology. Australia's prime minister says the ban allows families to take back power from big tech companies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Make no mistake, this reform will change lives for Australian kids and allowing them to just have their childhood, for Australian parents, enabling them to have greater peace of mind, but also for the global community, who are looking at Australia and saying, well, if Australia can do it, why can't we?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But the ban is already drawing push back. Two teens are now suing to block the law, claiming it violates their rights to political expression, and other critics have raised free speech and privacy concerns. CNN's Angus Watson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Teenagers Noah and Macy are taking their government to court in a fight to stay on social media.

NOAH JONES, PLAINTIFF: Taking away how we communicate to the world, this is how we do it. It's a modern day. It's social media.

WATSON (voice-over): From Wednesday, Australia will enforce a world- first law banning children under 16 from many of the biggest platforms. Supported by a freedom advocacy group, Macy and Noah's case asserts a right to political communication. The High Court has agreed to hear it next year.

WATSON: So, what will you lose when social media is taken away from you?

MACY NEYLAND, PLAINTIFF: Well, we will lose connections, but we will lose our democracy. This law is saying that democracy begins at 16, which is condescending and it's incorrect.

JONES: Listen, there are definitely negatives on social media. I'm not denying that. I completely agree. We're saying that getting rid of the kids is not the solution. We didn't do anything wrong.

WATSON (voice-over): The government says it is acted to protect children from potentially harmful content, harmful people and addictive algorithms.

JULIE INMAN GRANT, AUSTRALIAN E-SAFETY COMMISSIONER: And there are these powerful, harmful, deceptive design features that even adults are powerless to fight against like autoplay and list scroll and snap streams. So, what chance do our children have?

WATSON (voice-over): Under the new law, young social media users won't be punished for being on age-restricted apps, nor will their parents. Instead, Australia is requiring tech companies to take reasonable steps to keep under 16s off their platforms and threatening fines in the tens of millions of dollars.

Tech companies say they are already building safer systems. A.I. face detectors will likely be employed to verify age, with tools provided by third-party companies like Verifymy. Users may also be asked to upload their identity documents.

ANDY LULHAM, VERIFYMY CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Australia is certainly leading the way when it comes to requiring an age check for every user to determine that they are over 16 or not.

WATSON: The government's ban is a catch-all. If you're under the age of 16, you're off social media. But children are all different. They've engaged with social media differently and they feel differently about the ban.

[02:05:04]

WATSON (voice-over): The students at All Saints Anglican School on Australia's Gold Coast are learning from cyber safety advocate, Kirra Pendergast, about how to best avoid danger on social media.

KIRRA PENDERGAST, CTRL+SHIFT CHIEF DIGITAL STRATEGIST: Because it is a delay. It's not a flat-out ban. They're not banning the internet. We're not trying to boil the ocean. It's literally just a delay age. And so. they've got time to catch up to become more resilient and think more critically about that how they use apps.

WATSON (voice-over): In their final year, Nicholas and Ruby wonder if maybe their school career would have been easier without the distraction of social media.

RUBY PETTY, ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN SCHOOL CAPTAIN: Nick and I were talking before about how if we could we would delete Snapchat today. But it's more the fact that because there's now so much reliability and connection based off one app, you don't want to delete it.

WATSON (voice-over): Perhaps for young Australians, the fear of missing out won't be so bad if everyone is forced to miss out together.

Angus Watson, CNN, Sydney, Australia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: My next guest is the official in charge of undertaking and implementing this new policy. Julie Inman Grant is Australia's eSafety Commissioner and she joins me now from Sydney. Appreciate you being with us.

JULIE INMAN GRANT, AUSTRALIA'S ESAFETY COMMISSIONER: Thank you for having me, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, the rest of the world is watching very closely as Australia starts this first ban on social media access for kids under 16. What are you hoping and expecting this ban will achieve?

GRANT: Right, well, a lot of things as you heard, we're reframing this really as a social media delay. There are exclusions for certain messaging apps and online gaming apps, because when Parliament deliberated, they didn't want to be cutting off young people's digital lifelines, or their ways of communicating, connecting and creating, but wanted to keep them away and give them a reprieve from the persuasive and pervasive design features that are designed to keep us all hooked.

