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Australians Mark One Week Since Mass Shooting; Oil Tanker Seized; Zelenskyy Says, Peace Must be Fair and Strong. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 21, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

United States seizes yet another oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, potentially escalating tensions with the South American nation.

Australians mark one week since a deadly mass shooting that shocked the nation. We will go live to Sydney.

And while talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine go on, Ukraine's president warns that any peace must be fair and strong.

Australians are marking a national day of reflection for the 15 victims of the Bondi Beach massacre. It's been one week since two gunmen opened fire on families celebrating the first night of Hanukkah. It's Australia's deadliest mass shooting in nearly 30 years.

Australian officials are investigating the ISIS-style attack as an act of terror against Jews. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he's ordered a review of the country's security agencies to make sure they're able to protect the public in future.

I want to go to CNN's Angus Watson, who joins me now live from Sydney Angus. I imagine a very somber mood there. Take us through what you've been hearing from folks who are there and what's planned in maybe 20 minutes or so from now.

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: Certainly as, Kim, this memorial service began with a moment silence for the 15 people that were murdered right here where I'm standing in this park where last Sunday they were celebrating Hanukkah the first night of that Jewish festival. That's turned into a tragedy a week long period of mourning for the Jewish community here.

And today is Australia's day of reflection where flags are flying at half staff, and as I said, the entire country pausing for that moment of silence at 6:47 P.M. local time reflecting exactly one week since that horrific shooting took place right here.

So, thousands of people have gathered here in Bondi to hear from rabbis, to hear from the Jewish community, to hear from the family members of the people who died, as people reflect and try to come to terms with, as you said, was one of the darkest days in Australian history.

Right at the bridge behind me above my shoulder, two men with firearms shot down into this Hanukkah party below, right where I am was a petting zoo, face painting for children, a rock climbing wall that people were playing on the most innocent of events there to becoming the target of two men inspired by ISIS ideology. The government says one of those gunmen killed at the scene, another now recovering from gunshot wounds received there, but now with 59 charges against his name, including 15 counts of murder as well as attempted murder in several terrorist charges. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And just so you know, we were showing live pictures there of the event that's going on as we speak.

Now, Angus, beyond the symbolism of this moment, I mean, the government says it's taking steps to try to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again. What more can you tell us about that?

WATSON: That's right. The government will publicize a review in April next year into the country's security services. The government wants to know that those security services have the powers but also the information sharing protocols that it will take to keep Australians safe into the future.

Now, the ASO, the Australian Security Organization, they had one of these gunmen on their watch list, Naveed Akram, 24-year-old man who's still alive. His father, Sajid Akram, had the right to hold those six guns that the pair used on that bridge behind me a week ago. So, the authorities here wanting to come to terms with how that happened, how these two were able to slip through the net and wanting to make sure that doesn't happen again.

The government also wants to crack down on hate speech, the kind that fueled the violent, anti-Semitic ideology that these two men kept.

[03:05:06]

Kim?

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And, Angus, we will come back to you for that menorah lighting later in the hour. Angus Watson, I really appreciate that. Thanks so much.

Australia's prime minister says the government will get more guns off our streets with a national buyback scheme. Anthony Albanese announced the initiative on Friday. He says states and territories will collect the weapons and process payments and federal police will destroy the guns. Albanese says the Bondi Beach massacre proves how much work needs to be done. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: There are now more than 4 million firearms in Australia, more than at the time of the Port Arthur massacre nearly 30 years ago. The government will introduce legislation to support the funding of this buyback scheme and meet the costs on a 50-50 basis with states and territories. We expect hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected and destroyed through this scheme.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: For more on this, I want to bring in Rod Campbell at the research -- at The Australia Institute, a public policy think tank, which has studied Australia's gun laws. And he is the research director and he joins me now from Melbourne. Thank you so much for being here with us.

