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COVID Now Killing One American Every Minute Of Every Day; Alarming Surge In California, Cities Set New Restrictions; South Korea, Japan And Hong Kong - Another Wave; Biden's Communication And Economic Teams: Women Take Key Roles; Iran's Top Nuclear Scientist Laid To Rest, What Lies Ahead?; Dozens Missing after Brutal Attack on Farming Community; Mekelle Hospitals Low on Supplies, Body Bags; Saudi Women's Rights Defender Sent to Terrorism Court; Cuba Wants U.S. to Rejoin Fight on Drug Trafficking; World's Loneliest Elephant Gets New Home. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 30, 2020 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Michael[LS1] Holmes and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Coming up on the program.

The coronavirus killing one American every minute of every day. A sobering warning from America's top doctor.

Donald Trump's new target? His own FBI and justice department. More baseless claims about the election he lost fair and square.

And an elephant's long journey home. Hear about the pop legend who made it her mission to save him. We'll have a live report.

Welcome, everyone.

The United States now smashing new coronavirus records on a daily basis. For almost the entire month of November, the U.S. logged more than 100,000 new cases a day. And now on the eve of December, we're up to nearly 13.4 million infections.

One medical analyst comparing this to a natural disaster, happening in every state at the same time.

But here's perhaps the most alarming part. More than 93,000 Americans right now are in hospital with COVID. That is by far the most ever.

And experts warn the situation is going to get worse, before it gets better.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: I want to be straight with the American people, it's going to get worse over the next several weeks. DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (Voice Over): (...) as we go for the next couple of weeks into December that we might see a surge superimposed upon that that surge that we're already in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Americans who traveled over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend are now being urged to get tested for COVID-19. Of course, they were advised not to travel in the first place but about 6 million were counted at U.S. airports alone last week, not to mention those who traveled by road.

Now, health officials fear all the family gatherings will mean more cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the weeks ahead.

A leading member of the coronavirus task force advising travelers to take precautions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: So if you're young and you gathered, you need to be tested about five to ten days later. But you need to assume that you're infected and not go near your grandparents and aunts and others without a mask.

If you're over 65 or you have comorbidities and you gathered at Thanksgiving and you developed any sympathies, you need be tested mediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: CNN's Natasha Chen now with more from the world's busiest airport on the busiest travel day of this year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: I talked to some people arriving home to Atlanta after traveling for the holidays and their experiences varied depending on which airports they came from around the country.

As Sunday was the busiest travel day of the entire Thanksgiving week at the Atlanta airport, officials here estimated 190,000 people coming through on Sunday. That's still about a third of the travelers they saw this time last year.

I talked to someone who was traveling for the very first time since the pandemic began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE SAKAE, TRAVELER: I was a little nervous because that was literally first time going out of the states. But Charleston was really, really like empty this morning, the airport, and Atlanta is always busy. So it was very different for us to just have this (inaudible), very crowded.

But the airport itself, everything is really nice and safe and everybody's keeping their distance. So I feel like it's like safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN (On Camera): People did describe how tough it was to make the decision with their family on whether to travel for the holidays. Those who did travel tell me that they do plan on getting tested after they get home. In one case someone said they would self-quarantine for 14 days.

The TSA says they screened more than 1 million passengers on at least three separate days during the Thanksgiving week starting from the Friday before the holiday.

That's a sharp increase in passenger traffic because that record was only hit one other time since the pandemic began.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Natasha Chen reporting there for us.

Los Angeles imposing new restrictions this week as coronavirus cases surge across California.

The state reported more than 15,000 new cases and 32 deaths on Sunday and they're seeing record numbers of hospitalizations.

Paul Vercammen looks at how officials are trying to fight back against this pandemic.

[01:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The numbers just alarming in California. Now almost 7,500 people hospitalized here. The Los Angeles County numbers are terrible, 5,000 new cases.

While the deaths are lagging behind, it's a number that often goes behind those total cases, we now see that there is more than 2,000 hospitalizations in Los Angeles County alone.

And speaking of Los Angeles County, it is on the precipice of some very new serious restrictions, basically a stay-at-home order that says you can only congregate with people in your household.

They are forbidding people from gathering outside and indoors. This is going to last for three weeks.

Now if you can look behind me, I'm in Pasadena, California, an island in Los Angeles County, its own city with its own health department. They are allowing for dining outside but only with very strict

guidelines for the restaurants, the servers must wear a mask and a face shield, they've been actively enforcing this. Customers must stay six feet away from each other, not just the tables.

