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Iranian President Accuses Israel Of Killing Top Nuclear Scientist; U.S. Tops 13 Million Coronavirus Cases; Trump Losses Pile Up As Court Sinks Election Lawsuit; France To Ease Restrictions; Europe Assessing Measures To Avoid Third Wave; Pope Francis To Appoint First African-American Cardinal. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired November 28, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Iran vows revenge, accusing Israel of assassinating a top nuclear scientist.

Dire predictions as Americans ignore warnings and travel for the holidays.

And President Trump still spreading election misinformation as his legal team suffers yet another defeat.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

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NEWTON: Iran is accusing Israel of carrying out an assassination of its top nuclear scientist and vowing, quote, "severe revenge." President Hassan Rouhani told the cabinet that Iran will respond in time and Iran's supreme leader promised retaliation.

So far, Israel has been silent about the ambush killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the mastermind of Iran's nuclear program. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh explains the Israeli government has been complaining about him for years.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Iran's most prominent nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, lived largely in the shadows. The force behind Iran's nuclear weapons program, gunned down Friday, in an apparent assassination, according to state media. He was traveling in the city of Absard, east of Tehran when the reports say his car was targeted by gunfire and a vehicle explosion. Iran's defense ministry say that he and his bodyguards were gravely wounded, succumbing to their injuries at the hospital a short time later.

Believed to be aged 59, he is said to have headed the research center of new technology in the country's elite Revolutionary Guard. U.S. and Israeli intelligence services say he was the mastermind behind Project AMAD, a decade-long secret program to design an atomic warhead.

That effort was scrubbed in 2003. But it's claimed he continued the research, a reference made by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a 2018 press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh. So here is his directive, right here. He says, the general aim is to announce the closure of the Project AMAD. But then he adds "Special activities" -- you know what that is -- "will be carried out under the title of scientific knowhow development."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH (voice-over): The Israeli government had no comment on the killing. But Iran has long blamed Israel's intelligence service for the assassinations of several of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's colleagues, going back decades. Theories are emerging as to what they have to gain from his death, right now.

VALI NASR, AUTHOR AND DEAN OF JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: It is a twofold effect. One is slowing down the program and the other, which is something the prime minister Netanyahu would want, is to get Iran to do something that would make it impossible for the United States to engage Iran after January 20th.

WALSH (voice-over): Iran has long denied they plan to weaponize nuclear energy, claiming that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was merely an academic. For years, denying the IAEA's request to interview him.

A martyr for Iran, they vow revenge for the killing. Chief of staff of Iran's armed forces warns of, quote, "severe revenge" against the killers.

Iran's foreign minister tweeting, "Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice -- with serious indications of an Israeli role -- shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators. Iran calls on the international community -- and especially the E.U. -- to end their shameful double standards and condemn this act of terror."

But the death of the scientist is about more than one man, aimed at damaging Iran's accelerating nuclear program and, above all, limiting the options for President-Elect Joe Biden to reopen diplomacy with Iran; namely, the 2015 nuclear deal so near to broken by the past months -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

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NEWTON: We're live in North Tehran and Jerusalem for reactions. We'll get the Israeli government reactions from Oren Liebermann but first to Iran and Ramin Mostaghim.

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NEWTON: In just the last little while, Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, tweeted that this man was murdered by, quote, "brutal mercenaries."

Iran saying there must be retaliation; are they talking about what form it will take?

Because despite the tweets, they have shown more restraint with regard to provocations from the Trump administration.

RAMIN MOSTAGHIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, still the rhetorical dings. Bear in mind, last year's assassination of Qasem Soleimani on Iraqi soil has been on the waiting list to be severely avenged. So far that has not been carried out.

So we can say this is also another rhetorics because President Rouhani's government is under pressure on one side to accelerate and speed up the process of nuclear engagement and other projects related to that nuclear issue.

At the same time, they're desperate because of the economic situations to pave the way for a new round of dialogue with America, once President-Elect Biden comes to office in White House.

So it is -- I mean, it is very -- I mean, dire situation with President Rouhani on one side to go for severe revenge but, at the same time, keep the door for diplomacy open.