So, I'm speaking to you from the U.S. I mean, Australia has much tougher gun laws. So, is it actually possible to tighten laws even further to prevent something like this?

ROD CAMPBELL, RESEARCHER DIRECTOR, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE: Yes, thanks for having me. Yes, absolutely it is. And Australia has had gun numbers go from, you know, a low of after the Port Arthur massacre in the 1990s of around 2.5 million in Australia to over 4 million, according to some research we did early in the year.

And so, absolutely, Australia can toughen our gun laws. We're going to put caps on the number of guns that an individual is allowed to own. And so the many individuals who own more than those caps set currently at five in Western Australia, they're looking at making it four in New South Wales. So, people who own, say, 20 guns in New South Wales, they're about to have 16 of them bought back. So, yes, we can make our gun laws much tougher and make the community much safer.

BRUNHUBER: I'll get to the number of guns in a second, but just on the buyback, I mean, you and the prime minister made the point that there are more guns now since the last buyback. I mean, do those buybacks actually work?

CAMPBELL: Oh, they absolutely work. So, the number of guns in Australia dropped by 25 percent after Port Arthur, and we've been free of the kind of terrible mass shootings that, you know, the USCs unfortunately relatively regularly until this week. And, you know, even then, the most powerful and most deadly weapons in Australia aren't legally available.

You know, I think there's a fair bit of work to be done on making sure the -- or further restricting some of the very powerful, very deadly weapons that are still available. And that can feed into the buyback scheme too. So, yes, there's lots that can be done, and, absolutely, this works. We know it works. We know how to do it. We've done it before.

BRUNHUBER: So, on the number of guns that individuals can own, I mean, the prime minister said there's no reason someone living in suburban Sydney, for example, should be able to own six high powered rifles. Obviously, it only takes one gun to, you know, wreak horrible pain on a community, as we've seen. But and one party in the conservative opposition, which represents sort of regional and rural voters, they're pushing back pretty hard. They say it's scapegoating law- abiding gun owners and say the focus should be on Islamic terrorism, not firearms. I mean, is that a fair criticism?

CAMPBELL: No, it's not a fair criticism at all. We can do two things at once. This is not an either/or situation. It's not we either do gun control or we increase community cohesion. We can and we should, and I hope we will do both things at once.

So, you know, it's important to remember that, yes, there's a stereotype in Australia that most of our guns are held by farmers out in regional areas for shooting pest animals. But the statistics show that it's not the case. Most guns, certainly in New South Wales, in Sydney, are in the metropolitan or out of, you know, surrounding metropolitan area.

So, absolutely, nobody in Sydney needs to own six or ten guns. There's no need for that. And so the caps that will come in.

[03:10:00]

There'll be some exemptions for professional shooters who do control pest animals for people who are actively engaged in competitive target shooting and those kinds of things. But, yes, there's no need for anyone in our suburban areas really to own any guns, let alone to own as many as the terrorists that we saw last week had.

BRUNHUBER: You referenced the 1996 mass shooting, which killed some 35 people. Back then there seemed to be much more unity around toughening new laws. There seems to be more pushback now with the political climate that you're seeing. I mean, is it going to be even harder now to get anything done?

CAMPBELL: No, that's not the case actually. I mean, the opposition parties that are, you know, opposing or suggesting that they might oppose some of these reforms are actually completely irrelevant in the current parliament. So, the labor government has the, a strong opposition in our House of Representatives has a strong majority in our House of Representatives, and the Greens Party have already offered their support to get it through our upper house.

So, strong is Labor's majority in our lower House that it's considered by almost everybody to be impossible for them not to win the next election. So, the people who are quite frankly, you know, using this as a political opportunity are almost certainly out of power until the 2030s. So, no, there's not serious opposition. There's not serious pushback to this because the community is almost 100 percent behind this.

