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71 People Killed, Six Others Found Alive in Colombia Plane Crash; Israeli's Knesset to Vote on Controversial Bills; Trump Continues to Fill Cabinet; Pope Francis's Unique Papacy; Trump Brings "Infowars" Conspiracy Theories to Life; Looking to Cuba's Future Without Castro. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 30, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:10] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, crash investigators uncover new clues as Brazil deals with the shocking loss of a beloved football team.

Donald Trump fills more top level appointments but he upstaged those announcements with another controversial tweet.

And Pope Francis tries to make a historic deal for Catholics in China.

Hello. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause. Guess what? We're into the third hour of NEWSROOM L.A.

Football fans around the world are grieving the loss of a Brazilian team after many of its members died in a plane crash in Colombia. The Chapecoense team had climbed the ranks in recent years and they were set to play their biggest match in club history. Only three players survived Monday's crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCIANO FONTANARI, CHAPECOENSE FAN (Through Translator): There is no words to describe it. Everyone was dreaming for something beyond for Chape. It's over, isn't it? The whole team left us in such a way. There's nothing to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This photo shows three Chapecoense players who stayed behind and did not take the flight. They're sitting in the club's changing room after learning about the crash.

In all at least 71 people on board the plane were killed. The flight recorders have been recovered, allowing investigators to reconstruct the final moments.

CNN's Shasta Darlington reports now from Medellin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A devastating turn of events for the small soccer team from Brazil, Chapecoense, on their way to compete in the South America Cup Final for the very first time, but their plane crashed into the mountains here outside of Medellin.

Seventy one people were killed. There were six survivors. But they are in critical condition, including two here at the hospital behind me. In part because it was so difficult for the rescue workers to reach the site between the fog, the dark, the driving rain, they were initially turned back. They were eventually able to get through -- get through the wreckage, find and recover bodies and also these six survivors. Three of them soccer team members, two are crew and one a journalist.

A national tragedy in Brazil where the president declared three days of mourning. Hundreds of fans poured into the stadium in Chapeco, in southern Brazil, the home town of the team. There was an outpouring of grief. Just people in shock. Especially in such contrast to the recent videos we've seen of this little team that could, celebrating its victories. A couple of years ago, nobody had even heard of them. But they clawed their way to Brazil's top soccer league.

Here in Medellin the investigation continues. Authorities say they found both black boxes. They're in perfect condition. In the meantime, the soccer teams and supporters will be holding a candlelight vigil in the stadium where Chapecoense was going to play their game in the tournament.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Medellin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: As Shasta reported, the team celebrated their semifinal win just days ago. Now the locker room is empty and one of the players who died had just found out he was going to be a father.

This video shows Chapecoense players surprising their teammate with the news and celebrating. For some players who stayed behind the reality is hard to process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MARTINUCCIO, CHAPECOENSE PLAYER (Through Translator): It's very difficult thinking that I might have been there, why I wasn't there, the fact that I wasn't there. It is very difficult. It's too much for my head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Earlier I spoke with former FAA safety inspector David Soucie. I asked him if the plane running out of fuel may have caused the electrical failure which was reported by the pilot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: It's very possible, actually. This aircraft can lose an engine, the pilot cannot recognize it as a loss of engine. It looks like an electric failure, because the bus -- the electrical busses change where the power is going and where it's coming from. So if it looked like an electrical failure if it just ran out of fuel, one engine runs out of fuel before the others do. So it could look that way. It could be the initial report, but what's most concerning about this, as Rene had mentioned, is that this aircraft normally used for very short flights.

This flight was 1605 nautical miles, which is five miles beyond its certified range for this airplane. The range of this airplane is only 1600 miles. So the fact that the aircraft took off on a flight like this with no plans for fuel stop is very extraordinary. It really shouldn't have been flight planned the way that it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:05:06] VAUSE: That was CNN safety analyst David Soucie.

