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Palestinians Endure Harsh Winter With Limited Aid Supplies; Protests Erupt Over Soaring Inflation And Cost Of Living; CIA Drone Strike Targets Remote Dock In Venezuela; Kremlin Reiterates Claims Of Drone Attack On Vladimir Putin Residence; Power Failure Causes Eurostar Train Service Disruptions; Looking Back At The Moments That Went Viral This Year; Getting Madrid's Iconic Clock Ready For Midnight. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired December 31, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:40]

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, foreign ministers from 10 countries warn that Gaza is facing renewed catastrophic conditions, with harsh winter weather and deadly flooding, making an already dire humanitarian crisis even worse.

Iran is facing its largest protests in three years as the country's currency hits record lows.

And we'll look at the special role this clock tower in Madrid has played in welcoming in the new year since the beginning of the 20th century.

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

Good to have you with us, and we begin with new warnings about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel says it will suspend international aid groups who do not comply with new restrictions that includes providing personal details of staff members. Several aid agencies have repeatedly said doing so could endanger their employees. Relief groups say Israel's decision affects more than two dozen aid organizations and that suspending their operations in Gaza will cost the lives of Palestinians.

Meanwhile, 10 countries warn that Gaza is facing renewed deterioration, and the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic. They say at least 1.3 million people still require urgent shelter, and more than half of Gaza's health facilities are only partially functioning because of shortages of medical supplies.

Israel's Foreign Ministry calls the statement false but unsurprising. Well, meantime, Palestinians are enduring a harsh winter with heavy

rain and plunging temperatures worsening already dire living conditions. CNN's Matthew Chance has the story from Jerusalem.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The war in Gaza has eased, and it's the elements now pounding it's displaced from the skies. Severe weather has left tens of thousands of people exposed to the high winds, cold and rain, appalling conditions have left at least 25 people dead this month alone, including six children according to Gaza's Ministry of Health.

We woke up to find ourselves floating in the water, says this woman, we've got no food, no drink, no bedding, everything we had has been ruined, she adds.

This man shows us inside the water logged tent where he lives with his baby daughter, inundated by the rains. Everything is soaked, the clothes, the mattress, everything just wet, as you can see, he says.

But for people in Gaza, their homes destroyed by war, there's still little sign of relief. His promises to rebuild the devastated territory have yet to materialize. Held up until the second phase of President Trump's Gaza peace plan, also involving Hamas surrendering its weapons, gets underway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will the reconstruction of Gaza begin even before Hamas has disarmed?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's going to begin pretty soon. He's looking forward to it and so am I. What a mess.

CHANCE (voice-over): A dead race with dozens of bomb damaged buildings collapsing amid the severe weather over the heads of people inside, leaving Gazans with a life or death choice to risk shelter beneath crumbling ruins or endure the flimsy tents outside.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Jerusalem.

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CHURCH: Major demonstrations have erupted across Iran over the country's deepening economic crisis. Iranians are protesting rising inflation and the soaring cost of living after the country's currency plummeted to a record low. The protests are the largest since a nationwide uprising in 2022.

CNN's Nada Bashir has more.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Major protests have erupted in Iran with shopkeepers, bazaar merchants and university students taking to the streets in several Iranian cities, chanting anti-regime slogans over the country's worsening economic crisis.

The demonstrations come amid rising inflation rates, with Iran's currency losing nearly half off its value against the U.S. dollar in 2025 according to the State Statistics center.

The soaring cost of living has also made daily life a struggle for many across the country, with food prices rising by 72 percent and health and medical items up by 50 percent from last year. Video captured by protesters on the ground shows a heavy deployment of anti- riot police, and witnesses say tear gas was deployed in some parts of the country's capital, Tehran.

Iranian authorities have a history of quashing bouts of unrest with violent security action and mass arrests, but officials on Tuesday said the government is looking to implement reform with the head of Iran's Central Bank stepping down.

But the economic crisis also comes amid the risk of renewed conflict, following June's 12th day war between Iran and Israel, and growth pressure from the U.S. and their European allies over Iran's nuclear program. The country's economy has been crippled by sanctions reimposed by both the U.S. and the United Nations over Iran's failure to uphold its commitments under the JCPOA nuclear deal.