They've closed restaurants, a few of them here, over the weekend reopened some.

But the health director here says is what concerns her is as we go into the worst part of the winter, the pandemic, people are just getting sort of COVID-19 fatigue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. YING-YING GOH, DIRECTOR, PASADENA HEALTH DEPARTMENT, CALIFORNIA: We know that the pandemic has dragged on for months. It's the holidays, people are feeling the desire to get together with friends and family.

And yet here we are in the middle of a surge with COVID cases climbing and hospitalizations climbing and we're really in a alarming situation.

So we're asking people to take steps that they may not be inclined to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN (On Camera): And some excruciating choices for that health director. Dr. Goh had to cancel the Rose Parade which annually draws somewhere between a million and a million-and-a-half people to Pasadena.

But she said that would have been the ultimate in super spreader events with so many people shoulder to shoulder. Tough times here in the Greater Los Angeles area.

reporting from Pasadena, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Dr. Carlos del Rio is an executive associate dean at the Emory University School of Medicine, also a special adviser for infectious diseases with Delta Airlines.

And the good doctor joins me now from Atlanta. Doctor, great to see you.

Sunday was like a hugely busy travel day, millions gathered for Thanksgiving and Dr. Fauci said Sunday he was not very optimistic, predicting Christmas we'll see a surge imposed upon another surge. Are you worried to the same degree?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: If you're going to gather with people, try to gather in small groups, try to gather with people that are part of your bubble, try to gather ideally outside instead of indoors and in many place in the country you really can do that.

But again, try to stay as safe as possible.

Because the reality is, you bring a lot of people indoor the chances of having somebody infected in that group is going to go up.

HOLMES: I was reading -- El Paso, just as an example, it's been getting slammed, of course, with cases in recent weeks.

The mayor on Sunday said this. He said about almost six weeks ago we started spiking significantly. I think people -- the consensus is that people just had COVID fatigue.

I guess I see that, in my world. How dangerous is that, that complacency?

DEL RIO: The complacency, the fatigue is real, I think everybody's tired of this. But I will also tell people, you need to hang on, you need to wear your mask, you need to social distance, you need to avoid getting infected just for a few more weeks.

Maybe 12 weeks or so, two or three months, there'll be vaccines, vaccines are coming. And I think the world is going to change when we start vaccinating people.

HOLMES: Yes, exactly. In Europe, a lot of countries have had some pretty tight restrictions in place for a month or more some not quite lockdown but restrictions. They've been reduced now with the holidays coming in many places.

And do you think they had worked and with the holidays coming up, should those things be relaxed?

DEL RIO: They clearly have worked. But I will tell you that I don't think we're -- at this point, it's about a lockdown, this is about public health.

We need to do very targeted interventions. Enforcing masks, enforcing gatherings of small groups of people, closing bars, closing restaurants. I think those are the kinds of things we need to do. And if you do that, I think we can control this transmission.

HOLMES: You mentioned vaccines and development is moving ahead. The priorities we know will be the elderly, frontline workers and so on.

But what would you say to regular folks? Isn't it true, it'll be a while before the general population has meaningful protection. Is that right?

[01:10:00]

DEL RIO: Yes. But it won't be that long. Maybe somewhere between April and July there'll be vaccines for the general population.

HOLMES: In the same context, about the impact of the president continuing to push what is a false narrative, that the U.S. is rounding the corner on the pandemic. Do you see it that way?

DEL RIO: We're nowhere close to rounding the corner. It took us from April to October to have 9 million cases, in November alone, we have 4 million cases. We're not rounding the corner.

We're having the worst outbreak ever in our country. We're close to 200,000 cases a day, over 2,000 deaths per day. We're in a very difficult situation right now in our country and we need to recognize it.

And across the country, I talk to colleagues that are just over -- their hospital's overwhelmed, the morgue is overwhelmed. This is really bad.

HOLMES: If there is that surge that Dr. Fauci talks about and you're hearing from colleagues being overwhelmed now, I'm trying to imagine what a month or two will look like.

DEL RIO: Oh, I think it'll look terrible. I think -- hospitals are already -- in many places already overwhelmed. Health care workers are tired, there are not enough of them. I think it's really bad.

I think the situation going forward not only for COVID but for many diseases, if you have a heart attack, a stroke, cancer it may be tough to get care.