Now the U.N. is calling conditions in Aleppo, Syria deeply alarming and chilling. The Aleppo Media Center says 53 people were killed in air strikes and artillery shelling on Tuesday alone. Up to 16,000 people have fled the fighting but nearly 200,000 are trapped. Regime forces took control of a large area from the rebels in the northeastern part of the city on Monday. Food supplies are scarce and there is not one working hospital in the city. The U.N. is pressing for a break in the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN EGELAND, SENIOR SPECIAL ADVISER TO THE U.N. ENVOY FOR SYRIA: Indeed I believe we will get the pause that we asked for. We had meetings today with the Russian diplomats and military. We detailed what we need. I'm waiting for an answer back from them. We'll have a meeting on Thursday in the International Syria Support Group where all of the powers that have influence in Syria will sit around the table. The Russia, the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia, all of them, and our appeal will be let's get the pause now before it is really too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The Volunteer Syria Civil Defense Group posted video which appears to show the aftermath of an air strike on a residential area in Idlib Province. Activists say one child was killed in that attack.

The man behind the attack on Ohio State University's campus purchased knives the day of that attack. Law enforcement sources also tell CNN they believe Abdul Razak Ali Artan was inspired by ISIS and former al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. Purported media wing of ISIS called Artan an ISIS soldier but there's no evidence he communicated directly with any terror group. 11 people were wounded when he rammed his car into pedestrians and slashed others with a knife. A police officer shot and killed him.

Devastating fires in eastern Tennessee have killed three people and damaged hundreds of buildings near two resort towns. The National Park Service says the fire that sparked dozens of others was, quote, "human caused." The mayor of one town describes people running for their lives to escape the flames.

Rain is in the forecast. That might help slow the fires. But the storms could also bring high winds.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now. And Pedram, you've been looking at the wind gusts which have been fueling these fires.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You know what's really sad about this, John, too. We had of course almost two months of no rainfall across this region and the drought situation has been extremely poor across the area as well. So that goes without saying. Rainfall was on the horizon this time yesterday.

And I just want to show you exactly what we're talking about with these thunderstorms because you get down drafts that want to collapse out of these storms. Essentially the cooler denser air out of these thunderstorms collapses down to the surface, and it begins creating a very powerful gusts, potentially up to 80, 90 miles per hour, 140 kilometers per hour, is what we estimated across this region. That of course really exacerbated the problem just a couple of hours before the rain began falling across the region.

And when you think about lightning strikes in the United States, about 90 percent of all of them are human caused. What just John was saying a few seconds ago. But 80 -- about 10 percent of them I should say are lightning induced and volcanic activity also falls in that 10 percent category. But within that, about 6,000 of these fires in the United States come from lightning strikes but they cause about nine times more land to be consumed with these. They're far more greater in volume or in size when they do occur.

And this particular one has already consumed over 445 square kilometers of land or four times the size of the city of San Francisco roughly is how much land we're talking across the southeastern United States.

Here's the rainfall that has come down in the past 12 hours, John. Notice the wildfires and the thermal signatures. The heaviest rains unfortunately have stayed to the south and just to the west of where we need them most. When you look at what's ahead of us, we've already had over 6,000 lightning strikes in the past 60 minutes alone.

This is of a grave concern when you think about the areas that need the water most have not really been getting the heaviest rainfall but the lightning strikes certainly have been there. So we don't want to ignite of course additional fires. When you look at the forecast moving forward at least some better news. There is eastern portions of Tennessee where the largest fired are into North Carolina some heavy rainfall finally slated to move in sometime late into the morning hours, potentially into the early afternoon hours.

And again there is a severe element with all of these, these are all tornado watches that are in place including areas where the wildfires are taking place. So it shows you the instability in the atmosphere. The storms have had some rotation with them. We've seen some 19 reports of tornadoes on Tuesday alone. So this is, again, multiple weather patterns coming together. So yes, the rain is good news. But it is not going to be just the simple rain. There's a lot more inside of the rain that could be dangerous -- John. VAUSE: OK, Pedram. Thanks for the update. Pedram Javaheri there in

Atlanta.

To Israel now where the Knesset is expected to deal with two controversial bills in the coming hours. One would retroactively legalize Israeli settlements built on private Palestinian land. This is significant because Israel's high court has already ruled the Amona outpost has to be demolished by December 25th.

[02:10:03] But the Knesset is also expected to vote on a bill limiting religious announcements. Many say it specifically targets Muslims and the call to prayer.

Ian Lee is live in Jerusalem this hour. So, Ian, first up the vote to legalize Israeli outposts on Palestinian land, that seems to be a legal minefield for Israel both domestically and internationally.

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. And if we may remember, the international community has all along said that these settlements and outposts are illegal. Obviously the Palestinians view them as illegal as a land grab. But in Israel that's where it gets a bit more ambiguous.