And on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned of the potential for yet another round of strikes if Iran attempts to resume its ballistic or nuclear weapons program. Iran, however, has maintained that its nuclear energy program is entirely peaceful.

Nada Bashir, CNN in London.

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CHURCH: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is accusing the U.S. of spreading fake news about his country. His statements on Tuesday come after President Trump told reporters he took out a big facility tied to alleged drug boats, if confirmed, it could mark the first known us strike to target inside Venezuela's borders. CNN's Alayna Treene has the latest.

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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: What sources are telling us is that this was a CIA drone attack on a facility on the Venezuelan coast, on a facility they believe that the Tren de Aragua gang uses to pack drugs into vessels and then ship them out. And what we do know now is that the operation took place inside Venezuelan territory, and was very much a part of sovereign Venezuelan territory, and that in its in and of itself, really marks a significant escalation, because to date, the U.S. military, not the CIA, has been conducting strikes on these suspected drug boats in international waters, not really going near Venezuela and inside its own territory.

We also know that the strike did not kill anyone. According to CNN sources, it managed to destroy the boats. It managed to destroy the facility. So, successful in that respect, but the facility was empty at the time, and so there were no casualties.

But look, the CIA has been given kind of carte blanche by President Trump to carry out these kinds of covert activities inside Venezuela and around Latin America, and he expanded those authorities for the CIA earlier this year. And this was obviously meant to be a covert operation.

And I'd argue if President Trump had not disclosed this, then we may not even know about it, because that is the very reason that the CIA carried this out, and not the U.S. military, which has been the one leading all of those strikes on those alleged drug votes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

So, as for the White House's part here, they have been incredibly tight lipped about this whole thing. And in fact, again, I really do think it's possible that if Trump hadn't let this slip in a radio interview last week, sort of off handedly, we may not even know about this.

I should note as well that we haven't heard a comment from the Venezuelan government, from the government of Nicolas Maduro. Of course, the man that the Trump administration has really been escalating this pressure campaign on that as well is quite interesting, and could be an indication of whether or not we may see more potential actions like this in the future.

Alayna Treene, CNN, Washington.

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CHURCH: In a significant flare up between allies, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates says it's pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen. The move comes after Saudi Arabia targeted the Yemeni port city of Mukalla, accusing the UAE of using its ships to deliver weapons and combat vehicles to Yemeni separatist fighters.

The leader of Yemen's presidential council accuses the UAE of helping rebels battle the state authority. The UAE defense ministry rejected the accusations, but said it would remove its counter terrorism units from Yemen.

Russian officials say it's insane to question claims that Ukraine launched a drone strike against one of Vladimir Putin's residences, but Moscow has not provided evidence that a drone attack happened. Ukraine calls the claim a complete fabrication. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the latest.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Moscow is continuing to double down on those claims that the Ukrainians launched a massive drone attack against one of Vladimir Putin's residences in the northwest of Russia. So, far, the Russians haven't provided any evidence that this attack really took place. However, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, scoffed at the idea of having to provide evidence, saying this was a large drone attack and that all of the drones were taken down by Russian surface-to-air systems. At the same time, he also says that this is going to have severe consequences for the diplomatic process.

The Russians are saying they are going to continue to negotiate with the United States, but certainly take on a tougher line towards the Ukrainians.

The Russians are accusing Ukraine with this alleged attack of trying to undermine the peace process that U.S. President Donald Trump has put into motion to try and end the conflict in Ukraine.

Of course, the Ukrainians are continuing to say that these allegations are fabricated, and that no strike by the Ukrainians actually took place. The Ukrainians, of course, accusing the Russians of allegedly finding a pretext to possibly attack Ukraine even harder than they have already been doing in the past.