HOLMES: That is depressing. At least, the vaccines are on the horizon.

Dr. Carlos del Rio, thank you so much.

DEL RIO: Pleasure talking to you, Michael.

HOLMES: Japan reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus cases, more than 2,000 new cases on Sunday, and that followed Saturday, 2,600, the most recorded in a single day.

And South Korean officials putting new social distancing restrictions in place as cases rising there. The government banning big year-end parties and events to try to stop the spread of the virus.

Paula Hancocks is in Seoul with the latest for us.

A lot of these countries did pretty well early on and now sort of slipping. What do you know?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Michael. If you look at the likes of South Korea and Hong Kong, for example, they had dealt with the first couple of waves particular well but South Korea certainly is saying that they are in their third wave.

And what they're finding is what many countries in the Northern Hemisphere are finding that as winter draws in and people are spending more time inside then these numbers are inevitably rising.

So you mentioned Japan, Michael, Japan is well over 2,000 new cases once again. Now we know that some of the big cities there, Tokyo, Osaka, Sapura, Nagoya, they are all from this weekend, this weekend just gone, going to close restaurants and karaoke venues a little earlier, to try and curtail this outbreak. At least that's what the government is requesting for them to do.

But they also have a record -- saying that they had a number of patients with severe symptoms in intensive care over the past 24 hours at 462. That's the highest they have had since the pandemic began.

So we're certainly seeing some concerning numbers in Japan. Similarly here in South Korea, numbers have come off a little bit, we'd seen three consecutive days of more than 500 new cases, today or for yesterday it was 438.

But, of course, those numbers are always slightly lower on a Monday because they're reporting from the weekend. We always see somewhat of a pull back.

And then in Hong Kong as well, we saw 115 cases on Sunday and that was the highest we have seen since August.

Now we know in Hong Kong that the decision has been made that from Wednesday, from December 2nd, all schools will be online only, no in- person schools until after the Christmas holidays, after the holidays in December to try and curtail the increases there. Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Paula Hancocks in Seoul. Appreciate it. Thank you, Paula.

The Biden Administration or transition rather in full swing to becoming an administration.

President Elect Joe Biden will get his first presidential daily briefing on Monday, all the security information.

He's also creating, as he did promise during the campaign, a government as diverse as America.

But on Saturday, he actually managed to suffer hairline fractures in his foot after slipping while playing with his dog.

CNN's M.J. Lee with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M.J. LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Elect Joe Biden paying a visit to the doctor's office on Sunday, the transition office announcing on Sunday that on Saturday he had an incident where he was playing with his dog, Major, slipped and twisted his ankle so he visited an orthopedist.

The Biden transition team also making a slew of announcements on Sunday as well, including some key women who will be serving in his White House communications team.

Some names worth mentioning include Kate Bedingfield who is being named the white house communications director.

[01:15:00]

Jen Psaki who will be standing behind the podium as press secretary. We also have Symone Sanders who will be the chief spokesperson for Vice President Elect Kamala Harris and also Karine Jean-Pierre who is being named the principal deputy press secretary.

Now looking ahead to what else to expect on Monday, the Biden transition team is expected to formally announce some key members of Biden's future economic team including Janet Yellen who's expected to be named his treasury secretary. She would be the first woman to serve in that role, if she is confirmed.

Two other names worth mentioning. Neera Tanden who is currently the head of the Center for American Progress, she is going to be named Biden's head of the Office of Management and Budget. And we also have Cecilia Rouse who will be named head of Counsel of Economic Advisors.

Of course, it's worth noting that this is a group of women who will have their work cut out for them because they will be spearheading the economic recovery effort in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

M.J. LEE (On Camera): M.J. Lee, CNN. Wilmington Delaware.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, Joe Biden's victory in Wisconsin has been reaffirmed after a recount. But that didn't stop Mr. Trump from ranting about non-existent election fraud on "Fox News." Have a listen to some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (Voice Over): This is total fraud. And how the FBI and department of justice -- I don't know, maybe they're involved -- but how people are allowed to get away from this -- with this stuff is unbelievable. This election was rigged.

This is the essence of our country, this is the whole ball game. And they cheated. Joe Biden did not get 80 million votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: He did, actually. The former top cybersecurity official who was fired by Mr. Trump for declaring the 2020 election secure. Well, he's pushing back.