Polling that The Australian Institute has done before this week, earlier -- actually the end of 2024, you know, between 70 and 80 percent of Australians are in favor of harder gun laws and on limits to ownership. So, the vast bulk of the community are firmly behind what the government's doing, and they really face no serious opposition within our parliament.

BRUNHUBER: It'll be interesting to see what is done in the end, and perhaps it might be a model for other countries, dare I say.

Rod Campbell in Melbourne, Australia, thank you so much.

CAMPBELL: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: A manhunt is underway in South Africa after a shooting that killed at least nine people. Police say two groups of attackers opened fire at a bar early Sunday in Bekkersdal Township, southwest of Johannesburg. One group of attackers was in a van, the other was in a car. Police are asking witnesses with information to come forward.

And investigators are pushing ahead with efforts to determine the motive of the suspect and the killings of a professor at MIT and two people at Brown University. They say his actions indicate premeditation and the intent to cause harm. He also took calculated steps to avoid detection, like swapping license plates on a rental car. But without the ability to question the suspect who took his own life, motive remains a difficult puzzle for the communities affected. That means frustration comes along with relief from the threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's definitely -- you know, you can kind of feel like the collective exhale of everybody, like, you know, just not having that stress and tension, you know? At this point, we don't know what actually drove him to this. And, yes, that's -- you know, that's frustrating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: For the second time, in less than two weeks, the U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted this video on social media following the seizure Saturday. It shows the U.S. military flying over the Panamanian flagship in international waters. Noem said the actions part of the U.S. efforts to, quote, pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco-terrorism. Venezuela calls the seizures piracy.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is traveling with President Trump and has more from West Palm Beach, Florida.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNNSENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The American Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, says that this interdiction of a vessel in international waters off of Venezuela occurred in the pre- dawn hours. I'm told that this was a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil sailing under the Panamanian flag, ultimately destined for Asian.

And it comes ten days after the Trump administration seized another vessel called the Skipper, also carrying Venezuelan oil as the U.S. works to tighten its grip on the leader, Nicolas Maduro. And as it works to cut off his economic lifeline, the oil industry, President Trump has ordered up a, quote, total and complete blockade of sanctioned vessels going in and out of Venezuela.

But I'm told by a U.S. official that the vessel that was seized on Saturday was not in fact covered by U.S. sanctions, which I think illustrates the steps and the lengths that the U.S. is trying to go in cutting off this critical financial lifeline.

[03:15:07]

Of course, we have seen a major escalation in the region, whether it's the strikes and those alleged drug boats, 27 strikes so far, a hundred people killed. You've also seen a massive military buildup in the region, 15,000 American personnel and more than a dozen warships, all as President Trump works to mount pressure on Maduro.

Now, President Trump has said that the next steps in this campaign will be U.S. airstrikes on land in Venezuela. He's been saying that those will be coming, quote, soon for several weeks now, but he has stopped short of ordering up the final order, which I think speaks to some of the reservations that the president has about potentially engaging in a prolonged conflict, getting mired in a war with Venezuela, which is something that he badly wants to avoid.

At the same time, what American officials have said is the overall objective here is to oust Maduro. And we heard that explicitly from the chief of staff, Susie Wiles, in that interview, which published in Vanity Fair earlier this week.

And so, certainly, an escalation as the U.S. seizes this tanker, but perhaps not the last incident to occur in the waters off of Venezuela as the pressure campaign continues to mount.

Kevin Liptak, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has the view from Venezuela. He's in the capital, Caracas.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The reaction out of Caracas after the United States seized a second tanker that was carrying oil out of Venezuela to international buyers has been quick. On Saturday, the Venezuelan foreign minister, Yvan Gil, said in a statement that he had phone calls with the government of Iran. And I quote, the two government discussed strategies to face up the piracy and international terrorism that the United States are trying to impose, a very strongly worded statement.