And to help us build their digital and algorithmic literacy skills and their critical resilience, this is work we've been doing for about 10 years. And you know, we know that children between the ages of 13 and 15 are developing their identity. They're just learning about impulse control. They're also not cognitively or developmentally ready to deal with the content and the conduct that is coming across their screens at the moment.

CHURCH: And of course, it's worth noting not everyone in Australia is in favor of this ban, with some warning it could isolate those young people who rely on their social media communities, while others worry it may encourage kids to go to the darker side of the internet, looking for alternative ways to access certain platforms. What's your response to those concerns?

GRANT: Right. Well, we've canvassed all those concerns. In fact, these were concerns that we raised ourselves when this was deliberated by Parliament, and that is why there are exclusions in there, rather than a absolute prohibition or a ban as they say.

We know that some vulnerable communities feel more themselves in, you know, online, than they do in the real world, and they use this as a digital lifeline. So, one of the things we did was sign and create a digital rights commitment to children to make sure that we were doing this in the right way. We've been working with mental health and youth based organizations to make sure that the language that we're using and the other outlets that they have are very clear.

And we're encouraging parents to talk to their kids about starting the chat and deleting the apps themselves.

So, again, as the Prime Minister said, it really is about giving back children really important elements of connection. We're going to be evaluating, are they sleeping more? Are they taking fewer antidepressants? Are their test scores better? Are they engaging interpersonally? Are they reading more books? And we're doing this with 11 academics that work in this specialty area across the globe, including three universities in the United States.

CHURCH: Yes. And of course, Australia is seen as a case study for other nations, including here in the United States. So, what were some of the tragic stories that triggered this ban across Australia?

GRANT: Well, I take my hats off to so many parents, from Emma Mason (ph) to Mia Banister (ph) to Rob Evans (ph) to Wayne Holdsworth to Kate Edward (ph) and they were all devastating stories that had the nexus in social media. Some were about disordered eating. Some were about cyber bullying that was so extreme that that was the way that Tilly (ph) thought the only way she had out. And another was sexual extortion targeting Mac Holdsworth.

[02:10:07] So, the stories are numerous, and we actually run a cyber bullying

scheme and an image-based abuse scheme where we help young people take down harmful content day in and day out, with a 98 percent success rate. We know the more quickly we do that, the more we can relieve their emotional and mental distress. We don't need any more casualties.

CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. And how will Australia enforce and police this ban, and what are the next steps in the process?

GRANT: Right. Well, so, our power started today, and you know, we've built a lot of allowances into the regulation. We know that some of the implementations are not going to be perfect, that some kids will fall through the cracks.

So, we've made sure that the platforms themselves have clear reporting cues for parents or educators if they didn't capture them under 16, appeals processes if they over block.

But we're also putting the onus on the platforms to prevent what we call recidivism, so kids creating new or fake imposter accounts, but also age based circumvention like spoofing of the systems or location based circumvention through things like VPNs.

So, tomorrow, we'll be issuing 10 information notices to find out how many accounts of under 16 have been deactivated or removed. We're hoping for that information within the next seven to 10 days. We're, of course, without giving away the regulatory tool craft. We're looking at other ways to follow this. We're looking at migratory patterns, and, you know, other platforms that may not be captured that young people will be going to, but we know that these companies have had their tethers into kids for so long that there's a critical mass of where their friends are.

And so, as they migrate to, you know, 15 to 20 other platforms, they lose that critical mass. And I believe they will adapt and start interacting together and using FaceTime and video conferencing and messaging platforms together. Kids are very ingenuitive, but they're also really good at adapting and they will.

CHURCH: Julie Inman Grant, thank you so much. Appreciate you joining us.

GRANT: Thank you.

CHURCH: Breaking news from Norway, Venezuelan opposition leader and this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado will not be attending the Nobel ceremony, that is, according to the Norwegian state broadcaster. She was due to address reporters in Oslo on Tuesday, but the news conference was canceled by the Nobel Institute. Machado is in hiding due to security concerns. Venezuelan authorities have warned that traveling to Norway could make the opposition leader a fugitive. The Nobel Institute announced Machado's prize in October, honoring "Her tireless work in promoting democratic rights and her fight for a peaceful transition." Ukraine's president says his team is preparing an updated version of the Trump administration's peace plan, and could be ready to send it to the U.S. on Wednesday, that's in the coming hours. President Zelenskyy is clear that his country will not surrender Russian occupied territory, but U.S. President Donald Trump has this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This deal of Zelenskyy rejects this deal. Is there a timeline? Is there a point at which you say, OK?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, he's going to have to get on the ball and start accepting things. You know, when you're losing, who's it losing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he's also working with European allies on documents about security guarantees and Ukraine's post war recovery.

CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on Zelenskyy's diplomatic trip to Italy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't have the details from the Italian side about what was discussed. We understand that the meeting between Zelenskyy and Meloni lasted for 90 minutes.

Now, Zelenskyy, afterwards, put out a very brief statement saying that the discussions with the Italian Prime Minister were excellent and very substantive.

But certainly it's interesting that, you know, yesterday he was at 10 Downing Street, where he met with the leaders of the U.K., France, and Germany, who aren't necessarily President Trump's favorite European leaders.

But today Meloni is the one perhaps who can put that sort of gold star on Zelenskyy's so-called refined version of the American plan. She is somebody who Trump, to the best of my knowledge, has never said anything negative. So that's certainly a positive point.

[02:15:06]

So, perhaps now that he's gone through sort of all the major leaders of Europe and will come up finally after meeting with Meloni, something that perhaps might be pleasing to a very touchy American president.

Certainly, what we saw today earlier, he met with Pope Leo, who the pope expressed an urgent desire in the words of the Vatican for a just and lasting peace. And certainly, what we know is that Ukrainians were not happy with the initial 28-point plan put out by the Trump administration, then it was cut down to 20 points. But the feeling among many Ukrainians and many European leaders as well was that this was a plan that certainly leaned in the direction of the Russians far more than Ukraine, particularly when it came to territorial concessions.

The plan involved or envisioned Ukraine basically giving up the entirety of the Donbas Region, a region I covered extensively when we used to travel to Ukraine, where we saw that the Ukrainians have sacrificed so much in terms of blood and material, that for them it was a very difficult pill to swallow, to surrender the land they still control in the Donbas to the Russians.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Tymofiy Mylovanov is the president of the Kyiv School of Economics, and is Ukraine's former Minister of Economic Development and Trade. He joins me now. Appreciate you being with us.

TYMOFIY MYLOVANOV, PRESIDENT, KYIV SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Thank you.

CHURCH: So, after talks with European leaders, Ukraine is set to hand over an updated peace proposal to the U.S. today, that is, according to President Zelenskyy. But how will that revised plan be received by President Trump after Ukraine's leader refused to surrender any Russian occupied territories, and of course, after Trump just called him a loser?

MYLOVANOV: Well, I think, you know, we need to move forward. And we, meaning Ukraine, Europe, the world, the United States, and President Trump specifically, I think, is interested in having this war end, and doesn't really care that much. That's my impression about the conditions. He wants it to be over. And he's trying to, you know, whatever fits Russia, whatever suits Russia, if Ukraine can follow it, that's fine.

So, basically, the U.S. has a lot of leverage over Ukraine and very little over Russia, but it does have sanctions, and sanctions, my understanding is, our analysis shows that they starting to bite.

So, you know, the real problem is Russia is probably not going to move much away from that plan. And so, the question is, if Ukraine, if our president, finds a way to package the deal, to put enough commas and caveats that this plan becomes acceptable to everyone.

CHURCH: Right. And President Zelenskyy says three different documents are currently under discussion with the Americans and Europeans regarding the war. The first, a 20-point evolving peace plan framework. The second on security guarantees, and the third on Ukraine's recovery after the war. So, what do you think that revised peace plan looks like right now?

MYLOVANOV: I think the sticking points there really are. I mean, they're not sticking they're fundamental about what happens with the occupied territories, in particular, with the territories that are not yet completely, you know, in gray zone. They're not completely controlled by Russians, not by Ukrainians, but that's the rest of Donbas that the discussion is over.

And then the restrictions on the military size of Ukraine and the ability of Ukraine to protect itself, I think these are two most fundamental points. Ukraine wants to protect, to be able to defend itself, and Ukraine wants not to surrender territories.

The reality on the ground is that many of these territories that are in dispute right now are really in the front lines. They're really destroyed, and they're -- it's a very -- it's like not quite no man's land. People live there, but it's in a very, very difficult situation.