He called the claims of widespread fraudulent votes "farcical," in an interview with CBS "60 Minutes."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT PELLEY, CORRESPONDENT, "CBS NEWS 60 MINUTES:" The president's essentially saying in that tweet that you did a lousy job, that you and your team blew it. And allowed massive fraud all across the country.

CHRIS KREBS, FORMER U.S. CYBERSECURITY DIRECTOR: We did a good job, we did it right. I'd do it a thousand times over.

There is no foreign power that is flipping votes. There's no domestic actor flipping votes. I did it right, we did it right. This was a secure election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: President Trump slammed that interview in a tweet, once again alleging election fraud. The tweet, as so many of his have been of late, flagged by Twitter.

HOLMES: Iran's top nuclear scientist assassinated on Friday will be buried soon. And one expert says his killing marks a very dangerous moment.

We'll discuss how Iran might react coming up.

Also, Nigeria mourns the many victims of a brutal massacre in a farming community in Borno state.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:00]

(CNN HIGHLIGHT)

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Throughout history, we've always thought to push the boundaries of human flight. And we've come a long way since some of our earliest inventions.

RICHARD BROWNING, FOUNDER & CHIEF TEST PILOT, GRAVITY: My name's Richard Browning, I am the founder and chief test pilot from Gravity and we build and fly 1,000-horsepower jet suits.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Years of trial and error at his self-funded lab have resulted in this. A $440,000 jet suit.

BROWNING: It would be an amazing feeling to just rise up off the ground and be able to fly in the most intuitive, natural almost dream- like state.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: The suits can fly up to ten minutes with a top speed of 85 miles per hour. Future reiterations, he says, could be sustainable too.

BROWNING: The ultimate goal will be electric-powered jet suits that deliver all the performance and impact that we can do but in a highly sustainable format.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:00]

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: First Bank of Nigeria was founded as the bank of British West Africa by shipping magnate, Alfred Lewis Jones, who needed a bank to make it easier to do business.

FOLAKE ANI-MUMUNEY, GLOBAL HEAD OF MARKETING & CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA: The roots of what is now First Bank can actually be traced back as far as 1891 but First Bank itself was not established until 1894.

After decades in business through name changes, mergers and acquisitions, in 1979 the bank was officially named First Bank of Nigeria Limited, the name it still holds today.

ANI-MUMUNEY: The minute we started seeing Africans within the leadership of the bank, we saw a number of changes.

Dr. Oba Utudeko was chairman of the bank for many years and a lot of the transformation, a lot of what First Bank is today is as a result of Dr. Otudeko's painstaking management of the affairs of the board of the bank.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: The bank's CEO says its success is no fluke. While leading the organization through COVID-19 has been challenging, he says he's confident that the bank can weather any storm.

ADESOLA ADEDUNTAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR & CEO, FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA: The reason why first bank has continued to flourish is that capacity to lead innovation, (inaudible) be part of (inaudible).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And now bringing you live pictures from Tehran where a funeral is happening now for Iran's top nuclear scientist brazenly assassinated on Friday.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed just east of Tehran in an apparent ambush. Over the weekend, his body was taken to several revered Muslim shrines for prayers and blessings.

Iran's ministry of intelligence says it has leads on the killing, the country blaming Israel and warning of a calculated and decisive response.

Now while some world leaders are pleading for calm, analysts say Iran could seek retribution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. WILLIAM MCRAVEN, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMANDER: The Iranians are going to be in a position where they have to retaliate, I don't see any way around it. They're going to have to save face.

And so now the issue becomes what does that retaliation look like, does that then begin to escalate the problems in the region? And that's not going to be good for anybody. The Iranians don't want to go to war with us, we don't want to go to

war with Iran. So everybody needs to do the best they can to kind of lower the temperature.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Joining me now, Jeffrey Lewis, an expert on nuclear nonproliferation. He's a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and also host of "The Deal" podcast. He joins me now from California.

Good to get you on. Let's face it, this was an embarrassing intelligence failure, another one, actually -- but retaliation carries big risk right now, especially before the U.S. inauguration. What do you see as Iran's options right now?

JEFFREY LEWIS, PROFESSOR, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, Iran has a lot of options, it's really just a question of how they want to play it.

Do they want to run certain risks with the Trump Administration, do they want to risk poisoning the well with the Biden Administration? It's very tough to tell.

But one thing I would say though is this is a very dangerous moment.