And given the situation, economic situation inside the country, with the poverty in Iran, it's a huge task to be carried out by President Rouhani in the coming weeks and months -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes. Yes, absolutely. We want to discuss some of that now with CNN's Oren Liebermann.

Of course, Oren, we're not going to get any admission from Israel. One would think they're the most likely in this. I want to point out that John Brennan, the former CIA director, said this is --

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NEWTON: -- that he was highly reckless and called it state-sponsored terrorism. When you take it all together, we're saying, Joe Biden's administration is coming in, they want to go back to the negotiating table with Iran.

What would have been Israel's calculus in all of this?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Israel, as everybody knows, there's basically two months left in the Trump administration, which basically gives Israel a free hand do whatever it wants in acting against Iran.

We saw that with Israel stealing of the Iranian nuclear archive late 2017 and 2018, that is where the statement came from President Netanyahu regarding Mohsen Fakhrizadeh when he name-checked him.

It's interesting to see what statements are made after the Sabbath. We're not expecting a mission of anybody having carried this out for anybody in Israel.

What statements were made about the scientist, do they believe it slowed down the nuclear program or was the real target simply diplomacy, trying to make sure it would be impossible for a Biden administration to try to negotiate a new deal?

Netanyahu said to return to the nuclear deal must not be allowed. He's always been in favor of scrapping the nuclear deal. He pushed Trump to do so. He was a backer of Trump's maximum pressure campaign, the sanctions campaign against Iran.

Even whether that was effective or not, given than Iran is beyond the limits set in the JCPOA. Regardless, Netanyahu's position has always been clear. And according to one non-proliferation expert, it's a clear attempt to poison the well for a Biden administration when it comes to negotiations against Iran.

So given the limited time in the Trump administration, given what's happening here in the Biden administration that is expected to pursue diplomacy with Iran, perhaps that was really the plan here in taking out one of Iran's top nuclear scientists, to make those negotiations, that diplomacy that much harder.

NEWTON: Yet if Iran wants that diplomacy, he might indeed show some restraint in the coming days and weeks. Oren Liebermann, Ramin Mostaghim, thanks to you both.

The U.S. is monitoring the situation and waiting to see if Iran retaliates. The timing of the killing threatens, as Oren was saying, to complicate any diplomatic efforts from the incoming Biden administration. CNN's Barbara Starr has more.

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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Even with no official word from the government of Israel or the Trump administration, behind the scenes, U.S. officials are calling the assassination of this Iranian nuclear scientist a big deal.

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STARR: The man is said to have been involved for decades in the development of Iran's nuclear weapons program. No one can say yet who carried out the assassination. Iran, very clearly, pointing the public finger at Israel; Israel, not responding.

So the question really becomes, what happens now?

In the region, there is a good deal of concern that things stay calm, that Iran not retaliate for this assassination, even though the Iranians are already threatening to do so.

For the part of the U.S., they are moving the aircraft carrier Nimitz back into the Persian Gulf region. Defense officials say it has nothing to do with the assassination; this move had been planned. But this aircraft carrier and its fighter jets on board are going to

provide air cover and defense for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, that President Trump had ordered to be completed five days before he leaves office in January.

So all of this, putting more firepower into the region, more tension, if you will, with President-Elect Joe Biden coming in to office, having to decide what to do about it all. And everyone is wondering if the Iranians are getting the message that the U.S. is after deterrent. They want to deter Iran.

As one general said, we are not looking for war -- Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

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NEWTON: So last hour, I spoke with Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges from the London School of Economics. I asked him if Israel was behind the assassination if, as Iran alleges, what does Israel hope to accomplish?

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FAWAZ GERGES, DIR. MIDDLE EAST CENTER, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Israel has been attacking Iranian targets in Syria quite frequently on a weekly basis. Israel is widely believed to have carried out major attacks in Iran, inside Iran, explosions and paramilitary attacks.

And this particular attack fits the pattern. What the Israeli prime minister is trying to do is provoke Iran to retaliate and ultimately trigger an Iranian-American confrontation before the end of this administration, in the next 50 days because the Israeli prime minister and other states in the region are basically anxious that the next U.S. administration will likely engage Iran and try to salvage the nuclear deal.

So the next 50 days, what you're seeing inside Syria, in Iran, the assassination of Iranian top nuclear scientists, fits the pattern, that Israel is pushing Iran's back to the wall and forcing it to retaliate.