At the same time, the diplomatic process seems to be continuing. The Ukrainians are saying that there has been another phone call between Rustem Umerov, who is the chief negotiator for the Ukrainians, and the U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff. They say that several points were discussed how to move forward. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, saying that some documents could be ready to sign as early as January.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

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CHURCH: Celebrating the New Year in Madrid means waiting for the chimes at midnight. Just ahead, we will take you inside the iconic clock as it gets ready to ring in 2026.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Thieves in a western German city made off with at least 10 million Euros worth of money and valuables after breaking into a bank vault during the Christmas holidays. Police say the suspects drilled through a concrete wall before looting the bank's safe deposit boxes. Investigators are following several leads after witnesses spotted masked men and a vehicle leaving the scene. Bank customers voiced their concern and frustration over the robbery.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): That's depressing. It's highly suspicious that nothing worked, neither a camera nor a motion detector. In fact, nothing worked. Everything was switched off. Nowadays you go to the supermarket, you want to buy a steak and it's numbered. You can't just walk out with it. First, you have to scan it, and here you have a bank which is supposed to be the safest place, and nothing. And that's frustrating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They must provide information which safe deposit boxes are affected, so that people don't come at 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning stand around for hours and get no information.

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CHURCH: Two trains carrying tourists on Peru's famed archeological site at Machu Picchu crashed on Tuesday, at least one person was killed, about 30 others were injured. The Associated Press reports one train coming from Machu Picchu collided with another train heading there. It happened near another archeological site. Police say rail services have been suspended along some routes to Machu Picchu as they investigate.

A major power supply failure has been causing chaos for passengers traveling by train between Britain and continental Europe, right at the peak of holiday travel. CNN's Anna Cooban has the latest

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ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: Major disruptions to the Eurostar train service linking the United Kingdom to the European continenttoday could not have come at a more inconvenient time. During the busy holiday travel period sandwich right between Christmas and New Year, there was a power supply issue on the tracks, which caused a train to break down and then dozens of trains to be delayed or cancelled.

Now, the broken-down train was a train that was part of the LeShuttle service, which brings cars and trucks with their passengers through the tunnel. I was at King's Cross St Pancras station early afternoon on Tuesday speaking with people who have been affected. One man said he'd been on a train -- stuck on a train for around six hours at the mouth of the tunnel above ground and that he was then ferried back to London. I spoke to a woman who was lamenting the fact that she was probably having to cancel plans to see friends in Rotterdam to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Now, Eurostar has said that there is a partial resumption in service, but it still warns people to stay away from the train station if the train has been cancelled and also for people whose trains are scheduled to go to expect severe delays and also potentially last- minute cancellations.

Now, this all gets to the fact that this Eurotunnel is a vital artery linking the U.K. with the continent and therefore extreme bottlenecks can be created when there are issues. The Eurotunnel is actually made up of two passenger tunnels, one going from London to Paris, the other going in the other direction. And so, when there are issues, they hardly go unnoticed. Last year, around 20 million people used the service, according to Eurostar. And that was boosted by the fact that there was the Paris Olympics and people going to see those sporting events. But millions of people use this service in an average year. And so, when there are problems, the impact is pretty outsized.

Anna Cooban, CNN, London.

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CHURCH: 2025 was full of surprising moments from Oval Office spats to the election of a new pope from Chicago. CNN's Boris Sanchez takes a look at some of the biggest moments of the year.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Number 10, Trump targets Iran. Hours after the United States began its precision air strikes on three nuclear facilities in an unprecedented aerial bombardment of Iran. The president spoke to the nation.

[02:20:09]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): In the aftermath, some members of Congress openly questioned the constitutionality of the strikes, while others, especially MAGA lawmakers, supported the administration.

Number nine, L.A. devastated. Satellite images showing the breadth and depth of the runaway Eaton wildfire. The fast moving flames this past January, forcing thousands to flee their homes in search of higher and safer ground. Devastation like this will take years to rebuild.

Number eight, a shocking midair collision caught on tape. On January 29th of this year, an American Airlines Flight operated by American Eagle and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided over the freezing Potomac River at night, the tragedy caught on tape. The jet was on final approach to Reagan National while the helicopter had been performing a required flying evaluation, all 67 people aboard both aircrafts died.

Number seven, an American is Pope. In May, shortly after the death of Pope Francis, the College of Cardinals elected their next leader, and to the surprise of many, the choice was this man, Chicago's very own Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the first Augustinian Pope.

CARDINAL ROBERT FRANCIS PREVOST: I invite you to recognize the marvels that the Lord has done.

BORIS (voice-over): Even more surprising, he briefly spoken English during his first mass.