I think we really dodged a bullet earlier this year when we saw Iran respond to the killing of Qasem Soleimani with a missile strike against a U.S. military base in Iraq.

That was a very large missile strike, it resulted in large numbers of casualties but no one was killed. I hope we are as lucky this time as we were then.

HOLMES: Very good point. Speak to that risk versus reward factor when it comes to the assassination itself. If it was Israel, it in some ways can be seen as a win-win calculus for Benjamin Netanyahu, take out a prominent figure in the nuclear program. But also if Iran retaliates it gives Israel and/or the U.S. a reason to strike back militarily.

LEWIS: Yes, I really thinks it depends on how one looks at Israel's strategic goals. If the goal is to poison the well for diplomacy, I think the strike is extremely successful. They killed a scientist but what they've really done is try to assassinate the possibility of returning to the nuclear deal with Iran.

If Iran retaliates, that will make it much harder and frankly, if Iran does nothing, I just think support for the deal in Iran will drop.

HOLMES: I know you've been tweeting a lot on this sort of issue too. But one presumes Fakhrizadeh had a line of succession, will his death slow his work? Past killings would suggest perhaps not too much?

[01:25:00] LEWIS: Yes, we've actually run this experiment. In 2011, all of Iran's solid propellant long-range missile team was killed in an explosion including the head of that program and it delayed the program by a few years.

But pretty quickly after that, we saw Iran reconstitute the team, rebuild all of the facilities and recently, they have been launching missiles designed by that very team.

So I think our experience is maybe for the Israelis at the moment it feels good to conduct an assassination like this but there isn't any evidence that it slows the Iranians down. And if anything, it probably incites them to go faster.

HOLMES: Yes. And some suggest it actually encourages interest in the nuclear program by young scientists as well, I've seen that.

If the time between now and January 20 is, let's say, uneventful what chance for a revived in U.S. Iran involvement in the nuclear deal? What would Iran want in return, what might a bidden Administration demand of Iran?

LEWIS: Well, I think that a Biden Administration is going to want Iran to return to compliance with the agreement, which is something that Iran said it will do if sanctions come off.

And so I think the big challenge for them in the short term is just going to be sequencing that. Can you find the right series of steps where sanctions come off, Iran comes back into compliance and we get sort of back to where we were.

The challenge is come that it's been several years now and Iran had made a lot of progress and there are a lot of other issues such as Iran's support for proxies around the region and Iran's missile program that are going to make the political environment for an agreement much tougher.

But we just finished a documentary on the Iran nuclear deal called "The Deal," and the thing that we really learnt from that which I think is the most important thing to keep in mind is if there is political will, we will find technical solutions.

HOLMES: Yes, exactly. That documentary is fascinating, by the way. Not all Iran-aligned groups within the country and without the country have the same calculations, of course.

How does this potentially change the dynamic between Iran's hard- liners and moderates? Many would say the hard-liners have the upper hand now anyway.

LEWIS: Well, I can't see how it would help the moderates. If you're someone in Iran who has been arguing for restraint, if you're someone who has been arguing that there always is the possibility of using diplomacy to solve these problems, the fact that there has been this deal but that the Trump Administration has come out, withdrawn from it -- and then you've seen this incredible level of violence whether it's assassinations or buildings blowing up in Iran.

If you imagine yourself sitting in that room, I think the people making the case for building the bomb have just an easier time of it because they can point to this kind of unremitting hostility.

So I think we get to a point, again, where diplomacy is viable but stuff like this doesn't make it easy.

HOLMES: Real quick, you do this sort of stuff for a living, what do you see coming in the next couple of months?

LEWIS: Well, I think the Iranians are probably going to try to play it cool for at least a little bit but I can't rule out that will be more assassinations, more buildings exploding and in the end things getting a little out of hand. So my fingers are crossed, I always try to remain optimistic but I also try to be a realist.

HOLMES: Yes. And worth a follow on Twitter. Jeffrey Lewis, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

LEWIS: It was a pleasure.

HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, a disturbing new twist in the case of a Saudi activist who pushed for women to drive. Why she's now being treated like a national security threat.

We'll have that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:13]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I am Michael Holmes, appreciate you sticking around.

Now, security forces in Nigeria are searching for dozens of people missing in the aftermath of Saturday's brutal killings. This all happened in a farming community, near the capital of Borno state. A local official says 34 people have now been buried.