My take is that Iran has shown considerable restraint. Iranian leaders naturally want to provide the pretext and the ammunition for the Trump administration to carry out devastating attacks against their nuclear and ballistic missiles.

NEWTON: What could change that calculus?

It is clear Iran has a lot to gain from a Biden administration here. But it's not a done deal. It won't be a new done deal. We had Ramin talk about the grassroots and talk about how difficult this is going to be for Iran to go back to the table with the U.S. government, any U.S. government.

GERGES: You're absolutely correct. Any kind of deal between the Biden administration and Iran is going to be extremely difficult, given what has happened in the past year or so. We're not just talking about the killing of the top Iranian scientist.

We're also talking about the assassination of the top Iranian general. If you were to ask me about the big picture, you have had the details from your many reporters in the field. If you ask me, the big picture, we -- well, historians -- and I could be wrong -- historians will look at this particular period about the Trump administration because we say that some actions produce the opposite results from the intended consequences.

And the unintended consequences is that the Trump administration, by pulling out of that the nuclear deal which Iran which was signed by President Obama, and the assassinating General Qasem Soleimani and now by Israel assassinating the top scientist, it will not only complicate U.S.-Iranian relations, we will look at this particular period as basically a tipping point in speeding up Iran's acquisition of an atomic bomb.

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NEWTON: Fawaz Gerges from the London School of Economics.

Just to be clear, Israel has not commented on the assassination and there's no confirmation that Israel was behind it.

Coronavirus numbers just soared past another troubling milestone. Just ahead, why health experts are so frightened of the holidays.

And hospitals saw this surge coming. I'll speak to a medical doctor from a medical center that's handled outbreaks from SARS to Ebola. But this pandemic has surprised him. He'll explain why, after the break.

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NEWTON: So the U.S. crossed yet another sobering coronavirus milestone on Friday. More than 13 million cases have been confirmed to date. Those include, sadly, more than 264,000 deaths, all according to Johns Hopkins University.

With an approved vaccine still at least weeks away, the pandemic is, of course, expected to grow even worse. And Thanksgiving gatherings will have a lot to do with it.

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NEWTON: CNN's Nick Watt explains.

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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans were urged not to travel for the holiday. Millions did anyway. DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We already have this massive surge across the country. And it's sort of like pouring gasoline on that.

WATT (voice-over): That massive surge in numbers, Thanksgiving Day, more than 90,000 Americans in the hospital with COVID-19, yet another all-time high. On average, more than 1,500 deaths are now reported every day and more than 100,000 new cases logged every day for 24 days straight.

Here's how it works. When case counts rise, a couple weeks later, the death toll follows. So a couple of weeks from now?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: You do the math and that's 3,000 to 4,000 deaths per day.

WATT (voice-over): Those daily case counts and death tolls will dip the next few days. Don't be fooled. Some states aren't reporting over the holiday, the world, this country not in a good place, as we wait for a vaccine.

TRUMP: The vaccines are being delivered. Literally, it'll start next week and the week after.

WATT (voice-over): Umm, very unlikely. The FDA hasn't even authorized a vaccine yet. Their advisory committee meets December 10. A decision could take days, even weeks, so likely late December best case for first shots in arms.

TRUMP: Don't let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccines.

WATT (voice-over): The president is playing politics still, even in defeat.

DR. SYRA MADAD, NYC HEALTH AND HOSPITALS: The political theater absolutely has to stop. People are much more reluctant and hesitant, even health care workers. I'm in a health care setting. And health care workers are also hesitant, even though they're going to be the first priority group, because of all of this politicization of everything that's been going on.

WATT: Here in Los Angeles, authorities say cases remain at alarming levels. So from Monday and for nearly three weeks, Angelinos are being advised to stay home as much as possible and, basically, we're not allowed to mix with anyone outside our immediate household.

You can go to church or a protest; that's constitutionally protected. Authorities here trying desperately to keep a lid on this virus in this window between Thanksgiving and Christmas -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

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NEWTON: OK. The surge is already happening in some areas. During the Thanksgiving holiday, Nebraska reported its highest ever single day of new coronavirus infections, more than 5,200 cases. And that's according to Johns Hopkins University.