And so, you know, that sort of gives unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, to politicians a lot of ways to position it properly.

So, I think President Zelenskyy and President Trump can find a way to do it, but it will require a lot of sort of surgical diplomatic work.

CHURCH: And of course, in response to calls from Donald Trump for Ukraine to hold elections, President Zelenskyy says his country is expecting to hold a vote in the next 60 to 90 days. If the U.S. and Europe guarantee security for those elections, how critical is it that elections are held, and what outcome would you expect?

[02:20:13]

MYLOVANOV: Well, so, this is very interesting, because President Putin has been -- has been pushing the illegitimacy or lack of legitimacy of President Zelenskyy throughout the entire war and throughout all of the negotiations.

So, in some sense, President Trump is now, you know, aligning with that by saying, listen, President Zelenskyy, you know, you need to have elections. You know, no one has elections during the war. It's really irresponsible. Ukrainians don't want elections during the war.

So, you know, this a little bit, you know, back and forth in diplomatic language. Zelenskyy doesn't want to contradict President Trump, and so that's the same tactics we Ukraine is using now put in a coma.

We're happy to do that. But and then reality comes in, and this reality, in this case, please guarantee security, which means, after the cease fire, after the peace.

CHURCH: Would Zelenskyy win an election? And is there a hope here on Russia's part, and perhaps President Trump as well, that someone who is easier to influence may replace him in the end?

MYLOVANOV: So, I think indeed, both President Trump and President Putin might hope there will be an easier person to deal with, but I don't think it's going to happen.

So, Russia in particular might hope for some kind of Georgian scenario where a neutral candidate comes in who is a bit of a Trojan horse, but I don't think this is realistic in Ukraine. Most likely, you know, I'm 100 percent sure if someone else wins the

elections, the foreign policy and the domestic policy of Ukraine will continue to be the same. But is it guaranteed that Zelenskyy wins? Not at all.

CHURCH: Tymofiy Mylovanov, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

Just ahead, pressure is growing on the Pentagon to release all the video from a double tap boat strike in September, but we're hearing the Defense Secretary still won't commit. We'll have details after a short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:26:45]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The top Democrat in the Senate says U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will not commit to allowing Congress to see the full video of a controversial strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean. Chuck Schumer's comments come after Hegseth briefed congressional leaders and his bipartisan calls grow for the release of footage from the double tap strike that killed two survivors. CNN's Arlette Saenz has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top Trump administration officials spent several hours briefing senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill as there is intensifying scrutiny of the administration's follow up strike that killed survivors on alleged drug trafficking boat back in September. It all comes as Republicans and Democratic lawmakers are pushing for the full release of the video showing that follow up strike, something that the Trump administration so far has been hesitant to do.

But emerging from this over hour long briefing, Democrats said that they were unsatisfied with Hegseth's statements as they tried to push him to release the video, at least for lawmakers to see. Take a listen.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It was a very unsatisfying briefing. I asked Secretary Hegseth, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, would he let every member of Congress see the unedited videos of the September 2nd strike. His answer, we have to study it. Well, in my view, they studied it long enough.

SAENZ: There's been a lot of back and forth about whether this video will be released. President Donald Trump initially said he had no problem in making the video public, but then he backtracked. He said that he would leave this decision to Secretary Hegseth, who has said that he is reviewing the information to see whether or not the Pentagon would release the video, if there might be any classified information in it that would keep them from making this public.

But there are a number of Republican senators who believe the administration should be transparent and make this video available to the public.

Meanwhile, some Democrats have said that they want Secretary Hegseth to come and testify publicly on Capitol Hill to share the full accounting of how this strike played out. President Donald Trump said that that's a decision up to Hegseth, but he was not weighing in either way.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: One year after the fall of the Assad regime, many Syrians are still haunted by the brutality they had to endure for decades. CNN's Clarissa Ward brings us that story after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:34:27]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": An Israeli security official says the government will reopen a border crossing with Jordan to allow in goods and aid. The Allenby Crossing is considered a major route for bringing food, tents and other goods destined for Gaza. It's been closed to shipments since September when an aid truck driver killed two Israeli military personnel. Israel says it has tightened screening for drivers and truck cargo. The crossing is also the only gateway for more than three million Palestinians in the West Bank to reach Jordan and other places.