Suspected Boko Haram militants on motorcycles killed at least 110 men and women who were harvesting their fields.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

USMAN ISMAIL, EYEWITNESS (through translator): We found their corpses and that was where the main killings took place. So we changed our route and went through a nearby village, and we saw so many people fleeing from our village called Gato (ph).

We met so many people fleeing from our village without knowing where they were going to, some were even unconscious. Some huge quantity of harvested rice was set on fire. We really need prayers, and it's only God that can save us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: A member of a local vigilante group says that village has had an agreement with Boko Haram not to harm farmers if they gave them food whenever they asked. But it seems that deal ended last week when some Boko Haram members stole cattle and vigilantes apparently killed one of the one of the militants. They fear that Saturday's attack was in retaliation.

One day after the Ethiopian government announced its military offensive was over in the Tigray Region, rebels there claimed to have shot down a military plane and retaken a town from the government.

Humanitarian officials, raising the alarm about conditions meanwhile for refugees in Ethiopia but also neighboring Sudan. The International Committee of the Red Cross said the Tigray, the capital, was quiet on Sunday but hospitals are running low on supplies to care for the wounded, and also tragically, body bags for the dead.

Nima Elbagir with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Almost four weeks since the military campaign first began and Ethiopia's prime minister Abe Hamid says that the campaign against the country's western Tigray region campaign has come to an end.

It's been very difficult to get any kind of confirmation of what is actually happening in Tigray because the Ethiopian government has had the region under an almost complete communications blackout. The six million people plus almost 100,000 Eritrean refugees are believed by humanitarian organizations, to be under dire conditions.

What little we are hearing from Ethiopian refugees who managed to cross the border, into Sudan, is pretty horrifying. Ethiopia says that they are now going to open humanitarian corridors, but there has been no confirmation as to when that will actually happen.

[01:34:51]

ELBAGIR: And the UNHCR says that those 100,000 Eritrean refugees in Tigray are only days away from being without food entirely. The U.N. is calling for complete and unrestricted access to Tigray, immediately.

Nima Elbagir, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: European human rights ambassadors say they are deeply concerned about a group of female activists detained in

Saudi Arabia. And they are calling on the Kingdom to release them.

One of the women who has already spent more than two years in jail is now going to be tried by a terrorism court. Her apparent crime: demanding the right to drive. Nic Robertson with her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Saudi Arabia's most well-known female prisoner Loujain Al-Hathloul has gone from jailed rights activist, to alleged national security threat.

Her sister is horrified. She alleges Loujain has been tortured in prison.

LINA HATHLOUO, LOUJAIN'S SISTER: My parents know that she was very weak, that her body was shaking and that her voice as well. But, even with that, she was still very focused, and wanted to read her whole defense. Her and other activists, are being electrocuted, (INAUDIBLE) flog, beaten, deprived of sleep, force fed.

HOLMES: Saudi authorities have repeatedly denied allegations of torture and sexual abuse in their jails. Al-Hathloul campaigned for women to drive, then just weeks before Saudi's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, gave the go ahead for the long awaited reform, she was arrested.

Human rights groups called on world leaders, to use last week's virtual G-20 summit in Riyadh, to pressure MBS to allow her release. Instead, days after the event wrapped Hathloul appeared before a judge, only to learn her case was being referred to a notorious terror court.

ADEL AL JUBEIR, SAUDI MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: I believe the charges have to do with receiving money from hostile governments in order to pass it on to dissidents and hostile groups to Saudi Arabia.

ROBERTSON: So far, the Saudi government hasn't published its evidence. And Saudis courts, where evidence would be presented, are notoriously difficult to access.

International pressure for Hathloul's release isn't working. Unclear if President Elect Joe Biden, who has promised to take a tough line on Saudi, can make a difference.

AL JUBEIR: We are not subject to pressure. These individuals were arrested under our laws. And our courts have jurisdiction and they decide. We don't allow people to put pressure on us in order to do things that hardly can start interest.

ROBERTSON: Unclear too when Hathloul's next court appearance will be. Although, the venue is set -- Saudi Arabia specialized criminal court, which, according to human rights group, Amnesty International, is intrinsically unfair.

Nic Robertson, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: A record setting month for the stock market is coming to a close. How Joe Biden's election is factoring into the rally despite President Trump's many warnings to the contrary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From floor to ceiling, bags and bags of marijuana that's been captured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And we'll take you inside Cuba's anti-drug operations. How the country is faring while drug smuggling is on the rise and why they want more cooperation with the U.S.