Now the state now has confirmed the total of more than 124,000 new infections and almost 1,000 deaths, as the virus surges through America's Midwestern heartland. Now as you can see here, since the beginning of the October, the moving average of new cases is, of course, heading in the wrong direction.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center is one of the premier facilities in the United States for treating infectious diseases. You can see here, it was ready to take on Ebola and SARS several years ago.

But lately, even it's having trouble coping with the onslaught of coronavirus cases. Now I spoke a bit earlier with one doctor there, who is still coming to grips with the soaring numbers.

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Dr. David Brett-Major is an infectious disease specialist and professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Thanks for joining us. Your medical center, really one of the best in the United States, arguably the world when it comes to infectious diseases. You handled Ebola and the first COVID-19 patients off of cruise ships that came into the United States. We're so many months on.

And you can fathom the position that your health facility and others around the United States find themselves in now?

DR. DAVID BRETT-MAJOR, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: If you were to ask me at the beginning of the year whether we would be dealing with case counts to the scale we are now, I would not have said so.

It really does surprise me that we continue to struggle with some of the basics of risk mitigation in this pandemic: mask use, physical and social distancing, hand and environmental hygiene, being mindful of when we're sick or others are in aggregate settings. It's straight forward interventions, that, unfortunately, we are behind.

NEWTON: And then you're one of the best prepared medical facilities in the United States.

Are you guys at your breaking point right now?

BRETT-MAJOR: Well, we're certainly busy with COVID-19 cases. We've certainly deferred many of what people call elective or nonemergency activities in order to be able to have resources available for COVID- 19 cases.

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BRETT-MAJOR: We are very fortunate that, for many years, folks here in Nebraska have been interested in high consequence pathogens, highly communicable threats and focused on the ability to take care of what we call sentinel cases of emergencies that happened in 2014 with the Ebola disease with medevacs here.

And there are several institutions now in the U.S. and globally, that have an interest in this kind of work and we generally align and work together.

But the ability to do that is very different than what happens when really much of your health care system across the country is engaged in continued case counts, persistent experience with COVID-19 that needs to be scaled down.

NEWTON: You're trying to be very polite, Doctor.

I assume there's a lot of anger brewing in there as well?

BRETT-MAJOR: Well, it is. We need to be able to do the basics and we have not been mitigating this the way that we could have. We knew that were going to be fits and spurts of cases and that there might be waves and that those waves might be close together, not as far apart, for instance, as they might have been in 2009 and '10 with the H1N1 pandemic.

But yes, I think we're all getting tired, just like people in the public are. So it's easy to understand the angst, frustration and people who want to get on with life that isn't in the middle of a pandemic. Unfortunately, your resources in health care are being increasingly consumed.

NEWTON: And human resources, there is no replacement for that. You cannot train those people up. Dr. David Brett-Major, I really appreciate your time tonight.

BRETT-MAJOR: Thanks for having us. And thanks for continuing to spread the message that we should be mindful of each other and our risk of COVID-19 and doing the basics.

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NEWTON: Yes, we can't talk about that enough, how exhausted the frontline workers are in hospitals and everything that they're going to face in the coming weeks.

Now straight here on CNN, a federal appeals court hands the Trump campaign another legal defeat but the president is sticking with his conspiracies and false election claims.

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NEWTON: And welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. A federal court on Friday rejected the Trump campaign's attempt to

throw out ballots in Pennsylvania. Now it's just the latest in a string of legal defeats for the president and his team.

Now Mr. Trump spent much of Friday golfing after a wild press conference on Thursday that was marked with conspiracies and false claims, attempts at deception about the election results. Jeremy Diamond has more.

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TRUMP: We caught them cheating. We caught them stealing.

I'm the president of the United States. Don't ever talk to the president that way.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lying and lashing out, President Trump bitterly refusing to accept his loss to president-Elect Joe Biden.

TRUMP: It's going to be a very hard thing to concede.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But also vowing to leave the White House if the Electoral College locks in Biden's victory next month.

QUESTION: If the Electoral College does elect President-Elect Joe Biden, are you not going to leave this building?

TRUMP: Just so you -- certainly, I will. Certainly I will and you know that.