Number six, hot mic. Justin Trudeau who at the time was Canada's Prime Minister overheard making a jaw dropping admission to business leaders back in February, essentially telling them that President Trump's talk of making Canada a 51st U.S. state was no joke. So far, Canada remains Canada.

Number five. Cramer speaks out. Famed CNBC broadcaster Jim Cramer appearing on Erin Burnett's show earlier this year, admitting he was misled by the Trump administration's tariffs policy. Listen.

JIM CRAMER, CNBC BROADCASTER: Over and over again, the president said, listen, it's going to be reciprocal. So, you do it, we do it. And that was going to be so good. And I really believe that, and I feel like a sucker tonight.

BORIS (voice-over): Number four, swallowed whole, a father on a kayak captures the moment his son, Adrian, was briefly swallowed by a humpback whale off the coast of Chile. Adrian told CNN he didn't realize at first it was a whale, and thought he just got caught up in a big wave.

ADRIAN SIMANCAS, KAYAKER SWALLOWED BY WHALE: If the whale had hit me, it will be more dangerous.

BORIS (voice-over): What a story to tell his grandkids.

Number three, beauty influencer gunned down. Valeria Marquez was shot and killed by a man who entered her salon all while on a TikTok live stream in Zapopan, Mexico. Her death sending shock waves through a country grappling with frequent suspected cases of femicide.

Number two, Jimmy Kimmel speaking out after a brief suspension following controversial comments he made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Jimmy Kimmel returned to ABC late night to say he never intended to make light of Kirk's murder, also delivering powerful remarks about freedom of speech.

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST OF "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.

BORIS (voice-over): And the number one viral video on CNN's countdown, the feud seen around the world.

On the left, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hoping to win more lethal aid from the President. On the right, President Trump, moments before he would launch into a verbal rampage against Zelenskyy.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, Washington,

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CHURCH: In just a few hours from now, countries around the world will start saying hello to 2026. Preparations are underway in London for a fireworks display on the River Thames. The man in charge of preparing the display explained just how big it will be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DARRYL FLEMING, DIRECTOR, TITANIUM FIREWORKS: Yes. So, this is our 16th year delivering the mayor of London's fireworks show for the midnight moment on New Year's Eve. And we've got an awful lot of fireworks, nearly 10,000 fireworks spread over the three barges that we're rigging here today. And then there's nearly 2,000 on the London Eye, which we can't rig until about 6:00 in the evening on the 31st itself.

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CHURCH: Of course, every city has a unique way of ringing in the New Year. London has Riverside fireworks. New York has the ball drop, and Madrid has the literal ringing of a clock. CNN's Pau Mosquera takes us inside the clock tower as it gets ready to strike at midnight.

[02:25:15]

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PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are just admiring it from the outside, but only on very rare occasions it is seen from within.

What you see here around me is the inside of the tower that houses Madrid's most famous clock, the one that is located in iconic Puerta del Sol.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, this clock has marked the 12th times on New Year's Eve. Spaniards with this clock beat far world to one year and welcome the next one while eating the 12 Grapes of Luck per each chime.

Now, it is such the importance of this clock that everything has to be on place for the big moment. And that is why it is so important the work of the clockmaker.

JESUS LOPEZ-TERRADAS, CLOCKMAKER (through translator): I'm going to make a clock. Every week we clean the clock, oil it and check if there are any problems so that we can fix them.

Here, the only thing to do on New Year's Eve is to keep an eye on the second hand to stay coordinated with the hourly signals.

Once we are 28 seconds away from midnight, we activate the ball that will alert the crowd by removing the retaining lever. After a few seconds, when the ball has descended, the quarter chimes begin. After 20 seconds following the four quarter chimes, the first bell tolls at exactly 12:00.

The following chimes sound every three seconds. In Puerta del Sol, when it's not so crowded, the sound of the bells can be heard well, but when it's packed, speakers have to be placed because otherwise the sound is absorbed by the crowd.

MOSQUERA: Now that we have checked that everything is on place, we're just going to have to wait until the clock gets to its big moment and guide us all to 2026. Pau Mosquera, CNN, Madrid.

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CHURCH: I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Wishing you all a very happy New Year. I'll catch you in 2026. "TECH FOR GOOD" is next.

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