A second statement, however, from the Venezuelan public oil company, PDVSA, said that the country is closing 2025 with the target of extracting 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day. However, at the same time, we can see that the strategy of seizing up tankers and other assets of Venezuela, if they happen to enter international waters, is continuing. And, of course, we're approaching a very tense Christmas break here in Caracas.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas.

The U.S. is reportedly pushing for a change in ongoing peace talks on Ukraine, one that would include face-to-face meetings between both sides in the brutal war. We'll have that story and much more coming up ahead.

Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:20:00]

BRUNHUBER: The U.S.-Russian peace talks on Ukraine will continue on Sunday. That's from Russia's senior negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, who met with his U.S. counterparts in Miami on Saturday. He described the talks as constructive so far, but Ukraine's president says the U.S. wants the two sides to be in the same room in future talks.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Washington's proposing a new negotiating format. It would include face-to-face meetings among the U.S., Ukraine, Russia, and probably the Europeans. He says Kyiv will decide on that after analyzing its latest talks with the U.S. But he's warning that his compromises for peace can only go so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Peace is better than war, but not at any price because we've already paid a high price. For us, it is important that peace is fair and strong so that it cannot be violated by another desire of Putin or by another Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: But one former U.S. diplomat says the talks underway in Miami aren't likely to make much headway. He says the reason for that has a lot to do with the Kremlin's vision of peace.

Ivo Daalder, the former U.S. ambassador to NATO, spoke on CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Here's the problem. As Vladimir Putin said just yesterday in his four-hour long press conference, he thinks that the war will end when Ukraine agrees to subjugate itself and undermines its own independence and Russia controls, if not all of the territory, at least all of the decision- making power in Ukraine.

Ukraine's not going to be able and willing to accept that, and that's the fundamental problem. We have a war here for a simple reason. Russia wants Ukraine. Ukraine wants to maintain its independence. And as long as Russia's willing to use force to get the -- to seek that end, we will have a war.

Military aid is another thing. The United States has provided billions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine, as have the Europeans. But since President Trump came back, the Europeans will have to pay for every single bullet that the United States is sending to Ukraine. Why not just send that equipment, as we have done for the past three and a half years, directly to Ukraine?

So, there is ways we can we can pressure Russia to start and end to find a way to end this war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Ukraine says Russia is zeroing in on its key fuel route just as winter is officially getting underway. Officials say this bridge, we'll see it here, has been struck at least five times in recent days, and it's currently out of commission. It's part of a major route that accounts for about 40 percent of Ukraine's fuel supplies.

Now, that's happening in the Southern Odesa region, which has taken fire from Russia for nine straight days. The strikes led to a week- long power outage and damaged other infrastructure in the area.

Israeli protesters rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Some are demanding a state commission of inquiry to investigate the October 7th attacks. Critics of the government say, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to take any responsibility for how it was handled.

[03:25:04]

Protesters are vowing to continue rallying until the body of the last deceased hostage is returned from Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERAN LITMAN, PROTESTER: I came to protest against Israeli government. My daughter was murdered in the Nova Festival in October 7th. Since nothing was functioned in this day and after, and Israel is in a very bad situation, I want Israeli government to take responsibility to this day and to quit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The head of the Catholic church in Jerusalem is now in Gaza, visiting Catholics days before Christmas. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa will lead a Christmas mass on Sunday, the only Catholic church in the enclave.

That church was damaged earlier this year after becoming a shelter for Gaza's small Christian community amid the war with Israel. The cardinal told parishioners that they will rebuild, adding, quote, we are rooted here and we will remain here.

A funeral in Bangladesh drew tens of thousands of people, including the country's interim leader. Attendees were seen crying while mourning the death of Sharif Osman Hadi. He was a popular youth leader who was running for public office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAIFULLAH MUHAMMAD SAYEM, BUSINESSMAN: The feeling is so sad because still we don't know who killed our brother. We don't know what's going on in the coming days and still we are not in hope that justice will be insuring our country.