DIAMOND (voice-over): That admission coming during a Thanksgiving airing of grievances and conspiracy theories, marking the first time Trump has taken questions since the election.

Less than 24 hours later, Trump undercutting his assurance of a peaceful exit, tweeting, "Biden can only enter the White House as president if he can prove that his ridiculous 80 million votes were not fraudulently or illegally obtained."

But it's Trump who's failed to prove his claims. Today, a federal appeals court denying the Trump campaign's latest effort to overturn Biden's victory in Pennsylvania.

Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, writing, "Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here. The campaign's claims have no merit."

That ruling brought Trump and his allies' courtroom losses and withdrawals to more than 30, with not a single court in any state substantiating Trump's claims the election was rigged.

Trump also refusing to commit to attending his successor's inauguration, a tradition of held by every outgoing president since 1869. TRUMP: I don't want to say that yet. I mean, I know the answer. I will be honest, I know the answer. But I just don't want to say it yet.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Trump is committing to campaigning next week in Georgia --

TRUMP: It's very important that we win those races.

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- where two run-off elections will decide the fate of the U.S. Senate.

Georgia Republicans are worried Trump's baseless claims about voting --

TRUMP: I said, listen, you have a fraudulent system.

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- and his attacks on the state's Republican secretary of state --

TRUMP: He's an enemy of the people, the secretary of state.

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- could depress GOP turnout.

Today, Trump doing damage control, tweeting, "The 2020 election was a total scam. But we must get out and help David and Kelly. Otherwise, we are playing right into the hands of some very sick people."

Meanwhile, the president spending another day on the golf course, missing in action as the coronavirus pandemic enters its darkest chapter yet --

TRUMP: We're rounding the curve.

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- downplaying the virus, focused instead on who gets credit for the vaccines.

TRUMP: Don't let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccines, because the vaccines were me and I pushed people harder than they've ever been pushed before. And we got that approved and through. And nobody's ever seen anything like it.

DIAMOND: And President-Elect Joe Biden's team also reacting to that lawsuit in Pennsylvania and that ruling from the third circuit court of appeals there. This coming from the spokesman for Joe Biden Mike Gwin, saying this election is over and Donald Trump lost.

Desperate and embarrassingly meritless lawsuits like this one will continue to fail and will not change the fact that Joe Biden will be sworn in as president on January 20th, 2021.

As for the president's legal team, we got a statement from Jenna Ellis, one of the president's lawyers.

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DIAMOND: She says the campaign plans to take it all the way to the Supreme Court -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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NEWTON: We want to dig in deeper into all of this with Natasha Lindstaedt from Colchester, England. She is professor of government at University of Essex.

It has to be said, it is the president's prerogative to launch these legal salvos and the court's prerogative to shoot them down.

I guess what I'm wondering, what is the collateral damage between all of this?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, I think the main damage is what Trump is trying to do to our confidence in our electoral processes. We have said many times that there was the shocking poll, that 70 percent of Republicans thought the election wasn't free and fair.

That is incredibly damaging. We need to have complete belief in the legitimacy of our electoral processes. And he has really damaged this with all of these frivolous lawsuits that have gone nowhere. And they're not going to go anywhere. He's already accepted that the writing is on the wall and he needs to move forward.

But they're expensive. When he tries to get a recount, for example, in Georgia, this is going to be something the taxpayers there are going to have to pay for. And it's wasting his energy. He's still the president and needs to be focusing on the pandemic and other pressing issues for the U.S.

NEWTON: It is a good point that it's a distraction for anyone, not the least of him, who's trying to deal with hopefully a pandemic.

You mentioned the recount in Georgia. In Wisconsin, they had a recount, a partial one. The Trump campaign had to pay for it, a few million dollars. It ended up with 132 more votes for President-Elect Biden.

Clearly this isn't going anywhere. But let me push back a little bit. When you look at the polls, Republican voters, those that are really in favor of Trump, the vast majority actually believe that there is something to his allegations.

LINDSTAEDT: Right. I think that's the danger here because the electoral commissions have said this is the most free and fair election in U.S. history, that everything went as smooth as possible. This was due to the great effort they put into ensuring the electoral processes were free and fair.