[01:38:40]

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HOLMES: Well, the stock markets are taking a breather from their record-setting runs, while investors are still hopeful a COVID vaccine will help economies bounce back. They are also weighing the immediate concerns of rising case numbers.

Right now, U.S. futures are down with Wall Street's massive month coming to a close, down to short of one percentage point.

The Asian markets, they are lower as well. You can see there, all around the same numbers, Hang Seng nearly 1.75 quarter percent down.

Let's go to John Defterios in Abu Dhabi for some perspective. You know, it's interesting, the president said, if he lost, the markets would crash. It's been a remarkable run really, hasn't it despite all the political uncertainty.

Is it just a breather, as we finish up the month?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, I think Michael, investors are hitting the pause button right now. And you have to keep into context here, a week ago Monday right, we had the Dow Industrials go right through 30000. So we're giving that up as you saw in the U.S. futures.

But there's kind of two key factors at play. You mentioned one here with the expectations of COVID-19. There will be fits and starts on the path forward, in terms of vaccines and getting the distribution.

And the other key factor here are the picks of Joe Biden. If we take a look particularly when it comes to the financial markets and economic management, having Janet Yellen as U.S. Treasury Secretary who had experience at the Federal Reserve Board and the White House under Bill Clinton, working with Jerome Powell, who is the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, is something that is a green light for everyone.

I spoke to a major business leader here on the development side who said, I was relieved when I saw her appointment. You can see the sort of influence that is having on here.

And this is not just a U.S. market phenomenon, by the way. Yes, the rise of the clouds away from the political uncertainty that Donald Trump is talk about is helping, but if you look at the chart here: the S&P 500 is at a record and was up 11 percent in the month alone. The global index up 13 percent.

And then, we have a case Michael where Europe is playing catch up with the French market here, surging what -- to 21 percent, and Italy and Milan, up 25 percent. And that is despite the fact we have that very strong second wave of the pandemic, hitting the European medical systems which are under strain, but they think they have it under control. And that this time next year, Michael, the vaccine distribution will be pervasive. That is the bet at this stage.

HOLMES: You know, is there a risk that investors are perhaps not factoring in what many believe is the real threat of a double dip recession?

DEFTERIOS: Yes, it is a fantastic point to bring because I almost look at it like it's the weight scales, right. And the scales are in favor of the distribution still taking place. People willing to take vaccines, I think that's a pretty long bet because that's not proven yet.

But many are looking at the Chinese example, because they have vaccines in distribution, a very different political system, the control of data, the control on testing in China. But we see as a result of it that factory activity in China surged to a three-year- high, right. it's 6.6 percent, the service sector bouncing back as well.

[01:44:53]

DEFTERIOS: And we will have a better indication, Michael, of what the U.S. is doing when we have the job numbers on Friday. The unemployment rate is supposed to dip down to 6.8 percent. That's 2.5 percent of where we were above the March levels, right before the pandemic set in.

And we still have 13 million Americans, still seeking jobless benefits. It's extremely high, but that scale I was talking about, most think that the central banks around the world can keep interest rates low, and the stimulus coming in.

But to your point, we're not factoring any down side risk today although we're taking a pause it seems on this Monday.

HOLMES: Yes. Still no sign of stimulus in the U.S. for those 13 million and others.

John, good to see you as always my friend. John Defterios in Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, Cuba hopes a new Biden administration means a new chance at working with the U.S. Officials in Cuba say they are seeing a surge in drug smugglers headed to the U.S. after Obama era agreements were thrown out under Donald Trump.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann has this exclusive report.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Trespassing into Cuban waters, these drug smugglers attempt to outrun a Cuban government patrol boat. After the Cuban crew threatens to open fire, the smugglers throw their contraband into the ocean.

Just in October, Cuban border guard officials say they confiscated enough drugs to fill two whole trucks. Smugglers, trying to sneak boatloads of marijuana and cocaine passed Cuban patrols and into the United States have become an increasingly common occurrence over the past year.

Cuban border guard also tells us. "In this last period, there has been an increase," he tells me. "We've detected 40 vessels that were suspicious or smuggling drugs. As well as the drugs that have been recovered."

Under close guard by Special Forces troops, Cuban officials unseal the secure facility, where they have stored the seized drugs. Nearly 3 tons worth, they tell us.