[02:35:00]

UNICEF is underscoring the dire humanitarian crisis that still exists in Gaza two months after the ceasefire. The U.N. agency says a shockingly high number of children remain acutely malnourished, even though the troops was supposed to facilitate an increase in humanitarian aid. UNICEF says about 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October, as Gaza residents deal with an insufficient flow of aid and high prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TESS INGRAM, UNICEF COMMUNICATION MANAGER: Mothers cannot afford to buy their children the nutritious food that's available in the markets. Fruits and vegetables, which are now here, remain very expensive and animal products like dairy and meat even more so. For example, a UNICEF market survey done in November found that meat is still on average costs about us $20 a kilo. So, most families can't access this and that's why we're still seeing high rates of malnutrition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Bashar al-Assad's fall on Monday, but the country is still struggling to heal after more than half a century of brutality that became synonymous with the Assad dynasty. CNN's Clarissa Ward speaks to a man who describes the atrocities of the Assad regime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This man says he transported the bodies of hundreds of Syrian prisoners every week back in 2014. Now, he's revealing where he says they were buried.

ABU ALI, FORMER SYRIAN ARMY DRIVER (through translator): I was a truck driver. It was a big fridge.

WARD: Like a freezer truck?

ALI (through translator): The bodies came without names. They only had the body number and the number of the security branch

WARD: His job was basically to drive the bodies from the military hospital and to bring them here to be buried in these mass graves.

WARD (voice-over): Abu Ali, as we're calling him, does not want to reveal his identity out of fear of retribution. Haunted by the shame of his past role under the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

ALI (through translator): We used to come here every week.

WARD: Every week?

ALI (through translator): Every week.

WARD: So for the period of a year, he was bringing bodies here every week.

ALI (through translator): Sometimes 80, 100, 150, 200, 250, up to 300 bodies approximately.

WARD: 100, 200 every week?

ALI (through translator): Yes.

WARD: Monitoring groups and investigators believe that there are dozens of mass graves around the country with tens of thousands of bodies in them. But the trouble they have right now is that there simply isn't the expertise, the equipment to do the excavation, the forensic investigation that would be needed to try to identify these people and give their families the closure that they're so desperately seeking.

WARD (voice-over): U.S. based advocacy group, the Syrian Emergency Task Force discovered this site earlier this year. The hope is that Abu Ali's account could help some Syrian families find their loved ones.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Al-Tall, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: It was this time last year, when a 9-1-1 call led to the arrest of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, days earlier. Mangione's defense is trying to get evidence they claim arresting officers obtained illegally during that arrest. CNN's Cole Higgins has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLE HIGGINS, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Luigi Mangione who was charged in the deadly shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, came face to face with the officers who arrested him just one year ago, Tuesday, inside a Pennsylvania McDonald's.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of, that he looks like the CEO shooter from New York.

HIGGINS (voice-over): The responding officers found potentially incriminating evidence in Mangione's backpack, evidence that now Mangione's attorneys are seeking to have tossed from his trial.

JILL KONVISER, FORMER NEW YORK SUPREME COURT JUDGE: The evidence is particularly damning against this defendant and so, they're going to work hard to try to exclude it.

HIGGINS (voice-over): Body cam video played in an ongoing pre-trial hearing showed officers who arrested Mangione debating whether they needed a search warrant to look into his backpack. An Altoona police officer testifying that she wanted to check the backpack for a possible bomb, but she said instead she found a fully-loaded magazine wrapped in wet gray underwear and a Faraday bag designed to block electromagnetic interference that contained a cell phone and a passport. The officer also testifying, they found a gun and a silencer, plus a notebook and a handwritten note dated the day after the shooting with seemingly a to-do list of change hat, shoes, and pluck eyebrows.

Mangione's lawyers argue that the contents of the bag should not be evidenced because the search was done without a warrant.

[02:40:00]

KONVISER: The standard is whether those searches are reasonable under the law, based on a totality of the circumstance and based on what the officers knew at the time.

HIGGINS (voice-over): I'm Cole Higgins reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, time for short break now. When we come back, he calls himself a kindness influencer, how he helped an 88-year-old veteran still working to make ends meet position (ph) to retire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:00] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMUEL WEIDENHOFER, KINDNESS AND MENTAL HEALTH INFLUENCER: May I ask how old you are?