So, we think we have to fight long. We have to fight more and more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Masked assailants fatally shot Hadi in Dhaka last Friday while he was launching his election campaign. He died after spending six days on life support. The 32-year-old was an important player in last year's student-led uprising that forced out Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hadi's death has triggered widespread unrest and violent protests in several Bangladeshi cities. Videos show moms vandalizing major newspapers and cultural institutions. Law enforcement (ph) is fanning out across the country as officials urge people to remain peaceful.

All right, still to come, Australians are mourning the 15 people killed last week in a horrific mass shooting on Bondi Beach, and they're vowing to celebrate light over darkness. We'll show you how, coming up.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's take a look at some of today's top stories. The U.S. military seized a second oil tanker off of Venezuela's coast on Saturday. The vessel wasn't under U.S. sanctions and was flying a Panamanian flag, but U.S. officials say sanctioned Venezuelan oil supports narco- terrorism. President Trump recently ordered a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers.

Australians are remembering the 15 people killed by gunman at Bondi Beach one week ago. Officials are investigating the attack as an act of terror against Jews. Australia's prime minister ordered a review of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to make sure they can prevent future attacks.

The peace talks on Ukraine between the U.S. and Russia will resume in Miami on Sunday. That's according to Russia's main negotiator who describes the discussions as constructive. The remaining sticking points include Ukraine's security guarantees and potential territorial concessions to Moscow.

The search for a motive is expanding as investigators look deeper into the killings of a professor at MIT and two people at Brown University. The deceased suspect, Claudio Valente, has been characterized as brilliant but difficult and an intelligent recluse by former classmates and neighbors.

CNN's Michael Yoshida has more. MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN REPORTER: Here at the campus of Brown University, memorials continue to grow as the question of motive lingers over this campus as well as the investigation, an effort made more difficult by the fact that the suspected shooter is dead. Still, we know investigators diving into his history.

And this is what we know right now. 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national, who did have a connection to Brown University, a former graduate student in the early 2000s. So, he only stayed in the program for several semesters. And also we now know he did have some sort of connection potentially to the MIT professor who was shot and killed, both attended the same academic program back in the late 90s in Portugal.

Along with that information, investigators trying to go through the suspected shooter's footsteps in the moments leading up to these deadly shootings. We know he rented a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, in November was in the Boston area in late November, early December, eventually renting a car that he drove to the Brown University campus, that vehicle seen around the campus for the first part of December. And then there was the deadly mass shooting at Brown, two students killed nine others injured just days later.

In Massachusetts, an MIT professor was shot and killed at his home, and then the suspected shooter went back to that storage facility where he was later found dead. This manhunt ending, but, again, still so many questions remain, a source of emotion, but also frustration for some of those on this campus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to honor what happened and honor that it's over. But I wasn't anticipating how emotional it is to be here in person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems like security was a lot more lax than it should have been. The fact that he had essentially gotten away and was really -- you know, wasn't ever actually caught, just found after the fact. That feels unacceptable to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOSHIDA: And another focus of this investigation has been on the Reddit post and tipster that really broke this case wide open. Those in this community saying they're grateful for that, but that's also a point of frustration as why it took that to really close that manhunt.

They say, while they go through the grieving process, processing everything that happened here, they are hopeful that at some point they'll have an answer as to why this shooter came here and open fire.

Reporting in Providence, Rhode Island, Michael Yoshida.

BRUNHUBER: The Justice Department admits that it didn't release all of its files on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, but the agency insists more information will be made public in the coming weeks. The documents are heavily redacted, but also show many high-profile figures in the latest sex trafficking -- in the late sex trafficker's orbit.

Camila DeChalus has more on what's in the file.