(on camera): We're going to walk in right now, and you see from floor to ceiling -- bags and bags of marijuana that has been captured. Either taken off boats that were coming through Cuban waters, drug smuggling runs, or found. Smugglers would ditch the drugs in the ocean, or found later and then turned in.

And what I can tell you is that the smell of the drugs in this room is completely overwhelming. It's just over powering.

(voice over): Much, if not all of the drugs, Cuban officials say they recovered were headed to the United States. 90 miles off Cuban shores.

YURI GALA LOPEZ, CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: The capable forces that we have in the law enforcement community is not only a guarantee for the national security of Cuba, but is also beneficial for the national security of the United States.

OPPMANN: While the U.S. criticizes Cuba on Human rights and lack of multi-party elections, the State Department acknowledged in their 2020 report, narcotics that Cuba is not a major consumer/producer or transit point of illicit drugs.

This Cuban government video obtained by CNN shows U.S. Coast Guard officials turning over drugs to the Cuban border patrol that they recovered at sea to help with the pro section of the smuggles who were arrested by the Cubans.

But after the Trump administration rolls back improve relations with Havana, Cuban officials say, regular meetings with U.S. law enforcement agency or cancel.

The Trump administration did not respond to our request for comment.

"Despite this policy," she tells me. "Cuba is willing to combat international drug trafficking. We have stopped tons of drugs from reaching the U.S."

To make their point, Cuban officials give us rare access to film and stayed low with the drugs. Then transport them under heavy guard, to hold them by crate to this industrial furnace where packets by packet, they are incinerated.

Smoke Signals the Cuban government descending to the Biden administration that they are they are seeking a new U.S. Cuban relationship.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN -- Santiago, Cuba.

HOLMES: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Still to come, the world's loneliest elephant soon to start a new life in Cambodia thanks to the singer Cher. How her years of campaigning paid off, when we come back.

[01:49:38]

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HOLMES: The world's loneliest elephant finally has a new home largely, thanks to one of the world's biggest popstars.

Maybe you recognize the voice. Cher, serenading Kaavan, the elephant who has spent decades at a zoo in Islamabad much of that time alone and mistreated. Hasn't been a good live but he's getting a new lease on life, at an elephant sanctuary in Cambodia.

CNN's Selina Wang is following the story, joins us now from Tokyo. So sad reading the background of this elephant but so happy to see where it is all headed.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Michael, it is some good news that we all need right now. Cher had been campaigning years to have Kaavan, dubbed the world's Loneliest Elephant moved to a better home.

Now, he is finally on his way on a 25-hour journey from Pakistan to a sanctuary in Cambodia.

He is flying on a jumbo jet. Now, Kaavan was the only Asian elephant in Pakistan, and its poor living conditions has sparked this a global uproar from rights activists, as well as animal groups, and even Cher.

[01:54:53]

WANG: The 36-year-old elephant, has spent 35 years in the Islamabad zoo, most of those years in chains. And then in 2012, he lost his female partner.

Elephants are social animals, they thrive off the company of other elephants, and experts say that the past eight years for Kaavan have been like solitary confinement leading to behavioral issues. Veterinarians have also diagnosed him as overweight, as malnourished as physically and psychologically damaged.

In fact, the conditions of the zoo that he was kept in was so bad that it made a judge ruled for all of the animals in the zoo to be removed. At the time, she called that decision one of the greatest moments of her life.

Now, Pakistan does not have any uniform rules for keeping animals, and experts say that, part of the reasons why the conditions in that zoo were so bad it's because of the lack of legislation and Pakistan around protecting animal welfare.

Now, the good news is that, in Cambodia, he's going to be a bit less lonely. He's going to be with the other elephants. So take a listen here to what a Pakistan government advisor have to say about his new home.

In his future house, or his future home in Cambodia, he will be very happy. He has a tiny area in which he will be relocated immediately, which has been fenced, at the moment. But, across the fence, you can see other animals, other elephants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Cher was in Pakistan last week and met with the prime minister Imran Khan: thanking him for allowing Kaavan to be released. But Michael experts say that even when he is Cambodia, Kaavan is going to require the elephant to be released. Michael, experts say that even when he is in Cambodia, he will require years of physical and psychological assistance.

HOLMES: Ok. Well, hopefully, he lives happily ever after. Selina Wang thanks so much for bringing that to us. Appreciate it.

And thank you all for watching. I'm Michael Holmes, appreciate you spending part of your day with me.

But I will be back with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. I will see you then.

[01:56:58]

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