ED BAMBAS, ARMY VETERAN: I'm 88.

WEIDENHOFER: And still working?

BAMBAS: Yes, I have to.

WEIDENHOFER: Why do you have to keep working?

BAMBAS: Retired from General Motors in '99. In 2012, they went bankrupt.

CHURCH (voice-over): Australian influencer, Samuel Weidenhofer, met 88-year-old veteran Ed Bambas at a store in Michigan and asked his social media followers to donate to a GoFundMe to help Ed retire. Here's what happened just a few days later.

WEIDENHOFER: We have raised you $1.77 million.

CHURCH (voice-over): Wonderful. Samuel, who has millions of followers online, considers himself a partner in kindness. Our Elex Michaelson spoke with him earlier.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Talk to us about the story behind Ed and what drew you to him.

WEIDENHOFER: Yeah, it's absolutely unbelievable. I was connected to Ed through a Facebook comment, someone saying they knew an elderly man in his '80s who still had to work. I didn't know too much about his story, however, something just came to me like I had to do something for him. And then I decided to go up and approach him at Meijer in Brighton, Michigan, and that's when everything changed for him. So, it was a completely random interaction and yeah, right on the spot.

MICHAELSON: Talk about your emotions in that moment that we were looking at right there, of the check being unveiled and knowing that your platform has allowed this man's life to change in such a profound way.

WEIDENHOFER: Yeah, honestly, it's absolutely unbelievable. It doesn't feel real, that moment to me still doesn't feel real. I remember later that night, just bursting into tears and crying because, yeah, things don't really hit me in the moment. And of course, giving a $1.77 million check, like it just doesn't feel like it's something that could actually happen with an online community and it did. So yeah, it definitely hit me later that emotion. But just seeing him crying, especially like Ed crying, it just like breaks my heart into pieces. So --

MICHAELSON: Talk about how you got your start in this field.

WEIDENHOFER: Of course. So when I was 10-years-old, I lost my aunty Rosie to suicide. I remember, I was in the lounge room one day and my mom was having a shower, and I just remember picking up the phone to my uncle and I was a 10-year-old kid. I was swearing at my mom, like, get out the shower, like something's really not OK. And yeah, she rushed off with my dad and I found out my auntie took her own life. And growing up, I always struggled with my own depression and mental health, and I just knew there needed to be more kindness in the world. I knew I needed to do something to spread awareness in honor of her. And that's how this all came about. That's where it started.

MICHAELSON: We've also seen, Jake Paul, we've seen Kristen Bell get involved with you.

KRISTEN BELL, ACTRESS AND SINGER: I'm Kristen, nice to meet you.

MICHAELSON: And we've seen you help people as well, including this woman who was battling homelessness, didn't have a place to live, and this is the moment you changed her life.

WEIDENHOFER: Hey, look over here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very, very much.

WEIDENHOFER: Even after the price of this house is done, you'll still have $400,000 that you can use towards your future.

MICHAELSON: This is so, so amazing. I remember, when I used to work at ABC7 here in Los Angeles, I for many years hosted a series called "Pay It Forward," where I did surprises for people and it was the most --

WEIDENHOFER: Beautiful.

MICHAELSON: -- fulfilling thing that I ever did, and it changed me as a person. And I'm wondering how doing this has changed you.

WEIDENHOFER: Oh, absolutely. My mental health when I was younger was really bad. And truly, what saved my life is being able to help anyone. I think it's the best feeling in the world, when you can just brighten someone's day, when you can make someone smile, you receive such like there's a chemical in your brain, right? Like, it releases dopamine and you just feel so good. Like there's no better feeling. And it's truly, for one reason, I'm here today is just being able to be in a position to be kind. I know everyone can be kind, even if it's simple, simple, hard compliment, a simple flower, that's where all this mission started. So, yeah, there's no better feeling than -- in the entire world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:50:00]

CHURCH: Amazing. Well, plenty of grandmothers enjoy sharing their passion for cooking and advice on life with friends and family, but not many are telling their stories to millions of people. We will introduce you to Italy's hottest TikTok creator. Back with that in just a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A new film about Jair Bolsonaro is coming to theaters. "Dark Horse" will focus on the career of the former Brazilian president who's now in prison for plotting a coup to stay in power after losing the 2022 election. The movie was filmed in English with a screenplay written by a former Bolsonaro aide. And judging by social media posts, it appears to have the full backing of Bolsonaro's family and inner circle. The film will star American actor, Jim Caviezel, who is also a supporter of Bolsonaro's ally, Donald Trump. The movie is due out next year.