CAMILA DECHALUS. CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, there's a lot of things that really stood out between the latest batch of the Jeffrey Epstein documents that were just released by the Justice Department. Number one, one of the biggest things is that these documents really provided an even bigger glimpse into how extensive Jeffrey Epstein's social network was, especially among high-profile figures in the entertainment industry and in the world of politics. We saw images that included of Michael Jackson, of Diana Ross, of former President Bill Clinton, and even Donald Trump, the president himself. And it's really important to note that there's no evidence that Jackson, Clinton, Ross, or Trump engaged in any illegal activity connected to Epstein.

Now, on the subject of the president, there's been some speculation on whether the Justice Department might have held back some information regarding him and a top DOJ official addressed this, and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, U.S. DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: There's no effort to hold anything back because there's the name Donald J. Trump, or anybody else's name, Bill Clinton's name, Reid Hoffman's name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be clear, you're saying DOJ has not been ordered to redact anything related to President Trump, that there's no order to do such?

BLANCHE: No. I mean, I would give the order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DECHALUS: Now, it's also important to note that these documents provide an even bigger glimpse into how law enforcement was warned very early on about Epstein. In fact, in one of the documents, it confirmed that one of Epstein's victims filed a complaint about him as far back as the mid-1990s about his behavior.

Now, her lawyer reported back and confirmed the accuracy of this. And that really just goes to show that as more of these documents are released. It really sheds more light into just how well-connected he was and just how far back some of these complaints were about him.

Camila DeChalus, CNN, Washington.

BRUNHUBER: Well, right now, crowds are gathered for a vigil and menorah-lighting at Sydney's Bondi Beach. The event honors the 15 victims killed in a mass shooting in that same spot exactly one week ago. And the menorah-lighting marks the end of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Organizers are calling the event light over darkness. CNN's Angus Watson is back with us from Sydney. So, Angus, that theme, light over darkness, you know, must be reflected in the mood there as you have been talking to people and seeing what's happening just not far away from where you are. Take us through the mood there and what people have been telling you.

WATSON: That's right, Kim. Right behind me is the bridge where the two gunmen took their positions to fight into the Hanukkah Festival last week. Now, right now, up top that bridge is a Hanukah menorah, and they're going to light the eighth candle on that Hanukkah menorah on top of the bridge, right where the suspected gunmen were, as well as light one in a huge memorial celebration about 150 meters to my right.

So, if that doesn't say light over darkness, that's an extraordinary moment there that right where this crime's happened. The Jewish community is able to light their candles to take that moment, to remember what the spirit of Hanukkah is, that feeling of light over darkness, extraordinary here in Sydney, Australia.

I'm standing in the park where the festival was going on exactly one week ago. Right where I am was a petting zoo. There were kids getting their faces painted right here. There was a rock climbing wall that kids were playing on. The elderly was here, families were here. And those are the people that these two gunmen attacked from a top of the bridge behind me.

The government says they were motivated by ISIS ideology. The government also says this was an anti-Semitic terror attack, preying on the Jewish community here.

The Jewish community here says that they've been pointing out anti- Semitism, a rise in anti-Semitism, over the past two years here in Australia.

Right, going back to October 7th, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, the Jewish community, Jewish groups have logged thousands of instances of anti-Semitism, ranging from verbal abuse to the burning of synagogues, and now this horrendous massacre.

So, the feeling that people are telling me about while they're here is one of feeling uncertainty, but victimized scared over what's happened to them over the past few years, as well as what happened to them on Sunday.

So, they gathered here at this memorial in a show of strength, a show of deviance, in a show of community spirit to reject that hateful ideology of anti-Semitism, and instead come together to remember the victims of this horrific incident last week.

[03:40:10]

The youngest victim, just 15 years old, Matilda, her father is the one who is going to light the eighth candle on the menorah tonight at this Hanukkah event down here at Bondi Beach, what should have been a celebration instead a moment of grief for that father and for the families of the other 14 people murdered here simply because they're Jewish. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And we're seeing the strength of that community playing out there right where you are.

We are still waiting for that menorah-lighting ceremony to happen. We will hope to bring that to you when it does happen.