And when it comes to this, there is a lot of fear from the Israeli government that if this law passes and legalizes these settlements and outposts that it could put them at odds with the international community, more specifically you have the U.N. Security Council, a resolution could be brought up to condemn them. In the past we've had U.S. president Barack Obama shield Israel from these sorts of resolutions. Well, he's in a lame duck session and there's fear that he could let a resolution go through. There's also the International Criminal Court. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also said that Israel -- Israeli leaders could be vulnerable to the ICC also if this bill is passed.

VAUSE: Yes. International law, countries is restricted from applying its laws to lands outside its territory. It then gets into the whole question of, is it occupied, is it Israeli, is it disputed, is it not? If this bill passes into law could it still be struck down by Israel's high court?

LEE: This could create, John, a bit of crisis within the Israeli government because this legislation was brought up to circumvent a high court ruling which said as you pointed out earlier the Amona outpost was illegal and that it needed to be taken down by December 25th. So if this legislation does pass and legalizes that outpost, there is the question, then, who is the last word when it comes to Israeli law? Is it the high court or is it the Israeli parliament, the Knesset?

VAUSE: There's this other controversial law which is before the parliament to essentially muzzle the Islamic call to prayer. It is played over loudspeakers a couple of times a day. That also raises a question if that law passes would it apply to the Shabbat siren on the weekend or church bells, for instance? LEE: This law has critics from both the left and the right saying

that there's already a sound ordinance in place and it just needs to be applied. And those same critics are saying that this bill, this legislation in particular is going after the Muslim call to prayer because it's between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. and predominantly you do have really the call to prayer only during those hours.

And so they do say it specifically going after that, creating more tension here. And so this bill, very controversial. We're seeing people from both sides saying that it shouldn't pass. We also have one member of the Knesset saying that if it does pass he's calling on the mosques to ignore it, to continue pushing this sort of resistance against muzzling the call to prayer.

VAUSE: Ok. Ian, thank you. Ian Lee will be following that story throughout the day. I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you.

Well, Donald Trump is set to announce two Cabinet picks to help steer the U.S. economy. And ahead we'll see why Democrats are raising the alarm over his choice for Health secretary.

Also this hour Pope Francis fighting for Catholics in China. The historic deal he's trying to make and the controversy it's causing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:17:14] VAUSE: Well, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to announce two key Cabinet posts. An official says former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin is Trump's pick for Treasury secretary. Mnuchin was Trump's campaign finance chairman. He's also a Hollywood producer. Movies include "American Sniper" and "The Lego Movie."

Sources tell CNN billionaire investor Wilbur Ross will be tapped as Commerce secretary. He earned the nickname king of bankruptcy for building new companies from the assets of defaulted ones.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more on the new and some familiar faces in Trump's administration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, Donald Trump is taking major steps to fill out his Cabinet.

STEVEN MNUCHIN, FORMER GOLDEN SACHS PARTNER: We want to be in a position where in the first hundred days we can execute the economic plan.

SERFATY: The president-elect tapping former Goldman Sachs partner, Steve Mnuchin, for Treasury secretary, and announcing Elaine Chao, a former Labor secretary and wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Transportation Department. Also naming GOP Congressman Tom Price as his pick for secretary of Health and Human Services. REP. TOM PRICE (R), GEORGIA: As a physician, I believe that the

president's healthcare law violates every single principle we hold dear in healthcare.

SERFATY: Price, a physician, is a staunched conservative who has been leading the charge in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which transition officials say will become his priority in a Trump administration.

JASON MILLER, TRUMP TRANSITION SPOKESMAN: Dr. Tom Price, chairman of the House Budget Committee, also member of Ways and Means, every cycle for the last several cycles introduced very solid replacement healthcare option bills and that's one of the things he's going to lead the charge on.

SERFATY: Price also favors overhauling Medicaid and Medicare. Under House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan, Medicare enrollees would receive subsidies from the federal government to cover or offset their medical cost. Democrats are already sounding the alarm.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We say to our Republicans who want to privatize Medicare, go try it, make our day.

SERFATY: Trump also selecting Seema Verma to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Verma has close ties to V.P.-elect Mike Pence, having designed Indiana's Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.

Meantime, the palace intrigue over who will be chosen as secretary of State continues to take center stage as Trump hosts more contenders in New York today. Trump welcoming Senate Foreign Relations chairman Bob Corker to Trump Tower.