Well, a very lucky person has the chance to win an original Picasso painting valued at over $1 million. A Paris raffle is selling up to 120,000 tickets, offering the chance to win Picasso's Tete De Femme. It is valued at EUR 1 million or one point $1.16 million. The winning ticket will be pulled at Christie's in Paris in April. Most of the proceeds from the raffle will be donated to France's Fondation Recherche Alzheimer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERI COCHIN, RAFFLE ORGANIZER: The concept is very, very simple. You can buy a ticket for EUR 100 and you can win a Picasso that is valued EUR 1 million. And there will be one winner, that's for sure. But if you don't win, you'll have given EUR 100 to Alzheimer research.

OLIVIER WIDMAIER PICASSO, PABLO PICASSO'S GRANDSON: I'm very pleased and honored to join the promotion of this operation because it reminds me of my grandfather's generosity for his family, for his friends, but also for big causes. And especially during the Civil War in Spain, the Second World War. It was, very important for him to be discreet, to be generous, and to help the people who were really in need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, from osso buco to risotto to ravioli, Italian cuisine is a mosaic of flavors that brings people together and soon, it could get a new accolade. UNESCO is expected to decide in the hours ahead, if Italian cooking should be formally recognized as a cultural treasure. Food industry groups say the designation could boost tourism in Italy by as much as 8 percent over two years.

[02:55:00]

But not everyone supports the push. One Italian food historian says UNESCO candidacy is just a marketing operation. Nonna Silvi is one person who knows quite well what a treasure Italian cooking is. Like many grandmothers, she loves to share her beloved recipes and advice about life. And she's not just handing down these gems to her family, she's sharing them with tens of millions of people on social media. CNN's Ivana Scatola talked to this TikTok phenomenon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SILVANA BINI, TIKTOK CREATOR "NONNA SILVI" (through translator): Let's cut the guanciale into cubes.

IVANA SCATOLA, CNN SUPERVISING PRODUCER (voice-over): She's an ordinary 84-year-old nonna from Italy, who happens to be the country's most popular influencer. Silvana Bini known as Nonna Silvi was voted TikTok Italia's "Creator of The Year" with a majority of the 2.6 million public votes.

SCATOLA (voice-over): She has millions of followers across her social media.

BINI (through translator): I'm sorry for those who didn't win because they're all young people who maybe deserved to win more than I did.

SCATOLA (voice-over): She has millions of followers across her social media.

BINI (through translator): From Thailand, from Mexico, from Germany --

SCATOLA (voice-over): You follow her for her traditional Italian recipes and no nonsense life advice.

BINI (through translator): Above all, you've got to be eager to work, to make sacrifices.

SCATOLA (voice-over): Nonna Silvi began to cook when she was just 11- years-old.

BINI (through translator): From a young age, I worked for a lady doing household tasks. I worked seven years for her, ironing, and she taught me how to make pomarola.

SCATOLA (voice-over): Pomarola is a simple Tuscan sauce made with tomatoes, olive oil, basil, garlic, and onions. But her most popular video to date is a recipe for pasta alla carbonara with over 90 million views across socials.

BINI (through translator): Here we go.

SCATOLA: Cream in carbonara sauce?

BINI (through translator): That doesn't go. I put cream on a meringue, that needs cream. Meringue and cream for me, in fact that's my favorite dessert.

SCATOLA: What do you think of people that put dark chocolate in bolognese?

BINI (through translator): The worse possible people. These complications are not for me. I'm straight-forward.

SCATOLA (voice-over): And her favorite dish.

BINI (through translator): Personally, I prefer simple things. For example, tortellini with a cream sauce, spaghetti with clams, that for me is a delicious dish. SCATOLA (voice-over): But there's one ingredient she says she couldn't live without.

BINI (through translator): Good olive oil above all because it brings everything together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Magnificent. And finally, this hour, a sea of yellow and a symphony of barks. That's how passersby in Buenos Aires, Argentina described the largest gathering of golden retrievers. The fluffy attendees broke the previous informal world record with 2,397 dogs.

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

[02:57:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00]