That's the danger here. There's no evidence of fraud. When they try to provide any evidence, they haven't been able to provide any of it. When they go to the courts, they're careful about the way they talk about it. They don't use the word "fraud." It's dangerous to then speak to the media and the American public and

say there are millions and millions of fraudulent votes out there. I think that's really problematic.

NEWTON: How will this affect the incoming Biden administration?

They have been trying to take down the temperature. They have the statement we read out today. But they haven't been reacting too much. When you put all of this together, not just the challenges in courts, not just the recounts but also this latest event in Iran complicating things for the Biden team coming in.

What do you think the mission is here as Trump is on his way out?

LINDSTAEDT: I think the Biden team has a really uphill battle here because there's a lot that they're going to feel they have to reverse. There are a lot of relationships with global powers Trump has hurt and damaged.

Trump has followed this America first policy and rejected multilateralism. So Biden has to restore the U.S.' role of coalition building and try to also ensure allies that the U.S. is a more predictable ally.

Trump left the World Health Organization, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, withdrew from the Paris accord and trying to withdraw from NATO, withdrawing 12,000 troops from Germany in July.

So there's a lot that Biden has to do, not just internationally but if you look domestically, there's clearly a very divided nation. He has to restore trust in our institutions and engage in some sort of action across the aisle so it looks like there's more bipartisan support across the policies they try to pursue.

NEWTON: Yes, it certainly is, as you said, an uphill battle and not many days to go since they just formally started with the transition last week. Natasha Lindstaedt, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Good news for France as the coronavirus numbers move in the right direction. Just ahead, we'll tell you how the country started easing the restrictions this weekend.

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NEWTON: Now many countries in Europe are struggling to contain the second wave of the coronavirus. Germany surpassed 1 million cases on Friday after it confirmed more than 20,000 new infections, according to Johns Hopkins.

This comes as Chancellor Angela Merkel that a partial national lockdown would last until January 20th.

France is set to begin easing its restrictions this weekend. ICU and positivity rates have been declining there in the past week. For more on this, we want to bring in our Jim Bittermann outside of Paris.

Jim, good to see you. I can't imagine, in all of the decades you've been in France, in Paris, how different this Christmas will look, notwithstanding the lifting of some restrictions?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's already starting to look that way now. One of the things happening as you say, some of the restrictions have been lifted ever so slightly. That is to say, starting today, shops and stores can be open.

We saw this morning a lot of people trying to get their Christmas shopping in. Long lines outside of big department stores. In fact, one big department store, they had employees out there, applauding and singing as the customers were coming in.

Everybody has been through this now several times this year and months' long lockdown has been upsetting, I think, for a lot of people. So after this month, the sort of easing of restrictions is coming.

But it's still a long way off in process. Today, the stores and shops, houses of worship are open; you can go get your hair cut. That sort of thing is taking place today.

But there's still a curfew in place. You still have to walk around with a piece of paper, describing why you're out and how long you've been out and that sort of thing. It won't be until the 15th of December that things ease up again.

[05:45:00]

BITTERMANN: Then only if the numbers are going in the right direction. Emmanuel Macron said they want to have the number of new cases per day down below 5,000. Right now, it's about 10,000, 12,000 each day of new cases. So there's still a ways to go.

Even after the 15th of December, there's going to be a curfew, except for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. And it won't be before January 20th when things will really start to feel like they're getting back to normal, when the bars, cafes and restaurants will be open. They'll be able to open again.

And that, of course, as you know, Paula, is a big part of life here.

NEWTON: Absolutely. I can't even imagine the character, especially of some of those local restaurants, not being open and being shuttered. Jim Bittermann for us, just outside of Paris. Thank you, appreciate it. Now more than 1.4 million people have died from coronavirus around the

world. But the pandemic and lockdowns used to contain it are, of course, also having tragic side effects, such as the startling increase in suicides all over the world but, specifically now, those that we're seeing in Japan. CNN's Selina Wang reports from Tokyo.

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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eriko Kobayashi tried to kill herself four times.

ERIKO KOBAYASHI, DEPRESSION SUFFERER: I was really poor, I'm ashamed to say it but I short lifted then. I worked full-time and even overtime but did not have enough money to live.