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: He needs to choose someone that he's very comfortable with that he knows there is going to be no daylight between him and them.

SERFATY: And having a dinner tonight with Mitt Romney. Sources say the sit-down is so Trump and Romney can get to know each other more.

(On camera): And President-elect Donald Trump will hit the road this week, kicking off what his team is calling a thank you tour.

[02:20:05] Thursday night in Cincinnati, Ohio, the first of an anticipated few stops to get out and thank voters for their support. But notably, President-elect Trump, he has still not yet held a press conference since winning the election as is tradition and it now has been a total of 125 days since he's had a formal press conference.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: "Hamilton" had the best week ever for a Broadway show days after President-elect Donald Trump called it, you know, highly overrated. The musical made $3.3 million last week. The show faced controversy when the cast gave Vice President-elect Mike Pence a message about diversity after a performance. But that incident did not affect sales because tickets sell out months in advance. Thanksgiving week is one of the best for Broadway sales every year.

Over the past few years one thing has become abundantly clear about Pope Francis. He's no ordinary Pope. He recently extended the authority for priests to forgive abortion. He's spoken out on climate change. Even helped broker a thaw in relations between Cuba and the United States. And now he may be on the verge of what's being described as the most consequential diplomatic feat of his papacy. A breakthrough with Beijing.

Mainland China severed ties with the Vatican in 1951. Catholics are allowed to worship but only in Chinese state-controlled churches approved by the communist government, which also chooses bishops and refuses to recognize the Pope's authority. But millions of other Chinese Catholics defy the government and gather in so-called underground churches, risking arrest and prosecution.

Under the deal the Pope would reportedly be allowed to choose bishops from a list of candidates approved by the communist government. He could reject them all and demand new names which means for the first time Beijing would recognize the holy father as head of the Catholic Church in China. There has been whispers of an agreement for months, but already it's drawn a lot of criticism.

For more Father Drew Christensen joins me now from Washington.

Father, thank you for be being with us. Is that essentially how this deal would work? Did I get it right?

FR. DREW CHRISTIANSEN, S.J., DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, I think that's the beginning of the deal is the approval of bishops and the nomination of bishops. As a matter of fact, they're building on a relationship that exist now for maybe 20 years. There has been joint appointment of some bishop, not all, and then there's controversies when the Chinese appoint bishops on their own and the Vatican doesn't give approval.

But they've gone back and forth on making appointments together now for quite a while. And particularly in the last several years, appointing bishops who will replace both an above ground bishop for the official church, who is retiring, and a bishop of the underground church who is retiring. And I think it's -- you could see there an effort, particularly on the part of the church, to heal divisions within the church. But I think the Chinese will be very happy to see unity within the church and not division, too.

VAUSE: One of the most outspoken critics of this deal, though, is the former bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen. He told "The Guardian" newspaper this. "You cannot go into negotiations with the mentality we want to sign an agreement at any cost. Then you are surrendering yourself. You are betraying yourself. You are betraying Jesus Christ."

Cardinal Zen, he's always been outspoken. But even by his standards, they seem to be very strong words.

CHRISTIANSEN: Well, I just think that Cardinal Zen has been a hard line all along. And rapprochement with China has had opposition within the Holy See. I think that is different offices of the Vatican have held different positions. The Diplomatic Corps for years has been working for some kind of rapprochement. But other officers of the Vatican, that -- staffed by anti-communist, members of former communist countries generally opposed it.

That time has kind of passed now, particularly for Pope Francis, but even in the time of Pope Benedict, it was moved forward in this area. And Cardinal Zen has made no bones about his being opposed to rapprochement.

I don't think it's a matter of sacrificing principles. The Holy See will still be making choices. The Pope will be making choices. But there will be a process in which both are involved. And that's the process that they've been fully engaged in now for maybe 10 years.

VAUSE: Well, Pope Francis has been on child offensive with China for some time. He hasn't met with the Dalai Lama, for example. And earlier this year, he told "The Asia Times," "For me, China has always been a reference point of greatness. A great country. But more than a country, a great culture with an inexhaustible wisdom."

Is there a concern that he is heading down the same road as, you know, multinational companies like Google and Facebook, willing to give up on some principles, ignore religious persecution, human rights abuses in China, you know, to reach a potential market of more than a billion people?