I really appreciate that, Angus Watson. Thank you so much.

All right, we'll be right back with more here on CNN NEWSROOM. Please do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: A powerful storm system is bringing damaging winds to parts of the Northeastern United States. More than 70 million people are under high wind alerts. Now, look at this in New York City, an unsecured crane was captured on video spinning in the wind. Now, it may look like it's out of control, but it's actually supposed to spin freely in the wind so it doesn't fall over.

The wind threat could disrupt travel for more than 122 million Americans expected to travel from now until New Year's Day. TSA expects a significant increase in holiday travelers this year.

CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar says that most Americans won't experience a winter wonderland this holiday season.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: If you're dreaming of a white Christmas, you may have to keep dreaming, and that's because much of the U.S. is actually going to see a surge of very warm air begin to spread across the country as we head further into this week.

Here's a look at today. You can see a lot of the warm temperatures indicated by that red and orange color you see on the map. But once we head into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, it really starts to spread across the rest of the country.

[03:45:02]

This is now Christmas day on Thursday. Notice all of these areas dealing with temperatures that are above average. And I'm not just talking five or just a few degrees above average. We are looking at potentially record-breaking heat for several days.

We'll start to see some dots pop up in this map as we go through the rest of the week. This indicates a location that could end up breaking a record. Notice some of them stay up there for several days in a row. So, you could have a few areas that get a record on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then yet again on Thursday.

So, if you're looking for snow, the best chance may be wherever you actually have snow right now. Here's a look at the current snow cover. You'll see a lot of that up in the northern tier of the country, some higher elevations of, say, the green and white mountains in the Northeast, the Rockies. The only area we're likely going to add a significant amount of snow over the next few days that will stick around for Christmas is going to be out to the west. You've got a series of systems coming through that are going to impact places like California, Oregon, Washington. All of these areas are likely going to see an increase in snow, whereas the rest of the country really isn't expected to pick up all that much more snow in areas that we don't already have it.

Warm air is really going to be the focus. Take a look at Chicago, for example. The average high temperature this time of year, 35 degrees. Outside of today, we will spend every single one of the next seven days at or above that average high temperature, even places farther south, like Dallas, for example. The average high of 57 will be above that. But notice too, most of the low temperatures for the next week will actually be warmer than our average high temperature this time of year.

BRUNHUBER: Check out the launch of Blue Origin rocket over West Texas. Aboard the New Shepard capsule was a 33-year-old German aerospace engineer. Michaela Benthaus is now the first wheelchair user ever to travel above the internationally recognized boundary to outer space. A ten-minute flight gave her the chance to float in space and was blue Origin's latest effort to improve accessible space travel.

Benthaus suffered a spinal cord injury during a mountain biking accident seven years ago. After the flight, she explained what the moment meant to someone with a disability.

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MICHAELA BENTHAUS, FIRST WHEELCHAIR USER LAUNCHED INTO SPACE: I think you should never give up on your dreams, right? But, I mean, there's also sometimes just a low probability that it comes true. And I just got very lucky and I'm very grateful that Blue enhanced that everyone said yes to this journey.

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BRUNHUBER: The people in the U.S. have yet another chance to win the enormous Powerball lottery. No one won last night's drawing, so the jackpot has now reached another staggering total. We'll have more after the break.

Please do stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have released a rare family photo ahead of the holidays. The snapshot, which is bathed in warm light, shows the Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding onto their children, six-year-old Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, who's four. That was taken at their home in Montecito, California. Their message, happy holidays from our family to yours. Well, the Powerball lottery jackpot in the U.S. is now up to a staggering $1.6 billion after no one won Saturday's drawing. The next drawing is on Monday. This is now the fourth largest grand prize in Powerball history. A single winner would be able to choose annual payments over 29 years to get the full amount or a lump sum of roughly $735 million, then there are taxes, of course.