WANG: She was working for a publishing company but couldn't make ends meet. Now she works at an NGO, but since the pandemic the stress she felt then is now back.

KOBAYASHI: My salary was cuts and I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I constantly feel a sense of crisis that I might fall back into poverty.

WANG: Japanese women are bearing the brunt of job losses from the pandemic often working in industries like hotel, food service and retail.

KOBAYASHI: Japan has been ignoring women it is a society where the weakest people are cut off first.

WANG: In October more Japanese died of suicide than from 10 months of COVID-19 partly driven by suicide among women which had increased 80 percent from the previous year.

KOBAYASHI: They are suffering so much. They just feel it's better to die.

WANG: Tokyo's Koki Ozura started a mental health hotline in March. 70 percent of the people asking for people are women.

KOKI OZURA, FOUNDER, A PALACE FOR YOU: They lost their jobs and they need to raise their kids, but they don't have any money. They attempt suicide.

WANG: His nonprofit receives about 200 messages a day. Koki says his 600 volunteers are not enough to keep up with the volume.

OZURA: I've seen messaging -- accept messages like -- by father or my husband tried to kill me.

WANG: Why, because of the pandemic?

OZURA: Because of the pandemic, yes. And before the pandemic they had like a place that they can escape like schools or that -- or the office. WANG: Japan has long struggled with one of the highest suicide rates in the world but the number had been decreasing up until the pandemic. The government has invested in suicide prevention but Eriko says it also requires changing society.

KOBAYASHI: It's shameful for others to know your weakness and misery so you hide everything and in -- we need to create a culture where it's OK to show your weakness.

WANG: Several Japanese celebrities have taken their lives in the recent month which often causes an increase in suicide in the general public -- a 22-year-old professional wrestler and reality TV star died of suicide after a barrage of hate on social media. His mother says the pandemic has compounded the challenges for women.

KYOKO KIMURA, MOTHER OF DESEASED WRESTLER: The women used to take care of children and the household. Now they have to work as well, so all the social strain piles up on the women.

WANG: Now in her 40s, Eriko is much better at dealing with her anxiety and hopes that by speaking publicly about her fears more people will do so and realize they're not alone before it's too late -- Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.

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NEWTON: So if you or someone you know needs help, here's how to get it. In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1- 800-273-8255.

The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also provide contact information for crisis centers right around the world.

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NEWTON: Now in just a few hours, Pope Francis will appoint 13 new cardinals at a ceremony in Rome. Among them, the first African American cardinal in Catholic history; 72-year-old Archbishop Wilton Gregory is already the highest ranking Black Catholic ever in the United States.

He spoke about his new role and what he's learned from the past. Delia Gallagher has that.

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DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Washington prepares to welcome a new president, it will also soon be home to a new cardinal, the first Black cardinal of the United States, Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who receives his red hat from Pope Francis on Saturday.

ARCHBISHOP WILTON GREGORY, WASHINGTON, D.C.: I hope it's -- it's a sign to the African American community, that the -- the Catholic Church has a great reverence and respect and esteem for the people -- for my people, people of color.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Gregory has been archbishop of Washington, D.C., since 2019.

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GALLAGHER (voice-over): He recently denounced president Donald Trump's visit to D.C.'s St. John Paul II national shrine as "baffling and reprehensible" and a photo opportunity. The archbishop is hoping for better days ahead.

GREGORY: Well, I'm hoping that it's a time we can transition, peacefully, into a new administration and where we can -- we can reset the conversation, reset our focus and, hopefully, show to the world that democracy really does work.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): As head of the U.S. Bishops Conference in the early 2000s, Gregory spearheaded the Catholic Church's response to the sex abuse crisis together with now defrocked former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was, himself, an abuser.

Gregory says the Catholic Church is responsible for its bad judgment of McCarrick and other abusers.

GREGORY: We were so intent on caring about the clerics, priests or bishops, that we did not see that the biggest pain to be endured was that, that was, you know, endured by the people who were hurt.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): It's now his turn to lead U.S. Catholics as cardinal, at a time of transition and hope -- Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.

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NEWTON: And that does it for this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I want to thank you for watching. I'm Paula Newton. For international viewers, "Superhero" is next. For viewers in the United States, "NEW DAY" is straight ahead.