[02:25:06] CHRISTIANSEN: Well, I think that in his case, he's responding to the Chinese sense that they are a civilizational society. They're not just a nation state like other nation states. They have a great history that is not respected. And Francis also, in principle, very much for unity, but unity with diversity. And I think in this situation, it's not unity with uniformity, but with diversity with diversity with a different kind of relationship perhaps with the church in China than the church elsewhere.

VAUSE: Yes. And the Holy Father sees himself as an undoer of knots. This would be one of the biggest knots of all.

Father Christiansen, thanks so much for being with us.

CHRISTIANSEN: Thank you very much. Good to be with you, John.

VAUSE: Well, a steel shutter resembling an oversized aircraft hangar now covers the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine. Time lapse video shows the dome sliding into place over the past few days. It's designed to keep radioactive material from spewing out of the stricken reactor for the next 100 years. Dozens of countries and organizations donated more than $2 billion to build it.

When the Chernobyl reactor blew up in 1986, it was considered the world's worst nuclear accident. More than 100,000 people were forced from their homes. Authorities said at the time only 30 people were killed but later estimates say thousands of cleanup workers were killed.

Time for a quick break. "STATE OF AMERICA" with Kate Bolduan is next for our viewers in Asia. For everyone else a look at the massive memorial for Fidel Castro as tens of thousands of Cubans bid farewell to their former leader.

Also, what Donald Trump thinks should happen to anyone who burns the American flag.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:15] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

Brazil has announced three days of mourning after a plane crash in Colombia involving members of a Brazilian football team. At least 71 people died. Only six survived. The flight recorders have been recovered and investigators say they are in perfect condition.

In South Korea tens of thousands of union members are striking to demand that President Park Geun-Hye resign. On Tuesday the embattled leader, who's accused of leaking state information, offered to step down if parliament decides she should.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to announce two key Cabinet posts. An official says former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin is Trump's pick for Treasury secretary. And sources tell CNN billionaire investor Wilbur Ross will be tapped as Commerce secretary.

And Donald Trump is reigniting the debate over flag burning with an early morning tweet. On Tuesday Trump posted this, "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag. If they do there must be consequences. Perhaps loss of citizenship or a year in jail."

Apparently a news report on the FOX News Channel about flag burning prompted that tweet. The U.S. Supreme Court has twice ruled that flag burning is a form of free speech protected under the U.S. Constitution.

Republican Senator John McCain is making it clear he will not be reacting to Trump's every word. Listen to this exchange with CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he said that the people who burned the flag should be prosecuted. What do you think about that?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: That was a very close decision on the -- by the United States Supreme Court. I do not approve of burning the flag. I think there should be some punishment. But right now the Supreme Court decision is that people are free to express themselves that way.

I will not comment on Mr. Trump's comments. I have not and will not.

RAJU: Why not? He's the president-elect and you're a very senior member up here.

MCCAIN: Because that's my choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, Trump has proven to be a consummate showman with the ability to steer the news wherever he wants on an almost daily basis but one Web site popular with his followers may be steering him.

CNN's Phil Mattingly explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a cozy relationship from the beginning.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: I will not let you down. You will be very, very impressed I hope and I think we'll be speaking a lot.

MATTINGLY: Donald Trump and Alex Jones, the conservative conspiracy theorist and operator of the Web site Infowars, which seems to be a place where Trump gets a lot of his information.

Jones can take credit for spearheading some of the most outrageous theories on the Internet, from claims that 9/11 was a government conspiracy to the Sandy Hook shooting being faked. Jones' theories reach tens of millions each month and are now often echoed by the next president of the United States. Take President Obama's birth.

TRUMP: Trump comes along and said birth certificate. He gave a birth certificate, whether or not that was a real certificate because a lot of people question it, I certainly question it.

MATTINGLY: Obama as the leader of ISIS.

TRUMP: ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS.

MATTINGLY: Questioning the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

TRUMP: They say they found a pillow on his face which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow.

MATTINGLY: And Ted Cruz's father's role in the death of John F. Kennedy.

TRUMP: His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald being, you know, shot

MATTINGLY: When Jones posted this video entitled "An Emergency Message to Donald Trump" during the campaign --

ALEX JONES, INFOWARS HOST: I am going to ask you to seriously think about making the issue of Hillary's election fraud in the primaries, one of the central issues to defeating her in November.