Well, the first round of the college football playoffs came to an end Saturday with a triple header, the tenth seeded Miami Hurricanes upset number seven seed Texas A&M in their first game of the day. Now, with less than two minutes left, the teams were tied at three points each and Wide Receiver Malachi Toney lifted Miami to a seven point lead, tiptoeing up the sideline for a touchdown. The Aggies tried responding, but they were picked off in the end zone on the following drive, sealing the loss 10-3. Limy heads to the Cotton Bowl to face number two seed Ohio State Buckeyes on New Year's Eve.

In Mississippi, number six seed Ole Miss trampled number 11 Tulane. The Rebels came out swinging, jumping to a 40-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game. Ole Miss didn't let off the gas, tallying on more than 500 yards of offense to overwhelm the green wave, 41-10. The Rebels advance to New Year's Day Sugar Bowl game against the third seeded Georgia Bulldogs.

And in another first round blowout, fifth seeded Oregon sent number 12 James Madison packing. Oregon had five touchdowns before the end of the first half. Now, James Madison kept fighting, clapping back with 28 points in the second half, but it was too little too late, as Oregon coasted to a 51-34 win. The Ducks are set to clash with number four seed Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.

Well, no one was pulling punches during Netflix's highly anticipated primetime heavyweight boxing match. A former British world champion sent a U.S. celebrity fighter to the hospital on Friday following a six-round knockout.

CNN's Patrick Snell recaps the wild night in the ring.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: The British heavyweight superstar, Anthony Joshua, fighting former YouTuber Jake Paul in a professional boxing match is a scenario that no one could ever have seen coming not that long ago. But the reality is it happened in Miami on Friday night, and I will say not the best of outcomes for the young American.

Joshua is five inches taller than Paul and came in at almost 30 pounds more than him at the weigh. And this was a total mismatch. The Englishman, one of the sports elite, punches and he would drop the fading Paul twice in the fifth round. And from that moment on, we just knew there was only going to be one winner. It wasn't Paul, the American did everything he could to stay away from Joshua, ducking and weaving, but Joshua rocked him with a right upper cut early in the sixth, and A.J. flooring his opponent with a devastating combination to the head.

Paul did get back up to his feet again before Joshua finally ending Paul's upset dream when he dropped him a fourth time with a right to the head. The ref counting Paul out a minute and 31 seconds into the round in front of the capacity, almost 20,000 crowd there.

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A (INAUDIBLE) night for the 28-year-old Paul, while for the Brit, it's a welcome win in his first fight since Daniel Dubois knocked him out late last year.

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ANTHONY JOSHUA, FORMER TWO-TIME WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: Jake Paul, he's done really well tonight. I want to give him his props. He got up time and time again. It was difficult in there for him, but he kept on trying to find a way. It takes a real man to do that. Anyone who lays up his gloves, we always say we give them their respect. We have to give Jake his respect for trying and trying and trying.

JAKE PAUL, YOUTUBER AND PROFESSIONAL BOXER: I think my jaw is broken, by the way. So, it's definitely broke. But, man, that was good, nice little ass whooping from one of the best to ever do it. So, I love this (BLEEP). I'm going to come back and get a world championship belt at some point.

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SNELL: Well, he was right about the jaw. Paul driving himself to a nearby hospital after that defeat and taking to social media on Saturday to say he'd undergone successful surgery on a double fracture to the jaw, the American adding he'd had titanium plates inserted as well during the operation and a number of teeth removed.

And on that note, I'm going to send it right back to you.

BRUNHUBER: Thanks. Director James Cameron's latest sci-fi epic, Avatar, Fire and Ash, appears well its way to being a box office monster if its performance in China is any indication.

Third film in the franchise rakes in $28 million in the first 48 hours of its release there. Moviegoers in Beijing credited the exciting and immersive visual experience as a major draw. Early online projections estimate the movie's overall run in China will gross more than $142 million.

All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in a moment.

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