MATTINGLY: Trump had this to say a day later.

TRUMP: I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest. Because I think my side was rigged.

MATTINGLY: And in the wake of the election, Jones pushing a theory that despite the vote totals, Trump actually won the popular vote.

JONES: Millions of illegals voting. At least five states have been stolen for Hillary. We're talking five, six, seven eight million people more voting for Trump if you look at the evidence in the popular vote than did.

MATTINGLY: And Trump tweeting just four days later, quote, "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

JONES: I'll tell you, it is surreal to talk about issues here on air and then word for word here Trump say it two days later. It is amazing.

[02:35:11] MATTINGLY (on camera): And the issue of where the president-elect is actually getting his information has been a particularly vexing one for both Democrats and Republicans, raising no shortage of concerns.

Here's one kind of primary example. Intelligence briefings. Now the Vice President-elect Mike Pence has been as described to me by one adviser a voracious consumer of intelligence, attending briefings on a very regular basis, trying to stay in the loop and learn a lot of things that obviously as a member of Congress or governor of Indiana he simply wasn't privy to.

The president-elect? Not so much. Hasn't attended many of those presidential daily briefings despite the fact he has full access to them. Now the president-elect's advisers make clear he gets information from several different sources. Where those sources actually come from, though, that's the big question. Those same advisers they also make clear the president-elect is going to start changing his ways.

Just on Tuesday morning he sat down for the presidential daily brief with top U.S. intelligence officials. Something we expect to see a lot more in the future.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: If you plan on shaking your booty in Brussels, you're about to be shaken down by a new dance tax. Yes, dance tax. Officials have introduced this tax in clubs and music cafes charging venues 40 cents per person per night for anyone busting a move. It was signed into law two years ago but some clubs report only now they're being audited. But for bopping Belgians don't worry. There's always the option of dancing in the street.

A short break. When we come back, thousands of Cubans coming together in Havana to mourn. We'll have more on what they expect now that Fidel Castro is gone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Happy birthday. That's a video put together by our digital team. Check out CNN.com for a lot more videos and some other good content.

Tens of thousands of Cubans say good-bye to Fidel Castro at a huge rally in Havana's Revolution Square on Tuesday. The former Cuban leader died Friday at age 90. In nearly four hours of speeches leaders and diplomats from around the world praised Castro as the father of Cuba's communist revolution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:40:10] LI YUANCHAO, CHINESE VICE PRESIDENT (Through Translator): Under the firm leadership of Comrade Raul Castro, the party, government, and people of Cuba will convert all the pain into strength and carry on the legacy of Comrade Fidel.

EVO MORALES, BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT (Through Translator): Fidel has not died because the battles don't stop. Especially those battles destined to increase human dignity.

ALEXIS TSIPRAS, GREEK PRIME MINISTER (Through Translator): Far away in Greece we are fighting for justice and equality and Fidel's example accompanies and will accompany us in this battle always.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: On Wednesday Castro's ashes will be taken to Santiago in a reversal of the journey he took when he came to power in 1959.

Even though Castro handed power to his younger brother a decade ago, his influence is still felt throughout Cuba. Nic Robertson spoke with some Cubans about whether they expect things to change now that Fidel Castro is gone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Cuba is moving a little slower. More somber than usual. For generations who'd grown up under Fidel Castro's often fiery rule, a new dawn may be coming. But if this is the end of an era, no mistaking the government's message. Its iron grip on the island isn't wavering. The country is in official mourning.

(On camera): Question here, with Fidel gone is this a new day for Cubans? The opening of a better future?

(Voice-over): Out of earshot of the guns there is a tranquility, a quiet acceptance. Life uninterrupted.

"We're very sad," this engineer tells me. "We can feel it in the people. The sadness for the death of Fidel." A generation younger, his barber is unfazed. Dead or alive, Castro's legacy traps them all.

"It will continue like he was alive," he says. "It won't change."

Wherever you look here this may be a country tilting toward terminal decline. But in its shadow workers seemingly oblivious.

"It's only slow today," this factory worker tells me, "because we have a day off to mourn Fidel. If there is to be change, no spark here to fire it up."

"Castro's way will carry on," she tells me, "because this is how we raise our children." Not so much a new dawn. More a very familiar day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Our thanks to Nic Robertson for that report.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. You're watching CNN.

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(WORLD SPORTS)